chapter 29
TEAM 3, YEAR: 2095
Time Remaining: 144 Days
Logan returned to the Motor Skills lab after scavenging around the cafeteria for any scrap of food—an apple, a two-day-old sandwich—anything to silence the growling, ravenous dogs that had taken up residence in his stomach. To his surprise, he found Delaney in the lab, standing in front of one of the CI screens.
“Working late again?” Delaney asked.
Logan returned to his desk as his stomach barked out in protest. “Well, as it turns out I have two workaholic brothers, and I’ve got some stuff I could catch up on.”
Delaney looked at him, one eyebrow raised. “Wow! Is Party-time Logan Grayson shifting his priorities?” She looked back appraisingly at the oversized screen and drummed her fingers on her crossed arms.
Logan focused on the robot head lying on his desk, trying to remember where he had left off. The access panel had been removed and the contents of the metallic skull lay beside it, lined up in neat, precise rows. Surrounding this organized arrangement of very expensive robot parts were disorganized piles of tools and spare parts. In the air above his desk hung a three-dimensional, exploded schematic view of the robot’s head. Using his hand, he reached out to the schematic like it was something tangible and rotated his hand ninety degrees counter-clockwise. The technical illustration pivoted in the air and the orientation of the skull now matched that of the parts lying on his desk. He held both his hands in front of him like he was holding an imaginary basketball then pulled them further apart. The schematic grew larger in front of him. Reaching out again, he grasped at the illustration of the robot’s head and turned it to see the underside of the skull, then lost his train of thought. Through the semi-transparent illustration of the schematics, Logan watched Delaney standing at the screen across the lab and thought about how she seemed to have loosened up a bit over the last several months. He thought it suited her. Delaney had noticed how, over the last several months, Logan had begun taking things more seriously. She was shocked.
“Are you going to be here for a bit?” Delaney asked.
“Yeah, a couple of hours at least.”
She pointed to the screen. “Do you want to get in on this?”
Logan looked from her to the screen, so large that even from across the room, he could see she was ordering Chinese food. Logan’s mouth watered seeing the pictures of egg rolls, lemon chicken and fried rice.
“Definitely.” He joined her in front of the screen. Images of food changed as Delaney scrolled through the menu, the lemon chicken was replaced by an equally delicious picture of beef and broccoli.
Standing beside Delaney, Logan could not help but notice how good she smelled. Unsure if it was perfume, shampoo or one of the million other fragrant things that women seemed to wear, he found the fresh scent intoxicating.
“Earth to Logan,” said Delaney. She waved her hand in front of his face and he came back from wherever his mind had just gone. She chuckled at him. “I said, what did you want to order?”
Logan returned to his work station and Delaney busied herself in her office while they waited for their food to arrive. It seemed like no time had passed before the delivery robot floated into the lab.
Delaney emerged from her office with her credit keys in hand. An arrow and the words, “Pay Here” flashed and blinked like a gaudy, illuminated sign from an all-night roadside diner. The arrow pointed to an assortment of different shaped holes and she inserted her V-shaped key into the corresponding slot to pay by Visa. As she withdrew her key, the door on the front of the robot opened and wisps of steam escaped. A tray slid forward, presenting her order. She removed it, closed the compartment door and pressed the “Finished” button. A tinny, robotic voice said, “Thank you for ordering from China Moon,” with a Chinese-English accent, and it zipped out the lab door toward the delivery bot entrance.
The conversation over dinner surprised both Logan and Delaney. There was an ease between them that neither one had anticipated and they continued talking long after they had finished eating. They discussed the progress of the project and the performance of their division against some of the others in the project. They talked about their educations and the schools they attended, and everything else from their childhoods to their favourite meals. Delaney realized that she had told Logan more about herself in the last two and a half hours than she had ever told anyone in her life.
Logan was surprised to learn how different their lives had been. He had siblings and she was an only child. He had been wildly popular and she was the nerdy science girl who got heckled daily. Popularity had made his life easier and things had come so effortlessly to him, whereas Delaney struggled for everything. Logan had never taken anything too seriously and life had rewarded him with reasonable success, so he never saw any reason to work harder, whereas Delaney worked her ass off for every success she achieved. Logan felt like he understood her better. Who she was made so much more sense to him. He found that once she got out of work mode, she was far more laid back than he had given her credit for. In fact, he found her to be surprisingly funny with razor-sharp wit. When Logan admitted these thoughts to her, she said her meddling university friend was the one to thank and that she was enjoying the healthier work-life balance.
