Kelsi: “Judging by his future appearance, Kale is approved to restart your colony.”
Elliot: “Great!”
Kelsi: “The laws will be more strict this time. If your family fails to create a suitable heir during his generation, they will be plucked from the planet and sent to prison.”
Porcelain: “We understand.”
Kelsi: “I certainly hope you do. Prison is no place for soft aliens like yourselves, Cloud family.”
Kelsi: “This is The Mirror.”
Elliott: “Wow, it’s kind of impressive.”
Kelsi: “Please place Kale in front of the mirror.”
Porcelain: “Right here?”
Kelsi: “Yes, that’s perfect. Now, unless you want to see what you’ll look like when you’re an elder, kindly step away out of the mirror’s sight.”
Elliott: “Is this thing broken? It isn’t doing an- oh! There we go! …Wait, is he in a hot dog costume?”
Kelsi: “Yes, that’s just how it works and we’re not sure why yet. It’s one of The Mirror’s many mysteries.”
Kelsi: “Mr. and Mrs. Cloud, I hope you understand how seriously we take colonization here.”
Porcelain: “I’ve heard a bit about it, yes.”
Kelsi: “Then you should know that the Cloud family is guilty of uniformity, desaturation, and repetition. These are all offenses that are punishable by law.”
Porcelain: “Oh… No, I didn’t know that much.”
Kelsi: “It was recommended to me that we put Kale up to The Mirror and let his genetics be the final deciding factor on what we’re to do with you all.”
Porcelain: “The Mirror?”
Kelsi: “Yes. You’re not familiar with it?”
Elliott: “No.”
Kelsi: “It will show us what Kale will look like when he has grown up. It is a reflection of the future itself!”
Kelsi: “Mr. and Mrs. Cloud?”
Elliot: “Yes?”
Kelsi: “Would you both step into my office, please?”
Lydia: “Don’t worry about Kale. I’ll sit here with him while you three chat.”
Lydia: “We’ve got a game plan! You should alert the authorities that you found a mistake and that they should come right away.”
Unknown Voice: “Uh, are you sure about that?”
Lydia: “Yep, we’ve got it all figured out.”
Unknown Voice: “Uh…okay.”
Lydia: “I am not crazy or drunk on nectar. I’ve just got a plan that is so good it couldn’t possibly fail. You just have to trust me.”
Lydia: “I just got off the phone with a friend at headquarters and she said the goons are going to be extremely angry!”
Eden: “Oh?”
Lydia: “My contact said that she’s been fudging the records so they don’t know about the kids, but she can’t keep it up for much longer. She’s worried that they’re going to catch on to her soon.”
Eden: “My family scared them off once before. I’m sure we can convince them to leave us alone again.”
Lydia: “My job here is at stake too. I’ll be sent away because I didn’t keep the family on track. I tried to explain to them that you don’t choose who you fall in love with.“
Eden: “It’s my fault, really. I didn’t want another child after Elliott was born, but we weren’t supposed to stop at him because he doesn’t look like Adalyn.”
Lydia: “I know! We can use Kale’s green skin to our advantage. We could make up a story that your parents messed up so you wanted to start over…Porcelain became a PlantSim on purpose to start the family over again with Kale!”
Eden: “I think that’s the best plan we’ve got.”
Unknown Voice: “The whole point of you staying there was to watch the family and keep them on track. However, I’m hearing reports that the Fouram alien colonists’ offspring are blue and green. They’re supposed to be moving forward onto other colours to increase the gene pool. That family has been moving backwards since you started watching over them!”
Lydia: “I know, I know! How can you deny someone their love, though? The Fouram who was responsible for moving the family forward fell in love with the cutest blue lady who happened to get turned into a PlantSim. It’s not my fault that the family has reverted to the beginning.”
Unknown Voice: “You’re supposed to be protecting them from just that very situation! I cannot hide the reports forever. Eventually, the higher-ups will catch on and there will be nothing I can do to keep you or the family safe.”
Lydia: “Can you tell me what I’m supposed to do to fix this?”
Unknown Voice: “The only way to fix it is to have Eden and Adalyn have another child that has Adalyn’s traits. They’re too old for that now, though. The only other option is colour reassignment, but that’s dangerous. I don’t know of anyone who has survived.”
Lydia: “Ugh…there’s no way any of them would sign up for that.”
I’m taking a break from the Cloud family rotation this time for a little bit of storytelling before the Cloud family jumps into the Parenthood pack stuff. =)
End of Eden’s day.
Dance to Stereo Music
Sugary Virtual Simblr 