/ Chapter 15 – Trouble in Utopia /

Frank sat with Athena at their usual table at Dr. Chocberry's, sharing a chocberry ice cream soda between them, the house specialty. The soda shop was run by a Tomorrowland botanist, who had managed to cross a cacao tree with some kind of fruit, producing a berry that tasted of sweetened chocolate.

They had a single tall glass with two straws, since Athena felt that having her own soda would be far too much for her, again amusing Frank with her bird-like appetite. She took a tiny, delicate sip of her straw, seemingly taking hardly any at all. But he didn't mind having a single one for the two of them; if honesty were dragged out of him, he liked sharing with her.

It was one of the few cheerful things in an otherwise frustrating week, which unfortunately had been the pattern in the almost three weeks since school began. He felt very intimidated by the school and the ghosts of his father's words marched through his head like a battalion of troops committed to defeating his confidence. He turned in an essay yesterday and only gotten a D on it. The worst part was that he thought that's all he deserved. He'd just felt incredibly daunted, the expectations of the teachers and the students and Nix weighing him down – and he'd just plain choked up. The subject was an analysis and opinion on a moral situation, and normally he could have come up with something reasonably insightful, but he just couldn't get it out. He came up with ideas, but they all seemed too weird and stupid, and he feared looking foolish. Finally, running out of time, he just wrote something "safe," but knew it was really poor work.

One thing about Tomorrowland creative writing, though – it was unquestionably fair. Essays were turned in typed on the computer and, to Frank's surprise, anonymous. The teachers had no idea who wrote a particular essay until the grades were entered and locked in. In fact, the class teacher provided assistance, but a writing teacher of a different class actually produced the final grade. The idea was to minimize bias based on sex, race, attractiveness, personality, past performance or other subconscious prejudice or favoritism. The teacher humorously admitted they could still have suspicions based on style and vocabulary, but their guess ended up being wrong surprisingly often.

He noticed Athena looking at him questioningly. "Frank, you seem more quiet than usual."

"Yeah, I guess I am," he said. He paused, feeling like he didn't want to look like a disappointment in Athena's eyes, but felt that he needed to talk to someone. "Can I tell you something?"

"Of course you can," Athena said. "You can tell me anything."

This gave Frank a warm feeling, because she sounded utterly sincere in this. "I guess I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. You remember what my pa said. 'Maybe I'm smart enough for this school. But maybe I'm not.' I guess I'm feeling a little 'not' right now."

"It's only the first few weeks," Athena said encouragingly. "I must tell you that many children of recruits have trouble adjusting, even ones that had excellent performance on Earth. They adjust in time."

"Yeah, maybe. But they're not 'recruits' themselves, whatever that really means. Everyone looks at me like I'm supposed to be Superkid, not just the other kids, but the teachers, too. All the expectations." Frank held up his fingers in air quotes. "That seems to be Nix's favorite word."

"Yes, there are expectations," Athena said. "But they're not unearned. You have expectations because of things you've accomplished before. I suspect you have a view that this school is much more difficult than your other school and that is psychologically intimidating you. But it's not as different as you think; we have similar curriculums. It's just presenting it differently and yes, having expectations of mastery."

"I guess so," he said, idly stirring the soda with his straw. "But what if I can't cut it?"

"That's impossible," she said flatly, as though Frank suggested the sun might not rise tomorrow.

He laughed at that. "You have so much more confidence in me than I do."

"I've seen your projects, and beyond that, we've discussed many other things together. There is no doubt you're exceptionally creative, and perhaps even more important, you have a fantastic work ethic. Once you settle in and get used to the school, your ability and diligence will carry you through."

"The other kids don't seem too impressed," he said.

"Of course. You're a 'pin recruit,' the youngest ever. It would be remarkable if they didn't feel envious and intimidated. You aren't aware of what that means because you have no context to understand it, but you're quite unique."

"Being unique isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"Believe it or not, I understand this," Athena said. "There are certain things about me that are rather, well, unusual."

"I've noticed," Frank said, grinning, but then saw that Athena didn't seem to find that funny. "Oh man, I wasn't trying to make you feel bad, I meant that in a good way. I like that you're 'unusual.' And if someone doesn't like you or thinks you're weird, I better not hear it or they'll have to answer to me."

She smiled. "Oh, don't worry, I don't encounter too much of that sort of thing. Anyway, I do believe that once you get settled, you're going to see a great increase in your performance."

"Thanks," he said gratefully. "You're a good friend. That really does help."

"I'm so glad to be a good friend," she said, beaming at this.

