Tremorton stories: my life as a regular student - CJ9 (2024)

Chapter 1: That Day

Chapter Text

The day did not portend anything unusual, the streets of Tremorton were filled with passers-by hurrying on business. Classes ended at school and after the bell that announced the neighborhood from the temple of knowledge, a crowd of students poured out rejoicing at freedom and the opportunity to have fun. Sheldon was among them. After saying goodbye to his school friends Brad and Jenny, he also walked home, as always immersed in his thoughts. He was thinking about his next scientific project. When he got home and had a short snack, he left it again and went to the city center to buy himself chips and transistors at an electronics store. The city center was teeming with different people. On the street near the clothing store, which he passed, thinking about buying, there was a group of five girls from his school and chatted about something among themselves, sometimes laughing. Sheldon ignored them and walked on. Already approaching the supermarket, he heard sharp unpleasant sounds, and turning around, saw a group of three evil-looking robots landing in the middle of the street, smoking rocket engines. They were partially painted purple, the barrel—shaped body on short but sturdy legs was crowned by a rounded head like a hinged bearing with a narrow strip of burning red single mono-eyed sensor scanning the surroundings. The claw-like hands of the aliens bristled with three fingers to the sides.
— Well, an ordinary Tremorton day, monsters or robots attacking the city, — Sheldon grumbled, immediately realizing what was going on.
As if on command, the three robots dispersed in different directions.
— Tremble before the Alphatrons, lower organic life forms, — a rasping, rough voice like a broken receiver was heard, which was immediately drowned out by the screams of frightened passers-by who fled where.
Sheldon ducked around the corner of the building and watched, waiting for Jenny's arrival, while robots about five meters tall rampaged, they demolished traffic lights with a flourish, overturned parked cars and chased passers-by. One of the attackers quickly moved towards the group of girls who were frozen in a daze. Screaming, the schoolgirls scattered, but one of them, finding herself in the middle of the group, did not immediately orient herself, she darted left and right, unable to cope with fright, and was captured by a hostile robot, she was just unlucky. Carefully watching what was happening from the sidelines, Sheldon waited for the familiar sound of rocket engines to be heard and Jenny Wakeman, the heroine of the city and its object of admiration, would appear and end the evil robots that encroached on the peace of citizens. But she still wasn't there.
Sheldon began to get nervous, squeezing his palm and helplessly watching what was happening.
In the enemy's claw was a girl from his class, medium height brunette with two long ponytails. She writhed, trying to break free, pounding her fist on the fur claws that encircled her fingers, but the grip was too tight. The purple giant lifted the man to head level and scanned him with a beam coming from the sensor.
— Let me go, you disgusting tin can! — the girl exclaimed. — I demand to respect my… um, human and civil rights!
She was answered by a harsh, metallic, mechanical laugh.
— Stupid lower organic life form, you have no right to demand anything from Alphatron. An organic life form has one right: to be a slave to a higher life form, the Alphatron robots, and the Alphatrons have the legal right to dispose of you as they please. The Alphatrons will rule this planet and the organic life forms will be their slaves and will entertain the Alphatrons with battles among themselves for the amusement of the Alphatrons. But this generous privilege will go only to those forms of weak organic life that are at least good for something. And you are such a weak organic being that you are not even suitable for arena battles.
— Well, if I'm not right for you, then maybe you'll let me go? — the captive forced a nervous smile.
— Dumb bag of meat. You will be used as a resource to produce food for stronger organic life forms that are at least good for something.
Having dryly given this out, the robot opened its belly, from which a frightening device of three large three-leaf blades of a hooked shape, framed by a cover similar to a diamond-shaped tripod, connected to a pipe going inside the robot, extended.
— You will go to mince meat for a direwolf on the planet Alpha, the only thing such weak organic life forms are good for, the villain announced the verdict — he needs to eat better for fighting in the arena with other organic life forms.
The blades, glittering with a deathly sheen, shifted with an intimidating sound and spun inside the tripod, which also served as a container. One look at it was enough to make the captive girl horrified.
— You have no right to this, this is a violation of my legitimate human rights... but let's wait for one of my familiar robots, he will settle our contradictions, eh? — the girl exclaimed the schoolgirl faltered, trembling like an aspen leaf in the wind, trying to laugh it off, but actually tried to stall for time.
— Now I'm going to show you your rights, you useless bag of meat!
A creepy triplet of blades began to move towards her along the retractable crossbar.
— Oh no, no, NOOOOOO! — A scream escaped from the young girl's lips and she struggled, convulsively and vainly trying to escape.
— Where is Jenny? — watching this, said Sheldon, he felt helpless to do anything.
The unbearable, heart-rending scream sounded stronger and more desperate.
— Someone, help me!
Sheldon Lee nervously peered into the sky, expecting that Jenny was about to show up, but she seemed to have disappeared.
— SOMEONE SAVE ME! — there was no longer a scream, but like a desperate scream, like a terrified doomed beast in the midst of a raging forest fire, unbearably pressing on Sheldon and other hidden people with a multi-ton anvil.
Seeing the indecision of others, Sheldon could not stand it, he could no longer remain the same indifferent and frantically thought about what to do while Jenny Wakeman was gone, when he felt a weighty object in his pocket and quickly fumbled, pulled out a one-handed light blaster, slightly larger than a revolver, which he had left since the days when his He managed to be recruited by a secret government organization that captured Tremorton's peaceful robots. He carried it with him in case there was any attack by aliens or other enemies, and he would have to defend himself on his own, and also, if necessary, to scare off robbers, it would not even require the use of one type of blaster would be enough to cool their ardor.
— If Jenny's not here, I'll have to replace her!
Frowning, Sheldon resolutely came around the corner and rushed forward, flipping the safety switch. He was not sure of success, but he preferred to try to do something. The blades were already a few dozen centimeters from the head of the captured girl. Definitely, this scoundrel liked to enjoy the fear of helpless victims and forced them to watch as murderous knives slowly moved towards them. The victim no longer tried to kick, but simply squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her teeth, waiting for her fate, hoping that it would end quickly. Without hesitation, Sheldon coolly aimed at the joint of the retractable appendage protruding from the robot's chest, which seemed to him to be a weak point, and moving the power slider to maximum, fired. The whirring of the motor and the clanking of the blades were drowned out by another sound, a sharp piercing discharge of a crackling plasma charge and forced the dark-haired girl to open her eyes and see its source. She saw a student from her class standing downstairs, holding a gun. Sheldon gave a second shot and under the roar of a blaster shot, the staggered metal appendage fell off to the side and part of it bearing the installation of blades fell off, collapsing to the ground. The skills acquired during training at the special department did not disappoint. Shifting the laser sight to the robot's arm, Sheldon fired at the joint, which turned out to be a weak point: from the first hit of the claw, the arm tilted slightly down, and after the second, a deep hole gaping with wires appeared in it and the hand dropped, opening the fingers. The girl slipped out and flew down from a height of two meters, but Sheldon was ready, lunging forward, throwing away the blaster at the same time, he caught her, amazed and numb, in his arms and put her on the pavement of concrete slabs. It seems that his classmate was still shackled by fear, she stood motionless, looking at Sheldon, her mouth slightly open in amazement and gratitude. But the scoundrel's left limb was functional. Removing the blades that had become useless, he swung it and struck at the people. Sheldon was alert: he grabbed the girl in his arms and jumped away. The robot's strike missed and crushed the concrete slab of the pedestrian sidewalk. Sheldon realized that he was unarmed: his blaster was crushed along with slab.
— Now you're going to regret that you dared to interfere with Alphatrons! — robot thundered threateningly.
— Don't touch them! Who is terrorizing the civilians here?! — a familiar clear girlish voice rang out.Above, a pearl-white robot girl hung on rocket engines, ready for battle.
— Not on my shift, you trash can!
The intruder now turned his attention to her, seeing a more dangerous opponent.
— Jenny, you're finally on time! exclaimed Sheldon, quickly getting to his feet. — Where have you been?
— Get the civilians out of here quickly, I'll clean up this garbage here.
Her friend nodded and took a classmate by the hand, briefly said, — "let's go," and quickly took the girl away. There they stopped and watched a short but fierce battle between Jenny and the evil robots. They immediately dropped the passers who were grabbed by the scruff of the neck and turned their attention to Jenny. They surrounded the robot and tried to firelasers at her from spherical turrets protruding from the top of her head, lunged with three-fingered claws, but the seasoned fighter masterfully dodged, and with a couple of blows destroyed the enemies one by one. The last of the three purple robots blocked a pair of Jenny's punches, but his fate was sealed anyway. He fired a burst from a laser turret almost at point-blank range, but Jenny was too nimble and the charge flew instead towards Sheldon and the girl he saved.
— Get down!
The excellent student noticed this, grabbed the girl by the shoulders and crouched down with her, just in time: a short burst of laser shots whistled over them, flying just where their chests had been a second earlier, and plunging into the building, showered those lying on the ground with fine concrete crumbs from the shattered foundation, leaving in it deep smoking potholes. Sheldon and his classmate raised their heads, and saw that the last enemy was already lying in a pile of smoking debris.
— Alphatrons? Ha, now it's just "scrapmetalons"! — Jenny concluded triumphantly, to the applause and applause of the Tremorton residents, to whom she did not fail to bow.
— Are you okay? — after making sure that it was safe now, Sheldon turned to a dark-haired girl with pigtails and straight bangs. Just recovering from the shock, she looked at him gratefully, shocked, without taking her eyes off him, tears glistened in her eyes.
— Thank you, you saved me, — she stammered and the girl rushed to him, closing the savior in her arms.
Sheldon stood confused and looked at the girl clinging to him, who, closing her eyes, put her head on his chest.
— Uh, of course, please... no problem, — replied he, patting her on the shoulder.
— If it wasn't for you...
— Yes, I don't even want to think about what would have happened if I hadn't intervened, — the guy replied, sighing with relief. — It's about the same as what happened to Darth Moloch in the fifth episode of Moon Wars. And then, in the twelfth episode, he was resurrected, it was the stupidest plot move I've ever seen.
Finally, the dark-haired girl released Sheldon from her embrace and leaned back against the wall, breathing heavily and holding her hand on her forehead.
— I'm sorry, but I'm not into Moon Wars, but I can say with confidence that no one would have resurrected me if you hadn't been there.
— If you want, I can give you the Moon Wars comics to read, I've collected all their issues, and then we'll discuss it.
After enjoying the ovation, Jenny landed next to him.
— Everything is cleared, they landed in several places of the city at once, I could not immediately arrive to deal with them. No one was hurt?
Sheldon looked behind the brunette who had closed her eyes and was restoring the rhythm of breathing.
— Fortunately, no one…. except maybe a little psychologically. Except for my blaster, which was crushed. What kind of robots are these? Are they connected to the Cluster leaders in exile?
— I don't know that yet. Okay, I'll fly to check the outskirts.
— Yeah, see you later, Jenny, — the young engineer waved after the steel heroine and turned to the rescued girl.
— Shall I take you... uh... Sandra? — suggested Sheldon, seeing that the classmate had not yet completely calmed down and now remembered her name. — Although you're not hurt, you still seem to need help.
She looked up at him and looked at him carefully.
— Yes, I will not refuse, — the student exhaled, still recovering from shock, — that's how I had a walk to the shopping center, I will never forget.
They walked slowly to her house, occasionally talking.
— Yes, Sheldon, if it wasn't for you... then I would have lost my life, Jenny definitely wouldn't have had time to arrive because these vile cans were popping up all over the city, thank you, I owe you my life.
— Well, this is the third time you've said it, I get it, the fellow traveler grinned.
— The last time I got into such a mess was when a slime monster appeared at school, which captured half of the students before it was frozen. But then it wasn't as scary as it is today, being inside him seemed like a minor nuisance, — Sandra clearly needed to talk herself out to relieve tension after the experience. — But we didn't talk much at school, did we? We've been studying together for so many years, it's even annoying somehow — shrugging her elegant shoulders, girl sighed, casting a regretful glance at the interlocutor.
— I'm not popular at school at all, I can easily be overlooked.
— Skillfully handled the weapon, you successfully had it at hand, — girl looked at him with respect and gratitude.
— Oh, it's nothing, the secret agency trained me to shoot straight when I was recruited there. That's another thing, I could have assembled a more powerful blaster myself, which I would have put those bastards on the spot, only it would have been bigger in size, you can't carry it in your pocket.
— In a secret agency? Wow. Did you imagine that something like this would happen someday? the smart girl guessed and looked seriously at Sheldon walking next to her.
— Well, to tell you the truth, yes. I theoretically calculated that events could happen when Jenny was not around and I would have to save my skin from some monster, or mutant, or cyborg—zombie myself, so I modified a hand-held blaster that had remained since serving in the secret department of the government, raised its power and without it I went outside I didn't go out, Tremorton has become a dangerous place because of these alien attacks.
— And you are smart and far —sighted, and even served in an ultra-secret organization, — the girl noticed, looking at him with interest. — It saved my life today. To tell the truth, I used to find it funny when someone attacks Tremorton or our school again, and Jenny starts fighting him, because she always wins, and there's nothing to be afraid of. Especially when classes were canceled because of this, there is a free spectacle and early completion of classes and more free time. It all seemed funny, and now that I'm in the middle of it, I hope I'll never be so close to fighting aliens or robots again. It's very dangerous and terrifyingly scary, unless you're some kind of mighty super robot.
A shadow of fear crossed Sandra's face, and she shivered, thinking.
— Nothing, I hope, uh... I'm sure that next time Jenny won't allow this, — classmate hurried to reassure her, realizing that the girl was already alarmed by what had happened.
— I would like to believe. But I don't think it's about Jenny. If the attack happened in several places at once, it is very difficult for her to get everywhere. She can't split up, can she?
They were approaching the street where Sandra's house was located among cozy groves and manicured lawns when they were hailed. Turning around, they saw a beautiful red-haired girl running up to them.
— Sandra, are you okay? — a schoolgirl, slightly taller than herself, asked with concern in a pleasant voice.
It was Kiki, her friend, a sweet but timid girl.
— Did you hear that? These monstrous robots filled half the city, it's good that Jenny arrived in time. That iron scoundrel grabbed you, and we were so scared that everyone ran away and only then remembered about you, and only hoped for our superhero Jenny.
— Yes, I'm fine, thanks to Sheldon. Half the city is an exaggeration, of course, it's good that he saved me, otherwise these freaks wanted to make dog food out of me for their gladiatorial animals. Sheldon, as it turned out, is a brave guy, even if he is a nerd. Jenny didn't have time, but you should have seen how quickly it worked, then I'll tell you everything in more detail.
— Whoever saved you, but I'm glad to see you alive, — Kiki smiled softly and patted Sandra by the sleeve of her sweater, left, saying finally: — You're good, Sheldon.
At Sandra's house, she and a fellow traveler said goodbye. The girl once again expressed her deep gratitude for the rescue, but Sheldon modestly stated that it was nothing and anyone would have done so in his place. The student smiled affectionately at parting.
— But not everyone would be able to shoot so accurately. Well, see you tomorrow. How can I thank you for saving me?
— And let's read the Moon Wars comics together or something else? Since you don't know him, I'll introduce him.
The dark-haired girl laughed slightly:
— Okay, so be it, I'll join your comics a little bit.
Sheldon went home and Sandra, with her hands behind her back, looked after him for a while. It seemed that after the incident they became a little closer. Although they used to coexist at school, almost without crossing paths, not harboring any dislike or affection for each other, now it seemed to Sandra that there were good sides to this nondescript, slouching nerd, which she began to reveal.
“That's right, Sheldon Lee, he's one of Jenny Wakeman's friends, and he seems to have more than just friendly feelings for her, as the whole school once gossiped about,” — thought Sandra. — “Because of his friendship with her and also because of his reputation as a nerd, he is very unpopular at school. Cousins Brit and Tiff once launched a real campaign against Jenny, and those who were just friends with her often fell under the distribution. He had not been popular before, like all the students focused on their studies, although when he became friends with Jenny, they stopped bullying him completely — no one wanted to mess with her strength, with which she could quickly wean him off if she wanted, and before her, he, I remember, had a very bad time, however, frequent ridicule and The bullying hasn't gone away, but it's still bearable.” Sandra went into the house, hugged her parents who met her and thought how little it sometimes takes to be happy, just to be home again and see her parents, just to see this sky, feel the wind and feel alive.
When Sheldon came to his room, he first called and talked with Brad and Jenny, telling them about what had happened, then thought a little about what a difficult day it had been today, and slapped himself on the forehead with annoyance:
— Oh, I didn't buy microcircuits because of those Alphatrons, who scared my classmate, damn them.
Now Sheldon faces a new dilemma: whether to fly to an electronics store in a Silver Shell suit, or on a homemade jetpack? Quite typical dilemmas of self—taught genius students.

