1 Hello There

It was apparent that she was floating somewhere. She couldn't exactly remember when she had first opened her eyes, but it seemed like for the first time, seeing was making sense to her. For a moment she stuttered a breath.

It was because she felt the need to breathe, but she didn't have to. She was not drowning in whatever warm liquid she was in. Here, she did not need to inhale to get oxygen, whatever a ball needs oxygen for.

Looking around, she tried to find... something. She didn't understand what she was looking for, but since she was conscious, and in a place with enough light to see, she was curious. Suddenly she felt that she had legs.

She moved them around kicking them. Looking down, she located them, making her smile for some odd reason. In smiling she also discovered her mouth. She opened it letting the liquid fill her mouth. After that she spit the liquid out and closed her mouth. Because she had looked down to her feet she had discovered that she was white, smooth, and spherical. She didn't have any arms, but the concept of such was lost to her.

Kicking around her legs again, she swam into a glass wall. Before she could look into the wall more, the liquid started to pull her down towards a gray floor. She was confused, but unafraid. The liquid was draining through the floor. Once it was completely drained Ball was no longer floating, but standing.

Her legs quivered under her weight. Almost automatically the glass went up somewhere and man in a lab coat approached Ball. They were in some sort of crowded room with many computers and humans.

"Welcome to life Ball!" The man said. He was a rather tall man with a bigger build and beard. He looked well groomed nonetheless.

"Ahhhhh," Ball groaned attempting to vocalize. She was incredibly cold, and overwhelmed. She had the innate knowledge of some basic words, but they weren't exactly all there yet. She knew that she was called Ball. This knowledge was also innate.

The other scientists gathered over to her and kneeled down to her level.

"It's nice to meet you ball!"

"Hello there Ball!"

"Feeling ok?"

Ball's legs lost their strength so she fell on her behind. Nobody was giving her space to breathe. Overwhelmed still, she groaned again.

"Ahhhh… I… stop!" She got the words in her mouth and commanded. The scientists jumped back and squealed in their own excited manner.

"I am professor Johnson. I am the head of this operation. You, are my creation," The bearded scientist Johnson said, "Do you know who you are?"

"I… I am Ball," Ball got up on her feet again and tried to convert her thoughts into words. The crowd kept all of their eyes on her.

"That is correct. Let's get you situated Ball. I want to know all about you," Johnson started to walk through the crowd when he turned around to notice that Ball was not following him, "Come on! It's easy!"

Ball was really starting to feel that there were eyes on her. It made her nervous, but she attempted to walk anyway. Within a single successful step she began to alternate her legs to walk, "Come along now," Johnson continued. He was being followed by the other scientists, to which he told them to give them some space.

"What is this place?" Ball asked as they walked through a hall.

"This is the main building for the Federal Science and Discovery Commission. It's in a city in Yoyleland, called Yoyle City. You will come to see this place as your home," He explained.

Ball couldn't help but look deeply into every crevice and shine as they continued on. She wish she had time to take it all in.

How the marble floor chilled and gave traction under her feet, how far up the walls went until they were interrupted by a ceiling which was something out of reach.

"What's that?" She asked looking at the ceiling.

"What's what?" Johnson stopped and turned to her.

"That thing up there sitting on top of t-those other things," She pointed to the ceiling, and then the walls with a foot.

"You mean like the walls and the ceiling?"

"I donno," Ball said.

"That is understandable. All will become clear to you in time. You just have to be curious! You, like almost all that you see, is an object. You being a ball, a common children's toy. But, what separates you and the walls or anything else, is life! You, are a living object, an innovation! In everything we know about life itself," He was starting to sound like some sort of public speaker.

"Am... I supposed to do something?" Ball often looked down halls she passed with infinite curiosity. She mostly wondered how Johnson knew where to go, and where those halls went.

"You are supposed to be you. And you'll start it here," Johnson opened a door to a smallish room. It looked rather compy. Floor lined with carpet, a ready made bed, closet, desk, laptop, and a window. The window automatically drew Ball's attention. She hopped on top of her desk chair, and then the desk itself to look out into the world.

