Lupe and Fury Part 1 of 4

Yesterday, we explored the concept of whether MINIMCOM could actually see. In the days before that I reviewed at a summary level how the auditory and visual systems work in humans. All of this background was necessary leading up to this little interaction between Rome and Rei's daughter, Lupe and her beloved livetar Fury.

This little story takes place about 20 years after the events depicted in The Milk Run. Lupe has been firmly established as the lead instructor at the First Contact Academy. She alternates her time between teaching class, taking students out into space to practice their first contact skills and mediating introductions to new species which are particularly difficult to "crack" for regular students. This is the prelude leading up to "The Shell War" whereupon Lupe and her nephew Rory try and make peace with an aggressive and war-like rival Galactic Union.

Here is part one of that story:

     Lupe and Fury, Lupe’s seven foot tall, pink, Amazonian livetar, were sitting at the small table in the galley. The two of them were playing a card game called threes and fours. The game utilized two decks and required alternating three of a kind with same-suited runs of four cards.
     Lupe was studying her hand, occasionally peeking up at her robot-like friend who was also inspecting her cards. While the livetar brought the vast amount of computing power to the table as you would expect of a starship which was basically a flying computer, there was an element of luck to the game that no amount of artificial intelligence could overcome.
     Lupe blinked several times then laid her cards face down on the table.
     “What is it?” Fury asked.
     Lupe tilted her head. “How do you even see your cards?” she asked. “You don’t have eyes, just eye holes. I know there’s nothing behind them.”
     Fury laid her cards down on the table as well. “I agree with your assessment that I do not see in the same way as you but I certainly do see. Otherwise I would constantly be walking into walls.”
     “So how does it work?” Lupe asked, leaning forward.

Tomorrow, part two.