Meet Digit Glitcheson. The youngest of the odd family nicknamed "The Glitches." A typical teenager? Well not exactly. Difficult? Check. Unique? Check. Mysterious? Check. A challenge to communicate with? Umm...mega-check. Like her bizarre parents, she speaks in a mixture of choppy English and binary code. But what else would you expect from a "Glitch"?
"It's a very simple question, Digit." The mysterious girl looks up at her school teacher with eyes that seem to flicker. Ignoring this, Mr. Armstrong continues. "Where are you and your parents from?" Interesting question, to be sure. Interesting and understandable. But far from simple. And certainly not very.
"It's 01100011 01101111 01101101 01110000 01101100 01101001 01100011 01100001 01110100 01100101 01100100."
Did you get that? Neither did her teacher. But Mr. Armstrong is nothing if not thoroughly prepared for every classroom situation. Based on previous interactions with this most unconventional of pupils, he had downloaded a binary code translation app onto his phone.
The dedicated educator requires a few minutes to input the spoken numbers into the app. Digit waits patiently, her head zipping in multiple directions at lightning speed. For any other student, this would be great cause for alarm. But Mr. Armstrong knows that she's just glitching right now.
"So it's...complicated, huh?" The translation is complete. "Then why don't you try to explain it to me?"
This might take a while.
(Excerpted from my sci-fi short story "Meet The Glitches." The full story is included in my book Space & Rhyme.)
MEET THE GLITCHES
a multi-dimensional concept
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