I, Willhelm

This job was going to pay for everything.

30 days, one observation partner, and a nice fat pay check at the end. Nadia barely took a moment to think about who might be assigned to the watch with her. She didn’t care. All that mattered is that she would have 30 uninterrupted days to plan out the wedding and have the budget to afford almost anything she wanted by the end. She had already scattered her sketch-books over her bed, several pens with their lids off and filled 3 pages with notes. It was frustrating that she wouldn’t be able to access the internet, but at least with an observation partner she would have some time to plan. Not that it really mattered really, she had already searched as much as she could for every colour scheme, unique theme and memorable moment that she could think of online, now it was just a matter of refining.

There was a gentle knock on the door outside and Nadia rushed to open it. The woman on the other side nodded and extended a firm handshake.

“Hello, I’m Joan. You’re…Nadia?”

“Yes. Nadia” Nadi replied and stepped aside to let Joan in, who immediately began to unpack her small bag into the drawers underneath the unclaimed bed.

Nadia waited till Joan finished and handed her a large white envelope with her name printed on it.

“I’ve already looked through it. Robot number 47. It’s assigned to Alice Wilson. She’s had a baby two months ago, husband is a”-

“Physics teacher, yes. I know. I read through everything yesterday.”

“Oh, alright then.” Nadia sat down at her desk and checked the time on her screen. “We have”-

“Ten minutes, I know.”

Nadia’s mouth twisted for a moment, irritated. “Is there anything you would like to talk about before we get started?”

Joan scratched her head and looked around the room before she answered. “Shall I go first? I haven’t done these in a while. I don’t know if things have changed.”

“Well, we work in three hour shifts during the night. They should have your meal request ready. The dictator will write down anything that get’s spoken by the robot”-

“Oh, they can speak now?”

“Yea, they’ve been able to speak for a while.”

“Not too sure how I feel about that.” Joan laughed dryly. “What’s the point in a talking shover?”

Nadia’s blinked widely in shock. “You probably shouldn’t say that around here. They won’t like it.”

Joan shrugged her shoulders and sat down at her desk, her bags dropped next to her bed. “Nobody cares what I say.”

Over from their desks the letter 30 appeared on each of their screens and began to count down silently. At the same time the lights in the room dimmed till the only thing that gave any meaningful light was their large curved screens. Nadia sat down just as the number reached one and cracked her knuckles, an irritated twitch at the corner of her mouth as Joan re-arranged her own desk in a grid-like layout. This woman was going to get on her nerves, she could tell. It was going to be a long thirty days.

A young couple looked back at them through the screen. The man was tall and handsome - at least Nadia thought so - the woman looked like she could been pretty...once. She sat quietly while the lawyer reiterated the terms of the assignment and passed several papers across the table for them to sign. Nadia glanced up at Joan to see how attentive she seemed. Joan’s eyes did not move from her screen, her hands folded under her mouth, watching intently.

“I always find this part quite boring to be honest.” Nadia joked. “Nothing ever happens the first few days”.