As I struggled to reconnect the severed wires on my latest DIY robotic project, my roommate's loud karate instructor in the flat below us made me misspeak into the walkie-talkie for what felt like the hundredth time, "Echo-1, this is Nova-12: status unknown." Silence. Probably he'd muted it by now, judging by the way he glared at me through the floor vents whenever the walkie-talkie's incessant bleating disturbed his focus.
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