Galactic
Unity 2
By: Mark J. Hadley
* * *
“Professor?”
The professor looked over from where he was making dinner in the kitchen. Silver was standing by the entrance from the living room; he stood close to three feet tall now, and was looking more and more like the girls’ description of a Centraxian every day. Smiling at the sight of him, the professor said, “Oh, hello, Silver! How are the wings doing today?”
“Great!” Silver replied, flexing the tiny wings on his back. They had not yet fully grown in, but were just barely starting to form. He walked over so that the professor could get a better look.
Nodding, the professor said, “You’re getting so tall now… I could swear you’ve grown an inch since the last time I saw you.” Inwardly, the professor wasn’t surprised at this, seeing as Silver had grown so quickly in the first place. He was the size of a large iguana after only one day, and began walking upright on the second day. By the third day, he was already picking up language, learning at an incredible rate. The professor attributed this to something the girls mentioned before, about how everything a Centraxian learns is passed along to their children in their genetic programming, even if they couldn’t access it directly. He figured this meant he had some kind of instinctive yet subconscious access to it.
Now, Silver was only four days old and already almost the equivalent of a child in elementary school. He was so inquisitive, too… even when he was just crawling about, he seemed like he wanted to learn as much about everything as he could. As soon as he learned to speak, his first few hours of speech consisted mostly of questions. And yet, despite this overwhelming curiosity, he seldom got into any trouble, usually preferring to ask questions about something rather than tamper with it himself, in case it was dangerous.
“So, what can I do for you?” the professor asked him, shaking himself out of his thoughts.
“The girls and I were going to play for a while before dinner,” he said, “but is it okay if I have something now? I’m hungry…”
“Not a problem,” the professor replied, walking over to the refrigerator, “but just a little, okay? We don’t want you spoiling your meal.” Silver smiled and nodded an okay, and the professor pulled the refrigerator open, pulling out a large metal thermos. He took a small glass and poured a little bit of the mixture into it, the softly glowing purple liquid filling it up halfway. The professor was thankful that there was still a little bit of this energy-based drink amongst the supplies recovered from Xianea’s ship, enough for him to figure out the formula and duplicate it accurately enough.
He handed the glass over to Silver, who said, “Thanks, Professor!”
“You’re welcome,” the professor said, turning back to his preparation of dinner. Silver headed out of the kitchen, and the professor gave him a small glance, smiling. Even though he had only been around for a few days, it was fascinating to watch how quickly his species grew and developed, but even more so, it was beginning to feel like he was truly part of the family, even in that short of a time. He anticipated many long years of learning and discovery together, and looked forward to it.
* * *
Buttercup rolled a die across the center of the board, “C’mon four, c’mon…” When it came up a three, she clenched her teeth and moved her piece, in the shape of Val Halen, three squares forward. She landed on a trouble square, to her dismay and to the smiles of Silver and the other girls. Buttercup sighed; she always seemed to have the worst luck when playing ‘Justice Friends: The Board Game’. “All right, gimme a card already,” she huffed.
Silver drew from the stack of trouble cards and read it aloud, “Uh oh! The bad guys beat the tar out of you. Move back to start.”
“Nuts!” Buttercup exclaimed, grabbing her piece and moving it back to the beginning of the board. She folded her arms and muttered, “Lousy… stupid…”
“Aw, c’mon, it’s not that bad,” Blossom told her. “You’re still not far behind Bubbles. But yeah, I guess it’s pretty much just between me and Silver now.”
Shaking his head, Silver scooped up the die from the board and said, “No it isn’t… you know why?”
“Why?” Bubbles asked.
“Because I’m going to win!” he taunted, rolling the die. It came up a six, and he gleefully moved his piece, White Tiger, six squares forward. Leaning back from the board, he scooped up his glass sitting next to the board and took another sip from it, as Bubbles picked up the die to take her own turn.
“Ahh, it’s all right,” Buttercup said. “Your luck won’t last forever… I’ll beat ya one of these days. How about another game after dinner?”
Blossom shook her head and said, “We can’t stay up late… it’s Sunday, remember? It’s a school night.”
“Oh, right,” Buttercup said, frowning.
Silver gave a puzzled look, and asked, “School?”
“Yeah,” Bubbles told him. “It’s where we go to learn. Us and all the other kids in Townsville, I mean. Our teacher, Ms. Keane, teaches us all kinds of things there…”
Brightening at the sound of that, Silver asked, “Can I go to this school also?”
“The professor doesn’t want you to leave the house, you know that,” Blossom told him. “Besides, he can teach you everything you need to know.”
