Full Circle

Chapter 3

"Morning, partner," Otto called as he danced into the room with his signature drink (chocolate milk) already in hand. Olive lifted her eyes from the files her assistants had sorted for her review.

Three.

Otto removed his earbuds.

Two.

He reached for the purple octagonal docking station.

One.

Olive smiled just a bit as...

Zero.

Otto, instead of plugging in his OddPod, dropped it on the floor.

"Wha? Where is...?" Otto stammered as his eyes locked on Olive's. "Olive, where did you put my docking station?"

Olive reached for her remote. "Otto, Otto, we need to have a talk," she pressed a button, making a picture appear on the screen behind her, "or the docking station gets it."

Otto gasped. "Not the volcano room!"

"Oh yes, the volcano room! Otto, you have played that infernal Soundcheck song day in and day out since we got back to earth AND singlehandedly caused one of the most embarrassing moments of my life!"

Otto's face fell. "Oh my goodness. You were with him, weren't you? I mean, he heard...?"

Olive put her head in her hands. "You know it wasn't a date, Otto."

"Of course, I was just teasing you, but I didn't know that he was listening! How, um, did he respond? I-if you don't mind my asking."

"Well, we...had a talk. You know, about our relationship, and our friendship." She could read the question in Otto's eyes and shook her head. "No, we're not back together. I told you, Otto, we're just friends. Good friends. Now," she proclaimed, forcefully changing the subject, "if you ever want to see your precious docking station again, you have to promise not to play any one Soundcheck song more than twice each day."

"Okay, okay!" he said as he lunged for the remote.

"Uh uh uh, promise."

"I promise! But please don't incinerate my docking station! Music is like my blood, and my docking station is like the heart that keeps the music pumping through—"

"I get it, I get it! Just go get your speakers!" she laughed, tossing him the remote as he sprinted for the door. "And Otto!" His head poked back into the office. "Could you cover for me Tuesday afternoon? I'm going...out."

Otto smiled. "Sure, Ms. O."

* * * * *

"It's all in the angle, Oscar. Anyone can do it," Oprah explained, deftly splitting a board in two. "Your turn."

Oscar stared at the solid piece of pine. "Oprah, heh, don't you think that maybe I should try something easier first? Maybe some Styrofoam, or balsa wood, or...?" The small girl silenced him with a single look as she crushed a cinder block. "Okay, fine, I'll try it!" The scientist examined the board, carefully noting weak points and making calculations. "You can do this," he whispered to himself, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Oprah cocked her hip and raised an eyebrow. "Not if you keep overthinking it."

"It's science, mass and acceleration and pressure, I can just—"

"Oscar! What are you waiting for? Go!"

Oscar closed his eyes, pulled his fist back, and thrust it forward. A loud snap echoed around the room.

"See Oscar, I knew you could do it!" Oprah cheered. Oscar opened and closed his fist, shaking it out a few times.

"Aah, that wasn't the board, that was my hand!"

"Nope," she smiled, holding up two splintered pieces of wood. "That was the board."

"Oprah, I'm pretty sure at least part of it was my hand."

She shook her head and laughed. "Come on, there's a smoothie place down the street, my treat for breaking your first board."

"Do they have ice packs?" Oprah rolled her eyes and dragged him through the door. "What I don't understand, though, is how on earth did Otto learn how to do that when he became Mr. O? I mean, he's seriously one of the least athletic people I know, even less than me, heh!"

That's because you've been working out to impress Olive for the last fourteen years, Oprah thought. Well, however much as doing Wii Sports for eight of those years counts as a workout. "I'm not sure, you'd have to ask Olive. Technically she was already a fully qualified Ms. O by the time they left, so we left Otto's training up to her and O'Quinncy," she explained, then winced. "In hindsight, leaving O'Quinncy in charge of training may have been a bad idea..."

Oscar's eyebrows raised at the thought. "I am definitely going to have to ask Olive about that."

"Speaking of Olive, how did, ahem, 'hanging out' go yesterday?"

Oscar tried to glare at her air quotes, but couldn't help smiling just a little. "It went well, I-I mean I think it went well. Really well. We hadn't talked much since she left. So, yeah." He tugged at the cuffs of his lab coat and cleared his throat. "A-anyways, it was good to see her again, we talked about...things. Our new offices and jobs and uniforms and stuff. Well, her new uniform, mine is the same. And made plans to hang out more often than we had been, just as friends of course."

"Of course." She looked off into the distance, lost in thought. "Give it time, Oscar, she's busy right now. She has a new schedule, new role, new friends. Becoming Ms. O is like taking on a whole new life." Everything changes.

"I imagine. I mean, becoming President of the Scientists hasn't exactly been a picnic, heh."

She smiled at him. "And you're doing a wonderful job of not trying to take over the world."

He gave a mock evil laugh. "Or am I?"

"Pfft, with that evil laugh? Oh yeah, you're doing a good job." She laughed, ushering him through the smoothie shop's door. "Now what are you waiting for? Order your smoothie and ice pack!"