The Expanding World Read online

  The plan was simple…get on the plane, then hit the shower ASAP.

  I entered through the open doorway and the door whirled shut behind me. I forced my arm to my side. But when I turned, I saw Jason, my dad, and the two pilots instantly go limp.

  “Oops, I must smell worse than I thought…” I said.

  “Stress sweat can pack quite the punch,” MAC replied. “I hold myself partially to blame since I gave you a sleeveless suit. If only I hadn’t been such a slave to fashion, then I could have added sleeves and the nano anti-smell bots might have been able to keep up with you...” MAC computed for a second more. “Of course, if I had done that, you might not have stopped the rhinos, so I now conclude that I did the right thing.”

  The plane shook, then started dropping towards the ground.

  “Okay, maybe not,” I said.

  “Hmmm, one of the unconscious pilots must have their head on the descend switch,” Hana said, standing up. She calmly walked towards the cockpit. “It’s a good thing I have no need to breathe and I can fly this plane. Otherwise, all the regular humans on board would be in big trouble.”

  Hana walked into the cockpit and pushed the lead pilot off his seat. She sat down in front of the controls. I felt the plane lift upwards and then hold steady. Hana looked over her shoulder. “Now you go take a nice refreshing shower, Lia. We’ll talk girl to simulated girl when you’re finished.”

  The second the cooling water from the shower head hit my head and I felt myself tingle. Ah, I had no idea how much dirt, grime and sweat my body had covering it, but it felt so good to wash it all off. Although, I guess I did know how much sweat there had been, since a whiff of me, even with my arms down, overpowered all the regular people on our aircraft.

  “Make sure you wash extra-long under your arms,” Hana told me over the intercom. “It’s nice that all the men are napping now, but we do want them to wake up before the trip is over.”

  “I understand,” I grumbled back. Though truthfully, I was upset that Hana thought she needed to remind me of that.

  “Sorry if I am being over-cautious and telling you the obvious,” Hana continued, “it is just what I do.”

  I added a bit of extra soap under my arms and scrubbed a bit. I then lifted them so the spray could rinse them off. I took it as a good sign that the spray head didn’t melt when I pointed my underarm at it. It’s a weird feeling of power when your underarms can melt a showerhead. Luckily, that only happened once.

  I finished showering, dried off, and then used my super deodorant generously under each arm. I headed to the front of the plane. Hana sat in the pilot seat, using the pilot as a footrest.

  She looked at me, saw my expression and shrugged. “Your father made me shorter than I would like, so I’m using the pilot to prop my legs up. Don’t worry, I took off my shoes, and my feet aren’t stinky at all.” Hana motioned to the co-pilot’s seat. She had moved the co-pilot to the floor next to the seat, so I stepped over him and sat down.

  “I’m glad we have this little time alone,” Hana said slowly.

  “Ah, me too,” I said even slower. “But what’s going on?”

  She smiled at me.

  I pointed at her. “Look you’re not going to challenge me to a fight like your previous model did! That didn’t work out too well for her as I reduced her to scrap metal.”

  Hana laughed. “We’re not made of metal.”

  “Well, scrap, or whatever,” I said.

  Hana leaned towards me. “I just want to have some girl talk…”

  Sitting in the co-pilots chair. I looked down at the white fluffy clouds below us. It felt funny to be flying so high especially with an android pilot who wanted to chat. But, pretty much everything about my life felt weird these days. “So, what do you want to talk about?” I asked.

  “Your father,” Hana said quickly.

  “Ah, okay. He’s a cool guy. A little on the nerdy mad scientist side, but I know he means well. I mean, if he insulted you or something, I’m sure it was a misunderstanding. Human interaction isn’t his strong point.”

  Hana laughed. “How true, which is why I am glad I’m not human. And it’s also why I would like to ask your father out.”

  “Excuse me?” I said. For some reason, I felt my face blushing.

  Hana looked me in the eyes. “I find your father interesting, and funny, and I enjoy being around him. I want to see more of him…”

  “By more of him, you mean?”

