Tomorrowland: Frank and Athena

Chapter 16 - Exoplanetary Seasons Greetings

Athena walked back into their apartment with Caroline, her mother slightly 'tipsy,' as she described it. They'd attended a Plus Ultra Christmas party, which Athena always found interesting. She enjoyed these sort of functions, since there was always great novelty in interacting with humans outside of normal work. However, her mother did give her a secondary mission, which she made no bones about.

"While I think it would be enjoyable and interesting for you to interact with people at functions like this anyway, there is a particularly important reason," Caroline had said in years past. "The fact is, many higher ups in Plus Ultra need to see you as the sweet, ethical, harmless girl you are, rather than a frightening, superhuman monster machine, which is a view they can easily come to have if all they do is read reports about how effective you are in dangerous situations. They need to meet you and talk to you. So I want you to be at your charming best with everyone."

So Caroline dressed her up in a pretty party dress (at least according to Caroline; she was not a good judge) and Athena took her request to heart and talked mostly to people who didn't interact with her very often – and particularly ones she sensed were uncomfortable with her. The truth was, she was often very popular at parties, since many people had only heard about her but had never interacted with her. Since she was quite versed in a broad variety of subjects (and was curious about nearly every subject), she could usually have very interesting conversations with people once she found out their interests. The reactions among humans varied. Some seemed to genuinely enjoy talking to her as somewhat of an equal, while others appeared to see her as an entertaining novelty. Her favorite interactions were with people who didn't realize at first she was a machine, but once they heard her name and connection to Caroline, they usually realized who and what she was.

Caroline kicked off her shoes and plopped down on the couch, looking exhausted. "That was very fun! But I shouldn't have stayed up late last night reading that engineering journal."

"I found it very enjoyable as well," Athena said. "In particular, I find the effect of alcohol on human minds very interesting. It's regrettable I can't experience it myself; it would be fascinating."

Caroline laughed. "I don't think we need a drunk Athena getting wild at a party and showing off to people by tearing door units out of walls."

"Do drunk humans normally destroy things?" Athena asked. "That would be particularly interesting to watch."

"Well, the effects vary, but fortunately we don't have anybody particularly destructive like that, at least at the Plus Ultra party. Maybe at the science and engineering party we'll get someone who'll break out the explosives."

"I'll look forward to that," Athena said seriously.

Caroline snickered. "I know you will. Oh! By the way, I was thinking about something tonight regarding Frank. With Christmas coming up, I thought he might be lonely for the holiday. I'd hoped his father would invite him home, but regrettably there's been no word from him. What do you think about inviting him over for dinner with us?"

Athena was very excited by this idea, but at the same time, she was concerned that Frank would notice that she wasn't eating anything and become suspicious about her nature, not to mention her mum might say something. A small part of her mind raised the point that perhaps it might be time to reveal to Frank that she wasn't human, but the rest of her pushed down the thought. She was still very concerned about his support system, especially his first holiday away from his father.

Her mother was certainly right; Frank would get lonely over Christmas, and thus it was very important that she arrange for him to be happy over the holiday. It was a risk, but she thought she could manage it with the right moves with Caroline.