Chapter 2: The acquaintance continues

Chapter Text

The next day turned out to be extremely calm. In the morning, even before classes began, the main character of the city, Jenny, defeated another monster on the outskirts of Tremorton without any problems, which turned out to be so weak that even she reported it as a trifle. At recess, as always, there was noise and hubbub, and Sandra, already calmed down after yesterday's events, stood at her locker and rearranged notebooks and textbooks, simultaneously discussing trigonometry with Phil, a classmate of Mexican blood, which was noticeable by his pale brown skin color, dark straight hair and eyes, this subject was going Sandra was not in the best way, however, her friend could not help her in any way, which he admitted.

— I don't understand trigonometry any better than you do, — he complained, and as he left, he gave advice: — Ask Ryan over there, maybe he understands this subject better. Or ask the nerds, they know everything for sure, they can only take out the brain.

Sheldon Lee was passing by at that time. He and Sandra crossed glances and she smiled benevolently, nodding at him, remembering yesterday's event. He replied with a short, restrained smile and a nod in return. The brunette had a fleeting thought to turn to him: “Well, I'll thank you for saving me and I'll fix the mark”.

Later, when classes ended and the children hurried home or to a cafe with friends, Sandra was waiting near the school. A guy with sharp red hair on his head passed by with a satisfied grin, it seemed that a self-confident satisfied smile was forever shining on his face. It was Brad Carbankle, a moderately popular guy at school and a friend of Jenny and Sheldon. Sandra knew him an order of magnitude better than Sheldon, and even responded. She took part in their event with Jenny with setting a record for the number of people in one car, and sometimes, being an outwardly attractive girl, she was subjected to his attempts at courtship, but rejected him and never showed interest.
— Hey, Brad, hi. Not busy? Can I ask you a question?
— Hi, what's up, Sandra? Bradley is always ready to answer any questions from your side, — replied Brad, winking, almost immediately switching into flirting mode.
— Have you seen Sheldon? — interrupting him, the short brunette immediately replied, quickly adding: — I need to contact him for my studies.
Brad looked disappointed. Then he cheered up a little and added with a wink:
— He must have stayed in his circle of technicians again with a project of some kind. But that you got this Sheldon and this study, the time spent with me will seem much more interesting to you. Oh, what do you say, come with me, it'll be cool.
The girl looked at him skeptically, crossing her arms.
— Thanks, but no, I think I'll refuse. I'm having problems with my studies and I really need someone to help me with my trigonometry homework right now. You'd better think about how to improve your grades, otherwise they won't take you to any university”.

Brad calmed down on this and responded with less enthusiasm, leaving and not showing frustration.:
— You're missing a lot. Okay, see you later. If you change your mind, contact me. Sheldon—Sheldon… do you want to thank him in some special way for yesterday's rescue?
Sandra rolled her eyes and shook her head and chose not to comment on his quip. Pacing back and forth along the school building, she pondered, breathing in the fresh air after the light rain that had passed while classes were going on. Soon the one she was waiting for appeared. Sheldon was dragging a box filled with some things, intending to take it home. When he saw Sandra, he immediately realized that she was waiting for him and asked:
— Hello. Do you need anything?
— Sheldon, that's what I'm looking for. If it's not difficult for you, and there is time today, I don't want to bother you, but I have problems with trigonometry here, could you help me with my homework, I would like to improve my grades in it, — Sandra answered him with an unobtrusive smile and modestly putting her hands behind her back. — And then you'll introduce me to your “Moon Wars”.
— Just trigonometry? Oh, no problem. Come to me in an hour, I'll do everything for you and chew it, it will bounce off your teeth.
With that, they parted for lunch, a little rest, and later to meet at Sheldon's house. He did his homework for himself and Sandra with amazing speed, explaining everything along the way and leaving her in amazement, and at the end the excellent student asked:
— Well, did you understand better?
Sandra nodded, closing the notebook:
— Yes, much better. How clever you are, Sheldon, I don't understand this subject very well.
— Now you'll understand better. Then, sir, are the Moon War now?
He took out a stack of comics from the shelf and they plunged into the world of space opera. When they read a couple of them, the girl concluded:
— In general, it's not as boring as I expected, I don't regret that you introduced me to this work.
— Well, if you are interested in this, then would you like to plunge into the world of science more? Come to my workshop to see my inventions of my own design.
The girl, fueled by gratitude to the savior, agreed, fortunately they managed the work faster than she had planned and she still had free time. They went into his garage workshop. In the general creative mess lay a variety of drawings, working tools and a lot of details and incomprehensible mechanisms. In the corner stood a humanoid silhouette covered with a tarpaulin and in the distance a device with a low rounded body and a high dome. Sheldon began to talk about his activities, along the way showing hand-made fancy devices, there were also his various robot assistants, and molecular cleaners, blasters, shockers and much more of all kinds. It was clear how proud he was of himself, the usual rather tight-lipped and modest at school, he seemed to have transformed, became more confident and his speech was filled with firmness as well as a lot of clever words, there were many scientific terms from quantum physics, higher mathematics and cybernetics, incomprehensible to ordinary people.

— And you did all this yourself? — the guest was amazed, looking at all this technical splendor.
— Yeah, personally. And this is only a small part of what I have planned. And you can't show and tell everything at once, and these are not even developments that have been brought to the final.
Sandra sat with her eyes wide open, bulging with surprise, it seemed to her that her brain was about to boil.
— A lot of things are unclear, but very interesting, — the girl concluded. — How can you be so smart? I think you're as good as the famous scientist Mrs. Wakeman.
— I am a fan of science, I have to understand all the issues. Maybe I'll even surpass her in time, who knows. Oh yes, I almost forgot, one of my best inventions: a real portable time machine, of its own unique design.
The guy pointed to a strange device, vaguely resembling, perhaps, a single-seat spaceship, seeing how the interlocutor's eyes opened wide, he added:
— Yes, no kidding, this is a real time machine, I've been developing it for nine years, it works, I can somehow demonstrate it in action, it works, you'll see for yourself. Moreover, it has special functions such as a time paradox protection system, time line splicing.
— There are no words, how could you build this... all this? — the guest was amazed.
— Well, I have many sources of inspiration. Although I am an amateur engineer, I am very well theoretically savvy in scientific literature, and although I am a genius from birth, but this would not be enough, I am also often inspired by extraterrestrial technologies, — Sheldon lowered his voice to a whisper, — and try to study and understand them in order to repeat. Not everyone can do this, figure out and build their working counterpart, the best institutions sometimes do not achieve results. But after spending ninety years among aliens in distant systems, I began to understand their technologies much better, and my time machine fully worked only after I introduced into it something, uh, peeped from aliens and recreated by me.
— Wait, what? Have you been in space for almost a century? — the girl asked in amazement, looking at Sheldon beaming with pride.
— Yes, it sounds implausible, like a fiction, but it happened after the invasion of the oval alien fanatics who worshipped Jenny. When she threw them out on the ship, I ended up there by mistake. And then, because of the acceleration to light speed, I felt all the consequences of the theory of relativity. It's quite a story. I can tell you later what I saw there. Do you remember when a crazy old man came to school? That was me, then Mrs. Wakeman fortunately rejuvenated me to a normal state, if not for her miracle device, I would have remained wrinkled and grumpy.
Sandra remembered these events and agreed with Sheldon, trying to force a smile, but inside she felt no fun at all. They both had things to do and they said goodbye, agreeing to do their homework together.
— Thanks for everything, it was very interesting, see you, Sheldon, — Sandra said goodbye.
— Yeah, you come in if you need anything.
Sheldon closed the garage door and his new friend rolled away on a skateboard. Sandra spent the way home thinking, and at home, left alone with her personal diary, she made notes about the day she spent, describing how she recognized an acquaintance from an unexpected side.
Brushing her hair, the girl reflected on how unfairly Sheldon was treated at school and why this was happening. He was often bullied because of his strange fascination with robotics and superhero comics: he was tripped, doused with water, pushed and simply teased, others forced him to do their homework without giving anything in return and no one, no one appreciated his hidden qualities because of the strangeness. Perhaps they were mocking, only hiding envy behind contempt? And he was not the only one, Jenny Wakeman, soon after she appeared at school, became the main object of ridicule from the Crust cousins, was subjected to constant offensive jokes and mockery. Sandra was relieved to think that at least she had never offended Sheldon or Jenny, or other outcasts at school, being by nature kind and friendly, but she shunned him, and laughed with everyone when they poured water on him in the hallway or made up offensive chants about him. Now she was ashamed of it. If she had known then what she knew about Sheldon now, about his courage, intelligence and willingness to help, she would never have been so indifferent to bullying him and would probably have stood up for him.
Continuing her reflections, Sandra thought that she had never tried to protect those who were outcasts at school. Along with the other girls close to Brit and Tiff, she also laughed at Jenny, who was alien to them, when her cousins slandered her simply for being different, came up with various puns that were sometimes really funny, and no one noticed that she was the only one holding back the constant invasions of various alien rabble and nightmarish monsters. Yes, there may have been a lot of problems from the robotess, but without her it would have been much more boring at school, and much more dangerous in the city. While there was a fuss, a battle with aliens and superhero stuff going on, Sandra was just an observer, one of the gray masses who applauded Jenny when she saved everyone and laughed at the next barbs about her cousins, and when the cousins lost, she laughed at them all. Just a drifting, indifferent, passive observer. And also an accomplice of bullying the unfortunate outcasts. Pandering to bullies with her inaction, she, like the rest of the gray mass of students, indulged those who had been mocking rogue students like Jenny and Sheldon for years, who had defended the city yesterday, and Sandra herself was saved from a painful death. In fact, she acted no better than the instigators of the mockery, although no, as it seemed to her now, probably even worse, because they, seeing the general indifference and passive approval of non-interference, with the absence of any censure, felt confident, having the right and opportunity to create this outrage, while the majority, like a flock of sheep, did not condemn them.
The girl picked up a trigonometry notebook from the table, ran her eyes over the homework done with Sheldon's help and closed it, intending to put it in her backpack. Suddenly, his hands trembled and the workbook fell out of them. It seemed to Sandra that she had a heavy basketball in her hands. Yes, on the day when a strange old man appeared at school, he began to lecture about physics in the gym, and someone found it funny to throw a ball at him, everyone threw it - and she too, obeyed the instinct of the crowd. Poor Sheldon, yes, it was exactly him, the same shape of a similar, only aged face, was literally buried under the balls, so Jenny Wakeman had to carry him to the infirmary.
A black shadow seemed to fall on Sandra's face and she experienced a feeling of oppressive shame, regret and sorrow for that day and all the days and years when she was part of a faceless herd and did not try to change anything, watching when someone was treated unfairly and cruelly, but not interfering in any way, but passively encouraged it. A feeling of sincere sorrow gnawed at her from the inside and scratched, digging sharp claws into the depths of her soul. Sitting down on the bed, the girl propped her head in her hands and sighed heavily.

“No... It will never, ever, ever happen again. I owe my life to Sheldon, this nice guy, and I will repay him only with kindness.”

Dark thoughts gradually receded and like a light at the end of a dark tunnel from sad memories and remorse, a new conclusion arose and brought clarity to the long struggle inside the girl with her past views, Sandra outgrew them and decided never to indulge bullying again, which she wrote in her diary and emphasized as very important.
At night, the girl tossed and then jumped up, screaming from a terrible nightmare, she dreamed of purple robots and their terrible blades clanking near her throat. After catching her breath, she repeated to herself for a while that it was just a dream, and thought about how she was saved by an ordinary-looking guy. Thoughts about Sheldon had an amazing calming effect, the schoolgirl was able to fall asleep and the bad dream did not return today.

