The next morning I felt fine; energetic, even. I woke up on time with no problems to the smell of coffee and muffins. Blueberry muffins, if I didn't miss my guess. Jeeves was downstairs and did not appear as I got up. I headed to the bathroom slowly this time, but Ian was awake and leaning up against the door. He stared at me piercingly before motioning me past with a grin.

“Go ahead. Just don't take all day this time.”

I gaped. Ian, being nice?

“Thank you.”

“No problem; just don't forget your promise.”

Right, I owed him a computer like mine, or as good as I could make. I already had some improvements in mind, and ways to make sure I wasn't sued for using any designs by a major manufacturer, even though Intel probably wasn't going to be happy. (Because really, AMD designs currently all suffered from heat problems, making them unusable as a basis; I didn't want anything catching fire.)

I'd still have to design a scanner to scan a few chips for a basis, then software to redesign it so the printer can print it, then a way to double check it as the printing would be ultra-fine work; at school the best thing to do would probably be to design the motherboard the CPU and other components would need to fit into. That would determine if I'd need to redesign them from the ground up too....

“Min. Hey.”

Ian was inches from my nose; despite myself my eyes crossed looking at him as he snapped his fingers in my ear.

“None of that yet, OK? You just got better. Go shower before you start to stink up the place.”

“Right. Fine... jerk.”

I slid past his insufferable smirk and closed the door.

Getting cleaned up took less time than yesterday at least. I pushed a few ideas on how to speed the entire process up with as much focus as I could muster; it took more effort than I liked but at least now that I knew there was an actual problem involved with indulging those thoughts, it was easier. And then I realized I'd forgotten to bring my clothes with me again.

They were waiting for me outside the door, and they were as good an indication of how well Jeeves understood me as anything else; blue jeans, a thin gray sweater (which had long sleeves, making it perfect for the fall weather while the material itself was thin enough that I wouldn't get hot in it indoors) and my lab coat. The statement made? It was time to get to work. He'd even replenished the pens, pencils, and gum in the pockets.

I would have skipped down stairs... if one could actually skip down stairs. I felt better; Jeeves thought I was better, and there were muffins!

Dad was at the table, paper in hand. I had no idea how he kept getting those this early in the morning; the small town rag we had stopped delivering or even printing a morning paper years ago – though my suspicion now is that he never read them, kept them all somewhere and that if I bothered to check that copy would have Nixon on the front page. He was all dressed up in his typical fall work apparel; a flannel shirt, jeans, and still muddy work boots that somehow never tracked so much as a speck of dust on the floor.

He looked like a refugee from a lumberjack commercial or something.

Mom appeared to be sleeping in, for some reason. At least, her coffee cup was clean and empty, sitting on the drying rack where she normally left it. My own solid gray one was thankfully full, with two absolutely enormous muffins next to it on a plate. Dad's own plate had two muffin tin liners sitting on it; Ian was busily scarfing down the first of his two, and there were still six large muffins cooling on the stove.

Looking closer, the steam was still rising off the muffins in front of me; how the heck had dad eaten his two so fast?

They were good; baked to perfection with actual fresh blueberries inside rather than the desiccated stuff in those mixes. Almost before I knew it mine were gone as well, and even full I couldn't stop the look of longing towards the others. Jeeves noticed, but did not shovel any more on my plate. Mom still wasn't up, so I braved the silence.

“Dad, where's mom?”

“Sleeping in today.”

...Sigh. Thanks, Dad. I knew that much.

“Is she OK? I mean, she's not sick or anything, is she?”

He looked up with a grin.

“No, you're not catching; it's just her insomnia.”

Mom did occasionally have problems sleeping; it was too bad I couldn't share my own issues in that respect. I could actually make all kinds of money if I just shared my own recently found ability to sleep all the time, for any reason. Well, I wasn't that bad, but it was close.

“Alright. You haven't looked at the lawn this morning, have you?”

He put down his paper.

“No, I haven't. Should I have? I do have your promise to fix things, after all.”

“No no no, it's fine! I just wanted to make sure; Jeeves, did you manage to fix the lawn last night?”

I was pretty sure that he had been doing all that after I went to sleep. He confirmed it.

“Yes. The repairs to the plant life of your families property are complete.”

I snagged my coffee, slipped my shoes on and opened the door to check. Around the side I could see level ground and no tracks. Something seemed to be wrong with the grass though....

A few steps closer and the truth was revealed. Not only was it much shorter than the other grass, it wasn't green; it was a blue-green that didn't quite match the shade of grass I was used to. It had to have been tinkered with; normal grass species don't grow that fast. It looked nice though, and it covered every inch of what had previously been torn up sections of lawn. Dad joined me, slipping an arm around my shoulder.

“Two tone grass, huh? Not sure I like that.”

Jeeves answered immediately.

“The color shall match within two weeks. The current differences are a side effect of the forced growth process.”

“That's acceptable. So how did you even the yard out?”

Jeeves stared at Dad... and said something that amazed me.

“Hacks, of course.”

He had told a joke! What the crap!?!

“Riiigght. OK. Just so long as it's not anything crazy.”

Jeeves shook his head, still straight-faced.

