"Yeah. All engineering students do."
"Lucky duck." Coop snapped back to what mattered. "I want us to stay friends, too."
Matty stepped aside so Coop could enter and fully see how sweet Matty had it. He was even jealous of the carpet, which was clean and springy, unlike the flat, worn stuff in his and Rafe's room. Coop didn't know how Matty felt about people sitting on his bed, so he remained standing.
"So what's new in the land of computer science engineering?"
Matty shut the door and itched at his head. "I got my first B."
Yeah, I know. Thanks to the asshat in front of you. You're welcome. Coop put on a happy face. "It's okay. B's are good."
Matty raised his eyebrows, which Coop found irresistible. Yeah, I can totally convert this crush thing into a friend thing. "I don't get B's."
"Well, you do now. What about the curve?"
"How do you know about the curve?"
Coop shoved a hand deep into his pocket and pinched his leg. "I have cousins who were in the engineering problem. Years ago. They said that all the teachers used a curve."
"It's true."
Saved by the imaginary cousins.
"I didn't want to rely on the curve, but I guess it's not the worst thing in the world."
"It's not. It's okay to get help sometimes. No one's perfect. And besides, who cares if it still counts as an A?"
"You're right. There's no need for me to be apoplectic."
Watching this kid's mouth pucker as he said apoplectic was the cutest thing to Coop. "Trust the curve. The curve is your friend."
Matty seemed to relax. He put a tentative hand on Coop's shoulder then removed it just as fast. He, too, was still figuring out this friend thing. "Thanks, Coop. I feel a lot better about the curve. I'll just have to study harder next time."
"Or not. I mean, an A is an A. Your robots will still fly regardless."
"My robots don't fly."
"Or at least they'll be able to jump really far, like they did in The Terminator."
"You've never seen a real-life robot, have you?"
Coop proudly shook his head no. This was probably the time to either leave or make out, but neither could be an option for him now. Coop brushed a finger on his laptop. "Show me."
"Okay." Matty walked to the door.
"Where are you going?"
"I can show you the real thing." Matty's lips twitched with a mischievous smile. Coop looked into those dark eyes like they were a bottomless hole.
Matty opened the door. "You coming?"
Chapter 16
Matty
Matty wished he'd brought a hoodie. His skin was cold, but his head was hot with nerves. He and Coop were friends, but Coop was also in a loose tie and white button-down shirt that hugged those muscles Matty was lucky enough to see in the pool. He looked like a badboy senator.
Matty stopped before they reached the front entrance. Coop followed him down a narrow road. He stopped at a door that stuck out in a wall of nothingness.
"Don't worry. I won't make you hop a fence." Matty punched in a code to a door. "The labs are twenty-four hours, and at orientation, all engineering students get the code."
Despite this, he still felt like he was breaking in, or at least that he was some type of spy going where he shouldn't. He led Coop down the same hallway he walked through every day. This was as much home as his dorm room. The walls, filled with plaques dedicated to past professors, gave him comfort. This was a building of science and logic and hard work. He pointed out a display case to Coop that showed past Browerton students and professors working on a groundbreaking robot from the 1980s.
"That looks so old school."
"It kind of makes me wonder if we'll look back on our iPhones and tablets and think they're quaint and retro."
"Maybe one day, you'll be in this display case," Coop said, with a hint of admiration. Matty felt Coop's eyes on him. "And I can say I knew you when."
Hopefully, you'd still know me.
"This way." Matty led them down another corridor with checkered tiles. He punched in another code to get them into Professor Chertok's robotics lab. "Don't worry. We're technically not trespassing since I'm one of his students. And there have been students who pulled twenty-four hour shifts."
He turned on the lights, and robots stared back at him. Coop took a shocked step backward.
"Whoa. It really is like The Terminator!" Coop's wide-eyed wonder was very endearing. Apparently, he wasn't too-cool-for-school about everything.
"Not quite. But there is a lot of creativity in robotics. We are creating, after all. Take Smitty." Matty and Coop walked over to a boxy robot with a head and arms standing behind a makeshift bar, which was just a long table with Solo cups and bottles of juice and alcohol. Matty fiddled with the switches behind Smitty, and the robot lit up.
