Sleeping Jenny (4 page)

Valex laughed. He turned a fast corner and the ship sped forward. “Of course there's ground. What do you think the buildings are built on?”

I took a deep breath and re-phrased the question. “I mean no grass, no fields?”

Len turned around and stared at me like that was the oddest question she'd ever heard. I thought it was pretty normal, considering.

“Well?”

Valex leaned over to Len. “Back in Jennifer's time, the population was only a smidgen of what it is now. We have to remember that.”

Len nodded and fidgeted with her fuchsia wristbands.

I looked at her expectantly, but she turned back to Valex.

His hands tightened on the controls. “I'm sorry. By the time the doctors found us, you were already undergoing treatment. We didn't have very long to plan. We haven't done any research from your time. All I know is from an early twenty-first-century course I took in college. I haven't even given much thought as to how to tell you about…the advancements.”

“Advancements?” It seemed like humanity had gone backward, or spiraled down a hole they couldn't get out of.

Valex blinked, and his jaw hardened as if he'd made up his mind. “The world's a lot different now. It's not all bad. We've cured so many diseases, people live much longer than they used to, and our population is thriving. We've had to make changes to support our growing needs.”

“What year is it, exactly?” They'd veered around the question in the hospital, but with Doctor Kline out of the picture, I hoped they'd come clean.

“Twenty-three-fourteen.” Valex said it like he'd said the time was 2:30.

The year was so different than what I was used to, it took me a whole minute to calculate.

“You're kidding me. Three hundred and two years?”

My family was gone—that I knew—because Valex and Len wouldn't have picked me up. But, I couldn't think about them now. Instead, I thought of everyone else from my century, including Taylor Swift, Johnny Depp, President Obama, even the voice of SpongeBob.

They were long dead, like not even bones in the ground. Valex and Len probably didn't even know who SpongeBob was, although I bet they'd learned about Obama in the history books.

Len reached behind her and put a hand on my arm, “Let's not discuss this now. You've already had such a hard day. Try to enjoy the trip.”

I nodded and she pointed over the dashboard. “Over there you have the Delta Ray Towers. They were built twenty years ago, when I was a child, to house hundreds more people here in Bath. Over here are the communications headquarters. They supply the needs of the entire city. The power plant is over there, and that building is a recycling center.”

Her voice soothed me. I sat back and listened, pretending I was on a tour for one of our Disney vacations, like if the Jetsons had a theme park ride. I know I was living in denial, but it was the only way I could keep going without a total shutdown.

After twenty minutes, they landed on a loading dock and Len announced, “We're home.”

I grabbed one of my bags and Valex took it right out of my hands. “No, no, no. You're the guest today. Let me.”

I shrugged and let them carry everything. Len led me to their part of floor two hundred and thirty-seven.

Geez. How tall would the buildings get? I reminded myself not to look down whenever I looked out the window.

Valex inserted a key card into the door. “I already have a spare one for you.”

Like I was going anywhere? It took me three tries to pass my driver's ed test, never mind knowing how to fly one of those hovercrafts.

Len shouted over my shoulder. “Pell, we're home!”

A little girl skittered around the corner and stared open-mouthed. She had pigtails of wispy black hair and dark, almond-shaped eyes. She wore a silver tunic that looked like it was made out of tin foil, with fuzzy pink slippers.

“You brought me home just what I wanted.” She ran over to me and hugged my legs before I could get away. The feeling of her little hands on me reminded me so much of Timmy that I had to lean onto the wall to keep from passing out with grief. “My very own big sister!”

“Hey now, give Jennifer some space. She's had a long day.” Guilt rolled over me for not reacting with the same excitement she had.

“We apologize for Pell's forwardness.” Len winked. “She gets it from Valex.”

Valex tickled Len's arm and laughed. “I'm sure she'll calm down once she gets to know you.”

I tried to move, but she clung so hard I was afraid I might kick her, so I just stood there like an awkward teenager at a lame dance.

Len gave me a sympathetic smile. “Pell, you have to let go.”

