Maya smiled, patted Big Blue’s warm plastic flank, and said, “Sometimes, everyone just needs a hard reset.”

For ten seconds, nothing. Then, a soft whir. The screen flickered. Calibration patterns danced. And finally, in crisp, clean letters: Ready.

Leo finally looked up. “You broke it.”

“Three times,” Maya said. “It just cycles back to the error.”

“Did you try turning it off and on again?” asked Leo from IT, without looking up from his phone.

Leo stared. “How did you know how to do that?”

The office printer, an Epson L6171 named “Big Blue,” had a tantrum. Its screen flashed: Service Required. Error 0x9A.

“Wait,” she whispered.