Page 137 of Every Almost

"Good. See it stays that way."

And then she walked away.

That had been about two hours ago. Charlie was doing fine on the trip now (she'd have to tell Reyna later that it was better than flying by airplane on Earth) and had even pulled out her Walkman from the pack she brought with her, listening to Katie's mixtape from 1984, the year they'd discovered Led Zeppelin, Wang Chung's newest album release, and the incredible work of Bruce Springsteen'sBorn in the USA. She'd settled into her groove with one of the pieces of Katie she still had connection to, and let the voices and instruments keep her calm.

That was, until Tavi dropped into the seat beside her and immediately noticed the Walkman clipped to her belt.

"That thing," he said, pointing at it. "What is it doing right now?"

Charlie pressed pause on the top before refocusing on Tavi. "Sorry, Tav - what did you say?"

Tavi looked down at the Walkman again. "What is that? Especially since it makes it so you can't hear me, and it makes you call me 'Tav.'"

Charlie grimaced. "Sorry, Tavi. It just kind of slipped out?"

"Nah, you know?" Tavi reconciled. "I actually kind of like it."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he responded genuinely. "But now that means I get to find a nickname for you."

Charlie laughed. "That seems fair."

"I promise I won't make it too inappropriate."

"Okay, now I think the fairness is unbalanced."

"You'll love it." Charlie laughed again before Tavi continued. "But seriously, what is that? What is it doing?"

"Playing music."

Tavi balked at her. "Playing music? Right now? While it's just sitting there?"

Charlie grinned at him. His engineer brain was working to understand this new machine and figure out how anything could be kept within a tiny little box.

She opened the Walkman cassette holder, and held it out to Tavi. "You see this thin piece of tape held here?" She pointed at the exposed bit of tape on the top of the cassette. "When it's running, it's playing. Themusicis playing. And see these wheels?" Charlie turned the cassette up in her palm. "Here in the middle? That's where the cassette uses motors from this machine to turn those wheels and advance that thin piece of tape. The tape itself has music recorded on it magnetically, and this machine reads the magnetic signal while turning the wheels, then converts it into sound through these." She held up the headphone cord.

Tavi's eyes were wide. His hands were already reaching. "That ismagnificent.It's completely analog?"

"Completely."

"No digital conversion? No data compression? It's just... magnetic patterns on a strip of plastic?"

"Basically, yes."

"And humans invented this?"

"In the 1960s."

Tavi looked at the Walkman with the expression of someone discovering a new species. Which, Charlie supposed, he sort of was.

"Can I hear it?" he asked.

Charlie smiled. "Yeah, do you think you'll be surprised?"

Tavi waved her off. "Nah, I just want to hear what humans think is 'music.'"

"Hey now, don't knock it til you try it," Charlie retorted.