“I rented a lawn roller and walked it over the affected sections of property last night, filled in the rest with purchased soil and then re-seeded.”

All last night? I mean sure Jeeves didn't need sleep exactly, but he needed down time. He had to be running on his own reserves by now....

“I'll be fine mistress Min. Current reserves at full activity are twenty-four hours, thirty-six minutes and 18 seconds.”

Odd, he shouldn't be able to last that long without at least an hour of down time; had he upgraded himself somehow? I had designed some improvements for the power supplies of my androids for the crash test dummies and lab guardians I was going to make, but they weren't past the planning stage. And Jeeves shouldn't be able to make improvements to himself in any case. Again, he proved adept at reading my mind.

“A simple application of household current and storage cells mistress Min.”

I guess splicing a cable and running some household current with a transformer into his batteries would make quite a difference; that sort of thing wasn't added into my calculations. Oh well, as long as he was keeping at least to the spirit of things, I'd cut him some slack. He really proved his worth yesterday after all.

I drew the line at death laser arms though; those were for the combat models that would have much more strict programming.

“Guess it's time for school.”

Jeeves went back to get my backpack and laptop while I tied my shoes so I wouldn't trip and Ian came out to see what all the fuss was about. He actually bent to feel the grass.

“It feels a bit weird.”

Jeeves came back out.

“The grass I used to reseed the lawn is a hardier breed than the native stock.”

Uh oh. I'm not sure how he did it, but he must have. At least I was pretty sure he must have; used devisor grass that is. I'd have to ask him what he hanged and how, but later. I didn't want to freak my Dad out. Thankfully he didn't seem to catch on to the shorthand code words like I had. Jeeves worked as fast as I did.

“Right, well gotta go! See you Dad!”

I grabbed Jeeves and pulled him along with me as I took off. A quick glance behind me confirmed that Dad was looking at us, obviously not fooled at all. Oops. I slowed down once I was sure he wasn't going to chase us; I wouldn't put it past him.

Jeeves looked amused. Amused!

“Tell me the truth; did you make devisor grass?”

“Yes mistress Min.”

“What exactly did you do, and how did you do it so fast?”

“I made the grass much tougher to destroy, nigh immune to most diseases and afflictions which normally cause such life to die and resistant to drought. I also set it's growth to be rapid, but to regulate at one inch. As for how, I programmed and used nanite cultures on the leftover grass seed your father kept in the garage.”

“Wait, nanite cultures? The same ones you claimed you were out of?”

“The very same. I was out of them; I do however have the schematic for them so I made more.”

I stopped and whirled. Ian was catching up.

“Tell me the truth Jeeves, are you out again? You didn't make more than you needed?”

“Of course I am, and no I did not.”
Quick calculations revealed he was likely telling the truth; The 3d printer could make a ton of those things, and the schematic was on my hard drive, but I'd shied away from using such things. They were too powerful, in my opinion.

That and they would do all the work for me when I wanted to take a more hands-on approach.

“For future reference, ask me before using those. They are too dangerous to just play around with.”

“Understood.”

If those things got out among the populace... programmed general purpose and use nanites. Scary stuff, the things they could do, even if they weren't ready for the more delicate work they could eventually perform. I mean plant life was one thing, and grass was simple... but the implications of nanite use on animals was something else.

Not to mention that if I tried I was pretty sure I'd get shot in the face by the CIA or something. Happened in movies all the time, and they were watching. Animal testing would be all kinds of wrong anyway.

“Secondly, Jeeves, I know how this sounds, believe me I do. But please, let me know and approve before you tinker with things in general; especially designs of mine.”

I think I had made Jeeves like me in a few ways after all; I wasn't positive he had the same urge to create that I did, but it was likely given his past behavior. I'd be able to tell for sure when I finally took him apart to fix him. He certainly looked crestfallen enough.

“I understand mistress Min; I shall do as you request.”

I decided to cheer him up.

“Don't worry, it's not that I won't let you work on anything, it's more that I don't want you to kill us both by doing something potentially morally reprehensible.”

Ian caught up.

“What's morally reprehensible?”

“You are, of course. But no, in this case, we are talking about grass. Jeeves re-purposed some of my tech in order to make the grass he seeded on the lawn. I'm kind of wary of making biotech like that, too worried about the potential misuse. Machines are... cleaner.”

Ian pondered for a moment.

“Yeah, I can see that. All kinds of scary. So, you going to tell Dad?”

“Of course, just have to know how to phrase it.”

He nodded; he knew dad.

“And that's why the strategic retreat.”

We had reached the corner, and Ricky was waiting, just like always. He looked nervous about something.

“Hey Ricky, good morning.”

I wasn't about to race him today. I felt up to it, but knowing my luck I'd end up collapsing or something. I settled for picking up the pace and hustling over to him. Ian and Jeeves kept pace, mainly in order to dodge the car that was coming, passing both of my more passive tails. Seriously, were the CIA and MCO asleep during the stake out classes, or what? Even Gordo would find them obvious.

That was probably the point, really; to fake me out. I wasn't really falling for it though, not that they needed to know that.

“Hey Min, good morning. Morning squirt, Jeeves.”

Ian protested.

“Hey, Min is shorter than me!”

I was not! We were the same height! Well, at least for now.

