With the Orville's departure, over the next few days Annie returned to her usual routine of having nothing to do all day, wandering around and causing trouble for everyone, or getting up to mischief on her own.
"I'm telling you, Annie!"
"Please!"
"Could you stop doing nothing and causing trouble every day?"
"I've been thinking..."
"You should go to school with Ty and Marcus. Seriously!"
In the Hospital Wing, Claire spotted a certain troublesome little girl wandering in again. Worried she'd cause more trouble, Claire hurried over to keep an eye on her and try to talk some sense into her.
"School?"
(??????)????
"But there isn't a school here!"
(?^▽^?)
Yes, Annie was sure of it. The Orville had plenty of cabins and several decks, but there was no school here. So Claire's suggestion was completely pointless.
"School?"
"No!"
"We don't need a school!"
"We have dedicated holographic classrooms. Technology is so advanced now that children who can't attend school in person don't need to go to a physical school at all."
Hearing Annie say that, Claire paused, then broke into a smile as she realized what Annie meant.
Take Claire, for example. She was a single mother as well as the Orville's chief medical officer. Since she had to stay aboard the ship around the clock, sometimes for months or even a year or two without returning to Earth, leaving her two children on Earth or at any colony wasn't a good option. So she brought them aboard and arranged for them to attend class and interact with other children in a holographic classroom through the school's quantum network. The ship's AI Brain could even assist with certain virtual lessons, and the teachers and students inside looked just like the real thing.
That way, she could ensure her children