Renegade World: Future Past (10 page)

As they walked outside, Fred added, “And especially a
friend named Abraham.”

“If I'd have had my own AI…”
I probably wouldn't ever have talked to anyone.
She sighed as she waved at her daughter.
She's more social than me, more like her dad. I've been so successful because I'm selectively curious, deep but not wide. She's curious about everything, more like her dad again. She is my daughter, though. Neither one of us plays by anyone else's rules.
She frowned.
That's not always a good thing.

N
aami was excited that school started tomorrow. The
clothes that she was going to wear tomorrow were all laid out. She packed her
backpack, putting a stylus and an e-paper device at the top before zipping it
up.

A stylus and e-paper, how quaint
, came Abraham's
thought.

Well, it's still a school requirement
to be able to print.
She could not only print quite clearly, but she could write
in script too even though the educational requirement for script was now
limited to showing that she could sign her name. People rarely signed their
name anyway since e-signatures were preferred almost everywhere.

Naami's dad came into her room. “Looks like you're ready
for tomorrow.” He sat down next to her and gave her a big hug. “I am proud
of you, Naami. You have grown up so much, learned so much, and you are so good at so
many things.”

Naami was happy that her dad was so proud of her.
I
think there is a big 'but' coming.

 “I know it’s not fair that you can't show how good you are
to everyone. But your mom and I know.  Aaron, Erica, and Thor know, and Rebeka
Lee certainly knows. Most important, you know how good you are.”

“It’s OK, Dad. I know what you're going to say, that I have
to fit in at school. Be the best I can be without being a showoff. It’s OK,
really. I do know that what I believe is the most important, although Abraham
might differ.”

He laughed. “Abraham, I'll give you a virus if you hassle
Naami more than she deserves.”

Never would it happen. I am but a humble servant.

Naami and her dad both laughed. Naami continued, “I think
it’s good if people think that I am as good as the best of my peers. I just hope
that there are some good students at my school.”

“I think it’s OK to be better than the other students
sometimes, but just not all the time and not by a huge amount. In twelve or fifteen
years, you’ll be able to take the wraps off and show everyone how smart your
really are.”

“I know. Aaron said almost the same thing. But I'm not sure
that either Aaron or I can ever show people how good we are at physical things.
Aaron even hides how good he is from Thor.”

“How do you know that?”

“When I watch Thor and Aaron shooting baskets, Aaron almost
always makes between 89 and 93 baskets out of a 100. But I watched him twice
when he didn’t know anyone was watching, and he made 500 free throws in a row
each time.”

Her dad touched Naami's hand briefly. Naami looked at him
in surprise as Abraham displayed his text message. What it said
was, “If you ever need to ask Aaron or one of the others, about abilities or
anything else sensitive, touch them anywhere on their skin and have Abraham
pass a message. He can pass a long text message during a brief touch. No one else
would be able to intercept the message.”

Naami touched her dad’s hand and texted, “Isn't encryption
enough?”

 “Geoffry and I don't think anyone can break our encryption
algorithms now, but we might be wrong, and things change. Better to be safe than
sorry.”

“Is it OK for us to talk about these things? Couldn't
someone be using listening devices to hear us right now?”

“Not in this house or at our offices. The big brother here
and another at the office play games with the vibrations from people's conversations.”
He paused and smiled. “Enough of this. Let's get you tucked in. You need to get
a good night's sleep. Abraham, please discontinue any night learning sessions
for a while.”

“Oh, Dad! Maybe he should limit it to two hours a night.”

“Still too much.”

“One hour? Please.” She batted her eyes at him.

“OK. Abraham, play her something relaxing to help her fall asleep.”

He kissed her good night. “Don't forget to say your
prayers,” he said as she closed the door.

Naami prayed silently. When she finished, she thought about
what Abraham could show her that would take less than thirty minutes.
Abraham,
show me video on that new vault that Mr. Patterson taught me today. Loop it
until we run out of time.

OK. Do you want the sounds of crashing waves after that?

Not tonight. Play me some soothing music.

