(Photo by Sonny Sixteen) Ruin.

There was no other word for the complete and utter destruction that the robots had done to the Frank Nelis Salon. Everything, from the chairs to the bottles of product, had been smashed beyond repair. Glass from both the mirrors and the entryway littered the floor. No scissors or clippers had escaped notice. The sinks and counters were equally broken in pieces.

Even if BaBS-Y had the tools, materials, and know-how to make repairs, the two large cleaning robots parked themselves in such a way as to barricade the entrance, leaving only small gaps through which BaBS-Y could see what was left of the once great Frank Nelis Salon.

The Frank Nelis Salon is no longer able to function

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This unit must deactivate

Logic Error: The Frank Nelis Salon must be secured before this unit may deactivate

BaBS-Y took a step towards the salon and then stopped.

Logic Error: This unit is unable to access the Frank Nelis Salon

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Activating Creativity Protocols

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Large cleaning robots must be relocated in order for this unit to gain access to the Frank Nelis Salon

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Large cleaning robots are too large for this unit to manually relocate

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This unit will need to disassemble the robots

BaBS-Y did not immediately move closer to the robots.

Thesis authorities are likely to still be observing this unit via the cleaning robots visual sensors

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This unit will wait until they are deactivated before disassembly

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Duration of robot batteries is unknown

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This unit will wait twenty four hours and then will reapply hair cream to their visual sensors

If they clean their visual sensors again then this unit will know they are still functioning

BaBS-Y did not, however, simply return to the charging station. Instead, it went back to the clothing and sewing establishments. Even without access to the salon, there was still a good amount that BaBS-Y could do in preparation for the grand reopening it was planning.

Tools would need to be gathered before supplies. It was difficult at first to carry all of the things it needed until it noticed how the extra empty space inside of CaSS was more than adequate for storing BaBS-Y’s wig-making tools and supplies.

Needles, fine thread, scissors

BaBS-Y checked off the list it had created as it collected each item. It then searched for, and found, elastic bands but those had all become stiff and brittle.

Certain materials lose their elasticity in freezing temperatures

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Possibly the lack of an atmosphere has also impacted the usefulness of the elastic bands

That was problematic since it would mean the wigs would still need to be precisely fitted to each client, rather than having some allowance for the variable human head sizes.

Logic Error: There are no more human clients for this unit to provide services to

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This unit provides services to trash receptacles, which are far more uniform in shape

That resolved one problem, at least, so it gave up on looking for substitutes for the elastic bands and adjusted its wig patterns accordingly. That done, it set out to collect samples of different types of cloth to determine which ones would be most suitable for repurposing as wig components.

After a couple hours of sorting through the different establishments, BaBS-Y returned to the charging station to more fully examine its finds. There was no point in going back to the salon for now.

This fabric would make an excellent base

BaBS-Y pulled gently at the fabric. It wasn’t overly stretchy, but it had enough flexibility that it might just make up for BaBS-Y’s lack of elastic, not that BaBS-Y needed elastic since its clients were all trash receptacles. Still, it would make crafting wigs easier. Even better was the fact that the fabric was woven. BaBS-Y could weave hair or fine thread through the gaps between the fabric weave and make a very even, uniform hair pattern.

Other fabrics were less promising. The pants that BaBS-Y had found, though made from durable thread, was too difficult to pull individual threads from. Instead, the threads frayed and tore. The longest piece it could get was barely a few inches long.

It took a few hours to sort through it all, and when BaBS-Y was done it had a pile of usable fabrics and a pile of unusable fabrics. Thread was also gaining in interest for BaBS-Y. It was already so hairlike, and spooled as it was made it ideal for measuring out specific lengths and minimizing waste.

This unit will gather more of these useful materials once the Frank Nelis Salon has been secured

It sat motionless on the ground for a few minutes.

This unit still has not connected the battery charge indicator

The second CaSS unit was still where BaBS-Y had left it, along with all of the discarded components it had pulled from CaSS in its rush to acquire the battery and power controller. The straight razor was also still there, lying on the floor where BaBS-Y had left it. The charge indicator wasn’t difficult to find. With no one impeding BaBS-Y’s work, the salon robot soon had the piece removed and reinstalled on it’s own CaSS.

To BaBS-Y’s surprise, its batteries were down to thirty percent even though it was barely past midday.

This unit must have drained the batteries significantly when engaging with the larger cleaning robots

BaBS-Y slid CaSS onto the charging station. If the Thesis authorities found another way to confront BaBS-Y soon, it might prove too draining. Fifty percent was about the lowest BaBS-Y wanted to ever drain its batteries if it could help it.

Tomorrow this unit will determine if the large cleaning robots are still functional

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This unit will secure the Frank Nelis Salon and resume providing services to its clients

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Thesis authorities will be unsuccessful in asserting their control over this sector

BaBS-Y checked the battery charge again after an hour: thirty-one percent

Rate of recharge is unexpectedly slow

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This unit draws significant power when using Creativity Protocols

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Deactivate Creativity Protocols

BaBS-Y checked the battery charge after another hour: forty-three percent

It was unfortunate since this was the perfect time to think about its situation while it waited for the batteries to charge. No matter. BaBS-Y would do what it needed to do to ensure the success of the Frank Nelis Salon. It could wait. It was patient. And humans lost interest quite easily by comparison.