Munchers

The class filed out in a mostly orderly manner. As usual, Alex and Josh were the first through the door. The twenty children would make their way to the gym for an hour, then back to class for math. Emma hung back behind Dinah and Hilly who were still having an argument over the ending of the story the class was creating for English composition. When they reached the stairs that led to the rec area Emma slipped down another hallway. No one noticed.

Up one flight at the next hallway, around another corner, Emma did a flip and a cartwheel in the deserted hallway. The travel tube was just past the next intersection. She dropped to the floor, pretending she was sneaking around the Dorcon ship, trying to find Aunt Maya's brain stem. Alan was waiting aboard the Eagle docked at the airlock, ready to fly them away as soon as she found it. Then Mama could put her brain back in.

She pulled one of her spy-jacks from her pocket and rolled it gently around the corner. She checked the pictures it transmitted from the fiber-optics in each tip back to her slate. Good, there were no Dorcons in sight. She dived out into the intersection, grabbed the jack and rolled to the safety of the other side of the hallway.

Her game continued through the hallways and by the time she reached the travel tube she had indeed rescued her aunt's brain, killed all the evil Dorcons and was headed for Alan and the safety of the Eagle. She made a spectacular drive and roll into the travel tube, hit the button requesting the destination of Eagle Hanger one and sprawled on the floor of the travel tube.

She placed the imaginary glop of goo that was Aunt Maya's brain carefully in the pocket of her jumpsuit and sighed with relief. It was fun to ride the travel tube lying on the floor. You felt the motion more. Mama always got mad at her when they were together, so she only got to do it on the rare occasions when she rode the tube alone-- or with Uncle Alan. He even tried it once himself and they pretended to be blasting off the Earth in a Saturn V, on an Apollo mission. Then they had argued about which one would be the pilot, and who would stay behind in the CM and who would fly the LM down to the surface. It was a hard choice to make. The main pilot didn't get to land on the moon. They usually took turns with the different roles.

Uncle Alan was too young to really remember the first moon landing, but Daddy remembered. He said he stayed up all night long with his cousins and watched on their screen. He called it a TV. Emma wasn't sure what the difference was, but Daddy said someone else got to choose what you could see. Emma didn't think that was a good thing. Grownups chose to watch some pretty awful things.

The travel tube doors opened and she slid out quickly. She passed by the pilot ready room and entered Uncle Alan's office. The office was small, but connected to the Eagle bay through the tech lab and there were windows that looked out over both larger rooms. There was a bank of desks and workbenches around the room, and the largest screen sat in the middle, by Uncle Alan's drafting table. It was positioned so that he could see through the two walls of windows while he worked. He was sitting there now, engrossed in an image on the screen, clicking through diagrams as he tapped the slate pencil on the desk. She leaned against his knee and he smiled at her.

"Well, hello Princess."

Emma looked over the design on the table. "Can a princess be a pilot?" she asked, seriously.

"Oh, I suppose," he answered.

She climbed onto his lap and settled comfortably, idly tracing the lines on the electrical diagram. "Because I'd rather be a pilot than a princess," she stated earnestly.

"Don't worry. I doubt anyone could clip your wings. You out of school already?" he asked.

I'm out," she said, almost truthfully. She certainly wasn't in school. "What's that?"

"Oh, it's a mining module. It's supposed to take samples and analyze them, but I can't get it to do both, even in simulation."

She leaned forward and Alan patiently went through what the machine was supposed to do. He had been going over it anyway with no luck. Emma watched carefully, absorbing the information, asking the occasional question. She had learned most electrical symbols around the time she had learned to read and the diagram was as clear to her as a storybook. Suddenly she shook her head and pulled the stylus from his hand.

"You're telling it two different things." She enlarged an area by drawing a square on the table and tapping the zoom command. She pointed it out. "Look. You tell it to do one thing here and something else there, but they end up in the same place. It needs to make a choice."

"That puts it in a conflict situation," Alan said with a frown.

"You need to make them buddies," she said, tapping to zoom out again. "You make a muncher, that just munches rock and puts it here." She drew around that part of the diagram. "Then you build a thinker on top that dips in the cache and tests to see if it's something you want. If not, it tips out the cache, but all the muncher needs to know is that it needs to munch again!"

She tapped for a new file, and put in only the required bits for her munchers.

Alan followed her idea closely, forgetting that she was barely nine years old. They passed the slate pen back and forth, asking, answering; suggesting, rejecting. Time stopped for both of them, and they were startled when the commpost beeped for attention. One look at the screen and Emma slid off his lap and under the desk.

Emma's reaction cued Alan to the fact that Helena wasn't calling him just to chat. She came straight to the point. "Alan, is Emma with you?"

Emma waved her hands wildly, trying to get him to say no. He pointedly nudged the slate hanging from her waist with his toe and she clasped her hands over her eyes, shaking her head.

Alan tried the innocent route. "Yes she is, Helena. Is there a problem?"

"I expect to see both of you here in ten minutes." Helena clicked off without waiting for a reply.

Emma climbed out from under the table. "Wow. She's mad."

The travel tube was empty so Emma insisted on riding in her usual manner. It had the advantage of keeping Alan from pacing. They arrived at the Koenig apartment within the required time limit. The apartment was quiet-- too quiet. The table was set for four and dinner sat ready. John and Helena were sitting at the table waiting.

