“O-oh m-my . . . this is-is-is a-awful. T-truly awful.”
With effort, John tore his gaze from the little window of black space he could see through the airlock door.
Graximus Greyfore was shaking, tears of black liquid running down his face. “I-I am s-so glad that your students escaped Archivus Major. B-but this is s-still a disaster.”
“Calm yourself, Graximus,” said Lorem gently, bending to lay a hand on the small alien’s shoulder.
Greyfore shook the headmaster’s hand off. “How can I possibly calm myself?” he wailed loudly. “The Subo and Goran will be r-ripping Archivus Major apart by now. The Omega-bots will not be able to stop them. The greatest museum c-collection ever seen will be g-g-gone. The work of fifty thousand years! Destroyed! W-we must be grateful that your students survived, but —”
“But nothing,” said John. “The plan failed.”
“F-failed?” Greyfore looked up, hope in his eyes.
John stepped forward. “Yes,” he said. “Luckily Kaal is an expert with technology. He managed to reverse the process. The battlefield is just how it was when we arrived. Everything on Archivus Major is fine.”
“It’s s-s-safe? The planet is safe?” Greyfore seemed unable to believe it for a few moments. Then he beamed at the students. “Oh, but that is wonderful. Th-thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my third stomach.”
“You’re welcome.”
While Greyfore spoke, the headmaster looked around, watching as the students exchanged looks that told him John had skimmed over a lot of the story. Now he cleared his throat.
“Excuse me,” Lorem said. “As I only arrived back from Plarz with Mordant Talliver a few moments ago —”
“I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, Headmaster,” Ms. Vartexia cut in. “Really I am. But would someone please tell me what happened on Archivus Major?”
“Exactly what I was going to say, Ms. Vartexia,” echoed Lorem. “I understand that Supretus gave a device to Emmie Tarz that would dissolve the battleground stasis cube, but how did you manage to stop the warriors escaping?”
Feeling everyone looking at him, John blushed and shuffled. “Um,” he started. “Like I said, it was Kaal. He fixed it.”
“The whole story, please, John. Start at the beginning.”
With many interruptions from the rest of the class, John finished the tale. At the end, Lorem looked as calm as ever. Only his voice betrayed how much the story had affected him: how concerned he was that the class had been in such terrible danger.
“Thank you, John,” he said quietly. “And thank you, too, Kaal and Emmie. You may never know what a great service you have done for the galaxy. I shudder to think what might have happened if you had not managed to put the Subo and Goran back into the stasis cube. Very likely the war would have spread, once again, across the galaxy. You may have saved countless lives and civilizations.”
The headmaster paused, then continued sorrowfully. “I made an error. I knew that something important would happen on Archivus Major, but in my visions I saw only that Hyperspace High pupils would be involved. I failed to see that ‘Greyfore’ was not who he appeared to be.” He shook his head. “It is fortunate that my error did not have fatal consequences.”
“Headmaster, I d-d-don’t know how I can ever repay your students,” the real Greyfore cut in. “But could I just say that any visitors from Hyperspace High will always be welcome on Archivus Major. The m-m-museum is at your disposal.”
“Thank you, Graximus. I think our students should remain on-board for some time, though. Whenever they leave the ship, they seem to become involved in a life-or-death adventure! It may be some time before I allow them to leave my sight again.”
The class groaned.
“Can’t we go back?” Bareon said. “I got stuck looking after Ms. Vartexia all day and I really wanted to visit the Gormib the Reaper exhibition.” Bareon caught a sharp glance from the blue-skinned teacher. “Not that looking after Ms. Vartexia was a problem,” he muttered.
“Plus the first day, all we got to see was moss and rocks and boring paintings,” said Queenlin.
The headmaster clapped his hands together, his cheerful smile restored. “The very least I can do is award the entire class extra credit.” He winked at Emmie.
Emmie punched the air. “Yesssssss,” she hissed.
“What about Mordant?” Lishtig interrupted.
“I found Mordant on Plarz,” Lorem said gravely. “At the moment he is confined to his dormitory with an Examiner outside the door. I was planning to expel him, but this information sheds new light on the matter. Since his actions were influenced by Supretus, I see no reason why he should be punished. In fact, I will order a special screening of the Vaporball Championship highlights in the 4-D cinema. All of you are welcome to join him there.”
The headmaster raised his voice, as the class began asking more questions. “No classes for the rest of the day, and perhaps a day off tomorrow would also be in order,” he announced, to further cheers. “Now, you should all get back to your rooms and get some rest.” As the class filed toward the TravelTube, with only Greyfore and the teachers remaining behind, Lorem stopped John, Emmie, and Kaal. “Once again, it seems I owe the three of you special thanks,” he said in a low voice. “Hyperspace High is fortunate to have three such brave students.”
“Thanks, sir, but it was nothing, really,” John mumbled, embarrassed.
Kaal shrugged. “It was exciting in an almost-getting-killed sort of way.”
“And totally worth it for the extra credit,” Emmie said, grinning.
“There is one last thing,” the headmaster continued, holding out his hand. “I will take the Comet Creative, please. It sounds like for all his crimes, Supretus was something of a genius with technology. Perhaps the scholars of Kerallin can find a more peaceful purpose for the device.”
Graximus Greyfore leaned in as Lorem took the Comet Creative from Kaal’s hand. “Such a small thing,” he murmured. “Yet with the potential to cause such an enormous amount of d-d-damage.”
“Indeed, Graximus,” the headmaster replied. “Don’t worry, we shall keep it very safe.”
“Now I-I-I must g-get going,” said Greyfore. “I want to check the b-b-battlefield exhibit thoroughly. In the meantime, please accept my thanks once again. If there is anything else I can do to repay any of you, please, please do not hesitate to let me know.”
“Actually,” said Kaal, as the curator turned to go. “There is something. My dad’s been longing to visit Archivus Major for years, but the waiting list —”
Greyfore waved a stubby hand. “For your father, there is n-n-no waiting list. He will have an invitation as s-s-soon as I arrive back. Will a week be long enough for h-h-him? No, better make it two. And every night the b-b-best dinner that Optical Orbit can provide.” With a final wave, he disappeared into his ship.
“Now, I know that Mr. Riley here dislikes sleeping, except in class,” said the headmaster with a smile, “so I won’t tell you to go and rest. But go and relax at least. Try not to get in any trouble.”