“No,” Roy said, picking up a flower and cutting its stalk at an angle with a punctuated snip. “Plasma dynamics and weaponized lightning aside, you know what I think about all this welding business?”

“Rhetorically, I bet I can fashion a fairly reasonable guess-”

“You just never want to get your Welding-mask head and face, out of storage.”

The robot looked up and across the island at Roy, but then immediately back to its arm. “No…Roy- that’s-”

Roy picked up on the robot’s hesitation and smiled before pointing the shears and laughing. “-Ha! That’s totality what it is,” he exclaimed, “I got you again.”

“No… Roy. I just don’t like wearing my Welding-mask head and face- &...

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