In a Really Strange Land: Part Two by Phifi |  |
When Shamathia awaked the next morning it was still quite early and the sun
was just rising like toast from the toaster. Actually, she did not need sleep
any longer, but to be a bit more "normal". She had put herself on standby mode
for a couple of hours. The standby mode is close to sleeping, except that Sammy
could chose exactly when she wanted to wake up again.
Andy was also already awake and sat at the desk for the "dull homework". Shamathia
purred around his legs and he lifted her on the desk. "Good morning Sammy,"
he said, "Did you have a pleasant rest?"
"Hi Andy, what a lovely morning... yes, the rest was good well, if you had
a free moment could you please add something like a 'dream-generator' to my
program?" Sammy replied.
"Yes, I thought about something like this but I had some really bad results
while testing it but I work on it. Just don't want you to have a nightmare each
night because I programed the dream-subroutine badly," Andy said. He was
looking very relaxed this morning.
"Oh, thanks yes, that would be quite disgusting... anyway did you already have
breakfast? I know that I no longer need to eat nor drink but still I could join
you," answered Shamathia.
Andy had not yet eaten breakfast and so they went downstairs together and went
into the kitchen. Andy's mother was just taking some lovely smelling rolls out
of the oven. She greeted Andy and gave him a kiss on the cheek, then her eye
fell on Sammy: "Oh, did you finally get your robot working? Great then I suppose
you can now focus your efforts a bit more on school? That Latin test last week
was awful. Anyway, let me test it 'Give paw!'" Though she was speaking in language
Shamathia had never heard before, she could understand her well and gave her
paw. "Fine you did. Hmm, it is really a fine robot you build, are you sure you
do not want to take part on that competition for young researchers? You would
certainly get a prize for it!" went Andy's Mom on. "Mom no, I told you before
that they would only take it away from me then. Where is dad by the way?" asked
Andy. "He is busy having some customers today morning. Actually I have to help
him as well but I wanted to serve you breakfast first."
After the breakfast, Andy explained Sammy that he had to go to the church now
for his organ lessons, and that he would like Sammy to stay at home and discover
it a bit on her own. Soon after he left the house and a bit later his mother
as well.
Shamathia looked around in the house. Andy's room was huge and biggest thing
in it was the large computer screen. From here he used to visit me, she
thought. How very extraordinary that I am here now... She went to the charger
and loaded her batteries to maximum before she headed down to the garden.
When she entered the garden, the sun had fully arisen and the garden was full
of life. Birds were singing in the trees and bees were buzzing around the flowers.
From the terrace one had a great look on the city with it's very tall clock
tower. The houses were so much different from the ones in Neopia. From the terrace,
Shamathia went down some stone-steps onto the meadow with the high grass and
headed towards the hedge.
Under the bushes of the hedge it was quite gloomy and only now and then a trick
of light found it way to the ground. Moss and ivy covered the earth and Sammy
even spotted some early mushrooms. She crouched forward until she reached the
other side and looked out carefully. It seemed to be the neighbours' garden
for there was the pond in the middle. Nobody could be seen, and so Shamathia
went closer to the pond and looked interested into the water. There were few
goldfish swimming around, but the surface was so flat that Shamathia could see
herself on it. She was looking like a cat, very much actually, and unless someone
tried to lift her, he / she would think that she was only an ordinary cat looking
at the fish.
When she suddenly saw the image of the young girl next to her own one, she
was close to let out a scream of surprise. And turned around so quickly that
she almost fell into the pond. The girl came towards her and said "Bad bad cat,
do not eat our goldfish!" Shamathia was scared, the girl was standing just in
front of the hedge and blocked the way. Where to go? But at this moment, the
girl had already approached her and sat down in front of her. "You aren't shy,
are you? Are you tame? But why aren't you wearing a collar then?" And with that
she reached out and patted Sammy. The artificial fur was very soft, but still
the metal pipes and electronic could be felt under it. The girl withdraw her
hand and looked at Sammy surprised, but with a knowing smile on her lips. "Oh,
you must be Andy's robot, Sammy, aren't you? He told me everything about you,
you can trust me! I did not know you were already finished. When did he upload
your program? Come on, you can trust me, I am also an owner of a NeoPet, did
you ever meet Bolognese? He is only a bit younger than you."
