Ken and Karen were waiving the floating 3-D display controls in their caddies, catching up with news events and then took time to play with the virtual mobiles again. The mobile icons changed between turtles, birds, balls, and other items when the infants touched them. Their baby caddies were equipped with 3-D holographic-projectors that extended from the top and bottom of the frame to project 3-D images and detect motions, and the only thing they needed was a portable tablet the docking socket below each of them.
“Access, app, change theme, shapes,” commanded Ken to his mobile app from his CCVS. Suddenly different colored shapes appeared on the virtual mobile, replacing the previous icons. Ken had always started his youngest children with geometric shapes before teaching them common objects. He thought they would be good for redeveloping his own visual cortex too. Karen looked over and discovered the shapes not only changed shapes, but they also changed randomly into different colors when touched and so she ordered her mobiles app to duplicate Ken’s.
The door chimed a high-pitched arpeggio when the consultant and her chauffeur parked their vehicle and started pacing up the sidewalk. In obedience of the new courtesy culture that had taken shape since doors could do that, Emily Trudeau got up and waited for the right time to open the door and greet the guests.
In came a 9-year-old girl pulling the handle of her carrying case on wheels, nearly as tall as her and printed with her logo and her name, “Maribel McMillan, Regenerate Consultant.” Shortly behind came in her chauffeur, her own surrogate mom, Sheri Valdez. She pulled two identical cases to that of the little Ms. McMillan and carried in her arm what looked like a rolled up child-size mattress. Almost comically, they both had the same businesslike, slight, aristocratic gait as they walked in the house. However, they revealed their true, friendly demeanor when they came to greet Mrs. Trudeau, almost as if they were long, lost, close relatives.
Maribel was wearing a pair of classic relaxed-fit bluejeans, a mint green silk turtleneck sweater, and fresh white tennis shoes with a pink version of that timeless Nike Swoosh. Being one of the last of the Baby Boomer Generation, she had always loved jeans. Her mom was wearing a gray and pink workout outfit and she looked fit enough to suggest the outfit got plenty of use. After the three of them finished gathering the cases and mattress into a corner of the living room, hugging, and kissing, Maribel’s surrogate mom crouched down and told her quietly, but audibly enough to be heard by the baby couple, that she would miss her this week and she loved her. Her hands gently held Maribel’s arms and Maribel smiled back. Then, Ms. Valdez went to greet Ken and Karen and say a final goodbye to Emily before returning back to her car.
Maribel was going to be a resident consultant for the week.
Emily thanked the mom for her help, and Maribel for coming out here, and Maribel returned the thanks to Emily, addressing her as “Ms. T,” saying she loved the opportunity to meet the Hendersons. Then it was Maribel’s turn to greet Ken and Karen, who had long since turned off their mobiles apps out of courtesy.
“Hello, remember me? … yes? … I was there to greet you shortly after you two were born.”
“We remember,” said Karen’s CCVS, “we were awake just long enough. You are Maribel.” Maribel happened to be in the still holographic-photo taken by the press to announce the birth of the world’s first, married, regenerate couple. Not only were they the first couple to undergo the regeneration procedure at the same time, they were the first regenerate fraternal twins and also celebrities in their own rights. Ken Henderson was the founder and long-since retired ex-CEO of Starball Enterprises, the company responsible for putting computer programming in the hands of every man woman and child around the world, effectively obsoleting most of the expensive computer programmers of the world. He was always affectionately named, “The Geek To End All Geeks.”