The Animal Fair (IC)

[Electra]

It was a nice day for a trip to the zoo, at least, as nice as it was going to get in the middle of winter in New Jersey. The sky was clear and the temperature had reached the forties, melting the snow and bringing adventurous families out to see their favorite animals. It also brought Sharl and Miss A, neither of whom were much bothered by the cold, out to look as well. Sharl had hoped Gina might come with them, but she was very sensitive to cold weather and didn't want to go out.

Miss A was dressed in civilian clothes today, so they landed well outside the zoo and walked in like all the rest of the people. Even in jeans, a blouse, and a light jacket, she attracted a lot of attention. "So Sharl," she asked, "what would you like to see first?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"I'd, uh, like to see the lions," said Sharl, fingering the projector in his jacket pocket a little nervously. He was well-used to crowds, those being an important park of his Tronik childhood, but that didn't mean that being out here wasn't a slightly nerve-wracking experience. Miss A was nice...very nice, in fact, but he missed Gina. He hadn't really been that surprised when she'd backed out on going out with him. "They're the king of the beasts, right?" He walked along with her, keeping his hands in his pockets so he didn't bump into anyone and betray the enterprise as they went.

The lions were indoors that day, so they headed into the cat house, where even Sharl could smell the acrid tang of animal urine. His nose wrinkled at the smell, but since he wasn't really there, the unfamiliar odor didn't overwhelm him. "Aren't the animals sad to be in these enclosures?" he asked her. "I'd think they'd want to run free, even if they're well taken care of."

[Electra]

"They have larger enclosures outdoors," Miss A explained to him, "but they don't like the cold weather in the winter. The keepers give them enrichment toys and exercises to keep them busy and entertained." She pointed into one enclosure, where some fisher cats were batting a ball out of the little stream running through their cage. "It might not be as thrilling as being out running free, but they have all their needs met, and they're safe here." She led him around to the large glass wall that looked into the lion house. "Freedom City is lucky, not all zoos have a whole pride of adult lions."

[Avenger Assembled]

The lions weren't doing much; instead laying around beneath their warm heat lamps, looking cozy on the rocks the zoo had laid out for them. Sharl studied the animals for a moment, surprised to see them looking so lazy, and said loudly, "Hey, lions!" Miss A shot him a look at that, though, and belatedly remembering the etiquette rules he'd read before they came out, he blushed red. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said apologetically, looking deeply embarrassed at his lapse. "I forgot that they're just on display, they're not there to entertain us." He looked back at the animals and said, "They really are very impressive. I'm not surprised more cities can't afford to feed animals this big!"

[Electra]

"It's not just that," Miss A told him with a smile, watching the big cats herself. "Lions are endangered here, there aren't very many left in the wild. Not every city that might want to keep endangered animals can get them. First they have to show that they're capable of taking care of them, and that they'll raise and breed them only for the good of the species. Look at that one over there," she indicated, pointing to one of the lionesses. "She's gravid now, she'll have her cubs in another month or so. You should come back then, there's not much cuter than a lion cub."

[Avenger Assembled]

"If I'm still here, I will," said Sharl, not sure he'd still be around in a month. The thought of leaving Freedom City made him...uneasy, even though he wanted to go home and talk to his parents. What could he tell them that could possibly make them accept a reality like this; not just the reality of what Tronik was, what they all were, but a city where animals could be fed and tended simply because they were endangered. And cute! "Are there many baby animals here?" That question led them to the petting zoo, which like many other exhibits was mostly indoors against the inclement weather. Sharl felt a little silly looking at animals so admired by small children, like any teenage boy, but the bizarre novelty of sheep and goats and other soft, furry-looking animals was enough to pull him out of his teen shyness.

[Electra]

It helped that this was a school day, so while Sharl was surrounded by small children, at least there were no other teenagers looking on and judging him. And with Miss Americana right there, not a lot of the grownup guys there paid him any attention at all. Miss A gave him some quarters to buy food for the animals, letting him experience the odd feel of sheep and goats eating out of his hand, and then took him into the avian enclosure, where a particularly determined kea chased him around, trying to eat his imaginary shoelaces!

[Avenger Assembled]

Sharl was very alarmed at first by the seemingly-predatory birds, but Miss A and the keeper soon disabused him of his momentary startlement. Keas were meat-eaters, it was true, but animals that small could hardly be a threat to human beings or human-sized creatures unless they acted as a swarm, which he was assured they did not do. Besides, he thought, it's not like they can actually hurt me. He got a chance to feed one of those too, and soon had a flock of bitey birds crawling all over him. He didn't mind, it wasn't as if their little nips could hurt him. Suddenly, though, one stuck its determined head right in his pocket and grabbed his emitter. "Hey! Give that back!"

