A Tiny Leap

A Tiny Leap in Friendship

An entry for ScienceFiction's contest: High Tech, Part 3.  Hope you like my hapless hero!

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            "Your purpose is to create, to engineer the future, through the skills you hone in this program. This course will provide the basics you need to start your journey on the path to making your world a better place. Here at the School of Robotic Engineering, we believe in the power of all of you, the young people of the world, to shape the future using the technology you create here." Bernadette remembered Dr. Varuna's inspiring words to her Intro to Robotics and Programming class. She and her new colleagues arrived on the first day of class with the freshman light in their eyes, ready to change the world, one class at a time. Over the years in the program, that light faded for many of them. The School of Robotic Engineering didn't take their degree lightly, so Bernadette watched as her fellow students dropped out of the program. Tenacious in her love of the science, she and thirty-five others from her year remained. They were determined to change the future with their research.
            Bernadette downed the rest of her coffee, trying not to drop it out of her shaking hands. Three nights without sleep was normal for a junior in the program, and she handled it better than others. Maintaining good hygiene, she was the best-smelling in the School of Robotic Engineering's building, Tremell Hall.
            "Oh come on," she muttered to herself, repeatedly pounding the button on the computer mouse. "I've stayed up three nights for you. The least you could do is work. Or show me where the problem is."
            "Still working?"
            "Huh?" The voice in a building darkened by night and devoid of inhabitants startled her. She watched her mug fall to the ground and shatter. So tired, she didn't even try to stop it from falling.
            "Oh, sorry, didn't mean to startle you." He bent down to pick up shards of mug. "Hey, I know that look. Let me guess, three days without sleep for a project?"
            "Yeah, I need to get this done. Wait," she recognized something about his face. "You're in Neida's class too, right?"
            "Oh yeah, I'm Anthony." He lifted his hand for her to shake. "I thought I recognized you."
            "Bernadette," she said, shaking his hand. "So you're working on the simulation too?"
            "I actually just finished it. What is your project about?" Before she could answer, he threw away the mug pieces and began scrolling through the windows of code open on the screen. "Very cool, you're into plants?"
            She chuckled shyly before answering. "Yeah, I know it's a little odd, but I had this huge garden in my backyard growing up. Even though it was a lot of work, I loved it because we got to help these tiny seeds grow and create food and flowers all on their own. My parents love exotic plants, too, so we had to maintain so many different conditions for each one. This project is supposed to help with that, and ideally, help us grow crops and such efficiently and without harmful substances."
            "That's awesome, Bernadette. It looks like you're about done, too."
            "Am I? I keep running an error: it says it's from this window, but I think it's actually from here, since that one is feeding off this one." Anthony followed her pointing and scrolled through the two windows in question.
            "Ah, you're absolutely right. Check your sunlight variable-set again." Bernadette scrolled to the spot he indicated and began thinking. She mumbled unintelligibly to herself while Anthony waited for it to hit her.
            "Oh! How could I have been so stupid?" She banged her head on the computer desk.
            "You're not stupid, Bernadette, we all miss things. At least you recognize it. And now that you've fixed it, your simulation should run." He clicked through the windows and hit the button to run the program.
            "It's—it's working! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Anthony! Three nights without sleep, and it finally works!" She shot out of the chair, knocking over the trashcan, which held the shards of broken coffee mug. Anthony immediately bent down to pick them up. "Oh no, sorry! I just got so excited. Three days without sleep, and all it really needed was an extra pair of eyes. Guess I should have asked for help! Oh well, I'll know that for the future."
            "I sure hope so, sleep is important."
            "True."
            "Anyways, have you registered for classes yet?"
            "That's tomorrow for me. Hm, senior year."
            "It's weird, right?"
            "Have you registered?"
            "Yeah, I only have to take Varuna and Tchotsky."
            "I'm taking Varuna too! Advanced Programming Methodology?"
            "That's the one."
            "Cool, I'll probably be asking for help again, then."
            "Don't sweat it. Your tired eyes just didn't catch the typo. You'll do just fine, granted you actually try to sleep, and speaking of sleep."
            "Yes, yes, we should both get some sleep." They finished cleaning up the mug pieces, before logging out of the computer.
            "I actually forgot I left a bunch of stuff on in the other lab, so you go on and get some sleep, and I'll see you tomorrow," Anthony said as Bernadette yawned.
            "All right, see you tomorrow."
            Anthony watched her walk away. The back of her pajama pants were splattered with coffee from her broken mug. It amazed him that they went through the program without getting to know each other. He knew the rest of the students from their year fairly well and frequently helped them with projects. Though Bernadette seemed to fit in the middle of the class, he got the feeling she was actually much smarter than the rest of them. She merely got caught up on silly typos and such. He wondered what their last year of undergraduate school might bring, and if she would learn to outshine them all.