"Hello," Smitty said.
"Holy crap!"
Matty had to remember that not everyone had spent time with talking robots. "What do you want to drink?"
"For real?"
"For very real."
Coop itched the top of his head. "Screwdriver?"
Matty directed him to ask Smitty.
"Can I please have a screwdriver?" Coop asked.
"Yes. One moment," Smitty said in a robotic voice. They were still working on him sounding more human. Smitty shifted around, swinging his arms to the stack of cups. He turned over a fresh one. He picked up the bottle of vodka and poured in a shot, then the orange juice. He moved with a clunky precision. The levers that control his body whizzed and zoomed. Smitty picked up the drink and handed it to Coop.
"One screwdriver," Smitty said.
"Um, thank you?"
Smitty didn't respond. He returned to his regular position and stared off in the distance.
"He doesn't know how to compute 'please' and 'thank you' yet," Matty explained."He's only programmed to pick up drink names."
"A bartender I don't have to tip. I like it." Coop put the drink to his lips.
Matty pulled it back. "It's all water."
Coop put the drink down. "So you work on these guys?"
"Not yet. It's all grad students and a few undergrads who get to work in this lab. Professor Chertok will take us here to demonstrate a concept we're learning in class, like speech recognition. If I get the researcher position next year … " Matty's mind went into another orbit as he pictured himself working in this lab and performing experiments with new robots that hadn't even been thought of yet. "It would be a dream come true."
Matty caught Coop looking at him and felt his cheeks get red. To divert attention away from his face, he ran over to Imelda. He got a pinch in his stomach when he remembered that day in class.
"Imelda is a haptic robot. She can perceive things that she touches. It's called tactile feedback."
Coop gave her a bow like he was Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic. "Pleasure to meet you, m'lady."
That was incredibly nerdy, and now Coop was the one with the red cheeks.
"Call out a number between one and thirty-six."
"One."
Matty found that to be an interesting choice. Nobody ever chose one when they had to pick a number. He didn't know what it meant, if anything. He directed Imelda to touch the first sample, a piece of a sweater wrapped around a piece of cardboard.
"Cotton," Imelda said.
"That's so cool." Coop watched with the same amazed look Matty had in class. "Twenty-nine."
Matty programmed Imelda to touch the corresponding sample, which was plain cardboard.
"Cardboard."
"That's amazing!
"See, scientists can be fun."
Coop scoped out the lab as if it were a toy store. "So this is what you want to do? Build robots like these guys?"
"I do. Robotic technology has advanced so much in the past five years. There are so many things we can get them to do. Dr. Kobayashi at the University of Pennsylvania is working on robots that can build houses. Architects will be able to program in blueprints."
"And your professor is making bartending robots."
"That's just an example. It seems a lot simpler than it is. I mean, Smitty can process human language and perform a variety of complex tasks based on verbal commands."
Coop sat on the bar. Smitty reacted for a second before going back to sleep. "And what about you? What robots do you want to invent?"
Matty looked at the robots around him. "I want to make robotic service dogs."
"I'm going to need an explanation."
Matty studied Imelda, and his mind swirled with possibilities. "What if a paralyzed person could live fully on her own? Right now, people who have severe injuries have to have aides live with them to help around the house. That's if they can afford them. And there are people with Alzheimer's who want to stay in their house because it helps them keep their memory, but they can't live alone. A robot service dog would be able to clean for them, or move things out of their way when they walk, or help them out of the shower, or even turn on the lights if it's too dark.
"My mom had a stroke last year. She can't talk or take care of herself. We have an aide, and my dad and sister are taking care of her, too. I'm there in spirit. Recovery will take a long time, and I don't want Aditi giving up her future to care for her. She's like that, and I guess being the daughter, my parents expect that of her more than me. My parents wanted me to go to college, but this is my way of being able to help out. Showing them that I haven't forgotten about them, you know? And I just believe that there are plenty of families around the world having this same problem, and with a robot service dog, people like my mom can have a chance to live her life."