Day 1 - Iseulte, Carmela, Kirby

“So this is a science fiction convention?” asked Iseulte. She flicked her long, black braid over her shoulder and stood with her hands on her hips looking around at aisles of booths and strangely clad people. She was tall and dark and athletic with commanding eyes. She would have cut the figure of a warrior queen if she were not dressed in baggy pants and a sweatshirt with the sleeves pushed up to her elbows.

“I guess it is,” said Carmela. She was several shades lighter than her friend with straight black hair that fell just below her shoulders. She wore clothes she had stitched herself and carried a backpack that held her journals and plenty of snacks for the three of them.

“It’s the most wonderful place on Earth,” said Kirby Chen with a grin, his arms wide as if embracing the universe.

“We’re not on Earth,” said Iseulte.

“Which is even better!” said Kirby, “Being at a sci-fi con on an asteroid station a billion kilometers from Earth is the ultimate con experience. It’s like the con is the science fiction! There was nothing like this when I was younger.”

“At least you had the dinosaurs,” said Iseulte.

“I’m not that old.”

“You were in cryostasis forever,” said Carmela, “and you were already old when you went in.”

“Hey! Life starts in your 30’s! But nobody expects a couple of teenagers to understand that. You both have so much to learn. That’s why Emil put you in my care while we’re here.”

The two girls glanced at each other and burst out laughing.

“Yeah, I thought that was funny too,” said Kirby, “which is why I’m ok with you two going off and doing your own thing while we’re here.”

“We don’t have our own thing,” said Carmela, “We weren’t allowed books or technology. Where we came from, they thought we would be more manageable without all that stuff.”

“I don’t see you two as manageable under any circumstances,” said Kirby, “Did you have any tech?”

“Electric lights,” said Carmela, “chalk boards.”

“I wouldn’t call chalk boards technology…”

“Maybe you could explain what science fiction is?” asked Iseulte.

Kirby took a deep breath and his eyes unfocused as if his mind were a circus strongman getting ready to lift an impossibly heavy object.

“There could be a million answers to that,” he said, “but if I oversimplify it to something short and easy to understand, it’s stories that people create about how human inventions could possibly change our societies or species in the future.”

“If that’s your best answer,” said Iseulte, “maybe we’ll just wander around and look at stuff until we understand it for ourselves.”

“That’s a good plan,” said Kirby.

“What are you going to be doing?” asked Carmela.

“I’m going to be searching for a set of books written about 170 years ago,” he replied.

“By a dinosaur?” asked Iseulte.

Kirby chuckled. “By me. Sort of. It’s complicated. I’ll explain later. But don’t worry about anything. This is a safe place; there aren’t any real aliens or barbarians or dinosaurs here.” With a wave he turned and disappeared down a vendor aisle.

“I thought dinosaurs was just an expression the Parents used for old stuff,” said Iseulte.

“It seemed like dinosaurs were a real thing to him,” said Carmela.

“If there’s actually something called dinosaurs, how does Kirby know there aren’t any around here?”

“Maybe we should start by looking for a book that explains what dinosaurs are?” asked Carmela, “After snacks.”

“After snacks,” agreed Iseulte.

Iseulte, Carmela, Kirby from Explorers of Rinth. Science fiction by John Simons

Amazon link: https://tinyurl.com/mwnh4a7z