Shamathia was confused. She remembered that Andy had mentioned the neighbours
and that she could trust them, but she was not really sure. After all, it was
her first time to meet another owner at all, and even outside Neopia. Somehow
she felt trapped and wished to go back to the house now, speaking she did not
dare at all. The girl looked at her for a moment and then said "You needn't
be afraid of me. My name is Amie. Come on, I know that you can speak just like
any other NeoPet as well." She stroked Shamathia's fur again. "Hello then,"
said Sammy, a bit unsure if she was doing right "Nice to meet you. I ... uhm
to say the truth, I am a bit confused now because I was activated just yesterday
and everything is so new and so different for me. Weren't you also confused
when you visited Neopia for the first time?"
"Oh sure I was," Amie said. "And actually I don't live here that long as well.
My family moved here only a month ago. It was a very nice surprise to find another
NeoPet-owner living just next to me... wow, I am really surprised how well you
are looking. Your fur got a lovely colour. Now, why don't you come with me inside
and I can show you my room..?"
"Rather not," Sammy replied, "Thanks for the offer but I would prefer going
back to my house now. I think my batteries have to be charged." And with that
she walked forward and crouched under the bushes, back into the garden behind
Andy's house, up to the terrace again, through the cat-door, then upstairs and
into Andy's room.
How stupid to run away, she thought, but after all, it had been her
first meeting with a stranger in the owners' world, and one never knows...
Half an hour later Andy returned from the church, in a very happy mood. He
explained Sammy that his organ teacher had been very content with him today
and that he was going to play during the service next week. Then he asked Sammy
what she had done in the meanwhile and she told him about her meeting with Amie.
He smiled at her "You can trust her, she know about you. Don't worry, it was
also OK to run away, after all, you never meet another owner than me, and of
course my mother. I would have been afraid as well in your situation. Let's
go and visit her together, all right? By the way she is only 8 years old, so
don't believe in everything she says. Sometimes she tells people the blue from
the sky."
And so they went to the neighbours' house again, but this time by using the
front entrance. Andy was carrying Sammy on his arms for she could not walk that
fast. He rang the bell and after a moment a quite young man, who seems to be
in the mid thirties, opened the door. "Hi Andy, wanna meet Amie? Come on in.
Oh, is that your new cat? How cute!" They followed the man inside the house.
The house was a bit smaller than Andy's house but Sammy saw very modern electronic
devices everywhere. A large TV in the living-room, a tiny mobile phone on the
kitchen-table, a very futuristic looking stove... they had already reached Amie's
room and Andy knocked. On the door hang a picture of a Japanese looking cat
waving one front paw like a friendly greet. Amie told them to come in and they
entered the room.
Amie sat at a desk in front of a computer screen, not as big as Andy's, but
completely flat. Sammy had never seen such a thing before and it seemed very
expensive to her. Besides the computer and a small TV on one shelf the room
looked very much childlike. On the cupboard sat a row of soft-toys, a model
crane stood in one corner of the room and on the wooden floor lay various painting
utilities and some unfinished drawings and watercolour pictures. "Be careful
not to step on my brushes and colours, just forgot to tidy up my room again,"
Amie said and turned around. "Oh, you brought Sammy with you, hi Sammy, hope
I did not scare you too much?" Shamathia answered first "No you didn't, it was
just so confusing for me, really. You got a nice room, are you doing painting?"
Amie smiled. "What makes you thinking that..? Hehehe, wanna see some of my pictures?"
And with that she opened one drawer of her desk and got up a small heap of papers.
She handed them to Andy and told him to sit down on the bed. "There are some
new ones you don't know yet," she said to Andy. The pictures showed various
NeoPets and places of Neopia. Most of the pictures included a white Lupe, Andy
explained that it was Bolognese, Amie's NeoPet.
