“What does he want, then?”
Kevin shrugged. “An answer that’ll be more permanent, I guess.”
Taki stared, clearly trying hard not to show the alarm that he just as clearly felt at the way this was starting to sound. “Like what?”
“He doesn’t know.”
A silence fell while they mulled over what had been said, both looking for a constructive continuation and not finding one. Taki unfolded his legs, reached out to pick the mec up off the bench, and turned it over between his fingers, regarding it thoughtfully. “What do you think we should call it?” he asked, looking up. “Now we’re getting it close to working, it ought to get a name to celebrate.”
“I dunno. Any ideas?”
“How about, maybe, Icarus or Orville?”
“I vote for Icarus. It’s got wings.”
“Okay, Icarus it is. Hi, Icarus. Now we have to get the colors right. What colors did Icarus have?”
“I’m not sure. White sheet-things and ballet tunics? You know, Greek kinda stuff.”
The phone rang on the console behind Kevin. “Oh, flip it to speaker mode,” Taki said. “I can’t be bothered to get up.” Kevin turned and pressed a button. “Hello?” Taki said.
The voice of Taki’s older sister, Nakisha, came through, giggling. “It’s your girlfriends in Tacoma.”
“Hey, wait a minute. No. We’re—”
Click. “Hello? Is this Taki?”
“Oh . . . hi, Janna.”
“Hi. Avril’s here with me. She’s helping me paint my room. We just thought we’d give you a call to say what a terrific time we had with you guys over at Kevin’s on Sunday. Those little mecs are absolutely incredible! We haven’t been able to stop talking about them. The things you could do with them are just endless. Your uncle’s got the right idea. They’d be an absolute sensation. There’s no question about it.”
“Well, I’m glad you enjoyed yourselves. . . . It was fun.”
“You sound as if you’re on speaker.”
“That’s right.”
“Your sister said Kevin was there too. Hi, Kev. Are you there? Can you hear me?”
Kevin sent Taki a resigned look. “Hello, Janna. I’m here. Yes, just fine.”
“Wanna say hello to Avril?” Before Kevin could say anything, the voice changed.
“Kevin? Hi, this is Avril.”
“Hi again. Got your balance back yet?”
“Wow! I was beginning to think I’d never walk straight again . . . but it might have been more the boat. Do you know, we had such a good time. And you guys get into such really interesting stuff.”
“Part of the service. We try to please.”
“What do we have to do to borrow a couple of mecs? We could be a real sensation showing something like those around.”
Kevin glanced at Taki and rolled his eyes upward. “I wish it were that easy. You’d need to have the gear to control them, for a start.”
“Okay, I know, I know. Just kidding. Janna wants us to enroll in an electronics basics class next semester. What do you think?”
“Sure, why not? I think it’s a great idea.”
“Would we be up to it?”
“There’s no other way to find out, is there? Go for it. You’d be surprised what you can do. Think positive.”
“Did you do any more yet with those mecs you said you were trying to get to fly?”
“That’s what we’re working on right now.”
“Hey! Can we get to try those too?”
“Well, give us a chance to get it working right first.” Kevin directed what was meant to be an exasperated look at Taki, but Taki was staring fixedly at the shelf where the mecs were and seemed to have floated away on thoughts of his own.
“We’re with this club here that’s having a hike up in the mountains next Saturday,” Avril went on. “And we thought you and Taki might want to come along. I asked the guy who’s organizing it, and he said it would be okay. Do you think you might be able to make it? Do you like going on hikes? We’d really love to have you along.”
“Sure . . . when I can fit them in.” Kevin looked over at Taki again for an input. No response.