Part IV
"Ah. So, your search through the stacks turned up only dust," Dr. Hank McCoy said with a strangely knowing smirk. "How unfortunate."
"Yeah, it is," Kitty said, and shot Kurt a look.
"Was?" he said, but she just shook her head.
"It's been, like, so totally frustrating!" she told Hank. "I mean, it's like, we looked through everything—magazines, nature books, science texts. But the blobs aren't in any of them." She crossed her arms. "Just like I said they wouldn't be."
Now it was Kurt's turn to look annoyed. "Anyway," he said pointedly, "That's why we're here, Doktor McCoy." He handed him the camera, the LCD window displaying his best photo of the blobs: the one that clearly showed the peculiar dark dots suspended inside. "We were hoping you could help us. What do you think: are they alien?"
Hank slipped his glasses over his furry blue nose and turned his scrutinizing gaze on the display screen. His eyebrows went up and he rubbed his chin.
"What is it?" Kitty asked eagerly. "Do you know what they are?"
"You know," Hank frowned, "I'm not really sure."
Kitty's face fell.
"However," Hank continued, "there is something strangely familiar about this image…I feel as though I have seen it before, or something very like it. Where did you say these 'blobs' were located again?"
"In the pond by the field," Kurt supplied. "They are growing around the twigs and things under the water."
"Ah, of course! Interesting…" Hank handed the camera back to Kurt and walked across his lab to his computer. "Well it seems you have a genuine mystery on your hands," he said, pushing his keyboard aside and opening his spiral-bound notebook. "I'll be curious to know what you find out. Do please remember to keep me informed of your progress."
Kitty gaped. "You mean, you're not going to help us?" she said, openly flabbergasted.
"And deny you the thrill of the chase?" he smiled, showing his startlingly sharp teeth. "This is your hunt, not mine. But, I shall provide you with a clue."
"What is that, Doktor McCoy?" Kurt asked, trying to calm Kitty's rising ire with a pointed glance.
"These 'blobs' of yours," said Hank, flipping through his notes. "I can assure you that they are not of alien origin."
Kitty frowned. "Wait," she said. "If you, like, don't know what they are, then how can you know for sure they're not alien?"
Hank just smiled. "That's all the direction I can give you. Take it or leave it as you will. As for me," he said, snapping his notebook shut and striding back to his lab table, "I have a great deal of work to do. Good luck to you both."
"I don't believe this," Kitty grumbled as she and Kurt headed back to the library. "First the Professor, now Dr. McCoy. We're like, totally getting stymied at every turn. Something's up, I can feel it."
"You are being paranoid, Katzchen," Kurt said, scanning through his pictures on the camera. "Herr Professor and Doktor McCoy just want us to figure this out for ourselves. And you can't really blame them. They are teachers, ja? They cannot help themselves."
"No, I think it's more than that," Kitty frowned. "Did you see that look Hank gave us?"
Kurt puckered his brow. "What do you mean?"
Kitty sighed in exasperation at his slowness. "Professor Xavier had that same look when we brought all this up in his office. It was all, like, weird and knowing, like they know what's going on and won't tell us." She stopped short, her expression suddenly tense and worried. "Kurt… Do you think the pods could be affecting them?"
"Affecting them?" Kurt frowned. "Do you mean like mind control?"
"Yeah! Think about it. We saw those dots twitching, right?"
"Ja, but…"
"No, no buts," Kitty cut him off in her excitement. "What if we got it wrong, Kurt? What if those blobs aren't eggs or embryos at all, or even alien pods, but really giant brains! Giant alien brains that have come to Earth to take over the world's most powerful telepath!"
Kurt shivered, but shook his head. "Nein," he said. "Nein, I can't believe that. Such a scenario…it is just so…so…"
"So what?" Kitty frowned. "Crazy? Nuts? These are aliens we're talking about here, Kurt. Potentially dangerous aliens. Besides, wasn't that what you said when you first discovered the things? That they looked like yellow brains?"
Kurt frowned and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know, Kitty," he said. "If what you say is true…"
"If what I say is true, then we don't have any time to waste," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him down the corridor. "Those things have already started to exert their insidious influence on two of the most powerful minds in the country. Come on!"
"But… Katzchen, we just passed the library!"
"We're not going to the library this time," she told him, her expression intent. "We're going to the computer lab!"
To Be Concluded...
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