Chapter 5

With my systems reset, I rested well that night and didn’t question Eva's quiet demeanour when I came to our cabin. I assumed she was just tired after trying to outcompete Raul. I wondered why she ever tried to do it, knowing very well that her chances of success were very slim.

The next morning, I started recalibrating scanners for another cycle, hoping that my improved algorithm would be ready for another cycle. I smiled and thought about how Eva would react to it when my pad pinged and Sven delivered my commission. The artwork was stunning, and the way he merged social realism with retro anime style made me reevaluate my earlier assumptions about his chances of starting a new career.

Nhi would love it, I thought and considered sending it to her straight away before a few analyses told me that this might force her to give her drawing to me even if she didn’t plan to do so in the first place. 23% chances were too high to take this risk and hurt her with my rushed actions. I met her later during the lunch break in the canteen. She sat at the table eating some yellow-looking food. So, regardless of whether it didn’t deserve to be called curry, it was still her favourite, I thought as I sat next to her. She smiled and pushed her plate away, asking me straight away if I managed to have some fun with Eva. I shook my head.

“Why not, Rea? What happened?”, she asked and moved closer.

“Nothing, she was tired after the gym.”

I had no way of explaining to Nhi that due to the unclassified anomalies that riddled my relationship with Eva, I didn't want to introduce any more elements into the equation, no matter how innocent they seemed to be. Also, she wasn’t someone who would care about nail polish, so my offer would only show how little I knew about her. No, in this scenario, the lack of action was a winning option. A game theory equation that I did confirmed it without a doubt.

She put her arm around me and whispered.

“In that case, you should give her a massage.”

“Massage?”

I started to analyse that possibility. My medical training was rudimentary, but I should have enough skill to do it, and I couldn’t predict any negative impact of doing it.

“I could, tiredness will definitely have a negative impact on her work performance”, I nodded with a smile, feeling happy that I could do something else to help Eva with her work.

“I guess you could say like that”, Nhi chuckled and pulled her yo-yo from her pocket. “Look, I learned a new trick. It’s called Gravity Pull.”

She got up and swung her yo-yo. I watched her with amusement.

“Wanna try, Rea?”

She leaned over the table and swung the yo-yo in front of my face. I shook my head.

“No, it would take me 21 hours to tune my motor skills to do it.”

I would rather spend that time upgrading the recalibration algorithm, I thought.

“21 hours?! I spent weeks practicing it”, she exclaimed, looking disheartened.

“I don’t think your time was much different than what I said if you would count hours instead of days.” I looked at her. “Any advantage I have would be cancelled by your prior experience.”

“Really?”

“Yes”, I smiled. “You are doing really well.”

She sat on the table and flipped her yo-yo.

“Thanx Rea.”

The door to the canteen opened with a soft hiss, and Eva walked in.

“I need to check something”, she said suddenly, and turned to leave. “See you”

Nhi jumped from the table and walked to the still open door, paused for a moment and whispered something to Eva before she left.