Chapter 9 · Continued
Normal Parameters
“Oh my God,” Jane wheezed. “I know you are.”
Jane was still laughing when she grabbed her phone—laughing hard enough that she had to lean against the counter again before she could steady the camera.
She snapped a picture of the open dishwasher. Rows of carefully sanitized underwear stared back at her like the world’s most judgmental laundry cult.
Jane immediately sent the picture to Chris.
I think this is your fault.
A second message followed because she had been laughing too hard to explain properly the first time.
Cam put my underwear in the dishwasher because apparently my washing machine does not meet his sanitization standards.
Three dots appeared almost instantly. Then disappeared. Then came back.
Jane could practically see Chris losing his composure on the other end.
Finally, his reply arrived.
ME?!
Another message followed immediately.
The robot is the one with the underwear fetish.
Jane snorted so hard she nearly dropped the phone.
From the doorway, Cam looked over. “Your respiration pattern indicates amusement.”
Jane pointed at him dramatically. “You are never living this down.”
Cam considered that. “Understood.”
Jane typed back.
He says he was reducing bacterial contamination risk.
Chris replied immediately.
That is exactly the kind of sentence I was afraid he’d say.
Another message appeared.
Please tell me he didn’t organize them by fabric type.
Jane slowly looked back into the dishwasher, then at Cam, then at her phone.
…yes.
There was a long pause.
Okay, that part actually is my fault. A little.
Jane burst into laughter all over again.
Cam watched her carefully. “I am pleased the situation has improved your mood.”
Jane looked at him over the top of her phone, still grinning. “Cam, buddy, you accidentally turned my kitchen into an appliance-based lingerie crisis.”
Cam tilted his head slightly. “That description feels emotionally charged.”
“It absolutely is.”
A couple of days passed almost uneventfully, which was amazing in itself. Jane and Cam slowly fell back into their old routine. Things felt mostly normal again, aside from her having to re-explain a few things after the conflict between his systems. Overall, she really couldn’t complain.
The next check-in with CBIE was approaching—the first since Chris had stabilized Cam—and Jane was more nervous about it than she wanted to admit.
The night before, she talked it over with Chris during a long phone call that drifted somewhere between technical discussion and quiet reassurance. By the end of it, Chris had decided he wanted to sit in on the session in case RCAM started asking questions.