“I don't want to. I'm afraid she'll run away and I'll be stuck with C-7 again.”

I looked around, but all I saw were strange appliances that beeped, a white couch with no cushions, and a computer monitor the size of the wall. “What is C-7?”

“He's an awful babysitter. He won't even play Pixie Swap on the wallscreen. He says it's not in his programming.”

“Pell, you know he's not programmed to be unpractical.” It was the first time I'd heard Len's voice turn stern. I wondered if this was an ongoing fight between the two of them.

“He's a bothead and I hate him.”

Just as she said it, a silver leg appeared from behind the couch. The metal was round and smooth like the side of a pot. Another hand rubbed a cloth over a spot on the floor. The fingers were all perfect capsules that clicked on the linoleum.

“Stain removal complete.” The voice sounded like the man on our GPS. As C-7 stood up, my breath caught in my throat. My eyes must have bugged out of my head, because Pell started to giggle.

Len gestured toward him. “Jennifer, meet C-7, our personal family manager.”

The robot stepped over to me in a swift, gliding motion. His face was a mask of plastic with gold chrome eyes boring right into my head.

Could he see my fear?

He spoke again, and his lips moved like chopsticks clanking together. “Nice to meet you, Jennifer.”

No wonder Pell hated being babysat by C-7. That thing would spook the hell outta me if I were left alone with it.

“Well, tell him hello.” Pell took my hand and placed it in his cold, robotic fingers.

“Hello, C-7.” I took back my hand and kneeled down so my eyes were level with Pell's. I needed to show her some attention considering how much energy she'd spent on welcoming me. It was the first step to accepting my new family. Even though they'd never replace what I had, I owed it to them to try. “Come on, if he won't play Pixie Swap with you, then I will.”

She jumped up and down. “Awesomelicious with sappy sauce on top!”

I smiled for the first time all day. “Sappy-what?”

She gave me a look that said, “You're being silly,” so I let it go.

“Never mind, show me how to play.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Video Logs

P
ixie Swap made my brain hurt. Cute little fairies danced on the screen, teasing me. Each one balanced on a leaf, and you had to solve a math problem to get them to the other side of the pond. These weren't two plus two equations, either. Little Pell was doing long division, complicated multiplication, and even some algebra.

“How old are you?”

Pell clicked the remote with her fingers and squealed when she got it right. “I'm seven.”

I looked behind me at Len, who dropped cubes into a gurgling food processor to make dinner. “She's only seven?”

“We start them on math early, nowadays. You really need to excel to get a job in the upper levels of the high-rises. Granted, Pell is ahead of the game for her age.”

She smiled at her daughter, “Keep trying, Pell. You might make it to level nine tonight.”

I couldn't imagine what level nine would be. Geometry? Physics?

She handed me the controls. “Your turn.”

I sighed. “Let's put me on level one.”

Behind me, Valex unpacked some of the containers we brought home from BMC. “Looks like you have a bunch of DVDs here, Jennifer. The discs are old, but I think I can hook up some software to decode them.”

A pang hit me straight in the heart. I didn't want to think about home. “I'll watch them later.”

“Certainly. I'll hook them up to the wallscreen in your room.” “Great. Thank you.” I calculated forty-five plus thirty-two divided by three. My pixie flew across the pond, spreading glitter dust. Pell clapped. “Very good!”

Although the math stretched my brain thin, I was thankful for the distraction. I'd compartmentalized my life before I woke up and locked my memories in a box in my mind. I'd deal with it later once things sank in. If I didn't think about it, maybe Timmy, Mom and Dad could still be alive somewhere in the turn of time, thinking about me, too.

“Dinner's ready,” Len announced behind us.

“Aw. She's only figured out one.”

Pell looked so cute when she pouted, I almost argued in her favor, but I wanted to show Len and Valex I was thankful. I stood up, setting the example. “It's okay, Pell. We'll play again later.”

“You promise?”

“Of course, I promise.” I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. I was stuck in 2314 playing Pixie Swap with a seven-year-old. None of it made sense.

