Keelic and the Space Pirates

  *****

  Keelic could not sleep. Why a ramp there? If Ermol was uninhabited, who had built it? Should he tell anyone? Sometime near midnight he decided to explore the ramp by himself, perhaps go down a sinkhole, or even swim up under the boulders at the end of the cavern.

  In the morning he sensed something unusual about his parents. Mother looked determined. Father looked serious. Did they know about his midnight snack runs? The ramp? Or, worse, the rifle?

  His father said, "Sit down, Keelic."

  Keelic sat.

  "We think that you should return to school. Don’t whine. Listen. You have had a week to adjust here. It is time to continue your schooling. There will be no argument. We have already arranged it. The school bus will begin coming for you from now on, starting tomorrow. It’s a regular school week, five days, just like Pesfor. The Chief Instructor tells me they have accelerated courses here." He sat back, looked at his wife, then back to Keelic.

  "Okay?"

  Keelic nodded, looking at nothing.