Xeno knew exactly what his answer would be. It had been his goal since he'd begun: he wanted to become the head of Astronomy. Not only was he enamoured with the museum, it'd be an opportunity to prove his family wrong- to show them that he could succeed. He decided to be a little more coy withhis answer. "Well, I've wanted to work in this museum since I saw the astronomy exhibit when I was younger. In the future.. I guess I'd like to be the head of Astronomy, but I don't think Carmazan's going to retire anytime soon."
Suddenly, Ms. Pepper seemed to remember herself. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrogate you like that, I won't say any more." She said, resolutely. Then, masterfully changing the subject, "It looks like the kids are getting bored, you should take them along to the next exhibit." I should get going now, too." She said, clearly deep in thought, though Xeno couldn't be sure as to what was on her mind.
"Goodbye, Ma'am."
"Goodbye, Xeno. Good luck."
What did she mean by "Good luck?" He took the primary school around the rest of the natural history section. He could barely remember any of it beyond that point, his mind was working overtime trying to work out what Mrs. Pepper meant. By the time he dropped them off at the palaeontology auditorium, his mind was blank. He couldn't think of anything that made sense. Perplexed, Xeno began walking back to his office in the astronomy block, past the to-scale models of the solar system, and sculptures of satellites. He marvelled at the effort it must have taken each scientist to work out the inner workings of the solar system, and the raw intelligence required to have the ideas necessary to explore it.
The history of astronomy section was especially long, and so it took him a decent amount of time to get through it. Mainly because he hadn't been through this way in some time, and so he was looking at his colleagues' updated displays. Suddenly,he came face to face with the head of astronomy herself- Mrs. Carmazan.
She was polishing a display window for a kepler asteroid. And just as he thought he could pass her without her noticing him, she turned around to look at him. "Hello, Xeno. It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Hi, Mrs. Carmazan. Yes, it has, hasn't it?" He turned around to face her. She was an old, greying woman who looked like she was a gusty day away from the grave, yet was somehow still vital enough to run the Astronomy department with an unwavering iron fist. Xeno had thought that she had been kneeling down, but she was standing fully upright. She had shrunk with age like a raisin.
Still, past experience had taught Xeno that she was not to be underestimated. In her prime, her and her team outside of the museum had discovered eleven new planets over four thousand light years away. So, as a result, she was clearly the most qualified to head the department. "I saw you talking to Ms. Pepper earlier. What was that about?" She asked, suspicious. Her extremely observational nature meant that nothing seemed to get past her.
Always the hard hitting questions with her. He wasn't sure if it was a test, so he replied diplomatically. "You know, just.. Museum stuff, future plans, stuff like that."
She sighed, looking wistfully at the asteroid display that she was polishing. "You would do well to avoid drawing too much attention to yourself at this museum. It rarely ends well for anyone." She mused. Suddenly, her phone buzzed. She opened it in front of him. "Honestly, old people have no phone etiquette." He thought to himself.
She looked up at him, briefly confused before scowling at him. "That was a text from Ms. Pepper. Apparently, I'm going to mentor you, so that you might be able to become the head of Astronomy someday." He froze. Surely Ms. Pepper would have more tact than that? how would he ever get promoted if the current head knew he was gunning for her job?
"Looks like it wasn't just "museum stuff" after all?" She looked up at him, her intense grey eyes connecting with his green.
"I'm.. sorry?" He replied. It's not like she'd be able to be head of astronomy forever. To be honest, he was surprised she hadn't retired already.
"You're quite an.. ambitious young man, aren't you?" She stared at him through narrowed eyes. "Be careful you don't overreach." She stated. With that, she stood up and started walking back to her office.
"Goodbye, Ma'am. It was nice talking to you." He said, but she was already too far away to hear.
Turning around, he came face to face with the blonde palaeontologist from the other day. He was carrying a stack of papers under his left arm, and was wearing the same jumper as last time he'd seen him. "I'm really sorry." He began, stammering. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I was just bringing stuff to Mr. Crossley."
Xeno was stunned. "It's.. alright?" He began, but he was already hurrying away. "For goodness' sake," he thought to himself. "If he didn't think I was an inconsiderate.. whatever before, he definitely does now. Why does he keep showing up at the worst times?" He sighed, thinking back to his conversation with Dr. Carmazan. It wasn't like he was some evil creature praying on her downfall. It's just that he couldn't imagine being tired of themuseum- it was where he'd first fallen in love with astronomy when he'd visited it as a child, and where he wanted to work until he was.. well, her age. Surely it would make sense to her that he'd want to take over someday?
He walked the rest of the way back to his office, looking at the displays, wondering what it would be like to have discovered something that could one day make its way into a museum. When he got back to his office, he booted up his laptop. He didn't have another showing, or any display work today. He hadn't expected to have to do so much paperwork when he'd first joined the museum, but it seemed that every day he had to file something or other.
Procrastinating, he opened his inbox, he had to sort through a couple of spam mails first. When he was new at the museum, he had used his work mail to sign up for.. basically everything, from old gym memberships to science newsletters, and he was feeling the repercussions now. His incoming mail was like a jungle of get rich quick schemes and weight loss scams. However, when he refreshed, a message from Ms. Pepper appeared at the top of his screen.
"Dear Xeno,
I hope this E-mail finds you well, truth be told, I've had my eye on you for a while. I know that there might be some positions opening up in the future in your department, and I feel like you'd be the best to fill them.
For now, for your patience and resilience since you began at the museum, as of next quarter, you will enjoy a (long overdue) eight point five per cent raise. I have also spoken to Dr. Carmazan, and she has said that she would be happy to help you internally qualify for the role of head (Even if we both know she thinksshe's got a tight grip on working here!) Next week, you will have a meeting with her, the details of which are attached below.
Kind regards,
Zara Pepper."
He couldn't believe his eyes. He'd finally been recognised by his boss, and by the sound of things , he was most likely on for a promotion. He was over the moon, and he had a massive grin on his face even as he opened the files that he was dreading to sort not moments prior.
He couldn't wait to tell everyone; especially Dr. Aruda.
CHAPTER SEVEN:
"And that, everyone, is why the sun and the earth actually revolve around each-other, rather than the earth just revolving around the sun."
Xeno waited for applause from the secondary school that had come to the museum. He preferred the A-Level astronomy students over the primary schoolers; they had an actual passion and interest in his subject., rather than just being happy to get out of a day's worth of lessons.
