- Alright, how about you work already you stupid piece of junk!
Andy went upstairs once he heard the noise. Even though his cousin Frank's good with technology overall, mistakes can always happen and Andy's curious what went into the fritz.
- Hello, Franks. I heard your complaints. Is everything alright?
- Well, not exactly. See, I tried to open this file but wouldn't you know it, it completely totalled everything. Save for a hard reset, I'm afraid there might not be anything left to salvage. Frank said.
Andy took a closer look at the screen. It was a jumbled up mess of code and windows that was by all accounts frozen in place. Considering the recent events, the answer he sought was obvious.
- Frank, I know how excited you are and all. But you should've waited until you were able to upgrade your hardware to the latest standard. Attempting to use codices and standards that didn't originate on this world on older Earth hardware can put quite a number on the poor machines.
- Yes, of course. Looks like I need to have someone to repair this ASAP. Meanwhile, I'll try to see if there's recordings of Tr:Scshamban's oeuvre in our standards. They should have given me a new computer with the stick, that's for sure.
- I'm sure there are.
Suddenly there were loud barks coming downstairs. Sounds like Lope needs to be taken to a walk.
- Looks like that's my cue. Lope needs some breath of fresh air.
- You sure you can handle it? That dog can be mighty temperamental.
- Don't worry, I'll be fine.
Andy went downstairs and sure enough, Lope was already in the vicinity of the front door, practically begging for someone to take him outside. Putting the collar around his neck, Andy opened the front door and stepped outside into the frigid winter evening. About 50 metres from the house, Andy met an another walker, this one with an alien animal. If Andy's memory serves him right, that animal's an oriax from the world of Pa'aarli and a relative newcomer to the list of approved species for import. Andy decided to strike up a conversation with a guy in an effort to learn more.
- Well, well, this is quite a surprise. I don't ever recall seeing a live oriax before.
The walker stopped in his tracks. Lope curiously approached the oriax sniffing all the way.
- Glad that you noticed, bub. Spend all of them 5 months to acquire this beauty.
- And what name did you give him?
- It's a she actually. And her name's Sifumi which means dawn.
- I hope you know how to take a good care of it.
- Yes, naturally. Though certain aspects of these critters can still take me by surprise. For instance, I've just learned that when an oriax displays it's frills in a certain ways and puts it's left paw forward, that means it's seeking a mate. Oh look, it's doing just that right now!
Andy looked at the oriax and sure enough, she was displaying the behaviours her owner just described, looking at Lope in a curious manner. Meanwhile, Lope stayed near Andy, clearly feeling scared.
- Looks like Sifumi's that desperate for a mate, huh?
- She's still young after all. And from what I've heard, the longer an oriax goes through these periods without a mate, the more painful they will become. Been trying to find out if there's more oriax owners around these parts but so far, no luck.
Sifumi resumed it's normal stance and looked at her owner while making growling noises.
- Looks like that's my cue. Poor Sifu's about to become tired.
- Can we see each other again someday? I could volunteer to take care of Sifumi while you're away or something?
- Hmm, that sounds like a nice deal. Here's my card.
- Gideon Jones, huh? Andy said while looking at the details.
- You got that right. Is that dog yours by any chance?
- Nope. he's my cousin's. I guess that kinda makes me an expert of taking care of other people's pets. Andy Mitchell at your service.
Both Andy and Gideon continued walking for a while and once they reached the entrance to the cul-de-sac where the house of Andy's cousin stood, they bid their goodbyes.
