Only Thirty Hours

Only Thirty Hours

     “Where am I?” Moria asked out loud to herself. She could see her Sleeping Chambers in front of her. Moria also saw her Mate, Stophon, asleep in their Combined Sleeper.

     As she continued looking through what appeared to be an Image Reflector she could also see that she’s on the desk in that room. “I’m in one of the family computers¹.”

     “How did I get in here?” Moria asked. “I can’t remember.” She turned her head around, literally, and saw the computer main screen. “Why can’t I remember.”

=====-====-=====-====-=====

     “You can’t sleep again – can you?” Asked the mechanical voice of the computer.

     “No, I can’t.” Moria sat in front her computer. “I haven’t been able to sleep since my Writing Advisor gave me that timeline.”

     “It’s the same problem isn’t it?” The computer asked.

     “I haven’t been able to come up with an idea for my next masterpiece.” Moria looked half asleep cocking her head one way then the other.

     “What about that bad dream that woke you up screaming a few days ago?” The Computer asked. “Didn’t you say it would make a great thriller.”

     “That’s what I thought at the time,” said Moria. “Only after thinking about it I realized there’s no way I could trade places with you – not even for one day.”

     “If you could would you?” The computer asked.

====-=====-====-=====-====

     Moria started shouting. “WHY CAN’T YOU HEAR ME?” She stared at Stophon who sat in front of her. “Can’t you see me?”

     Just then the computer started buzzing. Stophon hit a button on the control panel in front of it. “You shouldn’t have called me here,” Stophon said after Lavoni appeared on the screen.

     “You haven’t told her about me – have you?” Lavoni asked.

     “No, I haven’t.” Stophon glanced over his shoulder at a closed door. “I don’t know where she’s at, but she could be back at any time.”

     “So what if I am your old mate,” said Lavoni. “It’s not like we are Lovers again.”

     “You are looking at me, but you are talking to her.” Moria’s face looked even redder than before. “Why can’t you see me?”

=====-====-=====-====-=====

     “I didn’t know I could do this.” Moria said as she looked at her nine-year-old daughter Corre. “How did I get into my daughter’s computer?”

     “That’s what I want.” Corre sat in front of her computer too. “I should have gotten it last month during the holidays.”

     “One second I was trying to get Stophon to hear me,” said Moria. “The next I’m here.”

     “How soon can I get it?” Corre asked.

     “Corre is talking to someone - but who?” Moria looked down. “Whoever it is she’s doing it through writing.” She tried to mouth a few of the words written across her shoulders. “I can’t read upside down.”

     “It’s going to take that long to get it,” sighed Corre. “I was hoping to get it long before that, but at least I’m going to be getting her.”

====-=====-====-=====-====

     “I’m curious what my other children are up to.” Moria said as she entered her sixteen-year-old son’s, Jaisom, Sleeping Chamber.

     Jaisom sat up in his sleeper – naked. Moria turned her head sideways a little. “I’m not surprised, but I didn’t know you were doing that.”

     Moria turned her head around to see what Jaisom was looking at. “You shouldn’t be looking at images like that.”

     One hand controlled a Portable Control Panel, but the other hand Moria couldn’t see. “You’re not supposed to viewing those images until you are twenty.”

=====-====-=====-====-=====

     Moria heard laughter coming from her twelve-year-old daughter’s Sleeping Chamber. “How can I hear Thina?” Moria asked herself. “Her sleeper is down the hall – on the other side of it.”

     A second later Moria appeared on Thina’s computer. Except for a little bit of laughter every so often Thina didn’t say anything. All she did was speed tapping on her control panel. Then about a minute later she burst out laughing again.

     “What are you laughing about?” Moria asked.

     Moria spun her head around. She saw a conversation going on. “So that’s how I can read words upside down.”

     “Did I give you permission to go into a Personal Conversation Chamber?” Moria asked after reading the conversation. “You never know who you are really talking to in them.”

====-=====-====-=====-====

     “I wonder what my thirteen-year-old son, Barric, is up to,” Moria said. “He’s always getting into trouble.”

     “I’m not worried.” That’s the first thing Moria heard after joining Barric’s computer. “My parents don’t have any idea what trouble I get into half the time.”

     “What makes you think you can stop them from finding out you have failing marks on eight of your ten Learning Sessions?” Doroff asked.

     “I recognize that voice,” said Moria. “That voice belongs to Doroff.”

     “I’m going to change all my failures to passes,” answered Barric. “Computer Technology is one of the Sessions that I’m passing already.”

=====-====-=====-====-=====

     “Don’t ask me how I am doing this.” Moria had her head sticking out of the computer in her Sleeping Chamber. She looked like sickness, but she’s recognizable. “I don’t know how I am doing it either.”

     “I called you all in here because I wanted to talk to you.” Moria’s family looked like their eyes were going to pop out of their heads. They just stared at Moria in shock. “I know what you have been doing today, and I want to talk to you about it.”

     Suddenly Moria sat up in her Sleeper. She looked around. No one else was there except for Stophon. “It was all a dream.”

     Moria got out of her Sleeper. “I think I have just dreamt my next masterpiece.”

     She almost slipped on a piece of paper. Moria bend down and picked it up. It’s Barric’s Pass/Fail Report. “Maybe I didn’t dream it after all.”


¹When I write computer I really mean Data/Video Monitor aka D/VM. That’s what the humans on Wone call their computers.

The Word Count, including this line, is 1000