“Yeah Ian, but she's cooler than you, so that makes her taller.”

To ham it up, I preened under Ian's sour gaze.

“Whatever. I'm going to go over here before the suck gets contagious. See you both later.”

I shrugged. The middle school and high school were across the street from each other, so we were going the same way. But if he didn't want to walk with us, then he didn't want to walk with us. I thought I saw one of Ian's friends a street away, but my eyes sucked any more, and I just realized I'd forgotten my glasses. I patted my coat down, but I couldn't find the spare set that should be there for this very reason.

“Jeeves, you have my....”

He didn't even let me finish; just reach into my coat pocket, removed the case, and opened it, holding my glasses out. Insufferable; how was I supposed to know they were in the front with the pens? I could tell Ricky really wanted to laugh, but stifled it for some reason while I marveled at the focus and clarity I'd been missing. I could actually see things from farther away than a block, and make out details.

Details like Ralph, walking on an obvious course to meet us.

That was unusual; Ralph actually lived some distance away. This trip was blocks out of his way, and normally he rode the bus besides. He'd walked at least a mile just to get here. I could clearly make out the ready smile on his face, the brightening of his normal neutral expression. By contrast, Ricky scowled. Wonder what had gotten into him? All I needed was for him to pick a fight with Ralph; Ralph would probably annihilate him. I wasn't even sure I'd be able to beat him before. If they tried something I could probably get Jeeves to break it up though, so there was that.

Ralph jogged the rest of the way and ran up while we waited on him. I pretended not to notice the cars stopped in the middle of the street behind us, rapidly making a conga line of sorts. There was some sort of principle of the thing, though I wasn't sure what principle was at work there, I was sure it made sense to someone somewhere. I waited until he was close enough that I wouldn't have to shout before alleviating my curiosity.

“What brings you this way, Ralph?”

“Wanted exercise; the bus is boring.”

I smelled bullcrap. He grinned.

“Don't raise that eyebrow at me! I swear, you and my mom have the same look. I just wanted to exercise; I might end up all flabby in my old age.”

Not too likely, I thought he was an exemplar. Maybe I should ask... or check. Some sort of scanner for the mutant genome would be possible, but would be pretty useless unless it was hand-held....

“Mistress Min.”

Oh, right. School.

“Sorry.”

Ralph looked amused.

“I know that look; what were you thinking about?”

“A mutant scanner, hand held. Something that could scan for mutant genomes in plants and animals, using dead skin cells.”

He gave me a look.

“So what did you want to know?”

Wow, maybe he really did know my looks, and what they meant.

“Well, it's just you mentioned getting flabby and aren't you an exemplar?”

He nodded as Ricky looked a bit lost... and pissed while following us. I made a mental note to explain the terms to him later. Preferably before he blew up. We arrived at the school, and I smirked at the surprise on both my friends faces as Jeeves followed me onto school property like a ghost. The principle was at the door, and nodded as we went through. Ralph recovered first.

“I am. That was the joke you just stomped on.”

“Oh.”

Whoops. Before I could work up a really good case of mental self flagellation over killing a joke Ralph asked the expected question:

“So, Jeeves is now allowed in school?”

“He sure is. He's even allowed in class with me. Mom talked to the principle after my problem yesterday and signed him up as a guardian; the principle agreed to let him on school grounds, under the same laws that apply to service dogs or personal nurses I think.”

I didn't really like the implications of that but having Jeeves around would be worth it in the long run. Ricky looked even more sour, if anything. Did he not like Jeeves or something? Why would he care if Jeeves was around to help me or not? I'd have to ask him what his damage was when I had the chance; as it was we only had a few minutes to get to class.

Jeeves slid in front of me and started clearing the way through the students. Gently, which was good. Now was as good a time as any to quiz him on what he knew about my time spent here.

“So Jeeves, what is my first class, do you know?”

“Physics with instructor Frank Welch, room 121.”

“How did you know? Did you hack the syllabus or something?”

“Yes.”

Well at least he was honest about it.

Mr Welch wasted no time in establishing the new rules, point to Jeeves.

“You, to the back of the room, and be silent. The only time you're allowed to disrupt class is if Min is having an episode.”

Well gee, thanks Mr. Welch. Why don't you just call me an invalid to my face? Sigh. I sat down as Jeeves left my book bag on my desk and moved back, where he of course, loomed over the class despite his disinterested gaze.

The girls were also looking at him weird. He didn't care but it bothered me. Pam, who was back in class, spent the remaining time before class started ping ponging her gaze between Jeeves and me. Her expression was even more mystifying than the other girls; I needed a book on facial expressions or body language or something.

The class was just as boring as it always was; after handing in my homework I busied myself designing a computer chipset. The engine was already done, and Ian would kill me if I didn't have something to show him by the end of today. Under the watchful gaze of both Jeeves and Ralph, I kept things nice and slow. Any sign of weakness or extreme focus and I was sure I'd find myself in the nurse's office.

A simple copy of ARM was possible, but a few tweaks to the BUS and a few pipeline path changes, and I could easily increase the efficiency of the CPU... maybe I could even boost the size of the instruction strings. Yeah, that should be possible. Fewer transistors, less heat, more commands processed at speed with an improved BUS... I was almost totally surprised when the bell went off; my notebook sketch was about half done.

