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Ch 34, SFamily: Space Family

The "Celebration Day Waffles" as Kurt called them turned out to be regular waffles as far as Logan could tell but it had been a long time (even if he didn't count the hundreds of years he was 'in storage') since he'd last had them, and he had to admit it was a nice change of pace. Chelsea turned out to be a capable cook of waffles; they were light and fluffy in the center with a crispy edge to them, a light scent of vanilla and a tingle of cinnamon mixed into the sweet flavor.

The two young men chatted and ate as they sat in the diner, taking their time to enjoy their meal and one another's company. After they'd finished the conversation continued, covering a wide spectrum of topics including what the 22nd century was like, how long Kurt planned to be a visitor ambassador for Kalpana L4, and they were just transitioning into what other amazing kinds of non-fabricated food was out there when Chelsea emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands off with a kitchen towel folded into the belt of her apron. "Alright you two... time for you get moving."

Despite sliding out of the booth, Kurt still put up an argument. "But Chelsea, we practically just got here!"

She wasn't hearing it. "You've almost been here an hour. If you and your new friend are going to get to the evening events you'll have to leave soon-- which is exactly why I need you to go: I'm closing up the diner so I can attend."

The cat boy nodded. "Oh, right... I guess that makes sense... closing up the diner cuz you'll want to hear Aunt Marion speak too, huh?"

Logan was usually quite content to people talk around him and leave him out of things, but something about yet another member of Kurt's family being addressed made him speak up. "Aunt Marion?"

The siblings spoke in unison-- every single word, as if they'd explained it numerous times before. "Great aunt. By blood. Not Tom's wife-- his sister."

Kurt even went one extra step to note "Uncle Tom's not married."

Chelsea elbowed her younger brother as if to insinuate that he'd over-shared, but she went even further, adding "He's great in small doses, but I can't think of a person alive who'd want to live with him."

The cat boy grinned. "Aunt Marion did for, like, fifty years or something."

Chelsea elbowed him again. 'That's because they grew up together."

Despite the constant jabbing and posturing, the two gave one another a warm hug; Chelsea ruffled Kurt's hair and he gave her a little shove toward the kitchen, reminding her that she had to close the place so she could make it to the park on time to see Aunt Marion's presentation. She likewise gave Kurt a shove toward the exit, flipped him off, and added a warm "Love ya, kid!"

There was something endearing about the way the two interacted-- definitely not traditional for the time Logan had lived in, but the two made it work. Perhaps that's why the young man chose the topic as his guide led him back to the park. "Hey, Kurt? I know you said you had a lot of family, but it seems like they all have a lot to do with the running of the hab. You're an ambassador (for now), your sister runs a diner, your great uncle delivers mail, and your great aunt is going to be giving a speech. Do all of you have roles like that?"

If it was a personal question, the cat boy didn't seem to mind. "Nah... not all of us. I mean, the whole ambassador thing is just a trial run, and Chelsea runs the diner because she likes it. That's not some huge role or anything... not like Aunt Marion, anyway."

The last part was what Logan latched onto. "So, your great aunt DOES have an important role then?"

Kurt shrugged. "Well, I mean, she and Uncle Tom were part of the original 'new generation' after the founders, so you could say that, sure. And, since the celebration marks the founding of Kalpana L4 they do tend to be a bit of the central focus-- well, Aunt Marion anyway... Uncle Tom has managed to avoid a central role after the 'thing' when I was six."

Although Logan found the idea of asking about 'the thing' very enticing he had a feeling from the way that Kurt skirted the issue that it would probably be rude for him to probe. Instead, he focused on Aunt Marion. "So... your Great Aunt has been a big-time important person for a long time then?"

He forgot that 'a long time' was subjective, but he was reminded quickly enough when Kurt shrugged casually. "Eh... only for about the last hundred years or so."

Logan chuckled. "Well... that still sounds like 'a long time' to me."

Kurt bumped him with his shoulder as the two walked, a smirk on his face. "Says the guy who was born over seven hundred years ago."