The school day turned out to be busy. Surprisingly, there were no invasions of robots or monsters, and at school they studied prehistoric life in biology class, at the end of it the teacher asked the students to split into teams and make a mini-report on the topic “life in the Jurassic period” themselves for the next lesson, mainly so that the teacher himself did not have to do unnecessary work and strain himself unnecessarily let the students strain, not the teacher, he decided, and unknowingly provoked very curious events.
To Sandra's surprise, when the bell rang, Sheldon found her in the hallway himself.
— Would you like to join a team? I know how to make our report on the Mesozoic particularly spectacular, better than anyone else's.
— To the team? Well, come on, — cute brunette smiled affably, wondering what the new friend was up to.
— I already offered Jenny and Brad to make a report using my method, but they didn't want to, they said they would just copy the text from the Internet, so I decided to call you, since we've been doing everything together lately. I'll be waiting at my place.
Of course, Sandra agreed, for some reason she wanted to be with Sheldon, maybe the reason for that was the nightmare last night. After school, Sandra had a quick snack at home and drove to a classmate's house on her skateboard, Sheldon was already waiting, lifting the garage door. Putting her protective helmet and skate in a corner, the girl saw that her friend was setting up a time machine.
— Ha, I knew, I knew. Will you, as promised, show me your incredible invention in action? — the girl said enthusiastically, busily leaning her hands on her sides. — Come on, surprise me, is she really going to send us to the Jurassic period? Are we going to, uh, get stuck there by any chance?..
— Oh, everything is provided, don't worry, I've already managed to test it on the Cenozoic. I'll bring my camera with me, take some photos.
— Okay, let's go, — Sandra rubbed her hands impatiently, — I want to see a real live Tyrannosaurus rex!
— Um-m, if you want to see a Tyrannosaurus rex, then you either go to the late Cretaceous or to Spielberg's Jurassic Park. In the late Jurassic we will see other animals. — Sheldon slapped his forehead, looking confused. — I completely forgot... I did not foresee that the time machine is single.
Sandra and Sheldon silently looked from the transparent dome of his device to each other and back again.
— Someone's going to have to sit on someone else's lap if we want to get there, Sheldon scratched his head.
— Okay, I'll settle on your lap, that's it, — Sanrda waved off outwardly indifferently, straightening her straight bangs. — I took part in stuffing into the car when Brad called to set a record, it's nothing after that.
Sheldon sat down in a chair, the girl slipped in and sat on her lap. The moment was very embarrassing, and for both of them. Being so close to her savior made Sandra blush and her heart beat faster. Sheldon was nervous, he slipped his hand as delicately as possible to the panel to the right of the girl's torso and started the car by pressing the lever. She let out a deep hum and everything disappeared in a flash that made Sandra forget about the embarrassing awkwardness of close contact with a guy. Then the outlines of an area covered with unusual vegetation appeared outside. There was no grass anywhere, but there were large ferns, more than twice as tall as a man, and huge coniferous trees towered up.
— Welcome: the late Jurassic period, one hundred and forty—seven million years ago, — the young genius said solemnly and opened the dome.
There was a smell of freshness in the air, no exhaust fumes and burning from factories, in the distance there were exclamations that vaguely resembled bird chirping and a high-pitched rumble similar to an elephant's. Sandra stepped onto the ground.
— Let's start the research — Sheldon took a digital camera out of his pocket: — an adventure for fifteen minutes, there and back.
— Aren't we going to be eaten by predators here? — looking around anxiously, the companion asked. — “I really, really don't want to get into the dinosaur's stomach”.
— Large predators will not be interested in us, but I took a portable shocker from small ones, — Sheldon pushed aside his pocket and showed there an oblong dark stick with rings of capacitors. — Although I am sure that at maximum power it will scare away even the largest local predator, and the small ones will most likely run away when they see us, we are too unusual for them.
Sandra looked at Sheldon with great respect, once again amazed at his intelligence and reasonableness.
Soon, long-necked sauropod dinosaurs appeared in front of them. Peaceful giants were slowly plucking leaves from coniferous trees.
— Oh, real Brachiosaurus! — the young inventor pointed at them and took several shots on a digital camera; the girl smiled in amazement at the incredible animals.
These were not the last inhabitants of the Jurassic period that they saw. They met Diplodocus and Barosaurus, a small group of Camarasaurus and a Stegosaurus covered with plates, and crowned this majestic procession of prehistoric inhabitants was a giant among giants, a Supersaurus, followed by the main predator of the region, Allosaurus, walking a little further away, not daring to attack such a large prey. After making a ten-minute semicircle, simultaneously photographing everyone they met under the explanation of a young know-it-all, who named every species of prehistoric animal they met, they went to the edge of the forest, where suddenly there was an ominous growl that made them shudder, it was made by someone big. The girl was scared and instinctively clung to her companion, taking his hand.
— Sheldon? What is it? Who was it?
There was a heart-rending, sinew-piercing deep guttural hiss.
— Come on, let's see, — Sheldon moved forward.
— M-maybe you shouldn't? — Trembling and looking around, the girl looked around with wide-open eyes, tightened her grip on his wrist and palm.
— You're safe with me, don't be afraid.
Sheldon approached the thicket of bushes, carefully parted them and people saw the sight of two large bipedal dinosaurs, standing fifteen meters apart, grinning furiously at their opponent, one of them had an absurdly elongated muzzle of almost rectangular shape, the other's head looked more symmetrical, like an allosaurus, but he was bigger and differently colored.

— Wow, it's a Torvosaurus and a Saurophaganax, — Sheldon explained — The biggest predators of the Morrison Formation. They have a territorial dispute, they are not interested in us.
The girl looked over the shoulder of a slightly taller guy and watched as two scaly giants clacked their jaws at each other, hissed, bending their heads in a threatening pose and growled like crocodiles, only much more powerful, at any second the enraged predators could rush at each other.
— Are they going to have a battle now? — Sandra asked, glancing at her companion, who was taking pictures with a digital camera at that time.
— It is far from a fact that it will be.
The theropods scolded each other for five minutes, and then, much to Sandra's surprise, who now understood the meaning of her friend's words, reluctantly dispersed in different directions, the squat but stocky Torvosaurus, swaggering impressively, disappeared into the forest and his lanky opponent went into the prairie overgrown with low ferns.
— When it comes to a fight between animals, more than five tons of weight each, the winner after such a fight is likely to die soon after the loser, from severe injuries, — Sheldon explained. — Therefore, large predators try to avoid unnecessary and dangerous collisions.
They moved back, along the way seeing and photographing several small herbivorous dinosaurs and mammals darting along the tree trunks, which in this era were small, no more than a cat, and two small Ornitholestes
walked around the inventor's device, examining it and their reflection in the dome.
— Get out of here! — Sheldon clapped his hands, — let's get out of here, quickly, — and the animals covered with brown feathers quickly disappeared into the bushes, as expected, they were afraid of strange aliens whom they had never seen.
— Well, home? — asked girl, and looking at the animals hiding in the bushes, she added: — “And if someone big was here and broke the time machine, just by accidentally stepping on, for example, a sauropod, would we stay here forever?“
Sheldon slapped his forehead, opening the dome:
— Oh, I didn't think about that, but you noticed well, Sandra, I missed this aspect, thanks for the remark, it's not for nothing that they say one head is good, but two are better. Next time, I will think in detail about the protection in such a case. And I'll also try to make a two—seater time machine, — he added, slightly embarrassed, realizing that Sandra would have to ride on his lap again.
However, when they climbed in, the girl was not so much embarrassed by this forced measure, as she found it pleasant and sweet to be so close to her savior again, her heart began to pound harder.
“WWZZZ" — a hum and a flash of turquoise color — and they disappeared, leaving a couple of Ornitholestes looking at each other in surprise and were back in the garage of a young mechanic.
Climbing out after his companion, Sheldon smiled with undisguised pride and said:
— Yes, perhaps with Brad and Jenny it would be much more difficult for everyone to get in and fly back and forth. To think that I once had the stupidity to sell this masterpiece to Tuck Carbunkle for two cents at a garage sale”.
— Then why do you have it again?
— Well, later I bought it back, I wanted it for two dollars, but I was so reluctant. Then I offered him two dollars and twenty cents, promising to arrive at one hundred and twenty percent, and he agreed”.
The teenagers laughed and then looked into each other's eyes.
— You took her back correctly, you don't see such miracles every day.
Sandra looked into the face of the guy she now sincerely admired, took a step towards him, and it seemed to her that her neck swung to her face by itself. Sheldon also shifted his face towards her, or maybe it was just his imagination, but then they both became confused and recoiled from each other.
Looking away and nervously looking for something to turn the conversation to, the girl noticed her skate and asked:
— Uh, well, can we take a ride?
— Okay, now I'll just transfer the photos to the computer and make a presentation of them in the evening.
The guy left, and Sandra stayed to look at his garage. Approaching the tall figure that attracted her attention, covered with a faded pale green tarp, she touched it, lifted it and looked at what was inside and the tarp fell down under its own weight. In front of Sandra stood a powerful silver-colored robot with black wrists and two spikes on top of its head. At this time, Sheldon returned and a silent scene took place.
— Is this also your invention? — Sandra spoke first. — So you're the hero who defeated the overgrown mole that time with Jenny? — Is that you, the Silver Man?
— Oh no, I just, uh, sometimes substitute for the Silver Shell, he's my robot friend, and this is his copy to substitute for him.
Sheldon was visibly nervous and blushed, which did not escape Sandra. The girl curled her mouth in disbelief and looked at him with a look that ripped off lies.
— But seriously?
— I'm serious… — the inventor stopped, — oh, who am I kidding, I see you can't fool... Yes, I am him. I am Silver Man. The thing is, I, uh, shouldn't reveal it, he's my alter ego and I'll be vulnerable to various robot villains if it gets revealed, people aren't ready to know it yet, like Jenny, the time to officially reveal it hasn't come yet. Just don't tell anyone, will you promise, Sandra? He looked at her intently.
— I promise ... no, I swear, I will keep your secret, — the girl put her hand on her heart.
Sheldon stared into her eyes for a while, and then smiled gently.
— Your look doesn't lie, you can be trusted. I believe you, Sandra, you're a good girl. Well, you wanted to ride together, — he unobtrusively changed the subject, rolling out his bike, — I can keep you company.
We closed the garage and rode side by side together, Sandra on a skateboard, and Sheldon on a mountain bike.
— Sheldon, look what I can do, — Sandra visibly perked up, she was reputed to be one of the best skateboarders in the whole school. The girl jumped up, forcing the skate to rotate around its axis several times and landed exactly on it.
— Oh, of course it's not a loop around the star nebula from the comic book Moon Wars, episode One, but it's also cool, — he said approvingly. — Come on, to Jenny's house, I just need to talk to her.
They gradually accelerated, feeling the excitement, competing with each other, and Sheldon involuntarily admired the dexterity and excellent coordination of his friend's movements.
And so, a few turns, and the towering Wakeman mansion appeared on the street ahead. Upon reaching it, Sheldon braked sharply at him, turning on his side, and Sandra jumped off the skate, made him fly into the air with a light kick and deftly caught him in her hands.
The mansion was still being restored, it stood half destroyed after recent events, when the evil genius Locus took control of Jenny's sisters, and then herself, and attacked Nora Wakeman with them. It was only by a miracle that his insidious plan failed, and Locus himself was caught by Nora's garbage truck, after which the police took care of him. However, the family of the brilliant inventor was no stranger to it. A month without a damaged mansion was an abnormal, statistically out—of-date month-this was a well-established joke by Nora herself. There was the sound of hammers and the clink of a saw, repairs were in full swing, Jenny was doing it with the help of Nora and her gadgets. Brad and his younger brother Tucker were also there, but more just cheering than participating themselves.
— How are you, Jenny? — Sheldon called out — Who did you defeat today?
Pausing her work, the robot girl replied:
— There were no monsters or aliens today, just two minor criminals who have already been caught and are sitting in the police station.
— And what are you doing? — Brad came up and asked, — have you done the report on the boring—zoic yet? This is the most tedious thing we've had to do in the last month”.
Sheldon and Sandra exchanged glances and giggled.
— What? Do you think your report is better than ours?! And Jen and I will be cooler!”
— Are you sure? — Sandra grinned. — Don't let your jaws drop when you see him. Speaking of which, Sheldon, send me the draft material by email today, and I'll arrange the text as we agreed.
— What are you talking about? — The red—haired youth asked uncomprehendingly.
—You'll see, Brad, you and Jenny shouldn't have wanted to work as a team with me, — replied Sheldon — I wanted to tell you that I had some thoughts about that attack by the evil robots from planet Alpha, but since you're busy rebuilding the house, we'll discuss it later, and also wanted to tell you that Silver Shell is concerned after the recent attack by Alphatron robots and offers cooperation to combat them”.
— Okay, tell the Silver Shell that I'm ready to work with him for the safety of the city, — replied Jenny, and nodding to her, Sheldon and Sandra drove on.
— They got a lot closer after the incident I heard about, well, when Sheldon saved her, — said Brad thoughtfully, grinning and keeping his hands in his pockets.
— I wonder how far their relationship will go, — replied him Jenny Wakeman, — if she's got a… crush on Sheldon? Usually girls like they are stunned guys like him.
— Crush on Sheldon? Come on. Who can have a crush on Sheldon? Yes, he will eat her whole brain with his boring manners, and if they have something, it won't be for long. But almost all girls like Bradley. It's strange that Sandra isn't on this honor roll yet.
— If you'd saved her, like Sheldon, you could have been in his place. Actually, she's pretty cool, maybe even too cool for someone like Sheldon. I'm in no hurry to judge what kind of relationship they have... But emotionally, and after the rescue… Anything can happen here.
— So if you had saved her then, would she have fallen in love with you? — Tuck interjected into their conversation, not understanding anything, but hurrying to express his opinion. — It's strange, but then why hasn't the whole city сrush in Jenny yet, because she's constantly saving everyone?
Looking at him, Jenny and Brad just shook their heads, rolling their eyes.

Meanwhile, duo reached the intersection where their paths separated.
— You're further up the street,— Sheldon said. — And I'm going back to my home. Till tomorrow.
But the girl was in no hurry. She looked thoughtfully and replied:
— Sheldon, I wanted to tell you. Please forgive me for that incident at the gym.
The excellent student looked at him in disbelief.
— Well, when I threw the ball at you along with everyone else. I succumbed to the instinct of the crowd and did not think. I'm so ashamed.
— Oh... I don't remember it anymore, — Sheldon exhaled, then seeing the sadness in the girl's eyes, he added, thinking: "it's nothing, it's a long time ago, let's forget it. Whoever seeks forgiveness, may he receive forgiveness. I don't hold a grudge against you, I see that you are a very good person, if you are able to admit the wrongness of actions, we all make mistakes sometime, the main thing is to be able to be honest with yourself and admit them, and you can do it.
Upon hearing this, the girl forgot about her sadness and smiled encouragingly, realizing on the way home that now she had finally forgiven herself.

Time flew by quickly, the day of the biology report came, and to everyone's amazement, Sheldon and Sandra showed a presentation with live images of the long-extinct fauna and flora of the Jurassic period. Jenny and Brad were really sitting with their jaws hanging open, just like the teacher.
— Thus, the so-called “big four” predators of the Jurassic Morrison formation: Ceratosaurus, Allosaurus, Torvosaurus and Saurophaganax existed due to the huge number of their possible prey in the form of herbivorous species, which in turn had such a huge species diversity due to tens of millions of years of mild and favorable climate, allowing the Jurassic megafauna to spread in such diversity, which did not exist either before or after the Mesozoic era. — Sheldon Lee concluded the report.
The teacher was so amazed that he could hardly find the right words.
— Sheldon Lee, Sandra Wolfmesser, both get an A—plus and automatic submission of semester tests!
— Yes, next time, do not neglect Sheldon Lee's generous offer when he calls you to conduct the first tests of the time machine, — he told his friends, sitting down.
— We thought you had some kind of boring nonsense, — Brad spread his hands.
— Boring nonsense? Ha, rather an incredibly interesting coolness. Well, now you'll know how to underestimate Sheldon Lee's genius and science.

