“Jase, you need to stop playing and get some sleep,” Lily chided me.

“You showed me this solitaire to distract me and are upset that I’m distracted?”

“Yeah!”

I laughed and Lily joined me. “Ok. Let me finish this game and I’ll stop. I am getting sleepy.”

*

I woke the next morning and saw my pixie sleeping on a pillow beside me. I sat up and stretched. I got up and went into the bathroom. “I’m glad Lily told me how to use this bidet last night.”

I emerged from the bathroom sometime later to find Lily awake and at the computer again. My familiar didn’t seem to be using the screen though. She turned as she heard my footsteps. “Morning my Jase!”

“Good morning. Did you sleep well?”

“I did! That pillow is to die for! We must take it with us. How was the bed?”

“Amazing! I’ve never slept so well. And you’re right about the pillows.”

“Do you want to try something new for breakfast?”

“Sure. Where is Sara?”

“I let her out to take care of business. She told me she would be back in a while.”

“Alright. But how will we know when she returns?”

“I’ve activated the security system, which includes cameras, so I’ll know. Cameras are things that allow someone to watch a location such as the door without being at that location,” Lily answered. I nodded in understanding.

“But how will you know? You’re not using the computer screen.”

“I don’t need to use it. I can access the system without an interface,” Lily advised me.

“How is that possible?”

She shrugged. “I’m really not sure, but I can do it. I suppose it is knowledge beyond me at the moment.”

“Did you need the screen last night?”

“No. I used it for your benefit.”

“Ah. Fair enough.”

“You’re not going to ask more about that or how I can do what I can do?”

“Nope. I trust and love you,” I answered my familiar. Lily blushed and smiled. She flew up and kissed my cheek. She sniffed me too.

“I see you found the soap. You smell nice.”

“Thanks.”

“Jase, I love you too.”

“I know. What’s for breakfast?” I asked as my stomach rumbled.

Lily grinned. “Let’s try making pancakes.”

“What are pancakes? I assume some sort of cake made in a pan.”

“You’re wrong and you’ll see,” Lily replied flying into the kitchen. “Come on!”

“I’m coming,” I replied with a smile on my face. I truly loved my familiar.

*

“Those were fantastic!” I praised the pancakes lily and I had cooked setting my fork down on the empty plate. I looked over at Lily. She was sitting on the table in front of a plate that had held a single pancake. “You ate the whole thing?”

Lily patted her tummy. “Yep. It was so good too. Why did you ask? Were you wanting my leftovers?”

“No. I just didn’t think you would eat all that plus all the syrup you had poured on it.”

“Why didn’t you think I would eat it all?”

“The pancake was bigger than you.”

“We made the flat ones, not the fluffy ones.”

“You can make thick pancakes?”

“Yep! They’re about half as round, but thicker than I am,” Lily answered turning to the side and gesturing at her waist. “You want to try those tomorrow?”

“Yes please!” I answered. Lily’s gaze went far off for a few seconds and then her focus returned to me.

“Ok. We can do that. I had to check the ingredients and make sure we had the right stuff here.”

“That was cool!”

“What was?”

“How you sort of gazed into nothing and found the information you wanted.”

“Thank you, but it’s nothing,” Lily replied blushing. She really loved the praise I gave her.

“I still can’t believe this food is still good after every how many years it was put into storage.”

“The ancients knew what they were doing.”

“Do you know how it was done?”

“A process called flash freezing. Basically, all the food was frozen on a microscopic level extremely rapidly,” Lilly answered. Seeing my look of confusion at the unfamiliar term, Lily continued, “Microscopic means something is so small you can’t see it with your eyes. You would need a special device to see how small that is.”

“Oh. Ok,” I replied. I took Lily’s word for it. “But how did the food last to now? Especially without…power.”

“The packs the food is in were specially made to keep its contents at the correct temperature unless opened.”

“Makes sense.”

Lily smiled. “I know it really doesn’t, but thanks for trusting what I told you.”

“Anytime,” I replied with a smile of my own. “So, we can take some of this food with us?”

“Oh yes! We’re going to take all of it and a lot of other stuff too.”

“Other stuff? Like the bed and pillows?”

“Them, another computer, solar cells, blankets, towels, the silverware, first aid kits, and anything else we can.”

“I only recognize some of those things. But how are we going to take all this with us?” I asked gesturing around the room.

“Another ancient technology called nano storage. It’ll blow your mind,” Lily answered wearing a huge grin on her face.

*

Lily hadn’t been kidding. Watching the pillow shrink and disappear into the little boxy container she had me fetch from another closet was something I would never forget. “Do it again!” I urged Lily.

“Ok. One more time and then we have to store the rest of this stuff,” Lily agreed. She removed the pillow without reaching into the container and dropped it in again.

“How are you pulling it out?”

“It’s the only thing in the container at the moment, so it’s really simple. But I’m interfacing with the container just as I did the computer system.”

“Ah. There’s a way for you to do the same that I will show you after we finish packing.”

“Alright. I want the bed. How do we get it in that little box?”

“Easy peasy! Put the box under the bed,” Lily instructed me. I did so and stepped back. A moment later the bed rose into the air as the container emitted a light that engulfed the bed. The bed shrunk and disappeared into the box. Lily waggled her fingers and said, “Ta-da!”

My eyes widened in shock. “Impossible!”

“Nothing is impossible my Jase.”

“First I learn some magic,” I said. Lily frowned a little. “Or learn to manipulate energies, and now this.”

Lily shrugged and said, “Welcome to the real world.” She then burst into laughter.

“What?”

“Sorry. An old line from one of those moving picture stories I told you about. Let’s see if there is anything I missed in the inventory,” Lily replied. Her eyes glazed over once more. I went to the closet and pulled out three more sets of sheets. I dropped them over the box. They shrunk and vanished too. I shook my head in wonder. “Don’t forget the comforters.”

“Ok,” I replied looking at Lily. She still had that glazed look.

“The comforters are the thick blankets.”

“Oh. Thanks,” I replied and pulled four of them out to match the number of sets of sheets I had taken and dumped them into the box too.

“Yes!” Lily screamed. I turned to see what she had shouted about. She flew into the air and started down the hall. “Jase! Come on!”

“Where are we going?”

“To get clothes!”

“I have clothes,” I retorted following my familiar.

“Not like these and none in my size.”

“There are clothes in your size?”

“Oh yes! I will be the envy of every pixie we meet!”

“That’s a good thing?”

“You better believe it!”