- And hello again! — I said when I saw our entire team in the control center, — I will not discuss anything and I will immediately tell you why I contacted you again. I need a plane!
— Why? Arskane was surprised.
— How do you think I'm going to get back to Brooklyn?" - I answer sarcastically — - In general, Howard, you have an air transport and it is to that abandoned hangar on the border with the Czech Republic and Austria.
- Hah, I understand you, - he grinned cheerfully,-Something happened? Otherwise, you wouldn't have asked for help, because you can come back much faster yourself.
— You're right there, my friend — "I said," A miracle has happened and now I will return faster by plane. By the way, where is Steve? — just now I noticed his absence.
— Well...-somehow strangely looked in the direction of Sarah Stark.
- Stevie has grown up and is now on a date — - the sister interjected, - Hi, Jimmy.
- Hi, sis.
— Where is he?" — and this is the mother of the child.
- Hmm, well, I hope that they are at least protected — - I replied and disconnected the connection. Now there will be an interrogation and, as I understand it, with the use of violence, but this is for the case. I would also not like it if I found out that my child had a girlfriend one of the last, then... well, I don't know, I would be offended, to put it mildly.
I didn't feel like sleeping, so I decided to start reading. I lay down next to Raven and opened one of the collections in my holoprojector. Just the time I can usefully spend and look after the girl. After a while, she moved closer to me in a dream and grabbed my hand, holding on tightly to that, and also threw her leg over me. To be honest, at that moment the redhead looked so cute that I wanted to leave everything like that.
Thus, I was captured by the tenacious hands of a cute and sleeping girl. Of course, I had to twist a little to make it easier to read and not interfere with her, but these are small things. We lay there until Raven woke up in the morning and, rubbing her eyes, discovered her position, that is, that she was diligently hugging my limb and possessively threw her blue leg over me.
"I... I'm sorry! she jumped back to the edge of the bed.
— Yes, it's okay — - I smile affectionately, — I don't mind, especially since you looked so cute when you were sleeping.
- ...- the red-haired woman did not answer anything and only lowered her head in embarrassment.
- Hah, I embarrassed you, I'm probably sorry, but if you want, we can lie down together for a little longer, — I patted next to myself.
At first, Raven sat motionless in one place for about a minute, and then slowly crawled up to me. I lifted my hand, on which she lay, then hugged her and pressed harder against my side. Touched by this action, I decided not to say anything and just continued reading.
— And what is it? — still, she couldn't stand it and asked, pointing to my holoprojector.
- This, my dear, is the technology of the future — - I replied — - More precisely, alien, but this does not stop being the technology of the future on Earth.
"Uncle James, have you been to another planet?" Raven looked at me admiringly.
- Rather, I got there by accident — - I say with a grin — - Well, as it is, yes, I was on another planet. By the way, I just came back from there yesterday.
— Can you tell us what happened there? - her interest in this even covered all the embarrassment and stiffness.
— I can't tell you everything, because some things are too early for you to know, but I will tell you most of them, — I warned — - So, I'll probably start with the ruler of that planet... - There was no hurry for us, since it would take us five hours to get to the designated place,and the plane would fly here for about two days.
My brief and censored narration in some places ended only after an hour and a half. Well, I didn't think that my life on Skaar could be described in such a short time, although I lived there for a month. But the girl listened to me with delight and sometimes even asked questions. Just like now, when I'm done.
- Uncle James, why did you decide to leave Sakaar?
— Well, besides the fact that I have close people here for whom I am worried, there are still some things that it would not hurt to finish.
— Where's your ship?" — I didn't tell her about the attack — can you show it?
— You see, Ravie, — during the story I called her that once and did not hear any objections, so I continued to call her that, - My spaceship broke down and I had to leave it in the orbit of our planet, and I got to Earth in an escape capsule.
"U-u-u —" she pouted, trying to feign indignation, but she looked so comical that I couldn't help but laugh.
- Hey, don't be offended, — I looked at the girl who turned away with a smile, — Soon I will build another ship and even take you for a ride on it.
"Hmm," Raven continued to sulk.
- Oh! I came up with it! I can show my Candy on the holoprojector. This, of course, is not the same as in reality, but it is almost no different.
- I want to — - after all, she is still a child, so her mood can quickly change if you are interested in something.
I tried, as best I could, to somehow stir up the red-haired woman, to get out of her own shell, into which she had managed to drive herself, and I gradually succeeded. She began to smile sincerely and behave more openly with me. During the entire allotted time before the plane arrived, I managed to get to know Raven well, as well as how she lived before meeting me.
It turned out that the girl's family wanted to leave Austria and move to New York, but a sudden war confused all the cards and they had to stay. Only Raven's parents did not want to put up with this, just a month ago they managed to negotiate with one person who would take them out of the country for a modest sum.
No one expected that their daughter would suddenly transform beyond recognition right before leaving. At first, her parents took it for a prank of a child that did not want to move anywhere, but when they tried to erase the paint, then... it turned out that it was not paint at all and this is now the real color of their child's skin. And, as inopportunely, at this moment a lot of people saw it, among whom some priest got mixed up.
It is not difficult to guess what happened after that. The poor girl was simply driven away, having previously tried to "exorcise the demon". Thus, she wandered for several days until she realized that she could turn into different people, but she learned to control it only a week ago. Of course, I learned all this not from her personally, but from Raven's thoughts, since she no, no, yes, remembered some of this.
Soon the time of our departure came. We went out of the city, and I asked the girl to lie on my back, and also hold on tight, as she might shake. Immediately after she did the agreed actions, I ran, trying to deliver less discomfort to my burden. I can also add that I was charged with electricity to the maximum in the hotel room, which is why my speed was very high.