Did You Pass 5

I had a quick look around the garden - but no sign of the Princess.
I was feeling a bit weary, which wasn’t surprising after last night…
We certainly hadn’t done much sleeping.

I sat down on the garden bench for a rest…
I was being chased by Vulcans when...
I felt a kiss on my forehead and a voice said -
“Thanks for a wonderful night last night, Jem!
Shall we do it again tonight?”

“What! Oh, sorry Princess. What did you say?”

“I wondered if you were coming back to mine again tonight?”

Then I noticed the ‘new’ Leo was with her and he was smiling.
Well, not quite how I’d expected things to turn out, but quite a relief.

“Hello Mike, I’m Pete.” he said. “Pleased to meet you.”

Wait a second, only Fliss called me ‘Jem’...
so this must be Fliss with Leo’s New Host.
“Hello Pete. I’m pleased to meet you too. Where’s Mystic?”

“M had to leave not long after his strange friend.” reported Fliss
“Who is that guy anyway? Why is he The Buddy instead of plain Buddy or Bud?” she asked.

“Its complicated but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind you calling him Buddy.
Where did he go, do you know?”

“I’m not sure I’ve been very ‘dizzy’ all day. I’m thinking of stopping drinking and smoking. My life seems like a dream nowadays.
Why on earth did I suddenly get so close to Leo?
I mean he’s a great guy but he’s more like a brother than a lover and he’s a bit, well... boring. Where is he lately anyway?”

“I haven’t seem him for a few days myself. He doesn’t come from around here so maybe he’s gone to visit friends or family in his home town.
I really don’t know where he might be.”

“He’s at your place isn’t he?” said Pete

“What! He’s at my place? What on earth makes you think that?”

“Oops, sorry, maybe it was just a dream.
I thought that I over heard M saying something to his buddy about Leo being safe at Mike’s place. Yes, it must have been a dream because me and Fliss were in a strange room and M’s buddy said goodbye to someone and then suddenly we were here. Well, not in the garden, but here at M’s… but we had been here all along, so… yeah, it must have been a dream.”

“Were you smoking Obloffski last night too?” joked Fliss.

“What’s Obloffski?”

“Off your block ski” said Fliss. You know…”

“Oh, never heard it called that before.”

“Shall we go for a pint?” said Fliss.

“I thought you were giving up smoking and drinking, Fliss.” I joked

“Yes, I really think I will.” she said earnestly.

“Ah, there you are Mike. A quick word?” said Mystic surprising us all.

I nodded and we headed for the kitchen and left Fliss and Pete sitting on the garden bench.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mystic closed the door to the garden and then he said
“Look Mike, I know you must have a lot of questions but please do not ask them yet!

You have to trust me and the Buddhi...
Wait a few days and then we should be able to explain everything.
However, there is one thing I would like to clear up here and now that may have been on your mind…

The Mxrykzi University head of department for all matters related to The Earth Sim contacted me early this morning demanding to speak with the Princess. He said that he was getting a lot of pressure from the Sengi Palace demanding to know why the Princess had been refused permission to return home from the University and requesting a formal explanation of why her E&M scan was unacceptable.

He said that had tried to explain to the Palace that it was not that the E&M scan was not acceptable it was simply that there was no E&M scan.
The Palace had pointed out that the Princess was first in line for the Sengi Prime throne and as such her ethics and morality were beyond question…
of course he had agreed and promised that he would find the fools who were responsible for this ridiculous misunderstanding and make sure it was cleared up immediately.

When he contacted me he demanded that he be allowed to speak with the Princess and I pointed out that as she is a high priority User he would not be able to contact her directly but, as a special favour, I would allow him to do it through me.

When I heard your special knock I knew the Princess would be with you and so I alerted him and allowed him to use me as a Host. The Mxrykzi are a cautious race and he asked me not to reveal his presence - I suspect he did not want any more problems with the Palace than he already had.
I hoped to tip you off that he was observing by imitating the eye brow arching that your Star Trek ‘Spock’ effects and by my response to your question about the Princess.
I didn‘t want you saying anything that the Mxrykzi should not know.”

“Yes, I remember, I wondered why you said ‘How do you know I’m Mystic?’

“I could see that you knew something wasn‘t quite right but I didn‘t know if you knew what it was.
Luckily the Princess rushed off to find Leo and you kept you thoughts to yourself and left to talk with the Buddhi. Having at least confirmed that the Princess was okay and also been assured that I would make sure she returned to R2 within the hour the Mxrykzi realised there was little else he could do and he Logged off.
So now he owes me a favour, a favour which I fully intend to make the most of!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a great relief to get an explanation of why Mystic had acted oddly and to find that I was almost right… well, more right than wrong.

“I could do with some advise Mystic.”

“About what?”

“About Fliss and the Princess and Leo and… life.”

Mystic arched an eyebrow and smiled.
“I’m afraid human emotions are not within my sphere of expertise.
Live long and prosper.”
then he added “Wait till the Buddhi returns and talk to him.”

I smiled back “You pointy eared computer -
you wouldn’t know an emotion if it leapt up and bit ya.”

“Indeed you may be right Doctor...
I haven’t seen enough episodes to be sure.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I went back out into the garden and walked to the bench.
Fliss and Pete were no longer there and I thought I would take advantage of the late afternoon sunshine.

I wouldn’t class myself as a sun worshiper but I wouldn’t argue with anyone who was. There was certainly something therapeutic, almost loving, in the touch of those golden rays.

Something about Mystic’s recent performance completely baffled me -
why was he lying?

Mystic is a lot of things but he is not a good liar. He had been like a poor actor reading a script. I'd been making myself believe that he was simply worried that I wouldn't trust him but I knew Mystic would never work so hard to be so personable and reassuring if he didn't feel forced to be.

I knew Mystic had never watched an episode of Star Trek in his life.
Yet, he made a very ’fitting’ reply to my poor imitation of a ‘Bones insult’ which couldn‘t have been anticipated…
how on Earth had he known how to respond?
What in Heaven’s name was going on?

“Hello Mike. You look like you‘re deep in thought. I hear you would like some advice.”

“Well, to be honest I’d rather have an explanation of what the hell is going on!”

“Yes, I expect you would. I didn’t think we could fool you but it was worth a try. It would have saved a lot of trouble and extra complications in an already over complicated situation.” said the Buddhi. “You’re a spy Mike!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~