CHAPTER NINE
"Erm-"
Creeeak
Steve's head started to dip forwards, looming towards the ground and wobbling slightly.
CRACK!
A wire pinged off of the ceiling, causing Steve to fall forwards, though still supported by the other cables .
"Mrs. Pepper, dash to the side!" Shouted Doctor Aruda.
But Mrs. Pepper was frozen in place, looking up terrified at the pterodactyl.
More and more wires started pinging away.
Doctor Carmazan ran forward, grabbing her hand and pulling her to the side of the balcony just in time for the last rope to snap.
Xeno had never seen her move so quickly.
The pterodactyl seemed to fall in slow motion, falling about as elegantly as those birds that hurl themselves off cliffs.
Its arms broke apart and its head detached from its body, exploding into a torrent of green and purple coloured fibres.
Xeno's head whipped around to meet Haiden's eyes, the pair of them in shock.
The brief silence that ensued seemed to drag on for hours- everyone on the balcony was frozen in place, seemingly unable to move.
Then, chaos ensued, during which, they were separated.
"Steve! Who would do this to our baby?" Someone yelled.
"Someone could have been hurt! Was anyone hurt?
Are you okay?" "This is someone from astronomy's fault!
" A shrill voice sounded amidst the crowd.
"I knew we shouldn't have had a party together!
Of course someone would try and save their own department's skin! "
The voices layered over each-other, each clamouring to be heard amidst the cacophony.
Xeno looked across the room to see Dr. Aruda arguing with someone from Palaeontology that Xeno had seen somewhere before.
People from other departments were taking sides.
Were they trying to stir the pot so that they wouldn't get cut?
Suddenly, Mrs. Pepper climbed onto the "wreckage", seemingly out of her trance.
"Everyone, stop! Please!" She tried to shout over the carnage, but her voice was too quiet.
Suddenly, Dr. Aruda walked briskly towards the green papery mass. "Enough!" She bellowed, silencing everyone.
With everyone turning to Ms. Pepper for something to say, she seemed to freeze up.
Then, she regained composure. "Everyone is going home.
" She began, weightily. "I'm going to have a security guard check on the wires.
If I find out they have been tampered with- though I expect this was an.
. unfortunate accident- the perpetrators will be caught and dealt with.
Immediately. This isn't funny. I'll help to clear this up. "
The crowd was frozen, motionless. The atmosphere of the party had completely and irrevocably changed.
"Go!" She exclaimed.
Slowly, everyone started milling out of the museum, down the spiral staircase.
Covered in the green paper fibres, Xeno thought they all looked like little soldiers.
As soon as they got outside, Xeno joined a bunch of astronomers who were crowded in a huddle.
So much for inter-departmental bonding. Everyone was shouting their bizarre theories, none of which Xeno thought to be true. Surely it was an accident, right?
"Surely it was someone from the palaeontology department trying to frame us?"
"What if it's Mr. Crossley? He's always been suspicious.."
"Maybe it was a new hire? It's not like they'd care much if they got fired, and they'd be a hero in their own department if they framed one of us, right?"
Dr. Carmazan broke in. "There will be no more discussion. I want you all to go back home and disperse. Talking about this won't do us any good." She declared.
Xeno was the first to break away, but a few people protested. He was a few paces away, but he still heard her lowered tone, which she only used when she was furious.
"You will all go home. I'm not asking you, I'm telling you." The crowd almost immediately dispersed. No-one wanted to get on her bad side. Dr. Carmazan never shouted, but when she spoke, she was heard.
He just sat in his car for a while, absolutely dumbfounded that anything like that could ever happen.
What would happen now? What would Ms. Pepper say?
He silently prayed that no-one from astronomy had done it.
Of course they hadn't. It was probably just a palaeontologist who thought Steve was tacky and wanted to sabotage the Astronomy department by framing one of them.
He forced himself to drive, to leave the museum car park and get out of the gates. He must have taken more time than he'd initially thought to process everything that had happened because there was very little traffic as he pulled out.
When he got home, Xeno didn't even take his green-stained party clothes off.
He hadn't realised how exhausted the party had made him.
However, when he flopped into bed, he found that he couldn't sleep.
He kept wracking his brain for anyone who would have done something like that.
He kept telling himself that it was irrational, that no-one would ever do something so stupid and risky just to potentially secure their job, but feelings don't care about facts.
Exhausted, he checked his phone, and was surprised to see a text message from Dr. Carmazan telling him they were still on for their mentoring session that Monday.
How was that still on her mind? Defeated, he opened Instagram, only to be immediately met with a post from his family's bakery.
Despite his exterior, he did genuinely miss them, but he didn't know how he could ever go back.
His mind was a storm and thunder struck every time he came up with a new suspect, someone new that could have succumbed to their anxiety about losing their job, someone that was brave (or stupid) enough to try and take the fate of the museum into their own hands.
Hopefully, both he and Dr. Carmazan could turn over a new leaf on Monday. Perhaps all of this speculation would dissolve some of her resentment towards him.