57. Animals
1558 Words
Tobias and Victor go to Tobias's parents' castle with their phones. Elek and Elroy come with the rest of us to Dipak's castle. I guess their family is there already. Dipak calls everyone and their mates and parents to the ballroom. I think Jenny told him she's only explaining the phones once.
I sit by Tera at a front table. Then Jenny makes us hand out the phones. They have their pictures on the lock screen so we can see whose it is. We get that quickly. She knows the earth people, and I know my people now.
"Does everyone have their own face on their phone? Good. This is the lock screen. Nobody can get into this phone but you. In order to open it, you have to look at it. Everyone do that." I look at mine and it opens. "Everyone got it? It'll scan your face and unlock the phone. Now this is the home screen. From here you can do anything. Everyone take a picture of something." I point it down my shirt and take a picture.
Tera cracks up laughing. "Not of your boobs."
Jenny shakes her head, "No private photos please. You will be sending these to me. Take a picture of your foot, or face, or something." I nod and do that. "Great. See the 2 buttons. Click contacts. See us all? Every single 1 of us is listed as a contact on every phone. You all have my contact information. You all have Alden's. You all have Tye's. You do not have to use them all, but they are there. I want you to scroll down and click Jenny. Then click message. It should bring up this screen. Send me the photo you took. Do that now." Her phone makes all kinds of noise.
"Great, I got everyone's photo. Now you know how to send photos. Video's are exactly the same. Everyone see my name in their messages now? Send a message to someone else from here."
My phone dings and I nearly drop it. It's Alden. It says I love you.
I smile so big, and type I love you too. I send that, and the picture of my boobs. I hear him laugh across the room.
"Everyone seems to be getting that. I'm assuming Alden got the boob picture."
I laugh and Tera shakes her head, "She can't help herself."
"Texting is very useful. Say Johen and Tye are in the village and get separated. Johen can ask where you at? Tye sees it and replies coffee shop. It's made for shorter messages. Sending pictures is an easy way to show something. Now is phone calls. Go back into contacts. Click on anyone and see where it says call. Don't do that, but I will show you 1." Elek's phone rings.
He clicks it. "Hello."
"Hello. This is an actual conversation in real time. If I need to ask him something or give directions that take longer than a short text, I can call him. We are talking in real time. Last is the face button. Click that. I will show you another 1." A second passes. "I face called Victor. I see his face on my phone, and we are talking in real time. Say hi Victor."
"Hi everyone."
We all wave or say hi, then she hangs up on him.
"Now you've seen that. Those are the major features of this phone. Now, these phones will work anywhere except hyperspace. Any planet you are on. If you're on the ship. Anywhere. These phones will work. But I want to say again, your face will open your phone. Nobody else can get in it. With the exception of Luke. Marcus, you can unlock Luke's phone as well."
"Thank you."
"Also, your phones have to be charged on your ship. The brains can explain it to you when you take them up there. But they will last a week without being charged. So it's not like they have to go up every day. Just charge them when you're up there."
"Why can he unlock my phone?"
"It's safer. It's so parents can keep track of who kids are communicating with. And to be able to keep an eye on the subjects. I'm sure you'll be fine with everyone here, but it's a safety precaution. Any other questions?"
I send Luke a smiley face.
"HOW'D SHE DO THAT?"
"Do what?" Jenny walks over to him.
"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?" Thora is sobbing. "SHE SENT MY BOOBS TO MARCUS."
Nadine jumps up. "I DIDN'T MEAN IT. HOW DO I UNSEND?"
Marcus puts his phone down and shakes his head.
Jenny takes his phone. "It's ok. But remember to be careful of who you send the messages to. You can not unsend a message. Once you send it, they will get it. Look, so your phone unlocks."
Marcus shakes his head.
"You're unlocking your phone, not checking the message. Thank you. The message is gone. I deleted it. But you have to be careful of that. If it's a private message or picture, double check who the recipient is. I deleted it from his phone, Thora. He didn't see it."
"Thank you."
Alden comes over and kisses my head. "I was thinking about the cargo ships. Do they need humans with them? If we have humans, we have to be able to make food, clothes, supplies. They need rooms. I mean, if they're picking up trees from a planet and taking them to another, are humans needed?"
"That's true. I would put shields on them. Brain maker and an area for them. Maybe lasers if they don't take that much room. If it's something valuable on the ship, we can always run defense."
"Yea, we can send war carriers to defend it." He kisses my head then we freeze.
"I didn't think of those yet, love."
"Me either, baby."
"I think you just did. We need to go think."
"Yea, let's get out of here."
"Good plan."
Luke comes over and smiles. "Is this 1 of my presents?"
"No. Everybody got this. It's not special for you."
He gives me the biggest hug. "You're my favorite."
"You're my favorite too."
"You can't say that to each other. People's feelings will get hurt."
We give Alden a dirty look.
"Do you want a present now?"
He nods, and starts to shake.
"How long away is dinner?"
"An hour and a half."
"One of your presents we can't bring onto the planet. You'll have to go to my ship to see them." I flag Marcus over. "I have to take him up to my ship to see 1 of his presents. It can't come onto the planet."
"Why?"
Alden smirks. "They are afraid of losing them. You could have weird new animals popping up all over if they crossbreed. But whoever wants to can come up."
"But they're for Luke to see. So they have to stay out of his way."
"I'll go up with him."
The 4 of us go up to my ship. We get into the cargo area and me and Luke jump up and down. We're pointing everything out to the boring guys.
"Baby, we see. Point things out to each other."
As Luke and I run away to ride stuff, Marcus asks, "What the hell is that big blue thing?"
We run all over and ride so much stuff. We feed animals and pet others. It's a lot of fun. He does love animals.
"You have 5 minutes left, and we're letting the others come up. If you want a quick ride on anything, you better grab it."
I run over to the elephant and his trainer puts me on him. Alden comes over and takes a video of me. I love this. Then I run over to the big bird. Marcus puts me on it and I see tears in his eyes. "Thank you for doing this for him."
I'm confused by that. "He's my favorite nephew. Thanks for making him."
He laughs and lets the bird go, so I can walk with it. Then he goes over to Alden and they laugh. "Other people are coming up now. Share if any other kids want to ride animals. Sam and Sawyer are coming up too."
"Ok dad."
Once everyone else gets there, it slows down. And everyone is looking around.
"Hi. I'm Sam."
"And I'm Sawyer."
"Hi boys."
"Do you want to see the blue thing with us?"
"No. I don't want to fight with the crowd over there. You have fun."
"We could ride the bird." They follow me.
I go over to Alden and Marcus.
"Do you want to see the bird?" One pulls my arm.
"I want to see the blue thing." The other pulls an arm the other way.
"No. I want to stay here."
"We can go see that thing's tail."
"Boys, go look at the animals, she needs a break."
"Ok, Marcus." They run away.
Luke comes up and leans on Alden. He yawns and Alden puts his phone away. I sit and lean on Marcus's leg.
"I think they wore themselves out."
"Yep."
I hear someone say, "No. We have elephants. That's not an elephant."
Then I get picked up. I wrap around him and snuggle in. So warm.
- Writer
