Chapter 9- The Show Must Go On

Gail's Point Of View;

The research I was doing on the Professor wasn't easy. I saw pictures of him and he was a very mature and aged man who sported his silver hair with pride. He never smiled in any of his photos. I guessed he was one of those strict and stuffy Professors. His hairline was slightly thinning but the rest of it layed down neatly. His blue eyes though a little faded and hidden behind large squared spectacles. I expected that would probably be the most interesting thing about him. Other than his professional career there was practically nothing. He was either wearing a suit when collecting an award or a lab coat. As I continued to search through for his socials I actually found something I didn't expect to see of the Professor. But I was also hearing the conversation between Presley and Homer. They were looking through the clips from earlier that day after the morning class during the lunch hour.

Presley: So what do you see Homer?

Homer: Well it's Professor Smith checking the machine out after we all left the morning class. He's doing all the basics and, wait... That's weird

Presley: What's weird?

Homer: Well it's just that it's strange. I mean why he would take out that specific component of the machine in the first place to just hold it for a few seconds and then put it back? That part works like a microchip that stores the engine's information about what it's supposed to do.

I didn't look up from my monitor as I was reading through his social media feed and but I still said, "Maybe he took it out by mistake or had a lapse in memory. He looks old enough for that."

Presley then started to come over to me as he said, "Hmm maybe, continue watching Homer. Did you find anything, Gail?"

"The guy is a social media ghost, he has a Facebook account that he never posts anything on. The only information on it is his date of birth, city, and profession. So I googled him along with his profession. And apparently, he worked with some of the top aerospace engineers before he decided to come here to the university 5 years ago." I exhaled in exhaustion at the end then looked in his direction.

Homer also came over to us and gave back Presley his phone, "That's true, he told us that in the first year of our class. By the way Presley, he left the classroom in the footage."

Presley put his phone away in his pocket and answered Homer before shifting his attention to me saying, "That's OK, anything else you found Gail?"

I pointed back at the monitor screen so he would see what I was now doing as I explained, "Well I decided to search for his friends on Facebook all of whom are only his family members. Some of them post too much and others like him don't post at all. All I managed to find about him on their pages were short video clips. Mostly his niece posted them and there about him doing some magician tricks at talent shows that he won. He's pretty good and it kept my interest all the way up to the end."

Presley then snapped his finger and exclaimed, "That's it!"

It seemed like a lightbulb went off in his head. But Homer voiced what I was thinking when he asked, "What's it?"

Presley started pacing up and down and muttering to himself. I think I heard him say something like, "It's so obvious and why didn't I see it before?"

He wasn't talking to us and I doubted that he even heard what Homer had asked him. But it turned out that I was wrong and he did hear Homer's question as he answered while looking over at us, "I'll tell you on the way; Gail make copies of the footage Homer called weird. Use my phone to send it but you will have to do it on the way."

"On the way to where?" was the question that I blurted out to him as I caught his phone, which he tossed to me. He was already heading out the door to leave the classroom when he stopped and looked back to say, "The Theater Arts section of the school."

Homer started to walk towards him and say with concern evident in his voice, "That's really far dude, sure you can make it in your condition?"

Presley looked down at his hands and placed one of them near his ribcage. Then he looked back up at us and said, "The bandages aren't on my feet, so let's get going while there is still time."

I've got to give Presley credit. When he puts his mind to something, he lets nothing stand in his way. Homer and I followed him outside of the classroom and started to take the route to the Theatre Arts room. It was on the very far side of the school just like my foreign literature class. As long as it's not science they really put it out of the way. Thankfully Homer and I lead the way because Presley hadn't the foggiest idea of where he was going. Even though the map was on his phone it seemed like he couldn't read it.

When we reached the Theatre Arts building we entered it. I had seen the building on my way to class but this was my first time coming in. It was brightly lit but hardly anyone was in it except for at least four students. It had circular rows of velvet-covered seats and a stage stood in the middle. This was probably done so that no matter where you sat you could see the stage perfectly. But what if the actors were standing still on it? Wouldn't that have been a disadvantage? We were still at the back high row looking slightly down at the stage when the lights went dim and only showed onstage. It seemed like a rehearsal of some sort was beginning. Then we saw Professor Smith who was dressed as a magician appeared and began his performance.

