Machinery whirred in the numerous workshops, save for the silent ones which held student prototypes. Nova followed her number and entered her presentation area. Her prototype awaited her on a lifted clamp, where its back entrance lowered to the ground to allow people inside. It was her ultimate plan, to make her project unique than the rest. Her first blueprint got her into consideration — then to show it in motion. If her stomach stopped stirring acid.

Nova waited in the corner, examining the high-end tools of the workshop of a large galactic business. Nova brushed her thumb down a transforming driver, but switched her attention to the door when it slid open once more.

"Ms. Spacyn," Overseer Mikean said. "I don't wish to rush you, but I have a lot of other students to get through." He waved his heavily calloused hand. "We'll have a five minute discussion about your project after you're done." He flipped open his datascroll. "Are you ready?"

No. Nova nodded.

Overseer Mikean motioned for her to take the stage of the conversation, but her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach. Flash cards abandoned, she said, "After I saw the requirements of the B.H Supernova and their mission statement, I came up with a droid that could carry a small team of researchers and guards down to a planetary surface. From what I understand — Movium 1XH, a highly active anomalous planet, rests on the outer edge of the Ushavex nebula, which is where the space station will anchor itself." Nova tapped her knuckle against the carapace of her droid, her inner rhythm beating hard and fast while Overseer Mikean wrote stuff down on his datascroll. "For this prototype, I tried a blend of Xel'nod solsteel for the outer shell. Due to the hollowness within, I had to give up some integrity on the inner scanner's reach." Doubt plagued her mind. "If paired with a droid capable of deep scans, I feel like this droid could be helpful and versatile in any environment." Her words faltered on her tongue, the loss of her train of thought slipping out of her fingers.

Overseer Mikean headed inside, and Nova followed while he examined every nook and cranny. Every little measurement where she refused to cut until she was sure of its strength. He knelt for the core, tucked underneath several layers of metal protection. "Is this where you placed the core?"

"Yes."

"Did you program it yourself?"

"No." Nova swallowed at the line of questions. "Neo Teimea gave me some example modules used frequently among research teams... which I used to base off my core plans to hand into the programming faculty." When he stepped back, she rushed forward to lift the core's carrier out of the protective panel. Augments slipped out of drives when she ran her finger down the side. It spread light across the small cockpit. "I've given it strength to allow communications between itself and other droids, and of course, the space station," she added the last part quickly when her tongue tangled. "So... the core itself carries two experiments that I'm hoping the B.H Supernova will find useful."

If I get picked.

Overseer Mikean tipped his head with a quick to his lips, and he wrote something down on his datascroll before pressing the axis of the core, and it dropped back into the protective casing, out of the way. "It's more than likely the B.H Supernova would put a licensed A.I programmer on your team if you get chosen."

Nova curled her hands against her chest. "I'm sorry if I'm not selling my case all that well."

Overseer Mikean put his datascroll away after one last note. "I'm grading you on your building skills, Ms. Spacyn, not your speech ones," he echoed Neo's sentiment. "Besides, there's a lot more to this than building a droid." He tapped his E-Pen against the supply holders along the roof. "You built yours with other people in mind — and with the Internship, you'll be working in a team." He turned to the dash of her droid. "Anyway, I think I've seen enough. Let's head out and talk."

Her dream dwindled out of her fingers while Overseer Mikean closed the droid's backside. Nova grasped her blueprints close to her chest, then handed them over to Overseer Mikean when he slipped it underneath his datascroll, hooking it with others. "You're not the first one to come with a droid proposal as bold as this. I doubt you'll be the last."

It was her time for questions — to dig into what she could do better, what she missed.

"What was their proposal? Have I met them before?"

Overseer Mikean chuckled. "I don't think so. He graduated a couple terms ago. His name was Thuni Horizol, and his proposal involved deep scans of anomalous space." He nodded to the door. "You're free to go. I'll be sending your proposal to the engineering team of the B.H Supernova and the results to the prospective interns once I have them. Good luck, Nova Spacyn."

It's over.

