2.5 HALLWAY B
Fuzzy obediently adjusted his settings to use extra caution.
The hallway was packed as everyone went from homeroom to first period. It was twice as crazy as Fuzzy's last hallway trip.
"Just keep behind me," said Max, "and I'll plow a path."
Fuzzy noticed that she didn't exactly plow a path. Sometimes kids moved out of her way, and sometimes she moved out of their way. He recorded some data on all this so that he could run simulations later. But mostly he just tried to stay right behind Max, without stepping on her.
Max stopped suddenly, and Fuzzy, with a reaction time much faster than any human, instantly stopped, too. He shifted slightly to see what was in front of Max that had made her stop.
It was Object 429, a large male human.
"Max! It's right behind you!" the male object said.
"Yeah, Biggs, it's right behind me," Max said, imitating Object 429's tone. Fuzzy detected that she appeared uncomfortable with the encounter, perhaps because other kids were staring at them now. "Listen, I'll introduce you later. We got to get to class."
She sidestepped Object 429 and kept going. Fuzzy did the same thing—exactly.
"Wait! What is going on, Max?" hollered Biggs, and he started following her, too.
"Look, Biggs, it's not a parade," said Max, stopping again.
Fuzzy stopped instantly again, too, but Biggs didn't. He slammed right into Fuzzy.
Max cringed, expecting another robo-crash. But Fuzzy just made a bunch of little steps with his feet and stayed upright.
"Wow! This thing is pretty cool!" said Biggs. "Can I try to push it over?"
"Yes, Object 429, you may test my balancing capabilities."
"No!" said Max, jumping between them. She looked back to see if Jones and Nina were still nearby. They were, and Nina slipped up next to Max and whispered, "It's OK, we want to let Fuzzy interact with the other students. He'll be OK."
"So much for the kindergarten mom," Max said so softly that only Fuzzy's enhanced hearing picked it up. But she stepped back and said aloud, "All right, Biggs, go ahead and act like an idiot if you have to."
Biggs shoved Fuzzy as hard as he could. This time, Fuzzy didn't even make the tiny steps. He just shifted his weight into Biggs precisely enough to stay motionless.
"Wow!" said Biggs, rubbing his fingers.
"Threatening behavior identified," came a flat, grating female voice. Sure enough, Barbara's avatar popped up on the nearest wall screen, the extra-stern version this time.
"I wonder why she never sounds human like you do?" Max whispered to Fuzzy.
"I wasn't trying to hurt him!" pleaded Biggs to the screen. "He said I could! And so did that lady!"
"Vanguard Middle School has a zero tolerance policy regarding threatening behavior and physical contact. Tap the review button on my screen if you wish to review the policy."
"No, thanks," muttered Biggs.
"Discipline tags assigned to J. Biggs …"
Fuzzy detected an expression he would have called, from his studies of human expressions, a smirk on Max's face. Until the Barbara avatar kept going.
"… M. Zelaster, and F. Robot."
"But we didn't … ," Max started to say, when a bell rang.
Max looked around. "Oh no! We're the only ones still in the hall."
"Tardiness tags assigned to J. Biggs, M. Zelaster, and F. Robot," continued Barbara. "Thirty seconds until violation is upgraded."
"But—" said Max and Biggs at the same time.
"Maybe you'd better go on to class," said Nina. "I didn't mean for you to get into trouble. I'll talk to your principal about it."
They walked down the hall in silence. Biggs was mad at Barbara. Max was mad at Barbara and Biggs. And Fuzzy was trying not to fall over.
