Providence, Somewhere

Past the Vaulted Doors

Jenny walked out of the room that housed the Lamb. Interesting fellow, she thought as she shut the door behind her. The midday sun beamed down onto the pavement; despite this, she noted temperatures were rather comfortable and warm, kinda like a typically sunny day in late May.

What day was it, already? She counted 60 days already since she had arrived in Providence, same time as Eclipsa and Becky. She counted at most 2 people would arrive every other day or so, but after Lapis, there was a lull in newcomers for a week or so until Zelda. This was the most they've had in a while: with WordGirl and Tara's confirmation, there was 5 newcomers now. At the motel, there were just 2 for the time being— Bliss was still out with WordGirl, Baymax was already taken to the clinic by Danny, and Tara confirmed that the newest one—was her name Kim?—was in the forest with her... somehow.

That left her to collect information on the one called N. It seemed like he didn't have much of a name, but she couldn't judge.

Hidden in the shade of the complex of rooms perpendicular to the one she was in was N's room. Jenny approached, knocking politely.

Silence. She considered knocking again until...

"Oh, come on in," said a cheerful voice. "Just make sure to close the door after you."

Jenny entered, shutting the door behind her, as she did with everyone else she's ever interviewed. The room was dark, however, with the blinds and shade shut. The room being in a shaded area made it just about perfectly pitch dark. "Hello? I'm Jenny. I think WordGirl told you about me. I just need to gather a bit of data on you."

With her eyes turning a subtle shade of red, she enabled her darkvision. Yet it didn't seem like anyone was there.

"Yup, she did," N said, the only thing visible in the dark being his eyes, dimly backlighting the screen that is his eyemask. Five dots also were lit up on his head, giving a bit of highlight to his hat and hair. "Excuse me if you can't see much; I'm sensitive to sunlight. I'd open up the blinds some, but it kinda hurts."

"Hurt?" Jenny asked curiously.

N approached just as cautiously. "Funny story, that girl—WordGirl, was it?— she's kinda like that superhero humans once talked about—I think it was Superman? Anyway, I almost died out there and she just swooped up and saved me. Woke up right here after I cooled down enough, which is strange, since no one I personally knew has that capability." He paced around the room occasionally, going on tangent after tangent.

Regardless, Jenny listened, noting some of his physical details as he got close enough. At least she had a bit of an image of him. She noted the yellow cylindrical thing moving nearby him.

"Would artificial light kill you?" Jenny asked.

He paused. "Oh, gosh! Why didn't I think of that? Of course it doesnt; let's light things up!"

Moving over to the bed, she turned on the lamp. It took a bit of readjusting on both their parts (having to disable darkvision), but they got a good look at each other in full lamplight.

"So that's why my sensors didn't recognize you!" he noted. "You're a completely different robot!"

"I was handmade," she said naively, lightly inspecting herself. "I think I have that sticker my mom put on me somewhere. I have to check."

"So you don't work for JCJenson."

"What?"

"Nevermind." He waved his hands dismissively. "I have a teensy, tiny favor to ask, if you can help me out."

Jenny nodded, sitting on the bed. "Anything. What's up?"

"What kind of fuel and hydraulic oil do you use? I'm just curious, just in case I have to hunker down and wait for the inevitable, you know? Since, clearly, there aren't any Worker Drones that can produce the stuff, so I'm left with very little options."