Friday, April 22, 2011

Friday Follow-Up

I believe I might continue on with the line of thought from yesterday and put a bit from later in the same chapter from The Helium Bomb. In this scene, Kevin, Billy, Amy and Patty sit in Nashotah Tower considering the news about Earth's impending destruction via the large asteroid.

Note: If you didn't read Thursday's entry, read it first. This part should then be more understandable.

     By the way, when the kids are talking about magic, it is what they think of their strange abilities, but don't let it confuse you.  You would not be too far off, if you think of them somewhat like untrained "Jedi" youths so far removed from the Federation, that they have no idea why they have certain powers and just call it "magic" for lack of a better term.
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Five houses divided the students at Greenbriar Academy. Each of these five houses had their own tower with separate dorm areas for boys and girls. Amy, Kevin, Patty and Billy all stayed in Nashotah House, where the asteroid was the only topic on anyone's mind that evening. "Commander," Amy whispered, looking at Kevin, "could we fly out to the asteroid in question? Maybe we will get some ideas after we look it over."
Two years earlier, Kevin had received his own spaceship from the queen of Abras, and since it was an Abrasax military Corsair, she had given him a rank in her royal guard so the ship's intelligence would follow his orders. His rank was Wing Commander.
"We could, but not now. It is past curfew and while we might get around that, we would still need to know the exact location of that asteroid," Kevin kept his voice low, "which we don't."
Amy offered, "Professor Grymm would have that information, but we wouldn't dare disturb him this time of evening, anyway. He is probably busy with Cassandra's private tutoring about now.” Blond-haired Patty Varian looked Amy in the eye and they both began to giggle.
"Smooch, smooch," Patty laughed.
Billy ignored the last part and noted, "It was really strange. When Cassandra showed up, why did Professor Thexia throw such a fit about it? It was like she just instantly hated Cassandra for no reason."
"Oh, Duh! You are not that dense, are you?” Patty goaded him.
"I get this from a blonde?” Billy wondered aloud.
"She was jealous, William," Amy informed him. "She has had a secret crush on Professor Grymm for ages, and it has not really been that secret, either."
Billy gasped. "On Grimy? You’re kidding. How could she like him?"
"Because from a female point of view, he is actually quite dashing. That British accent of his is exciting as well.” When Amy said this, it made Kevin look at her strangely, but he said nothing.
"Okay, I have an idea," Patty offered. "It involves using a big Abrasax ship like the battleship Enlil or even several of the larger ones. Could they hook tow cables to the asteroid and fire their engines at full power to make it change its orbit just enough that by the time it swings around the sun, it would miss Earth entirely?"
"Maybe," Amy agreed. "The sooner they try it, the more likely it could succeed. While the asteroid is still far enough from Earth, even a tiny change in its orbit would mean a large change by the time it gets here."
Kevin offered, "That sounds like a really great idea. I think I should contact my dad about it. The professor already shot holes in the idea of evacuating the Earth, but Dad will know what’s possible. He was head of the shipyard and now the queen’s put him in control of the whole fleet. He knows exactly how many ships Abras has and their sizes. He would also know how many people could be transported to Abras before time for the asteroid to hit Earth."
Amy's velvety black hair whipped around as she turned her head, causing a glance of annoyance as she brushed it from her eyes. "I agree. Even if not everyone can be saved, at least a few could be taken to Abras."
Kevin started to get out his communicator to call the ship for a link to talk to his father, but his mind wandered as he thought about the softness of her dark hair.
Patty added, "Well, all of us can go, right? I mean, we have our own ships, so we can take everyone in the school back to Abras with us, —everyone who wants to go, that is."
Billy spoke. "I bet my Uncle Orv won't go. Aunt Claudia's ghost has been waiting for him to join her some day. I don't think a ghost can leave the Earth."
"Right, but on the bigger picture of saving everyone on Earth, what if only a handful can be saved? We can't decide who stays and who goes.” Amy looked at Kevin, "I suppose it should be up to Queen Ishtaree and your father to decide who is allowed to live on Abras."
Kevin suddenly became conscious that he had been staring at Amy. He quickly got busy with placing a call to his dad.
"I hate to say this,” Billy said, "but hello! We keep our magical abilities from the non-magical public for a reason. If they reached Abras, it would be plain to all of them that magic is real and they can't do it. Do you know what would happen then? Jealousy and fear would take over. There would be fights, murders, and even wars when they found out. I'm sure you remember what we read about the witch trials and the Inquisition. It would be the beginning of that all over again, only it could be even worse."
After a moment of silence, Amy spoke up. "You're absolutely right, William. It would."
"Oh-my-gosh!” Billy's eyes went wide as if he were in shock. "Miss I-Know-Everything actually agreed that I was right about something! Someone mark this on the calendar, quick! It will be big … an international holiday … an interplanetary holiday even. They will call it 'Billy-Was-Right' Day. It will be monumental—a beacon of hope for the down-trodden everywhere."
"Down-trodden? All right, William. You've been asking for this…” Amy whipped out her wand, pointed it at Billy and said, "Hircus Finge!"
Instantly, a goat sat on the padded chair where Billy had been a second earlier. Amy smiled broadly. "Now he really is a Billy-goat. How long should I leave him that way?"
Kevin laughed. Amy had been threatening to do that to someone for ages, and had finally done it. In his mind, he heard Billy saying, "Very funny. You can change me back any time now." but all that came out were funny goat noises.
Amy suddenly spoke up again with a sneaky grin, "Oh, goodness. I just realized. I never did get the counter-spell from Professor Grymm. I don't know how to change him back."

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