Little Maids, All in a Row

Posted on Wed 6th Jun, 2018 @ 6:31pm by Lieutenant Damion Ildaran

1,295 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Brushfires
Location: Deck 1548, empty warehouse space
Timeline: MD 18

Traveling from Deck 600 to Deck 1548 was an interesting experience for Jade. In some ways, it was like leading a group of children, but extremely bright children. The six humaniforms had been out in the promenade with Serena and Jenna to shop for clothing, but hadn't chosen to go anywhere on their own yet.

This was a completely different sort of trip. The tram and the people on the tram fascinated them. Then riding the turbolift up from Deck 1550 in Tivoli Gardens was another experience, not to mention their brief view of the Gardens! When Jade finally led them into the space that would become a repair shop, she was laughing at something Podkayne said. She saw Durant waiting for them and stepped over to offer her hand.

"Ah, Mr. Durant. Here we are, as promised. Are you ready for my staff?" Lantz asked.

Damion shook Jade Lantz' hand and blinked at the six--bots? They looked quite human to him, and they certainly had more personality than he'd been led to expect; he'd heard their conversation all the way down the corridor.

"Yes, Ma'am, I'm ready to meet them," Damion said. "Please introduce us."

Jade turned to the humaniform robots and said, "Why don't you introduce everyone, Daneel."

Olivaw nodded and put a hand on his chest. "I'm officially R. Daneel Olivaw, but I mostly answer to Daneel, occasionally Mr. Olivaw." He pointed to each of the others in turn, from closest to him to farthest away. "Podkayne Mars, Gladia Delmarre, Elijah Baley, Hari Seldon, and lazy one on the end is Arkady Darrell. Don't give him anything complicated to do." A faint smile touched his lips and he winked at Jade.

She grinned back at him, ecstatic that he had displayed humor! This must be what a proud mother feels like, she thought.

The level of personality and humanity in them astounded Damion. He wished, more than anything at that moment, that he could talk to Elizabeth and have one of their conversations. There were so many philosophical and practical implications inherent in these people.

He turned to the six. "Good morning. I'm very glad to meet you all, and I thank you for considering the job I'd like to offer you. I don't believe in standing on formality among co-workers, so you are welcome to call me Corin if you like, or Mr. Durant, if you feel more comfortable being formal. I will soon be opening a repair shop for home and business appliances in this space. Most of the work will be done wherever the customers are, but some more detailed work will be carried out here." He gave the group a wry smile. "Your mission, should you decide to accept it, will be to clean this area so that the builders can come in and construct the shop. Once they're done, I would be glad of any help you might be able to provide with moving furniture and tools into specific places in the shop. The floor area is 50 square meters, with walls three meters high. Once the build-out is complete, if any of you want to continue doing cleaning work here, you're welcome to.

"As you can see, this place is covered in dust and cobwebs. I'll need the floor vacuumed and the walls and floor scrubbed down, and cobwebs removed from the ceiling. I propose to pay you all 15 credits an hour to do this."

The group conferred with each other, mostly to have consensus that everyone wanted to do this job. They weren't at a point where someone wanted to go off and do something else, but Jade had taught them that, while they were sticking together, everyone needed to be consulted and everyone needed to agree on what they would do.

Podkayne nodded once and stepped forward slightly. "We are agreed. We will take the job. What is your time frame, and do you want any decorating tips? Gladia has picked up many ideas in her research and would be happy to assist you in that."

"Decorating?" Damion thought about that. "I hadn't really considered it, but where I come from we aren't much into that in our public spaces. I would be interested to hear what ideas you have, Gladia. In fact, I'll show you the proposed floor plan and what sort of furnishings I'll use here. See if you can develop a layout for efficient work-flow. If you can design a logo for Durant Repair Services, that would be good, too. That would go on uniforms, the sign out front, and on company letterhead."

Gladia spoke up for herself, since this was directed toward her. "I'm willing to take a look and see if anything pops into my head." She cast a quick glance at Lantz to confirm that she'd used the right term, and Jade gave her a subtle nod.

"Then when would you like us to start?" Podkayne asked. "Will we be working when you are here, or when you aren't?"

"Well," Damion said, "I had originally planned to clean alongside you. My shop, my responsibility, you know. But with six of you here, I don't think it's necessary for me to clean along with you, and I suspect I'd just get in your way. You all probably have an established way of doing things together, having worked at Orchids and Jazz for a while. So I will turn my attention to other tasks that I need to work on, and I'll leave the six of you to it. I'll have a communicator on me if you need to talk to me, but you all seem quite able to handle the job yourselves. Just let me know when you start and when you finish, and keep me apprised if there are any problems. I'll have the cleaning supplies delivered here by 0800 tomorrow, and you can begin at that time." He paused. "Do you all eat lunch?"

Arkady spoke up, without stepping forward. "We do, when it's available. Energy conversion, you know."

"All right, then. Do you like pizza?"

"I do!" Elijah said, and Hari was right on his heels with the same response. Podkayne nodded. "I think we all like it well enough, but some of us like it more than others," she said. "My favorite is pepperoni with pineapple, but the boys," she jerked her thumb over her shoulder at Baley and Seldon, "like some nasty fish thing ... what's it called again, Miss Lantz?"

"Mmm ... anchovies?" Jade hazarded a guess.

"Right, anchovies. Sounds like it should have roots, doesn't it?"

Seldon spoke up, "Will we need a code or a key to get inside in the morning?"

"I'll order us some pizza for lunch, then," Damion said. "I'll be joining you." He made notes on his PADD of what sorts of pizzas people preferred and then glanced at Hari. "No, you won't need anything to get in. I'll come by and unlock the place, since I need to be here early, anyway, to ensure the cleaning supplies arrive on time. I'll just come back once you're done and lock it up then."

He looked at them all. "Are there any other questions I can answer for you?"

The humaniforms looked at one another, communicating in their silent shorthand this time. They didn't glance at Jade, and she was glad, because their decisions were their own. After a few moments, Daneel Olivaw turned to Mr. Durant. "I believe we know what we need to know, thank you. We'll be here at eight hundred hours tomorrow."

"Excellent. And I thank all of you for your help. See you tomorrow," Damion said as the six--androids? He felt they looked too human to be called robots--headed back to the turbolift with Jade Lantz.

 

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