Chapter 21: A few weeks later . . .
In silence Skunk Kusai affixed an assortment of receptors to Astro and Angel. He noticed that his former nemesis was displaying common symptoms of genuine human anxiety: perspiration, fidgeting, eyes nervously darting about, and clenching/unclenching his jaw. Angel, on the other hand was sitting peacefully, eyes closed; she appeared to be meditating. Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune played in the background, but Astro was obviously tuning it out, as he began to drum his fingers in a raucous manner.
Angel's eyes shot open, and she looked at her husband quizzically – he took no notice of her; his mind was obviously elsewhere. "Okay," Skunk announced, and they both turned abruptly to face him, "Ready to give this a try?" He studied their faces: Angel looked calm and composed, while Astro looked very agitated. This is going to interesting, to say the least, he thought to himself as he activated tracking interfaces for each of them.
Angel reached for her husband's hands, but Skunk interrupted her, "Uhhh, wait Angel, let's see uhhh, you know, if uhhhh," he gestured at Astro, "he can do it on his own." She nodded. He looked at Astro and said, "Okayyyyy – go for it. See if you can fly."
Hopping off the observation table, Astro looked around the room, as if to plan out where he would fly without knocking into anything, "Hope I'm not too wobbly or anything." He turned to look at his wife, and proceeded to crouch, as he would to launch his jets and leapt upward. At practically the same moment, Angel leapt forward and caught him, as he stumbled towards the floor.
They looked at one another; Angel frowned and shook her head. She looked at Skunk. "He has no idea what to do." Astro turned and studied Skunk's expression – had that been a set-up just to see him foolishly flounder?
Kusai raised his hands, "No, of course not – well, I figured that might be the case, but – uhhhh . . . this is science and as such, we needed to see if the augmentation included an innate knowledge, or uhhhh 'instinct' for how to use this new ability." He gulped nervously as the Boyntons considered his words, "Right?"
A lingering moment . . . and finally – almost in unison, the two of them nodded in understanding." Inwardly Skunk was a mess, Good God, I dodged THAT bullet!
"Should I try to help him now?" Angel offered.
"Sure," Skunk nodded, "Go ahead – just tell me what you're going to do, so I can make a note of it."
"All right, well . . ." she turned to face Astro, "I'm going to talk with him directly – you know – between our minds –"
"Telepathically" Skunk clarified
"Yes," she acknowledged, "And also let him experience what I am feeling." She looked at Skunk and nodded.
Kunsai screwed up his face, "What? What do you mean?"
"Just what she said," remarked Astro in a calm voice. He turned and gave a small smile to Skunk. "She's full of surprises, huh?"
"Ohhhkay. Fine, that's uhh something." He looked at Angel who smiled back and gave him a wink.
Suddenly, in his head – as if listening through headphones - he heard, "Don't worry, Marc. I promise not to drop him!"
Skunk jumped in shock, and touched either side of his head, not having experienced a telepathic communication before. Angel laughed, and said, "Oops! Sorry! Didn't mean to frighten you!" She turned back to Astro and said, "Okay, let's see if this works."
Watching from behind the monitors, Kusai was mesmerized by the sight of what seemed to be Angel virtually stepping into Astro. That's impossible, isn't it? Is this some other kind of telepathic communication?
The couple moved in unison, extending their arms out from their sides, and very slowly, rose together off the ground, climbing to about 7 feet in the air and remaining their for a good five minutes. Skunk began to become concerned that something might be going awry – "Hey? You guys okay up there?"
Without acknowledging Skunk, they drifted back down to the ground, and Angel stepped back "out of" Astro. He nodded, and made a face of focused concentration, lifting his arms, gradually. Angel mimicked her husbands moves, and she rose off the ground. Astro did not. He tried again. And again. Angel "reached into him" and said something aloud in Venusian that seemed to suggest Astro was doing everything correctly – but he was still unable to lift himself off the floor.
Finally Angel seemed to "pull him" up about 8 inches, and suddenly exclaimed, "Yes! That's it!" and released her husband . . . who promptly landed back down on the ground. She turned towards Skunk, clearly heartbroken. Astro was still concentrating, trying to discern what he might be doing "wrong."
Kusai looked desperately at Angel, shaking his head in frustration, "I don't get it . . . according to our equipment, your DNA functionality matches." He looked down for a moment, and added, "Well, actually, something else occurred to me, but I don't know what we can do, if that's the case . . . "
Angel rushed over to him, "What? There has to be something we can do!" she stared at him, imploringly.
Skunk shrugged. "Well," he looked up – over at Astro, "Hey Astro, has anyone ever compared, like, what these Venusian people are made of? You know, compared to a 100% Earth-human?"
Astro searched his memory, "I . . . don't know for sure." He looked back at Kusai, "What are you suggesting?"
Skunk nodded at Angel, "Well, there is one thing common to Angel and both of your kids: those hyper-green eyes. And you remarked that was a mineral exclusive to Venus . . . perhaps – "
"—it has modified their bodies in such a way as to be able to manipulate . . . "Astro continued.
Angel squeeed and leapt up to hug Skunk and plant a kiss (on his cheek, thankfully). To add to Kusai's state of shock, Astro raced over to give him an equally enthusiastic hug from the other side.
"All right, all right!" he pushed the frenetic couple away so he could breathe, "That still doesn't mean we have the answer . . . or if Venusiacite is the singular element."
Astro scratched his head, thinking, "Hmmm does that mean I won't fly unless I have green eyes?"
Angel shook her head, "No, it can't be just that. Everyone on Venus has green eyes, but not everyone can fly. Very few in fact."
"But," Skunk interjected, "it might be the Venusiacite in conjunction with enhanced DNA that is the key." They both glared at Kusai in hopefull acknowledgement of his theory.
"Makes sense to me," Astro muttered. "So we know what we need to do next: evaluate our compositions, and bring me into line with Angel and the kids"
"Now you know what I meant about this becoming a Pandora's box," Skunk remarked.
Astro nodded, considering Skunk's evalution, "True. But it doesn't feel to be a 'wild goose chase.' And this one issue might open the door for the rest of the mysteries to be resolved."
Angel smiled up at Astro, who gently touched the Venusiacite pendant she always wore around her neck. "I just hope I don't have to turn your necklace into a 'vitamin pill.'"
She hugged him tight, "I can't think of a better use for it, than saving your life."
They looked at each other, and he inquired, "Will you still love me if my eyes turn green?"
All three laughed, headed for the lab where Nick and Donna were working to begin their new experiment.