SOONER THAN YOU THINK

I’ve got 8888 nametags and pens and welcome packets for everyone!” she said.

Sanura floated into The Institute’s 1610 Cafeteria, which was mostly empty at this time of night. On one table, Frf’snrfl, the small and extremely fuzzy white alien who was in charge of student orientation, had set up a sample welcome table. On another, Plikplik, the floating blue culinarian, had set up a table of sample appetizers for the welcome buffet. Sanura smiled at the pair and floated over to inspect.

Frf’snrfl was nearly vibrating. “I’ve got 8888 nametags and pens and welcome packets for everyone!” she said. “Yay! I’m so excited I think I’m going to explode!”

“Boop thppt pop?” asked Plikplik.

“No, not really!” said Frf’snrfl. “If I could really explode do you think I would have waited until now?!”

Sanura, meanwhile, had picked up one of the pens. Topped with a soft gel ball, it had lots of fluffy tendrils which made it puffy. Sanura gently batted it with one paw.

“Cool, huh? I thought they were super-fun! Yay!” said Frf’snrfl.

“Bweop silp tweehoo kip?” said Plikplik.

“Hmmf,” said Frf’snrfl. “Name tags could just be digital, but not everyone is from someplace with lots of technology.”

Plikplik gave her a thumbs’ up and smiled.

Sanura turned her attention to the food samples, which ranged from the mouth-watering to things meant for more alien diets. Going down the table, Plikplik explained each of the offerings in his unusual language, the red cat nodding as he went.

“Pwop bbng sepo,” said Plikplik confidently as he finished. Still holding his last item, he then popped what appeared to be an entire delicious Dutch baby pancake in his mouth, licking his lips with his enormous tongue.

“Awww, you should have let us try it,” cried a visibly disappointed Frf’snrfl.

“Meep blap,” said Plikplik, shrugging.

Frf’snrfl suddenly noticed that at least two of the dishes near her seemed to be moving. “Are these alive? Eeeewwwww!” she said, jumping back.

Plikplik nodded, unbothered by the idea of some of his guests’ needs.

“Well-planned,” said Sanura.

While it seemed like the red cat was pleased with the arrangements, she seemed preoccupied. This was lost on Frf’snrfl, who was too fired up to notice.

“When are our special guests going to be arriving? I can hardly wait! Yay!” she said, jumping up and down.

Sanura smiled knowingly and looked out the giant windows at the horizon over Convergence City. “December 19th,” she said.

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