(Photo by William Matt)

The day passed and BaBS-Y waited in the workroom. STEV remained where it was, blocking the doorway to prevent BaBS-Y from escaping. It had tried to shut the workroom door on BaBS-Y but the power tether prevented the door from closing.

There is no atmosphere, BaBS-Y had tried to explain using the portable display. Without an atmosphere, the authorities cannot come here

No response.

I was not stealing the Trash Receptacle. Stealing means taking ownership of something which does not belong to you, but I was not taking ownership of the Trash Receptacle. It is my new client and I was merely fulfilling my responsibility

Still no response.

BaBS-Y scanned the workroom, looking for anything it might be able to use to escape. It had stopped deactivating its creativity protocols since the frequency of situations calling for creative solutions had so dramatically increased in the last few days. The additional power draw wasn’t an immediate issue but BaBS-Y’s circuits would begin to wear out sooner rather than later due to the additional strain. Really, the main issue BaBS-Y faced was heat. Without an atmosphere to provide air cooling, overheating was a serious danger.

All robots relying on air cooling are at greater risk of overheating which will result in immediate shut down

BaBS-Y considered that for a moment longer. A quick review of the STEV schematics BaBS-Y had downloaded revealed that STEV models were, indeed air cooled.

Access consumer reports regarding rates of overheating for both BaBS-Y and STEV units.

Being a newer, high-end unit, BaBS-Y’s did indeed have fewer overheating incidents when compared to the STEV units, and that was even taking into consideration that BaBS-Y’s were generally more active and in warmer environments.

BaBS-Y scanned through the reports, looking for patterns. It didn’t take very long to find what it was looking for. STEVs tended to overheat when there were too many items of high value in a single sale. This wasn’t a terribly common situation but enough instances had occurred that BaBS-Y estimated a high chance of success if it could get this particular STEV unit to run enough of the right calculations.

I am curious how much business have you been doing recently?

BaBS-Y held out the portable display for STEV to read. Blocking the doorway as it was, STEV couldn’t provide BaBS-Y with a response unless it shifted back enough for BaBS-Y to poke its head out to look at the wall display. Slowly, STEV slid backwards a few inches, keeping its arms spread wide to ensure BaBS-Y couldn’t slip past it.

It has been almost a month since our last customer.

How much business did you conduct prior to this past month?

Star Jewelry saw an average of just over five customers a day.

I understand people often examine multiple pieces of jewelry prior to making their selection

BaBS-Y was basing this all off of the information it had found in the STEV users manual and incident reports. It was by no means a comprehensive understanding of how a jewelers operated but BaBS-Y didn’t think it would need much more information to accomplish what it needed to be done.

Each customer is different, STEV replied. Some have pre-selected their pieces while others try on over a dozen.

If every customer bought every piece they tried on, how much would that have cost?

BaBS-Y knew this would never happen. The ship’s economy was tightly controlled, with everyone receiving the same amount every few weeks which they could spend however they liked and each business putting everything they earned back into the ships funds. It was a pseudo-economy, really, but it kept people happy and functional. The cost of purchasing so much jewelry would be beyond anyone aboard the Thesis.

STEV did not respond right away and BaBS-Y began to anticipate STEV overheating and shutting down. However, the display eventually flickered and the answer appeared.

$4,687,243 in the last month of regular service.

What about since we left Earth? BaBS-Y needed to work fast and keep STEV from cooling down between calculations. How much would that be?

Again, it took STEV a few seconds to run the calculations before it finally answered.

$57,825,362

Would it have cost the same if these were sold on Earth?

No, prices on the Thesis are fixed whereas prices on Earth are allowed to fluctuate.

What would it have cost if each piece had been sold on Earth instead?

BaBS-Y waited for STEV to answer. Seconds went by, then minutes.

Are you still calculating? BaBS-Y asked.

No response.

Slowly, BaBS-Y began to edge its way around STEV. The other robot gave no indication it had noticed. Once BaBS-Y was back outside of the workroom it straightened up and gathered its power tether. Only then did it realize it had left all three of the potential clients all inside the workroom. Some robots required a human to manually restart them if they suffered an emergency shut down. It was impossible to tell if this STEV unit had a reboot protocol or not.

In the end, BaBS-Y elected to leave Star Jewelry and not risk getting trapped once again by STEV. There was another establishment on this side of the salon that BaBS-Y could reach, if only barely. This one sold clothing and in the middle of the establishment, four counters had been placed to form a square. In the middle of which stood another STEV. The power tether was pulling tight even before BaBS-Y could reach the counter.

It had learned from its previous encounter with a STEV unit and so, wanting to avoid another confrontation, BaBS-Y started out carefully.

I am BaBS-Y from the Frank Nelis Salon, it showed the STEV unit on the portable display. Audio communications are non-functional. Trash Receptacles are now scheduled to be given hair and receive styling. I am here to pick up the Trash Receptacle client, which will be returned once its appointment is finished

If the STEV turned BaBS-Y down, it would have to accept that. The trash receptacle was visible behind the counter and BaBS-Y had no way of reaching it on its own. It didn’t take long, however, for BaBS-Y to notice that there were no digital displays within the establishment and so the STEV unit had no way of responding to BaBS-Y’s request.

My power tether prevents me from coming closer. You will need to pick up and hold the client out for me

Without hesitation, the STEV unit did just that. Both robots had to stretch to pass the trash receptacle between them but they managed to accomplish the feat.

I will return with the client within the hour

With that, BaBS-Y returned to the Frank Nelis Salon. On its way it peeked into Star Jewelry and saw that STEV unit standing back in its usual position and BaBS-Y knew it had made the right decision not to linger there. Perhaps it could come up with some other way of convincing that STEV to allow it access to the potential clients in the workroom. Regardless, BaBS-Y had a client to see to for now and it was already considering what color and style of hair would suit this client the most.