P.T. Phone Home

March 20, 2009 at 12:06 pm | Posted in Smith Family | 12 Comments
Tags: Blog, Blogging, Curious, Curious-Smith, Jenny, Jill, Johnny, Pollination tech #9, Sims, Sims 2, Smith, Story, Strangetown, The Sims 2, Writing

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A Short History of Pollination Tech #9

Pollination Tech #9 knew to count his blessings everyday.

First, by a twist of fate, he had been born a Pollination Technician – a rarity in a world of Drones. It had been a day of celebration – he was one of the Chosen for the sacred task – and he had been spared the life of drudgery of a Drone in his home planet of Enceladus.

Source : NASA - This really is a picture of Enceladus. It is one of the moons of Jupiter in real life.

Growing up, he was regarded as almost equal in status to the Birth Mothers.  But unlike the Mothers who had to stay behind in the Hives, he was free to travel all over the galaxies, tasked by the Mahasamparka to spread the seeds of the Enceladians far and wide.

A framed photo of P.T. #9's spaceship kept in his bedroom at home

P.T. #9 became one of the best Pollinators in Enceladian history. In fact, he became legendary for having at least ten progeny per planet. Multiply this by a million solar systems … and it was no wonder that a monument was built in his honor in Enceladus, to honor him as an honorary “Birth Father”.

P.T. #9’s last stop had been SimEarth – a beatiful green and blue planet covered with fluffy white clouds – so different from his icy home planet. Even when he first saw it as a tiny speck from millions of light years away, it was like the planet called out to something inside him. He was irresistably drawn, like moth to a flame.

Source: Maxis - This is a picture of SimEarth: the living planet (the game)

Fascinated by the planet and its inhabitants, P.T. #9 had delayed his retirement. To keep the home base happy, he’d sired two children by the great sim scientist Glarm Curious. After that, P.T. #9 was expected to return home to Enceladus to retire in glory and acclaim; indeed, Pollination Tech #10 was already en-route to SimEarth to take his place.

But P.T. #9 kept on finding excuses to stay in SimEarth. Because fate had stepped in again.

Against all regulations, he had met and fallen in love with Glarm Curious’ daughter, a beautiful sim by the name of Jenny.

It had never been heard of – Pollination Techs did not fall in love – they were supposed to fly out, do their job and get out fast. Wham, bam, thank you ma’am (or sir) was their protocol. But P.T. #9 was in love and for the first time in his long, long life, he rebelled. He was determined to make Jenny Curious his bride.

The news was met with appalled reactions all over Enceladus.

“SCANDAL!” – the leading dailies had proclaimed. The Birth Mothers, alarmed by this development, tried to block new Pollination Technicians from leaving the planet. In Enceladus, marriage was not taken lightly. It meant the co-mingling of life essenses and no one knew what would happen when an alien race was added to the mix.

But in the end, the Mahasamparka had stepped in. “NOTHING …”, he proclaimed, ” … should disrupt the sacred seeding process – the fate of the whole universe rests on it.” He explained that this was simply evolution, and if the fates decreed that the life force of an Enceladian should be mingled in sacred marriage with an alien race, then so be it. The consequences, whatever they may be, would be met and dealt with when needed.

The Birth Mothers protested bitterly, and warned of dire consequences. But suddenly, like a dam that was breached, other retiring Pollination Techs also found love and marriage elsewhere in the galaxy.

And thus, P.T. #9 knew to count his blessings every day.

He had settled uneventfully in Sim State, and was generally accepted by other sims with nothing more than an initial surprised start at his appearance. P.T. #9 had heard about the bad experiences of other Techs who had settled down in other galaxies, so he was doubly thankful to the fates for bringing him to SimEarth.

He and Jenny had made a family, and to his surprise, they were blessed with two more children – Johnny and Jill – with absolutely no assistance from the Pollination process. He and Jenny enjoyed a good marriage, and even after all these years, somehow the love was not tempered by time, but instead grew even stronger every year.

Johnny was an exemplary son, and had even just graduated with high honors from Sim State University, bringing great honor and pride to the family.

Johnny : I love you dad

P.T. #9 couldn't stop himself from talking about his son's achievement every chance he got.

Jill : Oh, enough about Johnny already! I want to talk about my new toy!

Jenny : Don't worry, Jill. When it's your turn to grow up, I'm sure your father will talk everyone's ear off about how proud he is of you.

He lived a quiet and peaceful existence in Strangetown. Early on, he’d had a little trouble with the General Buzz Grunt who was frankly suspicious of his arrival. But even the General could not find anything to fault P.T. #9 with, so they had eventually settled into a “truce.”

The Smith house was a home not just to the immediate family, but also to his other two daughters – Lola and Chloe Curious-Smith – and to Jenny’s brothers – Pascal, Vidcund and Lazlo – who visited often.

Chloe Curious-Smith came by to complain about her sister Lola’s frequent disappearances. She was sure there was hanky-panky going on.

Chloe : Dad, she's never around! And I've heard rumors about her going out with that Don Lothario!

The Curious brothers came by to gossip a bit with their elder sister Jenny.

Jill : Oh, yes, what a mystery that Olive Specter is! What secrets has she brought with her to her grave?

Pascal and Vidcund often retired to play chess together in the corner.

But Lazlo, the most social of the brothers, could be counted on to have a bit of a chat with Jenny.

And play a video game or two with his niece, Jill.

Lazlo : You beat me again!

P.T. #9 was particularly glad that Jill had found a new gaming partner. He was not sure that he completely approved of Jill spending so much time with the teen-aged Alexander Goth.

“Oh, let them be, P.T.!” Jenny had laughed. “Alexander is a sweet boy, and they’re only playing video games.”

But P.T. knew “boys were boys”, so he kept a good watch over them when Alexander visited.

And so Pollination Tech #9 made sure to count his blessings every day. He was not a superstitious Enceladian, but he sometimes wondered when the fates would turn against him.

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