Lt. Lee drove Rosalind to the store, helped her choose what to purchase, and then unloaded it all from the car into her home. He received a call from the Major, requesting him to return, so he left. Rosalind wondered why he was so nice to her. For the first time since she was young, she thought, ‘Maybe people can be nice?’ But Rosalind realized that what Lt. Lee said about Lt. Anderson could be just him seeing the best in everyone. The rest of the day, through the evening, and up until Rosalind was about to go to bed, one sigh after another could be heard. She didn’t know when she would come into contact with the pilots again, but the icky feeling that came over her every time she thought about it was awful.

            Morning came and Rosalind couldn’t help looking over her shoulder, from the moment she stepped out of her home. It didn’t help that everyone was trying to catch a glimpse of her. She forgot how unusual it was for people to be able to speak to mechas. The worst part was having to eat in the mess hall for breakfast. The breakfast slot was so short you could see almost everyone from the base there all at once. A lot of eyes were on her and she worried that it would make it easier for the pilots to find her.

            She took a spot in the hall to be able to see who was coming in or out and it helped her notice the pilots walking in. For a few moments, the other people in the hall had their eyes on them. The pilots were also the talk of the town. Rosalind wondered if they knew that they ganged up on her and if anyone else knew, but all that mattered was that she finished the as much of her food as she could and then look for an opportunity to escape. Pilots are the best of the best so there was no way that they didn’t notice Rosalind. But she hoped that they wouldn’t be so bold as to approach her.

            ‘Crap, they’re coming over here…’ Rosalind screamed internally.

            The pilots, all six of them, stood with their imposing physiques before Rosalind who was giving them a look of disbelief. For a split-second, Rosalind thought it was funny how while in his coma Lt. Anderson looked quite handsome, with his short black hair and relaxed face, but now that she couldn’t look up at him, she imagined him as a faceless person wearing the base’s camouflage uniform. Lt. Anderson ignored Rosalind’s fidgeting and her inability to make eye contact.

            He opened his mouth and began to say, “Tha-.”

            But Rosalind who had turned deathly pale and had tears streaming down her face stood up abruptly and ran away with her face lowered, leaving her food behind. The whole hall was quiet. No one understood what was going on, including the pilots.

            Once again, Rosalind ran to her office and holed up underneath her desk. She cried for a bit and then brought down her computer monitor and keyboard to work on her report for Major Green. The report was short, so she was finished within the hour. She felt that she should have submitted a request along with the report to address the issue with the pilots, but then if that resulted in her removal as their scientist, she wouldn’t be with Bleu and that would make her even more upset than she was now. There had to be some way for her to figure out how to move on from this. For now, Rosalind believed it would be best for her to just try to focus on work.

            She stood up. The plan today was to examine all the mechas and she was at least going to try to complete some of her work. When she arrived at the first tower that she had visited Bleu in yesterday, she found it was empty, all of them were empty.

            ‘Where did all of the mechas go?’ she wondered.

            If the pilots were attempting to use them, then Rosalind should probably be there. The tablet she had notified her that the mechas were on the training platform outside. It took her about fifteen minutes to get there and all six of the mechas were there. A wave of relief washed over Rosalind because the mechas returned like they said they would. The training platform was a very large open space and Rosalind was looking around it to see if the pilots were there. Unless Lt. Lee was also with the pilots, Rosalind decided she wasn’t going to force herself to interact with them. She hadn’t noticed any pilots and besides the mechas there were Operations Officers moving materials around the base. Rosalind decided to approach the mechas. She wanted to try to talk to them again.

            “Hello, again,” Rosalind started.

            None of the mechas responded.

            “What are you all doing out here?” Rosalind asked looking around.

            “We are going to initiate another bond with the pilots.”

            “Are you just standing out here, waiting for them?”

            “If they want to be pilots, they have to come to us and indicate their intentions.”

            “Well, I wanted to examine you all, not that there’s anything ever wrong with you all, but if there’s anything you need or want to tell me, just let me know.”

            “We are all in perfect condition.”

            “That’s good. Can I ask if I am talking to the mecha, I call Bleu?”

            “Yes, I am the one talking to you.”

            “Can I ask if you all have names?”

            “Yes, our assigned children named us and we use these names to identify ourselves.”

            “What are your names?”

            “I am Bleu, the others are named Tamara, Gabe, Catherine, Reggie, and Henry.”

            “Okay, thank you for telling me. Can I ask another question? It’s about why you were at the beach where the practice flybys were. Did you go there because of the situation with the pilots or was something else the reason for why you were there?”

            “We can’t tell you why, but it was not because of the pilots.”

            “If it was because of the parasitic aliens, you would tell us, right?”

            “Yes, we would. They are not a threat at the moment.”

            “That’s good, we aren’t ready to fight them yet.”

            “I agree.”

            “Will you begin to communicate with the pilots, or anyone else?”

            “No. Doing so would complicate what needs to be done. The pilots are here. We know you are afraid of them at the moment, so you can leave if you want.”

             “Oh. Thanks for telling me. I’ll be watching from afar. Bye.”

            Rosalind walked towards the bunker she had come from. She saw the pilots coming out of the same bunker and moved aside to avoid them. They also saw her and one of them looked like they were going to speak up, but Lt. Anderson led them past her and towards the mechas. A sigh of relief escaped Rosalind and she pulled out her tablet to record her observations.