Cognitive Deviance

43. Rabbit Tracks

June 2, 2045 - 6:25 PM

"This is kinda lame," Holden groaned as he placed another empty pizza box in the bot's hands. "These things can transport food around, but they still need to be guided to the dumpster?"

"Well," Margo replied, adding another box to the stack, "the guys who brought them here did say they were new. It's not like they would instantly know their way around here."

"They have the most advanced GPS tech in the world. They could find an aluminum can at the bottom of the Delaware River if it weren't for the fact they're not waterproof."

Before he could add another remark, Margo flashed him a deadly glare. He gathered his thoughts together and said, "The circuitry, I mean. The bots themselves are totally waterproof."

"Just help me get these bots out to the dumpster," she groaned. She pressed a button on the back of the bot, and a flash of green light engulfed her. The bot rotated in place until it faced Margo, the camera following her every move.

"Something wrong?" Holden asked as she repeated her steps, activating his bot as well. The two of them marched out into the hallway, and they looked back as their bots tailed behind them like obedient dogs.

"Not much. Just—"

The two of them froze in place, their eyes locked on Principal Zhang leaning against the corridor wall all alone. The poor woman looked like an old dishrag. Dark bags hung underneath her eyes, and she seemed to have given up on making her hair appear presentable for her coworkers and students. Everything about her reeked of defeat and sadness. Margo and Holden caught her in the middle of sneaking a drag off an e-cigarette, and her hands shook like a motor as she tried shoving it back into her coat.

"Y'know, those aren't very healthy, ma'am," Margo said. "Normally I mind my own business when discussing someone's personal habits as long as they're harmless, but—"

"Then maybe you and the rest of Psychwatch should keep doing that," Zhang hissed, refusing to look Margo in the eye.

Shocked but otherwise understanding, Margo kept her mouth shut as she proceeded down the hall with her bot. Holden, however, would have none of that. "What's with the attitude?" he asked her in an ironic display of attitude himself.

Margo felt like her heart had suddenly stopped. She nervously turned her head back toward her younger colleague, wishing she could drag him down the hall by his collar.

"Mr. Sanger," Zhang explained, obviously restraining herself, "if you were attending this school, you wouldn't be here any longer after showing me attitude like this. And since I'm aware which organization you work for, I would like to politely insist that you mind your own business and be a good example for the rest of your colleagues to follow."

"You can't do that," Holden snapped. "You'd only be able to suspend me."

"I'm the principal here. I can do whatever I want with my school."

"Well, we're Psychwatch! We can do whatever the fuck we want, too. Except bring people back from the dead. And I say that because I know that's exactly what you were about to say next."

Zhang still refused to look at Holden in the eye, most likely ashamed of being put in her place by someone she'd see in a classroom. However, Margo was relieved to see that the two of them had calmed down, even though she knew the melancholy that had come over them wasn't any better. "You guys get asked that a lot, don't you?" Zhang said somberly.

"A little too much actually," Margo replied. "I'm really sorry for your losses, Miss Zhang. We're doing everything we can to help."

"I hope so." Zhang paused. She wanted to take another puff, but her conscience overpowered her this time. "I could use someone right now."