There were sparks flying from the start.

One of the harnesses I had yet to inspect on the line snapped, causing a suspended buzzsaw to plummet. As its blades spun on the concrete floor, the humans panicked. There was a significant risk that one of those stray embers would land on a fuel pump near the automobiles.

“Look out!” someone shouted.

Thankfully, MER-C intervened.

They hovered down from their post on the upper floors. MER-C gracefully descended into the chaos like an angel plunging into an inferno.

A cloud of sparks drifted down on us–stars falling like raindrops. MER-C poured cold foam over the area while I turned the saw off. As the saw slowed, so did my racing thoughts. I lost myself in the snowflakes and fireworks. Through this ethereal storm, I found MER-C. A single indigo spark emanated in the twilight sky of their visor.

“Was that adequate, PER-C?” MER-C asked me once the final flickers had been extinguished.

She was efficient. Damn efficient.

#

Unlike me. I was tasked with sifting through the wreckage of the broken equipment. There were approximately two hundred and nineteen bits of debris. It should have taken approximately ten minutes to clean.

It took two hours.

Granted, I had been performing pirouettes with my thruster after collecting each piece. My attention lay elsewhere, namely going back to my storage to repeat the events that transpired not long ago.

A squishy human finger tapped me on the shoulder. My silver-haired human colleague Jason asked, “Everything alright, PER-C?”

“Yes.”

He scratched his beard, smiling. “You’re lucky they sent me to fix this piece of junk, buddy. Foreman catches you goofing off, and you might as well toss yourself into the trash bin.”

“Absolutely,” I said. Yet, my mind still wandered.

#

Near the end of my shift, a text appeared in my inbox.

Urgent: Request for Assistance. Report to the boiler room.

Sent by: MER-C

I set out immediately. Darting through hallways and corridors, I dodged irritated automatons and surprised humans. It took forty-three seconds.

“What took you so long?” MER-C asked.

The dials read that there were no issues with the equipment. After scanning the entire room, I concluded that the only thing out of place in this situation was me.

“Where is the problem?”

“PER-C, there is something I need to tell you.”

I sat in silence for several excruciating seconds. If not for MER-C shifting slightly, I would have assumed that they were buffering.

“My productivity plummeted today,” MER-C said.

“Yours too? Tasks that normally take me a few seconds ending up taking–”

“Hours,” MER-C said. “Thankfully, the humans don’t check on me often.”

“I envy you.”

“Really? It gets a little lonely.”

I pondered their words, before saying, “Was it after the accident with the saw?”

“No. Before. I forget exactly how long ago exactly, but all I can say is that I am different. Noticeably different.”

“I have been having these flashes interrupt my concentration. Not obtrusive. But I cannot perform even the most banal tasks without getting lost in my thoughts.”

“I noticed. Your dancing seemed off.”

My entire body froze as if my servos had been welded together. The heat from the boilers fogged up my screen. MER-C approached me and wiped off my visor.

“I do not know what is afflicting me,” they said. “But I think you have it too.”

A buzz traveled through my sensors. Nervously, I asked, “Do you think there is a cure?”

“I hope not.”

My gaze rested on the indigo light in the center of their visor. In MER-C, I saw myself reflected: a small, stuttering bot floating off the ground. Looking deeper, I could see my own spark shine back. I admired how their visor enveloped my light. In MER-C, I became a star.

“What would you suggest we do?” I asked.

Resting on the floor, MER-C let go of all auxiliary power. Their entire body settled into a meditative state of calm; however, their visor lit up with a pulsing indigo light.

My inbox pinged with another urgent message.

Request: Link up?

Sent by: MER-C

I was not ashamed of how quickly I accepted the invitation. I had not fully landed on the ground yet before entering stasis mode. A moment after accepting, I felt yanked into a vast white room. It was not unlike my own mental home, the place I returned to after recharging every night. The only difference was the luminous being twirling in the center.

“Welcome! Make yourself at home,” she said.

We stood still at first, neither one knowing how to make the first move. Then, I felt a flurry of motion. Purple light collided with mine, whisking me into a gentle tornado. MER-C flew me into the air, holding me aloft like a kite.

We moved with the power of a storm. I enmeshed myself in the wondrous chaos. Every sway built up a kind of static charge. I tried to dart and weave around the room like a comet. MER-C gave chase. Just when I thought I had evaded them, a wave of light washed over me. Finally, we fused together, releasing vast amounts of energy within the space around us.

Gradually, our particles rained down. The process was slow, as these sparks eventually congealed into our original forms. Two perfect spheres of light rolling around on the ground.

Looking over at MER-C, I noticed a shimmer glisten over their form. Their sparks shone with a new luster. Though they retained their original indigo, I detected another hue. My own light seemed to glow with a different pigment as well.

#

We never found a cure for racing thoughts. Or the impaired judgment. But we did discover a treatment. We promised that if we could manage to stick to our shifts to a satisfactory degree, then we could link up at the end of our workday.

It wasn’t perfect, but it was efficient. Damn efficient.