*CATASTROPHIC EVENT*
It was a lot to take in and the group became silent as Thilillian explained their predicament. Paksha sat quietly, drinking in every detail while Eliza chewed her nails, a habit she had long since abandoned but had recently taken up again. The remaining different races of aliens considered Thil's words, searching for a correlation between the telescope and the shrinking Klesian population.
"Thil is right. It's simple really," Enot said. He paced the cabin, stumbling over protruding knees and crossed feet, careful to avoid squashing the Fester Tails. "The lens of the Al203 Telescope on Klesia has directly focused on the lens of the Al203 on Klesia Moon Prime. It finally happened!"
"Those protestors were right about one thing, something catastrophic did happen," Gala added. "But Enot, do you really think they all just shrunk…shrinked? shrank?"
Enot kept trying to pace the cabin, but was clearly agitated by the lack of legroom. He stood still and said, "Imagine if an entire population shrunk down to the size of…well of you Fester Tail people. They couldn't answer communications, could they? Heck, no offense to the Fester Tail tribe, but they couldn't even reach the computers or anything. They are healthy and alive but too small to do anything to fix the problem. All of the machinery is too big for them to use!" Enot shouted. He was laughing hysterically, but Izzian didn't see anything funny about the situation.
His ortnots might be starving, scavenging for crumbs of food or stranded someplace too high to get down. The Fester Tails had their whole lives to practice being small, but regular-sized Klesians had no such training. His people needed saving.
"Thilillian," Enot said franticly, "your input today has most definitely cleared your name. You were right about the telescopes shrinking the population. Since you are an unauthorized whiz on the Al203 Telescopes, I'll need your help to prove something else. An idea has occurred to me. My…observation will shock everyone on board. I have another theory and it's a doozey."
Enot addressed the young Klesians. "First of all, are you aware of any mistakes made on the Al203? Did anything out of the ordinary happen that you know of?"
Thil and Izzian clearly recalled the day when Izzian elbowed Mr. Seebot as the half-man typed in commands. Izzian was not quite ready to rat himself out yet, and Thil procrastinated, trying to determine a way to keep him out of trouble and herself a little less in trouble. She came to the conclusion that no amount of lying or scheming would help save her people.
"Mr. Seebot, he…slipped and miscalculated an entry. Izzian saw it too," Thil confessed.
Izzian's eyes grew wide at the mention of his name, afraid he had some explaining to do, but Gala intervened. "Why would a robot need to manually enter calculations? Shouldn't he have just used his input/output beam?"
Thil and Izzy shrugged their shoulders, but old Yarn knew the truth.
"Mr. Seebot has a little…psychosis, a complex if you will. He thinks he is more organic than mechanical, a grave mistake when calculating your crude little telescope. I'm afraid your Mr. Seebot may have had a hand in shrinking all of your people," Yarn added.
"I think most would agree that Mr. Seebot has a few, err…mental instabilities," Enot declared. "From the main lab, Seebot is able to control all of the Al203 telescopes in the universe. He must have set a delay switch for both of the telescopes on Klesia and the Moon Prime. If I recall, Dr. Yangsley posted a sign prohibiting anyone from using the Al203's during our last week at home, so no one would have detected the error. Most of the Goodwill students would have already left."
In the middle of his scientific breakthrough, Enot failed to notice the distraught look on Thilillian's face at the mention of her father's incompetency. Gala interrupted, adding, "Dr. Yangsley is a trusted and esteemed colleague. I'm sure he had no idea that the Al203 Telescopes would end up shrinking the Klesian population. But, I am beginning to think that by now, Seebot knows he really messed things up."
"Quite right, Gala. We were already on earth," Enot explained, "when both telescopes switched on, as per Seebot's accidental delay instructions. The lenses aligned. It had to have been an accidental misdirection. Seebot made a grievous mistake, but he's no traitor.
"He's a robot with nothing to gain from shrinking the population. Plus, Seebot shrunk right along with everyone else. That explains why Izzian, Gala and I…and Thil as it turns out, weren't shrunk to the size of a Fester Tail. Beg pardon," Enot nodded toward the conference table full of Fester Tails.
"That explains how it happened, but how do we fix it?" Izzian asked.
"That is the problem," Enot said. "Someone has to manually override the delay switch. The person who reprograms the Al203 has to physically be on the planet's surface. It was turned off, remember? The only reason they switched on and aligned was because Seebot accidentally set a delay switch. Therefore, the telescopes must be manually readjusted. Of course, this is just my own theory…"
"Okay, that's not so bad, right?" Eliza added her voice, even though she hadn't a clue how the alien telescopes worked. "One of us can just beam down, or whatever, and turn the telescopes back on. Punch in a few numbers, and the Klesians will return to normal size, right? Problem solved."
Mr. Hulla Baloo, the cute yet feisty little Fester Tail tugged on Enot's pant leg. Enot got on all fours and bent down to the level of the small man in order to better hear his words.
Enot nodded his head, saying, "Aha," and "Oh yes, certainly."
He stood up to share Hulla's words with the taller crowd. "Mr. Baloo agrees and he suggested that when the telescopes and the lenses connected that day, the jolt caused them to shift. Once we shift them back, pointing them at each other again, and switch the telescopes on, all of Klesia should return to their normal size. So, yes, Eliza, your summations are partially correct."
Hulla Baloo tugged on his pant leg again, and Enot hunkered lower in order to hear. Enot nodded as the Fester Tail spoke, grimacing at the little man's words.
Enot paused before admitting the bad news. "The worst part is…well…the person we choose to manually reprogram the Al203 on Klesia Moon Prime will suffer the exact opposite of the rest of Klesia's people. The small Klesians will return to normal but…the person that reprograms the Al203 will almost definitely shrink."
Enot's audience gasped as they heard the alarming news. No one could believe that the hero who reprogrammed the telescope would shrink to the size of a Fester Tail, or smaller.
Yarn spoke up, stating the obvious, "Looks like we need a volunteer."
***
CHAPTER 33