Nadia Haeryfer (Class of ’25) staged a short story contest, and the following was selected as one of the two winners. Congrats.
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The frost stung his skin as he trudged through the snow, feet dragging against the ground in exhaustion. He’d been chasing her all day, ever since she’d disappeared off into the woods after he’d fallen asleep. Oh, why did he ever dare to let his guard down – he should’ve known better, should’ve known that if she was left unattended, of course, she’d ditch their experiment and run off.
Thinking back, he pondered over the result of their experiment as he followed her trail. They’d been working on a new power source for their mechanical human for a while now – after all, the powered core he’d scavenged from some old projects wasn’t nearly enough to support the constant energy demands. Making a mechanical ‘segment’ of yourself wasn’t that easy. It required rare, dangerous resources such as the power source, the DNA of the original person, a connection to the original person, etc … he didn’t really care, though.
His thoughts were interrupted when something fell on him. For a second, he was stunned, confused at what had occurred. But then he realized what actually fell on him – that idiot girl who’d run off! Before she could dart off again and waste more of his precious time, he grabbed her by the arm, tugging her back despite her attempts to flee.
“Hey! Let go!” she complained, trying to pull her arm out of his grasp.
“Not after that stunt you just pulled. Come on, we’re going back to the lab,” he responded, voice stern with a hint of annoyance. He yanked her back towards him, keeping her close as he walked back to the lab, the snow drifting down around them. But before they went
very far, he suffered a sudden pain in his back when she kicked him hard. In his momentary state of confusion, she managed to escape his grasp and zipped off through the snow. “Oh you! Get back here, you pesky assistant!” he roared, running after her.
And then suddenly, a snowball hit him in the face and a noise of surprise came from him. He brushed the snow off of his face and then picked up some snow, condensing it into a ball. He looked around, attempting to locate her. He found her hidden behind a tree, one wing sticking out from its cover. He aimed the snowball at her and then launched it at her. He knew it struck home not long after, hearing her yelp of surprise.
And from his action did the resulting snowball fight occur. They hurled snow at each other, paid no attention to slowly setting sun, and, for once, just had fun. Two normally stoic researchers, out in the snow, enjoyed the experience of a simple snowball fight. But all good things must end, and that includes their fun. Before the sun dipped complete under the horizon, the two came to a truce and agreed to maybe continue this some other day.
As they trudged back to the lab through the snow, the sky shifted to stunning shades of pink and orange, the wind blew softly, and despite their clothes, which were soaked from the snow, both of the researchers smiled.
“So,” the winged girl said, “has our little snowball fight given you any new ideas?”
He sighed, before responding to her question. “Not really, although … I guess it may turn out to help us. After all, I feel … relaxed, for once.”
“Well, that’s good. You spend so much time working on your experiments, so it’s nice to see you not stressed about them for once. Although I guess when we get back to the lab, you’ll want to do more work since I pulled you away from it,” she responded.
They continued their walk back to the lab in silence after their small conversation, though despite the time-consuming experiments looming they both looked cheerful – a rare occurrence.
Soon, however, they arrived back at the lab and returned inside. He picked back up the experimental powered core they’d been working on before she ran off. Meanwhile, she connected it up to a battery, and the two researchers settled back into their normal routine. They continued their attempts to transfer energy to the core, so that it could then power the mechanical clone waiting patiently in the corner. But per usual, they failed. They just couldn’t get the power to stay in the core without dissipating.
After a while, he spoke. “Why don’t we call it a day — it doesn’t look like we’re going to figure this out today, and I’m feeling rather tired.”
“You? Tired? If you say so. I guess we can leave it for tomorrow,” she replied.
They packed up all the components of their work, before leaving the lab, with him locking the door behind them. It had been a long day for the two researchers — while they hadn’t accomplished much in their work, for once, they’d had a relaxing time having that snowball fight. They’d acted like the friends they were for once, instead of the two unfeeling researchers they presented themselves as to most.
As they walked back to their living quarters, the avian researcher spoke up. “Well, have a good night, idiot genius.”
“You too, bird girl,” he responded, and the two parted ways, to meet again for work another day.
