Douglas E Richards [The Prome Stranded (epub)

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.It was −273° Celsius or −460° Fahrenheit, a temperature at which even the microscopic movements of molecules virtually stopped, frozen in place.“Absolute zero?” repeated Ryan, as if stalling for time.“That’s right,” said Mr.McPherson.Ryan shrugged stupidly and gritted his teeth.“Uh … my chance of getting an A in participation this week,” he said with just a hint of a smile.The class erupted in laughter yet again, the exact reaction for which Ryan had been hoping.“No,” said Mr.McPherson seriously.“That’s absolutely zero, not absolute zero.But you’re not wrong about your participation grade, that’s for sure.”The grim-faced chemistry teacher moved away from Ryan and called on another member of the class.Ryan could have easily given a dazzling answer that would have blown Mr.McPherson away, but more and more lately the existence of a certain girl was affecting his every behavior.He had just turned fifteen and was in his first year of high school.As much as he loved being a part of the Prometheus Project, it was a curse socially.In San Diego he had had numerous close friends.He had played soccer and baseball, and kept up with the latest video games.But now that he spent almost every weekend in Prometheus, he had been forced to give up on these other activities.He was generally well liked and there were a lot of kids he was friendly with at school, but close friends did things together outside of school, and he just didn’t have the time for that.Without close friends or any outside activities he could talk about, he knew that if he showed off his scientific knowledge too much the other students would classify him as a single-minded nerd, whose only interest was studying.He had never cared about this before, but then again, he had never met the girl of his dreams before, either.Next week he was determined to ask her on a date, so it wasn’t such a bad idea to practice being a little more normal, even though his secret life made him anything but.“Ryan, are you there?” came a telepathic broadcast from his sister.Okay, thought Ryan, shaking his head, maybe his secret life on the Prometheus team wasn’t the only thing that made him different.He should probably count the whole, telepathy with his sister thing also.He was confident the first few dates with a girl would be okay, but he wondered how long he could keep almost everything about his life hidden before a girl decided he was about as normal as a two-foot elf with a foot growing out of its forehead.“Yeah,” Ryan broadcast back.“What’s up?”Ryan and Regan’s telepathy stemmed from their interactions with Prometheus’s super-advanced central computer, which they had activated during their first adventure within the city.Since they had been inside an alien schoolhouse at the time, the computer had introduced itself simply as the Teacher.It had connected with them telepathically, and afterwards they found they could communicate with each other in the same way! Over a range of about fifteen miles.Since this ability was due to their interactions with the Teacher, and they had promised to keep its identity secret, they had decided to keep their telepathy secret as well.“My teacher just told me that Mom called the front office.She’s pulling us out early.She’ll be here soon and wants us to meet her at the front desk.”“Any idea why?” asked Ryan as he absently closed his book and began loading up his tan backpack.“No,” answered his sister.“But who cares? As long as we get to start the weekend early.”Ryan was about to reply when he realized the mistake he had made.But it was too late.Mr.McPherson’s beady eyes had already locked onto his fully loaded backpack like two laser-guided missiles.Ryan groaned.How could he be so stupid?“Going somewhere, Ryan?” snapped Mr.McPherson.Ryan decided in a flash his best strategy was to pretend he had no idea what his teacher was talking about.He put a bewildered look on his face and pointed at his own chest as if to say, “Who, me?” when the phone on Mr.McPherson’s desk began to ring.The tall chemistry teacher put the receiver to his ear, listened for a short time, and then returned it to its cradle.Mr.McPherson stared at Ryan long and hard, and then shook his head in disapproval.“That was the office asking me to excuse you from class,” he told Ryan.“Which you obviously expected,” he added, gesturing toward Ryan’s fully loaded backpack in disgust while thirty-two thoroughly entertained students looked on in fascination.“Next time, Mr.Resnick, if you know you’ll be leaving my class early, I expect you to tell me about it before we start.Is that understood?”Ryan stood up and hoisted his backpack to his shoulder.“Absolutely,” he said as he exited the class.“It won’t happen again.”He may have recently decided he didn’t want his classmates to see him as nothing but a science nerd, but being seen as a troublemaker wasn’t exactly what he had in mind either.As Ryan thought about this he began to laugh at himself.He was taking things far too seriously.It was only school after all.He would find a way to get it right.Ryan made his way through the hall toward the front office to await his mother’s arrival, his mood improving with every step.He had no idea what was in store for him the rest of the day, but he was sure it couldn’t be any worse than his morning had been.CHAPTER 2Leaving SchoolThe large, old-fashioned circular clock on the wall of the school’s front offices read 10:42 as Ryan signed himself out of school.When he finished, he handed the pen to Regan who was standing beside him [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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