“See?” She asked.

I was distracted by how she looked, despite the grease. “I’m sorry, mechanics aren’t my strong suit.”

“Keep it spinning or we die.” That broke through long enough to analyze the instructions I was given.

“Why isn’t this automated?” I asked.

“Cylons.” The blank stare on my face led to a laugh. “It’s an old TV show, fiction. AI gained sentience, didn’t like being used as tools.”

I queued it for research. “I think I understand.”

That got a smirk, followed by a nod. “I’ll be in my bunk.”

A subsystem completed the research. It was…interesting.

Drabble is a form of extremely short storytelling, where you are limited to exactly 100 words. This one was written for a challenge, but not submitted in time.