“We’ve been trying to get that through Spencer’s head for years,” laughed Logan.
“He’d better watch it. One day he’ll wake up and he’ll be in his very late thirties with a great career but not a lot of anything else.”
Logan was impressed by everything he had learned about Delaney, however, it left her feeling exposed—like she had talked too much. She smiled awkwardly and stood to gather the empty cardboard food containers. Sensing her discomfort, Logan changed the conversation by opening his fortune cookie. He read it aloud. “He who can laugh at himself will never run out of things to laugh at.”
“I think they specifically had you and your brother in mind when they wrote that one.” She walked across the room and deposited the garbage in the recycle bot. When the lid closed, she heard the hydraulic stamper compress the cardboard. She returned to where they sat, picked up her fortune cookie and cracked it in half. “I always get the most ridiculous fortunes. They never make any sense.”
“Let’s see,” said Logan. He stood beside her to read it over her shoulder. She pulled the strip of paper from the cookie. It was blank. She turned it over and it, too, was blank.
“Uh-oh. That can’t be good. What does it mean when you have no fortune?” Delaney laughed, her track record of bizarre fortunes remained unblemished.
“I think,” Logan said, taking the piece of paper out of her hand and grabbing a pen off the desk, “it means that you get to make your own fortune.” He leaned over the table as he wrote on the tiny piece of paper then handed it to her.
She took it from him and read it aloud. “In your future, you will take a chance on something.”
Delaney looked at the paper quizzically as Logan leaned in and kissed her. Her surprise evaporated quickly and it was replaced by pleasant curiosity. Logan wrapped his arm around her, pulled her closer to him and gently caressed her cheek. After a few moments, they broke apart. Their eyes met and they shared a meaningful look, then Delaney’s eyes darted away nervously. An awkward pause followed. Logan worried that, what had seemed like a brilliant, spontaneous idea just a moment ago, may have crossed a line. Delaney knew she had crossed a line, but what troubled her more, was that she had enjoyed it. Immensely.
Words tumbled from Logan’s mouth, desperate to fill the silence. “Wow, look at the time, I mean, really, look at it. We’ve been talking for hours. I guess you probably want to get going?”
Delaney looked at her watch. “Yes, I suppose I should.” She hesitated, feeling as though she should say something further to clarify her feelings, but could not find the words. Instead, she went to her office and grabbed her bag and jacket. She hesitated at the lab door, looked back at Logan and smiled.
“It was nice chatting with you Logan. Thank you.”
“Anytime!” As he said it, he knew it came out with far too much exuberance. He flashed her a smile and hoped it did not look as awkward as it felt.
Logan forced himself to shift his focus back to work. He picked up his tri-hex tool and tried to fit the re-designed CTU into the skull, but his mind skipped like a record to Delaney and the kiss. After fifteen minutes of futility, he put the tools down, collected his things and left.
As Logan rounded the corner of the dimly lit parking lot, he saw someone standing by the driver side door of his truck. Thinking he was watching his truck getting broken into, he kicked himself for parking in such a poorly lit space. His truck was nothing fancy but getting broken into meant a hassle with his insurance company. He noticed the thief’s slim, feminine figure and realized quickly it was Delaney. As he approached, she gave him a small smile and the look in her eyes said everything that she could not before. Logan rushed to her side, pulled her close and kissed her again.
Delaney felt Logan press her back against his truck door. Her heart raced and her mind was foggy. No one had ever had this effect on her. He made her feel alive, attractive and electric. She pulled him as close to her as she could. After a minute or so they broke away with none of the awkwardness of before.
“I was worried that you regretted kissing me,” said Logan. He kissed her forehead softly.
She rested her head on his shoulder as they embraced. “I thought you did, too.”
Logan shook his head. “Never. Do you want to go for a coffee?” He was unsure of where the night’s activities were leading and felt this suggestion made no presumptions. He wanted to spend more time with her, not caring what they did, as long as he could be with her.
“I had something different in mind…” Delaney pulled him closer by his belt buckle. Logan smiled and kissed her again as he fumbled at the driver’s door.