She was banished to the stool in the corner of the room, left to watch over the activities in her father’s robotics lab. Khaly was told to remain there and keep out of trouble.
“Hmph, keep out of trouble,” she mumbled to herself.
She always came to his lab after school, since she was a small child. She and her father would walk home together and share their day. He would tell her about all the wonderful inventions they were working on, and she would tell him about her day spent learning and playing with her friends.
Even now, after moving to Vlarlee, the biggest city on the Feesia continent, so she could attend the prestigious Pifianka Academy of Polytechnics, they continued this tradition.
But it was different when she was younger. Khaly had been allowed to wander the lab, question the assistants, and work with the robotics. The staff enjoyed answering her questions and sharing their own knowledge in the field.
At seventeen it wasn’t cute anymore, with her knowledge and skills far surpassing their own. They were put out by her constantly correcting their mistakes. To them she was a child overstepping her bounds by assuming she knew more, which she did.
She watched in sheer agony while they poked and prodded at the inner workings of their newest project. When they tried running their tests the tiny man would lurch to one side then tip over, so they poked and prodded some more. It walked in circles.
On another try it did nothing but open and close its mouth, or its head spun in circles. They ran their computer simulations, tested the software, and inspected the hardware, but never made headway.
The discussion between the two lab workers was growing more and more agitated with each test. They had been working on this little mechanical man for almost two months, and Khaly was ready to crawl out of her own skin to fix it.
“Well, maybe it’s your ineptitude on the inner workings of this kind of mechanics that’s the problem,” Arledge said to his coworker.
The young woman bit her lip, preventing her response to his accusations. Khaly also gritted her teeth. Many of the suggestions Chahara, the assistant, was making certainly would have gotten them further along.
Even though her assumptions were mostly wrong, they still would have made more progress. Khaly nibbled on a fingernail and squirmed in her chair; she wanted to walk over and fix it.
It was a minor issue really, one she could correct in her sleep. She couldn’t understand how they weren’t seeing it.
“What course of action would you like to take now?” the assistant said, giving a little more attitude than she should have.
The supervisor shot her a glare. “Well, none of my suggestions seem to be the correct solution. I, of course, would defer to your guidance.” Chahara gave a fleeting smile.
Wow, she must really want this job. I would throttle the guy, Khaly thought.
“Yes, well, this is a team project.
I was merely looking for your input,” he said. “But it’s obvious that you have nothing to offer.” He stood, trying to look as though he was silently solving the issue of the robot.
“Maybe, sir, we could go over the schematics one more time. Perhaps there is something we missed in t
he design,” Chahara said.
“We?” He quirked an eyebrow at her.
“I meant to say I; maybe I missed something.”
