FB1-50 "A Gift For Lilly"

A Chapter by dw817

Then I saw him pull out a walkie-talkie from his pocket and speak tersely to it, likely getting confirmation that this was indeed the same obnoxious girl the two other agents failed to catch earlier.

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F U T U R E B A R R I E R
( The 1st Novel )
Secret Technology, Unrequited Love, Absolute Vengeance

© May 2014 Written by David Wicker
Please do not reprint without permission

CHAPTER 50 - A GIFT FOR LILLY

[ CHOOSE A DIFFERENT CHAPTER TO READ ]

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This chapter is Rated: TEEN

The second worker, clearly unamused by Tyr's rude antics had turned away from the street and stepped back slightly around the telephone pole.

Then I saw him pull out a walkie-talkie from his pocket and speak tersely into it, likely getting confirmation that this was indeed the same obnoxious girl the two other agents failed to catch earlier.

"C'mon Tyr, that's enough !" I called back to her, worried these mysterious strangers might try and grab her, now that she was easily close enough for them to do so. It was bad enough we had suspicious people working on the phone lines, likely trying to tap into them but now you have to go and wiggle your fanny in their faces ?

Haven't you brought enough attention to yourself already ??

Tyr seemed disappointed though, clearly not getting the reaction she wanted from either of them, and with her bicycle starting to slow down and wobble from the unbalanced load, she deftly straddled the front of it again while blowing a kiss with her fingers behind her.

"I love you !" she said, her dainty voice dripping venomous honey to the first worker who still at the edge of the street was looking rather angry now, finally realizing finally what she just did to him and how it made him feel.

Not waiting to see if there was reprisal which likely there would be, Tyr giggled and kicked her pedals hard and hurried to catch up with us wheezing in amusement and excitement as she went.

Once she was near, Lilly turned her own bicycle around me and went over to Tyr's side to congratulate her for her bravado and daring and the two talked and laughed about it and what do you think he was thinking of her now and I shook my head and accelerated my pedaling to leave them behind to their inane gossiping and giggling.

Back home, we didn't say anything more and locked up all 3 bicycles in the garage, then locked the front door. I peered outside for a bit, a little worried those 'telephone repairmen' might've followed us here, but there was no activity in the street.

Seeing we were in the clear, we finally went back into Tyr's bedroom and I fired up the plugin on her main computer. It had been a-while since I spoke with SIM and I wondered if he remembered what we last talked about.

The plugin was interesting to watch and listen to as it booted up. It glowed a pretty blue like before, but as I said before it didn't put out any heat, instead the opposite, and it made a kind of whirring noise. It was then I realized that the round jewel inside was SPINNING when it was in use !

I couldn't see this because the jewel was round like a saucer and it rotated on it's axis. But that just further led me to believe how incredible the technology was.

After I was certain the computer was booted and we were back in command mode, I spoke. "Sim ?" I addressed the computer.

Good afternoon, Dev.

I leaned back in the chair, glad there were no problems and the software didn't expire or break or what have you. I know I tried to copy the "sim.exe" file to my computer earlier as a backup in case I lost it but the error message that appeared was phenomenal and incredible to say the least.

Unable to read file. Uses non-standard 512-bit addressing field. Cannot convert to 32-bit VTOC.

When I asked for properties on the file it did manage to return.

File size: 1,438,239,468 Terabytes.

Phewie ! So if the device ever did give out, I knew we wouldn't have any way to fix it. And yet I knew I could duplicate it, but that should be impossible for so complex a device, shouldn't it ?

Back to the SIM, I spoke, "Sim, we have a new friend here, her name is Lilly."

Pleased to meet you, Lilly.

"Hello." Lilly said shyly looking down at her feet and smiled, surprised the device could be so cordial and polite.

After a moment, SIM spoke again:

Hello, Lilly. How can I help you ?

She looked up and I nodded, go ahead. She approached the computer and spoke to the screen, "Sim, I wanna talk wif Choo-Choo." she said lisping slightly. I finally determined that she got very shy around strangers and Sim was no exception.

Define, "Choo Choo" Dev.

I smiled slightly. It seemed that SIM was going to rely on me for accurate definitions for things he didn't know, leaving Tyr out of the loop completely and not even bothering to ask the new person Lilly either, assuming I was the leader of intelligence in this group, which might be the truth at that.

"'Choo-Choo' is the name of her squirrel, SIM." I explained trying to use words a computer might understand. "Lookup 'squirrel' on the internet. It is a rodent, hand-length usually, brown with a furry tail." I paused to look at Lilly and smiled. "It is her pet and a good friend of hers."

The plugin's blue glow dimmed for a bit as it took all this in.

Unable to comply with request, Dev.

I had anticipated this and was ready to counter-argue. "Okay SIM, instead of changing Lilly so she can talk with the squirrel, can you change the squirrel so he can talk with Lilly ?"

Another moment as the plugin flickered blue for a second.

Confirmed.

Where is Choo Choo ?

Lilly clicked her tongue once and we heard a scampering sound on the kitchen floor followed by sharp claws on carpet as Choo-Choo barreled in the bedroom jumping up on Lilly's shoulder with amazing grace and an inquisitive look, his little brown-red eyes shone like perfect jeweled eggs sparking in curiosity at the request.

"Thi 'si Choo-Choos, IM." Lilly said quietly.

I reached out my hand and Lilly nodded. Choo-Choo then tentatively jumped onto my hand keeping his claws retracted and chittered slightly. He aligned himself balanced, wavering a little, not used to my muscles compared to Lilly's as I brought and set him down on the table.

"This is Choo-Choo, SIM." I said as I slowly pulled my hand away from the jumpy squirrel who looked a little confused at Lilly for what was happening now.

Ready to begin conversion, Dev ?

I looked to Lilly, she nodded her head. Choo Choo was starting to sniff the table wondering why his mistress Lilly would place him here.

I spoke to SIM, "Yes, begin, SIM."

There was a bright flash of light as a glowing yellow grid jumped around Lilly's head. She froze up, just like Tyr did. Choo-Choo watched fascinated but then the grid darted in mid-air to land on top of him, freezing him up just like it did her. It rapidly snaked up to his head and interweaved in colored lines of scanning and information.

The air seemed to pop around us as both Choo-Choo and Lilly were released from SIM's grip. What took minutes before when we initially did experiments like this was now only taking seconds. Clearly SIM was getting faster and smarter each time we did this.

Lilly blinked her eyes and looked around. It was only from the look on mine and Tyr's face did she realize that even though she was unaware of being 'scanned' by SIM, that it had in fact already taken place.

Then, the squirrel hiccuped. And it was odd because when he did it sounded like he was choking for a moment, like the inside of his throat might've changed slightly.

He chittered disagreeably for a second but then bit it back like that didn't sound right to him, like he didn't even understand his own voice.

He thumped his tail left and right on the wooden table impatiently and angrily, knowing something had changed in him, but he didn't know what just yet.

Finally he opened his mouth wide and coughed, revealing sharp teeth. A moment later - he spoke ! Not a chitter but a strong English accent in a small voice, like from a minute earphone with its volume set way too high.

"What just happened, miss Lilly ?" the inquisitive squirrel asked rubbing his paws together anxiously.