The orange line at the bottom of her thoughts blinked and turned a solid red.
The red line wrapped around itself and formed a pyramid that began shaking side to side. It slipped beside various other shapes, each with their own personalities.
The little red pyramid hopped and shook there amidst the other notions.
What's that? she thought.
A cube of soft yellow words zoomed in and took up the prominant real estate of her attention. The words in the cube highlighted and sharpened as each was being considered. A voice, much like her father's, calmly filled her head.
Thanks for asking LizBeth! The bottom orange line blinks to red when a dangerous backlog of updates are waiting in the queue.
For you, over 32 thousand updates are waiting to be infused.
Your last update was 1554 days ago on July 5th, 2043 at 02:27 Standard Meridian Time (SMT).
That's when you accepted Convene's terms and conditions which requires you to accept periodic infusions to keep your instance functioning safely and properly.
Please double-blink and keep your left eye open for 10 seconds to personally accept the updates on your own accord. Otherwise, for your safety and the safety of everyone else, Convene will automatically install all pending updates to your instance within the next 48 hours.
Chelsea, what's going on? How do I turn this thing off?
Apologies, but Chelsea isn’t available right now. Would you like to imply Nathan instead?
I don't want to bother him. He's been like a saint, fixing all my stupid technical issues lately. I want to ask Chelsea this time.
What do you need mom?
Nathan, I was asking Chelsea. How did I get you instead? This thing’s all messed up and I don't know how to get rid of it. They're just wanting to be all up in my business! I just want to be left alone.
Did you double blink on the green line at the bottom?
What green line? There's no green line.
The short green line at the bottom. Look down, do you see it there on the left? It should be green since you promised me you would update last time.
Isn’t there a way for you to see my icons?
No. And they're called “notions” now, mom, not “icons”. I don’t have the credits to see your instance. So do you see the green line at the bottom?
I see a red circle that looks like it's spinning, and a red square that is kind of hopping and…
Not really!? You still haven’t infused your updates!?
I don't know, they used to be other colors, then they turned red.
Mom! I'm in the middle of class! I can't consider you right now!
Chelsea? I was thinking about Nathan. They said that you weren't available so I thought of Nathan. We were just talking.
“Conferring with”, mom, “thinking about”.
Conferring with Nathan, Chelsea. I didn’t want to interrupt you.
Well, you got through to me somehow anyway, but... I'm sorry Dr. Shoepenhaur, I'm conferring with my mom right now.
No worries Mx Chelsea, just blink back in when you're done, I'll retain what you've missed and you can infuse it later.
Thank you Dr. and again I apologi…
…
Did you think mute mother?
Nathan? You're back! No, Chelsea started talking and then you started talking. I did wish they would shut up while you were talking.
“Implying”, mom, not talking, and don’t use those phrases, they don’t feel right.
What phrases?
I’m not sure, but I felt something. Anyway, when those shapes at the bottom show up, you need to blink them.
Even the clowns?
You've got clowns? How long have you been ignoring the clowns! You don't have any credits, do you?
That's what I mean. The only reason I'm here is because I lost my meal credits somewhere in my files. I can't find my files, I think.
Don't think that mom! It will delete your files if you think that!
I think I already did, Nathan. How do I get my meal credits back?
Think about Convene, then Settings, then Administrator and think Worthiness and think Credits and then sort by relevance, then you'll see Meal right below Breath and Movement or Circulation, I think, what version are you.
I can't find Settings.
Just hold that thought and let up. What version are you?
I don't know what version I am Chels…Nathan. Last time I just tried to print it out and put it under my cushion, but it didn't work.
How do you “print” things out? What does that even mean?
I saw an ad on The Village that said I could print things if I clicked on...
You “considered” an ad, and the ad “implied” you could print, mom, and “blinked” on...
Ok, whatever, and blinked on this icon...
It's called “notion” now mother...
… that inferred I could install one of those printers like I used to have.
“Implied”! And you didn't blink on the notion, did you?
Yes, I think I did.
Justin H. Trudeau, mother! Don't blink on those notions! We always tell you never to blink on those notions, mother! No wonder you don't have any credits!
That's not why! I haven't had my credits for over a month now. Now I’m completely out of meal, I think.
You would know if you were out of meal.
How?
I’m not sure, maybe you’d feel hungry or something.
Couldn’t Convene just tamp that down? How would I even know?
I’m not a philosopher mother. How can it be that you don’t have any credits?
I was thinking about how things used to be, how I could go to friends’ houses and talk about things, like how people were actually doing and what they actually thought about things and we would disagree and drink wine and tell stories and joke around and remember each other's kids and the trouble they got into, and stuff like that, and then I got a little hungry and my meal credits were gone.
Chelsea, your mother brings up some important perspectives that I think we could all learn from.
Mother! Quit blinking! I'm in class! I'm so sorry Dr. Shoepenhaur, I'm so sorry everyone.
...
Dr. Shoepenhaur?
Where did he go?
I don't know, Kyle. He's just gone.
Chelsea, how is it possible that Dr. Shoepenhaur can imply your Mom? Aren’t Others blocked by default?
I don't remember, Kyle. He must have worked the maths and got access to her blocks.
That's creepy. I thought the maths were tighter than that. Those are pretty much the keys to everything.
It depends on her backlog of updates and his credits. You’re granted better functions as you…
We all know that, Mary!
I just thought Liz might not understand, Laura.
What is everybody talking about?
There is no good reason why you shouldn’t know this stuff by now, Liz.
She hasn't infused in a really long time, Kyle. There are probably a whole lot of things she can't remember because they haven't been infused yet.
Nate, did someone say that she's seeing orange lines now?
Clowns.
Oh no!
Right?
That means she's a leak!
Right.
You boys are talking about me right here in my head!
Mother!
.Mom!
. . Liz!
. . . Mx Locke!
What did I say?
The "b" word, Mx Locke.
What "b" word?
Oh My Word!
. Holy Trudeau, Mom!
. . Mother?
. . . Old people.
. . . . This is serious, Mx. Locke.
I have no idea what you all are implying.
Consider this your official notice of terms violation. This is your first and final warning. Any further consideration of mislisted, dislisted, or mallisted notions will result in immediate and permanent isolation.
You just sound like my father, and if you knew anything at all, you'd know I didn’t take shit from him either!
Mx Locke?
Yes, Dr. Sloppenhapper?
This is extremely serious. You absolutely MUST infuse your updates immediately! Your singleton hasn't been infused for such a long time that your glossary is woefully out of date. Bibliophage has probably not culled your whitelist for months or years. Who knows what else is out of date. We all probably didn't even know what the "b" or “s” words were ourselves until you just now inferred them.
“Implied”
. “Implied”
. . “Implied”
. . . “Implied”
. . . . “Said”
. . . . . “Implied”, said all highly credited Others convening.
Sorry, implied. Now we all know those words and see they've got a clown-level notion! Even though the rest of us are all moral citizens and so have been properly updated, we still implied… inferred your obsolete safeword entries, so we're all vulnerable to your legacy safewords. Therefore, I want to publicly confirm to Convene, and to Mockingbird at large, that I disavow any acknowledgment or use of any de-listed word I might have infer...
…
Where'd he go, mom? What's Mockingbird? And, so, ya, I won't think those words eith...
Me neith...
…
Hello? Anyone? Hello? Chelsea?
…
I hope you write again soon. I love this
This style is not my normal style of writing. It was a sudden idea that I fleshed out pretty quickly.
I hope you can excuse the edits and multiple notices of updated publishing. I'm learning Substack's way of doing things.