Code 19: There is a small child loose in the area.
“LOCKDOWN! LOCKDOWN!” Rodriguez checked all the small storage bays before she locked them. Kept her eyes and ears open for any trace.
No sticky residue. No smeared prints. No suspicious puddles of liquid. No sign that the progeny had been here. And that was the dangerous part.
“I thought human infants were helpless,” said Chor'i'za.
“Human infants, yes. But once they learn how to move, they get into places other mere mortals can’t reach.”
Chor'i'za startled. “I should re-check the storage areas I just locked,” she said.
“Good call.”
“Q'bl'nof j'x'k'l.”
Rodriguez looked down. “Call off the alarm. I found the kid.” She dropped into a kneel. “Hello there. Did your Daddy get lost?”
“Blar yabble gub nuff.”
“I see,” Rodriguez crooned, subtly checking the kid for damage. Ze was chewing on something. “Is that tasty?”
“Pleh.”
“Oh, that’s not good…”
“You can understand that?” boggled Chor'i'za.
“Not a word,” Rodriguez singsonged. She went through her pockets and found a small lollipop. “The kid’s pre-verbal. Ze’s talking in ‘Scribble’. It’s sounds that are almost language. Hey, darling… I bet you’d like to swap that nasty old thing for one of these.” She flourished the lollipop.
“HUAAAAAH!” The one hand not holding the something ze was chewing on went straight out in a universal 'gimmie gimmie’ motion.
“Ah-ah-ah. Ta…?” Rodriguez pointed to the mystery object and held out her hand.
The trade was made. “Ta!”
Rodriguez handed the small cerametal part in all its goopy glory to Chor'i'za “Clean that and find out where the kid got it from. I’ll return this little trouble-maker to Daddy.”
“Blx,” said the kid.
It was only later that they would find out that a very small child had managed to carefully unscrew the one bolt that could lead to a catastrophic engine failure. Admin was still working on a completely childproof door. Difficult when human children could figure out how to circumvent such measures before they could talk.
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