*A SHORT FUSE AND DIRE NEWS*
Izzian and Eliza spent more and more time together, huddled next to a fan in the tree house that was permanently renamed base camp. Izzian's old ally, Paksha, had become part of the group and fit in perfectly. They had bumped into each other under the usual circumstances.
One afternoon in the forest, Izzy and Eliza were bombarded by a barrage of acorns. Looking up, fearing they were under attack from an army of angry squirrels, the two discovered Paksha hanging upside-down from a branch.
The dark-headed boy's glasses perched precariously on his ears as if they were determining whether or not to abide by gravity, or to remain suspended upon the boy's nose. Paksha performed a dangerous dismount from the branch and landed with his usual grace and flourish.
He apologized for leaving Izzian on the ground dripping wet with snow cone that day. Paksha confessed he had been afraid of Lucas and Link for years, but he was too old to follow anymore. He'd made the decision to leave the entourage of the evil twins and not look back.
After a brief consultation, Izzian and Eliza agreed to allow Paksha into their circle since he was a funny, cheerful fellow and he'd stood up to Lucas and Link. Besides that, Paksha's mother happened to own the local hair salon, Bluff Cutz. She was privy to more adult information and gossip than anyone in Sudden Bluff.
The heat had become unbearable, and the kids needed a new, colder base camp. Izzy's house was the logical choice to the other parents since his was the only household having a full-time work at home parent. Izzian also had the best collection of video games out of the three. Enot was a naturally paranoid person and complained about having earthlings underfoot every day.
Gala had laughed and said, "What could the earth children possibly see? It's not like you're down in that lab dissecting humans. Am I right?"
Izzian had shivered at the thought of Enot dissecting humans in his basement lab. He was part human after all. Gala, as usual, had eventually convinced Enot that nothing would go wrong and made Izzy promise to keep the earthlings well away from the basement lab.
From that point on, Paksha and Eliza where often seen running up and down the steps to Izzian's loft, coming and going as they pleased. It had become a tradition for the first one up the stairs to set up the video game and invite the others into the world of Slime Craft.
Besides Slime Craft, the trio often competed in Alien Abduction; a game Izzy had purchased as a personal joke. Alien Abduction required one team of humans and another team of alien invaders. Each time, Paksha claimed the role of alien and never tired of implanting alien larvae into unprotected body cavities, triumphantly turning each human into a mindless zombie.
One afternoon, during an intense online gaming session, Enot barged in and awkwardly greeted the trio of gamers. Without prior parenting experience, Enot had failed to understand the importance of waiting until the players had completed a level before interrupting the game. So, in the middle of a very serious battle, Enot abruptly commanded Paksha and Eliza to leave.
His inconsiderate actions caused the death of every player on the team and Izzian was furious. After his friends, sensing Enot's no-nonsense mood, had hastily departed the attic-loft-turned-base-camp, Izzian threw down his controller in angst.
"What on earth is so important that you needed to interrupt me doing my own research?" Izzian whined, following in the usual footsteps of Enot, the well-known whiner.
"First of all, I think it's incredibly funny of you to refer to your lazy afternoon gaming sessions and play dates with your friends as "research" and secondly, the problem I need to discuss with you is serious."
Izzian's distaste of Enot's insulting words was palpable. The boy crossed his shoulders and stubbornly refused to speak.
Enot, in a rush to get his point across, blurted, "Have you forgotten that I have so far been unable to contact any being on Klesia or Klesia Moon Prime? Are you so caught up in the gossip of Sudden Bluff and your online battles that you've forgotten about our home possibly disappearing?"
Izzian stared abashedly at the floor, saying nothing.
"Look, I'm not trying to make you feel bad. It's easy to get all caught up with your Goodwill Project. Normally, that would be a good thing. Unfortunately, I'm getting more worried and frustrated every day," Enot paused, giving Izzian time to soak up all he had said.
"You're right. I started feeling so…so…human that I started to forget about being Klesian. Is Klesia okay, Enot? Are my parents okay?" Suddenly, all the problems from home started popping up in Izzian's mind, things he had tried to forget. "I guess I thought there was nothing I could do from earth, so I tried to forget about it all."
