Written: Saturday. April 11, 2020.
Mr. Reyes locked both of the doors of the classroom to prevent anyone from coming inside. Nobody ever bothered to tell him that the ones inside could easily open the door and just walk away. Toby and the others just stood there, waiting for Mr. Reyes to stop pacing around the room, whilst looking at Omnius like a madman who finally found evidence against his ongoing insanity and endless nights trying to find proof for countless conspiracy theories.
Tom was the first to ease up and sit down on one of the armchairs. Drew followed suit, as well as June and Amanda. Toby was relieved that nobody else from the class was there when Omnius decided to leave his backpack; although his expression could speak otherwise. He sat down once Mr. Reyes finally stopped pacing.
“Do not think to play games with me now, children.” Mr. Reyes said to them. “I know exactly what it is that’s right in front of me.”
“Indeed, sir.” Tom replied to him. “It’s exactly how you see it. A talking-robot made in Japan.”
“Nonsense.” Mr. Reyes shook his head. “You cannot take this away from me, Mr. Luna. I’ve seen many things, and this one in particular does not strike me as a toy! Though it does sound like one, I’ll give it that. Nonetheless, I refuse to believe that my eyes deceive me to what is present in the room right now. This is not a toy. Not in the slightest. It is an extra-terrestrial artifact. It is our answer to the question of whether we are alone in the universe, or are there others out there — more-intelligent, more advanced than us — living amongst the stars?”
“I think there’s a more important question for you to ask yourself, sir.” Tom spoke, only half-minding what was happening in the room, cause he was busy adding a new number to his Blackberry.
“And what question might that be, Mr. Ambrosio?”
Tom slowly looked up from his phone’s monitor. “‘Would anyone ever believe a word that you say?’” then quickly went back to his phone.
The room was silent for a moment. Mr. Reyes just stood there, wanting to utter a reply, but unable to do so. Toby and the others looked at each other, as if thinking of the same thing. Tom’s got a point.
“Nonsense!” Mr. Reyes finally said to the group. “I am a professor in this school. A man of Science! I’ll have all of you know that I’ve spent almost my entire life devoted on finding the truth! The secrets of the universe!”
“Do you even hear yourself right now?” Tom closed his phone. “This is exactly why nobody will ever believe you, man.”
“Tom has a point, Mr. Reyes.” Amanda said to him. “I don’t even think any of us believe you if we didn’t know about Omnius.”
“So that is what it’s name is.” Mr. Reyes said. “Omnius.”
“Who’s this old guy?” Omnius looked to Toby and his friends. “I feel like I’ve asked that already.”
“This is just our Science teacher, Omnius.” Toby answered him. “He won’t harm you.”
“How does it know how to speak our language?” Mr. Reyes went near to Omnius. Omnius stepped back a few feet.
“Hey! Stay back, old man! I don’t know you!” Omnius climbed up to Toby’s armchair and raised his arms as if to prepare for a boxing match. “Am I doing this right, June?”
“Oh, ha ha! Very funny.” June said to the moving metal figure. She then looked towards Amanda and whispered, “I don’t look like that when I do it… right?”
“Oh, hell no.” Amanda nodded to her. June smiled confidently and looked back to Mr. Reyes. Amanda subtly nodded towards Drew and Tom. Both of them smiled and nodded as well.
“Can any of you please take this seriously?” Toby said to his friends. They all looked at him. “We can’t just let him go once Lunchtime is over. We don’t know if people would believe him or not. We can’t risk the possibility of exposing Omnius to people.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell all of you!” Everybody now looked towards Mr. Reyes with a confused stare. “I am willing to join you on this big-little secret of yours. Thomas here was the one who jumped to the conclusion that I might tell my peers about this extra-terrestrial phenomenon. Nonsense! I repeat my statement — I am a man of Science! I’ve devoted most of my life trying to find the answers to the universe. And now that it’s here, right in front of me, you’d think that I would ever tell anyone? Let alone expect people to believe me? Nonsense.”
