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Chapter 2
I
needed to learn as much as possible. I turned on my neslap-x (an all language
translator). The neslap-x is programmed in about 13,971,293 languages from robotic
to Torguric. It uses a special type of wave that your voice makes and compares
them and matches them to each other and then projects them in less than a hundredth
of a second. I asked someone where I could go to learn.
"School, kid! Don't
you go?" he said, looking at me as if I were very dumb.
"No," I said, "Do
you? Maybe you could sign me up."
"I am in my last
year of school at Davidson Fine Arts. Come with me."
"Alright. So…what
is your name?"
He told me that
it was Luke Sullivan. My eyes caught his face and suddenly realized how much
he looked like my father, L3Sf. Those golden locks split in the middle. His
bright blue eyes. I looked to his ear to find that his sign was not there. I
sighed inwardly.
"And I have some
friends about your age named Adrienne Hughes and Valerie Mora. I didn't catch
your name."
"Catch?" I said,
puzzled.
"What's your name,
kid?" I was about to say J2Pranne when I thought about how weird his name and
his friends' names were.
"Um…Julianne,"
I stuttered.
"Well, let's enroll
you into school." He smiled, laid an arm around my neck (like my father did),
and led me to Davidson.
Davidson was a
pretty small structure compared with Jinuiaa structures. Yet, I have to say
it was a beautiful place. A courtyard was in the middle of three walls of building
and a fence backed with at least sixty trees. Usually I can look at something
for a few seconds and be able to tell the exact number, but the beauty of a
learning center such as this overcame me. A…school.
"What do you do
in school?" I asked.
"Well, you sit
in a class, and listen to the teacher, and hope that you learn something well
enough to pass the test," he said, laughing.
"What kinds of
tests?"
"Written tests.
Multiple choice. True-False. Matching. There are all kinds of tests. They aren't
fun. You…have taken a test before, haven't you?"
"Of course. I took
tests all the time during my education," I said. "But…they were different."
"How so?" I paused.
"I don't know,"
I said. "Just different I guess."
As we walked to
the central office, I looked all around me.
"What's wrong,
Julianne? Never seen a school before?" He paused and then added, "Oh yeah. You
had to ask me where you go to learn."
I blushed. I felt
so dumb. Felt? I had never felt anything so easily before, and I did not like
it very much. It scared me.
"Sorry I embarrassed
you," he said sympathetically.
Embarrassed? I
did have a lot to learn. We walked into the office. It was not large, but it
was very busy. It took a while to get someone's attention. A woman finally listened
to us.
"This young lady
would like to sign up for school, Mrs. Cordel," Luke said. "Her name is Julianne…"
I found that he was searching for a 'last name'. I was not sure what that was,
but I quickly thought of something.
"David!" I interrupted.
Thinking back, I am not sure how I was able to think of a good human name so
fast, however I did, even though it caused a bit of tension.
"David," Luke repeated.
He looked to me.
"What?" I asked.
"It just sounds
so normal."
"Is that a bad
thing?" I said. He smiled and laughed guiltily.
"No…no, Julianne,
it's not. It's just you're so…different that I would expect your name to be
a little different as well."
"Oh," I said. I
must have been acting very strange. After I was registered, Luke took me outside.
There were four benches around the edge of the courtyard. He sat on one and
I stood in front of him.
"You don't look
so happy," Luke said.
"I've lost many
very important things lately," I said.
"Like what?"
"My family," I
said. He started.
"You can't be serious,"
he said, clasping my hands in his. I looked into his worried face. I could not
stand to see him so distressed.
"Of course I am
not serious. I tricked you," I said, smiling brightly. He blinked.
"How mean," he
said. He stood up and began walking off.
"Wait, Luke!" I
called after him. He turned around and stuck his face near mine.
"You owe me," he
said.