Letters from Claudia Cottoneye

[MarianT]

LETTERS FROM CLAUDIA COTTONEYE

Dear Sedna and Verity,

   You've probably been reading all the letters that our parents and grandparents exchanged. If you did, then you know that I'm your distant cousin Claudia, the fourth in a line of would-be immortals.

   Except that I'm not going to become an immortal.

   What happened was this: one evening I was experimenting with a peppermint seed, when Granny Mercy called me away from my analyzer.



   "You have a decision to make," she said.

   I could tell from her flat tone of voice that this was going to be a serious discussion, and when I saw the rest of my family sitting at the dining room table, my prediction was confirmed.

   "Sit down," she said.

   My knees suddenly felt weak, so it was easy to obey.

   "Basil tried going to University again," Dad told me.

   "Yeah," I said. "I said good-bye to him when he left."

   "He didn't make it," said Dad. "And he wasn't able to come back here either. He's gone, sweetie. We're never going to see him again."

   I turned and buried my face in Mom's hug. They gave me a few minutes, and then Granny Mercy spoke.

   "You can cry more later, child," she said softly, "but right now, you have some choices to make. Aurelia had a dream about you last night."

   Granny Aurelia cleared her throat. She's the scientist in the family, and the last person you'd expect to have "dreams."

   "I saw you healing people in the middle of a world filled with disasters, a future of pollution and pestilence. And then the scene changed like a kaleidoscope shifting, and you were in a field of enormous flowers. I knew without being told that a new utopia had risen from that world of suffering, and that your efforts had made it happen."

   "We're not going to be able to travel to the future," said Granny Mercy, "but that's something you can do if you leave us and strike out on your own."

   "Besides," said Mom, "we really want you to go to college, but we don't want you to disappear. If you leave and start your own story, we'll know you're all right."

   I looked around the room. The only person who hadn't spoken was Janet, Basil's mother.

   "Janet?" I said shakily. "You loved him, too. What do you think Basil would have wanted me to do?"

   She started crying then, and I went over to hug her, and I started crying again, too. It took her a few minutes to regain her voice. "Basil would have wanted you to be happy," she started. Her voice broke, and we cried some more.

   "He'd have wanted you to go to college and learn as much as you could about medicine," she said. "And he'd have wanted you to help those poor sick people of the future, and to make your grandmother's dream come true."

   I nodded slowly.

   Janet gripped my arm. "And he would have wanted you to fall in love, and marry, and have children," she said. "I know he would."

   So the next morning I got up early and had my birthday without much fanfare. Then I kissed everyone good-bye and took the train to Sunset Valley.

[Turoskel]

Oh Marian that brought a tear to my eye I knew your file had glitched but I didn't realise you had lost Basil.

I'm glad Claudia is getting her own story though, good luck in Sunset Valley 

[MarianT]

Dear Mom and Dad, and Grannies, and Janet, and Sedna and Verity,

   I’ve graduated from college! I spent all my time studying so didn’t do anything really exciting to write about or take pictures of. Okay, I took one picture.



   That’s Brian Peterson. He was always inviting me to his parties, and a few times I went, and at one of them, we took this picture. But the only thing I know about him is that he loves the outdoors. I do think we’ll get together eventually, but I have some work to do first.

   I bought a small house in Sunset Valley and found a job at the hospital as a Paramedic.



That first morning when I left for work, I noticed a strange object next to the garbage can, but I didn’t have time to investigate.



   The next few days were a real whirlwind of activity. When I wasn’t vaccinating people at the park (Xander Clavell promised he'd never forget to floss again),



I was dealing with a leaky faucet.



   But eventually I settled in a groove. In addition to working at the hospital, I also gave medical outreach programs at the local businesses. One of them was a suspicious import-export warehouse.



   That night, while examining the stars, I began to question whether there was more to being a doctor than dispensing flu shots and reminding criminals to use antiseptic on their wounds.



The low moan of a nearby zombie further spurred me to action. We Cottoneyes have always been concerned about zombies, and have evolved from fighters to curers.