Smirking, Logan bumped the cat boy back. "I haven't even been 'awake' for thirty of those years though, I will remind you."

The two chuckled together as they walked on and the conversation slowly transitioned into one focused less on humor than on nostalgia; Kurt was very good at asking questions that made Logan think back to the time before his Corpus Verto. He found himself talking about walking between his home and the bus stop when he was going to school-- about what it was like to drive on the roads on Earth rather than taking moving walkways or lifts like back on the Lunar Spire. Eventually he had to add "Actually, being here makes me think a lot more about it. Things here are really... mundane."

Kurt smirked. "You think it's 'mundane', huh? I guess that means the founders did their job. They wanted their own little piece of replicated Earth and, ever since Kalpana L4 started, everyone in charge worked really hard to keep it that way."

Logan saw the two pillars on either side of the side-street that identified the park; beyond them was a long field of grass and numerous free-standing trees. Kurt led him off the street and into the green-space, taking a step off of the paved road and onto the grass. There were a large number of people gathered; some were seated or sprawled out on blankets laid out on the grass while others had brought what looked like old fashioned lawn chairs from the early 21st century; still others were happily seated on the grass, chatting among themselves.

So long as Logan didn't look 'up' toward the center of the 'pop-can' style mega structure and the central column there, he was almost able to ignore the fact that he was on a floating habitat in the middle of space. The illusion was further shattered when he saw the occasional transparent panel, letting him gaze out into the star-filled blackness beyond. He was, in fact, caught by that sight again and so focused on it that he missed Kurt's comment. When he got a tap on the shoulder he had to turn and look at the cat boy, who was staring at him expectantly. "Oh... uh... huh?"

Kurt repeated himself. "The stage is over there... it's getting dark so things will begin soon."

Logan's guide gestured toward the lake a ways ahead and to the right of them. Just as he'd stated, a large stage had been set up near the shore and there were a collection of people standing on it with an even larger crowed gathered in a half-moon around it. When Kurt had mentioned it was getting dark, Logan remembered that the habitat used timed lighting, helping to replicate the cycle of sunlight and night time to help the residents maintain their circadian rhythm. Letting the cat boy grab hold of his wrist, Logan simply noted "Okay... sure. Lead the way."

A few different park-goers shouted toward Kurt, most calling him by name, but Logan wasn't able to make out much of what they were saying. Kurt invariably shouted back to them, responding in just a few words to whatever inquiry or statement they were screaming to him about. Apparently the cat boy's ears were a lot more astute than a Humans, providing an indication that they weren't just for show. When Logan heard the distinct nickname of 'dickhead' thrown Kurt's way, the young man couldn't help but turn to his guide who, with a smile, simply shrugged and noted "Just one of my cousins."

Logan took a second to digest that. "So... Marion's son?"

Kurt shook his head. "Son of Aunt Clarissa-- Marion's daughter."

Offering a polite smile, Logan responded with the only thing he could consider. "Yeah... big family."

The cat boy laughed, guiding Logan to a spot on the grass that already had a blanket set out with a small basket on it. Taking a seat, Kurt gestured for him to sit down as well, which Logan did. Laying back on his elbows and facing the stage, the cat boy elaborated. "Edgar, the guy with the 'dick head' comment is Aunt Marion's grandson. He's older than Chelsea and lives off-hab... spends most of his time on Mars but he always visits for Celebration Day."

Logan nodded in thought. "I guess there's reasons why the whole family doesn't live on this habitat, sure... makes sense."

Kurt laughed. "You can say that again. Edgar is BIG into Corpus Verto... changes Corpori like some folks change socks."

Not exactly sure how to respond, Logan settled on sympathy. "Oh... wow. Sure. I guess that must be hard on him."

The cat boy turned to look at him like he was crazy. "Hard? How? He's out doing what he loves and, when he wants, he comes back to visit. Everyone does their own thing... why's that a problem?"

Logan had to bite back his 22nd century sensibilities yet again. "Oh... I guess that's just another difference between 'now' and 'back then'. Usually when someone didn't follow the beliefs of their family back in my time it'd cause all sorts of problems."