Dismissed from her agony, she rushed out of the workshops free of her burden. Lighter for her attempt to put herself a cut above the others, she rushed outside, where the cars dwindled, and she entered Neo's and slammed the door behind her. Her fingers dug into the leather as she rested her head against the wheel and tried to even out her breathing. It's over — now the waiting. I don't know which is harder. Keypod in the drive, she turned on the car and rolled out of the barrier, leaving the security bot to chirp its business tune.

Through the streets of the greater metro area, she wound her way back to the massive campus on the hillside. The barrier gate took her information without a responsive chirp, and she slid through with ease. Up the ramp beside the dorm towers, she parked into Neo's regular parking spot, where it connected to the energy pump off to the side when the lines lit up to confirm the presence of a car. It beeped with the lock, and she brushed her hand across its hood before clipping the keys into her pack.

Wristpad open to the time, she headed to the tower. Some other returners loitered in the lobby, chatting outside the competitive situation. Her footsteps took her back to the dorm, and she hoped beyond measure Neo listened to Kiala's alert of their presentations. Door open, she slid her ID pod back into the slot on the wall, where the lights hummed with power.

Deja vu.

Nova stepped into the dorm, and winced at Neo's half-open door, where a slumbering shape rested across the bed. Her steps took her straight to his side, where she grasped his shoulders. "Neo?" she asked.

No response, even with a quick shake.

Nova breathed deep and flicked through her contacts, while Neo's continued to beep.

'Kiala? How did the presentations go?"

It took too long for their friend to respond, but she left Neo's pearl alone and waited for an answer to her dread.

'It went awesome!' Kiala replied. 'You won't believe it either! They actually had a senior researcher working on the B.H Supernova come over to view the thesis presentations!' After a hesitant pair of dancing dots, her next message came through, and sent relief back into her heart. 'Neo killed it.'

He went. Nova studied Neo. He must be exhausted.

Gratitude sent to Kiala, she placed a hand on his back. "Neo, I think someone's trying to contact you."

He slept soundly, softly.

Nova checked the contact name. Mom. Several missed calls filled the menu screen and left no room for the rest of his messages to show themselves. Uh-oh. One poke sent into his back, he released a soft groan and lifted his face from the pillow with a sound of curious question. His grey gaze swept over to her, where he blinked out in bleary slow motion. "Huh?"

Nova scooted closer to him as he sat up to share her level with a hand against his temple. "Your mom's trying to contact you." She pressed the pearl into his resting hand, where he clutched onto it.

"My mom's trying to contact me," he echoed, and Nova waited for the cascade of energy to crash down on his entire body. Everything down to a science, Nova leaned back when he gasped and leaped off his bed as if she set it aflame with her news. "Stars!"

"Welcome back to the living," she joked.

Neo jittered around his room with quick, sharp steps as he grabbed his Codex to rifle through the pages of his research notes and Anomaly findings. Nova left his bed while he paced his usual circuit and eyed his mother's contact line. He took in a sharp, but shaky breath and turned off his compearl with a small shrug. "I'll... call her later, I guess."

"Shouldn't you call her now?"

"I—have things to do." Neo nodded in affirmation to the flimsy answer. "I'm sure... she won't give me an earful when I do call her. I'm sure she can understand that maybe I might be busy." One more, less sure nod revealed the truth of his own words.

Nova folded her arms, but smiled. "Glad to see that you didn't miss your presentation, at least. Kiala told me you did great with yours."

"Oh. That. Right." Neo gave another repetitive nod and pressed the tips of his fingers together to rub them. "Yes. You won't believe it, but—"

"They had a scientist from the B.H Supernova itself viewing the thesis presentations?" Nova finished for him.

"One of the senior research staff," he continued on, past her piece of the conversation without faltering. "I presented my thesis on 'Chaos Theory' and how it related to the possible findings on the D.S Butterfly. Things we might lose if we don't find them or the flight recorder." He rubbed his hands in vigorous motions, leaving his pearl ignored. "Many of the scientists on that space station did research on temporal anomalies, I just think there's more to it than them disappearing. I think they found something out there."

News reports bogged her mind though nothing played within their room. "There's a lot of theories going around, Neo. Maybe it was just human error. At any rate, if you get picked, you can find out for yourself if that's the case," she said, and he deflated. "You should call your mom."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"How'd your presentation go? I wanted to send you a message before I went in, but I couldn't get through," he explained while ignoring her suggestion, if he even processed it.