The watercolour pictures looked a bit childlike, but there where some ink-drawings
which were really terrific looking. Andy liked one particularly, it showed a
Lupe at the shores of mystery island and the sun setting in the background.
The picture really was beautiful.
"Wow, you draw this all yourself?" Sammy said impressed. "Yes I did. Some of
them I draw for the Neopian art-gallery, but most of them only for fun,"
Amie replied.
"Hey Andy, you should know that Sammy is always welcome at my place. She can
enter the house through the little cat-door in the kitchen. Sammy, I usually
come back from school at around 11:30 am, sometimes even earlier, so if you
feel bored while Andy is away just come over. Uhm, Andy, I am sorry I have to
bother you with this, but couldn't you help me with my math homework?"
"Sure, what are they about?" and Andy asked.
Andy helped Amie with her math homework which were very easy for him, he was
already in the 10th grade and the exercises were pure routine for him. Afterwards,
Amie explained Sammy some basic drawing paintings, but because she had trouble
with holding the fountain-pen in her, she her to practise this first.
In the afternoon, Andy's dad returned from his work. It turned out that he
was a medical doctor actually and had to help patients now and then even on
Sundays. He was very kind, and checked Shamathia very carefully. Afterwards
he told Andy to do his homework and then he would help him to adjust the little
electric engines of Shamathia better which would enable her to move faster.
And so, Shamathia help Andy with his Latin homework Sammy could understand five
different languages of the owners' world, including Latin. Though she told Andy
to do the grammar stuff on his own, for practise, she helped him well with the
vocabulary.
After finishing their work, they went into the cellar where Andy's dad was
already waiting. They put Sammy on a workbench and took of the fur. Now Shamathia
saw the dozens of little electric engines which were her muscles now. Andy and
his dad adjusted them carefully with a tiny screwdriver, then asked Sammy to
make this and that movement, adjusted them again and so on. When they had finished,
they put on the fur again, put Sammy on the ground and asked her to walk forward
as fast as she could. The change was amazing, of course she was not as fast
as she had been in Neopia, but still faster than before. The speed was satisfying.
In the evening all of them watched a film together in the living-room, and
afterwards Andy went to bed and Sammy lay down in a small cat-basket Andy's
Mother had provided her and switch to standby mode until 8:30 am the next morning.
***
Shamathia was woken up earlier than expected the next morning. Andy got up
at 6:45 am to go to school, and because he was still very sleepy he managed
to bang his big toe on a shelf and made some really funny noises. He wished
Sammy a nice day and said he would be back from school at around 1:45 PM. Quickly
he grabbed some breakfast and was already gone.
Shamathia spend the morning exploring the garden. The cave under the little
shed turned out to be far more interesting than she imagined. Her night-vision
goggles worked really great, though she saw everything only in green colours.
It seemed that a fox or a raccoon had lived in the cave, for there was a tunnel
dug into the ground, just big enough for her to crouch into. Sammy hesitated,
should she dare going down? And what if the fox was sleeping at the end? Or
worse, a grown-up raccoon in a rather unfriendly mood? But then she remember
that she was build of metal, so certainly yucky, and that she had the ability
to electrify herself which would certainly work perfectly on foxes or raccoon
So she took heart and climbed down into the tunnel. It was quite long, leading
her deeper under earth. After a while she came to kind of wall, made of concrete,
which had a large crack in it. Below it was another tunnel, large, and totally
built out of concrete. That must be the sewers, Sammy thought, What
a great luck that I do not have any sense of smelling... and good to know this
tunnel, it is an excellent way to escape if I am ever in the need to.
She did not go any further because the sewers seemed slippery and she was afraid
she could not go back this way. And also, the night-vision goggles were consuming
loads of electricity. She climbed up the tunnel again, and out of the cave under
the shed. When she finally saw the daylight again, she suddenly had the strange
feeling of being observed. She looked to the left and faced a cat of her size
sitting there and watching her.