Though he wore the suit, he seemed at peace. I realized that although the pictures I saw online, he never smiled. But doing this he seemed like he was beaming with joy.

The stage started to move around slowly in an anti-clockwise position. So that was how it worked, it was a revolving stage. I sure hope no one in this class has motion sickness. We all taught it best to sit and watch for the time being. He was really good like in his videos. Not what I'd expect from a scientist but to each his own. But maybe being a scientist made his act better since his illusions were expertly calculated. He didn't speak in his act but that didn't make it any less entertaining. He went along to the time with the music as he made coins and other such objects reappear and disappear. His manipulation act lasted 12 minutes and by that time the footage Presley asked me to copy had finished.

We all applauded at his performance's end since he deserved one. For just a rehearsal he looked like he was ready to have his own show. Because we were the only ones here that did that he heard our applause. The high ceilings must have also amplified it. When he heard, he signaled us to come down closer to the stage by inwardly waving his arm. The stage had stopped No doubt he noticed Presley's bandages as well. It was hard to miss but I wonder why Presley wanted us to come here. Did he know the Professor was doing a show? When we got to the stage it stopped revolving and we were able to step onto it. Homer got there first and I walked behind Presley. As we approached Professor Smith I noticed how frail the was compared to Homer. He was the same height as Presley and me.

The Professor then said, "Well well, I didn't know my science students were into the theater. By the way, Presley are you OK? I heard you were the student standing closest to the machine."

Presley replied as he momentarily held up one of his bandages arms, "You heard right and I got the bandages to prove it but it isn't anything I couldn't handle. But we're here to see you, Professor."

"OK well, what can I help you all with? I'm sure the Dean would let you have a few days off considering what happened." Professor Smith raised an eyebrow and asked.

Homer then spoke up to say, "No it's not that, you see, someone rigged the machine to explode like that Sir; so it wasn't my fault."

"Yes sir, he's innocent but we just don't know whose responsible yet." I broke into the conversation to add to what Homer had said.

"That's not true, I have a pretty good idea of who it was. Once you know how they did it, it's quite simple. Isn't that right Professor Smith?" Presley replied to me but he wasn't looking at me. Instead, his focus was on the Professor.

Professor Smith understandably became defensive. Was Presley implying what I think he was? That took guts but was it wise to do that so boldly? The Professor's voice raised slightly and I felt the tension levels rise from 0 to 100 as he said, "You dare accuse me of jeopardizing my own students' project and putting my entire class in harm's way!"

"Well, that wasn't your intention, more like an uncalculated outcome." I saw Presley flinch at the man's angry outburst but his voice stayed steady in his reply.

"Wait, how do you know it's him?" Homer broke the tension a little with that question.

Presley took a step back and face the aisles of empty seats offstage as he said, "The person had to of known precisely what they were doing since it was almost impossible to find out what went wrong. Only an expert with resources could have designed an exact replica of the original component with instructions to self-destruct in a way that looks like an accident."

Homer heard what Presley said but didn't seem to believe it at first. "Is- is that true?" He looked at the Professor and stuttered as he asked.

Processor Smith seemed too stunned to talk. "I- I of course not! He has no proof that I did that." was all he managed to say,

"Well, no physical proof but we all just watched your magic act proving that your hands are quicker than the eyes. Gail, can you show him the clip I asked you to copy?" Presley whose gaze was still on the aisles shifted toward me at that point.

I had copied it to my tablet so I showed Professor Smith the footage. Presley was able to see it also and when we got to the part that Homer called weird told me to slow it down. As I did that he also said to make sure and zoom in on the Professor's hands. It was then we all noticed his quick hand gestures when he was holding the component of the machine. He did replace the microchip with another. How did I miss that before? I glanced over to Homer and I could see the anger building in him. I wasn't letting him get to smash my tablet. He then turned away from the screen and Practically shouted at the Professor, "How could you Professor?! I looked up to you! I trusted you!"

