The pilots dispersed returning to their hideouts in the towers housing their mechas. When Lt. Martinez and Rosalind arrived at the couch where they met, Rosalind thought Lt. Martinez was going to stay there and return to what he was doing before their excursion. Instead, Lt. Martinez had decided to escort Rosalind. He sensed how anxious she was from her body position, which went from relaxed one moment ago to tensed. She was even clutching her tablet to her chest, rather than loosely in her hand, held up between her forearm and hip.

            “I’ll walk you to your office. As I’m stationed at this base, I should probably know where to find you if I need you.”

            “Ah, haha. That’s a good idea,” Rosalind nervously chuckled at his suggestion. She knew he could tell she was uncomfortable having to pass through the next tower to get back to the main building.

            “But since we are going through here, we should see if we can find Lt. Anderson.”

            “Why!?” Rosalind’s face became white, and she began to take a step back from Lt. Martinez.

            “Because if we find him, you’ll know where he likes to hang out and you can be sure to avoid him coming to visit me! Just kidding, but it would be good for you to know, and also, I want to tell him our dinner plans.”

            Rosalind took a second to think about this. She didn’t want to see Lt. Anderson, and she thought that if Lt. Martinez knew where he liked to hang out, he could just tell her. He was trying to get her accustomed to being around Lt. Anderson. This was also her goal, it was the reason why she pushed herself to see all the other pilots today, to gauge her ability to interact with them. She learned that they were low on her totem pole of scary, but Lt. Anderson was still at the top, but slowly coming down as her brain wrapped itself around reality.

            “Alright. Might as well,” Rosalind replied sounding a tad depressed.

            “Okay.”

            Rosalind followed closely behind Lt. Martinez, who had taken the lead to find Lt. Anderson. They first went up to the floor allowing access to the center of the mecha’s chest and didn’t find him. Then they worked their way down to the other access point floors and still couldn’t find Lt. Anderson.

            “Maybe he was requested somewhere else? Anyways, I’ve wasted a bunch of your time. I’ll let Lt. Anderson know about dinner and you contact Lt. Lee.”

            “Okay. See you.”

            Rosalind watched Lt. Martinez walk around Bleu to the other side and disappear into one of the many doors. Since she had cleared a lot of the building, she thought it was safe to speak to Bleu for a minute before returning to her desk.

            “Hi, Bleu.”

            He didn’t reply. Rosalind always thought that this sort of interaction was comical because it was like you were talking to your imaginary friend as an adult.

            “Thank you for your help today, with the other mechas and their pilots.”

            “You should go, you need to eat.”

            “I know, I know. I’m going to eat in less than 30 minutes. I’ll see you later. Bye.”

            Rosalind turned to leave the tower. She grabbed the door handle to exit the walkway when she saw a shadow approach hers on the door. She turned around immediately and found a man standing behind her. Too terrified to see his face, she confirmed it was Lt. Anderson, by reading his tag on his uniform.

            “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to walk you back to your office, because of what the mecha said.”

            Rosalind couldn’t reply verbally and her whole body was shaking. This was the first time that she had been alone with Lt. Anderson since she was attacked. Lt. Anderson could see she was terrified, so he stepped back slowly to the railing. The distance helped, but the fact that he was capable of moving away from her aided the unraveling of the idea that he was an unthinking and dangerous person.

            “I – I can walk back by myself,” Rosalind replied with her hand still on the doorknob. She still hadn’t moved a muscle because she felt that would somehow make her a target to attack.

            “I’ll just make sure you’re okay from this distance. I won’t get any closer.”

            “O-okay,” Rosalind said rather forcefully. She quickly opened the door and walked through the maze to her office, all the while not looking back for Lt. Anderson. When she made it to her office, she hid in her secret spot and immediately contacted Lt. Lee, who blabbered excuses about not making it to dinner, which gave her an anxiety attack. She was already running on low and when she stood up to sit in her office chair, she could see Lt. Anderson fiddling with something in his hands while leaning on the wall through her office windows.

            Rosalind slid back off her chair and contacted Lt. Martinez.

            “Lt. Martinez?”

            “What? Where are you, we are all heading for dinner, but I couldn’t find Lt. Anderson.”

            “Could you come to my office please?”

            “Why is it an emergency?”

            “Yes.”

            “Okay, I’ll be there.”

            “Thanks.”

            Rosalind could hear a small commotion of greetings outside of her office. She slowly popped back onto her chair and peered through the glass. Lt. Martinez and the other pilots were greeting Lt. Anderson. They all seemed to be surprised that he was standing in the hallway. Then Rosalind could see it click in Lt. Martinez’s head that Lt. Anderson was the emergency. He walked into the office, after knocking on the door and left everyone else outside.

            “You okay in here?” Lt. Martinez asked with a bit of sarcasm.

            “Yes. Let’s go eat, I’ll pass out again, and then it’ll be the second time today, and the third time this week.”

            “Okay… Are you sure you are healthy? I mean you aren’t sick?” Lt. Martinez asked while Rosalind got up out of her office chair and walked towards him.

            They walked to the door, and then out of the office joining the group of pilots. Lt. Martinez indicated they could now head to the mess hall for dinner and the two carried on with their conversation at the back of the group.

            “It’s just something that always happens when I don’t eat enough or regularly. Honestly, I’m thinking about carrying snacks with me everywhere I go or maybe just glucose tablets, but those aren’t as enjoyable.”

            “Haven’t you had this issue for a long time? Why don’t you already carry around snacks and stuff?”

            “I just moved. I went shopping with Lt. Lee yesterday, but I had so many things I needed to buy I didn’t think about snacks. But back on the main base, I didn’t need things like this to avoid passing out, I was usually okay unless I chose not to eat. These days well there have been circumstances that I couldn’t control.”

            “Ah, yes. I see.”