Arrival
Thrax pondered about his choices. He could remain on TerraNova for the
remainder of his life, or he could explore the universe, leaving the
USI behind him. After all, he would at least like to see Earth before
its demise.
That was it. He was going to leave. He stood and walked down out of the ship towards Tora's.
"You're leaving TerraNova?" was Tora's shock statement. Of all the
things she had prepared herself for, this was the last of them.
"Yeah," Thrax replied.
"But where would you go?"
Thrax had put some thought into this earlier, but all this went out the
window when Tora found out he was leaving. "Look, I need to explore the
Universe, Earth especially."
"How are you going to see Earth? It's no longer in the Universe."
"I can go backwards in time."
Tora resigned. "Okay, it is obvious you have put sime thought into this. In that case, I bid you farewell."
Thrax did a shallow bow, and left the place.
"Fae," Thrax called out on his return," get your gear packed." Fae was
his ward, and although she was only nine, her accelerated physical and
mental development made her look like a 15-year-old.
"Why?" she asked as she came into view of him.
He met up with her, and brought himself down to her level. "I'm leaving to tour the galaxy, and I am leaving you with Zy."
"Touring the galaxy!" Fae only heard part of what was said. "Can I come with you, please?"
He dropped his head. "Are you sure about this?" She nodded
enthusiastically. He exhaled, resignedly. "Okay, let's go." With that,
they walked up to the control room.
"SKYRA, prepare to take off," Thrax spoke to the ship. A bent-down,
augmented chord signalled its affirmation. It shook, then slowly lifted
itself from its supports. "Okay, first stop, the Station. I must tell
Zy we're leaving."
The Gargoyle, while not shocked, was indeed surprised. "Well, I hope you enjoy your, err--what do you call it?"
"How does 'expedition' sound?" suggested Thrax.
"Okay, expedition," continued Zy. "Where are you going anyway?"
"I'm beginning at 20th Century Earth."
Her eyebrows went up. "Oh."
"From there, I don't know. For some reason I've always wanted to go there."
"Well, I hope your expedition goes well. Say, where's Fae staying?"
"She'll be with me, apparently she wanted to be a part of it."
"That girl will learn a lot about the universe, I'm sure," Zy commented. "Especially of how it used to be."
"Yeah. Well, I'd better be leaving." Thrax came in and hugged her. Her wings wrapped around them both. "Goodbye, Zy."
"Goodbye, and farewell, Thrax," was her last greeting.
They parted, and Thrax realised something he hadn't done. "Oh yeah, I
have these to give you." He produced a tied group of blueprints.
"But these are your plans," protested Zy.
"They're copies," he clarified. "And they're yours. I still have the originals back on the SKYRA."
Zy thanked the Poltern, and then allowed him to leave.
"Okay, Fae, let's go. Time for Earth," Thrax told his ward in the control room.
"Are you sure you can move it?" Fae queried, "I mean, can you take it across time?"
"I got this out of a black hole," Thrax answered. "I should be able to take it across time."
They moved a small distance from the station, then Thrax, placing his
hands on a wall, began to concentrate. The SKYRA disappeared from that
moment in time.
Thrax and Fae felt a slight crash as they appeared in ther wanted time. "What was that?" Fae asked.
"I don't know," Thrax answered. "Let's find out, shall we?"
They made their way to the bottom of the ship and looked out. It was
definately unlike what they were used to. Thrax checked his Locater
Unit. "Well, it's the right time."
"Where are we, Fae asked, inquisitively.
"20th Century Earth, I assume," Thrax replied.
"Weird place," Fae commented. She walked over to a drunkard passing by, and asked, "Excuse me, which planet are we on?"
"Earth," he replied, speech slurred slightly.
"Thanks," she said, and returned to Thrax. "Well, we are on the right planet."
"And sitting pretty well, too," Thrax made his obeservations audible.
The SKYRA was sitting on two walls of timber and brick. "Better than the
rocks we were on on TerraNova."
Fae, at this point, had turned around to see where they were. She
noticed a phone booth nearby, and walked toards it. She found in it a
phone book, and started looking through it. She stopped at one entry:
Valley Heights High School
13 Baker's Lane Valley Heights
"What are you looking at?" came a voice behind her. She jumped, and turned to see who it was. It was Thrax.
"I just noticed this," she said, and pulled the phone book around so he could see it. She pointed at the entry.
Thrax had a look around. He saw a street indicator, with the name
Baker's Lane on it. He ran towards it, and looked in its indicated
direction. He saw a building with a brick sign out the front. The sign
read, "Valley Heights High School."
"Well, there's our building," he told Fae when she caught up. "And, if
anything, it'll mean we have to enrol you. We'll do that in the
morning."
"What makes you sure of that?" she asked as they walked back to the ship.
"We had something similar on Polternus," was Thrax's reply.
The morning came, and both were up bright and early. They had their
breakfast, which consisted of whatever they could find, and made their
way towards the school. They walked through the front door and made
their way towards reception (Thrax thought it would be a great place to
start).
When the woman at the reception saw them, she joyfully asked, "Are we getting a new student here?"
"Yes," Thrax answered, "Fae Kane."
"Okay," the receptionist said, "just come this way please." They followed her into the back of the office.
They went through the enrollment process, which in fact required Thrax
to change a few things like her age (she was, physically and mentally,
fifteen), date of birth (it was 1998, so her year of birth became
1983), and other such things.
"Okay," said the receptionist after it all, "cost is $150, and that'll cover her books."
Thrax waded his pockets, pulling out two $100 notes. He passed them to
the receptionist, who put the notes into a drawer and gave him a $50
note back as change.
"Okay then, let's get Fae here sorted. She can start her lessons
immediately, Mr Thrax," said the receptionist, then turned to Fae and
said, "Let's go sort out your lessons and books, shall we?"
Thrax left the reception, and turned back to Fae. She looked back at
him, as she went with the receptionist to get herself organised. When
she disappeared, Thrax walked out of the school.
Fae's first days at Valley Heights went smoothly. There were only a few
minor hiccups (the most major of them was when Fae was at the canteen
getting herself something to eat. She didn't know she had to pay, but
when she did, she quickly searched through her pockets, and found a $20
note. This saved her because her lunch was $5.50), but, other than
that, nothing went wrong. She was even a 'child prodigy' in some of her
classes (a product of her home learning, she called it), and had made
some friends.
Thrax, as well, had some success of his own. He had earned himself a
job as an engineering planner at a car manufacturer, because of his
immense skill with creation. However, it ws short-lived, as he found
some things repetative or hard to understand, so he applied for a job
at an observatory. Looking at the stars he enjoyed fully, even if it
was just two nights a week. He spent his daylight hours at a chemical
laboratory, experimenting with various substances, with which he found
great joy.