The following morning, everyone was getting up early. Although they had done as much work to set up as possible the day before, there was still a lot to do before the Fossil Fun Day began. Kendall came into the living room, finding Mrs Griffin in her kitchen cooking. She was a little surprised by this, since with the exception of a few digs where she stayed with others out of necessity, she had lived on her own since she had left university. She wasn't used to anyone else cook for her. She also wasn't exactly a morning person. Most days, she'd pick something up on the way to the museum or rely on a good, strong coffee to keep her going until she had lunch at the museum. It had been a long time since anyone had cooked breakfast for her.
"Good morning Ms Morgan." Mrs Griffin greeted her. "Come, sit down."
Kendall started to make her way over, at which Mrs Griffin pointed to the coffee machine.
"I was able to do everything else, but I can't for the life of me figure out how that contraption works, would you mind?" She asked.
"Of course not." Kendall replied, making her way over. She set the filter, and started up the machine. Since she was the only one who used it, it was already set to her preferred settings. Mrs Griffin turned her attention to the breakfast in the pan. It smelled fantastic, and Kendall had to admit looking forward to it.
"You really didn't have to go to all this trouble." Kendall told her.
"It's really no trouble, for me this is practically sleeping in." Mrs Griffin assured her, waving it off. She handed Kendall the spare key. "I do have to say, I'm a little surprised that for living on your own, you didn't have more food in the refrigerator. I needed to go out."
"Yeah, sorry about that." Kendall said, beginning to prepare mugs. "I...um...don't have company much."
"I noticed that." Mrs Griffin replied. "This kitchen is spotless. I had thought it was down to you being organised, the rest of the apartment is very neat...but I couldn't help noticing the only appliance you have with the labels worn is the coffee maker."
Kendall had to be quite impressed at this observation. There was a certain amount of detective work involved in palaeontology. Since there were no living dinosaurs around to observe, everything scientists knew about them was based entirely on observation and conclusions drawn from evidence surrounding the sites of fossil finds. Many species of herbivores had been found in groups, demonstrating that they travelled in herds. Pre-mortem injuries gave them indications how the animal died, which gave them an insight into the nature of the food chain, which species prayed on which others.
"I...don't cook much." Kendall admitted. "I work long hours..."
"I work long hours too; you should really take better care of yourself." Mrs Griffin told her. The coffee maker clicked off, at which Kendall started to pour. Mr Griffin started to plate up the breakfast. She joined Kendall at the counter, setting down a plate in front of her. There were scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon and toast.
"Well, I'm really not used to eating this much in the morning, but it looks delicious." Kendall said as she started eating. Mrs Griffin sat opposite her, picking at her plate.
"Ms Morgan..."
"Please, feel free to call me Kendall." She answered. "Riley's not around, this isn't an official conversation."
"Of course, Kendall." She replied as she took a sip of her coffee. "I just wanted to talk to you about my son."
"Riley?" Kendall asked. "Everything's progressing well there. His grades are a lot higher than even we expected, we're even thinking about putting some college work into his curriculum if you allow him to continue with us next year..."
"I was talking about Matt actually." She answered. Kendall gulped down some of her breakfast.
"Matt?" Kendall asked her. Mrs Griffin just looked to her. "I don't know..."
"You don't have to play coy with me, Kendall." She said with a smile. "I can't help noticing Matt spends a lot more time in the city since he met you, and I have seen you together."
"Oh." Kendall answered, realising she couldn't talk her way out of it. She already knew that there would be complications in dating Matt. She was Riley's tutor. While she always kept things professional and would never let how she felt about Matt affect the way she handled Riley's assessments, she understood there were those that would question her grading and her teaching. Not to mention the fact she didn't know how Riley would react if he knew that his tutor was dating his older brother, a guy who had almost fulfilled the role of his father since Mr Griffin had passed away. "Listen, I know this seems a little..."
"You don't need to worry Kendall; I know you're a good person." She replied. "Matt's had a lot of weight on his shoulders since Bruce died. He's dedicated most of his life to the farm. What he has with you, whatever it is, it obviously makes him happy. I'm glad to see him happy."
"That means a lot." Kendall answered.
"I do have to ask you one thing." Mrs Griffin said. "My sons are very dear to me, they're all that matter to me, and now...you're involved in both their lives. I just have to ask that you take that responsibility seriously, and you're careful with them."
"I promise you I will be." Kendall answered. "You have my word."
"I also have to say, Riley's a bright boy, but...he's not as smart as he thinks he is." She assured her. "You've managed to keep this from him for a while, but if you're going to get serious, you have to tell him."
"Mrs Griffin, it's still early days." Kendall answered. "We don't know what we are to each other..."
