Seats were at a premium when Har Jedkar of Clan Vantaria arrived for the press conference. The bottom of her cape swished down near her ankles as she surveyed the small crowd at the Oni-Senada Corporation booth. <br /><br />Unlike most of the other displays at the Port Loren Convention Center, O-S was not on the main floor with the likes of the Pan-Galactic Corporation, Streel, Interplay Industries, Tachton Instruments, Obar Enterprises or the host of second and third tier supplier companies at the annual Frontier SCaRE Conference. Rather the booth was in the concourse hallway, amongst vendors such as Charlie's Chocolate Covered Gollyberries or the Star Rangers youth selling cookies.<br /><br />SCaRE, of course, stood for Society of Computer and Robotics Engineers, one of the largest Techex professional societies in the Frontier. Its annual conference brought in thousands of beings from across the United Planetary Federation and even from the Non-Aligned Worlds, such as the S'sessu. A brood of eight of them were standing -- <i>If a worm can stand,</i> Jedkar thought derisively as she was forced to get a place next to them -- to the left side of the booth. <br /><br />Near the worms was a small, raised platform where two product specialists -- <i>Skimpily clad showgirls,</i> Jedkar sniffed, though she wondered if they made more per hour than she did -- stood waiting to unveil a robot that hid under a silky-white tarp. <br /><br />O-S only had about two dozen chairs and they were all occupied. Her bare feet hurt and it had been a long three days so far, running from one press conference to the other along with the evening receptions. She felt she had to go to at least two last night to make an appearence even though she had story deadlines. <i>Life was so tough</i>, she thought as she eagerly grasped a water bottle from a passing service robot.<br /><br />The beat of the music from the Oni-Senada booth's tinny sounding speakers didn't help her mood. It was a song from some popular Human band, but it would have been more appropriate for a cage fight than a robotic product unveiling. Subconsciously, she adjusted the ceremonial zamara at her side.<br /><br />One of the worms turned to look at her. Jedkar noticed it wore a name badge the indicated it was with a S'sessu supplier company that was affiliated with O-S. "Ah, you are jus-s-st in time. We are about to begin." It gestured for her to move a little closer to the stage as he directed some of the other worms to slither out of the way. "You are with PG Holo-News-s-s?"<br /><br />"Yes, but we cover everything here, not just products from the Pan-Galactic Corporation," Jedkar said.<br /><br />"Of cours-s-se."<br /><br />Moments later, the conference began with its CEO, Ernie G. Xagyg, himself, going to the podium. Behind him in the booth was a gaggle of other O-S executives and managers. They almost outnumbered the reporters who bothered tcoming to this end-of-the-day product unveiling.<br /><br />After several minutes of hearing Xagyg talk about Oni-Senada's growth plans -- especially with its new, "most modern plants" on Phri'sk and successes during the past year -- Jedkar tried to inch away. There was another supplier reception coming up soon, but the S'sessu moved to block her way.<br /><br />"Don't go yet," the S'sessu whispered. "The bes-s-st is about to come."<br /><br />"What?" she asked, but a moment later, she found out.<br /><br />"And now, what you've all been waiting for," Xagyg said. "For too long, the PGC, Tachton and others have dominated the security and combat robot sectors. That is about to change. I present to you, the latest prototype from our Tackten Enterprises subsidiary -- the pocket warbot."<br /><br />With a flourish of music, the showgirls took tarp off of the robot. Jedkar nearly broke out laughing at what she saw.<br /><br />It was one of those "tin can" style robots -- officially called a light body. Equipped with treads, it wore an ungainly large backpack where a large parabattery was supposed to go. A heavy laser and a recoilless rifle -- or a stylish looking facsimile of each weapon -- were strapped on either side of the robot.<br /><br />"What do you think?" the S'sessu asked.<br /><br />"I think it must be bolted to the floor so it doesn't tip over from all that weight," Jedkar said as she managed to slip past the worm finally. "When you can show me a working model, then there might be a story."
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