Good News And Secrets...

Hey Everyone!! :-)

Here's a little bit more of the third installment in the Petri Dish Chronicles! As always, the disclaimer is that this is a draft and, as such, it's unedited and likely full of errors and is subject to revision, revamping, and being completely scrapped and rewritten. But, with that in mind, I'm reasonably satisfied with the basics of it, at least at the moment, or I wouldn't have bothered posting it. Enjoy! :-)

Excerpt from the third Petri Dish book:
“Chess?”

“I smell cinnamon!” Came the excited reply from one of the back rooms. “Were you a good friend? Did you stop and get me breakfast?”

“Oh, I don’t know. It's possible. Have you eaten yet?"

Chessie’s red and purple-topped head appeared from around the doorframe of her bedroom. Petri’s friend had been experimenting with different hairstyles and colors, and most recently the looks she had been choosing tended towards short, spiky, brightly colored hair. “Nope, just got out of the shower. Be with you in a sec."

Chessie’s face popped back out of sight and Petri put the cinnamon buns on the counter that separated the living room from the kitchen.

“Did you and Wema have a good night?” Chessie had emerged, dressed, from her room and was fluffing her short hair with a towel. She and Wema had met at a club, and the older woman strongly approved of Petri's new friend.

“We did, thanks.” Petri smiled. "How about you?"

Chessie grinned. "I was able to finally track down Nicky. He wasn’t plugged in, but at least I know where to look for him now.”

“That’s awesome! How did you figure out how to make the leap between interstellar rainbows?”

“I’m not sure, really. I ended up following a line that led to another line that led to another, and eventually I was back to Upworld’s rainbow. It was pure luck, honestly. I almost suspect that Nax has been leaving breadcrumb trails for me, but if he knows where we are then I don’t know why he hasn’t just contacted me. I thought we’d left on pretty good terms”

Petri reached over to run her hand up her friend’s suddenly hunched shoulders. “Maybe he’s afraid to contact you because he’s not sure you’re in a place where it’s safe to have a connection back to there. Or maybe he doesn’t know where we are, and you’ve just got mad skills and figured it out for yourself.”

Chessie reached up and squeezed Petri’s hand affectionately. “I do have ‘mad skills’, hun, and don’t you ever forget it.” Her grin was infectious and Petri returned it. “But Nicky is still better.”

Shrugging, Petri reached over to open the box of cinnamon buns and offer it to her friend. “There’s always someone better,” she observed, licking the frosting that had transferred from the edges of the box to her fingers. “You didn’t run into Vlad, did you?”

“No. No sign of The Impaler, fortunately,” said Chessie. She bit into a warm, gooey bun and closed her eyes in pleasure. Opening them again, she looked at Petri. “But there is a message from Sadaka. I waited to play it so that we could watch it together.”

Petri’s grin that had started when she saw her friend enjoying her favorite treat expanded. “I was wondering when we’d hear from the little monkey again! Let’s watch it now.”

Chessie nodded and moved to the communications console, licking her fingers clean as she went. Flicking it on, she didn’t bother to connect with taps and just touched a couple of buttons on the screen until their young charge’s face appeared. Petri moved to stand next to the older woman, and Chessie started the message.

“Hey Petri and Chessie!" squealed Sadaka, her sweet face lighting up the room even from just a recording. “The school will be contacting you soon because I’ve been awarded a place in their advanced program, but I wanted to tell you myself first.” She broke off to do a little dance of glee over her good news. “Anyway, I don't want to take up too much of my com time, they limit what they allow students for personal calls because they want us to focus on our studies, and I’d rather use it to talk to you live. But I just wanted to let you know I’ll be advancing three grade levels and enrolling in an internship with one of the school’s top geneticists! Can't wait to talk to you guys again! Bye." Her bright smile faded to a black screen, and Petri and Chessie whooped and high-fived each other.

“I knew she was smart!” Petri crowed.

Chessie put an arm around her friend and hugged her. “And I agreed with you, hun. That's why I thought she should go to that school, even though it means she can't live with us fulltime. But it’s the best school on the planet when it comes to STEM subjects, and she has been mad to learn more about genetics ever since she found out what you are. It’s the perfect place for her to figure out what kind of work she wants to do and learn how to do it.”

Petri nodded. “Yeah, you're right. And she’s also smart enough to know how important it is to keep that secret.”

Chessie squeezed Petri closer and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “Of course she is. And you know she will.”