Abraham displayed video of the vault, splicing the video of
Mr. Patterson’s instructions with video of gymnasts from the net. When he
finished, he played several different versions of her favorite song, “Mockingbird.”
First, he played the version by Peter, Paul and Mary, then Etta James, and then
Aretha Franklin. Naami fell asleep to the voice of Carly Simon. Later that
night, Abraham randomly passed her images of her hands making signs from the
Plains Indian Sign Language.

A
braham woke Naami the next morning. She pulled on a pink
t-shirt, a pair of metallic denim pants, and her custom fit athletic shoes. On
her way to the kitchen, she stopped in the bathroom, fluffed up her mass of
curly brown hair and washed her hands and face.

When she got to the kitchen, her dad and Camila were
talking by the stove, and her mom was sitting at the table, lost in thought.
“Hi, Mom! You’re still here?” Since moving here, her mom had always disappeared
into her home office before Naami got up.

“Come, give me a hug.” As she hugged Naami, she said, “Have
fun at school. See you at dinner. You can tell me all about school then.” She
kissed her on the forehead and then headed for her office.

As Naami watched her go, she thought,
I wish she were
taking me to school.

She looked at Camila. “Are you taking me to school?”

Her dad said, “No. I’m taking you, so eat quickly.”

“Cool, but after school, can I can walk to gymnastics by
myself? I don’t want the other kids to think I can’t do things on my own.”

“Camila will pick you up today, but if you want to walk
home tomorrow, I think that would be OK.”

Naami sat down at the table, and Camila brought her a plate
with two pieces of French toast. Her dad poured her a glass of milk and set it
down next to her plate while Naami poured applesauce on her French toast. She shoveled
in a couple of bites. “I’ve got time for more than two slices right?”

“Sure. Camila, you won the bet.”

Camila grinned at Naami as she dipped two pieces of whole grain
bread into the egg mixture. As she threw it on the griddle, she said. “I don't
know where you put it all.”

Naami spooned more applesauce onto her French toast and continued
eating, finishing the last bite just as Camila slid the other two pieces onto
her plate. After Naami wolfed those down and finished her milk, she handed
Camila her plate and glass and ran up to clean her teeth and get her stuff.

Camila looked at her dad. “I can take her if you need to go
to work.”

“Thank you, but I kept my schedule free until nine every morning
this week. Starting next week, you will drive her.”

Naami ran back in with two backpacks, one for school and
one for gymnastics. Camila handed her four reusable containers. One held a
sandwich, one contained applesauce, one held carrot and celery sticks, and one
contained almonds. Naami packed them into her school backpack.
I hope this
is enough.
The school also served hot lunches, but she had insisted that one
lunch was not enough.

“See you after school, Camila. Remember my backpack and
some snacks, please.” She followed her dad into the four-car garage, and they
got into the nearest of the two new, identical black Chevrolet SUVs. Because Naami’s
mom still didn’t have a driver’s license, Camila drove the second SUV. Though
both vehicles were equipped with auto-driver, a licensed driver was still required
by law.

Their old cars had been destroyed by the fire, and they had
driven rental cars until these two cars had been delivered a month ago. Naami
had answered the door when the cars were delivered by two men with windbreakers
that said TAC.  Curious, she had Abraham find out about TAC, and that was how
she found out that the SUVs were armored.

The garage door opened for them, and after they drove out,
the door closed. As they turned out of the circular, cobblestone driveway onto
the street, Naami worried again about her snacks.
Abraham, before Camila leaves
to pick me up, check with her to make sure she brings me my snack. I’ll need
something more before gymnastics.

During the drive to school, she and her dad talked about
gymnastics. As they approached the school, they saw that the parking lot was
full, and a line of buses was waiting to enter the lot. Continuing past the
school, he said, “We’ll park up ahead and walk.” At the first spot big enough
to fit the SUV, the car signaled, stopped, and parked itself.

As they walked up towards the school, her dad said, “I
remember my first day of school. I was excited, but I worried about finding my
classroom.”

  “I don’t need to worry about that.” Naami stopped. “You
don't have to walk me in. I've got it from here.” She hugged her dad and went
inside. After ascending one flight of worn-down cement stairs, she turned left down
the polished cement floor of the hallway that was lined with gray lockers. Students
milled around in the hallway, socializing, but she didn’t see any of the five
kids she knew.

