The mess hall had just barely opened and there were plenty of seats for the large group. They all grabbed their food from the line and sat down. Rosalind was worried about whether she was even going to be able to eat since she was having trouble at lunch. Luckily, Lt. Martinez was chatty so she could slowly eat her food without forcing her anxiety induced unwilling stomach too much.

            “So, where’s Lt. Lee? You said you would bring him?” Lt. Martinez asked.

            “In the last two days, I’ve learned that he’s a workaholic and is just using me to get more work done. I think he’s still with the Major,” Rosalind exclaimed.

            “Haha. It’s funny that you say that. I think Lt. Smith is the real workaholic, I haven’t seen him since he was with, the Major to welcome me to the base.”

            “Ah, same here.” Rosalind chuckled with a small smile. All the pilots seemed to have been paying special attention to her and noticed her slight change in demeanor causing them to pause their conversations and look her way. She noticed that the table was quiet so she stole a glance at them, but they pretended nothing had happened and resumed their conversations.

            “What was it like being a Mecha Child?” Lt. Martinez asked rather loudly causing all who heard to quiet down and listen in.

            “It – It was good?”

            “Why is that a question?”

            “Well, I don’t know; the program was like an orphanage for me. My parents sold me to the military. And I haven’t seen them since.”

            “Oh. I didn’t know.”

            “It’s okay, most people think I was a military brat because most children in the program were from military families.”

            “Well how was working with your mecha?”

            “That was the best part. He was the only one I could talk to about everything since no one offered to emotionally connect with me. And he also protected me when I began having fainting spells.”

            “How does he talk to you?”

            “I hear his voice in my head.”

            After Rosalind had finished her reply to a thought suddenly popped into her head.

            ‘How did Lt. Anderson know what Bleu had told her? Did Bleu deliberately let him hear what he said to me?’

            All these questions annoyed Rosalind and it upset her that she couldn’t get answers. But she could eliminate other answers by asking Lt. Martinez general questions.

            “Do you know of any pilots that were Mecha Children?” Rosalind asked.

            “No, I don’t. I don’t think they’re old enough to pilot. It’s surprising that you are able to work near mecha considering how they shut down the Mecha Child program.”

            “Ah, yes. As far as I know. I am the oldest Mecha Child. But I worked hard to become a scientist, just to get a chance to see the mecha from my childhood.”

            “Well, you made it! And you were even able to save us from our comas! How’d you even manage that?”

            “I just talked to the mecha. I tried to explain why your flight exercises aren’t completed in the way that a mecha would determine as optimal. But it was you all that worked towards getting released. Bl … I mean the mecha told me that you figured out who your natural leader was, Lt. Anderson, and that was the real reason for your release. Aren’t you briefed on any of this?”

            “Ah. Not yet. So much has happened that they decided not to brief us until we are cleared for duty.”

            “Oh. I see. That makes sense. Anyways, thanks for arranging this. I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye.”

            Rosalind who realized that Lt. Martinez, the other pilots, and a few other military members who were listening in on the conversation, were the only people still gathered at the mess hall just before it closed. She quickly stood up and walked towards the exit with her tray. She dropped off the tray and then walked out of the mess hall by herself. Sigh after sigh escaped her as she walked back to her office to collect her backpack. Then when she made it outside, she finally felt as though she could breathe. A warm and gentle wind was blowing through her long hair as she let it out of her ponytail to relieve the tension on her scalp. At that moment she felt giddy, like something big was going to happen and she was going to be a big part of it.

            At home Rosalind, who was beyond tired, plopped into her bed unable to remove a single article of clothing before falling asleep. She wasn’t met with a dream and with a full night’s sleep she woke feeling refreshed. This was an eerie feeling as she couldn’t remember the last time, she felt like this. Her life had always, up until these last few days, been hard work that other people had requested of her. She was still a cog in the military, even as a civilian, but with the recent events she finally felt that this is where she should be, that it was okay to be this particular cog, supported by Reef 6’s cogs.

            Rosalind’s first week at the base ended with her hiding out in her office attempting to process three times the amount of information that a mecha scientist usually gets. It was Friday and she still hadn’t finished compiling the information for the two mechas that belonged to the base. She was beginning to worry that if she didn’t finish the other mecha’s data before they left, she was going to get severely reprimanded.

            “Grrr, I’m going to have to stay during the weekend to get as much of this finished as I can!” Rosalind screamed at the computer screen in front of her. She slammed her fits on either side of the keyboard. After a quick breathing exercise, she resumed her work. At the moment she had finished Bleu’s workup, it was easier because she had manually collected the information and it wasn’t convoluted with the pilot’s parameters, which she was bummed that she was going to have to collect eventually. Catherine’s data would be done by the end of today and at the rate Rosalind was going, which was one mecha per day, she would be done end of Tuesday.

            ‘Maybe, I should ask Major Green if I could just send the other mecha’s data over to their scientists and have them analyze it?’

            She sent an email to Major Green, and he said sending the data over would be fine, and that she shouldn’t worry too much about the other base’s mecha, especially since they would be leaving soon. He was requesting that she make sure to get Lt. Anderson’s results, before Monday.

            “What!” Rosalind screamed again.

            There was still time left in the day for Rosalind to get the results, and then analyze them over the weekend. She grabbed her lab coat and tablet and rushed into the tower next door. Lt. Anderson was sitting in a chair in front of the bridge to the mecha’s chest access point. When he looked up to see who was huffing and puffing despite coming off of an elevator Rosalind diverted her eyes from his face.