| abstract | - By Talula There was a gentle knocking on the door of the apartment. The couple exchanged glances then Tai stood and walked silently across the room. "Yes?" he called to their unexpected guest. "It's me sir! Talula Spannerbang!" came a small voice from the other side. Tai narrowed his eyes slightly. He hadn't realized the gnome knew where he and Kennia lived. He opened the door and looked down at the brightly smiling gnome. She was carrying a wooden box that looked like some wire-loving rodent had made a nest in it. Stepping aside, he gestured for her to come in. Talula attempted a wave at Kennia then fumbled to keep her hold on the box. "Talula! What a surprise. What are you doing out at this hour?" Kennia asked. "Sorry to call on you both so late, but it's done!" the little engineer said with enthusiasm. "Done?" Tai asked as he crossed the room to sit beside his wife. "Yes! The recorder, it's done! I'll need to do some installation though. It will only take a minute." Tai looked to Kennia who paused for a moment and then nodded slightly. The gnome set the box down and began to stretch wires and small devices throughout the apartment. Two hours later, she called out "All finished. I just have to show you how to use it." The couple stood and went over to where Talula was hanging a button covered box on the wall. "You know, it is rather late. Perhaps we could finish this in the morning." Tai protested. "I promise to be quick sir." She handed a smaller box with three buttons to Kennia. "And it would be a shame if Lady Kennia missed another song." The gnome started with the wireless box in the warrior's hands. "That is the portable recorder, in case Lady Kennia should start singing when she's at the office or out on business. It's manually controlled so you'll have to hit the red button there to start recording." Kennia pushed the red button and there was the slight sound of gears coming to life. "Then, when you're done recording what you want to, you just hit the blue button." Kennia hit the blue button and the gears in the box stopped moving. "Then," the gnome continued, "when you want to listen to what you've recorded, press the green button. The woman pushed the green button and heard Talula's voice say "Then, when you're done recording what you want to, you just hit the blue button." There was a slight click and the recorder box fell silent. "Unfortunately," Talula said with a sigh "the next thing you record will erase anything that is currently recorded, but it will store 15 minutes of singing if you need it too." The gnome walked over to the box on the wall. This device had buttons, switches, a small crank, a tiny light and a dial covering it's faceplate. Each one had been neatly labeled as to what it did. "The fixed unit has more recording time. You could record all night if you wanted to and it's designed to add sound until the recording turbine is full, which will be indicated by this red light going on. When that happens, turn this crank and the recording turbine will reset itself. "It has a sound activated on/off mechanism in case Lady Kennia is home alone and starts singing. I also installed a bypass switch," she pointed at a metal switch labeled bypass "so that you can turn this feature off if you like. You won't want it to record every sound you make, I'm sure. Should you need to eliminate the recording in an emergency, the purple button is the quick erase feature. I wouldn't use that too often though. It's pretty hard on the recording turbine. "This last switch activates the retention mechanism so that when you do get a song you want to investigate further, you can keep the recording turbine from being deleted accidentally. And, of course, you recognize these three buttons." Talula gestured at the red, blue, and green buttons that looked just like the ones on the portable recorder. "The red is a manual record, the blue turns the whole business off and the green plays back the recording." Talula pressed the little green button. From somewhere inside the device came an oddly soothing song in a language neither of the humans understood. It took a moment before they realized that the high pitched, slightly off key voice was Talula's. "Playback is designed to come from this station only and the volume can be adjusted here." She pointed to the dial. " I installed the pickups around your home though, for the best recording quality regardless of the room you're in." The recorded singing stopped and the gnome turned toward the humans to see if they had any questions. "What was that song?" Kennia asked, her mind far away as if trying to remember something long forgotten. "Oh, uh..." Talula blushed slightly. "My Aunt Beatrice the Traveler used to sing that to me when I was little. I think it translates something like: Though night has come, my little child your restless mind still wanders over snowcapped mountains and fields of wheat, following the stream to the wide sea. Sail safe my child, through dreaming skies. May your step be light on trails of fancy and may all your machines work without fail 'til the shores of dreamland bring you home to me." Talula looked up at the humans and blushed again. "It... rhymes better in Gnomish." She cleared her throat and quickly added "So, any questions?"
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