1

Elyn deposited her flyboard by the door and stepped into the living room. Four of her older brothers were sitting on the couch watching a game. They cheered when their team made a goal, jumping from the couch and slapping each other on the back.

Her parents were in the kitchen scrambling around trying to get dinner ready. She could hear her other three brothers upstairs hitting the floor with something.

Her mother spotted her and came over to kiss her forehead. "Dinner is almost ready, Elyn."

"What are we having?"

"Spaghetti, and sloppy Joe." her mother sighs. "You brothers didn't want spaghetti, so I made sloppy joe."

Elyn nods. "Alright. I'm going to go get dressed."

Her mother goes back into the kitchen and Elyn heads up to her room. She tosses her backpack on her bed and taps a space on the wall.

"Assist could you get my dinner clothes ready?"

A screen popped up on the other side of the room, and a robotic voice replied, "Of course, Elyn. Which style do you prefer?"

"Warm and elegant, please."

There was a whirring sound and a picture appeared on the screen. It was an open-front cop jacket and a mini skirt.

"What color?"

"Royal blue."

Once she was dressed, she opened the door and went to the bathroom. She ran into their robot maid, Kevin.

He dipped his head in respect. "Miss, Elyn. Is there anything I can do to assist you Before I go help your brothers?"

Elyn smiled. "No, Kevin. But thank you."

When Kevin had turned down the hall toward her brother's bedrooms, Elyn stepped into the bathroom. The lights automatically came on and another robotic voice greeted her.

"Hello, Elyn. Do you need assistance with your hair?"

Elyn opened the medicine cabinet and pulled down a brush. "No, I'm fine. Thank you."

Elyn's hair was black and short, and this was something she enjoyed doing every day. If there was a way for her to make things easier for the robots, she'd do it.

They already had enough on their plates daily.

"I have found this cute hairstyle that would go well with this outfit." Came the voice. "It won't take me long."

Elyn placed her brush down and gave a small nod.

Two robotic hands popped up and started whizzing around her head. She could barely keep up with them.

Her hair was now a curled bob.

"What do you call this style, Assist?"

"I call it Tousled curly bob." the hands disappeared back into the sink. "Do you like it?"

Elyn nods. "I do. Add it to my list of favorite hairstyles."

"Of course."

Elyn thanked Assist, then turned and left. The smell of the meatballs and the sloppy joe reached her nose and her mouth started watering.

"Elyn! Dinner!"

Her brothers and father were already sitting at the table waiting for her to arrive. Her mother stepped into the room a moment later putting the last dish on the table, then took her seat beside her husband.

Once her father said grace, they all dug in.

She hated being the youngest person in the family. Everyone treated her like she was a baby. Then again, she was only nine.

Erick and Elric are the oldest at seventeen, and they're twins. The next oldest are Audrey and Alex at sixteen, then Joseph and Matt at fifteen, and lastly, there was Mason. He was fourteen. Her relationship with her brothers was fine. They weren't rude toward her, they just treated her differently because she was a girl.

And because her mom made her a model. In their eyes, she was like a piece of glass teetering on the edge of the table, and even the slightest nudge would break her.

She picked up her fork and stabbed at a meatball on her plate. Her father broke the awkward silence with the routine question. "How was school?"

Before anyone could speak, Audrey banged his form against the table. "School was fine. But I heard about a discovery that the scientists made a few days ago. Would you know anything about that?"

Their father gave a smile. "Of course, but we're still working on it. We've discovered second earth. We've developed a small machine to teleport us there, but I'm still testing it in my lab."

Mason gasped. "Really can we see it? Can we go?"

"Is it safe?" Elric interrupted. "Is it different from this planet?"

"I've actually done some research," Elyn said. "I heard the planet is the opposite of this one. Everything floats upside down, including the water."

Mason snorts into his plate. "Nerd."

Their father frowned at him, then turned his attention to Elyn. "That's right. And I was given the machine used to teleport us there. No one can activate it or step through the portal. No one has been there before and, no, we don't know if it's dangerous. We've only sent drones and we've lost contact with all of them."

Elyn pushed her noodles around on her plate but didn't say anything.

Once they finished their meal, Elyn helped her mother in the kitchen, then went down to her father's lab. Her brothers were surrounding the table in the middle of the room.

Her father's lab was small but neat. He had all his notebooks and papers stacked on a bookshelf that looked ready to fall in on itself. There were other tables throughout the room, displaying other projects he'd been working on.

And in the right corner on the wall was a monitor playing the news reel on mute.

All of her brothers were taller than her, so it'd be no use to try to jump to see over their heads. She walked over to another table and sat on the stool.

Her brothers cleared out a little later. She slid from the stool and saw a metal device on the table in a glass case. There was a large circular object in the center. Elyn guessed that was where the portal opened at.

The door to the attic opened and Kevin entered holding her phone at arms length. He looked like it was about to explode in his hand. The ringing must've caught him by surprise.

"Elyn, miss there is a call for you."

Elyn sighed and turned away from the device to take the call.