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“It’s all good.” Nadia helped Margaret to her feet. “Still…we should probably go out the back.”
* Aka pierogi, an Eastern European dumpling.
† Stuffed cabbage, way more delicious than it sounds.
* Napkin
* English is a terrible language, as an aside. With its “read”s and “read”s and “lead”s and “lead”s, it’s a wonder anyone ever learns it or understands what anyone is talking about. Nadia found it far inferior to Russian. But what could you do.
“VERA, how many of you are currently online?” Nadia asked. She leaned back in her desk chair and spun a pencil between her fingers—left, then right, then left, then right.
“Twenty-five thousand seven hundred and twenty-seven, currently,” VERA responded. “Our soft launch is going very well.”
“Good, that’s good,” Nadia said absently. “And how many active users?”
“Twenty-five thousand six hundred and four,” the holo responded evenly.
“Okay,” Nadia said. “Let’s run a sim. Show me—”
Nadia was interrupted by something falling over in the lab outside. She launched herself up from her chair and bolted into the lab—she thought there wasn’t anyone in here except for her. A.I.M. spies? The creepy-eyed flash mob? It could be—
But it wasn’t. Instead, Nadia found Shay and Ying giggling next to a lab table, a broken set of beakers shattered around their feet. It reminded Nadia of Priya’s shop door, if Priya’s shop door had been broken by two girls awkwardly making out on top of it.
“Oh!” Ying giggled harder on seeing Nadia. She giggled. Had Ying ever giggled?! “We thought we were the only ones here.”
“Oh my gosh, Nadia.” Shay couldn’t even look at her. “I’m so sorry!”
Nadia shook her head. She was getting pretty tired of this whole lovesick-teenagers thing, but what was she supposed to do? She wasn’t their mom. They could do what they wanted. Even if it was awkwardly making out on a lab table instead of using that time and energy for something actually useful. But, you know, Nadia thought. At least they’re in the lab, for once.
“We’ll clean it up,” Shay offered quickly, gingerly stepping over the mess to find the nearest gloves and broom.
“Sorry,” Ying repeated. She was bright red. Nadia tried to stay mad—she really did—but she was so happy to see Shay and Ying in the lab again, regardless of the circumstances, that she couldn’t help but laugh. She might not have understood the appeal of make-outs and she might have missed having her friends around, but Ying and Shay seemed happy—happier than she’d seen them in ages. And that was what really mattered.
“Just give me some sort of make-out heads-up next time if you’re going to break anything,” Nadia said, grabbing a second broom and dustpan. “I thought you were A.I.M.”
“Did you hear about the riot at Times Square?” Shay asked while sweeping.
“I was there,” Nadia confirmed. She had to stop herself from adding Which you would have known if you’d been around more, lately. “And that’s not even the strangest thing I’ve seen this week.”
“I wish we led lives where that would be considered surprising,” Ying said dryly.
“Priya’s really making progress with her…you know…” Nadia waved her dustpan in the air, searching for the right English word. She couldn’t find it. “Rasteniye koldovstvo?”
“Plantcraft,” Ying supplied. “Good! Maybe she can choke us all with vines and release us from the sweet torture that is this mortal existence.”
Nadia and Shay stared at her.
“Kidding!” Ying burst out laughing. “You should have seen your faces.”
“I love you but I am definitely afraid of your sense of humor,” said Shay, shaking her head and carrying glass to the nearest safe disposal.
“Listen, Nadia,” Ying said a little awkwardly. Nadia recognized Ying’s non-apology apology face. “We were going to watch Independence
Day tonight. You will love this one. There’s a floppy-haired nerd and a cool pilot and they kill aliens using a DOS computer virus. It’s nonsense. Watch it with us?”
Nadia hesitated. She missed her friends, but…
“I can’t,” Nadia said. “I’m sorry, I’m working on Like Minds.”