  Hana giggled. “I want to see him out of the office. I want to go bowling with him. Watch Netflix with him. Go out to dinner with him!”

  “Do you even eat?” I asked. Yes, I know that shouldn’t have been my main concern just then but I wanted to know.

  “I have no need to eat, but I can eat for fun. My e-stoMACh acids can dissolve food into energy much like humans do. Except I have no need to poop or pee.”

  “Too much information, Hana. Too much information!”

  “Right! Sorry. It’s my job to give information. I forget that with you humans, it’s possible to give too much information for your little brains,” Hana replied.

  “Okay, let’s get back on topic, please. Does my dad know about this?”

  Hana grinned. “No, when it comes to matters of the heart or e-heart, your dad is pretty clueless.”

  “So, Dad didn’t make you want to be his date?”

  Hana laughed. Her laugh somehow sounded like birds chirping. “Of course not, your dad made me only to be a tool. A tool that can grow. That’s what I am doing.”

  “Okay, if Dad made you only as a tool then why did he make you so….”

  “Hot?” she asked.

  “I was going to say built like a supermodel.”

  Hana grinned. “Oh, please. The average supermodel weighs 110 pounds, and I weigh 120 pounds.”

  “So, the answer is no then?” I said.

  Hana shook her head. “Nope, your father has no idea I am thinking this way. He will be surprised, but hopefully pleasantly surprised. I’m sure at first he may go out with me simply as an experiment to see how I will react.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, he can be a big nerd. The first time he came back into my life, he attacked me with a drone.”

  “Yes, I heard.” Hana’s eyes opened wide. “But it is my hope that he will grow to see me as more than an invention. I hope he will learn to love me.”

  “Wait…love?” I stammered. “Are you able to love?”

  Hana’s eyes widened even more. “I hope we will all find out soon enough. Even though I know you can’t hurry love.”

  “So you’re asking for my permission to date my dad?” I asked.

  “I thought it would only be proper,” Hana nodded.

  “And if I say no?” I shot her a curious look.

  Hana's eyes became smaller. “I will be sad. But I will still ask him out once I win you over. I just compute it will be easier on all of us if you agree.”

  “Then go for it!” I said. “I hope you and my dad will be happy together. But I’m definitely not calling you, Mom!”

  “How about mother-2.0?” Hana asked.

  “Nope. Definitely not!!!”

  Dear Diary: Just when I think life can’t get any stranger, my dad’s android assistant asks me for my permission to date him. Yeah, sure it’s strange, but I just want my dad to be happy. Just because he and my mom didn’t work out, doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve happiness. I hope it works out for him.

  Back in the USA

  By the time the hover plane landed, Jason, my dad, and the pilots had all regained consciousness. And I actually made it home before Mom did, which was kind of weird. Mom is never out past 9 PM, so I texted her:

  LIA>Mom u ok?

  MOM>B home soon honey.

  'Well, that was cryptic', I thought to myself.

  My ever faithful dog, Shep, walked over and I gave him a nice scratch behind the ears. I think he enjoyed that so much, he might have even purred. Since I still felt pretty fresh fro
m my hover plane shower, I kicked my shoes off. I wanted to spend my last night before school as comfy as possible.

  “Hopefully a whiff of my shoes won’t knock you out!” I told Shep.

  He didn’t fall over instantly which was a good sign. Still, for some reason, Shep always needed to take a good sniff of my shoes. Apparently, he wasn’t as smart as I had always thought. Shep walked towards the spot where my shoes had landed.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I warned. “My feet may have been cleaned from the shower but those shoes had been through a lot today.” Shep stuck his big nose right into the shoe then pulled his nose out.

  “Phew, I guess they’ve aired out enough,” I said.

  His knees began to wobble and he rolled over onto the ground.

  “Oops, I guess they haven’t aired enough after all,” I shook my head at Shep. “I did warn you!”

  I heard the front door open. Mom walked in wearing a red dress, a very short red dress.

