Watersports

I like the regression in this chapter, it's kind of just a play on words, which is stupid and I love it.  Naomi calling Oliver out with the BBQ Mac and Cheese.  Also putting in the bad history with the potato.  Plus it helps to show how Oliver's job kind of sucks. The chapter was a turning point.  I originally had been considering a dark ending of the book where Earth liberates the littles, only to have them come out of their shells and turn into Nitz super beings and take over Earth from within.  You can see a little bit of that foreshadowed with Collin's rant.  I do like this chapter gave me an opportunity to still explore some of these ideas, but ultimately the artistic themes of the book are inconsistent with such a bleak ending.  There's also some deeper questions the book is exploring with 'who' the bad guys really are. I also love how it showcases how Naomi, Oliver, and Grace think differently about the world, and how their biases cause each of them to jump to a different conclusion from the same limited evidence.  Which one is right?  ╮(╯-╰)╭. Later this week I have some ideas to help boost engagement, mostly just questions about the book that maybe readers can win prizes from?  I haven't thought out what that might be.  If you guys have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please let me know.  Now, please Enjoy Chapter 22. Chapter 22: Putting off getting in line, putting off knowing my place.   May 11th, 2023, Templeton, California - Earth   He thought he had kept a stress ball in his desk, but he could not find it.  Instead, Oliver found himself twirling a pen in his hand as he made his way through e-mails, expense reports, and excel documents for budgets.  His desk was too large, built for practicality rather than appearance.  His office was too small, a holdover from when he was still with a cane and needed to be closer to the ground floor, rather than with the rest of his department on the above floors.  Air conditioning was set to an uncomfortable cold, as the late spring night had continued to bring in storms and moisture and kept away the hotter temperatures until the afternoon.  He wished he could open his window, but the building had been designed against allowing such comforts or control.   Naomi knocked twice on the open door before entering.  She had gotten her hair trimmed short, and was now in a business casual outfit, a far difference from yesterday's white scientist's overcoat.  The knocking caused Oliver to mess up a twirl and lose his pen, he then waved her in.   “It worked Naomi.  Six.  Can you believe it?  I need to come up with ideas for tomorrow when I'm nine.  What are things nine-year-olds do?  Just play Fortnite all day?”   “I'm glad you're having fun, what about the mission, what do we know now we didn't know yesterday.”   That brought Oliver back to Earth, “Uh..., well, did you know you can add barbeque rub to mac and cheese?  It elevates the dish to something magical.”   Naomi paused halfway to his desk, turned her head slightly while placing a hand on her hip, “Yes, Oliver, I did know that.  Did our friend from another dimension teach you anything else?  Maybe some new way to cook collard greens?  Or perhaps he has some opinion on watermelons?”   Oliver frowned, taking the abuse, “Yeah, I kind of deserve that.  But, no, actually I did learn a couple things.  The littles are the source of the tech.”   Naomi came closer and slightly leaned on the chair opposing Oliver's desk but kept a mostly straight posture.  “Littles?”   “The maybe Nitzkies.  I don't think he knows why they came though, or why they abandoned the world”, he got softer, “or why they're all babies now.  I do know the Amazons are keeping them like that, if they have a choice in the matter.”  Oliver turned away, unsure of how to address the real issue that was bothering him.  He just decided to say it.   “It's him.  That's the worst part.  It's him but he's been turned into a monster.”   “Oliver, it's not him.  Your friend was born on Earth, Mr. Young was born on another planet.  It's just a coincidence they look and sound the same.”  Naomi's reassurance was not helping Oliver's demeanor.   “You ever get a visit from your twin on Terra?  Or a letter?”  Oliver asked, it was something many millennials had experienced in the nineties in the first few years after Terra's contact with Earth.   Naomi recounted the visit, “She was old, and I was maybe in kindergarten.  I remember her coming in a wheelchair, being pushed by her grandson.  She gave me the candy and the letter and the usual convergence basket.  I think she was some big wig on Terra... guess so since she made the trip personally. We talked for a bit, and in the end, she said, 'Don't base your life on what I did, go and be your own person.  Don't chase the same love, don't chase the same career.  Do what makes you happy.'”   “I never met my twin.  Not a letter or a candy basket.  Not even a black letter for dad.  I did meet my alternate timeline son though.”  He swiveled a bit in the chair, that was not much of an accomplishment.   “You never said you had family on Terra.  How'd that go?”   “I … it was after I was rescued, and I was still in a Terran hospital when he visited.  He said he was glad his dad hadn't lived to see what I had done.  Took one look at my condition, and then said, he hoped the radiation did enough so he would never be born from me either.”   “I'm sorry,” She shifted gears, “you know if Benjamin's an issue, we can have someone else...”   “I have to do this.  Besides, it's going well.  Naomi, why'd you stop in? What did you actually need?”   “State's coming for the round table session this morning.  Carol Menger.”   Oliver slumped in his chair.  State did not technically have power over I.E.D.R, but could make their displeasure known to the President, who did.  If State was here it meant the council had business with Earth.   “And your boss is coming after lunch.”  Oliver looked at his calendar and saw it again.  That meeting was today.   “When's the part where I do my real job, Naomi?”   “That won't start until you get home tonight and convince the big mean giant that we're nice little hobbits and not toddlers.”  Naomi teased him before turning to leave.  She got to the door when Oliver stopped her.   “Naomi, you said you're not following in your other's footsteps, that you are insisting on being a different person and living your own life, right?” “Yep.  I've broken the chains of destiny, and I'm my own woman, no one else in the multiverse is like me.”  Naomi even did a push with her thumb towards her chest as she said it.   “What does your grandson think of that?” Oliver threw a spear towards her heart.  He did not intend to be cruel, it was just the only thing he could think about.   “Huh?”  Naomi was unsure where Oliver was going.   “The one who will never be born now, what's he thinks of the fact he will never get to meet himself.”   Naomi shook her head and left, leaving the question unanswered.   * * *   The second meeting of the day would be in the large conference room.  The table could easily fit two dozen employees, its center loaded with permanent technological accoutrements for presentations or communication.  Besides a large display on one wall, the rest of the room was adorned with pictures of various sites across the multiverse.  Oliver led Carol in and directed her to a spot near the end of the table, opposite the display typically used for video calls and power points, her chair a simple but tall black office chair.  Behind her was a framed picture of the council chambers, located on Verdant, the dozen chairs in a long semi-circle table.  At the distance the picture was taken, the ambassadors were just a blur of clothing colors and skin tones next to barely visible flags.  After seating Carol, Oliver went and sat at the end, his own seat dwarfed by Earth's crowning achievement – Neil Armstrong bouncing down the lunar lander.   “Just a short meeting today with the Earth based team leads.  Grace is still recovering from her maternity leave, so we haven't done as much off world stuff as we normally do.  I did half the traveling this month, so there is not much point in going over those trips.  Naomi is ramping up for the summer intern program, we actually have some big ideas for it and will need more volunteers.  If it were the start of the month, we normally get some remote check-ins.  The last week of the month we would be planning rotations.  So, this is kind of a good week for you to be here.  We'll have you go last, that way the others don't feel rushed.”   Carol had been politely listening, but her head jumped a bit when Oliver mentioned internships.  The woman had a professional look, light brown hair that ended middle neck, and a blue open coat with a red blouse.  There was not anything remarkable about her appearance, but she put in effort, with a comely fragrance, and simple makeup.  The hair had a soft shine and she did not have any signs of wrinkles or graying despite entering her middle forties.   Carol elected to engage Oliver in small talk, “How does one get selected for an internship?”   Oliver explained it, “It's outsourced to the universities, they filter who they think will be ideal candidates and we just do some additional background checks to make sure they fit our needs.  We only take the 'best of the best of the best.'   Honestly, all we need is an eye-Queue test, plus someone with strong preference for conformity, and that's basically what the colleges filter for these days.  Smart but obedient, but early enough in their career you can dump a load on them without them being wiser to it.  We're not trying to mold the future; we just want to get work done for cheap.  The multiverse is filled with lots of crap jobs that still require a dedicated and focused mind.”   “Not like something anyone can volunteer for or be recommended to.” She hid her disappointment.   “Precisely, we have a brand, many of them will go on onto nice positions in business and government and we want them to have some loyalty, know we helped them get in the ground floor.”  Oliver confirmed her assessment.  As he did so, Naomi and Grace entered the room.  Oliver introduced the two to Miss Menger, and the ladies found spots around the table.  In total five more employees found their way to the room in time for the weekly meeting.  There was a brief period of talking about Grace's new child and personal events before Oliver started the meeting.   “Miguel, why don't you go first with what's going on with media and entertainment.” Oliver directed to the young man to his right.   Miguel pushed himself up in his seat, he was in his late twenties and wore a simple white polo shirt.  He was a little plump and had large glasses under thin black hair.  He rearranged his papers in front of himself, and held up one to read from, “Following up on the 'Everything' movie, in the past two years we have exported the movie to about five hundred near-Earths.  It was nominated for best picture in over four hundred of them.”   Oliver nodded, “I liked that movie, it has Short Round in it.  From 'Temple of Doom'.”  He looked at Carol to see if there was any reaction.  She seemed bored.  