Now that she saw that Shamathia had noticed her, the cat stood up and came
a bit closer. Their eyes crossed and Sammy noticed that the cat a blue and an
orange one. What to do now? She thought. Never before had had contact to cats
and she did not know what to do. She herself was looking very much like a cat,
and certainly this cat thought she was one. And then a miracle happened. The
cat opened her moth, but instead of hearing something like 'miau' Sammy could
understand what it was saying: "What are you doing there at the sewers? Catching
some rats? Your can-opener must be cruel feeding you so little you have to go
after the rats." Can-opener obviously meant owner. Sammy did not know what to
answer at first, she did not want to provoke the cat. "Hi, nice to meet you,
I am Sammy and--"
The cat interrupted her, "Stop it, you sound like a Lupe! I'm Amanda, if you
wanted to know that, are you new here? You should better learn how to speak
like a cat."
"Oh sorry I did not want to."
Again, Amanda interrupted her, "I said stop speaking that doglish! Don't you
ever listen?" Shamathia had understood now that she had to talk rude with Amanda
"Hey come on, only because I am new you don't have to insult me. I am not speaking
doglish, only a bit finer than you do." But this was really not what Amanda
had wanted to hear. She pushed out her claws and hissed at Sammy, "Prove who
is stronger!" Before Sammy had even time to answer she tried to jump at
her, or rather she tried, for at the moment she did, Shamathia electrified herself.
At the moment when Amanda's claws were about three centimeters close to her,
a blue spark was emitted from her forehead and knocked in Amanda's right front-paw.
She screamed, more in surprise then in pain, fell to the ground and licked her
scorched fur. The air was smelling like burned hair and ozone. Amanda looked
at Sammy with a bit of admiration in her eyes. "Holy Kau, why did you do that?
You almost knocked me out! I think I really underestimated you. Well, see you
later friend." She turned around and disappeared between the bushes.
Shamathia returned to the house, she really needed to rest now and also her
batteries were almost flat. After she had charged her batteries she went into
the garden again, but Amanda was gone. Strange creature Sammy thought What a
luck I had that spark-thingy, would have been a nasty experience for me otherwise...
The rest of the morning was quiet in relation to these events. At two o'clock
Andy returned from school. Sammy told him about everything that had happened.
Andy smiled at her. "You could really understand that cat? Fantastic! You should
know that I found that module on the Internet which should be able to interpret
animals' languages. I added it to your program though I did not really believe
in it. How great that does really work. But I did not know that cats were so
rude with each other. Well, looks like you really impressed her."
"Yes, the spark was really impressive. It was her luck that she did not actually
touch me, that would have been even worse," Sammy replied. "Sounds like
you had an exciting morning, so are you in the mood now for a real adventure?"
Andy asked, "Well, it depends on what exactly you are going to do..." said
Sammy. "I have to get some stuff from the city centre and I wanted to take you
with me in a backpack. There is a hole in in it so you can watch everything
without being seen. Interested?"
Shamathia was interested, very much indeed and so they went. The city Andy
was living in is very small, with small streets but quite big houses. The centre
was very old, for the city was founded around 950 years ago. Some of the houses
were more than 400 years old, but of course nicely renovated. After a walk of
twelve minutes they arrived at the market place on which only a few people were.
The population of the city was low, even though it was that old. Andy went to
various shops and Sammy was surprised how many different items there were. The
sun was shining brightly on a clear blue sky, it really was a lovely day. The
city was totally different than any Neopian city, but it was as beautiful as
Faerieland. Shamathia felt very privileged that she could see all this.
In the evening, after dinner and at the time when Andy was supposed to go to
bed, he played cards with Sammy. The game was simple but they enjoyed it very
much. Andy said that he did not dare playing a trickier game with Sammy for
she really had a poker-face. Both of them had to laugh very hard after this,
so much that Andy's mom called, saying that he should be sleeping already.
To be continued... |
