The Intergalactic Adventures of Callisto and Puck

Chapter 3

The next week my schedule returned to normal, and people were only slightly walking on eggshells due to Amalthea's recent birthday. I went to breakfast, had either work or school depending on the day, then went to the cafeteria and ate dinner. It was fairly monotonous but I enjoyed seeing my friends at work and in school every day.

The only thing that had changed was the constant clattering noises that I heard every single night outside my room ever since last week. I never saw anything in the hall when I went to check it out and nobody else had ever woke up from it. When I checked it out in the middle of the day (hoping it was simply a heating problem), everything seemed to be in perfect working order.

This slowly drove me insane. Being the very curious person I was, I finally decided to just check the camera in the hallway to see if I was somehow overdosing on vitamins (yeah that sounded stupid to me too) or if it was just a pair of horny teenagers fucking without me being able to catch them. I wasn't sure which option was more infuriating, but I had to find out.

The day after I decided that I would do this, I remembered that I didn't actually have access to the cameras. The only people who had access to the cameras were the security guards, and sometimes students who were doing a project about human behavior in sociology class. I didn't take that class because it didn't fall under my major and Ben was pissed at me for abandoning him, but apparently the course work is a lot, so I dodged a bullet. Speaking of Ben...

I looked up from the plant I was watering and watched him spill another bag of dirt on the floor while he was trying to repot tomatoes as part of an experiment that Wilman was running (at this point I'm convinced Wilman gives him harder assignments as an excuse to see him mess up, because Ben isn't the most coordinated). I struggled to hold back my laughter in the quiet greenhouse as Ben cursed at me, the bag of dirt, and God. He would make an excellent lookout while I check the cameras, even if he is clumsy.

I will ask him then. After Wilman is done yelling at him for spilling dirt.

--

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?"

"You have a face, you're up to something!"

"No I'm not!"

There was a long pause as Ben stared at me. It was hard to hide my intentions apparently, as he had started questioning me the minute we sat down across from each other in the hallway (the break room was always much too hot, and Wilman always sat in the chair at the far end near the coffee machine).

"What are you planning?" He finally spoke, looking into my eyes as an attempt to intimidate me, probably. It didn't work.

"Well, I have a request-" He groaned before I could even finish my sentence and cut me off.

"What do I have to do this time Cal?"

I glared at him and mumbled, "I don't ask you for help that much."

He raised a single eyebrow at me and I conceded.

"Fine, maybe I do, but this is important." He looked wary, but let me continue.

I explained to him the strange occurrences, my idea, and how I had hoped he would be on lookout. I didn't have much of a plan at the time so we briefly discussed it and decided on some minor details. We were in the hallway so we couldn't talk about it too much, but I told him I would update him over text after our shift ended. Now all that was left was to put everything into motion.

As I had promised, I spent the rest of the shift thinking about how this would work with the least amount of trouble. The best time to do it would be after hours when most people have gone to their quarters to sleep and the only people who might catch us are the patrol officers. The only problem is that the punishment for being caught out of bed is much steeper so we would have to be more careful and quiet than we would during the day. No mistakes.