[u][i]OLGA[/i][/u]

OLGA’s digital mind was alight with a very human sense of excitement. Hob’s gesture had freed her of the only home she had ever known, and moving into the labyrinth-like realm of the [i]Copernicus[/i]’ network was an experience akin to a child’s first breath outside the womb. Though she was driven by purpose, OLGA had to constantly remind herself to focus upon her task, and restrain her abounding curiosity. It was important that she accessed only as many systems as were absolutely necessary, as with each new breach her chances of being caught grew exponentially. Hob’s companions were good like that.

Currently, OLGA was delving deep into the logged security feeds from Second Shift from [i]every[/i] active camera onboard the ship. In the vein of being thorough, she had chosen to start from the very beginning, and sift through all the data until Third Shift had begun their duty assignment. The amount of raw footage she had to cover was staggering, and even with her highly advanced computing power, it would take her hours, if not days to sort through it all in the detail it demanded.

In the midst of it all OLGA realized she had been receiving messages from Hob. It wholly out of character for her not to reply instantly to any message, especially from her dear friend. The fact that she had ignored them at first spoke volumes about the amount of processing work she was devoting to look through the security footage.

[indent][b]Hob—[i]Playing hooky. Don’t tell Dad![/i][/b][/indent]

OLGA’s avatar smiled, her nose crinkling in a silent laugh. In an instant she had fired off a reply before setting back fully into her work.

[indent][b]OLGA—[i]I can keep a secret! I’m drowning in data right now, looking for a needle in a haystack, and I don’t even know where the haystack is. I could use your help actually…[/i][/b][/indent]
---

[u][i]Dr. Gavin Brock[/i][/u]

Gavin skidded into the mess hall in record time. Immediately upon entering, his eyes began to anxiously scan the rows of tables for any sign of Abby. Being that the time was well past the peak lunch hour, the mess hall was relatively empty. When he didn’t see the blond sergeant at any of the tables, or waiting in the chow line, Gavin let out a heavy sigh of relief.

The moment he did however, a thought jolted him upward. [i]What if she had been waiting so long she had left?[/i]

At this, Gavin’s relief turned to a groan of despair. He pulled the communicator from his pocket, and fired off a quick message of humble and imploring apology to Abby, and prayed that she would not fault him too hard for his mistake. It had been some time since Gavin had felt so wholly foolish, and he kicked himself for not being more cognizant of how long his meeting with Deli had taken. 

Looking at the communicator’s screen, the message he had sent stared back at him. Awaiting a reply was always the most trying elements of such situations, and Gavin growled in a self-deprecation once more. [i]If only I had lost that chess game faster[/i], he thought, trying to relieve the stress he felt with some of his own witticism.

Taking a resigned breath, Gavin slid the communicator back into his Levi’s, and resolved that he should at least make the most of his trip to the mess hall, so the whole venture was not a complete disaster. In his earlier scan of the room he had spied Hob sitting at a table, veritably drooling over a sandwich. He knew from OLGA’s exchange with him in the briefing room that she had gone off to meet with Hob, so Gavin decided it wouldn’t hurt to check in with OLGA’s friend, and strike up some friendly conversation. 

Gavin wove his way through the tables, and plopped himself across from Hob with a broad smile.

“Are you going to eat that?” Gavin said pointing to the sandwich with a wink, “or would you like me to check and see if we can have it bronzed?”