In the Downs Agriculture Zone, Yassme was testing her latest invention on Hamlet. It was a device that could convert her thoughts into words. It attached to the top of her head and extended down the back of her neck. From there, it attached to a collar. On the collar was a small speaker.
‘Hello, Hamlet,’ said Yassme.
‘Hello,’ replied Hamlet in a deep, slightly robotic voice.
‘Great, we’re off to a good start,’ said Yassme enthusiastically.
‘I’m hungry,’ said Hamlet as her eyes started to bulge a little.
‘Yes, of course,’ said Yassme. ‘Science builds an appetite.’
Hamlet could see Julie approaching with a large wheelbarrow filled with a variety of treats.
‘Just a little something for our brilliant scientists,’ said Julie as she placed the wheelbarrow next to Yassme.
‘Oh, these look yummy!’ said Yassme as she clapped her hands in delight.
‘Help yourself, friend,’ said Julie with a smile. ‘All fresh from my little bakery.’
‘Thank you so much,’ replied Yassme as she picked up a blue and pink striped cake. ‘What would you like, Hamlet?’ she asked as she gestured towards the wheelbarrow.
‘All,’ replied Hamlet as she pushed her face straight into the wheelbarrow.
‘Oh, so sorry,’ said Yassme as she turned to face Julie. Her face had turned red in embarrassment.
‘Not to worry, friend,’ chuckled Julie. ‘Hamlet is a superstar fruit picker. I think she deserves a mega treat once in a while.’
Hamlet’s little friend, fluffy Lily, walked over and began nibbling the treats she could pull past Hamlet’s huge head.
‘Does that magic hat work for fluffy Lily too?’ asked Julie as she watched in joy as the two Sapes passionately enjoyed her cakes.
‘Well, that one is a little big,’ chuckled Yassme. ‘I have another prototype for fluffy Lily. After calibration, it should work just as well.’
Julie had a confused look on her face, but she smiled and nodded.
Yassme frowned and looked a little saddened.
‘This is the most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen!’ said Julie in an excited tone.
‘The others don’t feel the same,’ said Yassme, shaking her head.
‘Hamlet doesn’t need to talk. We already understand her every need,’ continued Yassme in a deep voice in an attempt to mock Orcilla. ‘Your time would be much better spent finding cures for all of our sick.’
‘I think it is better if our smartest residents do different things,’ said Julie. ‘For balance.’
‘Yes, exactly,’ said Yassme with a smile. ‘Yassmay has always been better at chemistry, and I have always been better at physics.’
Julie nodded her head energetically.
‘Would you like to see how I made it?’ asked Yassme as she walked over to Hamlet, who had now finished the treats in the wheelbarrow.
‘Sounds like a lot of fun,’ replied Julie. ‘Yes, I’d love to.’
Hamlet leaned forward, and Yassme unstrapped the device from her head. Hamlet and fluffy Lily ran off together to play.
‘Follow me,’ said Yassme. The two of them walked to the Industrial Zone together.
Phillip was standing outside the laboratory.
‘I’m here to help,’ said Phillip as he briskly walked towards them.
‘Philip has played a huge part in helping me calibrate the…,’ said Yassme as she looked down at the device she was holding, ’mind voice.’
‘She pays me in pizza,’ said Phillip as he turned to look at Julie. ‘I feel it’s a great deal.’
He rubbed his slight potbelly and smiled.
‘You’re looking very well,’ remarked Julie.
Phillip raised his eyebrows up and down.
Yassme giggled as she led them into the building. She walked them up to the third floor laboratory. This is where she had most of her work. Just before she entered the laboratory, they bumped into Daily. He was holding a mug of hot chocolate.
‘Do you know what’s good with hot chocolate?’ asked Daily as he looked at the three of them. ‘Cake!’
‘It is, isn’t it,’ said Yassme as she snatched the mug out of his hands.
‘She had the cake just now,’ added Julie as the three of them walked past Daily.
‘Would be wonderful if you could grab two more mugs of hot choco,’ said Yassme as she pushed the laboratory door open.
Daily chuckled to himself as he walked back to the drinks machine.
Yassme placed the huge mind voice device on her workstation next to a much smaller one.
‘Phillip, are you ready to show Julie what this can do?’ asked Yassme.
‘Put it on me and fire away,’ said Phillip, eagerly rubbing his hands together.
Yassme placed the smaller mind voice device on Phillip’s head.
‘I’m going to ask you a series of questions,’ said Yassme. ‘All you need to do is think of the answer.’
Phillip nodded confidently as his eyes darted backwards and forwards between Yassme and Julie.
‘What colour is this card?’ asked Yassme as she held a card up in front of Phillip.
‘It’s carrot orange,’ replied the mind voice speaker on his head.
‘Great,’ said Yassme as she held up another card. ‘What colour is this card?’
‘It’s sky…. No, artic blue,’ replied the mind voice speaker.