Kurt giggled. "Oh, you dear, sweet, poor boy... I think people these days are a little less 'up their own asses' about thinking their opinions being fact."

While the statement was a little 'aggressive' in how Kurt expressed it, Logan had to admit that it wasn't an invalid one. He had more to clarify but, before he could get another word out, the large, circular, domed lights of the park all switched on, and those surrounding the stage were even brighter. At that point the speech finally began.

Logan had never been much for speeches of any sort; he avoided politics; he didn't go to any coordinated events; he didn't have much experience in a corporate job. All-in-all, the young man ardently tried to avoid boring monologues which, 'Great Aunt' Marion did indeed proceed to offer one up and yet, in some small way, he found it just interesting enough to keep paying attention.

If he had to guess, Logan would have placed Marion in her early 50s, but in a way that she looked to have aged well. There were still some obvious signs that she was a Transhuman, including the way that her pupils gleamed faintly (his own implant identified that as an outward sign she was reading a prepared speech) and the fact that was, according to Kurt many MANY hundreds of years old and still looked like she was middle-aged. She also had the most interesting metallic hair-- smooth and free-flowing down to her shoulders and it shimmered almost like chrome in the bright park lights.

Marion spoke about independence, the importance of being able to follow one's dreams, the ability to accomplish things without interruption and the freedom to set a course without the trajectory being bounced around by others who get in the way. Oddly enough, she also followed it up with the importance of togetherness-- the idea that many people working together can accomplish more than working separately; the concept of making a community to the benefit of all included; the belief that no individual was an island and that the actions undertaken by one affected the many. All in all the speech was full of duality, but she managed to present it in a cohesive way.

As the speech finally seemed to wind down, she brought it all together by discussing family, and how, despite how different they were or the various routes they took through life, they were still connected. She started calling out individual family members, at which point the park lights grew in luminosity near whomever was called out, serving as a kind of 'spotlight'. Marion called out several people Logan didn't know, but Kurt was ultimately mentioned, at which point he stood up and waved. Tom was also identified; the big stone man was urged by those around him to stand up, which he did but, when it came time to wave, he did so with a middle finger-- everyone laughed, reinforcing the impression Logan had of the guy that everyone just considered that part of who Tom was.

Even as Logan thought that Marion was wrapping up, he was surprised when she continued. The woman was eloquent and had a way of commanding attention as she transitioned from talking about family back to community then, strangely, on to Transhumanity as a whole. "You have all seen it time and time again. While most of Transhumanity feels the need to stay plugged in, Kalpaha L4 doesn't. We do not worship social media; we cultivate meaningful, in person relationships. We judge people by their actions and not their posts... but despite this, we have far more in common with Transhumanity than we have differences."

She was quiet for several seconds as she let that sink in. "Celebration Day commemorates the day that the first settlers arrived here at Kalpana L4. Back then the people who claimed this habitat as their home felt that people should have the ability to determine what was right for them... that they should choose how they wanted to live. We celebrate our independence, but that does not mean we demean or detract from other habitats-- we are unique, but that does not mean better... perhaps just 'better for us'. In the spirit of togetherness then, I would like to ask all visitors to Kalpana L4 to stand, so we can celebrate you joining us for tonight's festival."

For a moment, Logan thought that such an invitation would be exactly the kind of monologue the mastermind villain of a horror movie would give before the newcomers to a village full of cultist got ripped apart by the brainwashed masses. He was snapped out of his unpleasant musings by a smack from Kurt, followed by a loudly whispered reproach. "Hey! Logan! That means you!"

Slowly getting to his feet, Logan was surprised that he was the only person standing... for a few seconds, anyway. Apparently spurred on by his 'courage', a handful of others ultimately stood up as well. At that point, Marion spoke again. "Citizens of Kalpana L4, these visitors have stepped outside their comfort zone, setting aside their social media in an effort to learn more about us and our way of life. Please give our guests a round of applause."

