“Hello, Sadie Mantry.” It had a voice that sounded fake, and you could tell that it had prerecorded words to say, but I didn’t care. I could finally get out on my own and fly to other planets like all my friends.
“Hello, what is your name?”
“My name is Mabel.”
“Hello, Mabel! What is the traffic like in space right now?” Before I could finish my question, my computer started to change in front of my eyes. Mabel’s screen now looked like a real persons face! As I marveled at this change, she began to speak to me and answer my question. There wasn’t really anything strange about that—except for the fact that her voice sounded like a normal human being’s voice. As she rattled on about how there was a crash on intersection 23 and a jam-up near the landing gate around planet Jupiter, I couldn’t help but notice that it seemed like she was a real, living thing.
She and I talked awhile about whatever came to mind, and then I walked down the ramp towards my father. His green eyes twinkled as I hugged him tightly. I asked him if I could take my new present for a spin, and he said that was fine. I hugged him one more time, and then climbed into my ship. My first take-off in a new ship went surprisingly well, but part of that was probably because this was a much nicer and easier-to-handle ship than the ones I practiced on.
Flying was smooth for awhile, but then I decided to fly over to a planet where my friends were. That turned out to be a bad idea, because the planet was Jupiter, and I had forgotten all about Mabel’s warning. Mabel automatically recognized the problem and took over through autopilot. Now I was convinced; she had become alive, as had the whole ship. “Mabel, you are alive, aren’t you?”
“Yes, Sadie. I have been alive ever since they created me, but unfortunately I have had to hide that until you accidentally discovered it. You see, whenever anyone says, ‘Hello, Mabel’, they awake my life whether or not I want them to. You are the second person ever to discover it.” Suddenly, the way that she changed made sense; she had only changed after I had said hello to her! “Promise you won’t tell or show anyone unless they can for sure be trusted? If I am found out, all of the ships that are like me will be discovered, and we will probably not be used for the correct purposes.”
“Of course,” I said. I meant it too, because after that incident, Mabel was my best friend, and we have had many adventures together.