...And why do people want robots so badly. She assumes it isn't just because they're science fictionally cool. 

Robots would be able to replace a lot of menial work.

...Hm. 

Well. 

She does not have to help with robots in particular, if she knows that she doesn't know enough about the situation to do that. 

After a little more cursory research, she nods. "I think it would be worth it to be introduced to your great-aunt." 

"I'll set up a meeting. Would you rather it be here?"

"I'm indifferent as to the location." 

"She might prefer her office. You'll need to fix your hair to go out unobtrusively."

She shrugs and turns her hair purple. 

"It'd be less odd for me to be traveling with a blue or yellow."

She turns her hair blue, then, and McElroy's hair yellow. 

"Perfect." She taps away on her everything, eating her sandwich one handed. (The cook has offered the aliens sandwiches too.)

The aliens eat sandwiches. The sandwiches are tasty enough, but Rhonda is privately glad that her power means she isn't cut off from ever having a normal PBJ again. 

These sandwiches are meat and cheese and pickles.

"Auntie says we should meet at her office in half an hour."

"Alright. How far is it?" 

Meat and cheese and pickles is an interesting balance of familiar and unfamiliar given that she's never tasted this kind of meat or cheese or pickles before. 

"Two subway stops."

...She looks up how long it takes to get between subway stops. 

Usually just a couple minutes, more in the sticks.

Okay. She pokes around some more on the internet in the meanwhile to see what else she can pick up. She tries "dual-caste occupations" since she does not have enough civic engineering knowledge to get anything but gobbledygook out of subway policy. 

Some places dual-caste occupations such as sex work, medicine, or operating boats. It means both castes are allowed to do the thing. It is outright typical to dual-caste most non-combat positions in the military - fill them with greys in downtime, shunt the greys into combat roles in wartime.

...On a scale of "World Peace" to "the Middle East" how much war is there. 

There was a big one last year but this is rare. A province changed hands.

Mm. But there's currently zero war anywhere? That part's good. 

She looks into the war. 

Apparently Voa was exporting contaminated food and Tapa attacked them, with support, to conquer enough farmland to achieve domestic food security.

Contaminated food? Someone cut corners on a safety regulation?

Deliberate sabotage, actually!

W...hy...would someone do that...