I could easily understand some people's fear regarding mutants; by the end of the day it looked as if I'd have a modest computer breakthrough that might have taken a team of people without my ability a year to create. And that was after all but building a revolutionary jet engine this week.

I mean sure, it was only a modest 18% improvement overall, and not the other even more outlandish ideas that even now were dancing in my brain (like the CPU sandwich), but a day for an 18% computing power improvement was still a little nuts. I wonder what Jeeves would be like with such a chip in his head?

Jeeves packed up my books and notebook quietly. He was proven technology by this point anyway, and it wouldn't be a good idea to try it without at least testing the chip. Which reminded me.

“Jeeves.”

“Yes mistress Min?”

“When I make that chip, remind me to stress test it first, before giving it to Ian.”

I'd forgot to write that note to myself in the notebook after all, and Jeeves wouldn't forget.

“Alright, do you know my next class?”

“Of course mistress Min. Algebra 101, room 208 with Mr. Howard Mullins presiding.”

He led the way, up the stairs and right to the classroom. Ralph and Ricky both were following. As with the first class, Jeeves dropped off my book bag and walked over to loom at the back. If anything, Ricky looked even more pissed. What was eating him? He could have just said something last class or passed me a note or some... oh. He had probably tried, and I'd ignored him, lost in my own little world again. I caught his gazed and mouthed an apology, which he seemed to get. At least, he stopped trying to glare a hole through everything.

Algebra was even worse than physics; the math came as easily as it ever did, I had already done all the assignments and even made notes and proofs in the book; that sheer boredom was why I had started work on jet engines, after all. Which reminded me; after I handed in my pre-written assignment I started working on chassis of my lab assistants and crash test dummies. Even using Jeeves as a template I needed to make changes, and then I needed to make security. And that meant security bots, which meant even more changes.

Everyone, including Mr. Mullins, did their level best to ignore me while I scribbled except Ralph. I had the sense that he was looking at me, but not really looking at me. I wanted to ask him what he was seeing, but it could wait; I didn't want to disrupt class any more than I already had.

In perfect keeping with my first hour, I made pretty good progress in the second, detailing the changes I wanted. Less intelligence, for less snark and potential problems; I wanted extra hands to do things when I couldn't, not another Jeeves. Besides, I'd seen terminator, and I was pretty sure the CIA had too. The fewer excuses I gave people to grab torches and pitchforks, the better. But I needed at least some intelligence for independent thought, otherwise they wouldn't make good test pilots. Maybe I could simply ratchet up the programmed restrictions on their activities instead?

Hmm, a certain aversion to danger avoidance might be necessary, as I was also intending them t be test pilots; having full self preservation protocols on them would make them rather useless for that role; perhaps a risk aversion assessment?

They would need to be tougher, if not exactly stronger, in order to avoid repairing them all the time. Rugged, redundant systems, nothing too delicate. But if I went that route, who was to say the vehicles I'd have them test wouldn't hurt more fragile humans? Best to make one of each type then. Small and large size, delicate and tough.

Just like with the chipset, I wasn't even close to done before the bell signaling the end of class rang. I knew I was getting things done, I knew I was being productive, but it felt like I wasn't doing things fast enough. This time Jeeves put his hand on my shoulder before packing my things up. He meant it to be reassuring, and it was. We had time.

“So, Min.”

“Yes Ralph?”

“What are you working on?”

I smiled and pointed to my book bag, currently in Jeeves capable hands.

“You'll have to wait till gym to see. By the way, I've got a question for you.”

He looked kind of nervous.

“Shoot.”

“what do you see when you stare at me? It looks like you aren't seeing me at all, somehow.”

Embarrassment mixed with... relief? Weird.

“Well I see the electrical activity your brain produces when you're thinking about things really hard. I can see electrical fields when I try to.”

Wait.

“You can see human nervous systems?”

He shook his head quickly, looking a bit unsettled. I tried to sit on the ideas such an intriguing idea gave me, even though the ramifications in the medical field alone were more than a bit amazing.

“Not most. Like, I can't see the nerve clusters in in your arms, there just isn't enough juice for me to see past your skin. But wiring in the walls, electrical stuff... that I can see.”

Well, that wasn't quite as promising as I'd first thought, but still, I persisted.

“And you can see the brain activity in a human skull through the electricity generated?”

He shook his head as we started up to our next classes.

“No... just yours. When you start thinking I can't help but feel that it's a wonder your head doesn't explode. The field you generate... well it's stronger than any human's I've ever seen.”

I shrugged.

“My skull is probably insulated or something. I can check later, I suppose. But I've got too many priorities to deal with for now.”

And he looked nervous again.

“Look, Min, got to go. See you at Gym, alright?”

“Sure, I'll be there unless I pass out or something.”

He waved and we split up. Ricky chose that moment to catch up. I'd known he was behind us, but he had seemed intent on just following at a distance rather than getting involved in the conversation. Almost as if he were avoiding Ralph for some reason, but he had no reason to do that, nor would he even if he did. It was Ricky, after all.

“So what was all that about?”