This phrasing was a little odd to Frank's ear, but that was part of Athena's quirky charm. She was unusual, no doubt about that, and there was also no doubt that she really understood him, and that helped a lot.

As the month of December moved its way through the calendar, Athena walked toward Frank's school where they were to meet today. She reflected that she was pleased that Frank's school performance had increased somewhat lately, though it was not up to the standards that he had for himself, nor what she knew he was capable of. But at least things had stabilized, now that he had settled down into the routine of school. She was concerned about his problems with his confidence, but was certain that continued success would gradually diminish that problem as long as he kept moving forward. Fundamentally he'd had little support through his life, on top of being very intimidated by his new environment. His fear was not surprising; it was unprecedented in Tomorrowland's history to have a boy of his age here as a recruit on his own, so it was nearly impossible for him to simply adjust with no bumps in the road. In fact, if it had been too easy, she would've suspected he was hiding some psychological problems.

Although Frank's own journey was confusing for him, one thing was clear – she had become a primary source of support for him and was very important to his adjustment. This pleased her on several levels; she was happy that she could be helpful to him, since she was the one who brought him and felt responsibility for ensuring he adjusted. But if she was honest, it also made her very happy that Frank trusted her enough to share his innermost thoughts and fears. The support she gave was strengthening their friendship and having Frank as a friend was growing extremely important to her.

All this was very gratifying, but there was one nagging problem. Frank still didn't know she was a machine and that worried her.

At first this had seemed like a relatively minor thing, but the situation had grown far more complex now. Since she was so important to his moral support, she worried that if he found out now, it could drastically affect his adjustment. Her opinion hadn't changed on Frank's potential; if anything, her opinion was stronger than ever and it was very important to her that he fulfill his potential and not have it derailed by learning about her nature. In truth, she wasn't sure how it would affect him, but the risk was there.

Her tentative plan now was to hope that he developed support in other ways, at which point she could give him the truth without adversely affecting him. None of this was ideal and part of her wished she had just told him up front. But if she'd done that, she wasn't sure they would have the relationship they had now and that thought wasn't pleasant at all.

Athena arrived in front of the school, having timed it correctly so that Frank came out less than a minute later along with the other students, some of whom looked at her curiously since few children of Frank's age had seen her. Frank was carrying a small bag today, which was a bit unusual.

"Hello, Frank," Athena said, smiling.

"Hi!" he said, appearing to be in a good mood today. He grinned at her and said, "Happy birthday!"

Athena was very surprised it this. It was true that today was December 10th, which was the anniversary of her activation, but she was unsure how Frank would know that. "Thank you! How did you know?"

"Oh, I have my ways," Frank said casually.

Athena quickly evaluated that he must have asked her mother at some point; she would be the only source he'd logically have access to. The possibility that Frank talked to her mother without her knowledge, particularly about something like her creation date, made her relieved that her nature as a machine hadn't come up. Fortunately, Caroline enjoyed applying human customs to her, so she'd most likely viewed Frank's birthday question in the same non-literal way, and didn't think too deeply about how Frank phrased it.

"How about a birthday soda?" Frank continued. "I'd make you a cake, but I think baking might be a little too ambitious. Jetpacks are one thing, cakes are another. I don't want to poison you."

"Oh, a cake isn't necessary," Athena said quickly with a smile, hoping Frank wouldn't waste that sort of effort on her, but a soda sounded like a good compromise since she sensed Frank wanted to share some sort of treat in her honor. "A soda would be nice."

They set off in the direction of Chocberry's. A good wind was blowing, which caused musical notes to play in a nearby art sculpture that was at the edge of the school campus. The wind caused a series of flutes to rotate at a controlled rate, while a vaned funnel directed the air to blow through them creating an ethereal tune. Frank stopped for a moment to read the plaque of the designer, then shivered. "Brrr! It's cold today. I guess we're just about into winter. Does it get very cold here?"

"Tomorrowland was deliberately placed in a very temperate climate," Athena said. "It never gets extremely cold or hot, and we get sufficient rain for crops. Much of our water is groundwater from the mountains, which gets snow in winter. Many people enjoy skiing in the mountains, in fact. Though, it's only a coincidence that we're entering winter in December."

"What? Why?" Frank asked.

"Tomorrowland's year is about ten days shorter than Earth, so the seasons aren't in sync. But you've probably noticed we use the same calendar. That's for convenience, since we have so much contact with Earth. For the current season, our winter is about twelve days early from the Earth's Northern Hemisphere winter. Next year it'll come ten days earlier. As you've noticed, we do use hours, minutes and seconds, but our day is about twenty-six Earth minutes shorter, so our seconds are defined slightly shorter."