We sat at an oblong table with strange glowing lights overhead. I sat next to Pell, and Valex and Len sat across from us. Len heaped two piles of greenish mush on my plate along with a few cubes of white stuff.

“The flavor tonight is garden delight.” She looked so proud to tell me. I had to try it.

I picked up a spork—who knew they'd eat with sporks in the future? The mush dribbled off, and I had to dig in to get a good helping. Everyone watched while I stuck it in my mouth.

The paste tasted like vegetables and spice. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't Mom's good old meat loaf and potatoes, either.

“I like it.” I forced a smile as it trickled down my throat.

“Wonderful.” Valex squeezed Len's shoulder.

Len smiled.

“She saved the best night for you.”

What were all the other nights going to taste like? Dread rose up in my throat, and I swallowed it down. No, I couldn't make a scene at the dinner table. Not in front of Pell. I had to be strong. I spooned up another bite.

“What's it made out of?”

Len popped a white cube in her mouth like a chip. “Soybeans. The majority of our food is manufactured from soybeans and vegetables. Soy is incredibly versatile. They've even perfected an allergy-free strain.”

“You mean you're vegetarians?”

Valex laughed. “You make it sound like we've got a computer virus. Everyone is vegetarian. It's better for you, and we simply don't have enough room for livestock anymore.”

“Where are all the animals?” My voice squeaked. An imaginary coil suffocated my throat, and I struggled to breathe. My worst nightmare was coming true and I couldn't wake up. I was already awake.

“They're extinct.” Pell said it like a fact she learned in school. “Everyone knows that, dumb-bot.”

“Pell,” Valex gave her a stern look. “Jennifer isn't from our time. Where she grew up, they had tons of animals.”

Thunderbolt's glassy eye staring at me stuck in my mind. I winced and shook my head, but the memory was permanent.

Pell gasped and dropped her spork. “You got to touch real animals?”

Tears brimmed. A maelstrom of emotion swirled in my stomach and the room blurred through my tears. I was doing so well hiding the pain, and now it poured out of me. I could barely speak. “I did.”

“Oh, Jennifer.” Len reached for me across the table. “I'm so sorry. We shouldn't have brought it up.”

Everyone gawked at me. The table pushed into my stomach and my plate of food had coalesced into gel. All at once I felt sick. The lives of all the dogs, kittens, polar bears, whales, moose, doves, turtles…every animal I could think of flashed before my eyes, blinking out of existence in a silent scream.

“What happened to the animals?”

Everyone fell silent like none of them wanted to talk about it. But they'd already told me the horrible news and broken my heart. I had to know why.

“Well?”

Valex placed his spork on the table. As the head of the family, I guess it was his job to explain. “Little by little, humans took up more space, and we had to make decisions. Big animals consumed too many resources. Livestock were fed more than three times the human-edible grain than what their bodies produced in meat.”

“So what did they do to all the animals? Kill them?”

“Over time it cost too much to breed them, so they died off naturally.”

I dropped my spork on the table. “There's nothing natural about it.”

Pell froze as if unsure who to believe.

Len glanced at me, and then at Pell. “Jenny, please. You're scaring

Pell.”

I stared at her in disbelief. She was calling me out for scaring Pell? Sure, Pell was too young to understand, but Valex and Len could have more sympathy. I may have expected the cold response from Len, with her “everything's perfect” attitude, but from Valex? I had to remind myself that Valex hadn't killed all of the animals; he was simply a product of his generation. Most likely, when he was born they were already all dead or goners to be sure. Still, his laid-back manner about everything hit a sour chord with this. How could he be so okay with it?

What I couldn't fathom was how humans didn't stand up for the animals. Guess we had picked our own kind over theirs.

Disgust brought up bile from my stomach. “Excuse me. I'm sorry.” I stood up and my chair screeched backward.

Len moved to rise, but Valex waved her down. “Your room is the first door panel down that hall. Take all the time you need.”

“Thank you.”