[Electra]

With a squawk of triumph, the kea bolted, Sharl's projector clutched in its curved beak. It raced across the enclosure, with Sharl forced to follow or risk being discorporated! A couple bits of plastic chipped off the outside of the projector, even as Miss A and the keeper hastened to the rescue. "Grab it by the feet, Sharl!" Miss A advised, trying to maintain her cover and Sharl's corporeality at the same time. "Don't let it get into the trees!"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Hey! That's not full of food!" That's full of me! Eventually, between the three of them, they did run down the kea, Sharl holding it gently by the legs as the keeper traded a honey stick for the 'cell' and gave it back to Sharl. Sharl got a friendly chastisement from the keeper about keeping his pockets buttoned up when he was in the house full of birds. Once he and Miss A were safely out of the enclosure and the moment was past, Sharl had to laugh at the spectacle they must have made. "Those birds certainly are wild! I expected I'd have to climb up into the trees with them to get that back." He was actually interested in what might happen without his projector, but certainly not enough to test it.

They spent a sedate time after that in the elephant enclosure, Sharl suitably impressed by the peaceful, gigantic animals. His face turned white at the subject of ivory poaching, though, even though the film they were shown was aimed at educating rather than alarming what was usually a family audience. "They...they just kill these giant animals for their teeth? In this world so full of things? That's awful!"

[Electra]

"There are awful things that happen in the world," Miss A agreed. "We have to do everything we can to try and prevent the bad things, and to keep doing good to balance out the bad. The elephants who live here will live their lives in safety and plenty, and by being here, help average people learn to care about their relatives in the wild. Why don't we go look at something else?" she suggested, seeing how agitated he still looked. "We could go to the aviary and see some birds less likely to try and eat you," she joked lightly.

[Avenger Assembled]

The aviary was a much less stressful place for Sharl, and soon he was standing in the tropical bird section, watching enviously as birds flew overhead with a look of rapt attention on his face. "I never really thought how beautiful flight was," he murmured to Miss A as he watched brightly colored birds screech at each other and sing. "All I've ever seen fly back home are insects and a few species of urban avians. Seeing so many birds like this, flying around and talking to each other, with so many colors...it's really pretty. I just wish they had room for bigger flocks, like the ones on TV."

[Electra]

"That would be too complex to manage," Miss A told him, smiling as she watched him watching the birds. It was nice to see how much he enjoyed the zoo, and made her appreciate it more as well. "If you do come back, sometime in the spring or the fall, I'll take you flying during the migration season. Then you'll be able to see some big flocks of birds. What kind of animals do they have where you live?" she asked. "Besides the urban avians?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"We saved the animals we could, but with the Sun burning hot, we had to think of our own lives first," replied Sharl, reciting something he'd learned in school. Of course, he had no way of knowing how much of it was true anymore, but perhaps it was still true...at least, as far as they knew. "Urban avians, urban scavengers that came with us; larger ones that some people even keep as pets," he said, speaking quietly so no one was listening too closely. "Neo itself is a quiet world for life because conditions are harsher than most habitable worlds." He'd known that even before he knew there were other habitable worlds. "There's life in the oceans, the plankton and algae that the fleets harvest, but beyond that...as far as anyone knows, native life isn't any larger than insects."

[Electra]

"The computing space was probably more urgently needed elsewhere, in any case," Miss A surmised. "And since there's no actual requirement for conservation of mass, animals would be unnecessary as part of the food chain as well." She was thoughtful for a minute or two as they walked. "That's something we might be able to change as well, if we can get Tronik into a more stable form and expand the memory capacity. We'd need a good story, obviously, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility that there was a lost island beyond the mountains with animals on it."

[Avenger Assembled]

"There's so little interest past the southern mountains," agreed Sharl, "because everyone knows it's all desert landmasses past a certain point and there aren't any extractable resources off our home continent. So we could finesse that, if we thought of a good reason. Or maybe they're animals from another planet, dropped off by passing aliens!" He hmmed. "I guess that'd be too complicated. Still, we could use more birds in the sky, not to mention fish in the sea. Is it true there's a whole civilization under your oceans?" he asked her.

