Athena's First Christmas

Christmas, Here We Come!

Athena approached the table where she and Frank had agreed to meet before going to the Bridgeway. He wasn't there yet, but she was early. It was 12:28, they had agreed to meet at 12:30. Plus, there was a 97.6% that he would be late. Athena didn't mind, the latest he'd ever been was only 10 minutes, and he was only affecting himself by being late.

They were going to eat lunch together before they left for Earth. Well, Frank was. She, being an Audio-Animatronic, had no digestive tract, and there fore was unable to eat.

Then she gasped. How would she be able to hide that fact from Frank Walker when they would be together all day, every day, on earth? She would have to figure something out.

Then she heard her name being called.

"Athena!"

She turned, expecting to see Frank. Instead she saw an older boy, about 15, running to her. He arrived at the table, panting, and held out his hand.

"Present from Mrs. Cook." He gasped out. In his hand there was a small brown package.

Athena took it from him, confused. Mrs. Cook had already seen her an hour ago, why hadn't she given this to her then?

"See ya." The boy said as he walked away.

Athena opened the package. Inside there was something wrapped in packing paper and a note.

She pulled out the note.

"Dear Athena,
Sorry about the lateness of this package, I meant to give it to you when I saw you today. Unfortunately, it completely slipped my mind. Sometimes I really dislike getting old.

Governor Nix said he wanted there to be a way to communicate with you and Frank during your time on Earth. So enclosed is a project of one of my good friends, Martin Cooper. He has been working on it for a very long time. He calls it a 'Cellular Telephone', and it's battery-operated! I know! The things people come up with now. It's still in testing, but I had him modify it to send and receive signals between Earth and Tomorrowland. Unfortunately this takes a very large amount of power that the small batteries can't handle, so it will need to be plugged into a wall to work. And it only works one way. You can call me, but I can't call you. Also, there is a slight chance it will not work, since it's still in testing. But I hope it does. It works in Tomorrowland, anyway.
Have fun on Earth!
Love,
Mrs. Cook"

Athena smiled and unwrapped the paper. Inside there was a massive telephone-looking thing that had a long antenna.

Then it clicked. Mrs. Cook would know how to help her avoid Frank's questions about her not eating! She looked at the telephone. Mrs. Cook had said it worked in Tomorrowland, hadn't she?

There was only one button on the phone. Athena pressed it and hefted it up to her ear. It weighed nearly 2 pounds! She heard a ringtone, just as if she was using an actual telephone. Then Mrs. Cook answered.

"Hello Athena, dear! Did you get my present?"

Athena smiled. "Yes, I did. I'm using it to call you right now."

Silence. Then: "Oh, silly me, I forgot! Aging is not fun Athena, dear. I would not recommend it."

Athena smiled wider. "I'll keep that in mind."

"So, did you have a question? I'm so glad to hear it works!"

"Well we haven't left yet, so it's not an accurate test." Athena mentioned. "But I did have a question."