   But was it possible to eliminate zombiism entirely? Perhaps in the future, they had found an answer. That evening, when I returned home with a new promotion to trauma surgeon, I decided to investigate the strange object that sat in the front yard.



Even though I knew something strange would happen, it was still a surprise when someone walked out of the object. He introduced himself as Emit (long E, accent on the first syllable) Rellevart.



   I helped him pick up the pieces of his device that had scattered over the yard and followed him to the future.

[Trip]

I hope you and Claudia have fun with the future! I don't have the EP, so I'll live vicariously through your story instead.

The first chapter was really sad, though. Sorry that they lost Basil.

[MarianT]

Dear Family,

   I don’t know where to start except to say that the future is gorgeous -- all green and white with smooth   , rounded edges. But it also reminds me a little of the grounds of a very posh hospital. I feel very comfortable here, but I don’t know whether Granny Mercy would like it – it doesn’t seem like a place where you would find witches or elixirs.

   There are several ways to travel around the city. The taxis are all hovercars with sunroofs.



There is also a skyway (as opposed to subway) called the Zephyr, which whisks you across town pretty quickly.



But I think my preferred mode of transport is going to be the jetpack that Emit gave me. He bribed me $100 to try it out, but I was hesitant until he told me it was solar-powered.



   I do have to practice a bit before I get the hang of it, however.



And while I’m on the subject of pratfalls caused by advanced technology, I suppose I should confess that the tube elevator can take some getting used to as well.



   Emit wanted me to have some exposure to Plumbots, so I went to the diner and met a couple of waiters. I introduced myself to Mortimer.



Then he suggested I adjust the trait chips of a Plumbot, so I removed a “Fear of Humans” chip from Dial Up, another waiter, and replaced it with a “Friendly” chip. She didn’t appreciate it; apparently it’s considered quite rude to work on plumbots that don’t belong to you.



I can see that plumbots might be very useful, especially if they could be trained to do surgery.

   After dinner I returned to Emit’s house, where I picked up a little hologram sprite named Raul. He (it?) is very cute and companionable and doesn’t require feeding. Raul is definitely coming home with me.



   I slept dreamlessly, because I’ve been doing quite well at work on my own, and didn’t want to screw things up by trying to improve on my performance. Emit had warned me that bad dreams could have adverse consequences, and I didn’t want that.

   The next morning I tried out some of the new cosmetics.



I washed my face pretty quickly, not wanting to scare my descendants when I went to meet them. Besides, I rarely have time to make a daily practice of make-up anyway.

   The Cottoneyes of the future live up on the hill, in a neighborhood for people who eschew advanced technology (except for hovercars). Their house is quite pleasant, although a little reminiscent of gray Kansas in The Wizard of Oz.



   Pauline Cottoneye looks a little like me, although with blonde hair.



Her daughters Sheena and Ellen are also blond, and I can’t help wondering if that might be Brian’s influence.



   Of course, Dad is blond, too, and there’s no telling how many other blondes might have contributed to the gene pool. I also met her husband Lenny, another blond.

   From their house I went to the Wasteland area, where an alien spaceship once crashed. Emit wanted me to look at the door, and he was quite pleased when I found several pieces of something that might be a key. I found some crystal flowers near the crash site, and gathered up some pink love crystals. I don’t know what I’ll do with them, though.



   At that point I began feeling homesick for Sunset Valley and the hospital, so I decided to leave the future. I’ll be going back, though, never fear! Love to all, Claudia

[Eldridge]

I still can't believe that Basil was gone, poor him

But, it's the past... It's good to see Claudia again. She seems enjoyed her time in the future. I didn't have the EP yet, but looking at Claudia that looks so much fun! I can't wait to see more of her stories in Sunset Valley! Good luck, Claudia

[Nettlejuice]

Looks like the future is a fun place to be, and good thing some genetics were passed on to Claudia's decendants.

[hazelnut]

Sorry you lost Basil and your other dynasty.

Like Trip, I don't have Into the Future, so it's good to see it through your Sims' eyes

[SimBlip]

Hi Marian!
So pleased I found Claudia's letters.
It looks like she made a cracking start and her little foray into the future was very educating!

[Magpie2012]

Pleases I found this too!