Mountains of Homework
Posted on Sat Apr 12th, 2025 by Paige Cohen & Captain James Cohen
1,252 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
M02 - The Sixteenth Rule
Location: Cohen Quarters, USS Hooke
Timeline: Present
Paige was glad to see that her father seemed to still be up on the bridge, this meant she had the perfect opportunity to call Hayden like she'd planned. Paige would tell her father about Hayden eventually, but for now the last thing she wanted was her father to be her father. She wasn't all that certain what she meant by that, other than typical Dad behavior of having problems with boys. This confused the preteen girl because her father, after all, was a boy.
Once she'd confirmed from the computer that her father was still on the bridge she sat down in her own private area of her shared quarters and dialed out the subspace contact information from what Hayden had given her. She didn't need to tell Hayden that she'd neglected to mention meeting Hayden to her father either. Paige drove that thought out of her mind just in time for the call to connect.
=/\="Oh hi Paige," Hayden said just as soon as he'd realized who was calling. "I don't know how long I can talk for, I've got a lot of homework... Eighth grade is horrible." He admitted sheepishly.=/\=
Paige frowned when he mentioned homework, she had a lot of homework too. And she needed to get some work done on her lab assignment, then there was her science fair project. "They do like piling it on us don't they?" She asked rhetorically, "We didn't do much in class today anyway because there is a new girl."
=/\=Hayden grinned warmly, "A new girl you say?" He asked her at first, "I'm assuming you're not referring to the two girls who were with you on Terra Nova?"=/\=
Paige returned the same warm smile, "No, I'm not talking about the two girls that were with me on Terra Nova." She told him while shaking her head at the same time. "Her name's Ashley, she's originally from Earth." Paige replied softly and leaned forward with the palms of her hands flat on the table. "How was your day?" She asked him deciding to change the subject to something other than the new girl.
=/\="It was well, I miss you though." He admitted slowly. "Maybe if I ask my Mom she'll eventually let me come visit you there on the ship you're on."=/\=
Paige felt her heart begin to race in her chest at that suggestion, though she'd have to tell her father about Hayden and she still wasn't ready to mention him just yet. She shrugged, "I would like that." She was honest, however, at the same time Paige hoped his Mom wouldn't go along with it just yet. He didn't need to know that, Paige reasoned.
==The space entity had been present throughout the entire conversation between Paige and this boy on subspace. While, it couldn't get a sense for what the boy was thinking or feeling, it was able to get a sense of what Paige was thinking and feeling. The entity found it strange, this girl was experiencing some similar emotions as what the space entity had found common in adult mortal beings. It wanted to explore this further, it wanted to see if the other girls were just as capable of this as this one was.
The space entity squirmed a little closer and continued to drink in the flurry of what the space entity would consider to be romantic feelings. These were very raw emotions, the entity could even sense just how new and inexperienced this girl was at having these sorts of emotions. This struck a cord with the entity, even listening to the girl's thoughts about wanting to keep this a secret from her father. The entity was curious about this, but not nearly as curious as it was about her emotional state. Whereas the other girl became excited, this girl had a lot of very warm raw emotion attached to her.
It wiggled itself as those emotions became stronger throughout the conversation, washing over the entity like a large oceanic wave. The entity came no closer, not wanting to come into contact with this girl. Not yet... Rather, it decided that perhaps it was time to move on, it was time to explore the emotions of the other two girls. Perhaps they were just as capable of emotional output as those that had come before them? The entity would have to continue to analyze, learn, and grow if it were to find out more...==
=/\="I figured you would," Hayden told her with a slight laugh. "I really need to get working on my school work, and I'm sure you have school work you probably should do too. Bye, I'll talk to you soon Paige."=/\=
Paige smiled sweetly, "I do." She agreed, and she needed to end the phone call before her father came to the quarters in the first place. So she waved, "Bye." Then ended the call before digging her homework out of her backpack that had been left beside her. A rather light sigh escaped her lips and she set to work on the lab homework first since they had lab in the morning. It was really just a matter of reviewing the previous lab results and writing about them.
James walked into the quarters and saw that Paige's light was turned on in her side bedroom, he made his way over there and pressed his shoulder into the bulkhead nearby. "Hey kiddo." He said to his daughter then noticed that she had a stack of school work in front of her.
Paige looked over at her father realizing that had they not ended the call only a few minutes earlier her father would have seen who she was talking to. She smiled and ignored that sense of slight dread, "Hello Daddy," She said with a wave. "I have a lot of homework to do." Paige told him.
James nodded, "I see that," He said to her. "I'll leave you be, we can go get dinner here in a little bit unless you're hungry now?"
Paige shook her head, "A little bit sounds good." She told him with a smile.
==The space entity still lingered, because the girl's emotional state had remained intact. It knew it would have to move on eventually. However, when the young girl's apparent father appeared the entity had noticed a similar emotional state as with the boy. The entity sensed a slight difference this time, and mentally noted that as well. Though it wasn't nearly as interesting as when she was talking to the boy on subspace. It slowly returned to its own plane of existence, having yet another curious interaction that it desired to learn more about.==
James stepped into the room and gingerly kissed his daughter on the top of her head, "All right." He told her, "Come get me when you're ready for dinner." He then turned and left her alone to do her work.
Paige watched him go before returning her focus onto the homework assignment in front of her. She found it rather difficult to concentrate, her thoughts were still on Hayden and how much she liked him. She was also distinctly aware that Charlotte and her would probably have a conversation about this later. A smile appeared over her face as she thought about her friend, then she steadily made progress with her assignment.
Space Entity
Written by: James Cohen
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