Never one to beat around the bush ladies and gentleman, that's Ricky.

“We were just discussing powers. Did you know that Ralph can see electrical fields?”

Ricky was mystified.

“No, but what does that have to do with anything?”

“Apparently he can see the electrical field and activity my brain generates when I'm using my power.”

Now it was Ricky's turn to look relieved. What was going on, exactly?

“Oh, that's neat I guess. So hey, I wanted to ask you something....”

Oh, did he want a robot too or something? I was already on the hook for two; both Maggie and Sam wanted one. According to them, there were plenty others that did too but had promised to lay off until the terrible news hound duo got theirs first. Maybe he wanted one to play basketball with, since I was no longer tall enough to effectively block him, strictly speaking. Heh, that would be funny; a basketball playing android.

And then Ricky's hair bristled as Gordo arrived. He had been suspended, though the assault charges that the school had pending against him had been dropped; there had been no evidence of any injuries to me, even if everyone was pretty sure I'd had a concussion. Hm, maybe part of the reason Ralph could see my brain's electrical field was that my skull lacked it's former density? I think I could have taken a knock on the head like that before....

“Myr... Min. We need to talk. Alone.”

Of course that was all that was needed for volcano Ricky to explode.

“No way in hell, Gordo. You got something to say, you say it in public, where she's nice and safe.”

“Shut up, Tanner.”

Great, now they were glaring at each other. Knowing my luck they'd forget about me and go at it right in the halls, and I'd get squashed or something. But Jeeves was with me, so there wouldn't be a repeat of last time. I wouldn't be embarrassing myself twice. They were inches apart, and normally I'd be shoving my way in between them now, but I seriously doubted that I could do that now. Still, there were other ways.

“Sure. Let's talk Gordon.”

Ricky gaped at me. Everyone in the hall who had been so busy ignoring the confrontation forgot what they were supposed to be ignoring, and gaped at me. Even Gordon gaped at me. It made me more than a little angry, actually; I mean, he was the one that asked me! He shouldn't act so surprised I accepted.

I led the way past the geography classroom Gordon and I shared, and into an empty one a few doors down to it. I let Gordon in, and Jeeves followed, cutting Ricky off and shutting the door in his face. Gordon stopped, nonplussed.

“Don't worry about Jeeves; he's mine. Anything you can say to me, you can say to him.”

He took a breath and eyed Jeeves suspiciously. Jeeves just stared back impassively while leaning on the door. He gulped air again before plunging ahead, shocking me.

“Alright. I owe you an apology. I'm sorry I slammed you into the lockers; I lost my temper, and it won't happen again.”

Gordon had just apologized for something? To me? Had he been replaced by a doppelganger or something? I gathered my wits when he started to look mildly pissed off.

“Apology accepted; sorry, I just didn't think I'd ever see that.”

He snorted.

“You almost didn't. Don't get me wrong, I still don't like you, and don't like mutants in general. But I've had plenty of time to think the last couple of days, and more than a few people have talked my ear off about you. And well, coming back to school, doing what you're doing after all that's happened to you, that takes guts man. And I do respect you for that. So are we cool man?”

I held out my hand, and he wasted no time at all grabbing and shaking it gently. No hesitation at all; he wasn't afraid of me or what I could do. It could be simple ignorance, but I doubted it; the entire school knew about Jeeves by now, and more than a few were wary of him.

“Yeah, we're cool. Bygones and all that, though if you want to go at it like we used to I'm afraid I'll have to use a stand in. Speaking of which, can you do me a favor and stop tormenting Ricky? Please?”

He owed me this, and I'd try to collect. If I had to, I'd intervene, and he had to know that. He didn't want to beat on me, and I didn't want to use Jeeves, so maybe we could come to an accord. He waited; if he took any longer to think we'd be late. Ricky had gone from banging on the door to gone already, we had to have less than 30 seconds to get to class.

“I'll stop antagonizing him, but if he starts with me, I'll finish it.”

That was the best I could hope for, and I wouldn't have it any other way; Ricky needed to learn to stop poking people anyway.

“Deal. Now let's get to class before we're late. I really don't want a detention.”

I reached the door as he snorted; Jeeves let me out and I could clearly hear the mutter since the hall was mostly empty and therefore silent.

“Goody two shoes.”

I responded with a snappy:

“You want to spend more time at school than you have to?”

“Good point.”

I smirked as we both managed to reach the classroom at the same time, entering as the bell rang. Where everyone in the class was looking at me. Or rather, Gordon and me, next to each other, both of us smiling. Many a jaw was on the floor, not the least of which was Mrs. Carson. He knew how it looked, same as I did, and smiled again as the whispers commenced. Maggie looked ready to explode, and I knew she'd pounce later.

But for now, Romania. I kind of felt sorry for Romania; the place was so small that even with the long history it had, it only rated a single hour. Tomorrow it would be on to Spain, with many of us wondering why the jump in the first place. I mean, there were other eastern European nations that we still needed to cover, like Hungary. Which I was, come to think of it. That joke just never gets old, no matter who uses it, or how many times.