Toby rose from his chair and slowly walked towards Mr. Reyes. He looked back at Omnius, who still raised his arms up ready to attack. “It’s okay, Omnius. He’s on our side.” Toby put a hand out to Mr. Reyes. Mr. Reyes held it with his, and they both shook on it. “There’s a lot of weird shit you’ll need to hear to catch you up to speed, sir.”
Mara noticed a bunch of students going out of the building. A lot of them carrying small boxes filled with food. Some held a colored bottle that had letters written on them, and had a strange-colored liquid inside. Ervagh told her that those were called “sodas”, and that they were the most amazing thing he’s ever drank on Earth so far. He said that she once have already tried a “soda” before, and liked it as well. But it was before her sudden change of appearance. Before she lost her memories.
“Do you think they’ll ever come back, John?” Mara asked. Ervagh was playing with the water faucet; fascinated by the contraption.
“I suppose, my Princess. We shall soon meet the Terran folk once more after their so called ‘School Hours.’”
“I meant my memories, John.” She corrected him. Ervagh closed the faucet and sat beside her. “What if it doesn’t come back? What if I never get to remember — “
“You will remember, Princess.” Ervagh promised her. “The memories will return. You have to believe that it is possible. Otherwise… otherwise I’d have failed as your trusted servant.” Ervagh looked down. He was deep in thought now.
Mara repeated the words in her head. The memories will return. You have to believe that it is possible. She ran it through her head ten more times, and then ten more times after that.
After a while, she noticed somebody approaching them. It was a group of girls who wore blue clothing, much like what Toby and the others were wearing awhile ago. The girls approached her with a confused look in their eyes.
“Hello.” Mara cautiously said to them.
“Who’s this friend of yours, Mara?” One of the girls asked. She was skinny, and had a light complexion on her skin.
“Didn’t we just see you enter the comfort room awhile ago to change?” The other girl asked. This one had a more plump figure than the others, and was the smallest of the bunch. “And why aren’t you dressed for P.E. yet?”
Mara didn’t know how to answer them. She just looked at the group of girls, trying to think of what to say to them. Her way of thinking things sort of came with a physical manifestation, and made the girls look more confused by her.
Finally, Ervagh was the one to speak for her. “Your friend is not feeling well.”
“And you are?” the skinny one asked.
“I am John. Her… house… maid.” Ervagh tried to recall something Tom said in one of their prior discussions. “Yes. I am her house maid.”
“I didn’t know you had a housemaid, Mara.” the plump one said to her.
“I do.” Mara replied to her, not meeting her any of their gaze upon her.
“What’s the pretty boy doing here, then?” the third one asked. This one had a more curved torso than the others, and had a larger portion on the chest than the rest. “I’ve never seen a maid so good-looking as this one. You have to tell me if he has a brother or not. I think I might ask my parents for one of these pretty boy maids.”
The other two giggled at this. They went on about how profound the third girl was with what she had just said.
“That’s so typical of you, Bianca.” the skinny one rolled her eyes.
“I can’t believe you, girl!” said the plump one.
“What?” Bianca had a playful smile on her face, and kept looking at Ervagh in an odd sort of way that made Ervagh uncomfortable. But there was also another feeling he just could quite assess, with those eyes looking at him that way. “No harm in having a little fun every once in a while. Right?”
Ervagh fixed himself, to hopefully get rid of the strange feeling that he felt in him. “Mara isn’t feeling well. So it’s best that you three get on with your day.” He tried not looking at the one called Bianca. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t look at me that way, girl.”
“Why not, John?” Bianca give him a look even more intense than the one before. Ervagh looked away. What in the Empire is going on here?
“You should leave.” Mara said to the three of them. The three of them looked at her. Bianca looked a bit annoyed when Mara spoke. “I don’t feel like myself today.” She said. This is true, she thought to herself. It’s not like I’m lying to them, or anything. “I want to be alone now.”
“You hear that, girls?” Ervagh said to the three of them. “Best that you hurry along on your P.E.”
The three girls nodded at him and started to leave. Bianca looked back at him with that intense stare, and motioned a kiss on her lips to him. Ervagh looked away as quickly as possible. “What is up with that Terran girl?”
