A surprise companion.

Allison pressed the call button for the elevator and noticed that the car had stopped on the floor above her and then it proceeded to go up. She watched the number go from the tenth floor to the third floor and sighed, having need to wait for the elevator car to return down.

"I wish there were two elevators," she grumbled to herself while she looked at her tablet.

The elevator dinged a minute later and just she was about to step in, something hit her ankle.

"What the...?" she yelped and looked down at the the basketball-size spherical robot at her feet. "What do you want?"

"She wants to go downstairs with you," Zoe chirped while she walked up to the elevator door.

"It has wants and desires now?" Allison snorted.

"She and I just want her to tag along with you to test her AI, okay?" Zoe replied.

"Does it talk?" Allison asked, stepping into the car.

"She and not yet, I'm still working on the voice module," Zoe smiled.

"Fine, get inside, BB-8," Allison huffed, motioning for the little robot to roll into the elevator. "You too, mèi mèi!"

"Her name is Robbi!" Zoe corrected as she hopped into the car before the elevator door closed. "And I'm an only child so I'm not mèi mèi!"

The two girls stepped off the elevator after it reached the fifteen floor and the ceiling lights automatically turned on when the sensors detected their presence. The only noise was the low drone of the various machinery and pumps that were vital to the compound's environment control and life support systems.

"What's this?" Zoe asked after Allison led them to a machine with vent ducts.

"This is the latest iteration of MOXIE..."

"What's that?" Zoe interrupted.

"Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment," Allison answered while she connected her tablet to the device and started running diagnostics on the experiment.

"What does it do?"

"Since we don't have a rain forest down here we need a way to generate oxygen and remove the carbon dioxide we breath out," Allison explained. "MOXIE produces oxygen by solid oxide electrolysis of carbon dioxide. There was a smaller version of MOXIE in the Perseverance rover on Mars but this is the next iteration to see if it scalable for a large volume such as this complex."

"What if it fails?" Zoe wonders.

"Our faces are going to be bloated like Arnold Schwarzenegger on the surface of Mars at the end of Total Recall!" Allison replied with a poker face.

"Seriously?!" the petite computer engineer gasped.

"For a genius child prodigy, you're awfully gullible," Allison laughed.

"Shut up, nerd..." Zoe grumbled.

"Seriously though, this is NASA we're talking about so there are redundancies with a backup system to compensate," Allison explained. "Worse comes to worse, since we're not in a truly closed system, we'll have fresh air pumped in until we get MOXIE fixed."

"That's good," Zoe sighed, kneeling down to check on ROBoT.

"So the next iteration of you may be on the ISS," Allison remarked at the robot while she waited for the application to process the data.

Zoe giggled when the robot moved its domed head in a motion that would pass off as a nod.

"Maybe Jon will get to get work with one of her kids," she quipped.

The small robot stared blankly at her.

"God, I hope you give her a voice soon because I'm getting tired of these blank stares," Allison sighed. "Okay, let's check out the Water Processor Assembly next."

Allison stopped at the machine that collected water from advanced dehumidifiers, wastewater, and urine to produce drinkable water. "Ninety-four percent efficiency. It could do better," she muttered and looked down at ROBoT. "Do you think it can reach ninety-eight percent efficiency?"

The small robot stared blankly at her.

"God, I want to kick you but I'll probably break my toe," Allison said and knelt down at the spherical robot to pat it and its dome head moved so its camera looked up at her. She was impressed on how soft its padding was but not surprised since it was designed to protect both itself and the equipment on the ISS when it floats around the station.

"Robbi, don't tell her that I actually find you cute," she whispered, glancing over at Zoe who was concentrating on her laptop.

The robot nodded.

"So you mentioned the other night you're not a virgin," Allison grinned after walking up to Zoe.

"Um... what?" Zoe sputtered, staring up from her laptop.

"On the drive back to the hotel from the studio you claimed you're not a virgin," Allison reiterated with a smirk. "You just seem more of the type that prefers spending time in front of the monitor than someone who gets a lot of action."

"Hey, that's personal!" Zoe snapped defensively.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you," Allison apologized. "I'm just trying to get to know you better while we're down here."

"Well, do you sleep around?" Zoe retorted.

"I've had multiple boyfriends but none that were serious enough I would say that were potential husband material," the mechanical engineer shrugged. "What about you? Any beau waiting for you outside of the blast doors?"

"No..."

"Me neither," Allison sighed.

"It's going to be a frustrating two years," Zoe muttered.

"You didn't bring a companion?" Allison asked.

"What do you mean?" Zoe wondered innocently.

Allison stared at the young computer engineer. "You may be a genius with code but you're still a girl with physical needs. I'm going to assume you're straight..."

"I am!" Zoe interrupted.

"... so there are devices that helps satisfy you when you're horny."

"A dildo?" Zoe shouted, only to cover her mouth and look around to see if anyone but the two of them (and ROBoT) were around.

"Dildo. Vibrator. Body massager," Allison shrugged. "Whatever rocks your boat."

"You brought one?" Zoe whispered.

"More than one," Allison grinned. "Do you want to borrow one?"

Zoe bit her lower lip as she thought about the question before asking timidly, "Can I...?"

"Well, I guess more of a long term lease since I don't want it back knowing where it's been!" Allison replied, laughing but stopped when she noticed Zoe went quiet. "What's wrong?"

"NASA made us wear the birth control device," Zoe said, pointing to the barely noticeable bump on her left shoulder. "Do they expect us to have sex with Jonathan?"

"I don't know about expect but I think it's a just precaution," Allison replied. "We're all human with needs..."

"Would you have sex with him?" Zoe asked.

"In a heartbeat and for hours!" Allison grinned. "What about you?"

Zoe bit her lower lip before slowly nodding. "But would he though? I mean, there are thirteen other women here and all of you are hotter than me! I mean, Jen looks like a supermodel! Ming Yue and Hane have breasts bigger than my head!"

"But you're cute..."

"Everyone is calling me mèi mèi!" Zoe grumbled. "I'm twenty-two and not a baby!"

"You're barely legal," Allison giggled.

"That's not helping..." Zoe fumed, glowering at her.

"Look, Jon is an upstanding nice guy and I know he's not going to take advantage of any of us," Allison explained with a warm smile. "He's afraid of his mother to hurt any of us!"

Zoe laughed. "I would be afraid of her too. She reminds me a lot of my mom."

"Yeah," Allison sighed.

"This is just between us, remember!" Zoe stated, offering up a pinky finger.

"Pinky swear," Allison smiled, hooking her pinky with Zoe's. "Let's continue with the diagnostics, mèi mèi, and I'll describe to you the choices of dildos and vibrators you can choose from!"

Zoe nodded and did not complain about being called 'little sister' because she felt Allison was like an older sister she never had.