As soon as the class bell rang, Jeeves pressed a Snickers bar into my hand. Where had he even gotten one, and how did he have money? Oh well, I'd ask later. I needed the boost now. I checked; he hadn't run any students over getting to me, which was good, because Mr. Welch looked angry enough as it was. He didn't take the chocolate away though, which meant he and the other teachers had likely been briefed on what my new energy requirements were.

So finally I was on my way to gym. I entered first since everyone was changing, a brief and amusing idea of going in the locker room to change and Jeeves following me in without a care in the world. Of course I still wasn't exactly comfortable there, and I'd just get cold without my coat anyway; the large ceiling fans were always on and the gym was usually a good ten degrees below the rest of the school. Good if you were exercising, but not so good if you weren't.

I took my customary seat and grabbed my pack as Jeeves sat beside me. Wait, this wouldn't really do.

“Stay here Jeeves. Watch for stray balls and other stuff like that headed our way. I'll just be a few bleachers up, O.K.?”

“Of course mistress Min.”

He faced front towards the gym floor as Ralph came walking up. Of course Jeeves would hear everything, and might even see it all as well somehow (I wouldn't put it past him, even if his eyes were based on a humans field of vision) but it seemed to offer at least some illusion of privacy with him faced forward.

“No need to try and play human shield today.”

Jeeves didn't even bat an eye as Ralph walked past. Seriously, he had stopped blinking; someone was taking things seriously.

“Well you won't hear me complain. So what's on tap for today?”

“Well I did say I'd let you know, so android test dummies and processor improvements. I owe Ian a computer, and need the androids done before I can work on the jet engine and vehicle for it. Always so much crap I need, just to get to the crap I want to make.”

Ralph dropped a light hand on my shoulder as he sat down.

“Don't worry, you'll get there. If it's any consolation, according to the internet, your frustration is a universal complaint among devisors.”

“Been checking up on the competition?”

“You know it, got to see what I'm getting into. Don't act like you haven't checked up on me.”

I smirked. The posts on exemplars were pretty short actually. Basically they all boiled down to 'better than normal'. A lie of course, since exemplar was on my MID, and I was worse physically than I had been. Well except for agility and reaction speeds. Both of those were still within human norms though. Most devisors made suits to offset their physical weaknesses, and maybe I would too... eventually. Whenever I got some kind of spare minute in between all the other things I had to do. Probably next year sometime, knowing my luck.

Other devisors usually got the ability to stay up and work long hours with little sleep or food somehow, sometimes for weeks at a time. Lucky stiffs; if I could manage twenty hours at a time I would be ahead of my own curve. No, I needed to make more hands. Easily programmable, somewhat intelligent, and absolutely loyal hands who would do as I asked while I was forced to sleep. That came before any suit.

“Wow, these sketches... I can't make heads or tails of them. A multi-level processor? Not a wafer... and another Jeeves.”

“Nah, a crash test dummy. Better than Jeeves for his purpose, but hardly the same thing.”

Okay, that sounded a little pedantic. Ralph wasn't offended.

“I get it. So will he be anatomically correct?”

He waggled his eyebrows. I didn't get it. Why wouldn't he be?

“Well, of course he will. He's a crash test dummy, he has to be for the tests, otherwise they would be invalidated.”

You don't just throw together some poorly made facsimile and throw them in a cockpit of something, not when you can do better; what if a person's crotch would normally be pinched by the seat belt or something, and you hadn't tested for it? That would be... poor design. Didn't tell me why Ralph was looking at me in clear disbelief though.

“What?”

“Nothing, just... never mind. Maybe I'll explain it later. So. There is dance coming up for Halloween, want to go?”

And this lead went here, and the transistor went here....

“Um, sure. I'd planned to go anyway.”

Wait, did he ask me out? I'd been planning to go alone as a punishment to Jeeves, stay awhile, and then get back to work. I looked up into his face; he looked out of it or something, as if he'd taken a locker to the back of his head or something.

“Are you asking me to go with you?”

His eyes stopped staring off into space and he flushed. His voice wobbled a little over his reply. Weird.

“Yeah. You want to?”

“Um, sure, if you don't mind Jeeves being along. Oh, and Sam and Maggie. Pretty sure they want to come. Ricky probably will too, come to think of it, and I'm pretty sure Maggie will want to co-ordinate all our costumes. Or as many as we let her anyway, I have an idea for Jeeves and I, and I'm not in the mood to change it.”

I had heard Maggie say something about the dance, I think, a few days ago. I couldn't remember what she had said, only a general sense of it, which was weird, because my mutation included perfect recall. Something had happened, or was wrong. I'd have to speak to Jeeves later, out of earshot of any potentially worrying friends to make sure. I looked up to find that Ralph's eyes had crossed and he was tense.

“Yeah, sure. That's fine. I'll talk with Maggie later, see what ideas she has.”

I was glad Maggie wasn't anti-mutant. Though I suppose if she were she'd have told me off the first day. I laughed a little.

“Just don't get too close. She'll latch onto you then talk your ears right off.”

Ralph relaxed and smiled; it looked a little melancholy. Had I said something wrong?

“Yeah, she will at that. No problems, I'll be careful. Now let's see what you can draw.”

I broke out the laptop, now that I wouldn't get in trouble for it.

“Sorry, not today. Got to get these things done. If I don't have something to show my brother, he will do very unpleasant things to me.”