Standing with the rest of the visitors, Logan saw that they all looked as out-of-place and as uncomfortable as he felt. Regardless, he weathered it, mostly by paying attention to them, and the huge smile on Kurt's face as the cat boy focused on him, mouth split wide in a huge smile, clapping away. The applause continued for longer than the young man cared to count and, as they finally started to die off, he and the rest of the travelers took their seats again. Once he was seated, Logan looked back to Kurt. "That was... unexpected."

His guide was still all smiles. "Heh... yeah... we like to thank people willing to visit. You know... I think you handled that a lot better than the other folks... that lady toward the middle looked like she was gonna piss herself."

Logan couldn't help but smirk. "Well... I thought I was going to piss MYSELF, so I guess we were in the same boat. All of us were pretty 'weirded out', I think. Why do you say that I was any different fro--?"

The young man didn't get a chance to finish his thought as there was a loud pop, followed by a rumbling roar and a whistle. Turning to focus on the sound, Logan looked just in time to see a huge burst of crimson light along with a loud boom and sparkles graced the sky in arcing patterns as the firework rocket shed its payload... only there was something strange about it that he couldn't quite place. The second and third explosion didn't help him figure it out but, but the time the fourth one exploded (a brilliant green and yellow), he thought he might have put it together.

Glancing toward Kurt, Logan asked "Hey... aren't those exploding really low?"

The cat boy looked toward him, then back toward the spot where a fifth and sixth firework were exploding. "Nope... that's right about where they should be."

Pushing the issue further, Logan clarified his point. "There's something off about em. Those aren't real fireworks, are they?"

Still watching the celebration display, Kurt turned an ear toward him, a mirthful smirk on his lips. "Define 'real'..."

Looking at the explosions, it only took one more big boom and a shower of sparks for Logan to figure it out. "That's just a light display... holograms or whatever, right?"

The cat boy glanced his way for a moment and winked before looking back to the lights "Of course they aren't REAL chemical explosions, Logan... considering that we're in an enclosed habitat and we have the central column passing through the center of the 'sky', that would be pretty irresponsible, wouldn't it?"

Feeling a little self-conscious about the realization that what Kurt said made perfect sense, the young man nodded mutely, quietly adding "They are really beautiful though."

He jumped in surprise when Kurt's fingers found his and they entwined. "Yep... really pretty... and no danger to the shuttles coming and going." He grinned, giving Logan a little bump with his elbow. "To be honest, though, I can't think of many people who would be able to tell the difference. You have a pretty good eye, Logan."

Blushing slightly, the young man shrugged. "To be honest, I'm surprised too... they're really convincing... even if they do blow up closer to the ground than real ones."

Kurt inched closer to him, leaning until his triangular ear brushed against Logan's cheek, and the cat boy pointed. "Look at the sparkles when they explode... Chelsea helped perfect the algorithm for ordered randomness in their distribution patterns and the angles of descent for their path."

Logan paused when he heard that. "Chelsea... as in, your sister from the diner?"

The cat boy nodded proudly. "Mm-hmm... right around the time I was born she was REALLY into coding, and she took on all sorts of challenges. I think my mom said that Chelsea did coding for twenty years or so? I still think it's one of her better works... or at least one of her more visible ones."

Looking from Kurt back to the fireworks, he sat next to the ambassador for some time before he asked "So... what happened then? If she spent that long working on coding, why is she working at a diner now rather than... I don't know... sitting at a desk in an office with computers doing coding or whatever?"

Kurt laughed. "I think you just answered your own question. Because she WAS a coder... she's not one anymore."

The young man paused. "Yeah... you said she WAS a coder. Why isn't she anymore?"

The cat boy faced him with an incredulous expression on his face; he had one eyebrow raised along with both ears. "Why would ANYONE actually WANT to sit in some stuffy office facing a vid screen hours and hours and hours for that long? She spent a lot more time than most do in the field."

"But she was good at it, right?"

Kurt laughed anew. "Sure! You can see her coding at work with the fireworks... but what does that have to do with anything? She did it for 20 years, and wanted to do something new so, BAM: diner."