"Well, when you do, I'd like you to treat Riley like an adult just as you always promised and tell him." Mrs Griffin told her. "Matt's never kept anything from him in his life. I don't know what it would do to him if he found out himself."
"Hey, do I smell scrambled eggs?" Matt asked as he came into the room. He sat next to Kendall. "My mom makes THE best breakfast you've ever tasted."
"Yeah, I noticed that." Kendall replied as they carried on with their breakfast ahead of their busy day.
Over at the museum, Riley, Chase and Tyler had already left the apartment to get set up. Shelby and Koda were starting to fill the sand-pit with the plaster bones before getting to work on adding the sand, while Chase and Tyler were concentrating on the grills. They each had one end of the large grill, while Riley was carrying a gas bottle a little way behind them.
"Alright Chase, a little to the left." Tyler guided him, as Chase was walking backwards, holding the other end. "No, not your left, MY left!"
"Well you might want to make that a little clearer." Chase grumbled as he almost walked into a trash can. He rounded it, continuing on the way.
"Can you guys go a little faster?" Riley moaned. "This thing is really heavy!"
"Yeah, and this thing's like a big fluffy cloud!" Chase responded. "You know, this would go WAY faster if a certain knight was helping. Where the hell is he anyway?"
"I don't know, he just said he had something to do in his room." Tyler replied as he looked for the path into the cordoned off area. "I couldn't be bothered arguing with him about it, so I just told him to join us when he was done."
"Yeah, what was he up to anyway?" Riley asked. "I heard a lot of metal rattling around..."
"Who cares? That guy might be good in a fight, but when it comes to the day-to-day work, he's as useful as a...whooooooaaaa!"
Chase slipped and fell, squeltching down into a large patch of muddy ground. The others were over by him as quickly as they could.
"Chase, what happened?" Shelby asked him.
"I don't know, I just slipped, the ground..." He held up a hand, seeing it was cake in mud. He looked around, seeing a large patch of the ground was now water-logged. "Aw man, how did this happen?"
"I think I might have found the culprit." Tyler said as he spotted a sprinkler that was off-centre. He checked it, finding it leaking. "It looks like someone broke this sprinkler. It must have been leaking most of the night."
"Great, and it's right at the entrance too!" Shelby complained. "We're going to have to pull up and move every single stake to move the entrance!"
"We're expecting the first guests in half an hour!" Chase reminded her. "There's no way we're going to have that finished in time."
"Well, it doesn't look too bad." Riley answered. "Sure it's a little slippery, if someone stays by the entrance to warn people, we should be fine."
"Well, someone else can do it." Chase responded. "I already need to wash up and get changed."
"Right, you go and do that." Tyler told him. "I guess we're going to have to get by as best we can. Koda, can you start pouring the sand? I'll set up the grill. Riley, would you look out the food?"
"Sure, it's all boxed up in the fridge ready to go." He answered, heading for the museum.
Up on Sledge's ship, Wrench was in his lab, working on his latest device, taking care to put the delicate components together. While his mechanical body could normally put things together much faster, this project had taken him days because he didn't want to take any risks with it.
He had to admit a certain disappointment, even a slight disdain for the fact his latest plan was so...basic. However, he couldn't deny one of the most basic principles of engineering...sometimes making something too refined and complex just made more to go wrong. Time and again he had seen overly elaborate plans from some of the others unravel because there were too many moving parts. Some minor detail got overlooked, whether it was ego, recklessness or just sending someone that was just too stupid to fully understand the plan, there was a flaw. This time, he was planning to simply use a hammer to drive in a nail. Why send a monster when he could just send a bomb?
They already knew the Energems were robust enough that they would survive; they had survived the asteroid shower that had wiped out almost all life on the planet unscathed! Sure, they might have to sift through some wreckage and corpses to FIND them, but then...it wasn't like there'd be anyone left to stop them was it?
He had an intricate knowledge of weapons systems, and had thought long and hard about what kind of bomb to use. He had ruled out viral weapons or atomic weapons, the last thing he needed was to create a fallout zone that would delay Sledge in going in to recover his bounty while it became safe to enter again. Instead, once again he had gone the simple route, and was building the most powerful explosive device he could create.
"Sledge is going to be so leased with me." Wrench said as he picked up the final component, the detonator. This was the most dangerous part of the process. While it would make the bomb safe to handle until it was set once in place, one wrong move installing it would complete the circuit and set off the bomb. He dreaded to think how little would be left of them if he did make a mistake. He was confident no one would ever find anything of him; since he was standing right next to it, as for the rest of the ship...he was sure it would make interesting space junk for some other traveller to happen across, wondering how someone had reduced a powerful battleship to tinfoil. "Just one final component...there!"
With the detonator now locked in place, the bomb was safe to handle. It would only go off now once it was primed and the timer expired. Well...enough force would cause it to go off if someone were particularly idiotic, but he couldn't imagine who would be so stupid...