She, Oliver, and Naomi were the only three people at the table old enough to remember a time when Indiana Jones was good.   Miguel continued, “That should be sufficient for meeting our obligation to anti-dee-tech propaganda for a while.”  He looked at Carol, “Council should be pleased.  It's a good thing this one was successful, as we over saturated things after the last Nitz campaign.”   No one knew how deep the Nitz incursion had been, only knowing where they had been at their most ambitious.  The council decided to ramp the media campaign up on the 'clean' worlds, just in case the hordes had started a few side projects.   Miguel shifted topics, “Onto the other project, uh, um, 'Danger Zone', I think you labeled it Mr. Swift.”   Oliver nodded, and Miguel went into detail, “Mr. Cruise agreed to come in to help with some of the shots, it was about two days of work total.  The host nation appears genuinely happy with the Cee-Gee-eye we've been shipping them.  I think they'll get a finished movie in the next year.”   Oliver turned to Carol and explained, “We have an exchange going on.  There's a planet with a limited entertainment industry.  We showed the 'America' analogue our 'Top Gun' and they wanted that for themselves.  We've been helping with some of the production.  They have some cool tech, but they don't have a century of special effects expertise to back it up.  Kind of a fun project actually.”   The woman from State turned to Oliver, “And what do we get from this?”  She wasn't accusing, Earth wasn't running a charity business.   “They haven't had World War Two yet.”  Oliver wasn't sure if she was high enough clearance to know the project.   “Then we're not supposed to interfere.”  Probably not then, if she gave the standard line.   “Keyword – yet, Earth just wants to lay some groundwork, so things go easier if the balloon goes up,” Oliver danced around the point, “Miguel, good work on this.  Did the host planet say anything about compensation for the video production?  Not that we need it, but we want them to think we're doing this for money, and not our own reasons.”   “They've given us ten million in their monopoly money.  In real dollars this has cost about five million, but a lot of shots from the last Top Gun were readily available, and we were able to work with a lot of the same teams here on Earth, who had a bunch more unused footage.  In all, a cheap project given the high expected value.”   Miguel went over some other projects, and Oliver made notes to update the internal accounts when he got back to his office.   Oliver then stood up to give his presentation, “Off world travel this past month is down, so we'll consolidate those reports next week.  I'll briefly go over my own travels.  I made a few trips to,” He looked at Carol and picked the word carefully, “Blefuscu, and it's just as dangerous as it's ever been.  There is strong evidence of inflation, and according to our econometricians on the third floor, they believe the enslavement rate has increased two percent in the past year.  They used their fancy modeling to determine that, its clear slavery represents a significant threat to their economy.”   Economics is not a gay science, but a dreary, desolate one, quite abject and distressing.  It is the original dismal science due to another conclusion from a different kind of forced labor two hundred years ago.   “Not really much else to say.  It's not clear why the rate would be increasing, maybe picking up people off world.  Their declining labor force participation matches conventional ideas for prices also seen after plagues and wars, so, score one for theory.  Grace, why don't you go next.”   Grace nodded, and started going through her presentation, “It's good to be back.  For the main research project this year we now have close to two hundred vials ready for trials.  That should be enough for the initial batch of interns, but I've been working with local pharmaceutical companies to increase production.  Johnson and Johnson and Eli Lilly have been plugging along, and we could have several thousand doses by the end of the year.”   Oliver asked a question, “Did Howard reach out to his industry contacts?  What about the social media groups we talked about?  What's the buzz?  People want to try it or not?”   “There's high demand.  Some women are worried about the long-term effects, but worry is a universal problem for moms.  No one wants to be left out either, and it is clear which will win out.” Grace answered.   “Good, that's good, once we get enough excess go ahead and we'll start taking visitors here, just administer it on the 'down low'.  Cash only, after hours or before hours.  The camera for the west entrance is hidden, so we should set up something over there, a drive-up service maybe.  Does seven thousand sound expensive enough?  I don't want it to be out of reach.  Use your best judgment.”   Carol's mouth opened, and she raised her hand slightly, “This sounds rather illegal.  You can't be taking cash payments for untested interdimensional tech like it's something that fell off the truck.”   Miguel laughed, and Oliver put the plan in context, “You know how we had a shortfall of baby formula a bit ago?”   Baby formula had been a major controversy, and it was the straw that broke the back of the FDA.  The agency had already been reeling from poor response to the epidemic.  I.E.D.R had always been in conflict with the various regulatory bodies.  Nothing I.E.D.R did was safe, but at the same time, its discoveries were the safest things imaginable.  There was no human trial on Earth that could compete with visiting a hundred worlds where some exotic food was already legal, or a drug was taken every day by billions of people.  