“I’ll be giving all of you a permission slip to cut class this afternoon.” Mr. Reyes said to the five of them. He handed out a bunch of pink slips to June. “So that we can converse about your adventures as fast as possible.”
Tom looked the most surprised out of all of them. “That’s like, the most awesome thing you’ve said in your entire career, man!” He tried going for a high-five, which was met with a blank stare from Mr. Reyes.
“Don’t forget that you were the only one who believed I was gonna tell on anybody about your robot friend.” Mr. Reyes said to him. “And don’t call me ‘man’, boy.”
“Ah, but you see,” Tom said. “I only said that ‘people won’t believe anything you say’, which is completely different from thinking that you would ever snitch on us. And don’t call me ‘boy’, man!”
“Never mind that now, boy.” Mr. Reyes told him. Tom was about to correct him again, but Mr. Reyes just continued. “There are much more pressing matters to talk about. Write your names on that pink slip, and then meet me in the Computer Laboratory after you’ve finished eating your lunches.”
“But lunchtime’s over, sir.” Amanda said.
“The pink slip will give you a pass. Have I not said this, yet?” Mr. Reyes fumbled through his papers, and brought out a folder. He passed it to Toby. “I’ve been working on something as well, you know. About the recent meteor shower a few days ago. That’s all I have on it. Read it while you eat, and meet me in — “
“In the Computer Laboratory.” The five of them said to him.
Mr. Reyes smiled and nodded to all of them. “Alright. Be seeing all of you later. These are exciting times, children. Exciting times!”
When Mr. Reyes finally went out of the room, Toby looked at the folder he was holding. It was labeled with “METEOR SHOWER” on the protruding flap, and had a circular coffee stain on the front. He opened it up, and saw several pictures inside. Some of the pictures showed a metallic ball. Toby quickly fumbled through the files, and saw another picture placed at the very end. It was a picture of Mr. Reyes holding the metallic ball in his hands.
His eyes went wide. “Son of a bitch!”
Mr. Reyes locked both of the doors of the classroom to prevent anyone from coming inside. Nobody ever bothered to tell him that the ones inside could easily open the door and just walk away. Toby and the others just stood there, waiting for Mr. Reyes to stop pacing around the room, whilst looking at Omnius like a madman who finally found evidence against his ongoing insanity and endless nights trying to find proof for countless conspiracy theories.
Tom was the first to ease up and sit down on one of the armchairs. Drew followed suit, as well as June and Amanda. Toby was relieved that nobody else from the class was there when Omnius decided to leave his backpack; although his expression could speak otherwise. He sat down once Mr. Reyes finally stopped pacing.
“Do not think to play games with me now, children.” Mr. Reyes said to them. “I know exactly what it is that’s right in front of me.”
“Indeed, sir.” Tom replied to him. “It’s exactly how you see it. A talking-robot made in Japan.”
“Nonsense.” Mr. Reyes shook his head. “You cannot take this away from me, Mr. Luna. I’ve seen many things, and this one in particular does not strike me as a toy! Though it does sound like one, I’ll give it that. Nonetheless, I refuse to believe that my eyes deceive me to what is present in the room right now. This is not a toy. Not in the slightest. It is an extra-terrestrial artifact. It is our answer to the question of whether we are alone in the universe, or are there others out there — more-intelligent, more advanced than us — living amongst the stars?”
“I think there’s a more important question for you to ask yourself, sir.” Tom spoke, only half-minding what was happening in the room, cause he was busy adding a new number to his Blackberry.
“And what question might that be, Mr. Ambrosio?”
Tom slowly looked up from his phone’s monitor. “‘Would anyone ever believe a word that you say?’” then quickly went back to his phone.
The room was silent for a moment. Mr. Reyes just stood there, wanting to utter a reply, but unable to do so. Toby and the others looked at each other, as if thinking of the same thing. Tom’s got a point.
“Nonsense!” Mr. Reyes finally said to the group. “I am a professor in this school. A man of Science! I’ll have all of you know that I’ve spent almost my entire life devoted on finding the truth! The secrets of the universe!”
