Chapter 93: Hover Beds and Stuff

Another dinner these kids have to eat alone, because their parents are so work-obsessed.

Fischer is in the process of retirement. He's a pastry chef, and there is no better note to go out on.

Warm, fluffy pastries... mmm.

Yasu obtains a hover bed.

"Awesome hover bed," Kirk admits.

"It won't bother you, will it?"

"You know I sleep like the dead, love."

Wren feels guilty leaving Nero alone when she goes to school.

"I don't need help with my homework, Dad," McCoy asserts sullenly. "I'm a genius."

Little genius stomps upstairs and ignores his homework in favor of reading.

Repetitive hand washing.

"I feel like if I don't wash my hands before and after touching stuff, something bad will happen," Wren tries her best to explain. "If I go to long without washing it starts to feel like they're burning and I can't get it out of my mind. Like everything I touch is going to be contaminated. That's why I have to change clothes as soon as I get home from school, because school and home are separate and I feel different at home than at school..."

Nero nods, trying to understand. Wren's species is very complicated.

Adventure! But only in the safety of the bathtub.

While McCoy is busy with his rubber duckies and such, the parents take a moment to stage an intervention for his sister. Khan's confidence about it falls apart when he thinks he sees something out of the corner of his eye, but it's not there...

"We're worried," Yasu explains. "Your father has vampire family members who once used their psychic powers against me. We're afraid they may be getting revenge on us by hurting you."

"But I'm not hurt," Wren complains.

Unfortunately repeating the gnome story only gets Wren yelled at.

"What if she's right?" Kirk interrupts.

Yasu glances over her shoulder at him. "It's not politically correct to waste time on nonsense just because you deeply want the other side of the story to be relevant. It's just stupid."

"Our daughter isn't stupid. I'm picking up readings so she may well be seeing something. I just need to use science to make it visible to us, so we can deal with it."

"Don't hurt Nero!" Wren complains. She stomps her foot, but is ignored.

"I can give it more juice, of sorts," her father continues. And then he swans into his chemistry room, not to be heard from for the rest of the day.


"I'm really worried about you, Nero. Maybe you should run away."

"I don't think your parents would hurt me, if I could talk to them."

When hopes Nero is right. With her parents standing close, she gives him the potion her father has made.

And watches an amazing transformation.

Wren stares. "You... you turned him blue."

She retreats and puts on her helmet for security, not sure what to think about this development.

Yasu knows exactly what to think: AWESOME. Especially when Nero switches briefly into his old form - the toy she crafted. Seeing this doll come to life - or rather, harness another form of life - has given Yasu some ideas about how she could use the life fruit extract in more controlled ways.

Kirk isn't ready to accept his child's gnome story, though. Not yet. He takes Nero aside for questioning.

Yasu feels she owes Wren an apology.

"You'll need to sleep and eat food for strength," Kirk explains. "You're basically a child now, the same age as my daughter. I feel a certain responsibility towards you, and I expect you to respect what we have to teach you. You'll also start school tomorrow."

Kirk only wishes he had been able to make himself "normal", instead of this gnome.

Then again, blue skin. This child isn't going to have the easiest life.

 "You don't like my new form," Nero observes sadly.

"No!" Wren objects. "It's not that... it's just..."

"I am the same as I always was, Wren. I just look different."

"'M sorry." She frowns, looking at her shoes.

"It's okay." Children trust their eyes; or at least, this little girl does. Nero will try to remember that.

Fischer isn't sure what to think of the little blue creature in his house.

McCoy doesn't seem to realize anything is strange about it. Yawn. At least his sister isn't crazy.

A child is a child, no matter what its origins, so Fischer soon decides he's happy to have Nero around.

Fischer is a pretty awesome grandfather, always playing along when they want to play pretend.

McCoy is kept awake by Nero and Wren chattering on for most of the night, so Fischer brings him down to Xue's old bedroom and reads his a bedtime story (War & More War).

Fischer is currently writing a sequel, entitled More & More War.

Obsessed with energy sources lately, Yasu gets a tattoo of one on her arm, above the lab rat.

Her greatest work is slowly taking shape.

Nero's kin continue to ignore him.

More corporeal and mobile than before, Nero can enjoy trivial things like sandboxes even when Wren isn't around.

Fischer wonders why Yasu had to go and make ten scrap gnomes. They're just so creepy. Pictured here are Kick Me, Number Seven, and Alexandria. Counting Randi's original Harold, that's a lot of gnomes.

Hopefully this invention will not inadvertently become a gnome.

"I only make those when I get so tired I can't think straight," Yasu explains. "They're accidents."

She's been working night and day on her new project, so there's definitely cause for worry.

Finally... Paola the Simbot is ready to be activated.

"May I have clarification on my prime directives?" are the android's first words.

"It wouldn't be right to release you on the world without teaching you about it first," Yasu agrees.

An android fishing in the pond?

Oh my.

Paola tries to win Fischer over by showing off her features, such as the can opener on her left elbow, but only succeeds in confusing the old man.

Paola loves the outdoors.

And playing in the sprinkler.

Paola needs a lot of maintenance.

Yasu feels bad for not having the materials available to make her waterproof.

Paola doesn't learn her lesson.

Sigh.

"Swimming sucks," Paola informs McCoy, testing out the new slang the boy has taught her.

Though McCoy is fascinated by the science fiction concept running around their home, Wren is terrified of Paola and sticks to hanging out with her fantasy ex-gnome friend.

Paola has a setting called "whirlwind," and decides to test it out on this innocent bunny toy.

The bunny toy explodes into stuffing and shards of scrap metal (springs and stuff I guess!).

Paola is programmed to feel intense anxiety and dismay when non-harmful objects are destroyed, and so has an almost emotional response to the bunny's demise. Oil spills out of her eyes; a grotesque substitute for tears.

 Unfortunately Yasu sees the ruined toy and assumes her programming has failed.

Paola is subjected to some heavy lecturing.

Kirk isn't sure how to feel about his wife's creation.

He's surprised when she, if he can call Paola a she, is interested in discussing music.

But it makes sense. Who has more perfect pitch than a machine?

So when Paola wants to jam with him, he lets her.

Yasu rewards Kirk for his help in socializing the simbot.

Meanwhile, Wren sees some strange people while walking home from school.

They're... they're everywhere!

Regrettably, Fischer must inform Kirk that the research for the cure for the cure for Vampirism-B-Gone has been put on hold to deal with the dangerous mummy outbreak.

Kirk stares. "They're mummies, can't we just set them on fire?"

"Two grocery store workers with flamethrowers thought the same thing. The mummies tore them apart."

"Mummies are notoriously slow!"

Fischer chews on his nails a bit. "They also have magic."

"Oh." Kirk sighs. "Right then."

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Etc.: So that's two new life forms under my control in one chapter. Plus a mummy outbreak.

Paola the simbot is an idiot. All simbots come with the hydrophobic trait, which does nothing. Paola would autonomously play in the sprinkler on the water slide, etc. Since I rarely gave her commands myself, seeing her autonomously decide to spend most of her time shorted out was really annoying. Her other traits are loves the outdoors, over emotional, and... I forget the rest. She cries all the time. It's unfortunately very hard to get good pics of her, since she's dark.

"Smash" object is definitely Paola's best feature.

Nero came alive with that dark blue hair and black irises. He had a normal skin tone and vanilla features, which I changed. I didn't change his hairstyle or clothes, though I could have done so. So either my mods are just too good, or everyone who said you can't change the IF's clothes was a liar.