*WAITING FOR THE SKY TO FALL*
Izzian broke the silence first, "That did not sound good."
Thilillian shook her head and agreed. Mr. Seebot glared at Izzian then looked helplessly and pleadingly at Thilillian, evidently more concerned with his own reputation than having his head crushed by a cascade of aluminum foil.
It was obvious Mr. Seebot was afraid Thilillian would mention the accident to her father, but she wasn't the type to run to daddy and tattle. Even though her father was the head scientist on Klesia Moon Prime, Thilillian was not prone to ever mentioning it. She habitually denied her relation all together.
Dr. Yangsley was often viewed as a somewhat pompous man, though no one dared say that anywhere near Thilillian or her father. And Thil didn’t discuss personal matters with anyone, as far as Izzian knew.
Finally, after a few brief moments of waiting for the sky to fall and upon the realization that they probably hadn't destroyed a planet somewhere, Mr. Seebot grabbed Izzian by the sleeve of his shirt.
"That was a really stupid thing to do, Izzian Klowosky," seethed Mr. Seebot, sneering out the boy's name as if he were scraping off the leavings of a Slimerot Slinker from the bottom of his shoe.
"Do you realize what may happen if two opposing lenses were to meet? I'll have you know that one false calculation of the reprogramming of the Al203 Telescope could cause catastrophic damage the likes of which you and your little girlfriend have never seen!"
Izzian was appalled. The man had gone there. He had actually called Thilillian his girlfriend. What shame Izzian felt at that moment. Did everyone on Klesia and the Moon Prime know about his infatuation with Thilillian?
Mr. Seebot quickly performed a diagnostic systems check of the Al203 and discovered that he could find nothing wrong in the immediate universe. So far, each planet in the vicinity was still in existence and the scope was functioning properly.
"You are lucky, Mr. Klowosky," he repeated Izzian's name in the same condescending manner. "If I could, I would ban you from the Al203 for life. Instead, I'll go on record as saying that you are banned for the week, effective right now. I hope you fail your little Goodwill Project too."
"So nothing is broken?" Thilillian asked, disbelieving that the sounds she had heard earlier hadn't resulted in some massive destruction.
"No, Miss Yangsley. It appears that everything is okay…I know I typed the correct code, but that idiot pushed me…The scans all read normal, though. Let's just keep this between ourselves and no one will be the wiser. Understood?" Mr. Seebot said, obviously afraid of being called out for breaking the expensive, dangerous telescope.
"Mr. Klowosky, if I see you in this lab again, I'll have armed guards send you directly to detention. You can take your girlfriend and leave. See that he doesn't return, Miss Yangsley," Mr. Seebot said.
He was getting very good at taunting Izzian. Detention was not pleasant on Klesia, in fact, it was considered dangerous, and Seebot knew exactly what to say to displease the boy.
Izzian's first response was usually anger and insults and the occasion did call for that in his opinion, especially since Thilillian had witnessed the entire degrading rant. However, Izzian desperately needed to see Eliza again.
He needed to see if the earth girl was attempting to speak to him with sign language, a form of communication on earth. He couldn't do that if Seebot banned him for the week.
"So, is this a bad time to ask if I can use the Al203 for just a few minutes longer? I mean, I know it's Thilillian's turn and everything, but you see-"
Mr. Seebot stopped the boy short by throwing his hand in Izzian's face and skulking out of the room, mumbling, "Detention, Mr. Klowosky…do not come back…What if I get blamed for that little ingrate messing everything up…" until he could no longer be seen nor heard, thankfully.
"I guess that's a no," Izzian said, dispiritedly, adding, "I can't believe a robot just gave me the hand in the face thing."
Sadly, his investigation of Eliza Allready and her ability to sense someone watching her from so far away would have to wait, at least for another week.
Thilillian bit her lip and whispered, "Not necessarily,"
"Excuse me?" Izzian looked at the cunning girl in wonder.
"Well, it seems as if you have something important to see and I don't mind if you take my turn today. I mean, I have so much to do. I have to practice my speech for the Sendoff Ceremony and Reddle wants to go shopping for a new Sendoff outfit…"
Thilillian shifted uncomfortably on her feet, knowing that Izzian and Reddle were born enemies. Reddle was a girl in Izzian's Pre-Anatomical Calculative Mass class and she never shied away from making Izzian look like a Glotfish.
Thil continued, "To tell the truth, I'm already bored of watching my Goodwill subject. Her name is Oseca and she lives in the Juniper Colony on Footfall Freighter. I mean, I'm sure Oseca is nice and all but how much can I learn about her by just spying for a few hours a day?"
"You're going to Footfall Freighter?" Izzian couldn't believe his ears. "Thilillian, you are the luckiest Klesian…I can't believe you get to do your Goodwill Project on a 'stroid!"
He was astonished. Footfall had been Izzian's favorite minor planet for as long as he could remember. Besides housing a few colonies of aliens, the asteroid was a galaxy hopper.
Although technically speaking, Footfall Freighter was not really an asteroid. It was more like a small planet, a shell of a planet really, hollowed out for habitation and storage.
The asteroid, or 'stroid, featured a unique propulsion system, which allowed it to travel all over many universes. Thilillian would spend a year on the most popular transportation and delivery freighter ever formed. The lucky girl would cover more universal miles than any other student during her Goodwill Project and Izzian was jealous.
