10. It’s Not a Holodeck, Is It?
“You told chat I’m a friend!” Buttons beamed. “We are friends!”
Rippa realized the word had weight, and she felt it, too. Friends, yes. But, now, serious business first. “Yes, Buttons, but we gotta talk,” Rippa frowned.
So Rippa sat the kid down on a sofa at the beach lounge. She gave a lengthy lecture on how a little girl like Buttons shouldn’t upload her photo on the internet.
“-Besides, you’d get many people in trouble if you do that. Understand?” Rippa concluded, but she wondered if Buttons really understood.
The kid nodded.
Rippa, for now, left it at that. Besides, she had Buttons muted both on her Discord server and the YouTube channel, so the kid wouldn’t be able to do anything dumb even if she wanted to.
Rippa leaned back on her sofa and sighed. Her haters had caught on and were already posting groomer accusations on X. Thankfully, her fans and neutrals were fighting it off, invoking community notes citing a clip where Rippa explained the relationship as a ‘private meet and greet initiated from the little girl’s side.’ Overall, things weren’t that bad. Yes, it was annoying, but what was one more groundless accusation on top of many others? Haters were going to hate her no matter what. But, on the other hand, some of that hatred would spread toward Buttons simply for being friends with Rippa… ‘But would they go so far as to harass a child?’ Rippa wondered. ‘Wait…’
“Buttons, how old are you really?”
Buttons beamed, glad that the internet safety lecture had ended. “I’m eleven.”
“Huh? But you look a lot… smaller?”
“Ah, kids nowadays are much bigger. Mind you, though, this girl was still a bit small even by the standards back then.”
“Huh?”
“Eh?”
Rippa blinked several times. What was this kid talking about? But then she remembered Buttons was supposed to be a replica of a dead girl.
“Buttons, when you say you are eleven—”
“Ah!” Buttons finally realized where the confusion arose from. “The girl was eleven when she died,” said the kid, and became a bit solemn.
Rippa narrowed her eyes. “And how long have you been eleven?”
“Always.”
“No, I mean…” Rippa took a deep breath. This needed to be blunt. “When were you made?”
This time, it was Buttons’ turn to be confused. “Made? Nobody made me. I just am.”
Rippa pinched her nose bridge. This was going in circles. “Never mind. I’ll ask Goggles.”
“Oh, good. Let’s go see him,” said Buttons, ”I’ll ask him if you can come. Now we are friends, it should be OK.”
Rippa smiled, but wondered what Buttons was talking about. “Where?”
“Wait. I’m asking.” Buttons held up a hand. “Yes! He says it’s OK.”
Rippa looked around the lounge. There were only Madam J.D. and Miss Pendrake. Goggles was nowhere to be seen, probably taking care of other matters related to running the spaceship. Or maybe really doing the taxes, as Buttons had once mentioned.
“You guys can do telepathy?”
“Something like that, yes,” Buttons nodded and stood up. “Goggles says it’s OK to show you my place.”
Rippa looked around. Wherever Goggles was, she had some questions to ask him. She then narrowed her eyes. ‘Wait, she’s gonna show me the rest of the ship!’ She sprang up. “Heck, yeah! Let’s go!”
***
Buttons led Rippa onto the trail, entering from the left side of the beach. This was the other half of the curved trail that ran through the woods surrounding the lounge, the side that Rippa’s family had not seen beyond the bend. Had they done so, they would have learned the trail forked, one path leading to the beach, the other further leading onto an earthen road.
To Rippa’s astonishment, a horse-drawn open carriage was waiting on the road. A human-shaped figure was in the driver’s seat. Unlike the maids, who were wooden dolls, this was a white marble sculpture, dressed in what appeared to be some ancient Roman soldier’s armor and helmet.
While Rippa was still processing what she was seeing, Madam J.D. helped Buttons get on the carriage and took a seat facing the back.
Buttons sat across from her nanny and gestured for Rippa to get on. “Come on.”
As soon as Rippa got on and sat next to Buttons, the two horses started moving. They looked and sounded so real.
“Of course, we could have simply teleported,” Buttons was saying, “but I thought you’d find the ride exciting.”
The ride itself wasn’t anything spectacular. Rippa had ridden such carriages when she visited fairs and theme parks. The absurdity of the horse carriage’s existence was what amazed Rippa.
The road ran across a green, gently rolling landscape. The sky was blue, with fluffy clouds that moved slowly. Rippa felt the breeze and smelled apples.
‘Apple?’
The carriage rolled over a soft hill, and the road continued through an orchard.
Madam J.D. reached her hand out, and a nearby branch bent a little, its leaves rustling. And an apple plucked itself from the tree and flew into the wooden hand. She wiped it with her apron and offered it to Rippa.
Rippa examined the apple for a few seconds, then, after a brief hesitation, bit into it. It crunched, and delicious juice filled her mouth as the piece was crushed and ground. After thoroughly chewing, Rippa swallowed. ‘Shit, this is real.’
Rippa looked to the sides. She could see the green landscape through rows and columns of apple trees. The shade cast by the passing trees felt cool and nice.
“You are not going to finish that?” Buttons’ voice interrupted Rippa. She was pointing at the apple in Rippa’s hand.
“Ah, erm… Here,” Rippa gave the apple to the kid, who took it eagerly and devoured it very quickly.
Madam J.D. leaned across and wiped Buttons’ face with a clean handkerchief.
Rippa remained silent, looking ahead.
The carriage emerged from the apple trees, but now entered another orchard. This time, oranges.
“We are halfway there,” Buttons informed her.
They had been riding for about five minutes. It was slowly dawning on Rippa. She was feeling the weight of the sheer scale.
“Buttons… This place isn’t a holodeck, is it?”
“What’s that?”
Rippa fell silent.
“You will see my home soon,” Buttons went on, oblivious to Rippa’s internal upheaval. “It’s just after the grapes and the olives.”
Rippa kept silent for the rest of the ride. When the carriage was passing through the olive orchard, she could see, through the trees, a lake in the distance to the left. Her mind was racing, trying to make sense of all that she was witnessing.
She glanced at Madam J.D. The nanny had a peeled orange on her lap and was feeding Buttons one piece after another. Rippa was overwhelmed, but to these aliens, this was just… home. And also, ‘why so human?’