Technology in the Future

The technology in the world of Uglies by Scott Westerfeld is very different from ours. This world is several centuries ahead of our time. Instead of applying sunscreen as a lotion or spray, they put on a sunscreen patch. When we want bubbles in our bath, we add a liquid soap while they have packages of massaging bubbles. I'm very jealous of both of these inventions. Another invention, typically used for travel, are the food packets. These are used like instant ramen; just add water and your food is ready. Tally has "SpagBol" packets, which is short for spaghetti Bolognese. She has 2 weeks worth of SpagBol for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This meal will no longer be her favorite after her trip!

While on her way to "The Smoke," she encounters a huge, archaic, metal machine. This machine is exactly as she pictured it from her history class teachings. It creates a huge tornado and flies. Not too much later, she sees the machine again, with "Pretties" inside! And these people are setting fire to the white orchids that surround Tally for miles. Tally gets caught in the firestorm, luckily the pretties rescue her from a terrible death. Tally learns that these pretties are rangers and their job is to set fire to the orchids. In this time period, orchids are a weed that are choking out every other plant in the wilderness. A Rusties (our time frame) scientist invented a way to rapidly grow orchids since orchids were rare and valuable. This experiment went wrong, of course, and now orchids are weeds. The pretties in the machine tell Tally that will drop her off at the next location for her trip. Tally also learns that the Rusties' strange machine is called a helicopter.