“Ian? He wouldn't really do something, would he?”

Hah. I knew it, but on occasions like this he made it obvious.

“Clearly, an only child speaks. He wouldn't do anything directly, but little brothers can be pains, even when they aren't trying. He would actively try. If you have siblings, you must appease their wroth.”

“I... see. Alright, but I want to see something artistic later.”

“Oh ye of little faith. I'll show you something plenty artistic soon enough.”

After all, the new central processor I was designing was art of a sort. No way it couldn't be. Ralph settled in, doing his origami and watching as my fingers flew. I didn't even need to look up to keep an eye out for potential threats with Jeeves here, and the work went fast.

The bell rang, and everyone started hitting the lockers. I packed up reluctantly; another hour and I'd have the thing mapped and ready for a few computer modeling tests. I wonder if other devisors were as fast at things as I was? Could they all do the things I was doing? Might be something to look into, later. I wrote it down in my notebook before Jeeves took it from my hands.

Well, lunchtime. Ralph ate in the cafeteria, but I didn't want to. Oh, crap. Jeeves had been with me all morning, and so hadn't had time to cook me anything. I looked up into his impassive gaze, and he smirked at me and crooked a finger.

“Our usual place mistress Min, but a slightly different route. Please follow me.”

With a shrug, I followed. Not like I was in a hurry, other than being pretty hungry.

The different route turned out to be through the cafeteria itself. Jeeves left me and promptly walked in the back, to the kitchen itself while I waited, hands in pockets and feeling self conscious. It felt like every eye was on me. A quick glance revealed most of them were, and even the looks of bland curiosity got a bit overwhelming after awhile.

Jeeves came back with a covered platter and strode over to the side door. When he looked back and lifted and eyebrow, I flushed and caught up.

“So, the kitchen?”

“I am now allowed to use the facilities of this institution. I made your repast last night at home, and brought it here. A mere 60 seconds in a microwave and the dish is ready to serve.”

Ralph followed us out. Maggie and Sam were already at the tree, unpacking their own lunches. The table and chair were not placed, of course. I sat down in the grass next to Sam. She looked over.

“You need more androids.”

I nodded. I'd already come to that conclusion, after all.

From somewhere Jeeves had produced a small but plump cushion, and set it down. He moved me onto it, ignoring my completely dignified protests, and set a tray also from somewhere, on top of my legs. Onto that the platter rested, and my lunch was finally revealed. It was soup. Yellow soup, with some spices still visible in it. Beside it was a literal hunk of bread cut into small pieces. Jeeves gently placed a silver spoon into the china bowl, careful not to splash any.

“What is this?”

“Carrot Apple curry soup, with dark French bread.”

And he had the gall to smile at me.

“Trust me.”

I leveled the spoon off and brought it up. It was strangely delicious. Dipping a piece of bread in was ever better. It was too bad there were no seconds because I was pretty sure I would want some. Maggie looked over with a pang of jealousy, eying her own PBJ with disgust.

“Is it as good as you're making it look?”

I nodded again. Talking would mean I'd have to stop eating. Sam was bolder; she snagged a piece of bread and dipped it in. Her verdict was similar.

“...Delicious.”

I was surprised, Jeeves hadn't even made a peep. With a shrug I fed a similar piece of the bread to Maggie, who closed her eyes and moaned. Ralph, who had been drinking at the time, spit up his mouthful of coke and Maggie grinned at him.

“So Min, what are your plans for the Halloween dance? You're going, right?”

She knew very well I was. She had all but demanded I come, no less than three times, with Sam standing behind her in silent support.

“You asked me to come. Oh, Ralph wanted to come with us too. I said it was O.K.”

I tried to ignore the flutter in my stomach while Maggie looked over Ralph in an exaggerated show. Sam Just stared at me. Were they going to say it wasn't cool? If so I'd have to choose, and I really didn't want to do that. I'd given my word to go with Ralph after all. Maggie pronounced her verdict:

“... I guess it's O.K.”

Sam was a bit more harsh for all that her voice was soft.

“...Clueless.”

Clueless? Who was clueless, and about what? I poked her in the side and she jumped.

“Huh? We really need to get you to speak full sentences.”

I probably shouldn't have done that; she was probably going to kick me or something now. She didn't; instead she took her chastisement - and a positively huge bite from her sandwich - with dignity and grace.

Maggie was silent too, for once, though she looked like she was working hard to stifle laughter. She changed the subject.

“So, the new digs are open, right? We can watch the native mad scientist in her natural habitat?”

That comment was a twist in my gut, but I could tell she didn't mean it. Sam elbowed her while taking another bite somehow. I ignored it as best I could.

“Yeah, the lab is open. Jeeves moved everything last night, and it should be all hooked up, or close to it. I can set the printer to run off the new project as soon as I get home.”

Well, unless Mom had something for me to do. Maggie loomed.

“Cool! So what's the new project?”

“A new processor for Ian. He was a little jealous of my computer, so I'm making him one.”

I could see the sun again as she withdrew.

“Booooring! I want robots! Robots and jet packs! Make us robots, min!”

I really needed another, bigger 3d printer. Maybe eventually, when I was trusted more.

