THE MOMENT
"I need help with something. If you can, please," Tama asked. She needed to visit Turbo in his workshop because he hadn't been showing up to school. He stood next to a table cluttered with cubes of colored light; but, he put his tools down when Tama entered.
"Sure, if it won't take too long," he nodded. "What's up?"
"I need something to kill humans, and only humans," she said. Turbo chuckled and tilted his head at her.
"That's a specific request," he said. "I'm going to need to ask why." Tama nodded.
"It's a project for Duchess' class. We need to develop an Earth; but, she said we'd get extra credit if we can do it with no humans."
"Ohh," Turbo nodded. "Sure. I can do that with my zombie nanos," he said.
"Thank you!" Tama said; but, Turbo shook his head.
"Won't do you any good though," he added.
"Why not?" Tama asked.
"Did she say that monster races and fae were okay?" Turbo asked. Tama nodded.
"Yes, we have to develop at least one society to the information age. I have a variety of orcs and elves already that I'd like to keep safe." Turbo shook his head.
"It's a trick, that extra credit is impossible," he said.
"Why is it impossible?"
"'Cause, 'human' is like the default," Turbo shrugged. "Orcs, elves, dwarves, vampires, every race is just a fancier body for a human soul. Once life starts on an Earth, there will always be humans. Especially if other races already exist."
"Oh," Tama nodded. "I understand, may I have the zombie nanos anyway?" she asked.
"Sure," Turbo said. He flicked his wrist upward and summoned a slate over the table. A translucent red visor appeared over his eyes as soon as he placed his hands on the slate. He began to type on it and a small golden cube appeared on the table. Tama stepped closer out of interest, she had never watched an engineer work.
She watched a stream of information flow by in his visor from the outside as his fingers danced on the smokey grey glass. She realized she wasn't going to make sense of any of the words and focused on the cube. The golden glow transitioned to bright green and the cube shrunk a little bit.
"Safe for Elves and Orcs, anything else?" he asked.
"No, thank you," Tama shook her head. "The other races are not important."
"'Kay," Turbo nodded. His fingers continued to move on the slate for several more minutes. Tama watched the cube continue to shrink and change shape. Finally, it took the form of a small glass vial filled with glowing green liquid.
"And, done," Turbo said. He flicked his wrist to dismiss the slate and his visor disappeared at the same time. He grabbed the glass vial and handed it to Tama.
"I removed the four-hour limit and made it fatal to humans. Orcs and Elves can still get infected but they'll survive with lighter, shorter symptoms." He also gave her a translucent red node along with the vial.
"Use this when you release them and the virus won't be able to Traverse."
"Thank you!" Tama accepted the node and the vial.
"But, why?" Turbo asked.
"Having no humans is worth the most extra credit; but, I can still earn some points for having the least amount of humans for the least amount of time. I will babysit the Earth for some time before I turn it in."
"Sounds thrilling," Turbo chuckled. His comment was filled with obvious sarcasm and Tama giggled too.
"The only lesson I have learned so far is that God must be very bored."