Nova rested her hand on her hip. "You could say I killed it."

"Just because you don't like presentations doesn't mean you have to kill them," Neo teased, then drew out a long sigh before raising his hands to his pearl. "Okay, I'll call her." Nova hung back on the couch while Neo resumed his small pace around their dorm, hands free while the pearl chirped for a new connection. Nova grinned when it beeped and he winced. "Hey, Mom, I'm sorry I missed your call." He shuffled his feet against their floor and continued to rub his hands. "I know. You see, it's a funny story, I fell asleep and—" He stopped with a frown. "No! No, you don't have to worry about me. I'm doing fine right now! I'm not struggling or anything. We were just... I was just presenting my thesis project. You know, the one that I told you about for that internship on the B.H Supernova?" His shoulders sagged as he pressed his hands against his chest and winced in her direction.

"Neo, did you forget to tell her?" Nova whispered.

'Oh, stars, maybe I did,' his face screamed as he waved his hands in the air as if Mrs. Teimea stood right in front of him. "I'm sorry! I forgot to tell you! It slipped my mind. I think I told Dad, but I guess he forgot..." He pressed both palms into his cheeks as he fidgeted with whatever he found in reach — his jacket on the back of his door. "We were given the opportunity to apply for an internship on the B.H Supernova. So!" Excitement perked him back into action. "I chose 'Chaos Theory' to work on so I had that on my plate," he said in a quick, yet methodical tempo of speech. "I was tired, that's all."

He went silent at whatever Mrs. Teimea said on the other end. "Have I... found someone else?" he mused. "Oh... I, uh..." He sucked in his lips. "It's fine, Mom. I don't need to, I can handle it just fine. No point shaking things up when I found something that works. I have it under control." He nodded at nothing, but his excitement disappeared. "If I find someone who could actually help, I'll tell you—no, I can do it, Mom, don't worry about me. You've got Jin to deal with, after all." He fiddled with his shirt instead with an unspoken word leaving his lips she couldn't decipher while she talked on the other end.

"Everything all right?" she asked.

Neo nodded. "Anything else you need, Mom?" Nova waited while Neo listened, and he asked, "Mom wants to know how you're doing, Nova."

"Is this the concerned parent way or the doctor way?" Nova questioned.

"She wants to know if this is the concerned parent way or doctor way," Nova gave her the message, then waited for a response. After a moment, he smiled. "Both."

"I'm alright."

"Nova says she's alright," Nova repeated, then huffed. "Anyway, I'll call you when I get news of whether I got in or not so maybe we can have a visit, seeing as we're heading into a term break." His eyes drifted to the side. "Yes, I won't stay up. Yes, I'll write down things I need to remember. Tell Mira I said hello and Jin to stay out of trouble. Thank you!" He rubbed his fingers together through the air. "Yeah, I love you too... and yes, I'll keep trying."

Keep trying?

He hung up his pearl with a quieter sigh, then twisted to her with a smile. "Well, that went better than I thought. Here I was overthinking it."

Nova suppressed the laugh in her chest. "It happens, but... what was that about?"

"What was what about?"

"What she was asking."

"Oh, um..." Nova squirmed in place and shook his head. "It's nothing, really. Just something I've been having a bit of trouble with."

"Do you need some help?"

"No!" Neo shook his head again with a touch more vigor. "I got it, it's just taking a bit of time, that's all. And you know how bad I am with time. I swear, if you weren't around to remind me of stuff I would lose track of things way easier, so, thank you." Genuineness filled his voice. "You don't have to."

"It's not that big of a deal, you don't need to thank me for that, and I have to keep track of my own stuff anyway so... no problem fitting your stuff in for a reminder," she whispered. "Maybe you should start doing logs if it really bothers you? Leave a bit of a vocal reminder for your future self so you don't give him grief? I did that while building my prototype."

"Why would I do that when I can just let my future self worry about it? Besides, he'd probably forget too," Neo teased. "It sounds like a good idea, maybe I will do that." He went past her into the dorm, but Nova cleared her throat. He turned, and she held out the keys. Keys safely in his hands, he put it in his jacket and continued on his way.

Well... all I can do is wait now to see how badly I bungled my chances.