The agency was not as smart as their counterparts on other planets, in some cases literally.  Especially for products from Terra.   During the height of the formula crisis, I.E.D.R's director made a snide comment at a congressional hearing, “We traveled to the distant dimension of 'Europe' and found all the formula we'd ever need.”  The once juggernaut of regulation was now a shell of its former self.   Carol nodded, she understood the context, and Oliver went into detail, “That shouldn't happen anymore.  We found a drug that helps enhance breast milk production, and we want people to take it.”   “That's elitist, if it helps people then you should...” Carol was not ready to debate something like this, especially since she had held the exact opposite opinion two seconds ago.  Her job was to observe I.E.D.R practices and deliver some important reports, not be a contrarian.  Her objection stopped there.   Miguel was excited and jumped in his seat to answer, “Ha!  People are stupid.  If you give something away, they'll ignore it, it's not valuable to them.  It's not earned.  It's like the potato.  No one wanted it, but when they put guards on the field and said only the King could have it, it became the hottest food in France.  Sparked a revolution.  That's why we have French fries now.”   Oliver did not want Carol to focus on the bad history, “Well, we're more focused on the local politics of it.  If there's a hot new thing, and only the rich guys with cushy FAANG jobs are getting it, it will cause a backlash with locals who have an ax to grind against the 'tech bros', and then we come in and offer it to everyone just to make things fair.  We don't want people to be afraid of this, and that means thinking they won over on us.”   “That's insane.  You can't do that.  Your mission is to bring technology from other worlds, not play politics and manipulate the masses here on Earth.”  Carol was right in her indignation.  That kind of manipulation was in I.E.D.R's mission, but for the other planets.  Not Earth.   Oliver gave his rant, “What's the phrase, 'politics is the mind killer'?  We manipulate worlds Miss Menger.  Take a step back and look at Earth from the perspective of one of a hundred thousand.  Earth is fantastic, but we're also kind of dumb.  If you want to improve things, you need to a plan to route around the idiocy and be prepared to make it work for you.”   Carol did not have an answer to that, so Oliver followed up with an order directed to Grace, “Once the full production pipeline is up, go ahead and let them know we're aiming for sixty million units within three years, with plans for global distribution by the end of the decade.  Also, cancel all the other testing plans this summer.  Earth has enough bananas and watermelons.  This is the only thing we care about now.”  The team nodded.  Oliver had quietly briefed all of them about what Grace had discovered.  This was better than an apple that tasted like a grape.   The meeting continued for a bit, with far less excitement, but eventually it was Carol's time to give her presentation.  She asked if she could use the projector, she had prepared a power point.  It took only a short bit to set up the slides.  She went to the front with the screen.  State now owned the room.   “I'll start with the good news and then the bad news, and then the worse news.”  She clicked through the slide.  The first said 'Good News', and then followed up with a woman in medical garbs in a stretcher.   “Dath Ilan reached out to us with regard to one of your projects,” she said with enthusiasm. Oh oh.  I.E.D.R thought they were above everyone and could do anything.  If a council world had contacted State with regard to a project, it meant they knew I.E.D.R was acting without permission, and more than that, the 'powers that be' had been bothered by it.   “This is Tiffany.  I believe you brought her from, what was the term you used earlier, 'Blefuscu'.  The super-nerds managed to get her a full recovery of her cognitive functions, and she showed miraculous improvement.”  She clicked through, Tiffany was standing in front of a chalkboard smiling, she was wearing normal clothing and pointed to a circled part of the board with a piece of chalk.  The whole board was covered in squiggles and letters.   “Your unauthorized project involving trans-dimensional human trafficking...” Carol did not try to hide her displeasure.   “HEY!” Oliver started to stand up.   “Fine.  Emancipation.”  Oliver stopped himself, “In either case it was successful.  I see why you chose Dath, the geeks are impressive in teaching and healing the mind.  Except, Tiffany didn't fully recover.”  She clicked, there was a slide labeled 'the bad', several newspaper headlines were arranged in the next slide.   'Bomb at city hall injures three.' - 'Suspect packages defused at Senator's' - 'Terrorist explosive master captured.'   “You see, Tiffany, has no morals.  None.  She's a mad genius and she's evil.  Their justice system is not set up to handle something like this, I think they're gonna put her on ice while they try to figure out what to do.  The Dath ambassador reached out to us and wanted to know how Earth got a Nitzke prisoner, and why we sent her to their planet to recover.”   Oliver spoke first, “We didn't know it was a Nitz.  This doesn't make sense.  The normal littles aren't evil.  Where would she get this?”   Naomi quietly spoke out what they had planned, “Our goal was to eventually bring them here, see if we could rehabilitate them.”   Grace smacked the table, and said, “Of course!  