Highstrung Robot

Chapter Four: Dangling by a String

"Ugh. Stop trying to tell me what to do, Dad. I'm my own person." She mocked him and pouted at the same time, the waiters and waitresses going around and dropping off the first entree, a risotto with some snow crab on top. The general stood up again, a big holographic board at the front of the table now along with a French representative. "Wǒ kěyǐ xiàng nǐ, bōsī xiānshēng Nathaniel xiānshēng."

Claps were heard among the guest as he nodded his head politely to silence everyone. "Bonjour à tous. Avec l'Association française d'études intergalactiques, nous avons pu créer une mission de sauvetage pour Mars simple et efficace."

The French representative explained their plan while people ate the dishes laid out in front of them. Every so often, someone would pipe in, question a piece of the plan or adding to it. Multiple people had pen and paper out, scribbling words down as he talked and changing things when someone would add their input on what was presented. Adelaide followed along, listening to everyones input respectively while Jake watched with a sour look on his face. He was sitting stiffly, his fingers lightly tapping on the table and his gaze not moving from the representatives face, boring into him.

Suddenly, Addie nudged him a bit to get his attention. "Jake..."

"Hmm?" He responded curtly, not removing his gaze from the man talking at the front.

"The meeting's about to end. Listen, when you go into that room you need to convince Dr. Halloran, he's the French man with the curly blonde hair, to get me on the excavation team." She told him, not breaking her gaze from the front either.

"What? Why?" He asked, looking at her now that the presentation ended. The two men left the front of the room as the board shut off and chatter started up in the room.

"Because he's not going to even think about putting women on the team. You need to convince him." She repeated, turning to face him now.

"If this is your way of getting onto Mars, it's not happening. I'm not letting you go into a deadly situation like that." He said sternly, his eyes looking slightly surprised at the request.

"But you heard the guy! He said safety is their number one priority, so they're gonna do everything they can to keep us safe. Besides, there should be no violence involved, it's just rescuing people. Even guards will be with us the whole time!" She looked up at him intently. "Jake. This may be my only real shot at finding my uncle."

He looked at her with an apologetic look. "Addie, I'm sorry but I'm not going to help get you in there. I don't think it will be as safe as they say, nothing against them, but that's just how it is. I don't want to be the reason you get on that team and have a chance of getting hurt. They have no idea of what those scientists on Mars are doing right now. I do. I'm not letting you go."

"But what if you informed them of what's happening? Then they would be able to adjust the plans accordingly." She tried to convince him of letting her go. "Look, this field, as much as it shouldn't be, is supremely sexist. I have information that they could use, and so do you. We could be major assets to this mission. We could save thousands of lives from MOSQUITO!"

"No, we can't tell them anything about what we know because that will be confessing to the fact that I hacked into their server, illegally might I add, and still have control over it. We may help them, but after it's resolved I, at the very least, will be arrested. I'm not sure what they would do with you, but it's more than likely the same." He said, now lowering his voice even though they won't be heard over the loud buzz of everyone else in the room. "And I don't care about the sexism part of this, sure women can be involved, I don't care about any of them. I care about you and your safety in all of this."