Of course not, Ellie's got work to do.

As much as she would have liked to unwind, Elise knew she had to get ready for SAX. The more exposure she got with these new props, the more her bosses at Tip-Top Talent would pay her. She couldn't slip up, or else up-and-comers like Annabelle would be nipping at her heels.

"Sorry." Elise stepped towards Michael and gave him a tired smile. "Your partner's right. I have to get all this stuff ready to go. Thank you so much for helping bring it up here!"

Michael's shoulders drooped. He stepped out of the door frame glumly, where he was quickly swept away by the older deliveryman.

"I was just gonna ask for her autograph..."

Luigi punched him in the side. "We do that every day. It's called signing for delivery, you chucklefuck."

"Goodbye, boys!" Elise slid the door shut and walked back to her bed, where she sat down with a sigh.

"That's my girl," Yasmin said. "Wouldn't want to think you're going soft on the delivery boys of all people. If you're going to make a scandal, at least invite someone famous into your room."

"Don't get any ideas," Elise warned. "If I see PewDiePie outside my door holding a bouquet of flowers, I'm blaming you."

Yasmin burst out laughing. "Who said it had to be a guy? And PewDiePie? Come on, Ellie. Even I have standards."

"Could have fooled me." Ellie stuck her tongue out at her laptop. "Now get Rachit on the line so he can tell me how to work this sword and robot. Just because I played 2B's game doesn't mean I can work her gear."

"You're the boss," Yasmin said. "Patching you through."

A few seconds later, Elise's screen lit up with the face of an Indian man wearing a climbing helmet. Wind blasted the camera, drowning out Yasmin's complaints about the noise.

"Hang on!" Rachit shouted. "Let me get to this outcropping!"

Elise waited patiently for the wind to die down. The camera- apparently a GoPro- swiveled down for a moment. There was nothing but air and two hundred feet of cliffside. The camera jittered as Rachit secured his rappel to the rock above his head.

"Just once, I'm going to catch you in the office," Elise said. She shook her head and tried not to get vertigo. "I guess this is what 24-hour client contact looks like on a Saturday."

"Not my fault Electric Sheep gives such great employee benefits," Rachit smiled. "You should drop the gig with Triple T and come hang with us. Marketing needs a new face."

"Thanks, but no thanks, Rachit." Elise said. "I don't think I'd look good in wool."

"Bah! Points for trying," Rachit said with a wave of his hand. "So what's up? Did you get your props?"

"I got a katana and a full-size Pod," Elise said. She reached for the still-sheathed sword. It was surprisingly heavy- almost too heavy to lift, and the blade looked to be either stuck inside or just a sheathed prop. "I can't get it out of the sheath."

"Good," Rachit said. "It's not designed to do anything but float behind you, just like in the game. At least, not yet."

"You mean... this thing has some kind of maglev?" Elise raised her eyebrows. "I get to show off your anti-gravity stuff? That's... pretty cool."

"Oh, that's not the half of it," Rachit clapped his hands- and the camera dropped a foot down.

Elise and Yasmin both shrieked at once. "Rachit!"

"Hold your horses, princess." Rachit adjusted the camera, bringing him back into frame. "Just had to get a kink out of the ropes."

"Don't do that!" Elise, who'd found herself with her hands to her mouth, huffed and lowered them to a more dignified pose. "You scared me."

"I guess this would be a good time to tell you to put that blindfold back on, then."

"Blindfold?" Elise eyed the stiff plastic band next to the Pod's leg. "I was about to ask. Why am I supposed to be blind?"

"The maglev's just for show," Rachit said. "The real product is how this Pod is going to be your eyes and ears. Pod 042 will be guiding you around the convention, and you'll be showing off how great of a job our programmers have been doing to make seeing-eye 'bots. Well, that and other things."

"Other things?" Elise picked up the blindfold. It had a tiny latch on the back, one too tiny to work with human hands.

"Static Sensory Direction Drive," Rachit said. "Put that on and the Pod should be able to tell where you're looking and where you want to go. Plus, it'll give you feedback through your skin."

"That's... not very specific." Elise regarded the blindfold suspiciously. "I'm supposed to walk around SAX blind, with just a floating robot to guide me? What if I trip?"

"We just tested the SSDD yesterday. Don't worry," Rachit assured her. "I'd trust Pod 042 with my life."

"...Uh-huh." Elise watched as Rachit picked his nose two hundred feet in the air. "So... how well-tested is this system, exactly?"