Emma asked," Where are Richie and Alex?"

"At Josh's. They've already eaten." Her father answered. "Go wash up."

She washed and returned in a heartbeat. By the time she returned even Alan was frowning at her. That struck terror in her heart. Mama was always finding things to be mad at her about, but Alan was always her champion.

"You told me school was out." Alan accused.

"Well," Emma said reluctantly. "I told you I was out of school."

Daddy coughed and covered his mouth with a napkin. Mama glared at him, then at Alan. "You could have checked the time."

Alan shook his head. "It didn't occur to me, Helena. I'd been working on a problem all day and I lost track of time."

"But you weren't too busy to entertain Emma all afternoon."

"Helena, it's not like that. She showed up and we started looking at the plan I was working on. Then she made a suggestion that's really going to work." He looked at John for support. "I think Em's solved the problem on why that miner Ceres two wants to build won't work."

John looked interested, but Helena wouldn't be distracted. "Alan, she's still a child. She needs to be in school." She turned to Emma. "You missed math class, and you're always telling me it's your favorite subject. You'll have to make up the work tonight."

Emma stared at her plate. "I've already done it."

"When?" her mother asked suspiciously.

"Last week when Daddy and Uncle Alan let me go to farside with them. I took the math module the teacher told me to, but she didn't tell me to stop any place so I did it all. Yesterday she said we'd be working on it all week, so I'd just have to wait for the others to finish.

Daddy looked at Mama, "Did Jenna mention that to you?"

"No, she just said that Emma didn't come to class and they were working on lessons three and four in module ten."

"Let me see your slate, Emma," Daddy asked.

She unclipped it from her belt and placed it on the table between them. She tapped the menu and showed him her math.

He scrolled through the file then handed the slate to Mama. Module ten was completed flawlessly. "Did you show those to your teacher?" He asked.

Emma shook her head. "She said she wasn't ready for me to transmit them to her and to wait for the rest of the class."

"Helena, she uses that kind of math intuitively. That math class is a waste of her time," Alan said with a frown.

"She's still not supposed to leave without permission, and she missed gym class too."

"Emma, your mother is right," Daddy said. "You're supposed to be in school during that time. Playtime comes afterwards."

Emma nodded, "I'm sorry, Daddy."

"I know how interested you are in mechanical things," Mama continued. "But you have to exercise, and follow directions too."

Emma nodded, knowing that her mother was happier when she agreed with her. "I don't like basket ball. I'm too short, and even Alex won't pick me to be on his team. I liked gymnastics," she said wistfully. "And I run with Daddy every day."

"Yes, you do," Daddy agreed. "But I don't think you're ready to just stop going to school."

Emma looked pleadingly across the table at Alan, her usual ally. He watched her for a moment and sighed. "Why don't you let me be her math teacher. Let her come to my office during the hour she has math. She can work through the modules at her own pace, and do some drafting too. I think she'll stay well ahead of her class."

"The teacher should be letting her work at her own pace." Helena said with a frown.

Alan shrugged. "Jenna has twenty kids to keep track of. Let me handle this one, and it should work out about even."

Emma looked startled and then she realized she was being teased and smiled at him.

"But," Alan continued, more seriously. "Don't lie to me again, or you'll be back in math class waiting for the rest to catch up."

"I didn't exactly--" Emma started to protest, but Alan stopped her.

"Don't try it Emma, I'm not Richie." Emma and Alex both made a hobby of arguing with their brother until he was completely confused. "There's a difference between a lie and a false statement. A lie may not be a false statement, but it's always meant to deceive."

Emma digested that statement seriously. She glanced at her parents who were watching her and Alan closely. Then she looked back at Alan. What he said made sense to her. "I'm sorry Alan. I won't ever lie to you again. I promise."

Alan nodded, accepting her word. Daddy spoke next. "Helena, it's only for a few months. We're planning to go to Loki in three months anyway, and Alan is scheduled to take an exploration team back to continent three."

Mama looked at Alan. "Do you have time for this?"

Alan nodded. "I'll keep her busy. I'll get the materials from Annette tonight and look over them. It shouldn't be a problem."

"Can I help you work on the Munchers too?" Emma asked.

"Of course, but math comes first."

Alex crept in to visit her late that night. He sat crosslegged on the foot of her bed, pulling her sadly neglected teddy bear into his lap. Emma cared nothing for animals, real or imagined. Alex constantly wished for the fascinating animals left behind on Earth. "What did they do to you?"

"Uncle Alan is going to teach me math," she reported, a bit of triumph in her voice.

"Ah, man! Unfair," Alex said.

"It's going to be really great! I'm going to get to learn drafting too." She warmed to her topic genuinely pleased and also aware that her brother was jealous.

"There's something else! Daddy said we're going to Loki in a few months-- all of us."

"All right!" Jealousy was forgotten for a moment. "I can collect more plant samples!"

Emma was pleased to be able to report such good news. She reached for the slate lying on the corner of her desk. "Mama knew exactly where I was because of this. Isn't there some way to fool it?"

Alex considered, absently scratching the teddy bear's ear. "It's a software problem," he said thoughtfully.

"You're better at that than I am."

He nodded. Emma was great with hardware, but Alex was better at software. "I'll think about it." There had been times when fooling the locator would have come in handy. "Goodnight, Em"

"Good night."

 Ellen Lindow