A few days later Sheldon surprised everyone again, walking along the corridor, a small disk-shaped drone hovered just above his head.
— “Anti-bully-3000S”, my new development, — Sheldon's slightly nasal voice was heard in the corridor, — reliably protects the owner from bullying at school and robbers on the street, recharging only once a week, I take orders for construction, the first twenty who ordered from me get a fifty percent discount, fly-buy, place orders.
The guys in the hallway, as always, looked at Sheldon like he was crazy, there were no customers yet. Sandra was also standing in the hallway and grinning, but not with contempt and disbelief like the others, but rather with respect for Sheldon, she knew firsthand that he was resourceful and talented and the potential of his inventions was huge. The Crust cousins were just moving down the corridor towards them. When they reached Sheldon, who was not intentionally blocking their way, they stopped, and he turned to them.
— Would you like to order my new invention, the new anti-bullying drone? It reliably protects both from bullying at school and from robbers outside school, order now — I give you a discount, but it's better not to engage in bullying now”.
— Hey, stay out of my way, you weird nerdy egghead, — Brit snorted disgustedly in an arrogant tone, as if she had met a leper.
— When they take you to the madhouse, tell everyone your bullshit, — said Tiff.
— Is this a rejection? What a shame, — Sheldon sighed. — How difficult it is to be a young unrecognized inventor when no one is interested in your inventions, but one day I will get rich on them and become a billionaire, and you will be proud that once you were given the great honor to study next to him in the same school in the same class, you will cry with happiness, that you have been given such an honor, you will tell everyone that you studied next to the unsurpassed genius, Sheldon Osfald Lee.

Brit looked at Sheldon with her usual arrogance, like a psychiatrist looking at a patient, and Tiff with outright hostility. Closing his eyes and pursing his lip, feigning slight resentment, the young man walked on.
— That's a pesky bore — Tiff turned around and twirled at Sheldon's temple.
— A billionaire? Ha. — The dark—skinned cousin repeated thoughtfully. — And this is the future billionaire? I've never heard anything funnier, “the lord of stupid devices and ugly tasteless hoodies” is more suitable for him, — Brit Crust grinned, gesticulating with her hand and Tiff agreed with her:
— Yes, you can't say more precisely.
The cousins burst into malicious laughter and walked on.
“Yes, nothing new, everything is as usual,” — thought Sandra, watching this action and turned her gaze to Sheldon, who was demonstrating his drone to Brad and a short boy wearing yellow glasses. "This guy is a real treasure that no one has discovered or recognized under the outer layer of a strange nerdy, nondescript ugly duckling. A real uncut diamond, hiding infinite potential in itself, he would only gain experience, yes, confidence, with proper support he could open up, he just needs a little push to do it.”
Meanwhile, the departing Brit Crust turned back and cast a quick, literally second glance at Sheldon, there was a slight interest in it and it did not escape Sandra, she understood its meaning, as a woman understands another woman with half a word and the slightest gesture, all her feelings and thoughts, reads what never counts and does not understand the guy. For the first time, a new feeling sprang up in Sandra like a small but bright flame: jealousy, because of another girl, a girl more powerful and statuesque than herself. Following the dark-skinned fashionista with her eyes, Sandra frowned slightly, frowning.

Sandra spent the way home on a skateboard thinking about why she was so worried about what had happened, she didn't want someone like Brit Crust to suddenly get his hands on Sheldon, her savior and just a sweet and smart guy.
“I have to get ahead of Brit at all costs. To get ahead of her, without entering into an obvious open confrontation and competition, to do it before it reaches her,” such an entry was left on the page of the girl's personal diary today in a quick and decisive handwriting!”.

Chapter 3: A successful writer and a successful assault

Chapter Text

In her room, Sandra, lying on the bed, was writing down her accumulated thoughts in a girl's diary when there was a crash and a large purple robot broke down the wall. With his claws, he immediately grabbed the terrified girl, opened the case and extended the rotating blades. The girl desperately struggled and began to call for help, but there was no one nearby, the deadly device was irresistibly moving towards the fragile girl.
— AAAH!
Sandra jumped up in a nervous spasm in the middle of the night, breathing heavily.
The room was dark and there was no robot, she again had a nightmare that haunted her for weeks after that incident in the city. After catching her breath and wiping away her tears, the schoolgirl collapsed into bed, looking at the ceiling with downcast eyes.
After school, Sandra wanted to see Sheldon. The presence of this man was perhaps the only thing that more or less calmed her, after meeting with him she felt more secure and the nightmares receded for a couple of days. As always, an excuse to stay with him after school was found, help with studies, but the real goal was to talk to Sheldon and listen to his stories.
They met at his house after class, this time Brad was with them, who also asked Sheldon to help him, he listened to Sandra's advice to improve his grades and now also did homework with them.
— Well, that's it, it's easy, — Sheldon said at the end. — I think you'll have a five in the quarter. And now that we're free, would you like to read a new comic about “Megaloman”?
— I'll pass. You're a great friend, but I'm not interested in your comics from Japan. Sandra, has he taken your mind off it yet?
—How dare you, Brad! — Sheldon frowned, pointing a threatening finger at him.
— Relax, I'm joking.
— This story has a deep philosophical meaning about the self-identification of a human and a robot, but you probably don't understand.
— Okay, read your own... Metalman, and I'll go.
— Megaloman, — corrected the excellent designer.
— Brad, tell me, is it true that Sheldon flew in space for ninety years? — Sandra asked him.
The red-haired teenager nodded.
— Would you like to hear about my space travels? — asked Sheldon.
— Yeah, tell me, I'm all ears.
— Okay. This story, unlike some “Moon Wars”, actually happened to me. And, to tell the truth, you can't tell everything at one time, there was so much stuff there, not counting the banal tedious work where I earned pennies to at least survive...

After his story, which lasted perhaps an hour, Sandra sat, deeply amazed.
— Have you spent so much time in deep space? How did you even manage to survive and come back? I can't even believe that this actually happened, it sounds like fiction, but it's too convincing for fiction, you can't come up with such a thing. And how did you spend so much time away from home, parents and friends? I'd go crazy if I were you.
— It seems to me that sometimes I was on the verge, but somehow I stood it, - the interlocutor grinned, waving his hand, but sadness flashed in his eyes.
— You are very persistent, Sheldon, you are strong in spirit, probably much stronger than you think about yourself. Not everyone can withstand such a test, I tell you. I definitely wouldn't have been able to stand it, but you put in all the effort and resourcefulness and coped.
— That's another thing, you're talking about how I grew up with space pirates again, after I was overly rejuvenated, I haven't heard yet, there was so much there.
— Yes, you need to write a book about it. Haven't you thought about it? I could have made money on it at the same time.
— Well, it's a good idea, we should try.
Sheldon sat down at his computer, thought for a minute, scratched his chin and started typing.
— So, I'll call it “Notes on traveling through the worlds of deep Space,” Sheldon captioned and continued typing: — “it's far from a secret to everyone that our universe is literally teeming with a large number of different alien species on many planets, and visiting Earth by aliens has long been no surprise to anyone. And most of those aliens who visited our planet were most often hooligans and rowdies at best, and invaders at worst. Rarely did any of the alien guests turn out to be kind and friendly. At the same time, knowledge about the planets where the brothers in mind come from is very scarce to this day. I was lucky or unlucky — it's like watching, visiting some of their worlds and seeing what is happening in deep space far from my native Land...”.
After a two of weeks of intensive work, into which Sheldon plunged headlong, the essay book was generally completed and Sandra was the first to have the honor to read Sheldon's work.
—”... And this essay describes only a small part of what I had seen over the years of traveling through space”. — Sandra finished reading while sitting at her computer.
— Well, how do you like it? The young man asked, waiting for a reaction. — I tried my best.
— Unbelievable, Sheldon. I don't know what strikes me more, how you had the wit and will to return to Earth, or how you can remember everything in such detail. You need to publish a story about your journey. Your book should be a hit.
— Thank you, Sandra, I am very pleased with your kind words, because so few people appreciate me.
— Well, I appreciate you, don't doubt it, — the girl smiled at him affectionately. — I have an idea: let me be your editor and slightly patch up your text to the final appearance. My parents have a friend who owns a large bookstore, I can ask them to apply and publish your book and conduct an advertising campaign.
— I like your plan, Sandra. By the way, how much will your percentage be”?
— Oh, no, no, I don't claim any percentage, take everything for yourself, I just want to help you, thank you for everything, for the day when you saved my life and everything that you have done for me since that time.
— Okay, let's see if we succeed, we'll figure it out there. If you and I succeed in our work, I will repay you generously, my Muse.
The girl was again amazed by the kindness of her friend and they got down to business.
The fact that the book was a success means nothing to say. Its circulation in Tremorton was dismantled with incredible speed and not everyone had enough, they had to produce additional copies, orders also came from other states. Sheldon's bank card began to burst with a flood of evergreen dollars for the first time.
Friends also found out about Sheldon's success and took his success with great joy. On the way out of school, Brad and Jenny were talking animatedly with the young genius when Sandra came up to them.
— Yes, I did not expect that you would be able to benefit so much from this unpleasant incident with flying on an alien ship, — says Jenny, — but I am glad that it has benefited you.
— Oh, Jenny, you have no idea what my plans are, this is just the beginning. I wouldn't have guessed it without a hint," Sheldon replied to her.
— Are you celebrating the success of the book? The pretty brunette asked.
—It would certainly be nice to have a party and celebrate, — replied Sheldon. — I have plans to invest the profits from the books in scientific affairs.
— I knew you'd hit the jackpot, Sheldon, — Sandra winked.
— I have plans to write the second and third volumes, I have already come up with titles for them: “Notes on a journey through the worlds of deep space: their customs” and “Space Pirates of deep Space”. And thank you for being the first one who suggested that I start writing a book about my real adventures, without you, I would never have guessed. Even a very smart person who sees into the distance can sometimes miss some little thing under his nose, and another can tell him, as you did. How can I thank you?
A smile and slight embarrassment appeared on the brunette's face.
— You're welcome, I'll think about it. Judging by the success of the first part, the popularity of your work will be enormous. I am ready to check them before publishing.
— Okay, my best Muse. It's not for nothing that they say that behind every great genius there is an equally great woman, and in this case it's you, Sandra, your support helped me open up.
Upon hearing this, she quickly turned away, she was thickly covered with paint and so that no one would see it, babbling:
— Oh, I have to go, I think I left the milk on the stove at home, — the short brunette ran away headlong.
Jenny, watching her go, said:
— Milk is what, the main thing is not to leave plutonium on the stove, as my mother once did.
At home, having closed the door to the room, as if she was being chased, Sandra sat down on the bed and wondered in confusion what kind of new feeling, like an unexpected and frightening sunstroke, had struck her.
— What's the matter with me? — the girl said aloud. "Am I... into Sheldon?"… But since when?.. Oh, love is blind, you will love a goat, now I have learned this saying for myself. Fortunately, Sheldon is not goat... But he is not very respected at school, I will be laughed at for it if they find out! What should I do?

Sandra once again thought about and analyzed all the events in her head and reread the entries in the girl's diary, which was literally teeming with entries that she was beginning to respect Sheldon more and more, whom she had not even paid attention to before. The last entry was in bold: I have to get ahead of Brit.
Sheldon, like an ugly duckling, began to open up before her eyes and turn into a successful and much more confident young man, Sandra admired him more and more, and it was impossible to deny it, but today's new compliment from him made her heart almost jump out of her chest. It seems that from the very day when he saved her life and they got to know each other in a new way, the girl was already half a step away from what happened now, just hiding from an honest conversation with herself, was not honest enough under the pressure of ingrained views, hammered into the heads of schoolchildren for years because of the situation at school Tremorton.
— How did it happen, how did it happen,— the girl muttered, and jumped out of bed, walking around the room, — me, into Sheldon? No, no, no, why? They'll laugh at me. No, no, why? Why? Why... why not? And really, why not?
Sandra calmed down and remembered that she had already left in the past all these cherished precepts of cousins Crust and the like. Bypassing the stage of anger, since Sandra simply had nothing to be angry at Sheldon, she went from denial to acceptance in less than half a minute. Jumping on the bed, already with a smile, she said, making an entry in her diary: “Sheldon won my heart, this sweetest man, my savior, my hero and just a smart girl, and now I will win Sheldon's heart. But first, I need some advice on how to be”.
The Phone rang in the room of the red-haired girl. She picked up the phone.
— Oh Sandra, hi, what's new? I'm doing well. A secret question? Which one, I'm listening to you.
On the other end of the line, her friend lowered her voice to a whisper:
— I like one guy, but there's a problem, how will the school react if I date him, he's not popular at all, you know, Kiki?
The red-haired girl replied:
— Well, who is he, you can tell me, I'm your own, you can trust me. Do you like... who?... oh...
—Yes, I liked Sheldon, — Sandra answered quietly, hiding behind the bed and covering the phone with a pillow, although if anyone could hear her, it was only her younger sister in her room. — He saved me from the evil robots back then, forcing me to take a closer look at him... to say that I like him would be a serious understatement.
After some silence, she was given an answer:
— I understand you and don't judge you. You're in a difficult situation because of your feelings. The main thing is that he is a good person and suits you, if you feel something for him, then act decisively and carefully, but most importantly act if you decide to take the initiative. Are you afraid of gossip from you-know-who? A lot of people are tired of them at school, but if anything, I will support you and help you fight back if the pressure starts. My advice to you is if you want to meet him, meet him, but don't advertise it too much at first.
It seems that talking with a friend drew a line under the whole situation, and the support calmed and gave confidence.
At night, Sandra had a new, very unpleasant dream: the familiar barrel-shaped purple robots no longer tried to cut her into shreds, but grabbed and held her by the arms, and opposite a dark figure with a pair of eyes like an abyss curled around Sheldon like a snake.
— You've been procrastinating for too long, you've missed your chance and now Sheldon will be mine, forever, and you'll be watching this, — came a bubbling mocking voice from the figure.
Then the scene changed, Sandra, held back by laughing purple robots, watched as a dark figure wrapped around Sheldon in a wedding tailcoat, saying in a suspiciously familiar, arrogant voice:
— It's too late, dumb girl, Sheldon is mine, and you'll always watch me take everything he earns!
Sandra frowned and fidgeted in her sleep. Waking up in the morning, the girl grimly remembered this dream, not a nightmare, but a bad and unpleasant one. The consequences of the Alphatron invasion incident were still making themselves felt, and new subconscious fears had accumulated.
— What a mess. When will these dreams stop, — girl grumbled under her breath, combing her hair, disheveled during the night tossing, sitting in front of the mirror and gathering it into her two long pigtails. — No, I will not miss, I will not give in.
After breakfast, Sandra received a call, it was Sheldon and he invited her to a celebration party, because today was the weekend, all the students of the school indulged in their favorite activities and entertainment. Without hesitation, Sandra agreed. She was rushing around the room.
— Maybe this will be my chance? We need to prepare, we need... we need... oh, I've got it.
The girl sat down at her computer and started looking for advice on the Internet, typing in the search “how to win the guy's favor." After reading and armed with very controversial tips from the Internet, the girl set off. When she arrived, she saw that Jenny, Brad and Tucker Carbunkle were at the party, as well as a short guy who often appeared in a T-shirt and yellow glasses. Sheldon presented each visitor with a copy of the book with his own autograph. The entertainment at the party was appropriate: a board game of “Dragons of Dungeons”, a video game “Megaloman”, reading comics “Moon Wars” and “Captain Crash”. Tucker brought the game “pin pony tail”. Sandra played it out of solidarity and showed excellent marksmanship.
— So your new friend pushed you to write this book, — Sheldon's friend in yellow glasses said, nodding at the short brunette.
— Yes, you got along well, you need to work with each other more often, — Brad said thoughtfully, as if hinting at something. — You will write a book, then you will make a report on the Mesozoic era with real pictures.
— We already have big plans for two sequels of the book, — the host of the celebration responded, — it will be an effective profit before future investment in my scientific and design projects.
While the guests were playing ping-pong or pinning a pony's tail, Sheldon inserted a disc into the player, music started playing and he invited Jenny to dance.
— Jenny, would you honor me with a dance in honor of my triumph?
— Oh, I would love to, but I can't do something, yesterday I twisted my leg and pulled the drive, — the robot girl's eyes darted from side to side.
— But you walk great, Jenny.
— I walk, but sudden movements are contraindicated for me.
Sipping her soda, Sandra watched intently from the sidelines. “Everything continues to be sought and continues to be refused”, she told herself in her thoughts.
— Then I can turn on the music for a slow dance, there are no sudden movements.
— Uh, uh, - suddenly the chest part of Jenny, who was looking for a way to get away from courtship, opened and a gray—haired female scientist spoke from the extended screen.
— X-jay-nine, sensors have detected that an icy comet is moving along a dangerous trajectory from the Oort cloud, there is a danger to the station on the Neptune satellite.
— I get it, Mom. I have things to do, see, I'm sorry, Sheldon.
The robot closed her chest, ran out of the house and scampered off into the distance.
— Is it so impossible to move abruptly? — the owner threw after him in frustration.
A short brunette with long pigtails approached Sheldon and, holding her hands behind her back, offered with a smile:
— Don't get upset. You can dance with me if you want.
— Oh, I don't feel like dancing anymore, — Sheldon replied with a sigh, somewhat upset. — Should we read Captain Crash? By the way, regarding the reward for help, will you be satisfied with ten percent of the profit for the work of the text editor?
— Yes, five is more than enough for me. But if you want to thank me so much, let's dance instead of that five percent.
Sandra smiled, swaying from the side and making movements with her hands.
— Well, come on, Sheldon, don't be discouraged, you've become a famous writer of the city now, you need to have fun.
Sheldon, at first not very willingly, but moved to the energetic music and cheered up.
— I think I'll go too,— Brad said with a knowing look. — Things are waiting, good luck to you.
— Me to, — Tuck trotted after his brother.
— And I'm going too, — Sheldon's second friend added. — It was great, I'll see you again.

