2.51.

Gabriel Nguyen sat patiently in the hot seat of the conference room as the review board finished their questions. He had answered honestly, explaining how the frustration of his fame had affected his judgment and that he was embarrassed by his outburst. He apologized for the embarrassment it caused the school, but thought that it was being blown out of proportion.

The review board exchanged glances, then nodded.

“The truth is, Gabriel, that we also believe that this has been a farce. Our escalation of the matter to review was prompted by the police report filed by the blogger you yelled at who embellished significantly upon your actions as they were recorded by his own camera. We apologize for putting you through it, but it was necessary to protect the school. We will file our official report in a few days, but unofficially you can rest assured that you’re in the clear. Just don’t threaten to place any cameras in uncomfortable places in anyone’s anatomy in the future.”

Gabriel let out his breath. “Thank you. Is there anything else the board needs from me?”

“You have been most cooperative. You may go,” the leader of the review board said, and Gabriel took him up on his offer, leaving the room in a rush while trying not to let on that he was in a hurry to get away from them.

The video of his tantrum had gotten millions of views. His fame had only grown.

He sighed and checked his email as he walked out of the administration building and began hiking through campus. The usual junk. He sighed, and almost missed the message from Tukano.

I am saddened that your people are not taking their accomplishments on the Seeker as seriously as I had been hoping they would be. You are on the cusp of discovering an interesting phenomena. I hope that your setback with the people who harass you does not dissuade you from continuing to explore the data you put your health at jeopardy in order to collect.

Finally, he thought to himself. Some validation for his work. He sent a quick message of thanks back to his Yonohoan friend.

He sighed and returned to his office, where he began examining the data in various methods on the six LCD monitors, three of them resting on his desk and three mounted to the wall behind his desk. It put his back to the door, but when he actually had students in his office he usually sat at the couch with the coffee table between them rather than at his desk.

He was exploring some of the discrepancies between the different probe when he suddenly stopped.

“Huh,” he said.

He checked the data another way.

He checked it a third way.

“Huh,” he repeated.

~~~~~

“And this is your room,” Olivia said, finishing up the tour with the best part. “I know it’s not much, but if you want we can decorate it. The last time I had a foster child, we hung up posters of her favorite boy-band. It’s normal for kids your age to decorate their rooms, but it’s also okay if you choose not to.”

She had been doing that a lot lately, Eodar noticed. Informing him of normal behaviors and giving him the option to engage in them or not.

“Your house is very comfortable,” he said. “I will think about whether to decorate my room or not.”

“It’s fine either way. Your … Eolai has extended me a line of credit for your care that is effectively endless. I wasn’t expecting that. I don’t intend on abusing it, but I definitely intend on using it for the purpose he gave me without hesitation,” Olivia told him.

“I am feeling restless,” he confessed. “Will you accompany me so that I may have an exercise period?”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“No,” Olivia said, and he simply accepted the refusal. “John, listen to me. I’m not saying you can’t go outside. I’m saying that I’m not going to accompany you. Go and play. Don’t go more than two blocks away from my house, but it’s okay to explore the neighborhood within that area. There’s a basketball court to the south of here, why don’t you take a ball with you and have a good time?”

Eodar turned to her in surprise. “You are not worried that I will run away?”

“John, I’m not your jailer. I’m several things to you, including your guardian and therapist. Although actually, since you’re living with me, I don’t believe I should be your official therapist anymore. You can continue to tell me anything you want, but I’ll arrange a new therapist in case you need to talk about me behind my back, or share secrets that you don’t want me to know.”

Eodar considered her words. “I am uncertain how I feel about that.”

“That’s okay. It will probably take you some time to open up, but I’m thinking a male therapist would be good for you. I have a colleague in mind already, and I’ve scheduled an appointment for you tomorrow. I’ve taken two weeks off of work, so we’ll go together. I’ll be with you for the first half of your session, and then you can talk to him alone for the second hour. If you want to just sit there in silence that’s fine too.”

“That would be boring,” he confessed. He sighed. “Are you certain I do not need supervision?”

“Are you going to plot to take over the government or hurt yourself or others?”

“No,” he said.

“Then I think you’ll be okay. Just follow the rules. No further than two blocks from the house.”

“Okay,” he agreed. He looked at the basketball sitting on the bed for a moment before picking it up and walking out of the house.

He practiced dribbling as he headed south, finding the basketball court immediately. It was old, with cracks in the asphalt that had weeds growing out of them, but it was still in use. He began shooting hoops.

Ten minutes into his exercise, three boys came and asked if he wanted to play a game with them. He confessed that he did. He wanted to play a game of basketball very much indeed.

~~~~~~

He was sweaty and tired when the other boys announced that they had to go. Eodar was disappointed that the game was over, but happy. The boys hadn’t even commented on the differences between them; his head had returned to the Yonohoan shape after his decommissioning and he had been worried that he would no longer fit in with earth children.

The other children had introduced themselves and informed him where they lived. When he had confessed that he was being fostered by Doctor Nunes they had simply accepted his situation as though it were no matter.

Two of the children were younger, nine and ten years old, while the third had been fourteen. He had seemed annoyed that Eodar had been able to keep up with him, and much of the game had revolved around a competition between Eodar and the older boy.

They had eventually tired themselves out, but it had been a very good time.

He returned to Olivia’s house after the other boys left, took a shower, and began to write about the experience. He would show Olivia despite her assurances that his ‘diary’ could be kept private and that she wouldn’t read anything that he didn’t explicitly share with her any longer.

He was concerned with the sudden … he didn’t know what to call it. He had gone from being watched every moment of every day in a highly secure area to a neighborhood without any visible security presence at all.

He had been unsupervised on Earth before, of course. Before his capture, decommissioning, and imprisonment. But he had had a mission then. He had worked very hard to fit in with the other children because that was what he had been trained to do. Now he didn’t have to maintain a cover. Olivia knew who he was. She said that he could tell people his story or keep it to himself, but he should think very carefully before he decided to share.

Not because he should be ashamed, but because he couldn’t take it back once he had. The other children might not figure out that he was Yonohoan just by looking at him, but they might. The alternatives for obscuring his heritage were taken from him by his decommissioning. All he could do was … hope they didn’t notice?

Or he could just tell them if they asked, he realized. He didn’t have to hide. He could tell them about anything that he wanted to tell them.

He could even tell them about High-Command.

He began to hyperventilate at the thought. The panic attack lasted until Olivia found him. She pulled his head into her lap and reassured him that everything was alright. When he calmed down, she asked if he wanted to talk about it.

He didn’t.

That was okay.

They had spaghetti for dinner, and he went to bed early.

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