Solunar: Ch 1

"I don't recall much. Everything is hazy. I remember the second I landed here. I don't remember why, I don't remember how. I just remember landing. Crashing, really, into the Machello Observatory.

"It's a nice observatory. It's gleaming white in the daytime and a glowing light-blue at night. It has glass windows framing the top, with a giant telescope as most observatories do. This one is updated in science, though. It saves maps of the skies as you put them in. Just press a button and it shows graphs in the lens as to where everything is. There's even a touch screen with a special pen where you can draw and write notes n the sky. It's motor controlled with a three-hundred and sixty degree turn radius. They think it's impressive, which it is, to a new professor. I think it's a customized mess, really. None of the coordinates they put in are correct, the planets had odd number-letter names, and what really stunk was that I couldn't get a complete grasp on the whole touch screen thing.

"But I crashed in. The professors said they were studying Xian's comet, named after some dead dude who discovered it. It, or I, fell off course and crashed into the observatory. They said I was a bright green at first, until I adjusted to the sun and my eyes changed into a dark blue and I got these weird marks that were glowing a bright orange in the sunlight. They just stared at me, and named me Xian, after the comet and the old dead dude. Rather then turning me into a science experiment, they just clothed me and showed me around. I think they were predicting this, really. I don't know. They taught me basic English, which I caught onto quickly. They showed me around town, and I decided to pick my own style of clothing myself and my own hair and such. I kind of turned watching people into my pass time. I wasn't allowed to leave the observatory at night. But, I guess, they were watching me. They discovered that depending on the skies and the universe, my colors change in my eyes and my marks. They began figuring out that when certain things are happening, I change accordingly. I can predict comets and star explosions and even satellite crashes, because I can feel it. When they discovered this, they took me to the mapping room.

"Oh, that room was a mess. And I emphasis mess. It wasn't dirty. It was wrong. Because I knew how to speak and read, and I knew how to graph a little, everything looked wrong. It was like every planet was named incorrectly, every star had no depth, they all looked like one layer. I asked for a pencil and something to climb. they gave me a ladder at first, and it worked okay. I I then realized I had run out of room before our solar system was done. They put in more layers, but I had to peal every paper layer off, and with the dome of the mapping room so large, it was like taking down wallpaper and repainting. And it would chip my paint, and I work hard to make my planets accurate. They then installed mechanical layers. I just pressed a button and they would move so I can get different depths.

"I began to realize the ladders did no good to me either. I had to keep getting down to move the ladder, and It was only twenty feet tall in the seventy foot dome. I had heard of people in circuses do these swinging art tricks on high up swings, like trapeze atrists. So, they installed my swing. But I couldn't get far, so I looked into aerial circus acts, and I found hoops, nets, you name it. I learned how to climb some from the books, and later on, the professors installed special hooks to the ceiling. They gave me the silks, or tissues or whatever. I put in pegs on the sides of the mapping room dome, so that I can grab on with my feet when I'm done swinging to where I need to be. I looked up how to lock my feet in with certain knots, how to wrap my body so that I'm supported comfortably and so I can use my hands and feet... I'm sorry, I went on for a long time,Professor Thatcher-" Xian nervously ended his side of the conversation. the orange fox sitting next to him placed her hand on his.
     "No, Xian. It's very intriguing. I'm happy to know more about you." She smiled. "Besides, I came here to work with you. I'm your new partner, I mean, we have to work together. Best I know a lot about you, huh?" She flipped her long auburn hair off of her shoulder and smiled at Xian. He smiled back and kind of laughed.
     "I'm telling you this now, I have barely any social skills. sorry If I don't understand or act funny, Professor Thatcher." Thatcher smiled at Xian.
     "Xian, please. Call me Aida. I hate formalities. It's just in front of the other professors, call me Thatcher. When we're working together, it's just such a mouthful."
     "Aida...." Xian repeated. He took a good look at the transfer professor. She just came in yesterday, all smiley and bright, her long hair tied up, formally dressed, and here to impress the older professors. Xian saw her, although it seemed like he was busy in his graphing. He saw the little fox with brown odd tattoos on her tail and wrists. Lines circling a sphere. Some sort of trend in the eastern islands. She'll probably get asked a lot in the central island cities what they mean to her. She's new and young, and innocent. She'll soon learn about the bad things of living in this beautiful place. Soon...