“Yeah, I know,” Silver said, looking down wistfully at the board. “It’s just… you know, there’s so much outside this house that I want to see. I keep hearing all of you talking about it, and… it just seems like I could learn a lot more out there, you know?”
Blossom grinned a little inwardly. Natural explorers, she thought, even when they’re only a few days old. “Well, we can talk to the professor in a few days or something. I’m not sure it’s safe for you out there; I mean, you can’t even fly yet…”
“Neither can the professor,” Silver pointed out.
“Just trust me on this,” Blossom told him. “Not until you can fly, okay? It’ll be safer for you that way.”
Silver thought about this, then reluctantly agreed, “All right…” They all turned their attention back to the game, but the girls noticed that Silver continued to look a little dejected. I can’t really blame him, Blossom thought. Being cooped up in the house all the time, and all. But really, it’s for his own good. I don’t think Townsville’s quite ready for an alien yet…
* * *
“Bye, Professor!” the girls called out in unison, flying out of the front door of the house.
The professor waved as they flew off, calling out, “Have a good day at school, girls!” Smiling, he shut the door and started to walk back into the living room, but stopped practically toe-to-toe with Silver, who was standing behind him. He had grown another six inches overnight, and his wings were also much larger now. He was looking up hopefully at the professor, who shook his head and said, “Not today, Silver. I’m sorry.”
“Aww…” Silver said, hanging his head and turning around. As the professor headed off in the direction of his lab, Silver sat down on the couch, resting his head in hands. He watched the door to the lab close, and sighed, staring down at the ground, thinking, So much to see out there… so much to learn… and I’m stuck in here. The professor’s smart and everything, but I want to see what the rest of the world has to offer.
He gave the door to the lab another tentative glance, then slowly got up and headed for the rear of the house, slipping out the back door. The backyard is still part of the house, he thought, so technically, I’m not going anywhere. Once he was outside, he looked around the back of the house for a few moments, studying it, before he found a surface he believed he could climb. He managed to sprout tiny claws, which aided the climbing process a bit. After about a couple minutes worth of effort, he made his way up onto the roof.
Once there, he sat on the edge and looked out at the tall skyscrapers of Townsville in the distance. The sight of it intrigued him since he first laid eyes on it… a city, full of knowledge and experience. He had spent much of the past few days thinking about it, asking questions about the people who lived there, but it’s one thing to know about something, and another to learn it firsthand. He was feeling it, the Centraxian drive to gather knowledge, even if he wasn’t aware of its origin.
A small bird flew overheard, distracting Silver from the city. He watched as it flapped its wings, a simple yet complex motion to stay aloft, occasionally stopping to simply glide. The bird gradually flew out of sight, off towards the buildings closer to Townsville. Silver gave a glance at his own wings over his shoulder, flexing them a bit and testing their strength. Maybe it’s time, he thought. After all, Blossom said that once I was able to fly…
Getting to his feet, he swished his tail behind him and tried flapping his wings a bit. It was obviously going to be different than that bird, since the wings were placed further on his back, and weren’t attached to his arms in any way. Still, as he flapped, it felt familiar, as though he had known how to fly his entire life and was only just now remembering. With more confidence, he gave stronger flaps, then crouched a bit and leapt into the air.
He didn’t fall back down… fully, anyway. His wings kept him aloft, more or less hovering, although he was sinking a bit. He compensated by flapping harder, and found himself smiling widely. I did it, he thought… I’m flying! It’s finally time! With some more effort, he soared away from the rooftop, gaining altitude until he believed he was high enough, and began gliding swiftly towards Townsville. He was in unfamiliar territory now, leaving behind everything he had known his entire life, but he felt no uncertainty, only a feeling that this was where he belonged, exploring the unknown…
* * *
Ms. Keane put the art supplies out for the Pokey Oaks Kindergarten class to use, and the materials were distributed amongst the students. Buttercup got a hold of the paste and began gluing things together into statues… pretty much whatever she could get her hands on, like pencils or rulers. Blossom was working with some clay instead, and Bubbles, as usual, got a box of crayons and started drawing. It was messy, along with everything else the other kids were doing, but Ms. Keane was used to this daily routine all the same.
All three of the girls had similar design elements in mind, though. Buttercup put some finishing touches on her gluey mess, which was vaguely shaped like a person, with pencils sticking out of the mass of glue like arms and legs, although it also had a tail and wings. “There, whaddaya think?” Buttercup asked proudly, but then quickly grabbed hold of the sides of the figure to keep it from toppling over.
“Not bad,” Blossom said, swiveling her lump of clay around so that Buttercup could get a look at it. She had sculpted it in the shape of Silver’s head, and it was fairly close, if lacking detail. “I wish we had gray clay instead of brown, it would have looked more like him.”