After dancing and cheering up, the teenagers sat down on the couch and began discussing plans for new notes about other worlds, and then they started talking about the series based on the "Megaloman", series of games, which, interestingly, Sandra liked, perhaps because the hero was a cute cyborg boy with a pleasant human face.
— I could make you a similar cybernetic suit, in which you will be on a par with robot superheroes, if you want, of course, - Sheldon said at the end of the conversation.
Sandra raised her palms up, and smiled tightly, waved her hands:
— Oh, thank you, it's better not, I don't really want to get involved in superhero stuff, it's too dangerous there, and I'm not a superhero, I'm just a simple high school student and a talented enough cheerleader in our school cheerleading team, but somehow that won't be enough for superhero stuff. After that close acquaintance with the battles of superheroes, I don't even feel comfortable seeing the blade of an ordinary kitchen knife, much less going into battle. But of course, thank you for the offer, it's nice to see that you rate me so highly that you think I can handle such a thing. Listen, shall we go for a walk somewhere?
— Yes, I'm not exactly a superhero myself, but I saved you from that robot. We may underestimate our potential.
They left the house and walked to the park. It was getting late, the young moon hung in the sky, sanctifying the streets with a gentle light and the first stars were sprinkling. The young people sat down on a hill on the outskirts of the city.
— What a wonderful sky, — sighed the girl, — perfect for our date.
— Date... wait what? — Sheldon asked, dumbfounded, his eyes widening.
— I wanted to tell you something, Sheldon.
— Wait, let me collect my thoughts.
— Sheldon, I like you, since you saved my life, I've discovered the sweetest guy in you that I hadn't noticed before, but after that incident everything changed.
The young genius jumped up, his face took on a serious expression. The girl got up and stood next to him.
— Me? To you? But how could you like me?
The girl took his hand in her elegant palm.
— What, you still ask? I saw a lot of positive qualities in you that I hadn't noticed before because of my shortsightedness, my hero, my savior. I would like to be with you.
Her voice sounded like an insinuating beautiful song, but Sheldon looked confused.
— Uh, well, I'm actually busy.
— Busy? By whom?
— Well, I have Jenny.
After looking at her in surprise, the girl replied with a serious expression on her face:
— But you're not dating her. Jenny keeps you in the friendzone. And she will keep friendzoned you. Do you really want to keep hitting the blank wall unsuccessfully? I understand that you were focused on her, but you can look wider and find that there are other good girls who deserve attention, just as I was blind, did not notice you, but then I saw through and overcame my shortsightedness and bias.
Sheldon lowered his head in silence. He plunged into heavy thought, because the girl had told an inconvenient truth that not everyone has the courage to accept. He deeply appreciated Sandra and sympathized with her, but the thought of moving on to a closer relationship caused him confusion.
— I thought you liked me too, didn't you? — girl continued to speak tenderly and smiled hopefully.
The young genius looked into her eyes and answered haltingly:
— I understand everything, Sandra, I'm also glad that we got to know each other so well, I really appreciate you, but... but I'm not sure yet exactly how I feel about you, I... oh, I'm confused, it's so difficult for me.
Sheldon squeezed his eyes shut, clutching his head, feeling incredibly awkward, and even uncomfortable, he realized that he was literally a mirror image of Jenny and by rejecting Sandra now, he was literally doing to her the same way Jenny did to him when she rejected him, and preferred at more popular and attractive boys.
— Sandra, it's so complicated, I'm sorry, I'm not ready, at least not yet.
— If you haven't figured out your feelings for me, think about everything, — the short brunette understandingly agreed, putting her hands behind her back.

Sandra wondered what strategy she should use: a siege, with long gradual courtship, or a quick decisive assault? First option seemed more reasonable, but remembering the tips that she had read on the Internet, how to flirt with guys in order to get their attention, Sandra decided to act more actively. It's now or never. It's now or never.
— Maybe you doubt it, but I can't wait any longer, don't take it for tactlessness, — the brunette spoke again, approaching the guy. — Since the time when I almost died, I have been plagued by regular nightmares, I dream that those creepy robots are coming for me again to finish what they started. I shudder even at the sight of an ordinary kitchen knife, because it reminds me of their blades. And it was only when you were around that I felt calmer and the nightmares receded. My heart flutters next to you, and my soul calms down.
The girl put her hands on his shoulders, Sheldon shifted his gaze from her hands to her languid face.
— My love torments are too strong for me to wait for you to decide, oh my brave knight, let me be the lady of your heart, my blue—winged dove, take me deep, oh my chosen savior, - she ran her hand over his chest, according to the advice she had learned on the Internet.
— Uh, this is an invasion of my personal space, —Sheldon a little nervous. — Take your time, let me weigh everything.
— Sheldon, you're so sweet. How do you manage to combine both courage and shyness? — The beauty laughed earnestly, looking into his eyes. — My soul wants to be with you, my hero, my savior, — and she kissed him on the cheek.
Sheldon froze, not knowing how to react. The girl raised her hands, stroking his head and clung to him again, kissing him on the lips with a long gentle kiss. Stunned, Sheldon stared, he felt the girl's heart pounding fast, and his hands hung limply. Then he took her by the shoulders and tried to push her away from him, and finally unhooked her.
— Sandra, things are moving too fast, wait!
The girl looked at him languidly, continuing to stroke his head and chest.
— You're so sweet when you're panicking and embarrassed, my brave hero, — she snuggled closer to him, "it was nice, why are you afraid of this? Let me give you my love, don't resist it, because no one has ever loved you before?
Sandra brought her lips closer to his again, the guy took her by the shoulders and tried to push her away, but did not do it much, as if resisting for show. Sheldon was not strong, although he could not be called weak, and yet, if he wanted to, he would easily push the girl away. His fussy hand movements became slower and soon Sheldon gave up and just held Sandra by the shoulders and closed his eyes himself, intoxicated by the girl's caress.
Sheldon was by nature such that whenever the ladies took the initiative, he gave up. He gave up under the persistent onslaught of Vexus, who took the form of QT-2, and began to take care of her and imagine a future family life, and if that could somehow be explained by the fact that she was a robot, then later, when Jenny left for home schooling, Sheldon was picked up by a bulky red-haired girl from school, completely to him not liking her, and having been courted by her, skillfully disguised as an attempt at psychological help, he almost started dating her. Against her background, the charming, well-groomed and quite intelligent brunette Sandra was a very good option, to say the least, and her eloquence also contributed. Her assault turned out to be successful, and the resistance, as it seemed, was purely symbolic and for the sake of appearance, only further fueling and motivating Sandra.
The young people, illuminated only by distant lanterns and the light of the new moon, released each other and lowered their heads in embarrassment.
— Is this your first kiss, too, in a serious way?
— Sort of. Okay, if you want to date me, I agree, Sandra, so be it," Sheldon muttered. "I still can't believe you're interested in me."
— How stupid I must have looked from the outside.
— Yes, in general, no. I've been through much stupider situations.
They sat under the gentle light of the moon and stars, looking at them and holding hands, chatting about this and that, Sandra recalled with a sigh:
— What an irony, but once I shied away from you, do you remember when you announced, as soon as you entered the school, that you were looking for a date? And how things turned out in the end, now I've dragged you on a date myself.
— Yes, life is ironic. I then got into a very stupid situation, ran into a Pteresa, and she pulled all the money out of me, leaving me penniless and forcing me to sell all the things, I could hardly return the most important thing with the help of Jenny and under the promise and receipt to give the paid value.
Sandra laughed:
— Yes, I remember how you and Pteresa walked around together, it looked somehow unnatural, like a show-off. I should have taken you right away, and not turned up my nose, then your money would have been safe and we would have been together earlier.
— At least that bitter experience taught me a lot, although this is a plus, — Sheldon replied, — and negative experience is also needed, it can be useful, it taught me to understand girls better and see the good ones, not those who need my money, not me.
— Well, I definitely need you, and I'm not looking for the money that you will have.
— Yes, I see it.
Sheldon looked at Sandra with trepidation, they clasped their hands tighter, looking at each other tenderly. Then they remembered that it was time for them to go home, otherwise their parents would scold and reluctantly got up and walked, holding each other's hands, until they reached the intersection where their paths diverged. After hugging each other once more, but not deciding on another kiss, it was still a novelty for them, they said goodbye.
— See you tomorrow, knight of my heart, — Sandra cooed affectionately to a classmate and waved her hand and left.
— See you later, my Muse, — Sheldon replied and went to his room.
Sandra soon set off on a joyous run home, over the moon with happiness, thinking about the first happy moments of their relationship. She couldn't wait to confess her success to the diary.
At home, Sheldon went into the room and looked around. When he saw his altar with Jenny, he took a deep breath. He was still gnawed by doubts, he had been seeking the heart of a robot-girl for so long, but in the end he opened his own heart to another girl. Then, sitting down at the table, he cheered up a little and said with a slight smile:
— How quickly everything turned out. Okay, once I've started, I need to continue, experience in a relationship won't hurt me at all, and then we'll see what happens, I hope Jenny won't be jealous… — he broke off, — but what if she is? Oh, what should I do then, I did not envisage such an option.
He took out a notebook and began to write into it, as if he was inventing a new device.
— Okay, well, since I'm with Sandra, I need to make a plan for our relationship and courtship of her. I still can't believe she took a fancy to me.

Chapter 4: The hardships of love

Chapter Text

As time went on, and despite the uplift that the relationship brought to both Sheldon and Sandra, difficulties were brewing, but not because of them, but mainly because of the environment at school. Sheldon began to hear reproaches from Brad, Jenny and Tuck that he spends much less time with them, and Sandra's situation was no better.
At recess, Tiff Crust came up to her and briefly addressed her:
— Come in after class, we need to talk.
Sandra nodded and immediately realized that nothing good could be expected from this. The last lesson had barely ended, and a group of high school girls and cousins gathered near the classroom. Summoning all the courage she had, Sandra moved towards them.
— Sandra, here you are. That this is happening, we saw that you were walking with this Sheldon Lee," Brit immediately gave out in such a squeamish tone, as if she saw her classmate hugging a leper. — Are you guys still dating?
— How could you? Tiff blurted out even more angrily. — Do you understand what this means? You will be relegated from your second rank to the lowest.
Stephanie joined them:
— This is an unacceptable choice of a guy for your rank in our school.
— You don't have to embarrass us, find yourself someone appropriate and not this crazy nerd, — Tiff supported her.
—Well... let's hear Sandra out about what's going on first, — curly Stephanie suggested.
The division of all high school girls into ranks. It was all an invention of Brittany Crust, she so ordered, as it seemed to her, life at school: she and Tiff were in the highest rank, of course, followed by the first rank, where their closest backup singers were: Stephanie, Pteresa and Gentris, in the second rank other girls whom the cousins considered cool enough and who did not contradict They also had Sandra in this rank, the third rank, where there were unremarkable girls, and after them there was a lower rank, in which particularly displeased cousins, such as Jenny and her friends, were enrolled. If being in the first rank, where children from other rich families got into, was almost the peak of popularity at school, made them almost equal to cousins, and being in the second was quite honorable and guaranteed regular invitations to hen parties with cousins and trips to cafes and events with them, girls from the third rank occasionally They were invited to hen parties and parties and treated them condescendingly. But for the lower ranks, life at school was a quiet nightmare, at best they were simply ignored and ignored. Later, everything changed somewhat, now only Jenny's existence made all the others who were in it belong to the third rank in the classification of cousins, Jenny became the most unloved classmate for cousins, they only thought how to kick her out of school and never see her.
Sliding down the hierarchical ladder meant being the subject of ridicule, turning school life from a measured one into a hassle, which Sandra was clearly not ready for.

