Ray's appetite for fixing things called to something in Miller that had tried, just the one time, to give a damn. It hadn't turned out too terribly for humanity as whole and if he'd had to pay the price, well, it was decent trade off.
He chased away the thought as they went down the ladder, letting go of Ray's hand only when it was necessary to let him grab hold of the rungs. Dust rose in a little cloud when he hopped off the last five or so feet. His knees nearly buckled and he bit back a grunt. Okay, no more trying to pretend he was a young man. Or on Ceres.
"Way my boss explained it, there's a lot of red tape involved in fulfilling orders. Up to and including an interpretative dance... which I ain't gonna show you unless you come back at six minutes to six," Miller added, for the first time a tad abashed. "I'm still getting the hang of it." He led the way into the office, where their senses were immediately assailed by the color beige and the ghost of long-consumed donuts. "But even if you make all the right offerings and say all the right words, there's still the possibility of delays. According to my boss, that is.
"I suggested bribes, but apparently they don't go for that at Central Office." Wherever that was. Miller shrugged and held open the door to the inner sanctum. Inside a glass-walled room that looked faintly like an aquarium sat the computer. To Miller, the first time he'd seen it, it had looked like an antique. It still looked that way, but now he'd seen the gibberish it could spew, so he also believed it to be possessed. He decided not to share that with Ray, in case he confirmed it. "Why don't you have a seat," Miller said, pulling back one of the two chairs on this side of the desk, "and I'll see what we can do for you."