Box

Chapter 3

"Box, why are you glowing dark blue? Is everything okay?" Lee asked it.

Box aimed its main camera at Lee. It wanted to stay at Aydin's side, so it needed to prove itself to him, to show him that it was capable of supplying him with everything that he needed and more. And that 'more' included finding out why Lee had been in the warehouse and learning if her interest in other members' private lives was just part of her natural curiosity or if there was a more menacing motive behind it.

The opportunity presented itself to Box two days later, when Jasmin came to pick up the Helper that Linda had fixed. He had given them apple whiskey as a thank you. From the research on alcohol Box had conducted a year ago when Aydin came home, his cheeks flushed as if he had a fever and his speech slurred when he complimented Box and told it how much he loved it, Box knew that alcohol could lower people's inhibitions. Which was something Box planned to use. That's why when the team decided to have dinner together at the Tower kitchen and try the whiskey then, Box took hold of the bottle and declared it was going to be their server.

They sat around the large table that ran alongside the wall.

Box refused to serve alcohol to Greg and Suzanne, who were on duty, even though Aydin said they could try a small sample. It took care to keep the others' glasses full though, lingering by Lee's side, making sure that her glass wasn't empty. Since it was homemade whiskey, there was no label on it, but Box assumed that the liquor contained 15 percent alcohol. Based on this, and considering that Lee, being a size thirty-six and having just eaten a meal, would need to drink at least four glasses for the alcohol to take effec. She was right now on her second glass, slowly sipping on the whiskey watered down by ice cubes. Greg and Suzanne had left half an hour ago when a couple at the border crossing was stopped by a Helper, since there was something wrong with their visa, and Mark had left a few minutes earlier to dedicate himself to something he was working on in the workshop.

Lee's glass was empty and Box poured another splash of whiskey in it. The kitchen Helper, after Lee requested it, added ice cubes to it.

"Apple whiskey should be drunk as shots like we are drinking it." Jacob lifted a shot glass towards Aydin before he drank it.

"It looks like Box likes you," Linda said to Lee. She also drank the whiskey in a larger glass with ice cubes.

Aydin, who sat beside Linda and across from Lee, glanced up at Box, then at Lee. He smiled at her. "It looks like it, with the way it's hovering beside you and serving you, ignoring me."

I hold significance to Aydin. Confirmation 1570. "I would never ignore you." Box flew to Aydin. It put the bottle on the table and reduced itself, then snuggled itself against Aydin's neck for a few minutes before it was again by Lee's side waiting for her to empty her glass. During the evening, it flew to Aydin a couple of times to press itself against his neck, just so that its handler wouldn't feel too neglected. It could have notified Aydin about its plan to loosen Lee's tongue, but it wanted to surprise him and demonstrate that it could contribute to Aydin's case with more than just its usual tasks of comparisons and analysis.

Two hours later, after the others had gone to sleep, Lee, despite emptying two more glasses, didn't show any signs of lowered inhibitions. She had, when Box wanted to pour whiskey in her glass, covered it with her hand and told it that she had had enough. She had also switched to water and was now sitting beside Aydin, asking him about his previous job and why he had started to work for the Border Police.

She was interrogating Aydin, and with the way Box's handler was happily answering, it looked like he hadn't even noticed it. There was just a hint of a blush at the bridge of his nose and there was an absent smile lingering in the corners of his mouth, which told Box that he was just two more shots away from being drunk. That was why Box refused to serve him more liquor when Aydin lifted the glass.