Chapter 8 · Continued
The Accident
“Seriously,” she muttered, “we aren’t telling them about this.”
Cam didn’t respond.
It wasn’t a question.
When the glue had set, Jane leaned back and inspected the repair.
“Okay… that might pass.”
She picked up the auditory cover next. After aligning it with the opening, she tightened the tiny screws and applied gentle pressure around the edge.
“There. Try not to lose that again.”
“I will attempt to retain all components,” Cam replied.
Jane snorted. “Yeah. Let’s aim for that.”
She stepped back and narrowed her eyes at the dent.
“…And now you.”
Jane opened her makeup kit.
Cam watched her. “What are you doing?”
“Covering your battle damage.”
She dabbed concealer over the scuffed area surrounding the dent, carefully blending it into the color of his casing. It couldn’t remove the indentation, but it made the damage less obvious from the front.
Jane adjusted the color, stepped back, and tilted her head.
“Okay… that’s actually not terrible.”
Cam processed her assessment. “I did not engage in combat.”
Jane smiled faintly. “Yeah, well… it looks like you did.”
She examined the rest of him. “I can buff the scratches on your arms easily enough. This makeup should make the dent less noticeable when you see CBIE.”
Jane lightly tapped the casing beside it.
“We’ll have to redo it before every check-in.”
Cam nodded. “If RCAM observes physical damage, I will be scheduled for repair.”
Jane crossed her arms and thought for a moment.
“Cam… when you’re connected, does your telemetry tell them that you’ve fallen?”
He looked at her and blinked twice.
The question didn’t resolve cleanly.
“Unknown,” he said.
Then he hesitated.
“…Maybe.”
Jane didn’t like that answer at all.
“What do you mean, maybe?”
“I do not have full visibility into the diagnostic data transmitted to RCAM. Impact events may be logged depending upon established severity thresholds.”
Jane’s stomach tightened. “So if you hit hard enough…”
“It is possible that the event was recorded.”
She slowly exhaled.
Not panicking.
Not yet.
But definitely uncomfortable.
“Great. So there’s a chance they already know you face-planted down my steps.”
Cam tilted his head. “I did not impact my face.”
Jane stared at him before releasing a short laugh. “Yeah, thanks for the clarification, buddy.”
Her expression became focused again.
Problem-solving.
“Okay,” she said, mostly to herself. “We assume they can see it, and we act as though nothing happened.”
Cam nodded. “Yes, Jane.”
She pointed one finger at him. “And you try not to do that again.”
“I will attempt to maintain my balance.”