“Oh, for fuck's sake, what did I do?” Nick yelled.

For the past half hour at least, he had been trying to attach one of the last pieces of Rockhunter. He could not figure out how it was supposed to go. Worse, he had somehow, accidentally, managed to secure one of the four impossible fasteners, and he still couldn't figure out what he had done to manage that. So it was stuck. He probably could disconnect it again, but he was reluctant.

“Petra, show me the oozlay tool tutorial again, please.” Petra knew all the words he had just used, and called up the video he had already watched a dozen times or more. Nick squinted, and it didn't make any more sense than the other times.

He wasted quite a few minutes arguing with Petra, trying to coax her into giving him the simplest example possible of a use of the oozlay. He just could not get it across for some reason. He squinted, then squeezed his eyes shut a moment. Maybe I can't figure it out because I'm tired. Well, I couldn't figure it out earlier when I wasn't tired, but being tired certainly isn't going to help. Nick turned in.

He couldn't sleep, though. I'm so close to finished. It was maddening. Nick got up again and went back to fighting with the parts and tools. He got more and more annoyed. Finally he lost his temper and hit the part with the side of his fist. With a clunk, the piece fell off.

Well, shit, I broke it. Nick inspected the part, but couldn't find any damage, though. The connectors still looked pristine despite the rough handling. So what the hell made it detach? I thought you had to use the oozlay to attach it or detach it.Nick stared off into space for a moment, and just let his mind play with it a moment. What kind of...?

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Wait a minute.

“Petra, play the oozlay tool tutorial again.” Nick watched the symbolic alien doing the magic assembly again, but this time he turned the sound up high. There was an intermittent, annoying, warbling, droning sound that Nick had dismissed as irrelevant. He figured it was aliens humming or farting or burping or something, or maybe the alien version of a dying refrigerator in his old apartment that had discovered a second career as an amateur synthesizer late in life.

What if the sound is important? Vibration. I hit it and made it vibrate. Whistle while you work? It can't be that. Can it? I've tried everything else.

Ten minutes of rephrasing requests later, Petra was ready to play a set of sound clips. Nick felt stupid as he prepared to make another attempt at attaching the part. This is like playing a sound recording of a hammer next to a nail and expecting the nail to get driven in. Sure enough, nothing happened differently.

Damn it. Nick had been sure he was on the right track. He watched the video a few more times, listening carefully. The sound of a nail going in won't make a nail go in. You have to actually do the thing that makes the sound...

Nick picked up the oozlay and turned it over in his hands, inspecting it from every angle. What have I missed? There's no noise making control. It hasn't made a sound any time I...

No. No. Dear God, let me not be this fucking stupid.

“Petra. Turn the oozlay tool on.”

The oozlay began to hum.

Five minutes later, when Nick paused for breath, Petra reported, as if she were proud of herself, “I have learned eight new profanities. English language at 34%.”

Nick didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He settled for a tense laugh, and went back to work. Within ten minutes, he had finished attaching the component to Rockhunter, and moved on to the last piece. He still didn't know how the damned tool worked, but now it did work. I guess those other parts went together all right even with the oozlay powered down, but these...screw it. I just work here.

Nick made a last attachment, and stepped back.

Rockhunter was complete.