‘Superb, superb. Let’s try pictures now,’ said Yassme as she clapped her hands in joy. ‘Julie, would you like to ask Philip some questions?’
‘Yes, that would be cool,’ replied Julie.
‘Pick any card you like,’ said Yassme as she handed Julie the picture cards.
Julie quickly flicked through the cards. Then she held up a card and asked, ‘Tell me what’s on this card, friend?’
‘Yellow-horned Sape,’ replied the mind voice speaker.
‘Yes, you got it right, mind voice,’ said Julie as she turned to Yassme, who was smiling.
Daily entered the laboratory; he was carrying three mugs of hot chocolate.
‘Now, you’ve seen it work; let me explain the magic,’ said Yassme as she watched Daily place the mugs down on the workstation. ‘Well, science, actually.’
‘Let me guess, it’s a toy with pre-recorded responses,’ chuckled Daily.
‘Take a seat, dear brother,’ said Yassme calmly as she walked over to a table with several devices on it.
Daily sat down next to Julie.
‘This is what I call a mind net,’ said Yassme as she held up a shiny piece of netting. ‘It captures our thoughts when our brain transmits them.’
‘Is this on my head?’ asked the mind voice speaker on Phillip’s head.
‘It is a critical part of the mind voice device,’ said Yassme as she held it over her own head. The mind net began to light up in various places and in different colours. ‘These colours and the placement of these colours represent my thoughts.’
Yassme placed the mind net down on the table and picked up something that looked like a microchip board. ‘This interprets the colours and placements and converts them into words,’ said Yassme. ‘The speaker projects these words for us to hear.’
‘Why do we only hear his thoughts pertaining to your questions?’ asked Daily. ‘Why don’t we hear an endless rambling of thoughts?’
‘There are different types of thoughts,’ replied Yassme. ‘I roughly categorise them as active and passive thoughts. The mind net picks up both, but I have set it to project just the active thoughts. It eliminates much of the noise and protects Phillip’s privacy.’
‘That’s great,’ said the mind voice as Phillip nodded. ‘Do I get an extra piece of pizza?’
‘Absolutely, you will,’ replied Yassme as she patted him on the shoulder.
‘If we didn’t live in a post-apocalyptic world, this invention would be genius,’ said Daily, sounding astonished. ‘How did you even know our brains emitted thoughts in such a way?’
‘Yassmay and I constantly read each other’s minds,’ said Yassme. ‘I figured we must be emitting our thoughts, and because we are twins, we are able to decode them. If we can emit them, maybe everyone else can too. They are just not able to capture or decode them. Turns out, I’m right. Now Sape friends like Hamlet can have a true voice.’
Yassmay poked her head around the laboratory door. ‘Daily, we need you now,’ shouted Yassmay. ‘We have a lot of work to do. There are six new compounds that need testing.’
‘He’ll be done in a moment,’ shouted Yassme back. ‘We’re having a very important discussion about the mind voice device.’
Yassmay entered the laboratory and angrily walked up to the four of them. ‘We’re trying to do serious work. We’re trying to save lives,’ said Yassmay to her sister. ‘I understand you have other priorities, but you can’t take more resources away from these tasks.’
‘Somebody had a soar pear for breakfast,’ said the mind voice device on Phillip’s head.
‘Do you want me to hit you!’ shouted Yassmay as she raised her hand up to Phillip.
Phillip panicked and fell off his chair. The mind voice fell off his head. Phillip rolled up into a ball and shoved a finger up each of his nostrils.
‘What is wrong with you?’ said Yassme angrily. ‘Look what you’ve done to him. Apologise to him immediately.’
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that,’ said Yassmay. ‘I’m tired and stressed.’
Julie helped Phillip back up onto his chair.
‘Hey, you’re a baker, right?’ said Yassmay as she looked at Julie. ‘Chocolate cake with sprinkles would really lift my spirits.’
‘You’ll have to wait until tomorrow,’ said Julie as she crossed her arms. ‘I’m all out of cakes today.’
‘Friend?’ asked Yassmay with a hopeful look on her face.
Julie just looked back at her blankly while keeping her arms folded.
‘Fine,’ said Yassmay softly as she turned to leave.
Yassme followed her out of the laboratory.
‘You need to take a day off,’ said Yassme as she put her arm around her sister. ‘We need to go out and have fun like the good old days.’
‘Yeah, but Orcilla!’ replied Yassmay.
‘She needs a good pranking,’ said Yassme as the two of them began walking down the corridor. ‘When was the last time, seriously?’
‘You used to be the responsible one,’ said Yassmay. ‘Surely not! Have I become boring?’
‘Real boring but just as aggressive,’ interrupted Daily as he came up behind them.
Yassme and Yassmay looked at each other and then looked at Daily. ‘Hot chocolate, please!’ they both said at the same time.
Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time is the sequel to the book Sapien Loop: End of an Era. Sapien Loop: End of an Era is available on Amazon, in collection series on my 