It makes sense.  They're blank slates, right?  Calculus isn't that impressive.  It's like seven pages of memorization and a five-year-old could learn it.  But right and wrong, good, and evil – socialization that's hard.  We spend eighteen years teaching people how to play nice, it's the single most important lesson we teach in kindergarten, when a young mind is best able to learn the hard lessons.  Not something unimportant like quantum physics.” Oliver gave Grace a strong look, “Calculus is pretty dangerous, I'm not sure it's appropriate for a five-year-old either.”   Naomi had a different interpretation, “The Amazons are keeping them from turning into... the worst people in the multiverse.  An adult gets maturosis, turns into a baby, and once cured pops out a villain.  A Nietzschean superman, without any of the slave morality that keeps them like us.”   The table was silent.  While Amazon was a fun place for culture, technology, and food, I.E.D.R had told themselves they were studying the dimension to try to fix it.  There had even been talk of a military campaign for liberation if someone could convince the council and the rest of Earth.  They would bring the 'babies' to Earth, and help them rehabilitate them, and everyone could live happily ever after.   The table was now concerned.  Had this been a trap all along?  To get a planet like Earth to free the babies and only to have them grow up to be the children of the corn.  Even if they were not as evil as Tiffany, nothing would have stopped the freed men and women from using patience and cunning to slowly take over Earth.   Carol let them have their discussion for a bit, and then drew attention back to herself, “Yes, well, that's the good news, we managed to avoid a disaster.  The bad news is that another council world is concerned we're engaging in, 'uplifting', and we have had to eat a great deal of dirt on that one.”   Oliver frowned, “I thought the Dath would be cool with this.  I get they are mad at Ms. Unabomber here, but that's not us.  What the Amazons are doing is wrong.  You don't treat adults like children, and you don't even treat children like they do.”   Carol was accepting, “Oh yes, they agreed, and that's the only reason this hasn't resulted in immediate sanction.  The ambassador was clear on that, but he also reminded me how displeased he was with how Earthlings raise their children and I had to sit there and take the abuse.  I'm a mother too, I do not need someone telling me I raised my kid wrong.”   She clicked through the slide, “It's worse.”  She turned, looking at the table.  If the previous section was accusatory, this next was more sorrowful, like she wished she didn't have to do this.  “With great effort, we managed to get them to not elevate this issue.  You don't want to know what we offered them in exchange.  The nerd's response I get.  You guys started a partnership here, taking advantage of resources we don't have on Earth, and they figured out you were doing something naughty.  Do you know why Verdant's ambassador also reached out to us and requested us to stop interfering with 'Amazonia'?”   Everyone at the table shook their heads.  As far as Earth was aware, Earth was the only one who knew where the diaper dimension was.  Could the Amazons have contacted the council worlds at some point?  There was no evidence anyone outside of Earth had been in contact with them, if they had, surely someone would have said something – the links to the Nitz, the miracle cures, the slavery, their strange fascination with diapers.   Oliver knew the answer, from personal experience with the devils.  “The Nitz don't have nanotech.  I think they don't have holograms or robots either.  But they definitely don't have nanotech.  Could Verdant be engaging in illegal uplifting of the Amazons?  Maybe they're using the planet for developing tech they don't want us to find out about?”  Plus, the Amazons were great at iterating, they could help bring a novel and nascent technology to its full potential.   Miguel slapped the table, “Those hypocritical shits.  If Earth frees a billion slaves we're uplifting, and if they use another dimension as a testing ground for illegal technology it's just... fuck the council.”   Grace concurred, “I've inquired about getting the nanotech, it's completely off limits.  Not even Commander Powell can get it.  The supply is controlled.  Do we know how many council worlds have stakes on the planet?”   Naomi nodded, “If the Amazons bust out and do something naughty, it's in Earth's backyard.  If something does go wrong, the council can blame Earth.  It would be our responsibility to monitor this.  Like, worst case scenario with nanotech, they grey goo themselves and the dimension is locked out, nothing of value is lost to the council, but Earth has to clean up the mess.”   Carol clicked through the end of the presentation, the screen turned to white, bringing radiance to the slightly darkened room.  “You're in over your heads.  Extra Dimensional Affairs and Intelligence will be working with the President directly on how he wants to untangle this mess, but I can't imagine I.E.D.R will be able to continue operations on Amazonia.  No more price checks at the supermarket, no more giant watermelons.  It's best we walk away and let the council do whatever it wants here.”   The lights in the room started to shift brighter, the presentation was over, “That's it, you guys otherwise seem to have a good operation here, I'm sure I.E.D.R will bounce back, it's a big multiverse, maybe you'll find another dimension just as interesting as Amazonia, and one maybe a bit less interested in diapers.  