Hylozoic Read Online Free PDF Page B

“Enough is enough. The answer is no.”
    â€œBe reasonable, Nektar. This is my new business plan. Electric trees will be a boon to the human race.”
    â€œYou and your boons,” said Nektar. “First the nants, then the orphids, and now the silps. Has it occurred to you that people might be tired of everything changing every year?” Nektar turned to face the others. “Praise Gaia, it’s time to go. I’m ready for a drink. Put your damned tools in the garage, Ond.”
    â€œWould you mind if I tested out my idea on one of
your
trees?” said Ond to Jayjay.
    â€œWhy bother?” said Jayjay. “I’m not even using electricity anymore. Communication is telepathic, computation is silpbased, we can ask our walls to heat or cool our rooms, and the ceiling glows when we need light. When I need to go somewhere I walk or I teleport, I don’t even need an electric car.”
    â€œBut teeking is hard work,” said Ond. “Lots of people still use cars.”
    â€œWith practice teeking gets easier,” said Jayjay. “The power industry is on the way out.”
    â€œThings are changing too fast,” muttered Ond.
    â€œNow you see how it feels,” said Nektar. “Put your toys away and let’s go to the party, Ond.”
    Thuy and her father arrived, looking tense. They were carrying two large trays of Vietnamese appetizers made by Thuy’s aunt under her mother’s direction: damp rice-paper spring rolls, fried pork dumplings, fish balls, and a yellow-and-green gelatin mold with tiny shrimp and shreds of cabbage. Jayjay could hear old Minh’s mumbled parting words echoing in Thuy’s head.
“It’s impossible to teleport a house!”
You could always count on Minh to be a bitch. Becoming disabled had only made her worse.
    â€œEveryone here?” asked Thuy in a bright, brittle tone. She glanced around, counting heads. “Jayjay, Sonic, Jil, Momotaro, Bixie, Chu, Nektar, Ond, Thuy, and Khan. That’s only ten.”
    â€œCraigor and Darlene said they’ll be late,” put in Jil. “Craigor said they’ll make it to your housewarming, though.”
    â€œCraigor and Darlene won’t help us move, but they’re coming to the party?” exclaimed Thuy. “
That’s
a big help. Look, we need twelve people right now. What about Kittie? Where’s she?”
    Nektar sighed. “Lureen Morales hired Kittie to paint a bedroom mural for her. That’s Lureen’s way of getting in her hooks. And Kittie’s all starstruck, she’s watched Lureen for years. It’s disgusting. I’d like to teach that fat whore Lureen a lesson.
Oops
, here they come.”
    Ambling down the hill were Lureen Morales and Kittie Calhoun. Blowsy, busty Lureen was known for her long-running erotic reality show
Caliente
; in the pretelepathy days it had beena video blog. Over the years, Lureen had surgically changed her sex two or maybe three times.
    â€œHello, Nektar,” sang out Lureen, sweetening her voice. She was wearing unbelievably tight jeans and a frilly white top. “When should we schedule that
lesson
you want to teach me? Tonight? Maybe Kittie can help. I’m
such
a slow learner.”
    Kittie guffawed. She was a good-humored, sturdy woman with paint on her sweat clothes and a brilliant blue tattoo on her neck. She’d been Nektar’s girlfriend for the past few months, running a little business out of Nektar’s garage, painting solar cells onto electric cars.
    â€œAll right now,” interrupted Jayjay, eager for the move. “Let’s all get inside our cabin and teleport it!” Jayjay and Thuy had already stowed their few possessions within Vrilla’s rooms. Once they’d moved it to the clearing, they’d be all set.
    Meanwhile, Momotaro, Bixie, and Chu ran inside and began bouncing on the newly made bed. Sonic joined them, big kid that he was. Jayjay,