Fen and Mara - Open Novella Contest 2019 Short List

Chapter 2

The white sliding doors are closed hermetically. Mara bashes the button again, the doors don't move an inch. Even when she tries to pry her fingers in the narrow slit between the doors they don't budge. On the wall next to the doors is an intercom with a buzzer; when Mara pushes the small button there's a buzzing sound, yet there's no reply. She presses again, twice, thrice. Only then she hears the voice of her father.
"Yes? Who's there?"

"Dad, it's me. I can't get in. Open the door!" It's silent for a moment, only static on the line. "Dad!"

"Yeah, yeah... hold on." With a click the static noise ceases.

Mara positions herself in front of the doors, shifting her weight from one foot to the other and back. Just when she thinks she has to ring the bell again there's a metal click indicating the unlocking of the doors. She hits the button on the wall and finally the white doors slide open for her.
In front of her is a long corridor, slanting down, with every step Mara disappears deeper underneath the house. Usually the sliding doors aren't locked when Professor Prince is working in his lab; Mara can't remember a time he locked her out when she came over for the weekend.

At the end of the hall there's another set of sliding doors, this ones are made of glass. Mara pushes the button on the wall and the doors slide open, giving her passage to the lab. She walks into a large white room, filled with the most amazing equipment. Xander Prince is standing with his back to her, hunched over a workbench in the middle of the room. Several screens hang from the ceiling, showing schematics and other technical drawings. Mara recognises the design for the XP703, the new robotic vacuum cleaner her dad is working on. Her father just clicks the shell back on the round robot when Mara approaches him. In contradiction to the other robot vacuums this one has a matte camouflage print instead of the usual shiny black or white cover.

"Did the army order a vacuum cleaner?" Mara asks when she's standing next to her dad. He's wearing a white lab coat, like he always does when he's working in the lab.

He shakes his head. "Inside joke of the design team. They're calling the 703 our off roader."

"An outdoor vacuum cleaner?" Mara watches the machine on the workbench incredulously, it reminds her of an armed cookie tin on wheels.

"No, though the 703 can conquer obstacles up to two inches high." Professor Prince puts the vacuum cleaner on the floor, where it rolls once around his legs before setting course to the other end of the lab. Against the wall are a couple of black, flat boxes with blinking red lights. Docking stations, Mara knows well enough. The robot vacuums are programmed to return to their home base whenever they're done with a job or when their battery runs out. Across the floor are some large electric cables, yet the XP703 earns up to his nickname. The machine lifts himself a little off the floor and rolls effortlessly over the chunky cables.

"Did you have a good run?" Mara's father asks, collecting the tools he was using.

Mara nods. "I took a route behind the training fields. It was a good place to run. You really should join me some time, dad!"

Prince shakes his head. "No, running is not for me. Besides, I wouldn't be able to keep up with you, kid!" He ruffles her hair, making even more hairs come loose from her makeshift ponytail, and continues to put away his tools.

Mara strolls through the open space. She is only allowed to come in the main lab, the other rooms are off limits for her. It's because of keeping a sterile and dust free environment, her father explained it when she was younger. The only one who has unlimited access is Professor Prince, not even his assistants have full clearance. Besides, Prince works with his team mostly from a distance, via a high speed video connection between his home lab and the large Robotix labs on the other side of town. Her father owns a large share in the company that distributes his robot vacuums, yet he leaves running the company to other - 'better qualified', in his own words - people.