"Curio? Are you in here?" Poisandra said in a sing-song voice as she searched for her pet in their mammoth game of hide-and-seek. So far it had lasted about two days, far longer than anyone sane would have found it entertaining. She saw wrench, and her eyes rested on the bomb in front of him. It was large and spherical. "Ooh...what are you making?"
"It's just...an engine component, nothing that would interest you!" He rushed out, trying to keep a grip on the bomb. Poisandra though had already snatched it from the table, and started looking at it. "Give that back!"
"Oh, what a fun little toy! Curio! Come on out, this game's getting boring!" She said as she started bobbing the bomb up and down. "I think a nice game of catch would be far more..."
"No!" Wrench protested as Curio clambered out of a nearby tool chest. He wondered when exactly the walking patch work doll had time to conceal himself in there, but had to admit it was a good hiding place. Wrench's work generally bored Poisandra. His tool chest would be the last place she'd want to look for anything. Just then, Sledge walked in, bringing a monster with him.
"Is the explosive ready?" Sledge asked.
"Explosive?" Poisandra screeched, throwing the bomb up in the air and squealing. Wrench had to sprint to catch it before it hit the ground.
"Y...y...yes sir!" Wrench stammered out.
"Sledgeums, he let me play with a bomb without telling me!" Poisandra whined as she came to his side, cosying up next to him. Wrench just looked at her, gobsmacked.
"LET YOU?" He asked, before shaking his head. That wasn't the important point right now. Setting the bomb safely back on the counter, he looked to Sledge. "It's ready! All I need to do is plant it and set the timer..."
"Take Smokescreen with you!" Sledge interrupted him.
"But Sledge...I can do this by myself!" Wrench protested. Once again, all he could think of was adding additional components to the plan making it more complicated than it needed to be. Poisandra had already risked vapourising everyone in the room, the last thing he wanted to do was entrust the plan to...what the hell was that thing anyway?
"Nonsense! I can fart out some fog so that no one can see us!" Smokescreen stated proudly. He crouched down, forcing out a cloud of gas to make a point. "Putting me in charge is the right thing to do!"
"He did NOT put you and your stinky fog in charge!" Wrench argued as he approached him. "Overgrown windbag, you wouldn't know HOW to use this bomb!"
"Overgrown wind-up toy!" Smokescreen responded.
"ENOUGH!" Sledge roared, shaking the ship with the volume of his voice. Wrench steadied the bomb on its stand, not wanting to take any chances. "Bring me an Energem and you'll be free! But fail me and..."
"Say no more!" Smokescreen responded, cowering away from his captor. "Come on Wrench, bring that bomb with you!"
Wrench just picked up the bomb and followed him, hoping that he was as good as his word and could keep the Rangers distracted. After all, if the plan succeeded, but Smokescreen just happened to be caught in the blast anyway...that would leave all the more credit for him!
Back at the museum, the preparations were well under way. Kendall was walking through the corridor with Matt, just going over the last of the preparations with him. She was carrying one of the kits that she had prepared for the kids.
"OK, remember, every kid gets a sifter, a safari hat, and a shovel." She told him, handing the items over to him as she tried to think of what else needed to be prepared. She had delegated the tasks to make sure everyone knew what they were doing, the Rangers constant grumbles were more about the fact she REPEATEDLY reminded them what they were doing than the tasks themselves. It was only a few minutes until the doors opened, and she was now really starting to worry that she had forgotten something. "Now, let's see what else am I..."
"Hey, hey, hey...deep breaths." Matt told her in a soothing voice, taking her arms. "Everything's been organised, everyone knows what they're doing. Relax; it's all taken care of. It's going to be great."
"OK, I admit, I'm a little stressed out, but Anton told me that kids look forward to the museum's Fossil Fun Day all year." Kendall told him. "It's a huge thing; my predecessor turned it into one of the highlights of the year for the local kids. This is my turn running it! If I screw it up..."
Matt grabbed her, and did the only thing he could think of to silence her, and kissed her. As they parted, he looked to Kendall and smiled.
"Calm down." He told her. "It'll be fine."
Just then, Kendall stepped away from him quickly, and straightened herself out, looking to him.
"Um...so...every kid gets..."
Matt saw Riley walking past, carrying some supplies from the kitchen and realised what she had seen. He just coughed.
"A hat, a shovel and a sifter." He repeated. Riley just shook his head as he passed them.
"Jeez Bro, it isn't THAT hard to remember is it?" He chuckled. Matt just went to his side, taking a box from him and following him outside. As they went though, Kendall took a deep breath. Even with all she had to worry about already, she couldn't help thinking about the conversation she'd had with Mrs Griffin earlier.
"No time for that now Kendall." She whispered to herself. "One problem at a time."
