A Larvikite for a Soul

18) I Find a Hidden Talent

After spending the whole day as Dora, I came back to the hospital at night. Callan and Aaron were already waiting for me, with the robot in Callan's hands.

"It's fixed?" I asked him.

"Yeah. I discovered and changed many things in it. This robot was working on the principle of moving coil galvanometer......." He seemed really proud of his work and actually knew what he did. I, on the other hand, had no idea about the science he was speaking about and as a result, zoned out on the first line itself. He kept going on and on for five whole minutes until I accidentally yawned.

"Oops!" I whispered since he saw me. "I didn't get enough sleep last night, so..." I tried to justify myself.

"You are wight. You don't sleep, Ana," Callan said with a raised eyebrow.

"Exactly. That's why I am sleepy." I told him lamely. However, when he kept looking angrily at me, I lowered my eyes in guilt.

"You didn't hear a single word. Did you?"

"Yeah, I did. You said moving coil galvanometer." I told him, excited that I remembered such a difficult word.

"That's it?" he asked.

"There was more?" I asked in confusion. This caused Callan to shake his head in disapproval. I looked at Aaron and I could bet anything that if he could speak, he would be snickering at me. I don't know what came over me but instead of having guilt for my actions, I actually got jealous of Aaron, who I knew, also didn't hear anything.

"Alright, I will tell you the important things," Callan said with a scowl. I nodded and got ready to pretend better than the last time.

"This robot can actually detect the stone. That's why it was in that village. But since we don't want it to get confused or side-tracked, we will be going to an era before the family got the stone. From there it will lead us forward."

"Okay. But I have one question." He motioned for me to continue. "If it was so easy, why couldn't you have told me this earlier?" I said rolling my eyes at him.

He muttered something along the lines of dumb people, but being pretty sure it wasn't about me, I ignored him. Reaching the place, Callan put the robot on the ground and started it. It was then that I realised that Aaron was still with us. So, I called him "Callan, won't Aaron mind if we start this robot?"

"The robot emits VLF radiations which were harming him. I changed some settings to ensure that this does not repeat. Aaron won't mind it now." I accepted whatever he said because I had no idea what a counterargument would be. For a few minutes, Callan kept on working on the robot. He seemed to be having some difficulty with it but I had no idea if I could help him in any way.

I kept looking around while waiting for him when my gaze fell on the colourful bird I have seen before. I wanted to call Callan to ask about them but he beat me to it.

"Ana, I want your stone pieces from your belt. Remove them slowly please."

I did what he asked me to, forgetting all about the birds and held my palm towards him, with the pieces on it. Callan slowly bought the robot to my hand. When it did nothing, he bought his own hand near the bot which held the stone pieces from his belt. "Fuck!" he cursed when nothing happened again.

"What is it?" I asked finally.

"I reprogramed the bot. Now it has no idea what to look for. I have done the setting, but he needs to see at least one small piece of the stone to find a similar one." he explained the crisis.

"So, these pieces aren't enough?" I asked dread lacing my voice.

"They are broken. It would have been enough if they were joined." His voice was lost but it sparked something inside me.