Chapter 12

The first order of business – food. Perry addressed the sprite hovering in the empty room. “Sparky? Your name is sparky right?”

“You don’t seem to fully understand how the translator works,” said the metallic voice. “It tries it’s best to translate intent. When you said sparky, your intent was to refer to me, so it translated an intent to refer to me. You can use any name you want.”

“So, I just tell you to make something, and you’ll make it?”

“Yes.”

“We’re gonna need beds. Six of them, in each of our rooms.” In succession, six beams of light emitted from the sprite directed at each room.

“Done.” Perry looked over at Shane, who went to look inside one of the rooms.

“Yeah, that looks like it’ll work,” said Shane.

“Alright, let’s have something to eat. Make us some bread and butter on a plate, please.”

“Insufficient reference material to materialize.”

“What?” asked Katie. “Why can you make a bed so easily, but you can’t make some bread and butter?”

The sprite just continued waiting for instructions.

“You aren’t gonna answer her?”

“I only respond to you. That way, any use of my abilities to break the rules can be attributed to the entire team, and the whole team can be punished without issue.”

“Why can you make a bed, but you can’t make bread and butter?” Perry asked.

“The translator carried with your request the abstract properties you envisioned when you said ‘bed’. It consisted of a form and function, with rough descriptions of the types of material required. A harder material to form four posts and a frame. A soft substance wrapped in fabric placed on top of that frame. Sheets of fabric placed on top of that. Because no specific material was specified in your form, I used whatever I deemed appropriate. The bread, however, consists of specific molecular compounds that you didn’t adequately describe in your mind when you asked for its construction. In your intent of its creation, substitutes were not acceptable. I suggest asking for the creation again, but this time, hold all the molecular compounds I would need to create it in your mind as you say it.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” asked Greg. “We need food. It can’t be that hard.”

“What are you talking about? It’s incredibly hard,” said Shane, exasperated.

“I could do it,” said Greg, confidently.

“No, you fucking couldn’t!” shouted Perry. He had to turn and walk away. “Make a couch, right here!”

A beam of light came down and a couch appeared. Perry dropped himself onto the couch, sitting with a terrible posture. He stared dead-eyed at the rest of the group.

“That alien guy, he said that the sprite would have a database,” said Heather. She seemed to ignore Perry’s pouting because she just walked over and sat down right next to Perry. “Try that.”

“Sparky, show me your food database.”

A translucent screen appeared listing things alphabetically. The list though was an itemization of gibberish terms.

“We can’t just make random things, we need to know if it’s poisonous to our biology. Sparky, can you only display the things that are edible?”

“Everything here is edible.”

“Does that mean it won’t poison us?”

“I can’t guarantee that. There is no reference for how you will react to any of this food.”

Perry bit his nail in frustration. Should they just risk it? He figured he could probably imagine glucose, they could get some energy that way. But if that’s all they had to sustain themselves they’d probably be sick and have headaches for the next game.

“What do we do?” asked Katie. “Also, can you make another couch?”

Perry ordered two more couches made and every sat down for a think.

“I think I have a plan, but you guys aren’t gonna like it,” said Perry, hesitantly. He averted his eyes, ashamed at his own idea.

“Just say it. What’s your idea,” said Greg.

“We have a reference for a food source already. Sparky should be able to just replicate something.”

“Does someone have a granola bar or something?”

“I don’t think so...” said Perry. They all looked at each other, hopefully, but no one volunteered anything to be reproduced. “Yeah, thought not. I meant something we wouldn’t traditionally think of as food. A type of meat.”

“I’m a vegetarian,” said Priya.

“Yeah ... we’re all vegetarians in this regard.” Perry watched as the look of horror started to appear, one by one, on his companions’ faces. “I’m suggesting, we eat long pork. Otherwise known as human meat. Look, it’s just the meat. No one has to die for it. It’s fine. It’s fine!”