Challenge #00473 - A098: Two Out of Three

Faster, Cheaper, Better, Pick Two. – RecklessPrudence

Shayde made most of her Hours from being a living Time Window. Her memories kept her comfortable and fed quite a large number of assorted waifs and strays around Amalgam Station.

And it kept Rael in slightly more Double Dense Decadent Death by Chocolate Cake than he felt comfortable accepting.

Shayde was building something from custom parts, today. Taking a day off from ‘the office’ and its paperless paperwork to build… some variety of rotational device? And doing do whilst singing was just perplexing.

“Na don’t be saaaaaad,” she crooned. “Coz two outta three ain’t baaaaaad…”

Rael quietly attempted to abscond. Seconds too late.

“Ah, there y'are. Put yer cam on. It’s sommat fer yer rent.”

Rael didn’t bother correcting her any more. Just accepted 'rent’ as verbal shorthand for 'the bills that must be paid lest life become inconvenient’. He flipped his personal recorder on and aimed its pickup at Shayde’s nest of organised chaos. “And what’s this going to be?”

“I’m puttin’ together a record player. It’s what they used fer ole vinyl recording’s, ye ken. Someone sent me a bunch'a elpees an’ singles and they wanted a translation tae digital soon as yesterday.”

Uh oh. “So you’re spending a day building an antiquated device… why?”

“Aw don’t ye fret. I already did th’ digital scan thing, but it doesnae get the right sound. Records are an experience, ye ken. They already got their data, but I’m gonna be sendin’ it again the right way.”

He should have guessed Shayde was an audiophile. She claimed she could hear the difference between file formats. She could definitely tell if something had been taken from an ancient CD. “And your -ah- shanty?”

“Power ballad,” she corrected as she pieced bits together. “Thinkin’ about the old engineerin’ axiom got me singin’.”

“Ah.” Faster, cheaper or better. Customers got to pick two. “So after faster and cheaper, you’re choosing to do it again better?”

“As licketty darn split as I can,” she said.

He sat with her. “How can I help?” Curiosity, he was certain, was going to get him into immense trouble, one day. With luck, today would not be that day.

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