Page 18 of Thalen

“Oh, I’m not attached to any of it or anything. They’re just basic, sturdy stuff I had replicated so I had stuff.”

“Well, if you’re sure,” I said.

“Look, Dad!” Jason called out. “There’s a swinging bench on the porch! And a rocking chair!” He plopped his butt into the rocking chair, Benny in his arms as he began to rock. Benny licked his face, happy for the attention.

Thalen and I went up onto the porch, and I admired the swing. It definitely looked large and sturdy enough for the pair of us to sit on together, and I was already imagining us out here at night after Jason went to bed, gently swinging while holding hands, looking out over our crops under the light of the three moons. It was so romantic I could just die. I’d always been a huge romantic guy at heart, and too shy to do anything about it. Not that anyone had stepped forward wanting to sweep me off my feet. More like take me dancing or out to dinner and then bend over. I’d stopped accepting phone numbers after that, and truly, the whole find your perfect soul mate if he’s out there and was a Dragonii thing was one of the reasons I knew applying for a colony parcel was perfect for me. I’d told myself not to get my hopes up, but then, bam! Another of my three wishes had been granted. A kid, a farm, and a husband to call my own.

He opened the front door, and it was like stepping into an alternate past. There was a large, empty living room space with an empty room to one side that I guessed was either an office space or meant for a dining room. Another door off to the side turned out to be a half bath.

“The dining room used to be my bedroom,” Thalen said. “And they took the shower out of here to put in a closet for towels and stuff.”

“And the bedrooms are now on the other side,” I guessed.

“Yes. Four bedrooms and three more bathrooms. There used to be a second bedroom on this side, but when they remodeled the kitchen, they used part of it for the kitchen and part of it for a pantry.”

“Very roomy,” I murmured, wandering back towards the kitchen.

I stopped dead. What I was looking at was so kitschy it was cute!

“I absolutely love it!” Running my hand over the Formica topped dinette that sat next to the door on one side, I simply had to ask, “Where on earth did you guys find one of these in such mint condition? Is it a repro?”

“It’s replicated.”

“Well, it is absolutely fantastic. I can see us having breakfast here every single morning and using it to roll out pie crust and stuff like that.”

He looked relieved that I was so happy with everything that I couldn't resist going over and placing a kiss along the underside of his jaw. “I can tell a lot of thought and effort went into making this homey for me and Jason.” He stared at me wide-eyed when I stepped back, so I decided to let him get over being flustered by going over and checking out the retro fridge and stove.

“Huh. These are more replications, aren’t they?”

“Yes.” He cleared his throat. “They use the most advanced applications of galactic tech, so they are high performance. They are crystal powered, so don’t require an external power source.”

“What happens with these crystals when they have to be replaced?”

He blinked. “Each one lasts five hundred years or so, which means what they are powering will wear out first. They are then repurposed into powering a new unit. If they develop a fault and need replacing, such as when they become too old and brittle and lose their ability to self-recharge, they simply become inert stones.”

Talk about being energy efficient and eco friendly!

The fridge was very roomy on the inside, and had a butter compartment inside of the door that, when I placed my hand on it, felt warm.

“That keeps the butter at optimal temperature. Cool enough not to spoil and warm enough to spread.”

I noticed the top two shelves were lazy susan style and the bottom one was a pull out glasteel one on bearings. Two drawers nestled beneath, one marked ‘crisper’ and the other ‘meat and cheese’. I closed the fridge door and peered into the freezer on top. It was large enough to hold a week’s worth of frozen meat and some veggies, and maybe a tub of ice cream and an ice cube tray.

I shut it, nodding to myself, already thinking about how I’d make use of the kitchen as I was bound to be more helpful here than I was in the fields, though I definitely saw myself out there doing my bit.

Then I spied something set in the wall over the dinette. “Ohh! A replicator!” Forget ice cube trays, that bad boy was all we needed to make ice cold drinks and anything else we wanted. It was definitely going to get used on nights I didn’t feel like cooking, too.

I darted back to the stove, loving how it looked so vintage. I lifted what I thought was a forgotten pot lid and was excited to see it actually belonged to a pot set into the stove. “A built in crock pot!” I said. “And a griddle,” I added, running my fingers over the middle. The griddle had a handle at the base, which I lifted up. “Oh! I’ve seen something like this on a homestead video I watched! That’s for grilling sausage, burgers, and bacon, and you can do it while cooking the pancakes at the same time!”

“It’s good?” he asked, shifting from foot to foot.

“Oh, babe, it’s better than good. It’s supercalifragilisticexpialidocious fantastisco, it’s so great!”

“It’s a stove,” Jason said, sounding unimpressed.

“But one we can make pancakes on top of!” I insisted.

He perked up at that. “We’re having pancakes?”