“Patience. Robots aren't built in a day.”

“Jeeves was.”

That... was a pretty good point. One I couldn't even refute.

“I was constructed in 3 hours, 42 minutes, and 17 seconds.”

The ever so helpful Jeeves.

“Thank you Jeeves, you're a big help.”

Apparently he couldn't read sarcasm.

“Thank you, mistress Min.”

I finished and Jeeves packed up. Maggie looked pretty down; forlorn even.

“Seriously Min, you need to make more robots as soon as possible. I need my leftovers!”

I couldn't agree more, actually. I was already missing the soup. That and bring my comfy lunch chair and table back; Jeeves had spoiled me. That should worry me frankly, but I didn't really have the time or effort for that.

“I'll work on it. Maybe by next week. In the meantime, I agree that we need to work out lunch plans better. But for now, back to the grind I guess.”

We still had several minutes before lunch was over, but I could use the time to just set up, and it would translate to more useful time in study hall. Today I wasn't going to bother with homework just yet. Too many projects, and I was slightly ahead anyway, since I'd used my down time well.

“What's the hurry? It's a pretty nice day. We should all enjoy the fresh air while we can.”

Ralph's words stopped me. Sam was nodding, and a part of me wanted to nod along. It was a very nice day; too good to spend all day indoors, really. But work beckoned, and I think the weather was going to stay nice. So plenty of time after school, on the walk home.

“Normally I'd agree with you, but androids don't build themselves.”

Jeeves opened his mouth, but my look stopped him. My classmates did not need to know, and neither did the CIA or MCO. They were all undoubtedly listening, even though I couldn't see them. It was mildly alarming that he had even contemplated giving away such things in the open, even to my friends. Plenty of time to tell them later, if they still wanted to know. Luckily, no one seemed to notice.

I hurried ahead while everyone packed up, with Jeeves on my heels. Saving the good desks in the back of study hall was important; it kept us together and kept other people from trying to read things from over my shoulder. I'd already caught one guy trying to do that a few days ago; all I needed was some random kid getting my jet pack and putting out an eye or blowing off an arm with it, or something.

I'd say people had more sense than that, but with some it was hard to tell.

Mr. Mullins didn't do more than just look up as I strode in with Jeeves behind me and plopped down with a sigh. He didn't even bat an eye when Jeeves carefully placed my laptop on the desk, stepped back behind me, and all but glared at the class.

The class found other places for their eyes to be.

Sam and Maggie came in and took the flanking desks, as expected. Ricky walked in a minute later, and scowled, deciding on the desk in front of me. I waved, but the bell rang before I could say anything. Which was probably for the best, because I wasn't sure how happy Ricky would be if I had actually said the first thing that popped into my head. I had been about to ask him if he wanted help with his homework, and that would probably have been all kinds of awkward.

I pulled the laptop out of sleep mode and the processor design came up. I started working on it; just like Gym, I didn't need to worry about anything crazy happening. Well, more crazy than Sam staring at my screen and just watching me. I really hoped I didn't have to have the same talk with her that I had with the other guy. What was his name? Gerry I think. Didn't matter, I guess; I mean, I could always just go over and ask. I looked the guy's way and caught him staring; he blushed and went back to his own homework. Math, it looked like.

I brushed aside all distractions and focused.

The processor took shape. It was almost done, in fact when the ringing bell startled me. I wanted to throw up my hands and scream; I was so close! Jeeves was already packing everything up.

“Pace yourself, mistress Min.”

Maggie was looking at me oddly. I took a breath and blew it out. Jeeves was right.

“What?”

“Nothing, you just zoned out. Ignored me entirely.”

“Ack! Sorry.”

“No problem, just the price of you being awesome.”

Sam nodded along with that as I resisted blowing her a raspberry. I looked over at Ricky; if I had ignored everyone, had I missed he had said at me? He did seem a bit angry, but it didn't seem to be directed at me. Still, I leaned over and whispered to Maggie:

“I miss anything?”

Maggie's ever-present grin widened as she answered with an even softer whisper than I had managed.

“Not much. He just invited himself along to the Halloween party with the cool kids is all, and didn't like the idea of us all coordinating costumes.”

“Oh. Well, what were your plans?”

“I was thinking superheroes!”

I caught Sam rolling her eyes as mine were circling. No way was I doing that, it would interfere with my own plans regarding Jeeves's punishment. I shook my head.

“Won't work. We need to do something 18th century if we are coordinating at all.”

“Oh? Why?”

I didn't need to whisper the last part; Jeeves would hear it anyway.

“Because I'm punishing Jeeves. You know, for being Jeeves.”

Jeeves for his part, just stared back at me impassively. Sam broke in, surprising me. Was that a smile, there?

“We can switch.”

A full sentence even! I was a positive influence.

We all piled into English class and were promptly bored. It was all reading today, anyway. I stood up and read when it was my turn, but otherwise went over the bot designs. I would need to buy more notebooks soon, so I'd stop using my class ones.

Finally, the bell rang and we were released from prison for the day. Jeeves packed up for me, and we left, Maggie and Sam keeping pace, and Ricky and Ralph both walking on ahead. Jeeves watched our backs, of course. It was finally time to get some real work done.