The garage door shut as Arron and Kix got out of the APC with Chewy and Spike.
The day’s work of searching for people was not anything overly exhaustive in itself, but by adding the new prototypes to the mix they had their hands full trying to keep an eye on them to keep them out of trouble.
Arron already had to promise to compensate the business owners that had several things chewed into unrecognizable junk pieces by Chewy. While Kix was having to deal with the over-aggressive Spike during each capture.
“We’re going to have to fill out so much paperwork… let’s go meet up with Tooth and Lexa in the main information hub,” said Arron with a sigh. Even though they had finished their patrol duties for the day they still had a mountain of paperwork waiting for them.
“Before that, we should find an empty room and keep these two in there so they don’t cause any trouble,” said Kix as he looked at Spike and Chewy.
They used the mag-shoot to move to the main floor where many people in the hallways stopped what they were doing and stared at the robotic dogs that were walking next to Arron and Kix.
“Look, Megane! I want a dog like that!” said Misha pointing to the two dogs standing next to Arron and Kix as they stopped in front of the front desk.
“Can we leave these two in the interview room over there?” asked Kix.
“It’s empty for today. So I don’t see any problem,” Megane.
“Do you need us to keep an eye on them?” asked Misha with starry eyes.
“Uh… just make sure no one goes into the room and disturbs them,” said Kix as he and Arron led the two dogs into the empty interview room.
Arron placed his hand on Chewy’s head and said in a firm tone, “Chewy sleep.”
With this command, Chewy lay down on the ground and the energetic yellow eyes winked out as power-save mode was activated.
Kix did the same for Spike and then exited the room with Arron.
“We’ll only be gone for an hour or so,” said Kix, waving to the two girls at the front desk before getting back onto the mag-shoot.
“What a day,” said Arron.
***
Thump! Two thick secure data-pads were tossed onto the table that Arron and Kix were now sitting at.
“Fill out every question as detailed as you possibly can,” said Lexa before leaving their opaque walled cubical.
Ping!
Arron’s NerViz alerted him to a call waiting from his wrist data-pad. [KEMY].
“Who is Kemy?” asked Kix.
“You got a call from them as well?”
“Just ignore it, we have a lot of paperwork to get through if we want to leave before dinner,” said Kix.
The two of them declined the call and continued filling out the digital paperwork.
Several seconds later a new notification appeared for a call waiting from the same person.
After three more times of declining the call, they decided to pick it up. The call was a conference call linking the three together.
“We are in the middle of work. Please stop calling us or we will block you,” said Kix.
“That won’t work,” said the female whose head popped up as soon as the call started.
“You’re that researcher from this morning! How did you get our personal numbers?” asked Arron.
“Ha! It was easy. Since you are my test subjects… I mean prototype testers. It is only natural I call you for a daily checkup and report,” said Kemy.
Arron and Kix looked at each other with knowing looks.
“Quit stalling and spill the beans. How did they perform on your patrol? Did you test out all their functions yet? Were there any malfunctions? You didn’t break them, did you? If you do, I will send some agents to cause you trouble every day!” said Kemy, spitting out all her questions in one breath.
“Whoa whoa whoa! Slow down!” said Arron.
“We didn’t break the prototypes, if anything they broke a lot of people and other things,” said Kix.
“Oh? How is Spike doing?”
“As far as I can tell with only one day of observation, his actions are not different from what was stated in the documents,” said Kix.
“Have you had any problems with him obeying commands?”
“Not really… Most of the time he is well-behaved and does not cause any problems. It is just when he catches a target… then it becomes a bit troublesome. I have to manually pull him off and stop him from tearing the troubled target to shreds. He might be a bit too aggressive.”
“Ehhh… sounds like he is doing his job as programmed.”
“Is there a way to have voice communication for easier interaction and understanding?
“No! That would ruin them! Dogs do not talk!” said the female researcher.
She turned her full attention to Arron and asked, “How is my cutie Chewy doing?”
“Umm… Chewy for the most part listens to orders without having too many problems like Spike. The only troublesome thing is the part about him chewing on everything.”
“Stop! What did you just say?”
“… he chews on everything?”
“Chewy is not a guy! Chewy is a cute girl doggie!”
“But it’s a robot… how can you tell?”
“Because I am the main creator! How could we create two male prototypes? Of course, we made one female and the other male it is only natural!” said Kemy matter-of-factly.
“Ehem… well, I know you wrote that Chewy has a special ‘feature’, but it really is troublesome having her chew on everything.”
“Nothing we can do about it now since we are so far into the project. Just make sure to give her plenty of toys to chew on and you won’t have any problems. Well, if you don’t have anything important to report then I will end the call for today. Expect my call at the same time tomorrow!”
With that, the call ended.
“What a troublesome person,” said Kix with a shake of his head.
The two of them spent another half hour filling out the documents before they were allowed to leave the cubical and head back down to the front lobby to pick up the prototypes.
“Did anyone enter the room or disturb them?” asked Arron when they reached the front desk again.
“Nope. We made sure that no one messed with them! Everything should be as you left it,” said Misha.
The door slid open revealing a terrible sight. Tens of hover-chairs were laying all over the ground chewed to scrap pieces or having large bites taken out of them. Chewy was sitting in a corner gnawing on the leg of the sturdy table.
Both Arron and Kix stood there stunned at the sight for a few seconds.
“Chewy no! Stop chewing on the table!” said Arron as he rushed over to Chewy and pulled her away from the table.
Chewy let out a low robotic whimper at not being allowed to finish gnawing through the thick table leg.
Arron looked to Spike who was still lying in sleep mode and then went back to Chewy.
“How did you get out of Sleep mode?”
Chewy only cocked her head to the side confused at the question.
“Sigh… let me get cleaned up and we can head home.”
“Look’s like you’ll be having your hands full with your prototype,” said Kix with a smile.
***
“Time for bed Chewy,” said Arron.
He had just finished his nightly cleanup and used the restroom before walking to his room.
Chewy only looked up from the piece of metal pipe she was chewing on for a second to say [Arf.] acknowledging Arron.
“Come on, you’re coming with me to my room. I can’t let you stay out here tearing up everything.”
Chewy stood up with her metal pipe in her mouth and walked into the small room laying down near the side of the bed.
Sitting on the side of the bed Arron placed his hand on her head and said, “Chewy sleep.”
Chewy lowered her head and her eyes went dark as she went into power-save mode.
The tired Arron flopped down on his bed and pulled his covers up over his body and fell asleep.
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch…
Arron woke up and looked at the clock on the ceiling.
It had only been a half hour since he had fallen asleep.
He reached out his hand and placed it on Chewy’s head and in a groggy voice said, “Chewy sleep.”
Silence…
…
Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.