— Well, what do you say in your defense? Brit continued, towering over the short brunette with pigtails like Goliath over David.
— Yes, he's just helping me with my studies.
— Then what are you doing with him besides studying?
Sandra, under the gaze, frantically thought about what would help her get out, while maintaining external calm. And then a memory came to her mind. Sandra remembered how Pteresa started walking with Sheldon, it seemed like some kind of clumsy and unnatural show-off, and then-then some kind of mass insanity happened at school. The cousins of Crust and their friends began to hold hands with nerds, nerds and other unpopular guys endowed with all possible disadvantages of appearance. Sandra also watched all this with sincere bewilderment and wondered: this is some kind of prank, or maybe the mind capture by an alien parasite brainworm, or hypnosis by aliens or the substitution of students for robot doppelgangers ... in any case, it looked extremely strange and the last of the options was that they voluntarily walk with those from whom not so long ago cousins screamed at the top of their voices in panic from the bell tower, where Misty and Jenny had tricked them into being alone with unattractive nerdy board game lovers.
How did they get from this to walking around with these cute little boys, holding hands and dragging themselves everywhere? Suspicion reached such an extent that Sandra even turned to Jenny and asked if aliens had captured their minds or replaced them with clones or robot doppelgangers, Jenny promised to scan them for this. In any case, then Sandra was glad that this mass madness did not affect her either.
— Uh, do I do what you do? The girl spread her hands in disbelief and then attacked them with a counter question. — Have you forgotten that you also went out with bores, and even worse and more boring than Sheldon? Well, you can, but why can't I?
The girls looked at each other awkwardly. The counterattack worked with a bang, having a relationship with nerds was such a sin for girls of high ranks.
Brit smiled knowingly. — So you're also breeding him for money and homework help for the right to walk with you? After all, he recently hit the jackpot on his book.
— Yes, that's right, — Sandra nodded, rejoicing inwardly - she managed to deflect all suspicions from herself and wrap them around her finger.
— Oh, well, all claims are dropped, — patting the brunette on the shoulder, Brit said, as if giving an order to her chain dogs, who also calmed down.
The group of girls left and Sandra finally breathed a sigh of relief, wiping the perspiration from her forehead, pleased with how deftly she spoke their teeth.
At home after lunch, Sandra flopped down on the bed, resting and looking at the ceiling. Incidents from her life during her years at school flew before her eyes, and she thought about them. She was thinking about why she fell in love with Sheldon, whether it was caused by a feeling of deep gratitude to him after being rescued, or admiration for his mind, probably both were mixed, it was difficult to say where their relationship would lead and how long it would last, but Sandra was definitely not going to interrupt them because of the opinions of others. She was trying to figure out if she had ever had feelings for any boy. At one time, when the white dance ball was announced, she was going to invite Ryan's friend, a pleasant blond man, she probably had some feelings for him, but to her sadness and disappointment, Helen beat her, with whom Ryan went to the ball, and Sandra fell ill that day, and so far that's all We danced, she lay in bed. And there, according to the stories, there was a corporate circus, a gang of space bikers appeared and everything was destroyed. Ryan and Helen began dating from that time to this day in a relationship, one way or another, but he was closed to her. She considered literally anyone as a guy, but not Sheldon and his kind. On the day he struck up a semblance of a relationship with Pteresa, Sandra might have been in her place if she hadn't run away in a panic from what she then thought was a creepy, unattractive and unpopular nerd. And now his appearance didn't matter much to her. The girl sighed deeply, stroking her forehead.
— What an irony. Now I dote on Sheldon, whom I shied away from. Love is blind, as they say. Sheldon is one of the most decent guys I've ever met.
She came to the conclusion that it was probably for the best that her surge of interest in Sheldon began after he saved her from evil robots, she stopped seeing him as an outcast, but saw that he was full of positive qualities.
Sandra also remembered the first day when Jenny appeared at school and how after that the feud between her and her cousins Krast began, then subsiding, then flaring up with renewed vigor. One day, Jenny was invited to the annual bachelorette party, which Sandra was also at. The cousins announced in advance that under the kind tone there was a sneaky idea: to use an unloved robot for pranks. Everyone laughed at the alien Jenny, anticipating how they would use her, Sandra, like all the girls, laughed on the general wave, considering Jenny an alien element, at that time she was slightly tired of the regular destruction of the school and the risk of getting a brick flying out of the wall on the head, perhaps even immediately lethal, so she supported everyone, the good of her I got a place in an elite party. That night, the cousins and some other girls, mostly the closest to them, went outside to play pranks with Jenny Wakeman and then disappeared for the whole night, never returning, and in the morning they were dragged out of the liner from the spire on a tall building. Sandra was very lucky: she was among those guests who stayed in the gorgeous Krastov mansion and in the morning, quickly putting on clothes, she ran when she heard that the departed were found and removed from a tall building. She watched this, listening to their loud screams and panicked wailing, especially Brittany's screams. Sandra felt a chill run through her skin: and she could have been there with them. The cousins blamed Jenny for everything, hurled curses at her, but later she herself found out from Jenny what had happened, asking her casually, it turned out they wanted to throw dirty bombs at the mayor's office, and then blame everything on Jenny.

After this incident, Sandra learned that it was better to maintain good relations with the robotess and not quarrel, and in general, Sandra thought that although Jenny was a robot, she could be much more honest and sincere than other people, but about Brit and Tiff, although Sandra did not show it, her opinion worsened, and she began to slowly but surely move away from the crowd of people close to her cousins. In truth, Sandra thought, the cousins deserved it as payback for the ridicule and emotional trauma they inflicted on others, for their arrogance and meanness. The cousins received an even more severe lesson later, it unfolded in front of the whole school, it all started as a prank war between Jenny and her new friend and cousins, two pairs of opponents diligently harassed each other, and other students watched and laughed at one or the other. And the Krust cousins lost, they were driven to a nervous breakdown, and Jenny and Misty, that was the name of that friend of hers, began to dominate the school. The cousins had been teasing the dragon for a long time, capable of crushing them with one finger if desired, and never thought that they could get badly burned, but now they were dealing not with the good-natured Jenny, who most often restrained herself, but with the alien Misty, ready to use superhuman forces for revenge, the former aggressors could not envy. Somehow Sandra and Misty crossed glances when she passed by along the corridor and the brunette felt uncomfortable from this look, there was something piercing, cutting, inhuman and cruel in it, a reflection of the darkness hidden in the soul on the striped pupils, like a snake or a cat, wild and an extremely dangerous beast hiding behind external calmness and restraint, that's all. Sandra didn't show it, however, but slowly shifted her gaze, pretending to look at a poster posted on the wall.
“These ninjas are not to be trifled with, such a trifle or a whim will take a life without unnecessary problems and will not even hesitate,” — Sandra thought, turning after her. She didn't like this Misty, she couldn't figure out why, but the bizarre girl didn't inspire confidence at all.
Sandra was seriously afraid that Jenny would learn bad things from her, take her behavior model as a basis, and then it would not be sweet with her power at school. Fortunately, this did not happen, Jenny turned out to be good-natured and even protected her enemies from excessive retaliation. That case showed that there are working protection strategies against evil fashionistas, and Jenny, who did not succumb to a bad example, began to be respected, and there were never quarrels between her and Sandra, now good-neighborly relations have been established, although not friendship. Finally, Jenny earned universal respect after she saved the Earth during the invasion of the Cluster, her merit was beyond doubt.
The phone call pulled Sandra out of her thoughts.
— Yes? Oh, Sheldon, what's new, — the girl immediately beamed with joy, — okay, I'll come in, I just need to talk.
Having reached Sheldon on a skateboard, and there having examined his new invention, patiently listened to his long story about it, Sandra began to speak:
— Your new quantum superconductor is certainly interesting, although I did not understand anything from your explanation of how it works, I think you will find a use for it.
— What's new for you, Sandra? You changed your hairstyle, it looks beautiful... oh, wait, the hairstyle is the same.
— Unfortunately, there is some news that is not very joyful. Let me tell you everything. I wanted to tell you about what happened today, our feelings have become the subject of a very unwanted interest.
After listening to her story, Sandra told everything as it was, Sheldon looked upset. He frowned and said:
— Are you embarrassed to date me? So I'm not good enough for you and you're embarrassed of me in front of your girlfriends?
— No, that's not the point.
—Then what is it?
Sandra was stunned at first, she had never seen Sheldon on the verge of anger, apparently what he said hurt him.
— I just don't want gossip because we're really dating. Why would you and I bother too much if one of them would tease us and fix dirty tricks? It is now more profitable for us not to attract too much attention to ourselves and quietly sit out this year, after which we will enter higher educational institutions and cousins with their entourage will no longer get us. We have only one year left in school with these wicked girls, we will just finish our studies and become free from those who can harm us. So I lied to them, pretended that their conclusion was correct so that we would have fewer problems. We exist among people, many of whom are subject to the evil influence of even more evil people who judge by superficial external signs and are unable to discern the inner beauty of a person and we should not tempt them with a reason to mock, do you understand?
— Oh, that's how it is. I get you, you're right, Sandra, I'm sorry I started getting angry. You can really come up with worthwhile ideas.
The girl gently put her hands on his shoulders.
— Of course, we complement each other well. Are we destined for each other?
— Well, I don't believe in such sentimentality, only in scientific calculation and not in determinism.
They studied their lessons together and after finishing them, returned to idle conversations. Sandra asked:
— Sheldon, tell me, how did you start, well... your activity with inventions?
— Eh, since childhood, most of the school children rejected me, considered me strange and ugly, no one liked me, I was lonely. I found solace in working with different techniques and designing, and discovered a talent in this, through hard work I developed it more and more until I reached perfection.
— But I am not very attracted to technology, I like wildlife much more, I really love all living things and I want to enter the Faculty of Ecology after school.
Sandra spoke dreamily, her lover listened.
— I understand that there is a charming beauty in nature, I also know biology, botany and paleontology very well.
— Unfortunately, our environment has been under severe pressure lately due to the technological progress of mankind. Many species are at risk of extinction due to emissions from our industry and other activities, which is why I want to help wild animals after school, I want to save them, save our nature, but I understand that humanity cannot remain without progress. What if we had technologies that would not pollute our planet? After all, without our surrounding world, humanity will not last long.
Sheldon opened his eyes wider.
— This problem could be solved by developing nature-saving technologies and upgrading existing ones, it could become a new word, and after their cheapening and widespread introduction, it would stop the ecological crisis on the planet. Sandra, thank you, you've given me a promising new idea. I'll probably take a closer look at this issue over time, and I think you could help with that.
This was the first time the first beginnings of something new were laid, which would one day not only enrich Sheldon but also change the world.
The next day went quietly, the guys talked and joked at school with Jenny, Brad and so on, Sandra thought that she could find a much more pleasant and friendly company than a tangle of snakes. Speaking of snakes, Sheldon and Sandra's attention to each other was far from a secret to many, and today they met cousins. Brit briefly remarked as she passed by:
— Sheldon, I'm so glad that you found your dear, priceless betrothed, I hope now she will cure you of your obsession with robots, don't forget to just give your girlfriend gifts and don't be greedy.
He and Sandra exchanged quick, knowing glances.
— Of course, — he nodded, but in his mind he thought, “these are stupid,” the brunette seemed to be completely unanimous with him.
At least as long as the cousins didn't care, no one else would attack and find fault until they, as the most popular, pointed out the target, the outcast.
— Okay, I have to go to cheerleading practice,— said Sandra.
— And I'm in the circle of young technicians.
They were on their way and they went down to the lower floor of the school and turned into a nook, where three gloomy figures blocked their way. Tension immediately hung in the air.
— Hey, Sheldon, — the largest of them addressed, it was a group of hooligans who once offended a young technician, two guys and a mean-looking girl. — I heard you got very rich. Share it, I need money for the treatment of... uh, my sick uncle.
— Something tells me that you're lying, and this is just an excuse to covet someone else's property, you won't get my money from me.
Sheldon and his companion were going to bypass them and move on, but the bullies had other plans. The bully grabbed Sheldon by his shirt.
— Hey, haven't you received anything from Jenny for a long time? Sheldon frowned, not too scared.
— She's not here right now, and if you don't do as I say, you'll regret it.
The school bully grabbed an excellent student who was compact and fragile in his uniform and completely blocked any resistance.
— Sheldon?! Hey, let him go! — the girl rushed to the guy but was grabbed by the hands of the girl by the bully's henchman in an instant.
Sandra grappled with a bully girl who looked like a caricature of her: golden hair, braided in two short braids, but not at all a golden heart, vicious teeth like a shark on a crooked grin and a manic look. While the two attacked Sheldon and Sandra, the third bully, in a green jacket and hat, stood nearby and watched, laughing, the bully twisted the brunette's hands behind her back and then with a quick push put her on her knees. Sitting on top of her, blocking her arms with her weight, the evil girl began to pull her braids painfully, enjoying Sandra's screams and requests to stop and said in a nasty voice:
— Do you want to stay without these pigtails? So I'll shorten them for you now, I'll tear them out by the roots if you don't give us what we demand!
Inside Sheldon, who saw this, how his girlfriend was being insulted, rage surged, literally boiled with unbridled flame. Sheldon twisted and still slipped out of the grip and, as he was trained in a secret agency, used a karate move, stabbing the bully in the neck. He screamed and released Sheldon from the grip, and without hesitation, Sheldon gave him a kick in the chest, from which Goliath, towering over him, fell down, cursing angrily.
Sandra, taking advantage of the fact that her abuser was distracted by a brawl, pulled her hands out, grabbed her wrists with them, and then it turned out that she was noticeably smarter and stronger than her opponent: the years spent in cheerleading made themselves felt, she started a couple of years ago as a beginner, accepted by Pteresa, the head of the support team, and achieved success by becoming one of the best. A blonde girl, capable of attacking only those weaker than her, taking advantage of the surprise and support of two other hooligans, was thrown over Sandra and collapsed flat on the floor. She jumped up quickly, her face contorted into a grimace of rage and leaned forward, clenching her hands into fists.
— Do you want to get it? I'm stronger than you, but did I spoil the life of the younger students? — Sandra was already standing ready on her feet and took a semblance of a fighting stance, preparing to fight back, but seeing the enraged look of her opponent, she realized that she could easily overcome at the expense of not superiority in strength, but recklessness, malice and unrestrained wild rage, and much more experience in brawls, which Sandra, a peaceful and friendly girl, could boast of She couldn't, also a little guy in a hat came up to her and Sandra definitely wouldn't have stood up against two, but she didn't need to check it.
— Oh, you, well, now I'm for you! The gang leader said angrily, he had already recovered, stood up and rolled up his sleeves.
In response, Sheldon quickly rummaged in his backpack and pulled out a disk-like device.
— Anti-bullying, activation!
A disc-shaped drone with a sensor strip on board buzzed and soared into the air.
— You'd better leave in a good way, — the excellent student warned. — Otherwise you will get acquainted with this.
— Yes, I'm going to shove it right now! — the bully shouted and moved forward, along with him, her henchwoman took a quick step towards Sandra, swinging her fist.
— Aggression has been noticed, threat of attack, I am taking protective measures, warning: one more step and you will be punished, — a mechanical voice rang out, a hovering drone pulled out a device with a double metal cathode and anode from the dome.
The hooligans did not heed the warning and the hooligan with pigtails got the first one. A blue ray similar to an electric one hit her fifth point, the scoundrel screamed loudly, jumped up to the ceiling and hit her head on it and rushed away with unprecedented agility, flashing her heels. The drone turned around and attacked the gang leader, which made him howl and flop down on his face. The third bully, seeing this, simply stormed away, there was not a drop of courage in him.
— So you're the instigator and the main one, right? Sheldon turned to the defeated enemy. — Now you're going to pay for everything, teach him a lesson properly, anti-bully.
The drone crackled again and hit the scoundrel with a beam, and then again and again, screams echoed along the corridor, in the end, under the triumphant gaze of the inventor, the bulky bully did not even scream, but screamed like some kind of animal.
— Well, maybe that's enough? Sandra turned to Sheldon doubtfully.
— I agree, that's enough for today, — Sheldon called off the drone. — Otherwise the director will see us and make us guilty, he is like that. And remember, bastard, this is just a deposit. One more time you or one of your henchmen touches Sandra, me or anyone else, I'll repeat it and you'll regret that you ever leaned out of the house.
They left, leaving the aggressor lying down and coming to his senses, Sheldon admits thoughtfully:
— Yes, such people only understand the language of violence. It's unpleasant to descend to their level, but you need to protect yourself, it's an ugly situation, but today we have the victory.
— But if anything, we weren't there right now.
The teenagers, not wanting to be caught and receive disciplinary punishment, went about their business as if nothing had happened.

