High Noon on Jefferson (scifi story): Chapter Four

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Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three

Chapter Four

We all looked down at the smashed repticulate. I didn't know what was in the minds of my friends, but I thought I was glad whomever made the repticulate hadn't made it tougher. Had it been milspec, I'd have never gotten it smashed. The best case scenario would have been walking to the adults with a wildly contraband robot hanging off my finger. That would have gone over well.

Veena and Rosa arrived and huffed and puffed and their eyes blew right out of their skulls when they saw what had happened. Jackie and Tom were without comment. Which was a miracle given Tom. I had been waiting for an awful pun or totally hilarious but inappropriate remark to come rolling out of his smirking and obnoxious mouth. Yet, it didn't.

I realized why.

I realized why no one had said anything.

We were faced at that moment, we the Merry Pranksters, with another adventure. Each of us was facing the thought that we all knew. Each of us was facing what had happened three years ago. Each of us had our nightmares from the last one. Dad had been right: adventures were someone else, far away in deep trouble and then edited for heroism and events later during the retelling. We knew the truth. We knew what could happen. We had seen it. We had lived it. Did we want that again?

One thing was certain. Whether we went off on an adventure or not, we were going to face the consequences of just being there when the repticulate appeared. Given who we were, that was going to get messy. We were going to be grilled and charcoaled and outright sautéed. And all we had done was be where we were. All I had done was reach for a sandwich.

I stared at the repticulate with a very radioactively venomous glare. Sadly, despite my best efforts, the repticulate did not burst into flames. Clearly I needed to consult more with my mother on how to do a proper nasty glare. I was thinking. I was mulling. I was ruminating on what I ought to do.

I stared.

I glared.

I muttered.

Then I snapped out of it and looked up at my friends. They were all looking at me. That made me a little self-conscious. And I asked, "What?"

Veena began shaking her head, "Aurora...no."

Clearly, they must know my thoughts better than I do. I hadn't decided anything. I wonder why she thought I had. I smiled a bit nervously and replied, "What are you talking about?"

Veena started going, "No! Bad kitty! No mouse! No Cookie! Don't even think of it!"

"Think of what?!" I was getting upset. Or thought I was.

Veena kept saying, "No!" over and over again, with increasing frequency.

What the heck! I'd not decided a thing. I didn't even know what I wanted to do. Actually, at that moment, I thought I did. I wanted to stay out of trouble. I didn't need to add 'repticulate collector' to 'stare powerful enough to make someone in powered armor stand down.' I was not 12 anymore. I was 15. I didn't need this. Life was messy enough as it was.

I looked at Rosa: Rosa groaned.

I knew. I just KNEW I was going to get into trouble for this.

I looked at Jackie. Jackie smiled and shook her head ruefully.

I looked at the repticulate and chewed my lip.

Then, finally, I looked over at Tom. Tom clapped his hands together delightedly, "Oh Goodie! I get another chance to almost die."

Freakin clown. My clown. My obnoxious bratty buddy clown. But still a clown.

Then a thought struck me. I was going to get into trouble no matter what. The adults were going to think we had some deeper connection to the repticulate than having found it in my backpack. A repticulate could have been seen as a prank, a very bad taste prank, but we were teenagers. And the adults didn't exactly know what we would and would not have considered a bad idea.

Here's a hint: if 16 year old boys think its a bad idea, too dangerous or whatever, then it's almost assuredly deadly dangerous.

We weren't yet 16 and thankfully, I was not a boy. Being a teen girl was rough enough. Being a teen boy with all the hormones that render them stupider than a bag of bricks had to be worse. However, I remembered something my Dad said once. If he was going to get into trouble for something regardless of whether or not he did it or not, he felt he might as well do it. At least that way he was going to be in trouble for something for real instead of busted for something he didn't do. He was talking about eating the cookies after he caught me and that was when I was little and my parents were still married, but teenage me thought it applied here.

I was going to get busted.

In this case, very, very unfairly.

So.

Might as well be busted for legit reasons.

So...

I looked up at my friends and a grin spread across my face.

Veena all but whimpered. Rosa groaned. Jackie laughed. Tom was delighted and even did a stupid happy dance.

What a dork.

"Let's clean this up and take it inside. We can see what we can learn after school in the cybernetics room. Agreed?"

Glum, resigned, amused and delighted looks replied.

I scooped up the offending cybernetic lizard and fished out my sandwich. I removed the sandwich from the bag and bit it, holding it in my mouth. The repticulate was dropped into the bag and stuffed back into my backpack. Oh and I totally looked first. No second chances at a bite, robo lizards! I'm way too tasty for your meals, flashy scales!

I began eating and smiled from ear to ear at my Merry Pranksters.

I swallowed, smiled and realized, they did now me better than I did.

Adventure again.

I finished and pulled out the shuba.

I opened the container and Tom ran away screaming.

jerk.