*MAKE A BREAK FOR IT*
Finally, the day had arrived. Izzian had turned almost completely human in size and shape and throughout the journey to earth; he would continue to change even more. He and his ortnots, Ojolian and Mirtheea, had gotten over past squabbles in favor of enjoying their last few moments of togetherness as a family.
Ojo pulled the family's old, reliable AutoPod V.07 out of the garage. As Izzian watched his odobo fade away in the background, he suddenly realized it would be a year before he was home again.
His Goodwill Project had finally begun. It was sad and exciting all together. He looked forward to arriving at Comet Central Station, boarding his ship and leaving behind all the anxiety of the past few months. He had plenty of new anxieties about the months ahead, but those were put on hold for the time being.
As the Klowosky's AutoPod sputtered around the corner, Izzian relaxed into the comfortably worn seat. He mused at how over the years the vehicle's seat had formed perfectly to his rump. It was a little off, since his human rump seemed more bubbly, but it still seemed made for him and him alone.
Things had been especially frenzied and Izzian would be happy to sleep his way to earth. Relaxing his head against the seat, the young man closed his eyes and replayed scenes from the past few weeks.
What kind of individuals were Enot and Gala, the Klesians he would be living with on earth? Would they play the role of pretend parents, or would they more or less leave Izzian alone? He hoped for the latter. Regardless, they would both drop their own last names and share the Klowosky name for their stay on earth.
He'd already met his pretend parents with whom he would live for his year as an earthling teenager. Goodwill Projects always included sponsors. The sponsors were normally younger college type adult Klesians in the scientific community who also had their own little homework assignments to complete, or some research project to finish to impress a boss.
Klesians had a history of placing a tremendous amount of importance on galactic education. In order to advance in one's career or graduate from university, research trips were required. The easiest and most efficient way to gain permission to travel was to hitch a ride on a Goodwill Project.
In fact, the two shared a symbiotic relationship. Izzian would complete his homework assignment to pass to equidistant school and his pretend parents would complete their research projects in order to graduate Klesia University or get promoted at work.
Izzian had heard that Thil's pretend parents for her Goodwill Project were extraordinary. One was a fashion student and the other was a rather famous artist; both seeking intergalactic inspirations. He wondered why everything related to Thil seemed so interesting and uncommon.
For a moment, he considered that Thil's dad, Dr. Yangsley, could get his daughter anything she wanted. Although with Thil, it made more sense that she'd somehow hacked the system and done it on her own.
Izzian's own travelling companions, Gala and Enot, were scientific and boring in his opinion. Gala Oogabal's chosen field of study was called Equaiiquintessence, a field Izzian had never even heard of.
Apparently it meant the study of animalistic behaviors of the human psyche versus distinctions of non-animalistic behaviors of other interstellar beings. Whatever, he'd thought.
When Gala had explained Equaiiquintessence to Izzian, his eyes had fluttered shut and he continually fought an encroaching case of narcolepsy. In other words, it bored him to sleep. He even zoned out Gala's animated explanations of the Sudden Bluff Home for Mental Health, the earth hospital where she'd be conducting research.
Enot Lewga, Izzian's pretend father for the trip, was some sort of communications expert working for his graduate degree at Klesia University. Izzian didn't really understand Enot's job either, but he did sense that the man was not too happy about being chosen to go to earth.
Great, Izzian had thought, another earth-basher. And I get to live with him on earth for a whole year.
It was clear to Izzian from the start that he and Enot would probably not get along, but Gala seemed okay. As long as she didn't talk about her field of study, and the mental patients, he was sure they'd be great pals.
The Klowosky's AutoPod rose and hovered as Ojolian waited for the perfect moment to merge into the busy traffic on the TransWest Expressway. One more small stretch of road and Izzian would be delivered to Comet Central- next stop earth.
The young boy grew momentarily ill as Ojolian swerved the vehicle into a nice empty pocket of air, a little heavy footed on the air-brake in Izzian's opinion.
"I hope I can find a free parking space," Ojolian mumbled.
His father was morbidly gleeful when he found free parking. It wasn't as if the Klowosky's were poor, but Ojolian hadn't been promoted as high or as often as his own peers. He remained in the same dingy, cramped lab as always.
Mirtheea mostly worked for free, caring for abandoned animals. Mirtheea was a Klesian Veterinarian specializing in any cause that struck her fancy.
Izzian understood why his mother didn't make much money. Mirtheea would often discuss her latest plight to save an abandoned pod of Slimerot Slinkers as if it were the most important task in the universe. To Mirtheea, it was.
His mom's animal shelters barely profited enough to feed the animals and she constantly petitioned the more affluent Klesians for donations. Mirtheea had the ability to squeeze more money out of a stingy citizen than a criminal with a gun.
But Ojolian was another confusing story all together. Izzian knew his father was a brilliant scientist and was expected to rise higher than even Dr. Yangsley. When he was college age, Ojolian had been invited to spend his Goodwill sponsorship time on both Firithia and Grotanoa as a pretend parent.
To a young lab technician, being invited to sponsor a Goodwill student on either planet was the highest honor available, and no one had received such an invitation since.
When Izzian was younger, he'd ask his father why he didn't run the lab or take part in important research excursions.
His father would mumble some excuse like, "Well, I don't want to be away from my family so much." Or he'd say, "I'm happy where I am. Yangsley's head scientist now so no use in even discussing it."
Izzian finally stopped asking, but he remembered with fondness the rare occasion when his dad would talk about the humongous Firithians of Firithia and the families he got to know there.
Ojolian reminisced about his rather painful transformation into such a tall creature. Once, he even built a pair of stilts for Izzian to show him the Firithian outlook on life. They laughed and wrestled as Izzian tried to walk on the tall faux Firithian legs. He fell into Ojolian's arms time and again. Eventually, Ojolian stopped discussing Firithia all together and his trip seemed as if it had never even happened.
Thinking of the past and the closeness he and his father once shared was causing the boy to become sad. He decided to stop the rueful reminiscing and peered hopefully into the Klesian skies.
President Boojum Twoeyes stood in a patriotic pose on a flashing electro-billboard, with the slogan Strive to Become a CCU glowing down over the city. Izzian noticed some hacker's graffiti appeared across Boojum's face, a big red X. The original slogan had faded away and the words changed to read: Destroy the Al203! Al203 equals Death!
"That is so wrong! Who would dare cross out poor Boojum's face? It's terribly unpatriotic," said Izzian's mom from the front seat.
Ojolian grunted in a noncommittal way. He supported the CIC and President Boojum Twoeyes, but held a small grudge against the man.
Mirtheea and Boojum had been pals since their first year of school and rumor had it that she was to marry old Twoeyes, but chose Ojolian instead.
When Mirtheea praised Boojum, Ojolian usually grudgingly agreed, but said few words on the subject of his wife's old flame. It all seemed to gross Izzian out to the point of vomiting.
Finally, the AutoPod came upon the exit for Comet Central Station. His father swerved into a free parking space
, beating some other poor schmuck to the spot. Ojolian chuckled with a maniacal glee. So easily entertained, Izzian mused, as his father basked in the glory of free parking.
***
CHAPTER 9