Ball couldn't keep her mouth closed as she gazed at the many tall towers of the city. Being in the second floor made all that she viewed even more expansive. She never knew of a thing so tall as a skyscraper, or as vast as the open sky. And the people! Cars drove past, people on bikes weaved around them, and small walking caravans peeked into the roads to see if it was safe to cross.

Ball started to hear some sort of scribbling friction behind her, so she turned around. It was just Johnson writing something down with a pen and a little notepad.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Just writing down your reaction. It's good to have a record of things like these," Johnson said.

"What is all that out there? It's so big!" Ball looked back over to the window.

"That's the city, Yolel City. And it is the biggest city in the world. The world in itself is ginormous, or infinitely vast,"

"Can I go see it?!" Ball was practically leaping with excitement.

"In due time dear. We have to focus a lot on you today. We need to make sure that you are healthy and are ready to see the world," Johnson continued putting his notepad in his coat pocket. Ball leaned into the window banging her head into it out of disappointment.

"Baby steps Ball. You've only been alive for about 4 minutes now. Maybe you can start by exploring this building once we have some free time. For now we have many people that would like to meet you,"

"Oh... more people?" Ball had been overwhelmed before by people. She didn't know if she wanted to see so many in one place again. They were awfully tall, and always wanting something from her. She didn't know exactly if she really had what they wanted, and that's what she feared.

"Is there a problem?" The scientist asked her.

"No..." Ball lied. It felt wrong to lie for the first time, but she did not say anything about it.

"Then let's get to greeting!"

Throughout the day Ball and her creator Drake Johnson shook hands, talked into cameras, and did tests.

The tests weren't so bad, although rather confusing, but Johnson himself was a stranger fellow than Ball had perceived. During these lengthy interviews and tests, Ball felt that there was a feeling she needed to get out of the professor. This foreign need was perceived to be rather simple, but Johnson seemed unable to give it.

Whenever Ball was afraid, or curious of something off topic, the scientist's responses became even more bland and numb to how she felt. It was apparent that Johnson was at a disconnect with Ball. Ball herself was feeling as though how she felt was unimportant.

Little did she know that eyes all over the city had excited grins, and heads tilted with curiosity. In their living rooms they waited on live TV just to hear her every word.

By the end of the day Ball was lead back to her room. There, she was introduced to a new test. On the floor was a large piece of paper, towels, and many different large paints.

"What's this for?" She didn't exactly like all of these things crowding the room floor. It made it harder to get to the window.

"It's a weekly project me and the lads thought up. After every week, you will paint us a foot painting of anything you want," Johnson explained.

"How does it work?" Ball didn't understand what painting was.

"Oh, well you just take the paint," He placed his finger into a green bucket, "And make an image," He then proceeded to draw a smiley face on the paper, "It can be anything you want. So, don't feel like it has to be good or bad. Just paint something, anything at all. It doesn't even have to make sense. Well, I'll leave you to it. Remember to get some sleep, and I'll see you in the morning,"

"Ok," Ball said.

"Alrighty, goodnight now!" Johnson exited the room, and closed the door. After a moment Ball realized she was now trapped in the room, as she couldn't reach the doorknob. Ball sighed, She didn't want to paint or go to sleep. She was too exhausted to paint, but to afraid to sleep. From what people said about it, sleeping was incredibly vulnerable, and a lot like death. Despite her fear, she couldn't deny that sleep was practically calling her name. To procrastinate, she started to paint.

In the beginning she tried to paint the window, but by the end she had just painted her tracks walking over the page again and again. Giving up, she jumped back over to the window.

Because of the light inside her room the first thing she saw out of the window was her reflection. At first she was startled, until she realized that it was just herself.

"Hello there…" She whispered. Ball touched it with a foot, and then placed it back down. She hadn't really looked at herself in her entirety. It was almost as if she was actually standing next to herself, or even another ball.

'Is there such thing as another Ball?'

There was other humans, but it seemed like ball existing was a big deal. She decided that there probably was not another Ball, anywhere. She yawned, "Oh no, another symptom," She whispered again. Ball looked away from the window and towards her bed.

'Everybody sleeps. It's a need.'

Sluggishly she hopped back onto the floor, past her painting, and up again into bed. She tried laying on her back, which was an emese relief.

'Everybody sleeps, it's fine… you'll wake up again… it's a need that must be met… everybody… … … Zzz.'