At 11:45 Eager knocked softly on the moulding of Lyre's cube, an exact copy of thas, except with the furniture reversed. Lyre was lying back in thas chair gazing up at four large holoscreens which occupied almost the whole space above the cube in thas field of view. Tha was murmuring voice instructions and issuing display commands with hand gestures.
"Oh, hi," Lyre said, startled. "Eager, I didn't see you there. Have a seat. I'll be right with you."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you," apologized Eager.
"I'm glad you came," Lyre said, closing the holoscreens with a wave. "I need a reminder once in a while to come up for air."
"Were those partial differential equations I saw on one of your screens?" asked Eager.
"Yeah, I'm just running some multivariable functions on our project scope as a sanity check. They keep shifting around the priorities, so we have to keep double-checking to make sure the big picture still makes sense."
"Whew! I'm glad somebody knows how to do that stuff. It's way over my head."
"Well, it is something a shurpa could do, but I find they don't have very good peripheral vision, so to speak. I mean, sometimes they miss things in the context that turn out to be important later on," said Lyre.
"Concord double," said Eager, nodding his head. "Can I buy you lunch?"
* * *
The food court in the basement of the office building was a cavernous space, teaming with office workers. Food vendors of various styles and nationalities surrounded the outside wall. The centre area was full of table & chair units bolted to the floor in a pattern designed to fit the maximum number. Lyre and Eager ordered and took a table by a massive pillar.
"This is the closest place to eat," said Lyre, "quickest and cheapest, but also the noisiest and least comfortable. I have a meeting at 12:30, so it'll have to be here today. Later I can show you other options."
"That would be fun," said Eager. "Maybe we can collect the whole set by the time this contract is over." Eager glanced over Lyre's left shoulder at the holoscreen EagerShine had projected with a large scale map of eateries within one block of the office building. Lyre turned to follow thas gaze and Eager noticed the EncephaCom pickup behind thas ear.
"Did you find anything interesting in my personal data?" asked Eager.
"Well, one thing is you would be the perfect donor if I ever needed to harvest your organs," Lyre said with a smile.
"I'm happy to be of service, but I hope you haven't brought your scalpel today," replied Eager.
Lyre looked down at thas soyplast cutlery. "You're in luck. These probably wouldn't do the job."
"Thank goodness! But I have to say, the idea of your fingers feeling around in my pancreas is strangely appealing." Then Eager laughed out loud. "Now you've got EagerShine all flustered and checking the organ donation protocols. Thax says you're not qualified to perform any of those procedures."
"That EagerShine is a smart cookie," said Lyre. "Did thax find anything interesting about me?"
"Thax says you're a fierce competitor. Did you really smash your cello because you came 2nd in the provincial 13 & under music competition?"
"I'm afraid so. It was extremely embarrassing. Shouldn't there be a statute of limitations on childhood incidents, so you don't have to keep rehashing them? Anyway, that was the end of my brilliant music career. My dad refused to buy me another cello."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry. Music shouldn't be a competition anyway. You should play just for the joy of playing."
"Joy of playing? What about winning -- what if that's what you really want?" asked Lyre, slapping the table.
"Well then there's arm wrestling. Or office politics. All I know is I want to be on your side, not against you. EagerShine, make a note of that."
Lyre laughed, "Thanks Eager, I'll remember that too."
"Oops," said Eager, "It's time for you to get back to the office. See, EagerShine is looking out for you now too. Drinks after work? What was that place you mentioned? Happy Robot?"
"Jolly Robot. I'll need one by then too. Why don't we invite Walf and Sarba and call it a Social Committee meeting?"
"Good idea," said Eager. "I'll pick you up at your cube at 5:00."