Warp
Aly’s Grilled Cheese sandwich was long gone, and she still couldn’t think of what to say.
She shifted in her seat, and watched her dad eat with precise mechanical bites.
He set his sandwich down. Aly wondered how not a single crumb had fallen from his food.
“Didn’t you have something to say, Aly?” he asked suspiciously “You seemed so upbeat when you came in.”
Aly swallowed and looked outside the window.
“Well Dad,” Aly paused and gathered her thoughts “I kinda already invited someone over, so… ”
Her Dad smiled a smile that never reached his eyes “Great. I assume he’s your same age?” Aly opened her mouth, but her dad went on
“Perfect! I’ll just invite her or him over too. That way you’ll have someone you already know.”
He paused and looked at Aly, who said “Yes dad, he’s my same age (I think) and his name is Grayson”
He looked at Aly. “How about his rank? Is he a Beta? At least a sector Sector Gamma?”
Aly winced, “Well,” She reflected on how nothing else actually made her nervous on the ship except for her Dad “Grayson is a Sector Delta”
“Aly.” Her dad said firmly, “You know what i’ve said about talking with people with a lower rank. It can be dangerous. I will look bad if my own child is running around the ship crazy .There are people on this ship that would do anything to be a Sector Alpha… Bla Bla Bla … Sectors … Rightful place … Bleh Bleh Bleh … Do you understand?“
“Yes. Definitely.” Aly gave her dad her best annoyed face and left.
It wasn’t fair, she thought, as she slammed the door behind her. So what if she wanted to invite someone non sector Alpha over! It was her decision! She jammed her finger into the fingerprint scanner, and angrily flopped into her chair.
Grayson was right, she thought, it was a comfy chair. She looked over at the smoking remains of the HoloVision 56. She usually didn’t do things like that, but she had been curious, and that was the only way to open it she thought of at the time.
She fingered the blackened and melted HoloVision. Aly wondered if Grayson could fix it. There were plenty of classes available for kids in Sector Alpha, but she doubted that Sector Alphas do something so below them (According to the rules)
Maybe she would ask Grayson to teach her, she thought. It would be neat to be able to build things.
Aly grabbed her holophone and ordered another HoloVision. She decided what she was going to do.
She would just tell her dad she was having dinner in her room, that way she’d bail out of the planned dinner thing her Dad had organized. She would just avoid the other kids at the Blaster Range.
All of the sudden, her phone beeped.
She opened her delivery hatch, and there there was a brand new HoloVision 57. The holoChess was even better than before, the people were more realistic than ever, and you could change the battlefield, the weather, and even the time of day. She played it for a while, and tried the other games for a bit. She couldn’t wait to show Grayson.
Then her dad sent her a message:
To: @AlyRichardSA
From: @LeadOfficerRichardSA
Time: 3973 March 19 1613 hours
Hello Aly, I am very sorry about our argument at 1200 I decided that your Friends are coming over to your room Instead of mine, it’s only going to be you, so be nice. I know you don’t want this but it’s for your own good. You have to know kids your own rank Remember our chat.
Archive Delete
Aly angrily pressed delete, and the email vanished. “Really dad!?” She shouted to no one in particular “that ruined my plan!”
Aly typed a quick message to Grayson on her HoloPhone
She tossed the busted holoVision 56 into the Cold Plasma Incinerator.
She heard the hiss as it was completely Incinerated.
Well, She thought, soon Grayson and the others will get here, then they could talk about it more.
Grayson couldn’t wait until he went over. His excitement diminished a bit when he got an urgent message from Aly saying that her dad invited some other kids over to her house.
He had been sitting there using a reinforced titanium plate that was part of the floor as target practice.
And soon, it was time to go. Grayson hopped on the nearest HoverT (Which was a dirty silver color, and had some wires sticking out), and sped off towards the bridge.
When Grayson got to the bridge, he had to switch HoverT’s, because only the good gleaming silver HoverTs were allowed into Sector Alpha.
Soon enough, he stopped at Aly’s room. He knew that Aly, inside her room, would have gotten a message saying that someone was at her door. The door swung open, and there was Aly. “Grayson! Come in, I was hoping you would be the first person to get here!”
She led Grayson into her room “I’ve been Texting my dad, and i’ve been able to pry a couple more things out of him,” Aly sat on her couch and tossed her HoloPhone onto the coffee table. “You see, Dad said she would get here like 5 minutes after you.”
Grayson nodded and sat down in his customary spot in the chair “So how much time until-” Aly’s phone pinged “until the other kid gets here?”
Aly looked at her phone, “Well, she’s here” the door unlocked and and a kid walked in.
Grayson instantly noticed a couple of things about the kid. She was tall, a bit taller than Aly,
Her skin was pale and perfect, and her eyes were blue. Her right hand had a skintight white glove, and she had immaculate white pants and shirt. Even her shoes were gleaming white.
She had a Silver Blas-Tech® LR-98 Officer’s Pistol Safety Version, with some kind of scope, and a long range barrel
Grayson assumed Aly’s dad had informed her that they were going to the Range.
“Hey” Said the girl “I’m Olivia. But my friends call me Olive.”
“Um, Olive, do-” Grayson started
“Oh, Honey, as I said, my friends call me Olive”
“Well, Olivia I was going to say-”
“Why don’t you leave us girls to chat? You can go order our food.”
Olivia pointed to the bedroom door. “I’m sure Aly here has a HoloPad in there.”
“What exactly-” Aly began looking incredulously at Olive, standing in the doorway
“Shoo!” Olive waved a hand at Grayson. Grayson reluctantly walked into Aly’s bedroom.
Olive sat in the chair Grayson had just vacated “Gosh, what was he doing here?”
“Um” Aly said
“Is he a Delta?” Olive asked, looking at the door “Deltas are so weird! Tell me, Aly, What is he doing here?”
“I invited him.”
“Ah, that makes- You what?!” Olive sat back in the chair “Your dad told me you were weird about this stuff, but wow. Aly, listen. We Alphas are just more… ”
“Rich?”
“Exactly! Er, you know, they’re just too lame for us.” Olive took out her holophone and swiped a couple times
“Wow. That’s probably the rudest thing I ever heard.” Aly said, about to stand up.
Then Aly’s HoloPhone pinged. Aly grabbed it and looked at it.