Well, someone will, I can't imagine that your department will survive this Mr. Swift.”   Oliver dismissed the team, their somber heads hanging and fearful as they returned to work.  He walked Carol back to his office.  Oliver closed the door and the two sat in the chairs in front of his desk.   “Carol, we're old friends, I wish you hadn't done that in there.  If you're going to drop a bomb on me in front of my team, maybe give me some warning how big it is.”  Oliver's head lobbed backwards staring at the ceiling before coming back to look at her.  “Let's just have a nice conversation.  It's been, what, ten years, how's Taylor doing?”   “We're not friends.”  She snapped him down.   “Why's State doing this?  I.E.D.R has always had good relations with State before, we're the sword and you are the shield.  We bring the benefits of the multiverse, and you help clean things up.  We're a team.  Symbiosis.  Like a shark and a remora.”   “You guys are starting to shake things up too much, everyone thinks you're gunning for something big, and it's true.  You're talking about dumping drugs on the street, you have money sources outside of the established chain, and you're manipulating Earth.  Look down at the list of trophies.  You guys took out half of all academic research with that stunt in two thousand, you are in cahoots with not just the American military, but all militaries, even some that are off planet.  You have black projects both here and in other dimensions, you talk about wars on other planets as if it was just another Tuesday.  Hell, for fun you guys took out the eFf-Dee-Aye.  Who is next?”   Oliver listened carefully, “So, you guys went looking for something like our project on Dath.  That's why the nerds talked to you.  They thought you were us.”   “You guys are not the only ones capable of doing this spy stuff.”   “What'd the President say when State informed him, we'd gone off the ranch,” Oliver inquired.   “Nothing, I haven't decided how to do the final report.”  She spoke the sentence with certainty because Oliver had an opportunity here to change the report.   Oliver just gave a hmm and nodded his head down slightly.   “Oliver, how did you know the Nitz weren't responsible for the nanotech?”   “I, well, I was with them for a year.  Picked up a few things.  We've known for some time the council has been keeping us in the dark about, well everything.  Besides, the Amazons might be smart, but they don't invent anything.  They just aren't that imaginative.”   She gave a hmm and nodded her head.   Oliver tried bargaining, “Is there another way we can spin this, keep everyone happy?”   “Oh, yes, obviously, that's why I'm here after all.  I wanted to work with my old friend Oliver, give him one last chance to save himself.  We're invested with the Amazons because we think another council world is testing their tech there, maybe even working with the Nitz.  That's a real find!  If I go to the President and tell him Verdant wants us to back off, that has a different meaning if I also include the part where we think it's because we're too close to their terrible secret.”   “So, um... we're going to be OK here?  You gave the worst outlook report possible to us, gave us a scare, and you're going to take our inputs and now explain what's really going on?” Oliver was hopeful, he was not even sure what the point of this theatricality was.   “Maybe.”  She gave a smug chuckle and sat back a bit.   Oliver had patience, he just waited for her to say her price.   “It's hard for us to identify with you guys.  There aren't enough people like you Oliver, who have bridged the two worlds.  You know, you're way out here on the coast, in your castle, always plotting away.  Never talking to anyone.  Everything siloed, isolated, you get to do your own thing.  We need to see the human face.  I saw that today for just a few minutes with your team, but it'd be easier if I was more than just you I could relate to.  I need something closer and more real, otherwise you guys are just a bunch of jokers playing dangerous games.”   Oliver danced his head as if weighing the request, “Well, it's a prestigious institution, takes some very rare talent to be accepted here.  Like your son, Taylor, I'm sure he's brilliant and hardworking, but it must be hard to compete against say, Caltech or eM-eye-Tee.  Where's he going to college these days?”   “He isn't in education or training.  But I do think a summer here would be good for him.”   Oliver had turned down such requests from politicians, from the rich, and from the famous, but in those cases, they had nothing he wanted.  Carol was threatening his job and his team.  “Carol, you must really love your son a whole lot if you're willing to go to this length to get him in here, you know this job is dangerous right?  It's not just eating apples and oranges.”   “I love him unconditionally, and I'd do anything for him.  He just needs a little help from me, that is all.  Something to get him out of his funk and really set himself right in life.”   Her attention left the conversation for a second, her mind wandering, thinking of her son.  For Oliver it was enough.  It felt wrong, but something Ben had told him this morning had clawed at him.  He could see it in her eyes, the same desperate need to protect, to do anything for her offspring.   “Carol, you, and I both know your son isn't ready for the big time yet.  He just needs more love and more attention.  Taylor is not ready for grown up things, like a job or school, he's practically still a baby.  If anything, he might even need to take a step back, spend a few years relearning the important lessons.  