Explore On Their Own (Originally by Lord of the Pies)

"I guess we'll explore." said Kyle, tactfully not commenting on the strange portrait. Regardless of his wealth, it was clear that their uncle was an oddball.

"Sounds great," Uncle Mark replied, clapping his hands once "Oh, wait, almost forgot. Boys, step forward about five or so steps."

Curious, Sam and Kyle did as he said. As they placed their feet on the last step, they heard a voice emanate from the walls.

"Welcome to the Gladstone Villa, GUEST_1 and GUEST_2." said a smooth female voice, though it put a strange accent on "guest".

"Meet MARCI" proclaimed Uncle Mark proudly, "our Intelligent House. She's incredibly interactive and controls the whole house. We've been building her into the walls and existing systems for years. Her name's an acronym for something really clever, but none of us remember what it was. The girls and I all have user accounts in her database, so she'll call us by name and keep track of our schedules and such. Right now, you two are guests, but I'll set you up some accounts later so you can start personalizing. She's really amazing. Watch this. MARCI?"

"Yes, Master Gladstone?"

"Change the floor in the main entrance please, random pattern."

"Certainly."

Beneath their feet, the elegant marble floor began to fade in color, revealing that it was some kind of advanced screen. The black and white marble faded to solid white, before new colors started to appear, greens and reds. Within seconds, the once marble floor was now a vibrant plaid. If the boys didn't know better, they'd have sworn they were standing on the the kilt of a Scottish giant.

"Cool stuff right?" beamed Uncle Mark, "Like I said, we invent a lot of gadgets to market, but we always keep the coolest stuff for ourselves. Most of it's not economically feasible to mass produce anyway. Well, what are you waiting for? You wanted to explore, so explore! If you need anything, just politely ask MARCI, or contact me on the intercom. I'll be in the kitchen making some dinner. Is brick-oven pizza okay?"

The boys nodded, but Sam had a question. "What does the intercom look like, in case I need to use it?"

Uncle Mark gave him a look like he'd just asked how much coal a computer ran on, then answered. "It's an intercom. It's a feature, built in. It's like on Star Trek. Please tell me you've seen that at least? Just say "contact Mark" and some of the digital wallpaper near you will render into a video display connected to the kitchen, or where ever I happen to be at the time. Most of the basic operations are pretty intuitive. Got it?"

The boys nodded, eager to explore the futuristic tech house of their dreams.

"Well go on then!" Uncle Mark chuckled.

"Thanks Uncle Mark!" They called out, dashing up the stairs, one taking a left, the other a right.

"And you can drop the "uncle" bit!" he yelled back, cupping his hands around his mouth like a megaphone, "we're all family here!" And then to himself, "Plus it makes me feel like an old man."