Chapter 7
The Events
The mood was understandably somber the next morning in the Thompson household. They continued their routine morning duties, each one of them deep in their own thoughts and fears, with very few spoken words.
Mr. Thompson had excused Martin and Jenny from going to school, and then stumbled off to work. His data and expertise about the comet would be needed in order to formulate a defensive plan of action. The rest of the world was still unaware of their deadly situation.
Martin took his father up on his offer and decided not to attend school, but Jenny was undecided. She needed to keep busy, in order to keep her mind off the terrifying situation, and she needed some time to pluck up her desperately needed courage.
"I feel a little guilty about having some faint hope, when Martin and Dad have none," Jenny said to Relli when they were alone. "Maybe I should tell them."
"Hold off for awhile. I sense it would complicate things if they knew right now. Your father would feel the need to protect you and take things over. You need to do this to make it work. Trust me," Relli cautioned.
"Okay, but what do I do now?" Jenny asked, confused.
"My advice to you right now, is to go about your regular activities, if you can. You mentioned you had a district track meet today, and you were looking forward to it. You should go. It will keep you busy, so you won't go stir-crazy hanging around here. I feel nothing is going to happen with the alien immediately, but fairly soon. Keep busy till then," Relli advised.
"What about the suit?" Jenny asked.
"Keep it with you at all times. It is our only link to the alien. If it gets the suit back before we can negotiate with it, all is lost. The alien will have no reason to seek out or allow communication," Relli advised, and she handed Jenny a packed lunch kit.
"You're way ahead of me, aren't you?" Jenny smiled at Relli's anticipation of events.
"That's why I get paid the big bucks," Relli joked.
Jenny stuffed a few books and her lunch kit into her backpack, and went upstairs to the attic. She removed the suit from the old trunk, and stuffed it into her pack. After she had slung the heavy pack onto her shoulders, a good idea suddenly struck her. Jenny took the pack off, and put it on the lid of the trunk.
"This should lighten to load a bit," Jenny said to herself, and she unzipped her pack, reached into the front pocket of the gravity suit, removed the controller, and zipped her pack back up. She then powered up the suit and turned the control dial, until the backpack began to rise up off the trunk.
"Perfect," she said softly, feeling rather pleased with herself, and she easily slung the backpack over her shoulders. Now instead of the pack weighing her down, it was Jenny's body weight keeping it from blowing off in the morning breeze.
"Okay, I'm going to meet my bus. Wish me luck," Jenny said.
"Break a leg," Relli said.
Jenny scowled at her. "That's for theatre, not for sporting events. Now if I do break my leg, you'll be responsible for wishing it on me, especially with your background," Jenny scolded.
"Oops, sorry. Good luck," Relli said, pumping her fist.
Jenny smiled, and walked out into the beautiful sunshine. She peeked around corners and was very cautious as she made her way to the road. The air still felt cool on her face as she ran to meet the school bus, but the day promised to be very hot.
.
On board the Traveler, Obos picked up Jenny's departure on its sensors.
"The Earth child is leaving the area, in a vehicle carrying many other Earth children," Obos informed.
"I wonder if she has my gravity displacement suit with her." Born wondered.
"I would guess she is keeping it close to her, but you can try to enter the house again to search for it. There are two Earth humans in the house now," Obos advised.
"No, thank you, I'm not trying that again. I need a more private setting to meet with her. What a predicament. Now I have to wait until she returns to confront her, and that comet is getting dangerously close. Time is running out," Born said, thoroughly frustrated.