We can't do that here, but you still can do it.  I know you will do anything you have to, go to any lengths to do what's right by your baby boy, and we are prepared to help you help him.”   Carol blinked a few times.  There had been a block in her head that said, “Taylor is an adult now,” right at the top of how she saw her son in her mind.  That block was not there anymore.  It had been load bearing, an entire tower of expectations.  It held up her attempts to get her son to go to community college, asking him to put out job applications, even clean his room.  All those blocks fell down.  Normally she loved opportunities to get out of the house, to not have to see his mistakes or put up with his attitude, and not have to nag at him for a few days.  Now all she felt was worry.  She had left her baby at home, alone.  She wondered if she should order him some lunch, she did not think she could trust him to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.   Oliver was in control now, “Here's what we're going to do, Grace is going to help both of you out on this.  She's got a brand-new program we're setting up for the interns this summer and I think we can find a way to fit you two into it.  I don't want just one summer though.  I want to start a longitudinal study on the two of you.  I'm glad you stopped in; I can't think of anyone better for this.  Grace will know just what to do.  It'll be almost like he's an intern here, but he won't have to come into the office.  That is what you wanted right, see if we can't help and give him a leg up?”   Was that why she was here?  Yes!  Of course, her old friend Oliver, she had come to him with some worrying news that her son was struggling, and he had just the solution.  I.E.D.R was great, filled with the nicest and best people in the multiverse.  Sure, they had done an itty bitty oopsie here or there, but that is fine, accidents happen.  She would explain it all later when she debriefed the Chief of Staff at the White House.  Maybe she would get lucky and even meet the President, help him understand just how important I.E.D.R was.   * * *   May 12th, 2023, Falls Church, Virginia- Earth   Carol returned home a few days later, and silently made her way to her son's room in the basement.  Even outside his door, the stench had an odor like dead flowers rotting in a well-used gym bag.  She could hear a muffled voice coming from his computer.  Without care for his privacy, she opened the door.  There was a plate of food on his bed stand that was there when she left.  A laundry basket of fresh clothes had been picked through, and shirts and shorts were a wrinkled mess around the floor.  The curtains were drawn on the one corner window darkening the room, not that there was much natural light to begin with below ground.   Her son was looking at an image of himself, watching himself silently talking with headphones on.  He made snips and edits to his own timeline of video he shot earlier that day.  He did not notice another had entered his room until the bedroom lights sprung to life.  Dull yellow luminosity exploded into the room.  One of the bulbs was out and the overhead light was missing its protective shade.  Shadows were long and half the room had an eerie darkness.   “Uh, Mom, you're back early.  I...  I was going to clean.”  His hair was long, if he combed it, he would be a match for his mother's own.  His shirt was ruffled, and he was still in his boxers, a pattern of plaid blue and white visible in the gap near the fold of the chair.   She came over and gently put her hand on his shoulder, “It's fine.  I just missed you and wanted to come home early.  I'll help you clean a bit after dinner.  Sometimes the problem is so big it's hard to know how to fix it.”   He shook a bit still coming down from the adrenaline of the surprise invasion of his privacy, “uh, yeah, thanks.”  His desk had a couple Subway wrappers, food she had ordered him.  It was the only food he had eaten the past two days.  She reached over and rolled up the garbage.   “Honey, I know I've been hard on you these past few months, but I think I've come to realize you just need time to come out of your shell, and you'll do that at your own pace.  As long as you're happy doing your videos and your games, then I'll be happy, and when you're ready to grow I'll be here to encourage you to blossom into the young man I know you can be.  Until then you can just be my NEET little boy.”  This close she smelled different, like she had a new perfume.  Lavender with melons.  She had a gravity Taylor didn't remember her having when she left.  Like she had put on weight or muscle.   “NEET - Not employed, educated, or in training.” he mouthed, “I uh, I'm sorry I'll be better.  Starting tomorrow, I'll put out some applications.”  She was being too nice.  This had to be a trick.   Carol grabbed the other food plate by the bed and went to the door, “Come up for dinner, I have something special I got you on my trip, and I want to talk to you about an opportunity that came up when I was in California.  Kind of like an internship but working from home.  I think you should consider it.”   “What is it?” He was already up, pushing aside clothes looking for a pair of pants.  What had she volunteered him for.   “Raw Milk.” she was already up the stairs.  Somehow moms always gave an answer to your question that was both correct and absolutely the wrong one you wanted.  Wasn't unpasteurized milk illegal in this State?  He was curious to find what the forbidden drink would taste like.   * * * May 13th, 2023, Falls Church, Virginia- Earth   Sixteen hours later.   “I drank all the milk in the fridge this morning, and then I took a nap on the couch, and I don't know what happened.” The couch and jeans had the telltale markings of a dark stain.  Carol was hugging Taylor close.  If he was fifteen years younger, he might have been crying, instead he was just in shock.   “It's OK, the milk was for you, you can have as much as you want, there's plenty more.” She tried to comfort him.   “No, not that, the mess.”  He looked down.  She had brought out a towel and he was now sitting on it.   She kissed his forehead, “It's fine, you're a messy boy sometimes.  I'm your mother, it's my job to clean up messes.  In fact, I have just the thing” and then whispered, “I went shopping and I bought you some gamer pants.  I know how sometimes you have long sessions, and now you don't have to have any breaks.  Won't that be nice?  You can be as messy as you want to be if you have your gamer pants on.  Let's go try them on and then we'll see if I.E.D.R has sent another e-mail for what they want you to do today.”   He upturned his head and complained, “Do I really have to work?  I already missed most of the day of broadcasting, and if you skip too much you lose followers.”   “Of course, sweetie, you're an adult now, this is your first real job.  I'm sure whatever they want you to do, you're more than capable of doing it.  It won't even be that long, then you can play games for as long as you'd like.”   * * *   September 2nd, 2023, Falls Church, Virginia- Earth   “Mummy.  Can I play a game?”  Taylor waddled up to the couch where his mother was reading.  His light blue pajamas were covered in cars.  His hair had been trimmed down extra short, and his face was clean shaved.   “Did you clean your room like I asked?  Or is it still a mess?”   “Yes, it's all tidy.  The toys are away like you showed me.”   “What would you like to play?  Monopoly Junior?  Chutes and Ladders?  Or Candy Land?”   “No, a 'puter game, I haven' played in a while and my friends on the 'puter miss me.” Taylor was not sure why he needed to ask permission; it was just something he was doing now for lots of things.   “Oh, honey those are big kid games.  You're too little.”   His face fell a few inches, his best approach would be to get on her good side.  He got closer, hopping up on the couch and started trying to squeeze under her arm.  She just let him hang there against her chest for a minute.  Finally, there was a signal, something he had forgotten.  He barely noticed it these days, but maybe if he showed her, he was bigger, she would let him play.  It triggered a simple question, “When you gonna start teaching me potty again mommy?”   “Don't be silly.  You're my NEET boy.  My perfect boy who will never grow up.  What's NEET stand for?”   “Not employed, in education, or training,” he droned it out, like the last bit of his adult was in there but had been defeated.   “If you're too little to have a job or school, then we can't have you training either.  Potty training is just another kind of training, right?”   Those other grown-up things scared him, so it made sense potty would be lumped in there too.  One day he would be bigger though, his mommy was helping him get there again.   There was a time in her life the diapers had bothered her; when she could not wait for her son to grow up and move out.  But now, it was like the advice her father gave her.  A diaper is an act of trust between parent and child.  An affirmation ritual of her unconditional love.  Her son would test her every day with the one thing he could accomplish, a mess in his pants far worse than his old room, and it would be the best he would ever do.  She would take that gift with love and make her son whole and new again.  And now thanks to the injection, she had a gift of her own to give back to her son.   Yes, she was glad she had took the time to verify the real story behind I.E.D.R's shenanigans off world.  Oliver and his team could practically do no wrong.  She and her son were even invited into their new experiment, they were now part of an elite group.  She heard some families were paying upwards of ten grand just for the first shot.

@PurplePup89: A Charlotte's Web fan?

Thats is the original body of the girl but thats from season one this is from the latest episode. Also another side note is that girl older than him but she experiments with chemicals and a failed immortality drug left her in that state but she can reverse it for like 10 minutes once every day.  P.s. in the intro there is a quick scene where the motherly gf (one of the girls actual mother) puts a bottle in the guys mouth

@Little GiammySure, go for it!

Anya was quite happy as she watched him squirm and try to defend himself. It was cute to watch his face scrunch up- to see him nervously shift around and whimper and whine... He already sort of looked like a baby! Protesting that he was some sort of big boy... Anya wanted to chastise him right away, but seeing as how they were in public, and she hadn't secured his trust yet, she remained still and calm. That is... until he muttered that word. That bad word. She shot him a quick glare. "You know it's not polite to swear in front of your date, hun." She whispered gravely. Seeing his eyes widen like dinner plates, she was satisfied, and settled down, the smile returning to her face. "Sorry, I just... don't much care for swearing. I know it seems silly given how we met... But I just believe it isn't proper for a sub to curse. They should act sweet and... ladylike." She explained, carefully avoiding mentioning that she expected him not just to act sweet, but specifically sweet like a child.