Knightstone Household: Chapter 9, Part 13
Suzanna was out gathering minerals when she heard someone approach. Finishing off she stood up and dusted herself down. The voice behind her surprised her though.
Faye: Hey boss... can I talk to you
Suzanna: Umm, you want to talk to me?
Faye: Not really. I mean... this job is really important to me. I’ve dreamed of being a scientist since I could walk basically
Suzanna: I know what you mean, it was the same for me
Faye: I got defensive but... I thought about what you said. I did overstep with Shelley. It was unprofessional. I apologised to her
Suzanna: You apologised? That’s great
Faye: I mean, if she had tried to give me commands I would have snapped. She had every right to be mad at me. I let my personal need for success win over the need to be part of the team, it won’t happen again
Suzanna: Does this mean we’re going to be besties now
Faye: Oh heck no. I still think you got your position because you're an alien rather than you have some great talent. But I’m going to try be more of a team player. I can’t promise to like you, ever, but I can promise to do my job and follow your instructions. I hope we can move past the simray testing now
Suzanna: *laughs* Definitely
Back home Suzanna took some time to read while Silas relaxed. Eventually they got talking though and caught up on each others day.
Silas: The substitute said we were a good class. Normally she has to work out of town and teaches disguised but she was able to be in her alien form for our class. She said it felt natural
Suzanna: That’s good
Silas: I’m glad we moved here Mummy, it’s nice
Suzanna: Yeah I like it to
Before bed Silas sat down with Suzanna to learn all he could about his new alien for show and tell.
Silas: If it’s a Red Coral why does it look pink
Suzanna: Things don’t always have fitting names, but in this case it’s genetic
Silas: What does that mean
Suzanna: So female Red Coral are red, and much smaller than this one. The pink ones are boys
Silas: They are? But how can you tell
Suzanna: MRI’s of them show their insides and let us know
Silas: And why does it have the eye stalks
Suzanna: To see. Their home planet has lower gravity and their buoyancy allows them to sort of bounce around. They spend more time in the air than on the ground so they need to see more angles, so more eyes
Silas: They’re not hurt by the gravity here are they
Suzanna: No. Remember how we can read minds? I can tell that he’s not in any pain or discomfort
Silas: I know you found him on Sixam so how’d he get there
Suzanna: With the amount of time they spend in the air it’s easy for them to knock against each other and be propelled upwards. Their planet as far as we can tell is along a well traveled route. When they get too high they’re drawn to the ships and stick to the outsides as they approach other planets such as Earth or Sixam
Silas: And they just fall to the ground
Suzanna: As far as we can tell, they’ve never been found in vessels. They are remarkably sturdy. Think that’s enough for show and tell
Silas: I suppose. I just need to think of a good name
Fitting in a quick workout before bed Suzanna admired her art collection. Today at work she’d collected the last My Sims trophy she needed for a complete collection, and she wondered if she would get a plaque in the mail. She had recieved one for the aliens collection but not the geode collection so she was unsure what the humans counted for rewards. She hadn’t had much time to stargaze with the winter weather but hopefully next rotation.
The next day Suzanna called work to have another vacation day. This time Faye was more civil and promised to share the command duties with Shelley rather than bossing her coworker around. Satisfied with that Suzanna decided to give Pollock a bath, he needed it with his food flying everywhere. Adam spent the morning at the computer working on his next sci fi novel and after cleaning up her son Suzanna headed out to the garden.
While Suzanna tended her plants Pollock played in the snow, enjoying throwing it in the air and declaring he was making it snow.
While Adam headed off to work Suzanna and Pollock had a chill afternoon inside by the thermostat. Seeing Suzanna reading Pollock decided to copy her and set about studying the pages of one of his books. Pollock was excited for Silas to get home but since the older boy had homework to work on Pollock spent his time playing with the ring stack toy.
Once Adam got home the family had dinner.
Suzanna: How was show and tell Starshine?
Silas: Really good, everyone was impressed with the Red Coral. It’s funny, my class is half alien right
Adam: Yeah, and your normal teacher
Silas: But some of them hadn’t realised that other types of aliens existed. Small ones that is, they thought it was just us
Pollock: We many Silas
Silas: Yeah we are. But they were interested in your other aliens Mummy, can I take another one next time
Adam: Depends if you look after the Red Coral
Silas: I will. If it can survive a fall from space to the ground I’m sure I can
Suzanna: Technically it didn’t survive the fall as I revived it but close enough
Suzanna got the children to bed and cleaned the dishes while Adam made a final push on his book. The editor agreed that the manuscript was excellent and promised to forward it to the publisher as soon as the physical copy arrived. Heading upstairs Adam found Suzanna reading the book he’d gotten her for Winterfest.
Adam: Are you enjoying it
Suzanna: I am. There’s a gem seed in here that sounds fascinating. Of course it’s been too cold to plant anything
Adam: Not for much longer, the rain out there is melting the snow, we’re past the middle of winter
Suzanna: *sighs* We’ve had a good holiday season though
Adam: We have. Care for one last gift under the covers?
Suzanna: *laughing* I’m not sure if I’m on the naughty or nice list
Adam pulled her close for a deep kiss.
Adam: Why not both? I love you Starlight
Suzanna: You’re my guiding star, always
After woohoo the pair snuggled close and fell asleep to the sound of gentle rain on the roof.
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