  Mom pointed at Shep. “That dog will never learn!” she smiled.

  I stood up. “Wow, Mom!” was all I could say.

  She opened her arms and spun around.

  “Did you have an event at the hospital?” I asked.

  She leaped over and sat on the couch, then kicked off her red high-heeled shoes and wrinkled her nose. “Phew! If Shep wasn’t knocked out by your shoes, mine would certainly put him down. I could sedate patients with those. Heck, I could sedate the entire hospital.” She looked up at me and grinned, “Guess I was nervous.”

  I finally put two and two together, and my face lit up. I shot over next to her. “Wait, you were on a date?”

  She looked at me and smiled. “Yes. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Of course I don’t mind! You deserve to be happy!” I said, taking her arm. “Who’s the lucky guy?”

  Mom didn’t answer. She turned away smirking.

  “Come on Mom, spill.”

  “I met him at the hospital…” she replied slowly.

  “You’re dating a patient?”

  She shook her head and laughed. It felt good to hear my mom laugh. “No, he was putting together a news story on what makes medicine work!” she said.

  “So he’s a reporter? I didn’t think they had newspaper reporters in this town? Is he from out of town?”

  “He is a reporter and he is from this town, but he works for the TV station. It’s Oscar Oranga!” mom said.

  “You mean the Oscar Oranga who is always reporting on Super Teen? The man who has made it his mission to discover who Super Teen is?”

  Mom nodded. “Yes, I’m afraid so. He’s very dedicated and also very nice.”

  “But Mom! He’s like my arch nemesis!” I said, admittedly being overly dramatic.

  Mom smiled. “Don’t be silly. He’s just doing his job. You don’t have an arch nemesis. You’re a teenage girl, not a comic book character. Besides, if you did have a nemesis, it would be Wendi Long!”

  “Good point,” I added.

  I thought carefully about what to say next. After all, I did want Mom to be happy. I just couldn’t be sure we could trust Oscar Oranga. “Do you think he might suspect that I could be Super Teen? Do you think he might be dating you to get information? Reporters can be tricky when going after a story.”

  Mom looked at me with raised eyebrows. “What your mom can’t get a man on her own? I’m a doctor, and I’m still pretty fine looking if I do say so myself.”

  I put my hand on her arm. “Mom, you know I think you’re beautiful. But this seems awfully suspicious. I mean the man is always asking, 'Who is Super Teen?' Now he’s dating Super Teen’s mom.

  She smiled at me. I knew that smile meant - Honey, I’m not nearly as dense as you think I am. Then she spoke the words but they weren’t exactly what I was expecting to hear. “Honey, I thought the same thing. So when he asked me out I put him under.”

  “You did what?”

  “I used my hypnotic voice on him,” Mom said.

  “Hey, that’s cool, I just used mine today!” I said, getting slightly off topic.

  “Yes, it’s a handy power, but one I don’t like to use too much, or else I might make everybody around me just roll over and be quiet for a while.”

  I nodded. “I know the feeling.”

  Mom put a finger under my chin and lifted my head up gently. “These powers of ours are a blessing. We can do a lot of good in the world, either openly or behind the scenes. Still, we have to be careful not to become dependent on them or abuse them. That would be very bad…”

  I put my hand on her shoulder. “I know, Mom. I’m careful.”

  She grinned. “I don’t like using the hypnotic command voice, but when it comes to my daughter’s safety I will. So, I questioned Oscar, and he really only wants to go out with me because he finds me smart and also very attractive. Her grin grew. “His words not mine.” She put a hand on my shoulder. “You are always first in my book.”

  I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “Love you, Mom.”

  “Love you too my girl.”

  “So how was the date?”

  She leaned back in the chair and smiled. “Let’s just say there will be a second date!”

  “Good for you Mom!” I truly was happy for her. Now both my parents would be dating. What a coincidence!

  “How was your trip?” Mom asked, changing the subject.

  “You know me, same old, same old. I took out a small army of rhino hunters, accidentally knocked out a heard of rhinos, and then knocked out everyone on the hover plane with my nervous sweat. All in all, mostly successful.”

