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Authors: Madeline Smoot
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package too small for my large fingers to open. She obligingly pulled off the paper and held it up close for me to see.
It was a signed picture of Jack.
âHow did you get it? How did you know?â I breathed.
Cyn laughed. âHow could I not know?â
âNow eat your cake, and then the new episode should be on,â Ella added. She had made me a seven layered cake in her largest pans, while she and the others shared a much smaller one. I could have eaten mine in one very messy bite, but I nibbled instead to showmy appreciation. It was chocolate, and as much as I missed my parents and my former house, I couldnât help feeling that this was home now.
Cyn flew up to perch on my shoulder as we crossed to the Vid area. The others had rooms around the periphery, but the huge open area around the stalk was the only place I fit. Theyâd made me a bedroom of sorts, curtained off, and then a shared living area with the Vid, a screen taller than they were. I brought my chair along, careful not to crush any of the others. I fingered my new necklace as Ella programmed the Vid, and the familiar music filled the room. In front of us, looking like he was in the room and nearly my size, was Jack, heart throb and musician, host of
Larger Than Life
. His jet black hair hung to his waist, his skin glowed bronze, and his eyes were bottomless pits of darkness I could have fallen into.
My birthday was officially made.
He sang in his amazing tenor voice, a song of hope and loss from pre-colonization, and all the normals in the audience had tears in their eyes. One of mine splashed down, drenching Cyn, but she never even looked up. Jack was captivating, as always.
âWe have some exciting guests today, but first, anannouncement. In honor of todayâs 75th anniversary of colonization, weâre going to be doing an entire show at the home of one lucky fan who has a birthday today.â He paused for the cheers and screams to die down, and a sari-draped woman came up to him with a bowl of names. He reached in, plucked one up, and then paused again. âAnd the winner is ⦠Vivian Cross, of ⦠the Cloud?â
A picture of me flashed up on the screen. I looked less than two meters tall, because there was no one else in the picture for comparison.
âWell, Vivian, we look forward to meeting you!â Jack went on, his smile back in place.
Elation warred with doom, and we all turned to look at the slightly damp Cyn. There was silence, and then Jared spoke.
âOh, Cyn, what have you done?â
When a new world is colonized, viability is the main concern. New environments encourage mutations, and many of those become the new normal. Some changes, though, are just too far out of human norms to fit in.
I had looked normal when I was born. It was only when I was nine months old, a full meter long, 25 kilos,but not yet rolling over, that my parents learned the truth. My maturation was delayed, but my growth was not.
When I was five, I was a two meter tall toddler. I learned normally for a toddler, which I remained for another five years, so they taught me languages. Math and reading couldnât begin until my teens, but by then I was fluent in all 23 of the languages our colony contained.
Talk of sending me away began when I was in my twenties, but I was the emotional equivalent of a six year old. My parents wouldnât allow it. I went on to learn math, coding, and reading and writing in all 23 languages. Our community helped to build us a house that would hold a six meter tall child. I kept growing, they kept aging, and finally, in my 60âs, they both died. I barely fit in our old house and couldnât stand anywhere in it, but I stayed until the people from the government came, made me an emancipated minor, and sent me up the Stalk to live with the other ageless ones from the era of colonization. The Cloud was the first actual settlement on the planet, a research facility from before
It was a signed picture of Jack.
âHow did you get it? How did you know?â I breathed.
Cyn laughed. âHow could I not know?â
âNow eat your cake, and then the new episode should be on,â Ella added. She had made me a seven layered cake in her largest pans, while she and the others shared a much smaller one. I could have eaten mine in one very messy bite, but I nibbled instead to showmy appreciation. It was chocolate, and as much as I missed my parents and my former house, I couldnât help feeling that this was home now.
Cyn flew up to perch on my shoulder as we crossed to the Vid area. The others had rooms around the periphery, but the huge open area around the stalk was the only place I fit. Theyâd made me a bedroom of sorts, curtained off, and then a shared living area with the Vid, a screen taller than they were. I brought my chair along, careful not to crush any of the others. I fingered my new necklace as Ella programmed the Vid, and the familiar music filled the room. In front of us, looking like he was in the room and nearly my size, was Jack, heart throb and musician, host of
Larger Than Life
. His jet black hair hung to his waist, his skin glowed bronze, and his eyes were bottomless pits of darkness I could have fallen into.
My birthday was officially made.
He sang in his amazing tenor voice, a song of hope and loss from pre-colonization, and all the normals in the audience had tears in their eyes. One of mine splashed down, drenching Cyn, but she never even looked up. Jack was captivating, as always.
âWe have some exciting guests today, but first, anannouncement. In honor of todayâs 75th anniversary of colonization, weâre going to be doing an entire show at the home of one lucky fan who has a birthday today.â He paused for the cheers and screams to die down, and a sari-draped woman came up to him with a bowl of names. He reached in, plucked one up, and then paused again. âAnd the winner is ⦠Vivian Cross, of ⦠the Cloud?â
A picture of me flashed up on the screen. I looked less than two meters tall, because there was no one else in the picture for comparison.
âWell, Vivian, we look forward to meeting you!â Jack went on, his smile back in place.
Elation warred with doom, and we all turned to look at the slightly damp Cyn. There was silence, and then Jared spoke.
âOh, Cyn, what have you done?â
When a new world is colonized, viability is the main concern. New environments encourage mutations, and many of those become the new normal. Some changes, though, are just too far out of human norms to fit in.
I had looked normal when I was born. It was only when I was nine months old, a full meter long, 25 kilos,but not yet rolling over, that my parents learned the truth. My maturation was delayed, but my growth was not.
When I was five, I was a two meter tall toddler. I learned normally for a toddler, which I remained for another five years, so they taught me languages. Math and reading couldnât begin until my teens, but by then I was fluent in all 23 of the languages our colony contained.
Talk of sending me away began when I was in my twenties, but I was the emotional equivalent of a six year old. My parents wouldnât allow it. I went on to learn math, coding, and reading and writing in all 23 languages. Our community helped to build us a house that would hold a six meter tall child. I kept growing, they kept aging, and finally, in my 60âs, they both died. I barely fit in our old house and couldnât stand anywhere in it, but I stayed until the people from the government came, made me an emancipated minor, and sent me up the Stalk to live with the other ageless ones from the era of colonization. The Cloud was the first actual settlement on the planet, a research facility from before
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