Here is the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it.
After all of Bobby's information finished uploading into the database, he was escorted by armed soldiers back to the observatory room to be locked up… again. Only this time, Dr. Jitt joined him in the room to wait. She stood across the room and watched him, her arms folded pensively across her chest. He sat in his chair awkwardly, his legs together on one side. He smiled at her uncomfortably as he tried to lean back, but almost tipped over. She couldn't help but chuckle.
"You have to strattle it. Put one leg on each side, and then you can lean back comfortably", she said.
"Oh, ok…hehe, the chairs back home are a lot different, "he murmured.
They sat in silence, Bobby drumming his fingers awkwardly on his knees. Jitt stared at him intently, which made him alittle uncomfortable. But she couldn't help it. He was so… different.
Different from any other Irken she'd ever met before. He spoke to her as if she were his equal, which she clearly was not. He was so tall; the tallest Irken she'd ever seen in person, and she was such a tiny tiny thing. Under ordinary circumstances, one of his stature wouldn't even speak to one so low as herself.
Yet here he was, smiling at her. Saying kind things to her. Treating her as if she were a person. She'd never experienced anything like that before.It felt rather …nice.
He'd even said she was…beautiful. She'd never been called that before by anyone, especially not one so tall. She'd always supposed she were quite ugly. For how could one so small be considered as beautiful?
"Well," she thought to herself, "As kindly as he may seem now, he'll change soon enough. Once he becomes encoded, he'll behave just like all the rest. It's the Irken Way…"
Bobby smiled at her, trying to make small talk. "One time I tried to make a rocking chair as a present for my mother. That was when I had the idea that I'd someday grow up and become a world famous carpenter-slash-inventor. I used to love going to the hardware store as a kid, looking at all the tools and things. Old Mr. Rueger owned the shop by the General Store, and he told me one day if I ever wanted a job, he'd hire me…Well, anyway, he showed me how to use a lathe, and so I built my own in the barn. I used it to make the rocking chair for Mom…"
"And your…Mom, as you call her. Was she pleased?" asked Jitt.
"Well, yeah. It was perfect. Until she tried sitting on it. It collapsed right from under her," he chuckled."Well, I was only six at the time, and I didn't really know that much about physics yet. But it's the thought that counts." And they both laughed.
Bobby told her all sorts of stories about life on Earth. Listening to his favorite albums, learning how to ride a horse, hanging out with his friends in the small town he grew up in, life on the farm with his mother.
In that very moment, a small part of Jitt supposed that perhaps it would've been better for him if he'd never left this savage planet called Earth.
TTFN!!
E.V.