Van Terra

Chapter Fifty-Eight ~ [ASMR] Building a Robot for the School Science Fair

Science fair prep took place in a large gymnasium. Thea doubted she'd accomplish her full idea in the next few days, but she just needed something to work on while she spied on Jaymes. And she was confident she'd at least finish a prototype.

Thea looked up as Jasper approached her table. "Do you think you could grab me some supplies?" she asked. "I have a list—"

"You're supposed to be talking to Jaymes." Jasper looked at the table next to Thea, where Jaymes was sorting through a box of vials.

Thea waved a hand. "Yeah, yeah, I'm building up to that."

"What are you working on, anyway?" Jasper picked up one of the scraps of metal Thea had snatched from various locations around the school.

"I'm building an android."

"An android? Can you do that in two days?"

"Not a good one, but the prototype of what I've really been wanting to make," Thea told her. "A body for Mia."

"Aww, really?"

Thea had felt a strange connection to the A.I. ever since Jasper rescued her, Holly, and Jax and took them in. She couldn't think of any logical reason for it, so she'd never brought it up. Maybe it was simply her technokinesis.

Thea scooted her chair toward Jaymes. "Excuse me, do you by chance have a marker I could borrow?"

"I think so." Jaymes reached into his bag.

While he dug around, Thea reached for the smartsphere at the edge of his table. Her fingers barely grazed it when he popped back up, marker in hand. She pulled her hand away.

"Ugh," Holly groaned through comms. "I don't know how, but I wound up in fourteen theatre kid group chats. I don't know these people. Or understand their inside jokes. My sphere won't stop buzzing. I'm going to throw it into the fountain in the middle of the foyer."

Thea sighed. "Please don't, I did a lot of modifications on our spheres—"

"Too late. It's in the fountain."