“Do you even hear yourself right now?” Tom closed his phone. “This is exactly why nobody will ever believe you, man.”
“Tom has a point, Mr. Reyes.” Amanda said to him. “I don’t even think any of us believe you if we didn’t know about Omnius.”
“So that is what it’s name is.” Mr. Reyes said. “Omnius.”
“Who’s this old guy?” Omnius looked to Toby and his friends. “I feel like I’ve asked that already.”
“This is just our Science teacher, Omnius.” Toby answered him. “He won’t harm you.”
“How does it know how to speak our language?” Mr. Reyes went near to Omnius. Omnius stepped back a few feet.
“Hey! Stay back, old man! I don’t know you!” Omnius climbed up to Toby’s armchair and raised his arms as if to prepare for a boxing match. “Am I doing this right, June?”
“Oh, ha ha! Very funny.” June said to the moving metal figure. She then looked towards Amanda and whispered, “I don’t look like that when I do it… right?”
“Oh, hell no.” Amanda nodded to her. June smiled confidently and looked back to Mr. Reyes. Amanda subtly nodded towards Drew and Tom. Both of them smiled and nodded as well.
“Can any of you please take this seriously?” Toby said to his friends. They all looked at him. “We can’t just let him go once Lunchtime is over. We don’t know if people would believe him or not. We can’t risk the possibility of exposing Omnius to people.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell all of you!” Everybody now looked towards Mr. Reyes with a confused stare. “I am willing to join you on this big-little secret of yours. Thomas here was the one who jumped to the conclusion that I might tell my peers about this extra-terrestrial phenomenon. Nonsense! I repeat my statement — I am a man of Science! I’ve devoted most of my life trying to find the answers to the universe. And now that it’s here, right in front of me, you’d think that I would ever tell anyone? Let alone expect people to believe me? Nonsense.”
Toby rose from his chair and slowly walked towards Mr. Reyes. He looked back at Omnius, who still raised his arms up ready to attack. “It’s okay, Omnius. He’s on our side.” Toby put a hand out to Mr. Reyes. Mr. Reyes held it with his, and they both shook on it. “There’s a lot of weird shit you’ll need to hear to catch you up to speed, sir.”
* * *
Mara noticed a bunch of students going out of the building. A lot of them carrying small boxes filled with food. Some held a colored bottle that had letters written on them, and had a strange-colored liquid inside. Ervagh told her that those were called “sodas”, and that they were the most amazing thing he’s ever drank on Earth so far. He said that she once have already tried a “soda” before, and liked it as well. But it was before her sudden change of appearance. Before she lost her memories.
“Do you think they’ll ever come back, John?” Mara asked. Ervagh was playing with the water faucet; fascinated by the contraption.
“I suppose, my Princess. We shall soon meet the Terran folk once more after their so called ‘School Hours.’”
“I meant my memories, John.” She corrected him. Ervagh closed the faucet and sat beside her. “What if it doesn’t come back? What if I never get to remember — “
“You will remember, Princess.” Ervagh promised her. “The memories will return. You have to believe that it is possible. Otherwise… otherwise I’d have failed as your trusted servant.” Ervagh looked down. He was deep in thought now.
Mara repeated the words in her head. The memories will return. You have to believe that it is possible. She ran it through her head ten more times, and then ten more times after that.
After a while, she noticed somebody approaching them. It was a group of girls who wore blue clothing, much like what Toby and the others were wearing awhile ago. The girls approached her with a confused look in their eyes.
“Hello.” Mara cautiously said to them.
“Who’s this friend of yours, Mara?” One of the girls asked. She was skinny, and had a light complexion on her skin.
“Didn’t we just see you enter the comfort room awhile ago to change?” The other girl asked. This one had a more plump figure than the others, and was the smallest of the bunch. “And why aren’t you dressed for P.E. yet?”
Mara didn’t know how to answer them. She just looked at the group of girls, trying to think of what to say to them. Her way of thinking things sort of came with a physical manifestation, and made the girls look more confused by her.
