is a weekly serial. While it is a work of fiction, it has elements from both my own experiences and stories I’ve heard from various people. The characters, while in some cases inspired by real people, aren’t directly modeled on anyone in particular. I expect there will be inconsistencies and factual errors. I don’t know where it is going, and I’ll probably forget where it’s been. Why am I doing this? To give me an excuse and a deadline for some creative writing and because I thought people might enjoy it. Gozatu!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nHe approached the table. Before he got there, Latxe looked up. \u201cKepa!\u201d she greeted him enthusiastically. \u201cHow did you sleep?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGood,\u201d admitted Kepa. \u201cUm\u2026\u201d he began and paused. \u201cCould I talk to you for a minute?\u201d He looked at the other two at the table. \u201cIn private?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Latxe shrugged and stood up. She and Kepa walked a few steps away. \u201cZer gertatzen da?\u201d she asked. \u201cWhat\u2019s up?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kepa looked sheepishly at his feet. \u201cI\u2026 I can\u2019t figure out how to use the toilet,\u201d he mumbled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Latxe smiled, explained to him how the pod worked, and let Kepa find his way back to his room. A few moments later he returned, completely groomed and refreshed. He sat at the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat was amazing!\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d asked the other woman. She was blond, with her hair cut short and various patterns that didn\u2019t mean anything to Kepa cut into the stubble. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe toilet!\u201d exclaimed Kepa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The woman looked at Latxe. \u201cWhat\u2019s he on about?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s never seen one of our pods before,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSeriously?\u201d asked the man, who was probably shorter than Kepa but much more muscular. He had longer dark hair that fell past his shoulders. \u201cWhere did you come from where you didn\u2019t have a pod?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe countryside\u2026\u201d began Kepa before Latxe interrupted him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been away for many years, in what used to be the United States, living off the land and all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The man nodded as if he understood. \u201cThat\u2019s cool!\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve always thought about trying that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kepa looked around the room. \u201cWhat happened to the door we came in?\u201d he asked, noticing there was just a blank wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s gone,\u201d said Latxe matter of factly. \u201cLike it never existed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow?\u201d stammered Kepa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNanobots,\u201d said Latxe. \u201cThey are everywhere, they build everything and destroy everything. They clean up our waste. They tend our gardens. They do everything.\u201d She held up a small tablet about the size of her palm. \u201cWith this, we can control a small cluster of them, within a few meters. We can get them to do what we want, like create a door out of nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd make it disappear,\u201d added the other woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWow!\u201d said Kepa, just staring at the blank wall. \u201cThis time is so amazing!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Latxe, the woman, and the man exchanged questioning glances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis time?\u201d asked Latxe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you get this post via email, the return-to address goes no where, so please write blas@buber.net<\/a> if you want to get in touch with me.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kepa wasn\u2019t sure what time it was when he woke up. If there was a way to access the time in his room, he couldn\u2019t find it. And, while he suspected the pod next to his cot was meant to help him with his\u2026 bodily functions\u2026 he couldn\u2019t figure it out either. He approached his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2640,864],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa","category-bubers-basque-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/maite-and-kepa-v2-01.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-1rs","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5547,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5546\/revisions\/5547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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