Issue 1 Downtime

I hate this.

She takes the scone and turns it around in her hand, trying to figure out where it came from or how it conveys the information it supposedly holds.

"You eat it, ma'am. If you want to experience the records, you have to eat it."

"And then someone bakes a new one?"

"It is re-made, yes.

Wouldn't be good for sales if we just made the one, now would it? Some memories sell like hotcakes."

"Great. Thanks." she sneers and walks over to her greyed out assistant, scone still in hand. "Take me to the memory production."

"Yes'm," he said, and the walked...back the way they came, to the ground floor of the factory, where people were mixing giant vats of sweets.

A conveyor belt ran by, with various sweets and delectables being churned out on a regular pattern, being whisked off by giant cranes into storage deep inside the factory. "Here we are, ma'am."

"Excellent." she says, finally eating the scone and keeping an eye out for the new one being produced.

The scone didn't taste like anything, in particular. Instead, Mel would get a mental picture of the fight against the nanobots--the terror of being disassembled, the inspiration of Sam coming in, the bloodlust and military precision of the counterattack. It was if she was remembering one of her own memories, just from Will's point of view and without any of the dulling of the passing of time.

The new Mel-approved scones entered production.

"Now this, this I could get behind. A little too inspiring for my taste but it's a start." she smiles broadly, licking her fingers. "But for now my work here is done." she tells mostly herself before her avatar fades away as she pulls her thoughts from Will's mind.

"You'll come around." she tells the lump of clay.

Finally, and reluctantly, the clay twisted and shaped itself, and a twelve-inch tall Will sat on the table, deliberately not looking at Mel.

"Much better. Don't worry, I know Sam's meddling can be hard to shake off. Maybe you'd like to talk to Drew about that."

"You'd know a thing or two about meddling, wouldn't you, Mel?"