Work Text:
I'm tired.
I've been hopping from one place to another these days. Rescue, homework, rescue, homework. Today, it's more on projects and final requirements. I saw the progress bar at the top of the dashboard when this hell week started, but I seem to ignore it today.
For individual projects, I can finish them for one to two days, depending on the difficulty. Two to four if situations come in all of a sudden. For group projects, I'm glad I went to the right group since they understand what I do everyday. Sometimes, duty calls during meetings and project making, and I have to drop everything right away and excuse myself. I'm also glad that I don't have daily synchronous classes. It would take lots of excuses if I do have them. But I have a few meetings with my teachers.
Oh, I think I'm gonna have one right now.
Hi Mr. Tracy,
Good day!
We'll be having a meeting today. Let me know if you're available.
Ms. J
Thunderbird 2 just launched. I guess I'll be attending. I replied right away.
Man, how can I explain this?
Ms. J and I had a, let's say, meaningful conversation. First, she reminded me of the deadlines that I missed. Some tasks have a very quick deadline. There was a short task, and I was on a mission. I'm going to tell you about it right now since I still can't get it out of my head.
My mission before this meeting was a failure. The guy who sabotaged a spaceship caused harm to the space crew. There were three of them... four, actually. One flew away unconscious before I arrived. The ship ran out of air pretty fast. When I arrived and fixed their life support, one crew member was bleeding because of the saboteur and died in his fellow crew member's arms. They tried their best to save him before I arrived, even though they were running out of air.
We wanted to check if the spaceship still works, but it's pretty risky to do it since the ship was sabotaged. My plan was to take the crew to Thunderbird 3 with my astroboard.
"Lieutenant, you first."
"Okay, but don't touch anything."
"I'll be back for you," I said.
When I took the lieutenant to Thunderbird 3 safely, we heard an alarm from her wristwatch. She gasped. "No! He shouldn't touch the console!"
Then the ship exploded. My mission was to save four crewmen but ended up saving one. It's worse. My heart felt heavy after what we just witnessed, but I focused on my plan and flew Thunderbird 3 back to Earth.
Sadness filled in the cockpit. "I'm sorry."
"Hey, you did your best. I always thought that this mission's pretty risky."
"But someone sabotaged your ship. That's not supposed to happen, right?"
"Sabotage has been one of our risks. To be honest, Mr. Tracy, I didn't agree to this mission at first."
The guy who touched the console and died? He started it without thinking it through.
I told John what happened and then he called the space patrol to investigate. The lieutenant explained what the saboteur and the escape capsule looked like, said it shot up like a bullet. And if you're asking, the saboteur had auburn eyes and a messy hair. And it's not the Hood wearing a disguise. Turns out the capsule crashed in the asteroid belt and the saboteur didn't make it out alive. Four deaths in one mission. It was painful.
When I arrived home, I found out about the short task in Calculus and I missed the deadline. I sent a quick apology to my math teacher. Ms. J told me during our meeting that she had a conversation with her.
She's so sweet. She's one of the few teachers who understood me. I'm glad she became my research adviser. In the near end of our conversation, she asked me if I'm ready for the oral defense coming up next week. I may be tired, but I said I was ready. She was making sure if I really was.
"Okay, but if you're not, you can tell me. I can give you an extension. Your health is important. Get some rest, and I'll see you on the day of the defense."
I just wanted to get over this hell week.
After a failed mission, a missed deadline, and a heartfelt conversation, a tear fell from my eye. I wiped it quickly when I heard my brothers.
I tried to hide my feelings but it's kinda overwhelming today. I let it take over. I lied down on my bed (wow, Alan, after five months?), turned to the side, and buried my face into my pillow. As much as I don't want to cry, I had to. Hopefully my brothers wouldn't see me like this.
Too late. Virgil just came in.
"I heard what happened."
And he heard me.
"Aw, Allie, why?"
He took off his shoes, lied down next to me, and embraced me. I tried to explain everything to him while choking back tears.
Why am I crying a lot these days? It happened ever since Gordon got injured. I shouldn't be like this. Was I too stressed? Have I seen too much that my heart couldn't handle or have I been through a lot? Or is it my emotions getting mixed up?
Guess I'll have to call it a night. I had a long day. Virgil helped me relax for a bit, kissed me goodnight, puts his shoes back on, and left my room.
Two days later, I felt better. The next week, while busy working on the Zero-XL, we had a little family quiz night to cheer ourselves up.