Artificial Insecurities

Chapter 21

I leaped off of Daniel's hand onto the coffee table in the center of the house. We left the treehouse so everyone could get breakfast. I sat on the table while everyone got either toast or cereal. Alan laid on the recliner behind me.

John came over with a bowl of cereal and Alex followed soon after with a plate of toast. Daniel decided to not have anything for breakfast today. John opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it. They ate in mostly silence, the constant sounds of me messing around kept getting attention.

Once they all finished eating Alex and Alan left. We all said our goodbyes and plopped ourselves onto the couch. John turned on a show and we sat there watching it for about an hour or two.

"Is there anything else other than cop shows?" Daniel asked, he sounded a bit annoyed.

"Sadly that's all we have right now." John said, raising his voice just a little to show he's annoyed too.

"What if... we went and drove around in the car for a bit?" I asked, trying to keep the peace.

"That's actually not a half bad idea, Pixel." John half whispered.

"Guess it's decided then, off to the car! Wait, where would we go?" Daniel sat up straight but slowly fell back to his chair.

"Maybe the grocery store, we're running out of cereal." John noted.

"Or maybe a restaurant for some lunch?" I asked. The two friendly giants looked at each other. Daniel looked back at me and nodded.

"I like that idea but if we're going out for lunch then we should go a little later." Daniel answered. John nodded in agreement.

Noon came around pretty quick. We decided to go to the new coffee shop for lunch. I hopped into the chip and we all gathered into the car. John drove and Daniel sat in the passenger seat. I was ok with cars, I just didn't like when we started the car and stopped. The break would always lurch us forward and it always scared me a bit. I was confident in my balance today so I appeared on Daniel's shoulder. I sat down cross legged and held gently on Daniel's shirt collar.

We eventually got to the coffee shop and parked. I disappeared into the chip and we headed inside. Daniel sat in a corner while John ordered food and coffee. Daniel sat down and John came over.

"I got us a turkey wrap and a chicken wrap and of course some vanilla lattes." John spoke. He took the seat across from Daniel. "Hey, I heard Genix Scientific was recently under new management last week." This caught our attention.

"Really, how come?" Daniel responded.

"They became bankrupt and couldn't pay for any more of the experiments. One guy thought it was smart to fire half its workers." John said annoyed, Daniel nodded in agreement.

"What were they doing anyways? The only thing that was actually told about it was that they were studying human genetics." Daniel asked.

"No idea, but Alex's dad used to work for 'em." John replied.

"That's cool." Daniel noted.

"Calling for a John, your order is ready." Called the cashier. John got up to go pick up the food. Daniel shifted in his seat.

"What's up?" I asked.

"For some reason Jerald is here." Daniel whispered into the chip. What is Jerald doing here.

"Oh yeah, I see him now." I murmured. Jerald ordered some coffee and began to look around the shop. He noticed us and began to come forward, that's when I noticed he had a dog with him.

"Hey Daniel, fancy seeing you here." Jerald announced as he approached.

"Yeah... so how's it been?" Daniel asked uncomfortably.

"Pretty good, I was discharged from the hospital a couple days ago. What about you?" Jerald answered.

"Ok, the farm was pretty cool." Daniel responded.

"Nice, so how's Pixel? Is he here?" Jerald inspected the area around us.

"Yeah he's here," Daniel looked nervously at my chip, "he's listening in, kinda."

"So where is he?" Jerald insisted on knowing where I was.

"He's in the computer chip on my shoulder here." Daniel mumbled. Jerald peered closer at my chip, it was a little frightening not being able to look away.

"Oh yeah, hi Pixel!" Jerald said a bit quietly but enthusiastically.

"Hello!" I said. I forgot he couldn't hear me.

"Pixel says hi by the way." Daniel told Jerald. Jerald looked a little confused but also surprised that I answered. "Who's this little guy?" Daniel added as he pet Jerald's dog.

"This is George, he is an Australian Shepard." Jerald replied. I noticed John signaling for Daniel to help him pick up the food.

"Hey Daniel, Johns calling for you." I interrupted. Daniel took my chip off his shoulder and placed it on the table.

"Keep Pixel company while I go help John really quick." Daniel handed Jerald the ear piece.

"Me? Sure," Jerald placed the ear bud in. He picked up my chip and inspected it. I could see George sitting patiently on the café floor.

"George seems like a good boy, he seemed to be trained well." I noted.

"Oh, hello there!" Jerald tenced a bit and held the chip still. "Yeah I trained him myself." He relaxed. "So what have you been up to?"

"Testing at the farm and stuff." I replied.

"Cool, cool." Jerald set my chip onto the table. "Say, what were you testing?" Jerald leaned on the table.

"Hologram sizes and, well, that's about it." I would have shrugged if I could.

"Like, you could've... let me rephrase that. You were larger than, well, tiny?" Jerald's eyes widened in wonder and fright.

"You'd be surprised how gigantic I was. John was scared half to death the first time." I laughed at how I acted the first time to. Jerald's mouth nearly hit the table, this soon turned into a quiet fit of nervous laughter.

"Really, John?" He placed his hand over his face. He seemed to smile at the thought. He began to speak again but was soon cut off when Daniel put his hand on his shoulder. Daniel sat down and placed his cup of coffee on the table and sat down.

"What are we talking about?" Daniel asked. John quickly set the wraps down on the table along with his coffee and immediately started petting the dog he had never seen.

"We were just talking about the tests at the farm." Jerald replied. He got up to let Daniel sit down. "Oh yeah, here's the ear piece." Jerald handed Daniel the earbud as he sat down. George thought it was a treat and started getting excited.

"Oh my gosh I love your dog!" John exclaimed, his face buried in fluff.

"George, sit." Jerald pointed to the ground. As instructed, the dog sat back down patiently. Jerald took out an actual treat and gave it to George. "Good boy! He rarely sits the first time."

We all talked for a bit until Jerald had to go bring George to an appointment. It was fun.