Chapter 1:
To The Green Lake
I’m a simple girl: I like my life just how it is. But for some reason, life always finds a way to put stones in my way. And this morning was no different.
The streets were nice and peaceful, just how I liked it. Despite the scowl on my face, I enjoyed the sun, the birds, the people walking and the robots scuttling around. There was a nice, hopeful energy in the air, and with this feeling in my heart, I walked right to our house.
“I’m home!” I called out just as the doors before me opened.
The comforting, warm smell of home enveloped me just as the house greeted me with a chipper “Hi there, Toma!”.
“Heyhey, housie.” I waved back at the holo icon as I changed my footwear from ‘shoes’ to ‘socks’.
Behind me, I heard the subtle whirring sound as our little house crabs cleaned up the little dirt I had brought in. Another bot came flying, and I dropped the colorful cloth bags onto it.
“Put them on the table, please,” I said, and waited for the confirmation beep.
Then, the garden door opened, and Mom came in, still wearing her big yellow gardening gloves.
“Welcome home, honey,” she said, squeezing me tight. “You got everything?”
“Yup, yup,” I said as I fixed my hair. “I still don’t get why you didn’t port the order. I could’ve slept longer.”
“Oh, don’t be like that. Movement is good for your body, honey. Come now, breakfast tastes better when you got it yourself.”
I rolled my eyes and stretched. Yeah, right, I thought. But still, I couldn’t voice my complaints – I would have needed to do so before, when Mom had asked me to get breakfast. Now, it was too late.
With the press of a button, my suit changed into its softer, wide cut lounge style, as the outer decorative light layer retracted. That’s how it felt best. Now I was truly home.
“Hey, hey, how’s my girl doing? Thanks for getting breakfast,” Dad said.
And once more, my hair was in disarray as he ruffled my head.
“Dad! Stop!”
I ducked under him, and quickly sat down at our table. Behind me, I heard my parents walk after me in suspicious silence. A few helper bots were scuttling around, clearly setting the table for a ‘big breakfast’ even though it wasn’t any special day, at all. With the fresh, warm bread, all sorts of fruits and I glanced at Mom and Dad.
Something was off. But I couldn’t quite tell what it was. And so, I stayed quiet. Maybe nothing will happen if I say nothing.
And, in the beginning, that was true. We just enjoyed our meal, and unfortunately, Mom was right. The bread was still warm and crunchy, the crust adorned with intricate details. Together with fresh fruits and jam, it was perfect to fill me up, and I couldn’t help but sigh at the earthy flavor of the bread mixing with the sweet and sour notes of fruit and jam. This was heaven.
“So, Toma, sweetheart…” Mom said.
Immediately, I blinked awake to reality again. Of course, this couldn’t last for long. I grit my teeth. I wanted to say no, whatever was going on, but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.
“You remember the old travel pod?”
“No?”
What travel pod?
“You liked to play in it when you were small,” Dad said. “You called it Lottie the big whale.”
“Cleanbot always chased you out,” Mom laughed.
“Urgghh…”
Of course, with all those embarrassing memories dredged up, how could I not remember that old thing? Suddenly, I remembered that old, dusty smell, dark wood and warm metal. Back then, the travel pod really looked like a whale right out of my holovids. My head was burning, and I wanted to be anywhere else but here.
“So, you remember!” Dad grinned at me. “Great. Your mother and I have a little favor to ask of you.”
“What?”
This made no sense. Why were they bringing that old piece of junk up, anyways?
“You said you wanted to go on a journey this summer, right?”
“Right…”
I didn’t like where this was going. The two of them were smiling at me so bright the room must have dimmed. And my mood only got worse. I even got a little notification on the edge of my vision that I was getting stressed. Yeah, I know, I thought.
“We haven’t used it in years, and…”
“We want you to take it back to the shop we got it from to get it recycled.”
I shook my head. “What? No!”
“Oh please, sweetheart, at least hear us out.”
“The Green Lake is really nice at this time of year,” Dad added. “We went roughly at the same time there, back then. Right, honey?”
“That’s right. And we had so much fun!”
It’s two against one, it’s not fair! But Mom must have mistook my silence for agreement, and continued on.
“We really need your help here. It’ll be a fun adventure, you know?”
“And don’t worry about the money. We’ll cover it all, the food, the souvenirs, the ride back…”
“And emergency funds! Really, you have nothing to worry about!”
“But…”
It felt like they didn’t even hear me. I shrunk under their words, until I was so small that a single word was enough to sway me.
“Please, sweetheart.”
“Urgh! Okay, fine!”
Clearly, this wasn’t the reaction they had hoped for. The mix of relief and disappointment on their faces was almost too much for me to bear. Suddenly, I couldn’t stomach another slice of bread, no matter how tasty it had seemed before.
“You can ask your friends to come with you, if you want,” Dad said.
I glared at him.
“Don’t worry! I’m sure we can spare a little extra, and when we talk with their parents…”
“Urgh.”
I didn’t want to do this, but I didn’t want them to pester me any longer, either. Whatever he said, right now, it sounded like a bad idea. And I couldn’t say that, not out loud. I was already annoyed enough as it was.
I turned around, and with the swipe of my hand, the Holo stretched over the whole wall, and I turned the volume up high enough that any and all talk ceased. It didn’t help as much with my own thoughts, though.
“And here we have the Princess of Kanda – or as we know it, 27 HAD-10214.”
Too much information flooded the screen for a moment, before my vision filtered out the most important for me. First of all: that alien princess was pretty, even though she didn’t look much human at all. Her eyes were completely black, her hair just as long as the antennae on her forehead, and she held herself with a grace that I imagined was what made her royalty. But there was something about the way she looked at the humans watching her from the streets, their hovering pods and from the buildings, that I didn’t like. As if she was in a lab, watching strange creatures. Well, we weren’t much better, were we?
I couldn’t even imagine what her life was like, but surely, it was better than spending the last few good days of summer on a trip you didn’t even want to take.
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