  She laughed. “Yes, nervous sweat can have quite the kick. I think it's part of our superhuman defense mechanism. It’s painless for people we put to sleep and lets us get on with our job.”

  Mom and I spent the rest of the evening chatting. I didn’t mention that Dad’s android assistant wanted to date him. I figured it was best to see where that went before mentioning it. After all, Mom and Dad were friends now, so there was no use tossing more information out just in case nothing came of it. But even so, it was a huge coincidence that the dating thing was happening in both their lives at exactly the same time.

  Dear Diary: Wow, my mom and dad are both possibly dating other people. Well good for them. Maybe with a new year starting at school, something will click for me as well. Who knows? Maybe Brandon will finally see that Wendi isn’t good enough for him. Or maybe I will meet somebody new! But then, there’s always Jason. Yeah, he’s my BFF but sometimes I still wonder if maybe, just maybe, there might be more between us. He knows me so well. But there is no need to rush. I’m not old like Mom and Dad. I have plenty of time to sort this all out, and I’m sure the right boy for me is out there.

  I just wonder who it will be.

  Schooling

  The next morning Jason and I walked to school, just like we had done each day since we were six. I liked our walk time together. It felt warm and reassuring, like a nice snuggly blanket. Plus, it gave us a chance to talk about life.

  “So, I thought the mission went well yesterday,” Jason told me.

  “Me too, but sorry for knocking you out.”

  Jason chuckled. “Ah, I'm used to it now.”

  “It’s just amazing how much our lives have changed in the last year,” he continued. “Wow, I’m best buddies with Super Teen. Your dad is back in your life. We know other super people. It’s all so cool.”

  “Yeah, it’s pretty amazing!” I agreed as we passed by Ms. Jewel’s house.

  Sure enough, her mean dog, ‘Cuddles’ started barking and running towards the fence that surrounded the house. Cuddles happened to be the worst named dog in the world. Nothing sweet about this dog! He rushed towards us until he either saw or sniffed it was me then he stopped dead in his tracks and rolled over with his legs up in the air.

  “Its nice Cuddles has learned he’s no match for you,” Jason grinned.

  I smiled back, “Yep, it does save time.�
��

  We walked by Felipe’s and Tomas’s house. Normally Felipe would come out to greet us. But not today.

  “That’s weird. No Felipe,” I said to Jason.

  Jason shrugged. “Maybe he’s sleeping in. After all, he is getting older.”

  I looked at their house. “Funny, I don’t sense them in there.”

  Jason pulled me along. “They could be on vacation or out shopping. Even half-vampires need to eat and shop and relax.”

  “Good point,” I nodded, as we continued on our way.

  Even though I hadn’t been too keen to go back to school, now that we were on our way, I was eager to get there. It was always fun arriving for the first day. The school was still as ugly as ever, but it was clean and smelled fresh. Janitor Jan always did a great job preparing the place. I always wondered how one woman could clean such a big school until I learned she was a sorceress. That made perfect sense in this new world of mine.

  As soon as we arrived, my good friend, Krista rushed over to me. She had her hair curled and it looked great. “Big news! Brandon isn’t running for class president because he wants to concentrate on his grades and his LAX,” she said in one breath.

  “How is that great news?” I asked.

  “Because Wendi is running!” Krista said hurriedly.

  I shook my head. “Krista, I’m still not hearing the good news part…”

  “I have to agree,” Jason said.

  Krista took a deep breath. “Well, I didn’t want Wendi to run unopposed because, well, she’s Wendi. She’s on enough of a power trip already!”

  “So you’re running against her?” I asked.

  Krista laughed. “No, I could never beat Wendi. I nominated you! Steve Mann seconded it. And then Marie thirded it.”

  “Ah…” I said. I felt honored but also a bit overwhelmed. I had a lot on my plate. Plus, I knew the candidates for class president would have to give a speech in front of the entire class. I hate giving speeches. My knees were shaking just thinking about it.