Page 29 of The Champion
“I’m not surprised. It’s tradition in the Northlands to be named after great people of the past. I’m named after a mythical goddess. It’s the same with my brother Thor.”
“He’s named after a goddess?” Ada asked with a subtle smile.
I laughed and shook my head. “He’s named after a fierce god of thunder. I know who Albert Einstein was, but I’m afraid that the name Lovelace doesn’t ring a bell.”
Albert answered for his sister. “Ada was the daughter of a scandalous author called Lord Byron. She was supposedly a genius mathematician and the first computer programmer.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of Lord Byron, but I’m sure he died before the computer was invented, didn’t he?” I said just as Shelly came to greet me.
“Are you talking about why we named Ada after Ada Lovelace?”
“Yes.”
“It’s because that woman is my hero. She wrote an algorithm for a computing machine back in the mid eighteen hundreds long before computers were invented.” Shelly’s long brown hair tickled my nose as she hugged me. “I’m happy to see you looking so well, Freya. Your father was sure the French would corrupt your innocent soul if you stayed here by yourself. He demanded that Marco rush here to save you from the French debauchery.” Shelly’s laughter was heartfelt. “I told him I’ve studied sex for a living and would be interested to hear what you have found out so far.”
“Mom!” Ada shook her head and frowned.
“It’s true. Studying sex was how your father and I got together.”
“Yes. We’ve heard the story of how Dad mistook you for a sex-bot about a million times.”
“He did what?” I looked to Marco. “I didn’t know that.”
Marco smiled. “It’s true, but those are stories for a different time. I think they want us to follow them.”
The French delegation members and the scientists who had come to welcome Shelly and her family were gesturing for us to come along. Beside them were hover boxes carrying the luggage from the Polo family.
“We’re taking you to see your accommodation,” Celeste said and waited for us to catch up to her. “It’s in the Blue Tower where we live as well.”
Shelly kept pointing to things and made outbursts of excitement as we walked through the city. “I’ve always wanted to visit France and see the city of colors for myself.”
“The city of colors, is that what you call France now?” Isaac asked.
“Yes. Oh my, I can see through that woman’s dress.” Shelly’s eyes widened as she stared at a slender woman walking in the opposite direction. As soon as Shelly changed direction, Marco caught her elbow.
“No, you’re not telling her that her dress is see-through. Let someone else do it. We just arrived and if you’re going to address everything that is different from what we know, we’ll never make it to the apartment.”
“But if the poor woman doesn’t know…” Shelly insisted.
Celeste looked from Shelly to the woman and back again. “What’s wrong with a see-through dress? I have a few at home myself.”
“Oh.” Shelly blinked her eyes. “I just thought that… ehm… you know, that she would be embar…”
Marco cut off Shelly. “Cold. You were concerned that she would be cold, right?”
Shelly opened her mouth to speak, but Ada was quick to support her father. “Yeah, our mother is always concerned that we’re cold. It’s not that the dress isn’t lovely.”
It was clear that Shelly’s family were trying to help her avoid a cultural blunder, but it didn’t help.
“No, I thought that she might be embarrassed to walk around half naked like that.”
The French exchanged glances, but it was Isaac who answered. “Why would she be embarrassed? Nudity is natural. I thought you would agree since you’re a Motlander.”
“Sure, it’s natural. But flaunting your body in public isn’t done in the Motherlands.”
“Have you seen any yellow roses?” Marco asked Shelly and from the way her expression changed I wondered if yellow roses had a special meaning to them.
“No, have you?”
