The Mouse

Other than the incident in the morning, the rest of the day went by pretty smoothly. It was around lunchtime when things take a turn again. Samantha bugged Jean nonstop about Michael and continuously teased her as they were heading for the cafeteria.

"Didn't you say that you didn't like him?" Jean asked. She was confused as to why Samantha suddenly changed her attitude towards Michael.

"Yes I did say that, and I still stand by my opinion," Samantha replied. "I just like messing with you. Though, I am curious about what he is going to give you. Do you think it will be chocolates?"

"This isn't Valentine's. He's probably not going to give me chocolates. I mean, why would he?" asked Jean. Though she didn't know what she was going to receive, at the very least she knew that it would definitely not be sweets.

"Hey Zack, what do you think?" Samantha asked him for his guess of what Jean might receive.

Zack who was playing a game on his phone looked up with a confused look. "Hm?" He took off his headphones and asked, "Sorry, what did you say? I only heard my name being called. I couldn't hear anything else you said."

"Don't you know that it is dangerous to be on your phone while walking at the same time?" tsked Samantha. "You might get hit by a car," she warned him.

"Haw haw, you need to come up with better jokes," said Zack enthusiastically. "Did you just learn about cars in your history class or something?"

"Yep, apparently people used to use them all the time. They looked pretty cool," said Samantha.

"Really? I found it weird for people to even use them. They look so strange and small," Zack pointed out. "And apparently, everyone owned one or something. Can you imagine how wasteful that is? It's a good thing we don't have them anymore."

Jean let out a sigh of relief. They had somehow managed to switch topics and even though they were almost at the cafeteria, Jean could relax for a little bit before they arrived.

"Jean," Samantha suddenly called her.

"What?"

"Did you hear the news the other day about the floater?" she asked her.

"Um, I think I did. Was it the one about an accident?" Jean asked.

"Yeah, it's that one," Zack confirmed for her.

"What about it? And weren't you guys just talking about cars a second ago? Where did you suddenly get floaters from?"

"Aren't floaters just cars in our time?" Samantha asked.

"No, they're not!" Zack argued. "I keep telling you that they're different.

"Are they? I still think they're the same thing," said Samantha. "Not exact, but practically the same thing."

"Well, one flies and the other doesn't, and- actually... ugh, nevermind. I don't want to get into this argument a second time.

"Okay..." Jean said hesitantly. "So what were you going to tell me about regarding the floater accident?"

"That floater was transporting people to the I.C.E. laboratory," said Samantha.

"Okay, and?" Jean motioned her hand for Samantha to continue.

"Doesn't your father work for I.C.E.?"

"He does, but that floater was transporting people in the afternoon. He wasn't on it during that time," Jean pointed out to Samantha. "Also, wasn't this like two weeks ago? Why are you bring it up now?"

"Hm? Didn't you hear yesterday's news?" Zack asked.

"No, I haven't" Jean answered.

"Oh, that explains it," Samantha said.

"What?" Jean asked confusingly. "What happened?"

Samantha turned to Zack and told him, "I think you should be the one that explains this to her since you're better with the tech stuff."

"Alright." Zack dropped his headphones around his neck and put his phone inside his pocket. Jean could still hear music coming. "So... how do I start this?" Zack wondered for a second and then said, "Actually, we're at the cafeteria right now. Let's grab food first and then I'll tell you."

Jean and Samantha looked forward and saw the door to the cafeteria just a meter in front of them. They almost forgot that they were walking there in the first place. The trio went inside and grabbed their lunches and sat at their usual table.

"Okay, I'll start," said Zack as he sat down with his tray. Jean started to peel her banana as she waited for Zack to begin. "You know how floaters have four of those mini gravitational repulsor engines right?"

"Sorry what?" Jean wasn't good with technology so she didn't know what Zack was talking about.

"The four blue bubbles looking things on the bottom of the floater," Zack said in simpler terms so that Jean would know what he was referring to.

"Oh that, um, yes?" Jean replied with uncertainty.

"They are made out of high carbon steel with a mixture of some other alloys to boost its heat tolerance so that they wouldn't melt with how fast the repulsor particles are vibrating." Samantha cleared her throat. Zack paused for a moment and looked at Samantha with a 'What is it?' expression on his face.

"Can you speak in English?" Samantha asked. Zack continued to stare at Samantha for a few more seconds with a blank look on his face before he continued.

"Engines strong. Very tough. Cannot destroy," said Zack. Samantha slapped his back and Zack yelped out in pain.

"Stop messing around," Samantha told Zack.

"Fine fine fine." Zack rubbed the area on his back where Samantha had hit him. "Ouch. So anyway, the engines for the floater are very hard to destroy."

"Mhm," Jean had a mouthful of food and waved her hand for Zack to continue.

"The reason why the floater stopped, uh, floating," Zack made a gesture with his hand to symbolize the floater. "Is because one of the engines melted and the floater lost control."

"Mhm," Jean waved her hand again for Zack to go on.

"In short, that shouldn't have happened. Someone likely tinkered with that engine. Coincidentally, during the time the accident happened, the president of I.C.E. happened to be returning to the laboratory," Zack explained.

"Okay..." Jean wasn't sure where this was going.

"Do you really need me to spell it out for you?" Zack asked.

"What? Is it sabotage?" Jean took a guess. She had a mouthful of food as she was speaking and her words sounded very muffled but Zack understood it.

"Yes, and you don't look or sound very surprised," Zack noted.

"Wait it is!?" Jean almost spit out her food and covered her mouth with her hand to hold it back.

"There's the reaction I was expecting," said Zack.

"That was my reaction too when I heard it for the first time," Samantha added.

Jean quickly swallowed half her food and then washed the rest down with water. After emptying her mouth of food, she asked, "Do they have any proof?" Jean suddenly thought of the explosion that happened the other day and how her dad told her that they had suspicions that someone was behind that. Maybe it was caused by the same person or group.

"Yeah, that was what the news was talking about yesterday," said Zack.

"What did they say?" Jean asked with sudden peaking interest.

"They found that someone had tampered with some of the machines in the laboratory and made them so that they would break down after a set time," Zack lazily explained. Jean noticed that Zack still sounded very tired but it was an improvement compared to this morning. There was an increase in his energy, even if it is just by a tiny bit.

"Did they find who it was?" Jean asked.

"No."

"I see," Jean slowly picked up the rest of her sandwich and continued eating.

"Speaking of searching for someone," Samantha butted in, "I don't see that boy yesterday. What do you think happened to him." She pointed to the other table where he had sat yesterday. Zack didn't bother turning around and started on his food while Jean took a glance at the table. It was the same group as yesterday, but there was one small difference and it was that Michael was missing.

"You don't think that he was the one that was being chased this morning, do you?" Samantha asked Jean. "I didn't exactly get a clear look this morning but I could've sworn that the person who ran by look familiar."

Jean thought for a moment before responding. "I... I think that it actually might be him that we saw this morning." Jean thought back to the morning and remembered that she saw the hair of the person that ran by and oddly remembered seeing someone with it before. It wasn't until Samantha brought that idea up now that she recalled whose hair that was.

"Huh, so what do you think he's in trouble for?" Samantha asked.

"I don't know," Jean said as she got up from her seat.

"Where are you going?" Samantha asked. "Are you going to ask them about it?" Samantha pointed to the table of people whom Michael was sitting with yesterday.

"No, I'm going to go use the bathroom," Jean told her. She had been holding it in all morning and really needed to go. She made her way outside the cafeteria and went into the restroom which was right next to the entrance. A minute later, she came back out only to get grabbed by someone.

"Hey there cutie, hide me for a sec will ya?"

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