Chapter 747: Small breakfast party.
Everyone was in a good mood that morning because of the good news that all they wanted to do was celebrate. Sunshine told the children to list every snack from the space that they wanted. Frankly, she was indulging herself more than them.
She had pulled off a miracle and she deserved to feast! The air in the house felt lighter than it had in months, vibrating with a rare, jittery kind of joy. Sunshine leaned against the kitchen counter, watching the chaos with a soft smile.
"We should throw a breakfast party." Earl suggested.
"Party yay," Castiel screamed.
White mimicked him, roaring like a whale under the sea.
Ariel sighed, "Mom has to do her training," He reminded his younger brothers. She had long explained her frequent absences, and he knew what was at stake more than Castiel and Earl.
But Sunshine was a mother who had missed her children. "Look, I can spare some hours for this party," she announced, checking the holographic chronometer on her wrist. "But three hours at most. Like Ariel said, I have training to get back to."
Hades, who was currently wrestling with a stubborn container of synthetic whipped cream, grinned over his shoulder. "Babe, that is all the time we need. Better yet, we don’t have to waste a second on prep. We’ve got cooked food and enough ready-to-eat snacks. Let’s set up and dig in."
Sunshine could not have agreed more. Soon, the dining table began to groan under the weight of everyone’s favorites. There were savory tarts, cake, sweet treats, steaming bowls of noodles, pancakes, jello’s, ice cream, milk, bread, cakes and then, the showstopper.
"Black hole donuts!" Castiel screamed, his voice hitting a pitch that probably shattered glass in the next room. He lunged for the tray of black, gravity-defying pastries that seemed to absorb the light around them. "Mommy, you’re the best!"
"Do not get used to it, too many sweets are bad for your teeth," she winked.
Tank, always the silent pillar of the group, started moving chairs and setting the table with a focused intensity, as if he were preparing for a tactical mission rather than a brunch. "Napkins on the left, forks on the right. Symmetry is important for digestion," he muttered to himself.
Just as they were about to dig in, Hades wiped his hands on a cloth and stepped toward the wall. "One more surprise," he said, his eyes glinting with mischief. He pushed a button on a remote, and the massive screen hissed to life.
Sunshine’s eyebrows shot up. "Hades, you know the rule. Watching TV during family dinner is strictly forbidden. It kills conversation and makes the kids eat like zombies."
"Trust me babe," Hades said, stepping back and folding his arms. "You are going to want to watch this. It’s a special broadcast."
The screen flickered, showing a brightly lit studio. It had the kind of set up one saw with morning news desks. Sunshine was mid-sip, but she almost choked on her milk when she saw the two figures on screen. It was Zulu and Lisha.
"Live TV?" she sputtered, coughing and wiping her chin.
Hades laughed and nodded. "Yes, it is back and this is the hottest show in the base."
On the screen, Zulu with a personality several sizes too large for her feathered body, was preening her multicolored wings. She looked directly into the camera with an expression of pure, unadulterated vanity.
"And that," Zulu squawked, her voice booming through the speakers, "is why my plumage is statistically more attractive than 99% of the ’fashions’ I see walking around Westbrook. Honestly, Lisha, how do humans live like this? You have no feathers, no natural sheen, and your skin looks like wet dough."
Lisha, sitting in the chair opposite her, looked like she was counting to ten in her head. "Zulu, we are supposed to be discussing the ecological integration of mutated pets, not your ego. And for the record, humans have skincare routines, but the apocalypse has made items scarce."
"Skincare?" Zulu let out a piercing, mocking laugh. "You mean you rub chemicals on your face because your biology failed you? Pathetic. Let’s look at the facts. Humans have two legs_ slow. I have two legs and wings_ fast. Humans eat with metal sticks because their mouths aren’t built for efficiency. I have a beak. A built-in multi-tool! If evolution were a race, humans would still be looking for their shoes at the starting line."
Lisha’s eye twitched. "We built the studio, Zulu. We built the camera. We built the chair you are currently hopping on and all the technology in this base! Without humans you would not be able to rebuild the world."
"Schematics!" Zulu waved a wing dismissively. "You build things because you are physically inadequate. You’re like a species of hairless monkeys trying to compensate for the fact that you can’t even fly to the top of a tree to get a decent snack. You’re loud, you’re clumsy, and you smell like anxiety."
The studio audience gasped, and Lisha finally snapped. "At least I don’t spend three hours a day screaming at my own reflection in a polished spoon!"
"That spoon was looking at me funny!" Zulu shrieked back.
The show devolved into a chaotic mess of flapping wings and Lisha trying to shield her face from flying feathers. One hand was out, trying to slap away the parrot. Sunshine laughed so hard she had to lean on Tank for support. "I knew it! I said at one point those two would fight while the whole world watched."
"It’s the only show everyone watches and enjoys," Hades said, helping himself to a black hole donut. "It’s high-stakes comedy. People are betting on whether Lisha will actually buy a birdcage by the end of the season."
Sunshine wondered who was collecting the bets so that she could also add her own. "What other shows do you have lined up?"
"Music." Cassius answered. "And a play. And..and..and..." He was just too interested on the doughnuts and ice cream. In fact, he was dipping the doughnuts in the ice cream.
"News." Ariel shared. "Normal news, with real anchors, not Zulu and Aunt Lisha. There is an educational program on mutated beasts. Footage compiled from what the drones capture on the world outside. Food and lifestyle within the base...things like that."
"I need a medical program to be added." Earl said.
As they talked, filling her in on what she had missed, she ate with a smile. The breakfast party was about to end when a sharp ping echoed in her mind. An alert from the system. [Nine and Vortan request an immediate meeting in the Space.]
Sunshine sighed, her shoulders dropping slightly. "Duty calls," she told the group. "Nine and Vortan want to see me. I’ll be back safely, I promise. Save me a donut, I have not eaten any."
She moved to the space. Hardly had she materialized, when a blur of limbs slammed into her.