"Come in?" Asked her bold voice. Xeno gulped and walked into her office. It was similar to his, and it was clear she had made little effort prior to his arrival. Papers were strewn across her desk haphazardly, with bundles of spreadsheets flowing onto the ground like waterfalls. "Hello, Xeno." She began, glancing at a file on her desk that seemed at least five years old. "Why don't you have a seat?" Carmazan was cold at the best of times, but he was sure the temperature had dropped by five degrees since he'd walked in.
"Hi, ma'am. I just want to clear up, I'm not trying to take your job, I just thought that.. well.. you're probably going to retire soon, and-"
"And why would you think I'm going to retire soon? How old do you think I am?" Xeno froze. He knew from his talks with Jess and Aruda that that was a question that you should never give a straight answer to.
"Um, not a day over sixty..?" He ventured, trying to gauge her reaction. If he were lucky, she'd be flattered.
"I'm joking around with you." She said joylessly. It was hard to tell when she was joking; her demeanour never changed. She paused, thinking for a moment. "Xeno, I'm afraid I misjudged you." She looked at him through slightly narrowed eyes, as if seeing him for the first time in her life.
"What do you mean, ma'am?"
"You're just doing whatever you can to get to the top. I can.. admire that, even if it's a scary view from the summit. You remind me of myself when I was younger.. though you don't have my bone structure."
"Thank you?" Xeno let out a quiet sigh of relief. These mentoring sessions would have been unbearable if she'd kept up her grudge against him.
"Truth be told, I am retiring soon. I'm glad that Ms. Pepper at least let me train my prospective replacement." He jumped at that. "This could be it." He thought to himself, he could finally prove himself.
"When?" He asked, a little too quickly.
"I haven't decided. In the next couple of years, I'll leave when I decide to." That was perfect. It gave Xeno just enough time to get in Ms. Pepper's good books. "Now, where were we? Oh yes; the first and most important lesson I can teach you is.." She continued, leaning closer to him, almost conspiratorially. "You have to keep your head down if you want to work here. It's just like what happened with Kiara .." She trailed off.
Xeno nearly flinched at the mention of Dr. Aruda's first name. She reprimanded anyone who dared to call her it, and hecouldn't blame her- he'd be proud of a doctorate if he had one, too. "Wait, what do you mean keep my head down?" he asked. "What happened with Dr. Aruda?"
Just as she seemed to be about to respond, the museum's speakers picked up. "All employees from the palaeontology and astronomy departments must report to the main hall immediately. I am giving you all express permission to leave your stations. This will be a brief meeting. Those who are currently touring may continue, but must report to the main office afterwards to receive this announcement." Ms. Pepper's voice rang out, tinny because of the terrible quality of the speaker system.
"Well, that seems to be all the time we have left, I'm afraid." Carmazan replied, getting up from her chair. She seemed to be grateful to be free of the conversation, he recognised her caginess about the past from Aruda. What could have happened all that time ago?
CHAPTER ELEVEN:
Xeno walked briskly to the main hall to keep up with Dr. Carmazan's surprisingly rapid pace. Luckily, her office was pleasantly close, so it was barely a forty-five second walk until the pair of them entered. The museum's great hall seemed foreboding, its high, vaulted ceilings and walls felt like they were somehow too far apart and claustrophobically close together. There was a crowd gathered already, around ten people with a few more stragglers coming in. It seemed that everyone had been subconsciously waiting with trepidation.
As he got closer, the hum of chatter became more audible. In the centre, Ms. Pepper was standing next to a security guard. Xeno saw something in his hand but couldn't get close enough to work out what it was. Some kind of pointer, perhaps? From the opposite side of the crowd, he saw Haiden. His golden hair caught the dim museum lights as he talked anxiously to one of his co-workers, his arms held close to his chest.
"Hey, Xeno."
He jumped slightly as he turned around, coming face to face with Jess. "Oh, hey." For some reason, he hadn't expected to see her here, despite everyone being called. "Why do you think they've called us all here?"
She looked at him as if he were stupid. "I reckon the dinosaur creature thing was tampered with. It's not like they'd call both departments here just to tell us it wasn't."
"There's no chance it was." he argued. "No one'd be that stupid, Maybe they're suggesting a new team-building exercise?"
She rolled her eyes. "What were you looking at, anyway?" She peered over to the other side of the hall. "Oh, there's Haiden. Has he recovered from when you slammed into him?"
"He crashed into me!" he exclaimed, embarrassed. Rumours had a way of getting out of hand at the museum, and even though she was most likely joking, he didn't want someone to overhear.
"I saw you talking to him at the party." Jess smirked.
"Oh, stop it." He rolled his eyes, grinning.
"You have to admit, dating a little would do you some good."
"I can't see how. And besides, like I said, I'm too busy with work, anyway."
Ms. Pepper interrupted them, clearing her throat. Everyone looked up, and there was an awkward pause as she gathered everyone's attention. "Hello, everyone." She began. "Thank you for taking time out of your schedules to come here on such short notice. I've called you here today because, unfortunately, some foul play has been.. unearthed by the site team."
Gasps emanated from the crowd as they shot accusatory glances at the other department. Xeno heard an astronomer whisper something about "mind games" the palaeontology department were playing. Did they seriously believe that? Just as the crowd seemed like they would get out of hand, they were silenced by the security guard. As he stood up, everyone quieted down, their minds desperate for some answers.
"I won't disclose exactly how the pterodactyl was rigged to drop, so as to avoid.. framing attempts." He said, and Xeno swore he saw Ms. Pepper's eyes dart to Dr. Aruda. Everyone was hanging on his every word. "But it was definitely deliberate. The security cameras were looped, and the police won't get involved becausethe thing was practically worthless, and a papier mâché dinosaur doesn't exactly weigh enough to crush anybody."
