Raven picked up her pace as soon as she turned the corner. Nathalie’s house was only a minute or two away and she was impatient to get there. She felt like she had lost the whole day and she didn’t want to lose another second.

Bart had kept her busier than expected today. But the truth was that, unexpectedly, Raven had had a good time. She still believed in the Lifty project and had been excited to get the latest updates about its developments.

For a few moments, she had even debated investing in Bart’s company after all. She could see how his robot could make life easier for so many. People like her mother would be spared injuries from years of lifting patients.

But for the project to have impact, its designs needed to be open source. That way, people and teams around the world had access and could build their own version of the robot without costly research & development.

Now that Bart had secretly decided to turn Lifty into a fully commercialised product, by keeping the designs proprietary, the designs would not reach the people who needed them most. Only wealthy companies and people would be able to afford the robot.

Raven knew that’s how the world worked. Her fulltime job was in sales after all. Still, she had believed things could be different. Bart had too when she met him. His original plan had been to only commercialise the maintenance service.

“Maybe it was all too good to be true,” Raven sighed.

She would learn a valuable lesson from this experience once she had gotten a chance to process everything. For now, though, she just wanted to focus on spending time with Nathalie.

Excited, she opened the gate of Nathalie’s small front garden. She was surprised to find the living room unlit. Then again, it was still light outside. Maybe Nathalie was in the kitchen.

She walked to the front door and rang the doorbell. After a minute or so, she pressed the button again. But Nathalie still didn’t answer the door. Raven took a step back and looked up at the bedroom window. The curtains were open.

She scratched her cheek and then pulled her phone out of her pocket.

“Hey, I’m at your door,” she texted to Nathalie.

She looked around the garden while she waited for a reply. She smiled at the gnome in the corner. It was covered in muck, but she could still see its grin. Raven wondered if Nathalie had bought it herself or had gotten it as a gift.

Her phone chimed in her hand. She quickly checked the screen and saw that Nathalie had replied. The message read, “You are? What happened?”

Raven frowned. She didn’t understand the question. Raven had let Nathalie know she’d come over as soon as she could. It had only taken her a few minutes to pack up her stuff at the hotel. Surely Nathalie couldn’t think she had taken too long?

“Are you home?” Raven typed, confused.

“No…” Nathalie sent back immediately.