[Automatic] (An Aarmau AU)

"What am I missing?!"

It had been five days now, and I still hadn't made any progress. Every time I think I found something, it turned out to be a false alarm.

"Ugh", I said, leaning back in my chair, "This is hopeless, I need to see that robot"

I had hoped to fully understand the blueprints before going back, but I guess plans change. I looked at the piece of paper on my desk, with a bunch of numbers scribbled on it. Picking it up, I went to find a phone. I didn't own one myself, but I knew the apartment had a few lying around.

After wandering around for a bit, I found an old pay phone sitting in a corner. After quickly checking it over, I found it to be in pretty good condition. I took a deep breath, and started dialing the numbers. Pressing the enter key I heard the phone start to ring, and after what seemed like forever, someone picked up.

"Hello", Aaron's familiar voice answered.

"Uh, hey Aaron", I said awkwardly.

"Oh, Aph? Hey, I didn't think you would call for a few more days"

I laughed nervously, "Ya well, I've hit a roadblock in my research, and I'm going to need to see the android again"

Aaron paused for a second, "Ok, what time works best for you?"

I looked at my watch, I had pulled another all nighter so it read eight a.m.

"Maybe around ten", I told him, hoping that wasn't to early, "Or sometime around there, it doesn't really matter"

"Ten o'clock it is", he answers, "Where should you be picked up?"

I realized I wasn't at my shop, and the plaza was closed to day, "Uh, I'll be outside of the farmers market"

"Ok, see you soon"

"Yep", is all I said before the line went dead.

Xx

I ended up getting to the Market about a half-an-hour early, so I was forced to wait in the cold.

The market wasn't so busy today, with the cold weather starting to role around, but a few people walked back and forth through the line of booths.

I pulled my coat tighter around me, and waited. People went in and out, some even went as far as to ask if I was lost, but I just told them I was waiting for someone.

After about twenty minutes, I heard the engine of a car. Looking up I found the same white car that had taken me to the castle the first time. A man got out and opened the door from me, and I quickly got in the car, hoping to escape from the freezing temperatures.

"Cold", a voice asked me.

I looked up to find Aaron also in the backseat with me. He had a scarf around his neck, and a heavy black coat on, "Yeah", I said, putting on my seat belt, "Just a bit"

I couldn't see my face, but I'm guessing my cheeks and nose were bright red. Aaron noticed this, so he took off his scarf and handed to see.

"Here", he said, putting the scarf in my hands, "You need this more the I do"

I gladly accepted it, and wrapped it around my frozen face. I couldn't help but notice that it smelled like vanilla.

"Thanks", I said, finally regaining feeling in my face.

The rest of the car ride went by pretty fast, as I watched the world fly by. Aaron asked me a few questions about my research, but there really wasn't much to tell him. I hoped that when I did another inspection on the android I could find the source of the problem, or at least a lead as to what it could be.

We pulled into the castle, and Aaron led me to where the android was being kept. Nothing had changed since the last time I had been here, with the android still sitting in the middle. One thing that was different however, was the blue haired girl working at one of the machines.

"Katelyn!", Aaron called out to her, "I'm glad to see you could make it"

The girl looked up, her eyes as bright as her hair. She was wearing normal mechanic clothes, a dirty tank top and some cargo pants, and a pair of welding goggles were placed on her forehead.

"Ah, hello Aaron", she said, wiping some sweat off her forehead, "I'm happy to see that you're back"

Aaron nodded, and Katelyn turned toward me, "You must be Aphmau", she said, raising her hand, "I'm Katelyn, head mechanic here at the castle"

"It's a pleasure", I told her, shaking her outstretched hand, "Are you working on the android too?"

"Hardly", she said, putting her hands in her pockets, "Aaron just called me in to see if you needed any help"

"Well we better get to work then"

Xx

"Here, trying using this to take out the control panel"

"I don't understand", I told Katelyn, "I've never seen an android with this much resilience, it's like it doesn't want to be fixed"

I rolled out from under the android, with was being held up a lift. I stood up and wiped the sweat of my brow, it was extremely humid in this shop.

"If your hot", Katelyn said, handing me a bottle of water, "why don't you just put on a more practical shirt?"

I looked down at the greased stain, long sleeved shirt I was wearing. My two mechanics gloves encased my hands, so my metal arm was covered completely. "I'm fine", I told her, taking a sip of the water, "We're almost done here anyway"

She nodded, but didn't seem completely convinced, "Lets just get this control panel opened, so we can finally figure out what's wrong with this dumb android.

From the tests Katelyn and I had done, we found out that the android was in perfect shape, and that there shouldn't have been any problems with it. So we came to the conclusion that the problem must lie somewhere within the control panel. Now we just had to figure out how to actually remove it from the android.

I grabbed another tool off the counter, and slid back under that android. I shined my small flashlight at the panel, hoping to see something I had missed. Of course I found nothing, so I sighed, and got to work trying to remove it.

It took about five minutes, but soon I heard the satisfying click, that indicated I released the control panel. "Jackpot!", I said excitedly, while carefully removing the piece of metal and wires.

"You got it!", Katelyn said, as I rolled out from under the android, "Now we can actually analyze and find what's wrong with it"

I carefully carried in over to our exam table, and started taking it apart. This was the hardest part, for one wrong move and I could brake the whole thing. Carefully prying off the top flap, I shone my flashlight into the problem area.

I gasped at what I saw, "Katelyn", I said nervously, "I think I found our problem"