Soon, a pair of normal people hurry out of the cabin, followed by an old man. As the lovely couple approaches, the young man takes the honor of introducing everyone. “I’m Peter, this is muh wife Lullaby, that’s Friend, muh brother, and this is the good ol’ doctor.” The kids have heard Southern accents before, but this is extreme for them.
Much to the relief of their ears, Lullaby is apparently not from this region. “Did you guys enjoy the trip here? I understand we have quite a lot to teach you, and I’m very excited to actually hold a class. Would you guys like some tea? I can make it sweet or Northern style, either one.” As Duplica compares this offer to various beverages the kids have tried over the years, the requests split among iced and hot. When you have the likes of Missy and the Asteroid Girls cooking, you quickly become acquainted with the beauty known as sweet tea. Even so, some of the students still prefer the traditional way. Pray for them.
“Friend,” yells Lully, “Do you mind to put that new modification to use? It’d be very convenient. Thank you, sweetie!” And with this, the blue giant shrinks down to about seven and a half feet.
“Is this a Powered?” asks Gigi.
“No.” is the group answer from every adult except Mercy.
At the moment this is said, Duplica gets a random nano-chat from the person she was trying to contact earlier. “Hey sis, sorry I couldn’t answer earlier. What’s up?”
The person contacting her is Ally J. Cat decides this is a great moment to catch up as a little mental multitasking isn’t that big of a stress. “Hey, I was having a rough moment earlier, but it’s good now. While the kids have their next lesson, let me tell you about it.” And so, Cat gets to enjoy a few minutes of chill time nano-chatting with Ally while the class learns their next lesson from their current hosts. In case you’re still wondering if Cat can talk without being noticed, nano-chat is as efficient as telepathy itself, only being a technology thing instead of sourced in otherworldly powers. That said, Cat should be fine as long as she doesn’t burst into laughter or make funny faces. We’ll see how long goes.
“You start, love,” Lully tells Peter. “You met the System Director long before I did. Please start.”
“Alrighty,” says Pete. “Ever since I’s a young boy, Doc’s been watchin’ me. Ain’t got no mama, no daddy. It’s just been me and Doc. Well, I’d got a little older, but I’s still a youngin’ and the System Director and a couple of the SG’s came visitin’ muh swamp, only I wasn’t at home. I was hidin’ cuz I made a friend and didn’t want nobody to hurt ‘em. That’s why I called him Friend, because he was mine. Course, that’s how I ‘ventually learned things about muhself I don’t even think Doc knew. We told Doc, too, since he was raisin’ me and all. It took a lot of investergation and some fancy madoo space travel, but the long and short of it is this; I happen to be an ORganic robot from a business in outer space called the Quasar Factory. They made war machines, and I wasn’t fit for the mold, so they chucked me into the night sky and I drifted my way to Earth. Funny thing was they’d done the same thing to an even bigger robot years before. That’s where Friend come in. He and I was from the same place. Well, the System Guards had a gooooood heart-to-heart with the folks that trashed me and helped them to see the value of ethics and that good stuff. Now, it’s a different business up there in the sky. Oh, I almost forgot. Friend and I are made from a special blue material the aliens found on some of the neighborin’ planets. Guess you could say we’re literal rock stars.”
“Peter, dear, stop talking now.” She’s been good so far, but this part was too cute for her to handle. Lully is from the Midwest, so this Southern accent is what keeps her smiling so much during the day. She just loves to sit and listen to her husband talk all day as it makes her giddy with laughter, but not in a mean way. “I’m sure, being System Guards, you’re very familiar with how the System Director turns robots and animal people into full humans if they want. He’ll combine characters, occasionally rearrange histories in a way that’s not damaging to time itself. He’s a sweet guy. So, Peter was a cyborg, but still, for sake of ethics, he was made into a human cyborg as opposed to an organic android. Why? So, he could be my husband, of course. So, listen to what my blue hunk did for me.”
Inner Man Theatre 