[Electra]

"It is," Miss A told him with a nod. "The Atlanteans have a very rich culture and history all their own. They haven't always been on good terms with the surface dwellers, but as we've grown more advanced, things have generally gotten better. I haven't been to Atlantis myself, but I've seen pictures. It's a beautiful place, but very alien to the sensibilities of surface-dwellers. I'm sure that if you look on the internet, you'll be able to see pictures and videos." With that, she led him into the aquarium building, since it seemed like an excellent segue. This building was quite popular today, possibly because it was warm and humid, a nice contrast to the chill outside.

[Avenger Assembled]

Sharl was tempted to walk right into the tanks with the giant animals, the huge fish, manatees, and other creatures that were like something from an alien world. But he knew that was a bad idea, given that it would no doubt frighten the animals, confuse the tourists, and play merry hell with his machine! He was content to watch, wishing he could do so much more, as schools of fish swam around. "Look at the turtles!" he said, excitedly pointing underwater when they passed by an exhibit modeled after rivers and lakes. "What do they feed it?" he asked. "Surely he'll eat the fish!?"

[Electra]

"I'm sure if he were hungry enough he would," Miss A told Sharl with a laugh, amused by his amazement. "But those fish aren't on that particular turtle's typical diet. As long as the keepers make sure he's well fed with the fish he likes, dead ones that he doesn't actually have to catch, I imagine he'll leave his tankmates alone. The zoo does its best not to put animals together that are going to endanger one another. "What do you think of the food on Earth so far?" she asked him when no one was listening.

[Avenger Assembled]

"I like what I'm able to eat," said Sharl with a rueful smile. He hadn't experimented again with eating 'real' food after his first venture out, not wanting to make any more messes in Gina's house. "I like sandwiches, and pizza, and soda...and curry, lots of curry! And Mexican food too," he added, not wanting to leave anything out. "Gina was worried about my getting sick eating all that spicy food when I wasn't used to it, but I was careful and it was so good! I guess it makes sense that so many cultures would provide so much to eat, but it's still really great. I wish I could open a Freedom Restaurant back home."

[Electra]

"I suppose that'd be problematic if you're still hoping to keep the world beyond Tronik a secret," Miss A said, appreciating his difficulty. Coming by ingredients might be a problem as well. From what I've heard, most of the food is based on textured vegetable protein, right? Even with a little fancy coding to add the possibility of things like curry, you'd have to explain where you got it and how you were getting more. But you might be able to take a little back with you," she suggested. "You should ask Gina."

[Avenger Assembled]

"I will," promised Sharl. They walked around the arctic exhibit for a while, the polar bears and sealions (carefully separated from each other) not looking at all bothered by the cold, before Sharl broached a difficult question to Miss A. "Miss A, can I ask you something? Something important?" When he was sure they were alone, the quiet day and cold weather keeping this area relatively isolated, he asked her quietly, "Miss A, is...is Gina okay? I'm not asking if she's bad," he added quickly, "she's my hero, she's a very good person. But is everything all right with her?"

[Electra]

Miss A pursed her lips, obviously choosing her words carefully. "Gina suffers from primary agoraphobia and social anxiety disorder," she told Sharl. "When she's using a computer or working on an engineering problem, she's quite brilliant, probably among the brightest minds on the planet. But she can't leave her house without risking panic attacks at worst, and extreme discomfort at best. You are the only sentient being she allows to be in her home on a regular basis, because she can't handle being around people and letting them see her as she really is. It will embarrass her to know that you know, but you deserve the truth, and I think you can handle it in a sensitive way."

[Avenger Assembled]

Sharl winced, but he obviously understood the words. "Oh, that's too bad," he said sadly. "I mean...there are people like that in Tronik," he admitted. "A lot of people, who never go out except via the Net. I thought it sounded familiar, but I hoped all this space meant people didn't have those problems here. Poor Gina." He sighed softly. "She's a really good friend, and I don't want to do anything to upset her or make her feel bad. I won't say anything to make her uncomfortable." He sighed a little. "It's too bad. This has been a lovely time, and I think she'd have enjoyed it."

[Electra]

"She wouldn't have," Miss A told him simply. "Instead of watching the animals and enjoying the day out, she wouldn't be able to stop thinking about the people, wondering if they were watching her or judging her. People watch heroes." Indeed, the two of them had been drawing plenty of attention all day, despite being out of costume. It didn't seem to bother Miss A. "It's really kinder just to let her stay down in her basement. It's where she wants to be."