"Well, it's chilly today. Aren't you cold?" Frank asked.

Of course, weather affected Athena hardly at all; she could operate quite well from sub-freezing to extreme hot. But Frank didn't ask if she was uncomfortable, only if she felt the relatively cool temperature. Although she never wore jackets except for rain protection (for the sake of not dripping everywhere, not for her comfort), she wondered if she should start for Frank's benefit.

"Yes, it's a bit cooler today than usual," she answered mildly.

"Ha! My father would love you. You never complain about anything," he said, grinning.

"I believe my mother would disagree with you. I have my areas that I find frustrating."

They walked into Chocberry's and Dr. Papadorakis, the Greek botanist owner of the shop and the real Dr. Chocberry, was behind the counter today.

"Ah, the handsome Frank and the beautiful Athena! Two of my favorites!" he shouted exuberantly. Athena noted that he often spoke very loudly and waved his hands. She was fairly certain he was not aware of her nature and seemed to enjoy seeing them come into his shop. "Your usual table and order?"

"Thanks, Dr. P," Frank said.

They found a table by the window where they could watch the people walking by. Athena noticed that both of them enjoyed observing life going by, commenting when they saw something unusual. They spent a few minutes talking about school, though she noticed Frank was extra fidgety today.

"Your usual, sir," Dr. Papadorakis said with a grin, as he put down the single soda with two straws. He looked at Frank, briefly glanced at Athena and then gave Frank a little smiling nod. She didn't understand this gesture, though Frank seemed to; he gave a small, shy smile in return.

Frank picked up the glass and made a toasting gesture. "Cheers!" he said, place it down in front of them and taking a sip of the soda. Athena recognized this as in her honor, so she took a sip as well.

He then reached down into his bag and extracted a piece of folded paper. "Here… happy birthday," he said, smiling.

Frank appeared to be handing her a gift for her birthday, which was highly unexpected. She accepted the paper, which was thick card stock and folded over. "Thank you, Frank! This is quite a surprise."

On the front Frank wrote "Happy Birthday Athena!", though he put some extra care into his lettering, and also drew her facial portrait in a pencil drawing. Although she could detect some inaccuracies, it was quite a good likeness.

"This is very good!" she said.

"Thanks," Frank said, looking pleased at her reaction.

She opened the card, which had another pencil drawing. This one was of Athena in the dress she had worn at the World's Fair, standing next to Frank and his jetpack, both in profile looking at each other, as though they had just met. This drawing of her was less accurate than the first one, which she speculated was because he was working from memory. Underneath this picture, Frank had written, "Thank you for everything. You changed my life. – Frank."

She looked up at Frank, who looked very awkward and embarrassed. She knew from her study of human psychology that young boys were often uncomfortable with expressing sentimental feelings. She was very happy, however, that he managed to overcome this and express himself in this way.

"Thank you, Frank. This is really wonderful," she said.

"You're welcome," he said, smiling. "I'm glad you like it. I wasn't sure what to get you, so I thought I'd make you a card using what I've been learning in art class."

"The likenesses you drew were very good," she said.

"Well, it's better now," Frank said. "I was pretty bad before. The art teacher said drawing from life is a foundation for art, so they teach it as a core skill. They have this whole thing where you first 'learn how to see' rather than learn how to draw. It was weird, but it made sense and my drawing got better pretty quickly. I'm glad I improved so I can do better project drawings."

Frank grinned and took a sip of their soda. "Anyway, I did sneak a couple pictures of you to use as a reference," he said. "I used that 3D-holo-camera thing in the lab, which is really cool, by the way."

Athena hadn't noticed; this was sneakier of Frank than expected. She looked at her card again, thinking that the effort Frank put into it was very pleasing to her. It reinforced that Frank viewed her as not just a minor friend who helped him with school, but a quite valued friend.

The idea that Frank valued her friendship was a radical notion, since it implied that Frank possibly cared for her in the way human friends did. He believed she was human, which implied that he cared about her as the personality called Athena, rather than just the machine called Athena, which was a subtle but important distinction in how she related to most other humans. Her mother treated as a conscious personality, but few other humans did. And even among those few others, there was often a subtle undercurrent that she was just an illusion and not quite real.

But Frank had none of that. He gave her a birthday gift because he wanted to, because he considered her important enough to put forth the effort. And she found this idea very pleasing, in very unusual ways.

Author's Note: By the way, that really is the secret to drawing – it's about learning to see, not learning to move your hand. I wish schools typically taught it the right way. It's just a skill that anyone can learn.

Reviews are appreciated!

The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K.