The two of them headed off to the Astro after work.
Everyone was tucking away as much of Mabel's menu as they could manage, along with either coffee or motor oil. Depending. Most of the talk that night was about the disappearance of four more Big Lug robots - from a construction site, this time. They just kept failing to show up for work.
The crowd at the Astro were full of stories about Lugs that'd gotten lost, or had walked downhill into a fenced yard and couldn't find their way out again. Because your Big Lug, unlike other robots we know - with a nod to Rusty - is maybe not as clever as it could be.
Mabel beeped twice and rolled back to the kitchen. Only Rusty knew what she meant, of course, but a silence fell over the crowd as they each tried to figure it out anyway.
Rusty took a quick drink of oil. Gwen thought he looked a little embarrassed.
The whole room seemed to be grateful when she changed the subject. There was a rally coming up, Gwen reminded them. That would mean a rematch between Nat Gonella and Henry Hall, who had been going head to head in pretty much every race there was, lately. Rallies - and even Gwen admitted this - were more Hall's style. Nat was a born racer, mind, but a time speed and distance rally was another kind of challenge altogether. You didn't try to make the best possible time: you had to get your rocket to each checkpoint exactly on schedule. By the time Gwen headed home Rusty was holding the markers for twenty bets or mor
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