Category: .

technatural
by silent john’s
826la 6th graders

far in the future, in the year 3050, technology is everywhere. the world is divided into four countries. what we understand as north america is now north technology. no longer do people eat real animals or vegetables. technology creates holographic food and it is all healthy, so things like obesity aren’t a problem anymore. even nature is a thing of the past. trees, plants, flowers are all physical holograms. they look like normal plants and trees but sometimes when it rains or when there are power surges, the holograms flicker, visually and physically. you can see wires inside them as they flicker, or put your hand through them.

on june 12th of 3050, it happened to be the birthday of a girl named delilah. she had brown hair but dyed it black, brown, and blonde so that it was dark at the top and lighter at the bottom. she was average height and had eyes the color of the sky. she normally wore skinny jeans and T-shirts that said things like “thanks for nothing” and “i’m the boss.” frankly, she was kind of a spoiled brat.

delilah lived in a city called techopolis, in a super rich area of town. she had hoped for a big, lavish birthday party, but her parents were so busy working for data, who was the core of the technology of the world, that they couldn’t set it up. but, she did receive a mysterious gift from her grandma, who lived in west technology. delilah was excited because her grandma normally gave her great stuff, but when she opened the package she found an ugly string of little brown dots. she was expecting a beautiful diamond necklace and was so annoyed by the present that she briefly turned into a spoiled brat version of the hulk – without ripping her designer jeans – and threw it out in her backyard.

it rained that night, and in the morning delilah was eating some tech-cakes with scrambled tech-eggs and tech-juice, when she looked out the window and saw a new tree in the backyard. her parents worked in the landscaping department so delilah assumed that they had brought it home. when she finished her breakfast, delilah went out to check it out.

it was about ten feet tall and had luscious, green leaves. she used her iphone 4000s to google what kind of tree it was and discovered that it was a maple tree, which was a type she’d never heard of.

“omt,” she said, which stood for oh my tech, “this is the weirdest tree i’ve ever seen. totally gross.”

delilah was feeling a little sad that night because she didn’t have a very good birthday. she couldn’t sleep and decided to go out in her backyard. she laid down underneath the maple tree, which was now around fourteen feet tall, and fell asleep.

she had a strange dream. the maple tree was there, and its branches tapped her on the shoulder. it pointed and delilah turned to see the past where nature covered the world and how beautiful it was. then the tree pointed in another direction and showed delilah the future, where data had used its technology to rid the world of all of its nature, replacing it with technology. things would be good for a while, but technology will fail to do nature’s job. without any plants and trees the world will fall apart.

delilah woke from her dream and looked up at the maple tree. it had grown to around twenty feet tall and its leaves were all sorts of amazing colors. delilah realized that she had to do something about technology taking over the world.

just then, the trees and plants around her began to flicker. she heard the squeaky, nasal voice of her neighbor, criscelda, say, “looks like another power surge.”

delilah rolled her eyes and saw chrsicelda looking out her window at her. she had a huge nose and looked like a bird-house come to life, with a pile of frizzy, red hair.

“what is thaaaaat?” chriscelda screeched, aiming her telescope at the maple tree. delilah turned and saw that her maple tree wasn’t flickering like the other technological trees.

that’s when delilah realized that this maple tree was real and she wondered if that necklace that her grandmother had sent her was actually a collection of those things she’d heard of – seeds!

“i’m, like, totally calling data,” chriscelda said through her megaphone.

“what do you mean? for what?” delilah said, trying to act like nothing was going on.

just then the doorbell rang, and before delilah could even move to answer the door, data appeared. since he was connected to all of the city’s technology, he transported and stood there in delilah’s backyard. e looked like a regular human but was made out of wires, metal, and glowing lights.

data pointed to the maple tree and said in a deep, robot voice, “illegal.”

“wait,” delilah said, but before she could say anything more, data raised his arms. all of a sudden there was a loud noise and the tree came out of the ground, roots and all, dirty flying everywhere. it just hovered there for a moment and then it was gone. data too.

delilah looked at the hole in her backyard and knew she had to get the tree back.

delilah got on her hoverboard 5000s (with siri) and told it to take her to her parents’ work. she tried to explain to them what had happened but they kept saying, “we’re busy.”

feeling angry that she was being ignored, delilah borrowed her dad’s security card and snuck through the office. in the basement she found a door that had a sign that said, “my room. do not enter. love, data. p.s. you shouldn’t be here anyway, so get lost.”

delilah used the card to get in through the door. she walked down a long staircase that took fifteen minutes to walk down because it was so long. when she got to the bottom she entered a dark room. delilah felt around until she found a light switch and flipped it on.

that’s when she saw hundreds of plants, trees, and flowers, all in glass cases. delilah’s jaw practically dropped to the floor. at the far end of the room she could see data putting her maple tree in its own glass case.

“what the tech is going on?” delilah said.

chriscelda popped out of delilah’s techvillage hand bag and opened her big mouth to say something obnoxious but delilah waved her away, saying, “i don’t have time for you, chriscelda.”

then data whipped his head around and saw delilah.

“what are you doing here? didn’t you see my sign?” data said and zipped over to her.

delilah was scared as data towered over her, staring with his beady, red robot eyes.

“you need to get out of here,” data said. “the extermination is about to begin.”

data zipped across the room and pressed a big, red button. a deafening beeping began.

beep beep!

“wait!” delilah screamed. data pressed a blue button and the beeping stopped.

“what?” he said.

“you can’t destroy all of these trees. the earth is going to need them,” delilah explained. she walked up to data who had his back turned to her.

“i have to,” data said. “technology rules the world now. we can’t have nature anymore.”

“but, hey, we need it,” delilah explained. she could see a sort of sad look on data’s face.

“can i tell you something?” data said.

“um, sure,” delilah replied.

“i’m scared. this nature stuff does things on its own. it does things that i can’t do.”

data’s face suddenly became very angry and he slammed his hand on the red button. the deafening beeping started again and delilah was afraid. she turned and looked at the maple tree. she thought about what would happen in the future and knew what she had to do.

she ran and grabbed a leaf from the maple tree and held it up to data’s face. a single robot tear formed in his eye. while he was distracted, delilah snuck past him and pressed the blue button. she used her techvillage hand bag to smash the button.

“look,” delilah said. “i know how you’re scared of nature, but let’s work together to replant these trees and plants all over the world. technology and nature can work together.”

data thought about it and seemed unsure.

“don’t you see my shirt?” delilah said, pointing to her t-shirt.

“it does say that you’re the boss,” data said. he took a moment to consider what delilah had said and he shrugged.

“deal?” delilah said, and put her foot out.

“uh, nah,” data said, shaking his head.

just then, delilah began to turn into the hulk – without ripping her designer jeans – and data said, “okay, okay, okay! deal.”

delilah turned back into herself. data put his foot out and they tapped their feet together. it was what people did in the future instead of handshaking.

“first things first,” delilah said. “you’re planting that maple tree back in my yard.”

the end.