Come Again Soon

Posted on Fri 29th Sep, 2017 @ 4:30am by

874 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Unity Week
Location: Bits and Bytes, Deck 641
Timeline: MD 5, mid-morning

While th'Elex took pride in his store, while he loved being involved with the latest technology, while he enjoyed serving the public, there was one thing he did not like. Children. It wasn't that he objected to children as a whole. No, it was that he objected to them individually, particularly individually in his shop. Or in small groups in his shop. Or in families in his shop.

His worst nightmare had just walked in the door of Bits and Bytes. Although he advertised throughout the quadrant that he carried the latest in games as well as technology, he was really trolling for adult game-players. Children ought to be learning, not playing. There was time enough for play when they finished their training in whatever life demanded of them.

Here and now, a Tellarite family with six children from waist-high to shoulder height, had entered his domain. What was he to do? His help was on an afternoon break, and notoriously late at coming back from those. There was nothing for it. He would have to see to them himself. Maybe they only wanted a new holodisk or memory unit and would soon be on their way. As he walked toward them, he sighed. He knew his luck would never run that way.

"But Dad, Jimmy has the Final Fantasy CC unit, and he says ..." whined a boy about thirteen.

"I don't care what Jimmy says, we are not buying any kind of Final Fantasy unit. We're here to get new study modules for your learning unit," said the man, a lieutenant commander in science, by his uniform. The woman with him, dressed in civilian clothing, seemed about to comment, but she bit her lip and said nothing.

"You know, Dad," spoke up a young woman maybe a year or two older than the boy, "there's a lot of learning that goes on in games."

The smallest girl tugged her mother's hand and pulled her over to a glass counter. "Look," she said softly. Inside the glass case was the latest Barbie doll. It was dressed as a Marine lieutenant, though only the traditional 29 cm tall, and, sensing the girl's interest, the doll turned her head and looked at her.

"Hello. I'm the new Starfleet Marine Barbie. I come with a phaser rifle and emergency field ration backpack. All the weapons necessary to defend a Federation Starship are sold separately. Starships sold separately. I am also capable of teaching self-defense tactics, should you wish to learn. Your uniform sold separately." The doll went silent, and the child looked hopefully at her mother.

"I don't think so, Velay, not this time. You still have Bodyguard Barbie, not to mention all the accessories your grandparents bought for her." The woman pulled the little girl away from the case.

"Bye. Come back soon," the Barbie doll called, almost sounding hopeful.

"Greetings, Gentle Beings. How may I be of assistance?" the silver-skinned Andorian asked.

"We're looking for the latest study modules for School Unit 37C, Level 8 math and human history, Level 4 math and literature." the man consulted the note on his PADD and then simply handed his personal machine to Tieran.

"Come on, Dad," the oldest boy insisted. He was maybe 16 or 17, Tieran had a hard time telling with Tellarites. "You know we'll be out there forever with nothing to do. We need a game that will keep us out of trouble. Something flexible with a lot of different modules."

"You can use the holopods, like everyone else on the ship," the commander said dismissively. The shoulders of all the children slumped simultaneously.

"I believe I have everything on your list in stock," the Andorian said. "Give me a moment to gather them. Would you prefer them in module format, or all together in a plug-in database? If you'd care to supply your codes, I can even upload them directly to your unit."

"The database will be fine," said the man. "I never know what's going to go wrong on a ship, and I like to have the hard database back-up. I'm a bit old-fashioned."

"Not a problem, at all. Give me a few moments, and I'll have your database for you." Tieran bowed slightly and breathed a sigh of relief as he escaped to his machines to put the database together for his customer. By the time he had it done and returned, his help was finally back from break, and had done an admirable job of keeping the children corralled without offending anyone.

"Here you are," th'Elex said, handing the man a bag. "Now if you'll just put your thumbprint on my PADD, our business is concluded, unless there's anything else I can help you find?"

"No, thank you." The man thumbprinted the charges, and credits made an instant transfer. "I need to have my family back on the ship shortly. We've taken enough time, as it is, for the Tetraball games yesterday."

The younger son opened his mouth to speak, but seeing his dad's frown, he thought better of it and closed it again.

"Come again soon," the shop owner said, as the man herded his family out the door. That was easy to say, since he knew they weren't ever likely to be back.

 

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