Professor Smith seemed like he was so kerfuffle that all he could say was, "I- I never wanted anyone to get hurt or y- you to be involved. It wasn't supposed to end this way, I swear!"

"Then why would you do such a horrible thing and take such a risk?" I said in response to his weak excuse,

The Professor sunk his head down as if he were ashamed to answer when I asked that. But that only made Homer angrier. He demanded an answer but the professor seemed too distressed to talk. I had a feeling that if someone didn't say something and diffuse the situation Homer might throw the professor off the stage. As I was going to try to calm Homer down Presley spoke first, "Calm down Homer, you already figured out why he did it."

That seemed to do the trick as his attention shifted to Presley, "What- I did? How?" He asked.

Presley wasn't standing too close to Homer and neither was I as I grasped onto my tablet tightly. "Yeah, remember you said that if anyone knew you blew up a class and a student got hurt, your career as an aerospace scientist would be over since no one would hire you." I saw Presley's gaze was aimed at the Professor as he spoke.

Oh no, that seemed to tick Hommer off even more and he literally shook with rage. "You snake! How could you sabotage me like that?! What have I ever done to you?!"

Presley saw Homer power walking towards the now speechless frail man and shouted, "Wait! Let me finish! He wasn't trying to sabotage you. He was trying to sabotage himself."

I exhaled in relief when he stopped when Presley told him that. A flashback of what he did to the computer in the lab came back to mind. If he did that to a person, he'd get himself into serious trouble for sure. Homer turned to face Presley and asked, "But that doesn't make any sense, why would he do that?"

I had to admit, it was a far-out-there idea. But Presley went on to explain, "Gail, you researched him; you know he has worked with most of the famous men and women in aerospace engineering. Once you have that much experience in his field that you're clearly good at, it would be hard to get out of, right?"

I wasn't expecting him to ask me that but I had to agree with him. "Yeah, it would be but why would he want to get out of a field he's that good at?"

Presley gave me a small smile and said, "It's simple, he has a different passion in life and doesn't want to let others know his real reason for resigning. If he had gotten blamed for the accident people would assume that was his reason; Right Professor Smith?"

"You're an intelligent young man Presley." Professor Smith had finally revived from his silent coma. He adjusted his glasses and then he took his magician's hat off his head and started fiddling with it in his hands as he continued, "OK here's what happened; I ended up running late for class because I got caught up here in the theatre. The class was supposed to wait for me but that didn't happen. It was never my intention for Homer to get caught up in this. But by the time I made it, he'd already turned on the device and it exploded. Before I knew it they were already blaming him for the incident and you got hurt. Since I didn't have any proof of otherwise I just didn't say or do anything."

"But why didn't you just resign Sir, why all that planning?" The professor put back on his hat and then faced us when I asked him that.

"Fear makes us do crazy things no matter in what form it takes. In my family, we all study science and strive to be successful. If you're not then you might as well be dead to them. I have always wanted to be a magician. Since the clips, my niece posted online with me doing my act. I was offered a job to be a full-time magician and I just could not pass it up. I'm glad you found me out though. There is a lesson in this for me and it shows that it's never too late to do the right thing. Homer I'm going to tell the Dean what I did and get your name cleared. Again I am truly sorry to you." Professor Smith replied.

I looked over at Homer and he didn't seem angry anymore. Instead, I saw remorse evident in him and he went over to the professor in a calm manner this time. "Wait, we can both go and explain this to the Dean. What you did was dangerous but I guess I shouldn't have played teacher and started ahead of you when you weren't there. You would have known what to do."

Homer placed his arm on Professor Smith's shoulder the same way I saw Presly do to him earlier. Then the older man smiled and said, "Sometimes we all learn things the hard way."

The tension levels seem to go back to normal and the 4 students who were present started to applaud. That made us lookout toward them in the audience. A boy even said, "That was a great performance, Sir. Your acting is getting better."

"You had the perfect supporting cast. But sadly I don't think we have time on the program to include it in our end-of-term shows. But we're always looking for new members," followed the voice of a girl who I recognized as Kervani from yesterday.

That made all of us laugh a bit but weren't going to tell them what they saw was real. Instead, we awkwardly bowed and came off the stage.