10001 in Binary
By: Timothy Law
10001 stretched and yawned then sniffed the air again. No, her little button nose did not deceive her, there was indeed raw chicken, a wing with the skin removed. It sat there unassuming upon a bone white china plate. 10001 crawled out of the laptop power socket and looked about. The kitchen was empty, David seemed to be nowhere to be seen but that did not mean much. Often David or a member of his family had a habit of appearing unexpectedly and then making a horribly loud noise coupled with a ridiculous surprise face. With gangly long limbs 10001 began the short journey towards the plate. Her reptilian tongue ran over needle sharp teeth as she considered the unguarded fowl. Suddenly the laptop burst to life and Stephanie"s face appeared on the screen. 10001 noticed that 1011 sat comfortably upon Stephanie"s shoulder.
"Hi, 10001!" called 1011.
Stephanie waved too.
"Have you seen David?" Stephanie asked. "I have something I need to ask him about our September birthday edition…"
"A birthday?" asked 10001, the raw chicken treat suddenly forgotten. "Will there be stories?"
"Of course!" laughed 1011. "Lots!"
"Can I…?" began 10001 but then she paused.
"Can you eat one…?" stated 1011 knowing exactly what the other Gremlin was thinking. "Sadly no, these humans seem extremely precious of their letters that form sentences, paragraphs and such… You should hear this one when I nibble on her shopping list…"
"Hey!" cried Stephanie. "I"m right here listening you know?"
"What you should be doing is writing though," suggested 1011 cheekily. "I could really do with a short but sweet romance with a side of adventure…"
"You and me both," replied Stephanie.
Just then David entered the kitchen.
"Gah!" he cried as he saw the Gremlin halfway between his laptop and the raw chicken wing. His face contorted into a look of uncomfortable shock.
"Oh hi, David," said Stephanie.
"Oh, hey there, Steph," said David, not once did his untrusting eyes leave the Gremlin.
"1011 and 10001 were just talking about our birthday issue of The World of Myth Magazine."
"Issue 1 0 0," announced David proudly.
"You"ve created way more than four, David, surely," scoffed 1011 and 10001 together.
"What do you mean four?" asked David.
"Binary… Our names and everything we eat, and breath is zeros and ones…" explained 1011.
"Yeah David… one, zero, zero is four…" added 10001.
"Yeah David… Like my name is one, zero, one, one which is eleven… Which you could represent as one and one which is three…" continued 1011.
"I"m pretty sure that one and one make two," said David.
"No David, one and zero make two… Binary… Remember?" Stephanie replied.
The two Gremlins nodded.
"I"m one and zero and then another zero and then a zero again and then another one at the end," said 10001.
"Seventeen?" suggested David, a little uncertain.
"Yeah," 10001 said before she bowed her head. "Not binary with an s… e… v… e… n…"
"Cheer up! Seventeen has something to do with our birthday too," suggested Stephanie.
This made both Gremlins happy.
"So, it is going to be a bumper issue then?" asked 10001.
"Sure is," chorused David and Stephanie simultaneously.
"There will be poetry, drabbles, flash, short stories, art…" David continued. "Stephanie has been seriously busy editing and getting the magazine ready."
"Oh, wow…" purred 10001 as her eyes glazed over and her little podgy tummy rumbled.
"No eating the artwork," growled David.
"I could never stomach pictures," pondered 10001.
"Me neither," considered 1011. "Not enough wordiness… The line work repeats on me too."
"Nothing more than a hundred words and I"m as happy as 10101101," suggested 10001.
"One hundred and seventy-three?" asked David.
"Yeah, he lives in your smart phone but often pops over to see me on Fridays," said 10001. "He likes those digital books you bought with the pretty covers… Something about unicorns…"
"I was sure I sold all of those…" swore David.
"Nope, half of those sales are actually eaten…" 10001 explained. "And that sequel you"ve been working 0n… Delic1ous…"
"I"ve really loved the bits you"ve sent to Stephan1e so far…" added 1011. "Such a tasty follow on…"
"No! No! No!" cried David as his fingers flew across his laptop keyboard.
"Oh David," cried Ste1010001. "D1d y0u want me t0 see 1f 1 have any backup vers1ons?"
"1000101010001101," said David. "101000101 100011101000111."
Stephanie 10011101ed and tr1ed n0t t0 laugh.
"1 guess y0u w0n"t m1nd 1f 1 steal th1s then," suggested 10001 as she suddenly n0t1ced the naked ch1cken w1ng aga1n.
"Just 1010010 1t," s1ghed Dav1d. "As l0ng as y0u and 10101101 leave the rest 0f my st0r1es al0ne fr0m n0w 0n."
"N0 pr0m1ses," laughed 10001.
The ch1cken van1shed (b0nes and all) after a m0ment of s1cken1ng slurps.
"Well 1001101101001 100101101000111 110," suggested Stephanie.
"Me t00," replied David. "And 1"ve g0t a 1001010101110100100 1nfestat10n t0 deal w1th 0n t0p 0f all that…"
"See y0u at the part1011000 1011000100000," 10110 1111.
"101111111 101000111 101 111," 10110 1011100110 1100110.
RUN T1ME ERR0R 10000000111100000011111001
REB00T?
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