Bubbles hummed to herself as she drew her own picture, the girls and Silver all in a line holding hands. She smiled as she finished coloring in Silver with the appropriate color, and added the blue to his eyes. She added the Professor standing in the back, and wrote ‘One big happy family’ along the top. With a flourish, she set down her crayons and said, “There! All done!”
Blossom flew over to get a better look and said, “Nice job, Bubbles! That one’s a keeper. What do you think, Buttercup?”
Craning her neck to see, she asked, “Can ya hold it up? I don’t wanna let go of this ‘til it dries…”
Before Bubbles could comply, though, the hotline buzzed. Blossom immediately dashed over and answered the phone, saying, “Yes, Mayor?”
“Girls, hurry!” the mayor’s voice came on the other side of the phone. “They’ve spotted another monster in Townsville!”
“We’re on our way!” Blossom said, hanging up. She turned to the others and said, “C’mon, girls! Another monster attacking the city!”
“But…” Buttercup said, looking down at the statue she was holding together, then back at Blossom.
Shaking her head, Blossom said, “You can fix it later. Let’s go!” She and Bubbles flew out of the building, and Buttercup sighed in frustration, letting go of the figure, which immediately collapsed into a heap on the table. She flew after them and caught up after a few seconds.
They left the suburbs and soared into the city, glancing around to try and locate the monster. Something immediately struck Blossom as being different. “Strange,” she said, “I don’t see any signs of devastation… the city looks like it’s in one piece…”
“Look!” Buttercup shouted, pointing. A large crowd of people had gathered near an alley. Most of the people were armed with makeshift weapons, like garbage can lids or bricks. The girls descended and landed near them, and Buttercup called out, “All right, what’s goin’ on?”
“We chased the monster into the alley,” one of the Townsville people said proudly. “We’ve got ‘em trapped!”
“Good work, but we’ll take it from here,” Blossom said, motioning for the other girls to follow. The three of them headed into the alley, which went for a short ways before it came to a dead end up against a brick wall. There were piles of garbage around, and they glanced amongst them, trying to locate the monster. Everything seemed quiet, until a pile of empty boxes near the end of the alley shifted slightly. Blossom motioned quietly to the girls to circle around, and the three surrounded it on different sides. While Buttercup and Bubbles braced themselves for the attack, Blossom knocked the empty boxes aside with a quick shove.
“No, don’t!” came a voice from the cowering figure underneath. The girls froze, because they recognized who it was almost instantly. Silver was lying on the ground behind where the boxes were, with his legs and tail curled up to his chest and covering his head with his hands protectively. Not feeling any attack coming, he gradually lifted his head to see who it was, looking relieved when he recognized them. The girls gasped at the sight of him, though… he had a few small bruises, and one large bruise on the side of his head where something had struck him, probably a brick someone had thrown. His left wing was battered as though he had smashed it into something.
“Silver!” Bubbles exclaimed. “Are you okay?!”
“I… I think… ow…” Silver said, trying to sit up. The girls quickly helped him to his feet, and he held the side of his head in pain. “Thanks… when I heard the noises… I thought one of the people were coming over…”
Blossom, looking concerned and confused at the same time, asked, “What are you doing out of the house? How’d you get here?”
“Well…” Silver admitted, “I figured out how to fly… so I… y’know… decided to take a look at the town. But when I flew down to talk to someone… they panicked… a lot of people started running, but some started picking up things and throwing them…” He winced at the memory as he continued, “I tried to fly away, but one of them hit me on the head, and knocked me out of the air. I smashed my wing up when I landed, so I just tried to get away. They chased me into here… but why? It doesn’t make any sense, I…”
“I’m sorry,” Blossom said. “The people of Townsville can be really jumpy when it comes to… outsiders.”
“Yeah, ‘specially an alien like you…” Buttercup nodded. She realized what she said a moment later and covered her mouth, but it was too late.
Silver looked a bit stunned, and said, “I’m… not from Earth, am I?” The girls all gave slow shakes of their heads, and he blinked a few times, saying, “I thought so… I mean, nobody else looked like me, it was pretty obvious… I had my suspicions that I at least wasn’t human. But not even from the planet…?”
“C’mon, let’s get you home,” Blossom said, “The professor will fix you up, and we’ll explain everything once we’re back there.” The three of them carefully picked him up, being careful not to hurt him further, and flew up and out of the alley to avoid the crowd. As they soared for home, Blossom thought, That could have gone better… but I suppose he was eventually going to find out either way. I just hope he’ll be okay with it… and I hope we can convince the town to be okay with him…