Logan had to stop and think about that for a moment, forcing himself to stop and remember that Transhumans weren't Humans and that things functioned differently in a 'post-scarcity' as Star had called it. He had to admit that Kalpana L4 felt so much like the 22nd century that he almost forgot that Transhuman society still tended to still reign over most of the ebb and flow of things. "Oh... yeah. I guess that makes sense."

He was about to ask a follow up question but the words failed to materialize before a female voice spoke up from behind them. "Figured I'd find you two here."

Kurt smirked as his sister sat down. "Speak of the devil!"

Chelsea sat down on the cat boy's side opposite Logan. "What's that? What about me?"

Despite Logan gritting his teeth at the possible repercussion of his questioning, Kurt foraged right on ahead. "Oh... I was telling Logan that you helped to perfect the fireworks and he was surprised."

Chelsea glanced past her brother to Logan. "Why? There were plenty of female coders back in your time, right?"

Rather than having to address his own questions, Logan was pleased that Kurt intercepted it in his stead. "Oh... he was just confused because he only knows of Chelsea-the-Diner-Cook, and not Chelsea-the-Program-Coder."

Instead of any kind of indignant response, anger, or consternation, she simply smiled at Logan. "Oh... right. I guess after twenty four years of learning all I could about coding the idea of putting food together appealed more than assembling code. I still toy around with it now and again, but it's not one of my major hobbies anymore."

Logan focused on one of her chosen words. "Hobbies?"

She glanced back at him again. "Sure. Coding... Cooking... Zero-G Rugby... Shuttle piloting... hmm... what else?"

The young man was astounded. "There's MORE?"

Chelsea laughed. "Well, sure... I AM in my 60s, after all... still trying to figure out how I want to spend my time."

Logan couldn't help himself. "Most of the people back in the 22nd were less than twenty years from retirement when they were in their 60s."

The woman's laughter grew. "Yeah? Well these days most of the 'elders' here don't take you seriously until you hit your first century."

Kurt joined his sister in grinning. "The most interesting people I know in their hundreds still don't know what they want to do when they 'grow up'."

It was a dramatically different way of looking at life and, even though Logan had heard about the long lives of Transhumans again and again, it was a very different thing learning about it and actually sitting down to discuss it. Trying not to die of embarrassment, the young man attempted to guide the conversation into more of a casual small-talk arena. "Oh... yeah. Sure. So... uh... how long have you been doing the diner thing... and how long do you think you'll be keeping it up?"

Rather than offer a straight answer, Chelsea winked at him with the same kind of impish look that he'd seen her previously use on her brother. "Why? Worried you won't have a good place to eat at if I quit before your visit is over?"

Attempting to salvage some part of his meager self-esteem, Logan decided it was better to play along rather than object. "I guess as long as you'll still be open for another three days then I'll be okay."

The woman cracked up at his response, giving her brother a hug so she could lean over him and slap Logan playfully on the shoulder. "Man... if all Class 1s are as much fun as you, I really should meet more of you." She then glanced to Kurt. "You'd better make a good impression on Logan here, kitty... we need more visitors like him."

Logan paused at the playful banter. "Like me?"

Kurt managed to squirm out from beneath his sister's playful grappling, fending her off as he addressed the question. "Most visitors to Kalpana L4 just come for a few days to gawk and stare... kind of like those... um.... those actor-filled tourist traps back on Earth where people pretend to live in much earlier time."

Chelsea interjected "Historical reenactment villages."

Kurt motioned with a thumb to his sister. "Yeah. That."

The comparison caused Logan's mind to lock up. He'd never been to a reenactment village but he'd heard about them-- people presenting life back in a time in Earth's history around 700 years prior to when he lived. What really gave him cause for thought was when he realized that the time in which he had been born was nearly as far away from the one in which he'd come to inhabit-- it was a sobering thought.

His companions appeared to notice the change that had come over him almost immediately. Kurt placed a hand on his shoulder. "Everything okay, Logan?"

Whether he felt comfortable enough to be honest, or had just stopped caring, Logan wasn't sure, but his answer was unfiltered. "I don't know."