Finally, Ervagh was the one to speak for her. “Your friend is not feeling well.”
“And you are?” the skinny one asked.
“I am John. Her… house… maid.” Ervagh tried to recall something Tom said in one of their prior discussions. “Yes. I am her house maid.”
“I didn’t know you had a housemaid, Mara.” the plump one said to her.
“I do.” Mara replied to her, not meeting her any of their gaze upon her.
“What’s the pretty boy doing here, then?” the third one asked. This one had a more curved torso than the others, and had a larger portion on the chest than the rest. “I’ve never seen a maid so good-looking as this one. You have to tell me if he has a brother or not. I think I might ask my parents for one of these pretty boy maids.”
The other two giggled at this. They went on about how profound the third girl was with what she had just said.
“That’s so typical of you, Bianca.” the skinny one rolled her eyes.
“I can’t believe you, girl!” said the plump one.
“What?” Bianca had a playful smile on her face, and kept looking at Ervagh in an odd sort of way that made Ervagh uncomfortable. But there was also another feeling he just could quite assess, with those eyes looking at him that way. “No harm in having a little fun every once in a while. Right?”
Ervagh fixed himself, to hopefully get rid of the strange feeling that he felt in him. “Mara isn’t feeling well. So it’s best that you three get on with your day.” He tried not looking at the one called Bianca. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t look at me that way, girl.”
“Why not, John?” Bianca give him a look even more intense than the one before. Ervagh looked away. What in the Empire is going on here?
“You should leave.” Mara said to the three of them. The three of them looked at her. Bianca looked a bit annoyed when Mara spoke. “I don’t feel like myself today.” She said. This is true, she thought to herself. It’s not like I’m lying to them, or anything. “I want to be alone now.”
“You hear that, girls?” Ervagh said to the three of them. “Best that you hurry along on your P.E.”
The three girls nodded at him and started to leave. Bianca looked back at him with that intense stare, and motioned a kiss on her lips to him. Ervagh looked away as quickly as possible. “What is up with that Terran girl?”
* * *
“I’ll be giving all of you a permission slip to cut class this afternoon.” Mr. Reyes said to the five of them. He handed out a bunch of pink slips to June. “So that we can converse about your adventures as fast as possible.”
Tom looked the most surprised out of all of them. “That’s like, the most awesome thing you’ve said in your entire career, man!” He tried going for a high-five, which was met with a blank stare from Mr. Reyes.
“Don’t forget that you were the only one who believed I was gonna tell on anybody about your robot friend.” Mr. Reyes said to him. “And don’t call me ‘man’, boy.”
“Ah, but you see,” Tom said. “I only said that ‘people won’t believe anything you say’, which is completely different from thinking that you would ever snitch on us. And don’t call me ‘boy’, man!”
“Never mind that now, boy.” Mr. Reyes told him. Tom was about to correct him again, but Mr. Reyes just continued. “There are much more pressing matters to talk about. Write your names on that pink slip, and then meet me in the Computer Laboratory after you’ve finished eating your lunches.”
“But lunchtime’s over, sir.” Amanda said.
“The pink slip will give you a pass. Have I not said this, yet?” Mr. Reyes fumbled through his papers, and brought out a folder. He passed it to Toby. “I’ve been working on something as well, you know. About the recent meteor shower a few days ago. That’s all I have on it. Read it while you eat, and meet me in — “
“In the Computer Laboratory.” The five of them said to him.
Mr. Reyes smiled and nodded to all of them. “Alright. Be seeing all of you later. These are exciting times, children. Exciting times!”
When Mr. Reyes finally went out of the room, Toby looked at the folder he was holding. It was labeled with “METEOR SHOWER” on the protruding flap, and had a circular coffee stain on the front. He opened it up, and saw several pictures inside. Some of the pictures showed a metallic ball. Toby quickly fumbled through the files, and saw another picture placed at the very end. It was a picture of Mr. Reyes holding the metallic ball in his hands.
His eyes went wide. “Son of a bitch!”
End of Chapter.
* * *
* * *
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