The next day, Sheldon was walking through school, thinking about how to do something nice for Sandra, when he almost bumped into yesterday's bulky bully in the hallway. They met each other's eyes and silently looked into each other's eyes, like two samurai in a duel, then Sheldon looked down and noticed that the big guy was now wearing a plaid shirt instead of a bully vest with a skull and torn edges, neat trousers, and high-soled boots were replaced with uncleaned shoes. Even his hair was neatly combed. He forced a tight smile. Sheldon examined him and moved on.
— It seems that yesterday's wellness spanking worked, — he said to himself under his breath, and as he left, he thought that it would be nice to go somewhere with Sandra. "What if... oh, I think she'll like it." It remains to get permission from Mrs. Wakeman.
Sheldon liked his idea and after school he dropped by the creator and Jenny's mom.
— XJ—nine is not at home right now,— she replied on the threshold.
— I'm on another matter, Mrs. Wakeman, could you give me one of your manned flying machines for the weekend? I want to go to Japan with a girl for the weekend.
— Do you have a girlfriend? I'm happy for you, but how can I lend it to you without a license?
— I controlled an entire alien space dreadnought, your devices are like a bike ride on its background.
— I'm sorry, but no.
— I have recently studied and passed my license on gravicycles and gravimobiles and other gravity transports, - he took out his ID card from his pocket and showed it, - and I will pay the fuel costs out of my pocket.
The last argument still tipped the scales.
— It's fine, but only because I know you well, we agreed, just don't break it and don't leave a dent, otherwise you'll have to pay for it too.
Sheldon got access to the equipment for the weekend, which he hurried to inform Sandra in a phone call.
— Hi, Sandra, honey, do you have any plans for the weekend? I've just asked Mrs. Wakeman to give me her rocket plane for the weekend, we could go somewhere and have a good time, I'd like to surprise you. What do you think about traveling to Japan?
— I have never been to Japan yet, but I would like to visit, of course, if my parents let me go, and so I agree, — an interested voice was heard from the other end of the wire. Sandra was clearly in favor.
— Okay, bring your passport ID, and I'll take care of everything else. The travel time on a rocket plane will be minimal, much faster than on an airliner, we will have enough time for an exciting journey.
After saying goodbye, they hung up. Sheldon sat down at the table and thought deeply about his feelings for Sandra.
The girl discussed the issue with her parents, and since they were pleased with her improvement in grades and had a good opinion of Sheldon as an intelligent student, they allowed her what they definitely would not have allowed with some slob chasing momentary success at school, even joked that at such an age as she, they had everything and it started, apparently understanding something, only they had a romantic trip to the lake.
The weekend came, and the teenagers met at the appointed place. Sandra, who had grabbed her purse with her things, came to the Wakeman house, where Sheldon was waiting for her, who had already rolled out of the garage that very high-speed rocket plane on which Jenny's parts had once been scattered all over the world.
— Everything is ready for the journey, — he announced solemnly.
— Then I'm ready too. Are you sure you can control it?
— Even Brad successfully controlled this rocket plane at one time. And I can handle it all the more, and I drive more carefully than him.
The assurances sounded more than convincing to Sandra. Sheldon opened the transparent dome and invited the girl forward:
— Please, sit down, mademoiselle.
The brunette smiled and sat down, Sheldon took the driver's seat, took the steering wheel and the girl kissed him on the cheek for good luck. The cabin was closed by a transparent dome and, at the touch of a lever, the engines hummed and carried the rocket plane into the sky. The transport accelerated rapidly and the lands of North America, forests, cities, fields and towering mountain ranges flew by below, and then a new majestic sight appeared, the vast Pacific Ocean stretched out in its unbridled watery majesty, foaming and billowing with waves, only specks of land rare among the expanses of blue islands were sometimes seen here and there.
Already on the way, the young people got a lot of impressions, saw the world where they had not seen it before, but there was even more ahead of them. In the distance, a darkening line appeared in the haze covering the horizon, it began to grow stronger and stronger rapidly. The Japanese archipelago was approaching. It grew rapidly in breadth and soon the rocket plane flew into the city and stopped in front of the barrier.
— Now we will check in with the border guards so that our tourist flight is legal, — Sheldon explained as he got out of the rocket plane.
A short border guard in a uniform and a cap came out to them, after briefly talking with Sheldon under the supervision of other border guards, as it turned out, he spoke Japanese well, he invited the guests to the registration point. The paperwork went quickly, Japanese officials spoke English, examined the passports, issued visas to the guests for two days and, smiling amiably, worshiped them, wishing them a pleasant weekend. According to the Japanese tradition, the teenagers bowed to them in response.
— Japanese customs is much faster than ours, — Sheldon said. — And much more cultured and courteous.
Their journey through the land of the rising sun has begun. Tokyo, full of neon lights and towering majestic skyscrapers, appeared in front of them, Sandra admired the city coming to life.
— I have a tour plan that we need to visit and buy some souvenirs, — her companion was telling her.
They also visited the vicinity of Mount Fujiyama, a majestic mountain with a white cap of snow on top, saw the sakura garden, visited ancient castles of medieval Japan with pagoda roofs, went to a cafe and tasted sushi, then flew on a rocket plane to the city of Ushiku, according to the plan of visiting Sheldon's place, where a sculpture of a stone Buddha appeared before them, She towered majestically and peacefully like a good-natured wise giant.
—Oh, impressive,— the girl said. — And the atmosphere of this place is so indescribably calm, peaceful, unlike the bustling Tokyo.
— Can you imagine the efforts of the builders and masons erecting this statue? They were clearly single-minded hard workers, with the technology of the time to erect such a creation.
— Great. Would you like to stay here for a while?
— If you wish, then I will stay here. I have heard that the Buddha helps to find peace of mind for everyone who turns to him," Sheldon said. — You don't even have to be a Buddhist. Shall we meditate?
They sat down a little to the side nearby in the lotus position in front of the majestic statue and closed their eyes. Japan, with its pacification and clean air masses descending from the mountains, calmed and gave spiritual uplift.
Sitting, Sandra briefly opened one eye and quickly looked at her companion, a smile appeared on her face, then she closed her eye again and thought about how grateful she was that she had allowed them to meet and get acquainted, that she probably had the most wonderful lover imaginable and how happy she was to share a journey with him. The girl was sitting and it seemed to her that something was happening, a feeling that cannot be accurately described, as if she had found unity with the world, as if she was filled with inner energy and strength and all the energy of the universe was flowing through her, nourishing and giving spiritual strength. Almost an hour passed unnoticed during the meditation before they moved on, thanking the Buddha and bowing to the statue.
Due to the time zone difference, the guests stayed at the hotel and while it was daytime, they were forced to take a nap, slept separately, as they were still embarrassed by such a close union, Sandra took a nap on the bed and Sheldon got off the sofa, but they did not sleep for long, at most five hours and by the end of the Japanese working day, fresh went to the journey. Sheldon bought himself a gilded statue of Buddha and also a cat with an upraised paw, which, according to legend, brought profit, he did not forget his companion.
— Sandra, do you want a gift?
— Only if you want to do it. The best gift I've ever received in my life is to be with you.
— Oh, how maximalistic. But I still want to do something to make you happy.
In the new city, Sheldon looked into a shop that was an entrepreneur's workshop and came out with a wrapped object that looked like either a golf club or a fishing rod and walked up with a satisfied look and handed it to her.
— My gift to you, there will be a souvenir for all souvenirs.
— Oh, something weighty? — the girl held in her hands and opened the gift box and found there the handle, as it turned out, of a katana in a dark scabbard.
— I thought for a long time that I could give you something that is a symbol of Japan and to look respectable, so I chose this.
Pulling on the hilt, Sandra took out a quarter of the shiny blade of the katana and laughed with a confused look.
"Thanks, of course, Sheldon, but I'm not into guns. It's not for me, but it certainly looks beautiful and impressive.
— And you hang it on the wall, let it be with you, as a memento of the trip.
— Okay, I'll do that, I definitely won't use this thing," Sandra replied, putting the katana back in its scabbard. — The main thing is that my sister does not grab her, but she is obedient, does not take or touch anything without asking me.
Later, the couple attended a performance at a traditional Japanese theater, had lunch at a sushi bar, and took a tour of Matsumoto Castle, a majestic monument of the past towering pagodas above the water surface. The guests visited many places, they had a chance to communicate with the people of Japan, people who are kind and hospitable to guests, and imperceptibly it was time to leave an amazing country, modern and colorful, but still mysterious and preserving its history and unique culture.
Standing by the rocket plane, the high school students looked at Tokyo with its colorful lights, ports with docks and alleys with benches, behind which the distant mountains were white.
— Jenny and Brad used to be here once, and they helped the local robot hero fight off the chimera, I also visited, but just in passing, — said Sheldon thoughtfully. — I always wanted to see and get to know Japan better, and so I found someone to see it with. Well, let's go?
— See you again, Japan. I'll see you again someday. It seems that I've become a little Japanese, too," Sandra smiled and they took their seats in the rocket plane.
Engines roared, spewing flames and high school students rushed back to the American States. We got there quickly, Sheldon dropped his beloved off at her house.
— Well, I will return the device to Mrs. Wakeman, who kindly provided it to us. Then, see you tomorrow, Sandra?
The girl came up to him a step, hinting that she wanted something special to say goodbye and Sheldon gently hugged her, pulled her to him and kissed her, they stood for a while and Sandra put her head on his chest, and finally they reluctantly parted, the girl waved goodbye:
— To Tomorrow, Sheldon, my dear, thank you for a wonderful unforgettable trip.
She walked away and Sheldon watched her tenderly. He plunged into his thoughts again and was surprised to realize that since Sandra confessed her feelings to him, he also fell in love with her in return, seeing her sincerity, under the veil of obvious inexperience and inexperience in love affairs, her touching naive love for him was able to melt his heart to his surprise.