"Wow. I wish I were going with you…I mean, not with you," Izzian's skin turned a brighter green, "Not that going with you would be so bad," he stammered. "I wish I were going on a transport freighter, that's all," Izzian quickly wrapped things up since all of his stuttering and stammering was getting weird.
Thilillian nodded her head and grinned. "I know what you meant, okay Izzian? So, do you want my turn today or not?"
"How? I appreciate your offer and all, but imagine the damage I would cause if I tried to reprogram the Al203. I'm afraid Mr. Seebot wouldn't do it for me. You may not have noticed, but he seems a tad displeased with me."
"Yes, I had noticed," she responded flatly.
Izzian desperately needed to see Eliza again, to confirm his sanity if for no other reason. He knew Eliza was communicating, but what if he'd made a mistake and she was simply practicing conducting an orchestra or something.
Izzian did not want to let Thil in on his hunch until he was positive. He had to keep Eliza's communications a secret. Thankfully, Thilillian didn't ask why he needed to use the telescope one more time, and she seemed rather adept at keeping secrets.
Before Izzian could say another word, Thilillian snapped her fingers. The telescope's airboard appeared before her, casting an ominous glow on her pale green skin.
Thilillian focused her eyes on the screen and began typing ferociously. Izzian noticed her saying little things under her breath as if she were telling her fingers what to say and how to say it.
Afraid of hearing another grinding and screech from the telescope, Izzian asked, "Thil, what are you doing?" He didn't want to sound too panicky, but he did want Thil to use caution.
"Shush. I know what I'm doing," she said as her fingers flew over the air board.
Izzian admired to girl's confident nature but could not help being terrifically nervous. "Look Thil, we just heard the telescope scratch against something. What if we broke it? Even if Seebot said it was okay, he was probably just afraid he'd get blamed. Maybe you should just leave it alone. The elders say that one slight miscalculation might cause some terrible explosion or something," Izzian said anxiously. He was trying to talk some sense into
the girl.
Thilillian retorted, "Or, according to another batch of elders, it might just rain diamonds. Would that be so bad? Argh! Do you want to watch this Eliza girl or not? Please just relax and let me get on with it. Stop acting like a baby."
Izzian shut his mouth. He desperately needed to see Eliza again, now that he knew she was communicating with him, but fear of the Al203 Telescopes ran deep. They were reputed to be the most dangerous technological advancement of the last century.
Just as Izzian was about to make a mess in his pants due to nervousness, Thilillian suddenly looked up from her typing and scanned the readout screen.
"There. That should do it," she announced with certainty and a massive touch of pride in her own abilities. She pressed the enter key with a flourish.
The boy stood perfectly still, waiting for the boom that would surely follow. After a moment, Izzian allowed himself to relax, realizing Thil may have successfully reprogrammed the telescope, despite his bellyaching. He sighed in relief when the planet and its moon didn't explode, and felt silly for pestering the girl so badly.
Izzian peered into the telescope and saw Eliza impatiently tapping her foot way down on earth through the hole in her rickety old tree house.
"How in the moons did you learn how to do that?" Izzian was both impressed and jealous at the same time.
She cracked her fingers and stretched her back and smiled at Izzian's begrudging form of flattery.
"Well, as you know, I've interned at the Al203 Telescopes since I was a third year in school. Also, my Goodwill Project is obviously on Footfall Freighter which happens to move around a lot. I've had to watch Mr. Seebot tracking it several times."
Izzian shook his head in admiration, pretending to ignore the fact that her dad was the boss, and as such, Thil may have had more hands-on opportunity and Al203 access than most. Even though the girl had grown up in the lab, he was fascinated that she never once mentioned her father among her achievements.
Most kids would brag nonstop if their ortnot was such a powerful Klesian as Dr. Yangsley, but Thil preferred to hoard all of her own glory, in a good way, it seemed to Izzian. She obviously needed to prove her own worth and he respected that.
The girl leaned in close and whispered into Izzian's ear, "I have learned a few things by paying attention over the shoulders of my elders when they type. Let's just say I spy on more than Oseca on Footfall Freighter," and she gave a conspiratorial wink.
Suddenly, Izzian thought he was in love; or, perhaps it was a feeling of strong admiration.
"Eek," Thilillian violently shook her head, "I can't seem to get used to this plascreen behind my eye. Every time I wink I end up accessing tons of useless information on the mating habits of the Shilka Beast of the Chulupean Colony and other nonsense…"
Thilillian absentmindedly walked out of the room, rubbing her eyes. Izzian wondered, not for the first time, what other transformations Thil would undergo in order to fit in at the Juniper Colony.
Afraid she would actually leave before he could thank her, Izzian reached boldly for her hand. "Hey, thanks Thil," he added, looking into her eyes. "Maybe I'll see you at the Sendoff Ceremony?" He asked the statement like a question, hoping the girl would set a time and place to meet.
"No problem. And hey, I hope you find what you're looking for with…it's Eliza Allready, isn't it?" she asked.
"What's Eliza Allready?" said Izzian in a confused haze. Had he just asked her out, and had she blown him off? His head was spinning.
"Your Goodwill subject? Your earth girl, Eliza Allready," Thilillian pointed to the telescope focused directly on Eliza's impatient form. "I suppose she's pretty, in a wholesome earthy kind of way," she added nonchalantly.
He shook his head yes then realized he'd meant to say no but Thil was walking out of the room and it didn't matter at that point. With a dizzy head, Izzian watched the girl he might have grown to love walk out of the room, almost forgetting about Eliza Allready, again.
***