Episode 41
“I must respectfully disagree with your assertion that you aren’t worthy of respect. I’ve endeavored to study the Japanese language. It is formidable, to say the least,” Cattleya said in earnest. “And you speak it fluently! As well as English. You cannot begin to comprehend how astounding your talents would be considered in my kingdom.”
Sharp continued repairing the wormbox components with spare parts he had found in the storage closet as he listened to her. At this point in the repair, replacing burned out parts didn't require knowing what they did. He'd need Kyle's input soon enough. Taking a moment to reply, he looked up at Cattleya.
“Being bilingual isn’t easy to do, it’s true, but lots of people speak Japanese and English. Japanese children are required to learn English in school, in fact. In Europe many people are tri and quadri lingual. It's so common, it even has its own word, polyglot. So it’s no big deal.”
“Maybe not here,” she said with a gleam in her eyes. Her tail reached out and touched his elbow playfully, then she pulled it back suddenly and turned away. “My apologies…”
Maybe they’re touchy-feely where she comes from. It’s probably a cultural thing.
Before he could resume his repair work, he was slammed hard in the back. It felt as if he had been hit with a rock.
“Yowch! What the…” Sharp looked down at his feet, and a mottled yellow and orange ball unfurled. "What is that? A giant pill bug?"
The insect at his feet righted itself on its large back legs, then its short, stubby antenna wiggled and it turned to face him before launching itself off the ground with all the force of a mortar shell. Sharp ducked and the ball whizzed right past him.
"Not more bugs," Cattleya moaned, then caught Sharp's eye.
"Cricket bat," they announced simultaneously.
As Cattleya ran over to her bedding area, Sharp grabbed a broom and began smacking the bugs that had come through the portal back through the opening.
"Fore!"
He could see a shadowy cloud rolling over the field towards them. Once it hit, there would be thousands of these jumping pill bugs to contend with. He wouldn’t be able to sweep them back fast enough.
Whack!
Cattleya had joined him, sending the hard shelled critters back through the portal.
“Looks like another exciting game of bug ball,” Sharp said while drawling out the last two words as if he were a sports announcer.
“I fail to see the humor in this situation! No! Is that more of the beasts coming?” Cattleya had just noticed the “cloud” which was close enough to see thousands of pillbugs leaping and launching, colliding into each other, but also rapidly moving towards the portal.
Stolen story; please report.
“What’s not to laugh about? Thousands of these killer pillbugs will be joining us in about ten minutes. Think of the fun we’ll have!”
“You’re mad!”
“Not yet. You should see me after I talk with my buddy, Wudgepuck. Waitaminute…I’ve got an idea. Can you hold down the fort?”
“You’re expressions are strange, but if you mean can I defend us from this onslaught of bugs, I will do my best!” Cattleya continued cracking her bat against the murderous little balls, while Sharp ran over to the scissor lift and visually sized it up in comparison with the portal.
Yeah, this should work.
He drove the scissor lift over to the storage room, rolled up the door, and rummaged around. In the back, he found what he needed: a spare plate for the wormhole generator. It’s fortified titanium aluminide-carbon alloy construction made it perfect for shielding them from the random challenges that the portal was providing. The plate was too long at first, but Sharp expanded the scissor lift cage and wedged the plate in. Then he grabbed an assortment of heavy boxes to prop the plate up. He lifted the remote control box and piloted the scissor lift to park in snuggly next to the portal.
The insects began bouncing off Sharp’s barrier, making muted pings when they collided with the wormhole generator plate, but loud clangs as they collided with the folded arms of the scissor lift and its steel side.
“Use this push broom to take care of any stragglers that manage to get through. Send them back to orange Nebraska, and I’ll get another plate!” Sharp dragged over a second plate, then quickly slid it between the scissor lift and the portal.
“Sharp, are those plates touching the portal event field?” Isabelle’s voice expressed concern. “They cost a pretty penny, and we don’t have funding to replace them at the moment.”
“I think we’re going to be safe. I’ve leaned some sticks up against the field to test how close to the field we can place an item without losing it during the transition, and anything outside the edge remains.”
“Unlike our restroom door?” added Cattleya with a pained expression.
“Right. Yeah, I am sorry about that.”
Cattleya rolled her eyes, then placed a bucket over a lone pillbug that hadn’t been swept back.
“Sharp, I have your guarantee we won’t lose any plates?” Isabelle continued.
“Yes. Anything on the outside of the portal remains on our side. Anything on the inside of the portal is left behind. I’ve tested proximity, half-in half-out, you name it.”
“We definitely need you to share your observations with Fauna.” Isabelle turned away to answer a villager’s question.
Sharp stood with his fists on his hips and assessed his barrier. It was holding up better than he had hoped.
“How are you holding up?” he said to Cattleya.
“I’m exhausted.”
“Well, why don’t you get some rest? These titanium aluminide-carbon alloy plates are designed to withstand the stresses of re-entry when ships return from space. The pillbugs don’t stand a change I think we’re both going to finally get some deep sleep. I’ve been up since yesterday morning. What was it? 8:30am. Plenty of time to get to work by nine. It’s 3:27pm now. So thirty hours and fifty-seven minutes? Yeah, I’m beat.”
“Did you just say that you have ships that fly in space?”
“Plenty of time for that later. I’ll show you a documentary on recorded flight from the Wright Brothers all the way to interplanetary travel.”
“Interplanetary?!”
“Cattleya, get your rest. The sooner you sleep, the sooner I can sleep. Meanwhile, I’ll get that wormbox up and running again.”
Cattleya clutched her tail and began to open her mouth to speak, but Sharp shushed her and nudged her in the direction of her bedding. Then he walked back over to the wormbox.
Where the heck am I going to sleep?
As Sharp swapped out parts and restored the wormbox workstation to operational status, the sounds of giant pillbugs splattering into the space age barrier reminded him of sleet hitting his windshield during the last Winter storm. Then he thought of the mess he’d have to clean up on the other side of the plates and shivered in disgust. Pushing those thoughts out of his mind and driving through his fatigue, Sharp finished his work on the wormbox as Cattleya woke up some time around 10pm.
Armed with nothing but a bathrobe from Cattleya to keep him warm, Sharp found a spot on the floor by the wormhole generator and drifted off to sleep thinking that it was the most comfortable bed he had ever slept in.