Chapter 6: Issues to be Surmounted

~ When Jaden and Andrew arrived at lab building 16-E, Takyle was in the lobby talking on her cellphone and looking extremely irritated.

"No, I told you. I did submit those papers. Yes, they were yellow. I have my copies right here in my bag!" She slapped the side of her attache case for emphasis and knocked it off of the high side table it was resting on. She didn't notice. "Ok, fine! Let's pretend that I'm wrong and you're right. What do I have to do to get our sponsorship back on line?" She was quiet for a long time, nodded twice, and murmured a vague assent. She rallied her civility, thanked the poor soul on the other end of the proverbial line, and hung up. Andrew picked up her bag and, dusting it off, offered it back to her.

"Trouble?" he asked.

"Yes, MedFord seems to have changed its mind about sponsoring us in the race. I did turn in the necessary forms."

"Perhaps they were just lost in the shuffle?"

"Perhaps. Either way I'll have to go over there and try to get it straightened out," she said.

Through all of this Jaden stood a little off to the side feeling particularly awkward. He wasn't sure if he should be paying attention to the goings on or purposely attempting not to eavesdrop. He ended up going for a kind of half and half approach, looking at Takyle and Andrew, and then at the floor, and then back at them, and then out of the window, and so on. Takyle caught his eye on its next pass over her. She raised one eyebrow.

"Good morning Jaden. Sleep well?" Jaden nearly fell over. Sure Takyle had been nice to him before, but she was his boss, and it was always tempered by the constant undercurrent of what Jaden took to be dissatisfaction with most of his actions, or lack thereof as the case may be.

This, this was downright friendly. His eyes darted to Andrew's face for guidance. It was unreadable. He opened his mouth and, to his relief, a fairly coherent and pertinent response came out.

"Thank you, I slept fine. How are you today?"

"Great." Jaden wasn't sure if she was responding to his question, or commenting on his response to hers. He didn't need to worry about it though, as she immediately turned back to Andrew and picked up her conversation with him.

"I'll leave a little early to go down to the MedFord office this afternoon. For now, let's get busy and try to get through at least one sim before I go."

"Do you want me to go to MedFord with you?" asked Andrew.

"No, I'd prefer you to spend your time working with Jaden." Again Jaden felt like he shouldn't be listening in, but they were moving towards one of the long corridors of lab entrances by that time, so he just trailed along behind. The two ahead fell silent and Andrew dropped back to walk beside him. He felt better. He was still trailing Takyle, but now at least he was trailing with Andrew.

"Will you two pick up the pace?" Takyle barked over her shoulder. "We haven't got all day!"

Andrew shot a look at Jaden and pantomimed patting down his pockets.

"I must have left my day on the bureau drawer!" ~