"I really can't say if everything is okay, Izzian. Like I said, I'm growing more concerned by the day, with each unanswered communication," Enot said with worry.
"What about Gala? Does she know? Has she been able to contact anyone?" Izzian perked up.
"I...don't know. It's strange that she hasn't mentioned anything. She's really caught up in her work at the mental hospital. Gala thinks this old lady at the home, they call Able Mabel Jesset, is a Firithian. Imagine that, an enormous Firithian pretending to be a little old lady."
Izzian had met Able Mabel Jesset one afternoon when running errands for Gala and he did see something strange in the old lady. He chalked it up to the fact that Mabel was a patient in a mental hospital, and might just be crazy.
Enot whispered, "What I have to tell you must be kept secret from everyone, especially Gala. It's not that I don't trust her, it's just that…I don't trust her."
Izzian was beginning to feel a certain kinship with the Glotfish as his mouth was continually hanging open in surprise.
"Close your mouth, Izzian. Gala has been acting strange for the past few weeks. She's rarely home and when she is, she avoids me like crazy. I can't put my finger on it, but it's as if she's trying to distance herself from me."
Izzian had tried to distance himself from Enot on several occasions and thought it wasn't that strange. He trusted Gala and decided to speak to her soon to figure out what had been bothering her.
"You need to talk to her, Enot. She's part of the team and she's smart. Maybe she could help you figure out why our communications are going unanswered."
"She's got something brewing, Izzian. She's not the same Gala Klowosky that boarded the Gratified Speed 1213, I'm telling you."
Izzian ignored the negative, paranoid words of Enot the whiner. "What can we do, Enot? We have to figure out how to contact another enlightened species-someone else out in space. Someone has to be able to fly to Klesia and figure out what's going on," Izzian said.
Enot nodded in agreement. "You're right. It seems like all interstellar communication has been stopped, though. Maybe it has something to do with Zelph Elegueria and his anti-CCU group. Gleestix, I hope Klesia is not at war or something. I'm so worried, Izzian. Do you recall that my remote control from the Gratified Speed 1213 is a communications beacon? Well, it's not receiving communications either. We are stuck here, with no way to know what is happening out there in space."
Enot was a scientific man and a very serious one at that, so Izzian was frightened by Enot's worry. But Izzian's thought patterns ran differently.
"Enot I think it's going to all work out. Some idiot probably wrecked their SpacePod into some gigantic satellite and smashed it to pieces. Or some dumb college kids pulled the universe's best prank ever," commented Izzian with a touch of awe and slight admiration in his voice.
"I hope so," admitted Enot.
But Enot knew Izzian was ignorant about the mechanics of interstellar communications and barely understood the science behind it. He didn't want to over worry the boy, but the issue was more serious than a few drunken college kids pulling a prank.
"We could be stuck on earth, you know," said Enot mildly, gauging Izzian's reaction. "If we can't get in touch with Comet Central Station, we can't receive our coordinates and if that happens, we can't pilot the
ship. Moreover, we may not have a home to go to. Our planets might have disappeared for all we know."
Izzian finally understood the complexity of the situation. It was obviously a bigger problem than he'd thought; bigger than not being able to send or receive Freemails or checking out funny GoobTube videos; bigger than missing out on chats and downloadable movies.
"Stuck on earth?" Izzian said, bewildered. He let the idea float around in his head and couldn't decide exactly how he felt about that. In some cases, it would be a tragedy to never go home again. In other ways, being a fulltime earthling would be okay.
If he remained on earth, he and Eliza could always be friends. He'd never have to say goodbye to her or Paksha and he could explore the entire planet.
On the other hand, he'd never see his ortnots again; never feel the soft, cottony dirt of his home planet on bare feet; never publically show his true form; and never get to be flustered by Thilillian Yangsley ever again. All of those "never's" were unacceptable to the boy and he vowed to do everything in his power to help Enot figure out how to fix things.
"Can we fix it Enot? What can we do?" Izzian had never been more devoted to a scientist or an elder than he was to Enot at that moment. "Is there a way to contact Klesia? Can we find a way to get home?"
Enot hitched his shoulders and said, "I don't know, Izzian. I simply do not know."
***