Jenna sighed and stared out the window of the bus sullenly. It had been a most eventful day, but now that she was away from the ship and her aggravating coworkers, she was beginning to feel almost scared. There was something that... well, didn't seem right about the 'miraculous' discovery.
Yes, it was beautiful, but somehow it had managed to make the team drop everything in favor of finding out more about it. Yes, she was fond of pretty rocks and the like, especially in the form of jewelry, but she didn't understand why she felt so possessive about the gem. Finally, she had never put much stock into superstition or 'hunches' or the like, but something about it gave her a very, very bad feeling. She had decided it was the outline she had seen in the photograph – it was very obviously faceted, which meant someone had created it, and what's more it was far more... well, flawless, than any artifact she had ever seen. Not to mention the fact that it was glowing. If it weren't for the fact that it was, quite literally, 20,000 leagues under the sea, she would have guessed that it had been made by a contemporary machine and tossed into the ocean. Even as it was, that almost seemed like the most probable explanation. Things made by prehistoric civilizations didn't glow... God, maybe it was radioactive. Jenna winced and made a mental note to ask Ferguson about coating the Odyssey with lead.
The bus pulled in at her stop and she got out, instinctively starting to walk in the direction of her house. It was a particularly warm evening with hardly a cloud in the orange-tinged sky, and the air was heavy with humidity. Bugs of the small, winged, annoying variety fluttered constantly around her face and in little clouds on the dirty sidewalk, and the occasional lacewing or moth could be seen flitting around the lighted windows of various fast food restaurants and streetlights, and one the size of a small playing card was sitting tentatively on the brightly lit poster advertising The Return of the King at the local 'Movies 10' theater. Pigeons the size of bowling balls pecked at the garbage lining the gutters, occasionally joined by a seagull out for easy scavenging. The moon was almost full and shone cheerily overhead, and over in the west there was a single bright star, which was most likely Venus; it seemed particularly bright that evening, shining in a way that struck Jenna as almost mysterious.
Arriving at her apartment, she unlocked the door absentmindedly and strode in. She kicked off her shoes and socks next to the door and headed off to the kitchen in search of food, scrunching the thick beige carpet between her toes happily. The bright fluorescent light in the kitchen flickered on and she opened the fridge, selecting a cold piece of pizza and sticking it in the microwave. After about a minute it went off with a cheery 'ding!' and she went into the living room, plopping down on her couch and chewing thoughtfully.
She had forgotten to turn the T.V. off and it was currently blaring a commercial for some brand of shoes that cures all of life's woes or another. She watched it for a second until it returned to the actual show. It was an antique show, and they were currently occupied with a ring. It was made of silver; two snakes formed the main band, and the gem was a small emerald, set between the heads of the snakes. The snakes had intricately designed crowns made of tiny gold flowers with diamonds in the center, and they had tiny emeralds for eyes. One of the heads was pointed up and it seemed to be gnawing on the tail of the other, but despite this it was quite beautiful.
She murmured "Pretty" and switched the T.V. off, wondering vaguely if she could find anything that pretty in her parent's attic.
She finished her pizza and tossed the crust in the trash, sticking the fired ceramic plate in the sink. There was a raspy meow from behind her and a furry head butted against her lower leg, rubbing affectionately. She turned and scooped up the small grey ball of fuzz into a quick hug. It yowled angrily and she set it down quickly. "You don't like me, do you, Misty?" she asked rhetorically, scratching the feline behind the ears.
Deciding after a pause that there was nothing better to do, she walked in and turned on the T.V. again. She flipped through the channels for a minute before deciding on the news; the cheerful voice of the female newscaster soon filled the small apartment.
"...And those are the sports statistics. Breaking news today, we've got a unusual story. The Vostok research station in Antarctica, site of the lowest temperature ever recorded on earth, has apparently vanished without a trace. The station was involved in an effort to drill an ice core through the approximately 3,700 meter sheet of ice in order to analyze it for information on climate changes for a whopping half million years. Our contact says that communication with Vostok Station stopped around yesterday and recent satellite photos confirm that it is gone. What happened? Well, we don't know. Find out more when we return. This is channel 3 news."
The perky blonde newscaster's face was replaced by a detergent commercial and Jenna flicked the T.V. off, stood up, and headed for bed. Something gave her the feeling it was going to be a busy day tomorrow.
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In case my author's note in the last chapter had you confused about this, Trisha will not be falling in love with Maglor. Or, well, she might, but t'will be tragic, unreciprocated love. Alas for the poor girl. :( Also, sorry about freaking out. ::Sigh:: I just get a little panicky when I think one of my characters is turning into a Mary Sue. I just don't want this to turn into a Sue story, beep it!!!
...Sorry, panicking again. ::Deep breath:: More soon.