Tales From the Hunter Legacy Universe 1: Jane's Christmas Read Online Free Page B

merged with the new, which if I
understand the ramifications of the menu it installed in my PC, allows me to
play every single computer game I've ever played, and I lot I haven't, using
current hollo controls and screens. It's something I tried very hard to build a
few years ago, and never came close to getting to work. This is
impossible!"
    "Welcome to the club," said
Alison, with a smile back on her face, but still with a wet cheek.
    I looked around to see what the others were
doing.
    Dick was sitting there with the strangest
look on his face, a pad in his hand.
    "You ok Dick?" I asked him.
    He looked around at me like he was in the
middle of a dream, and I’d just woken him up.
    "You remember when you asked us about
what we were doing instead of learning history?"
    "Yep, you said reading detective
novels."
    "This," he said waving the pad at
me, "seems to have every detective story ever written on it."  His
voice was awed. "There's books here I've heard talked about, which have
been missing for centuries." He looked around the room, almost in a daze.
"Santa, thank you!"
    An elf deposited two small parcels in my
lap. One of them had the word 'Angel' on it, so I unwrapped it first. It was a
new mouse. I laid it on top of her, and waited to see if she would notice. She
didn’t.
    The other package was a bit bigger, and I
opened it to find a bright yellow rubber duck. I burst into hysterical
laughter, which woke Angel, who jumped off, spilling the mouse onto the floor.
    I laughed so hard I’d have fallen out of
just about any other chair. Everyone looked at me, smiles back on faces.
    "Sorry, private joke, I think. Santa
has a sense of humour."
    Everyone went back to unwrapping.
    My next package stopped me cold. I was
almost afraid to touch them.
    There were five actual books. Real books,
made from paper. They looked old. I’d not seen their like outside the museum at
home. I carefully looked at the spines.
    The first was labelled "Hitch Hikers
Guide to the Galaxy." It was a full series set. I carefully opened the
first book, and found they'd been printed early in the 21 st century.
It was amazing they were in as good condition as they were. I placed them on
the floor by my computer, wondering which museum they'd been stolen out of. But
if someone had asked me which book was the most I'd like to own, these were
those.
    There was a bleep from my pad, and I looked
at it to find the same books highlighted on my reading list. I hadn't done a
lot of reading since leaving Outback, preferring instead to watch vids. So my
pad had very few books on it. Now, there was a long menu of books to choose
from. I placed my pad back in the pouch my suit belt was providing for it,
since I was wearing civvies for once.
    And took it straight out again when it
bleeped for attention again. I threw the vid to the wall.
    O'Neal stood there in a similar room to our
own, with a smaller group of people, all with glasses raised, and wished us all
a Merry Christmas.
    Another vid came in, this time from David,
with the Hunter's Haven lake in the background, and a huge number of people all
celebrating around him.
    The pad went back into its pouch.
    "Are we finished with presents
Jane," I asked her sub-vocally.
    "Almost, but do your vid now."
    I stood up, holding my half full glass of
ginger ale. The room grew silent as they saw me waiting.
    I nodded to Jane, knowing a vid would start
recording the room.
    I made a short speech wishing everyone
viewing a Merry Christmas from all of us here on BigMother, exhorting everyone
to take the time to hug their loved ones, and enjoy the festivities. Then I
proposed a toast, and the whole room wished everyone viewing a very Merry
Christmas.
    Jane played it back for us, and sent it off
to everyone who…, well, everyone.
    Elves were circulating collecting torn
paper for recycling, and making inroads to the mess scattered around the floor.
Angel was batting her mouse around, trying to keep it from Nut.
    Jane came around,