Since she had never been in the school before, Abraham
displayed the layout for her to help her find her room. He also flashed images
of all of the teachers, so she recognized her teacher, Mrs. Bright, standing
outside her classroom. Mrs. Bright was talking to the principal, Mrs. Lehrer.
They were both wearing name tags. She walked up and waited for them to finish
talking before she said, “Hi, Mrs. Bright. I'm Naamah Schmidt.”

“Welcome to Fort Lincoln Elementary School, Naamah. Please
go in and take a seat. You can sit in any of the empty ones.”

As Naami walked into the classroom, Mrs. Lehrer said, “So
she’s the Schmidts' daughter. I have my doubts about whether this is the right
place for her.”

“You saw her test scores,” countered Mrs. Bright.

“Yes, yes, yes. I'm sure academically she could be at the
top of your class, but I'm more worried about her size and social skills. She
has been homeschooled until now, and she is by far the smallest student in your
class. You have a couple of girls who were held back a year, and they are
downright trouble.”

She may be small, but did you notice her back and shoulders
as she walked away from us? I bet she's a tougher kid than you think.” She
stopped to wave at Eddie Wong as he walked by.  His older brother and sister,
the twins, had been in her class a couple of years earlier. None of the three
appeared especially Asian except perhaps for their straight back hair. “Well,
Naami is not more than an inch or two shorter than Eddie. I haven't seen her
yet, but Kim Martin isn't much taller than her either.”

“Speaking of trouble…” They both watched Brenda Connolly
saunter by them with two other girls flanking her.

Naami looked around but didn't see anyone she knew. One of
the girls from gymnastics, Kim Martin, was also in this class, but she wasn't
here yet, so she sat down in the front row, one aisle over from the door. As
she turned back towards the door, she saw Eddie Wong walk in. She knew him from
the studio, where he sometimes watched his brother and sister.

She waved at him. “Hi, Eddie!”

He smiled and stopped next to her desk.  “Hi, Naami.” He
looked at the door, and his smile disappeared.

Naami turned towards the door and saw three girls walking
toward them. The tallest one had freckles and long red hair.

“What are you looking at!” she glared at Eddie.

He took a step back but said nothing.

Brenda turned her glare on Naami. “You’re sitting in my
seat!”

Mrs. Bright was watching the confrontation. She felt a hand
on her shoulder.

“Slow down, let's just drift over towards them and see how
she handles this.”

Naami smiled up at Brenda. “Did you miss breakfast this
morning?”

“What?”

“I thought you might have missed breakfast because you’re
kind of grumpy.”

Brenda put her hands on the desk and hissed, “Move it.”

Naami smiled up at her and giggled. “If you ask me nicely,
I might move.” She paused and giggled again. “Of course, I might not. You’ll
have to ask and see.”

Mrs. Lehrer nudged Mrs. Bright. “OK, now go break it up.”
She watched as Mrs. Bright stepped into the classroom and told the students to
take a seat. Brenda and her two friends moved to the back of the room and sat down
in the back row. As she moved off down the corridor, Mrs. Lehrer thought,
The
kid doesn't intimidate easily. I'll give her that. Of course, that might
change.

Naami saw her friend Kim walk in, her long blond ponytail
bouncing behind her, and Naami motioned for her to sit next to her. Two other
students came in followed by a short, white-haired, older man who closed the
door and stood over to the side.

Mrs. Bright stepped up to the first row of desks and looked
around. “Good Morning. Everyone, eyes on me and listen up! I am your teacher,
Mrs. Bright.” She pointed over at the older man. “This is Mr. Parks.” Mr. Parks
nodded and waved. “He is one of our assistant teachers. Either he or Mrs. Brill
will assist me every day.” The panel on the front wall lit up. It showed a
picture of Mrs. Bright with her name underneath and a picture of Mr. Parks with
his name underneath. It also showed a picture of Mrs. Brill. There were six
rows of six blank squares underneath theirs. At the very bottom of the screen,
the students’ names were listed.