The next day came and the students hurried to school. Today there was a physical education lesson, from a large and very tactless teacher who was feared by all students without exception and nicknamed “bully-rude”. Running seven laps was her standard task and now Jenny's class was doing just that, many were unenthusiastic and frankly despondent about it, they trudged along as if a load was pressing on them, but not the elegant brunette Sandra, encouraged by yesterday's wonderful day, she felt as if she didn't mind such a grueling run, and By herself, the girl was in great physical shape, she was flying like a bird in the wind when Sheldon caught up with her and spoke.
— Hey, I told you that this tracksuit suits you, did you know? And your beautiful long dark braids flutter so beautifully when you run.
— Thanks, Sheldon. Did you want to say something?
The girl smiled at him, realizing with pleasure from this compliment that she really fell into his heart.
Brad told me here that the way you and I disappeared for the whole weekend did not go unnoticed by the school. What are we going to do and how to comply with non-advertising?
— As far as I know, our cousins are not interested in our relationship. They still can't get over the incident with the coleslaw, well, when they personally learned the saying "don't dig a hole for another, in this case, Jenny, you'll get into it yourself." All their thoughts are busy searching for how to repay her for that incident. And while they are not interested in us, we can be calm.
— Well, I'm relatively calm about Jenny, they're like two snakes trying to bite her, biting themselves over and over again, she's developed effective ways of confronting them over the years, and don't worry. Are we going somewhere today?
— And let's meet in your den and discuss it there. And this tracksuit you're wearing suits you, in my opinion, when you're wearing a little less clothes and your figure is visible.
Not far away, Jenny was jogging at it from the side and caught deja vu with a mixture of amazement and shock, as if she had already seen it somewhere, after briefly checking the hard drive with memory, she remembered that Sheldon had once run with Ptereza in the same way, but it smacked of some kind of falsehood, but now their conversation with the brunette The flirtations sounded completely sincere, the robot was very uncomfortable that her sound sensors, surpassing the human ear, allow her to hear them, but accidentally overhearing about the upcoming intrigues of her school friends eventually helped her to be ready.
After school, Sheldon and Sandra, as agreed, visited him. The young genius did two things alternately at two computers at once, on one he printed memories from space travel, and on the second he launched a program calculating his new project, bizarre lines of code crawled across the screen and an image of a turbine resemblance turned, only much more complex, surrounded by capacitors and energy generators.
— By the way, I'm building a small space yacht out of the wreckage of the Cluster's flagship outside the city, its wreckage turned out to be useless after the defeat of their invasion forces, and I took them into my own hands," Sheldon said, cunningly rubbing his palms. — You will find out about this before my friends, they are always absorbed in their entertainment, but I love intellectual work and I am pleased that you show a sincere interest in it.
— Your stories about other worlds can be listened to, Sheldon. By the way, it wouldn't hurt for you to clean up a little here," the girl replied, gathering books into a pile, "do you mind if I sort out your things? It will be more convenient for you to navigate them later.
— Oh, okay, go ahead, — Sheldon waved, thinking that Sandra was already behaving like a wife.
She began to fuss and organize his things by category, while the inventor entered new data into the computer, on which the silhouette of the device with two paired wings on the sides was visible. Sandra took an inconspicuous folder from one of the shelves and dropped a stack of papers from it, which fell to the floor with a rustle. She picked them up, thinking that they must be another blueprint, but there was something of a completely different kind that made the girl gasp and blush slightly.
Sheldon finally noticed that Sandra was flipping through and watching something that he would rather hide from everyone. He came up and realized that it was too late to hide anything, robots, robot girls were painted there. They looked at each other in silence with awkwardness and the brunette finally said:
— Did you draw this?
- Uh, yes. But I'll explain everything.
— By the way, it is very well drawn. Where did you learn to draw like that?
— This is during my travels in space, I needed to do something to occupy myself.
— And why are robots girls and more suitable for a magazine with girls?
Sheldon rubbed his neck in embarrassment.
— You see, I was unpopular with girls and was very upset. Everyone was dating, but the girls avoided me, and I came to the conclusion that the best way to get a girlfriend is to have a robot girlfriend who definitely won't reject you. Robots seemed to me more loyal, more predictable than humans, because they can be programmed the way you need them and you won't get betrayal, meanness and bullying from them and ignoring with contempt. So my interest in robots began to prevail and I fantasized about the perfect robot girlfriend who would not reject me. So I drew myself what she might look like, and then, having raised my drawing skills during my time in space, I simply redrawn my old sketches.
— Oh, that's how it is. Now I understand you.
Sandra gave him the album sheets.
— But since we started dating, have you seen that ordinary girls are also good?
— Yes, I feel good with you. Only now I notice that I have begun to move away from my friends and Jenny, devoting more and more time to you. Friends' paths often diverge, and I feel that our paths with them may also diverge. I think and feel sad: who will I have after this?
— Maybe we'll have each other? Sandra said softly and put her hand on his shoulder.
— It certainly sounds positive. We'll see, we'll see how it will be.
From that day on, Sandra often came to mind the works she saw of her boyfriend and was torn apart by very controversial feelings, she could not forget what she saw, it was also a note of jealousy for the perfect submissive robot girls drawn by Sheldon and at the same time admiration for his drawing. One day she told him, when they were walking alone after school:
— Sheldon, I want you to draw me as one of your robot girls.
The guy gasped, but did not refuse. Finally, it turned out to be a good day when her parents went away on business, and Veronica, Sandra's younger sister, was with her grandmother in a neighboring town and no one could interfere. Having closed the windows in the room, the girl lay down on her side on the sofa, and Sheldon, taking the canvas in his hands, began to work. Beads of sweat stood out on his temples, he worked so hard, his concentrated gaze walked from the young girl to the canvas. Sandra watched him work with some joy and did not move. It took a long time, and finally, the excellent student put down his pencil and said in a triumphant tone:
— It's done, you can take a look.
Dressed in her pink nightie, Sandra got up and walked over, slipping behind Sheldon's shoulders. From what she saw, she widened her eyes in surprise and opened her mouth slightly, squeezing out “awww”, there was something not what she expected.
— As you asked, you are a robot girl.
A very plausible Sandra appeared on the album sheet, but as if dressed in armor, wearing a helmet with a sensor on her forehead, a chest plate, armbands on her arms and loincloths with greaves on her legs, jumping sideways, she fired a blaster shot on her right hand, her pigtails, wrapped in a protective rim, came out from the back of the helmet. Since she didn't want to upset the guy, she said, smiling gently:
— Impressive, is this what I would be like if I were a robot? Well, I like it. It's kind of like the megalomaniac from your video games and comics, were you inspired by him, huh?
— Yes, sort of. You more or less liked this character and I had the idea to make you look like him.
— You drew my braids very carefully, I see.
Sandra was pleased to realize that judging by how neatly and in detail he depicted her hair, Sheldon especially liked them.
— If you like it, then let this portrait of you be with you, hang it in a frame somewhere.
So they did, and soon Sandra's drawing, in which she was a warrior robot dressed in armor, hung on the wall next to a katana in a case.
Time passed and Sheldon and Sandra felt quite at ease at school, everyone knew about their relationship, but it didn't matter to the cousins of Crust, they continued to believe that Sandra was only using Sheldon, they simply could not comprehend that someone might have sincere feelings for him and if walking down the corridor together they and if they met strange eyes, they didn't care. The girl was no longer tormented by nightmares, and the cutting objects also stopped causing disturbing associations, her mental state finally completely returned to normal. Everything was going well. It's too good to last forever.
Everything came suddenly, like a bolt from the blue. That day, Sandra, as usual, came to the cheerleading section for training, and was met with a frown from Pteresa, one of the main ones in the support group
— Are we training a new number today? The brunette asked idly, already sensing a strange unkind tension.
— Yes, but you won't need it. You're being expelled from the cheerleaders," the short red—haired girl said coldly, frowning with obvious disdain.
— Are they being excluded? — the schoolgirl gasped, asking again. — Wait, but why? I've been doing an excellent job.
— I am not obliged to indicate the reason for the decision of the three chapters. Hand over your uniform.
Frustrated, Sandra silently obeyed. A large layer of her life, in which she had invested and tried for a couple of years, split off in an instant.
— Okay, I hope you can do it without me, good luck to you, did you really find someone better than me? — trying to leave on a good note, Sandra left, but something inside her seemed to break off and dejectedly fell to the ground.
She began to guess on the go what the reason was, maybe she forgot to pay off the debt or did not help when, or was rude casually, without realizing it herself, but another option quickly came to mind. One way or another, Sandra decided, it would all become clear soon. Everything was resolved at recess before the last lesson when she happened to meet with a group of the most popular girls at school, among whom were the cousins of Crust and their closest henchmen, they themselves came up when Sandra was sorting through things in a drawer in the hallway. Brit Crust, the unspoken intellectual leader of their company, spoke up.
— Sandra, I have some unpleasant news for you. You're having an affair with that nerdy Sheldon, and we've learned that you're having it for real. We wouldn't judge you if you weren't serious about him, but you are.
—You lied to us, — Tiff chimed in. — You can't be in our company anymore while you're messing with this crazy nerd.
— I'll explain everything, — the brunette replied, trying to be calm, raising her palms, internally realizing that she could not object to anything and, in fact, did not really want to.
—Unfortunately,— Brit Crust drawled, "you can't be in the second rank while you're in a relationship with Sheldon, from now on you're excluded from the second rank and transferred to the lowest. Maybe someday you'll get promoted to third and then come back to second, but not now.
— No more invitations to us and sit in the dining room with your nerds and don't come near us,— Tiff muttered.
— Okay. So be it, — Sandra shrugged and trudged down the corridor, followed by the looks of contempt and indignation from the school elite.
Now everything fell into place, and the guess about why she was kicked out of the cheerleaders, to whom she devoted so much of her soul and efforts, turned out to be correct. Sandra had long expected that all this would happen, that she would always throw dust in her eyes, saying that she and Sheldon would not work for profit and the truth would become known and then contempt and ridicule would fall on her like a hammer blow. She was thinking and couldn't understand how the Cousins got the news that she and Sheldon had a real relationship, perhaps in a roundabout way, through word of mouth, and now it was threatening trouble.
After finishing her literature, the student headed home, remaining silent and immersed in her thoughts. It seemed to her that there was some kind of plan in changing attitude towards her. She tried to understand what could be expected from the richgirls group now, suspicions and attempts to anticipate further moves were hovering in her head, to think ahead strategically, she learned this from Sheldon, and analyzing what was happening, it seemed to her that there was something wrong in all this, but she could not understand what exactly.
A call came in at home, her friends, Suzie, who went to school in a fashionable all-season cap and a turquoise sweater and Kiki, wanted to talk to her on the conference. They chatted about this and that: shopping, things, who bought what clothes, and soon Sandra said with a grin:
— Have you already heard, girls? I was relegated to a lower rank today.
— How's that? Suzie exclaimed.
— And that's it, for Sheldon. And it seems to me that something is wrong with this. Too straightforward actions for Brit Crust.
— And I warned you that there might be problems if you go out with him.
— After weighing my feelings for him and their attitude towards me, I realized that the former outweighed the former, so alas, your advice would not have affected anything.
— Expect provocations from them, anything is possible, but I don't think they will start direct bullying, given that in the past you were in good standing.
— Do you also think that they will try to make me regret not meeting their standards and go back to dancing to their tune?
— If anything happens, Sandra, I'll support you, — Kiki reassured her. — At school, many people are cool with cousins, they got a lot of students, but they don't show it directly because of their influence. But I'm ready to stand up for you. Are you with us, Susie?
— I agree, — another friend replied. — I have an idea. I, and you too, Kiki, will quietly find out from the students, as if by chance, who else does not like cousins and their tyranny. If a group of us gathers, we will be able to resist them. Let's call our organization the School Resistance Association, S.R.A. What do you think the name will do?
— I like the "community of resistance to the tyranny of cousins Crust" better.
— I like the idea, — Kiki agreed, — but the name is too long and the abbreviation is inconvenient, let's put it simply: "girls union".
— And let's call the organization "Bene Gesserit"? — Sandra suggested, to the silent bewilderment of the others.
— It's a little too sophisticated. Something from the books you read with Sheldon Lee? Let's keep it simple, "girls' union", and the alternative name is "resistance to cousins of the Crust".
— Okay, the union is the union.
— Jenny should also be invited there, — Sandra noted, — she was most often harassed, and I have a sneaking suspicion that this punishment of me is the first step to harm her through pressure on me. In the meantime, I'll tell you, pretend like nothing happened. I've seen things that you can't hurt me with these teasers, be calm for me, I'm just offended that I was kicked out of the cheerleaders.
— But the cousins were already kicked off once, — said Kiki, — when Vexus entered the school disguised as a girl and gained trust, do you remember that too?" It worked then, and it may work now if their provocations become unbearable.
— Agreed. Understand, I don't want to fight with my cousins, but I just want to quietly exist at school, so that no one puts pressure on me for who I'm dating, and not be anyone's puppet. Therefore, my dears, for now we are just watching and waiting for what they will do.
That's what we agreed. Talking to her friends, who were on her side, calmed and encouraged Sandra. The next day, when her former company began to shun her, stopping talking, the girl felt annoyed.
— They show their true appearance, — she told herself, seeing haughty faces and hearing giggles and whispers behind her, and when she met the red —haired beauty Kiki and the petite Suzie in a turquoise coat, she nodded softly, letting them know that everything was fine.
In the dining room, Jenny, Brad and Sheldon were sitting at the same table as usual when Sandra joined them.
— Do you mind? She said softly.
— Of course, have a seat, — Sheldon smiled. — Always glad to see you and my friends too.
— Why don't you sit with your cousins and their entourage as you often did? Jenny asked.
— I was kicked out of their company.
— Kicked out? Brad and Jenny asked in surprise.
— I'm a low—ranking outcast now.
Sandra briefly explained the situation.
— As for me, wildness. Jenny frowned after listening to her. — Everyone has the right to have a relationship with whomever they want.
— Rotten cousins of Krust, oh rotten, with their minions, — Brad shook his head. — I also warned Jenny on her first day at school to stay away from them.
— Yes, now I realize this, I've talked a lot with a bunch of cousins and their girlfriends, but now I hate it when I was expelled from their group for a mere trifle. And I have a suspicion. But I'll tell you about it later, after school, now is not the time. This may be important.
When the lessons ended, the group went together, keeping silent, behind the giggles of some of the girls who supported the cousins. Walking away from the school, Sandra looked around, making sure that now there was definitely no one who could hear, and spoke:
— I have a suspicion that it started so abruptly because they want to put pressure on me, make me uncomfortable at school and I agreed to all their conditions in order to regain my former status. And the conditions are to help them harm Jenny, for example, to find out your secrets, personal information and tell them everything so that they can use it against you. This may be due to the fact that I was so sharply attacked.
—These are parasites,— Sheldon wrathfully curled up, clenching his fists. — They've drunk so much of Jenny's blood and they won't calm down in any way.
— What's the use of wasting anger on them? We need to stick together and be ready to fight back and defend our honor. If anything, Jenny, join our community of resistance to the tyranny of cousins Crust, the girls' union, in short.
— What kind of community? Is there such a thing?
— Yes, there is now,— brunette replied. — It started with my expulsion from their party, there were those girls who sympathized with me. I, in turn, do not want to work for the cousins of Crust, if they really are plotting a new intrigue against you. Time puts everything in its place, who can be a true friend, and who uses and manipulates. I'll wait for them to tell me what to do and I'll let you know, Jenny. Maybe I should even play along with them.
— Okay, I'll help your union. Thank you, Sandra, for standing up for me and not wanting to be a slave to Cousins.
— In the meantime, we're holding on as usual, not letting on that we've figured them out, — agreed Brad.

So began the difficult school days for Sandra. The girls with whom she had previously communicated began to turn up their noses at her, whether it was Brit and Tiff Crust, and many from the second rank, they did not greet in response, responded by ignoring, and for example, for some unknown reason, Ptereza was rude and sarcastic when possible. She also stopped being invited to girls' meetings and general parties, where she was always at ease. There were chuckles as Sandra walked down the hall.
— How "good" friends from the highest rank, — Sandra grumbled and thought that Jenny, as far as she knew her, seemed much more human, despite the fact that she was a robot.
Standing and thinking, she crossed eyes with Amanda walking down the hall next to her. A brunette in an emerald skirt and the oblique handkerchief looked at Sandra with sympathy and sadness, it seems she wanted to say something, but refrained. Sandra, with whom the periodically walked in the company and shopping, knew that Amanda was not her enemy. After all, not all high school students give in to this attitude of hers, Phil, Ryan, Kiki and Susie were still her friends, and the vast majority simply remained neutral.

With the exception of the cheerleaders, the girl soon resigned herself and instead of this section began to pay more attention to riding a skateboard and honing her dexterity. Once, while talking in the hallway, Sheldon and Sandra discussed the general boycott of her former social circle.
— I think this bike is, fortunately, the most inefficient form,— Sheldon said. — The main thing is that there is no direct aggression and sabotage, it seems to me that no one wants to get involved with you and me simply because everyone knows the case when we taught bullies a lesson using my anti-bully drone. They are afraid of retaliation and this is a serious deterrent, so no one dares to go further than stupid teasers, to which we are immune, right?
— I think you're right. I thought about it and decided that I needed to pretend that I was offended so that they would finally put forward their conditions on which my general disregard would be terminated.
At this time, two people came up to them.
— Hey, what's that hanging on your back? Brad spoke up.
Sheldon and Sandra, turning their backs to each other, saw that they had glued pieces of paper.
— Nerd, nerdphile, — Jenny read aloud.
— Is this a compliment or an honorary title? — the brunette grinned, taking off the piece of paper on the tape from her back. — Are they thinking of offending us with this?
— For me personally, nerd is not a swear word, — Sheldon said, — nor are its synonyms.
— And if we keep these papers with teasers as a keepsake, we will attach them to the school album, will there be something to remember?
And from the side, Brit and Tiff watched them carefully, without attracting attention, and they were not pleased with their gaiety.
— It's strange why Sandra still doesn't ask to join our company, — said short fashion girl said, clasping her hands. — It seems that talking to the toaster and her friends is stupefying Sandra, she will soon become as crazy as Sheldon.
— Yes, we thought that neglecting her would be enough, but a week has passed and she doesn't care. We need to come up with something else…
That afternoon, on her way out of school, Sandra noticed that Amanda had casually tagged along with her. As soon as they moved away where no one else would see them, her friend spoke.
— Sandra, sweet, you have no idea, cousins forbid all girls to communicate with you and tell them to break off all communication with you otherwise, they say they will be at the very bottom, like you.
— But I see that you still communicate with me. So you're for me and not for them?
— That's for sure. We've known each other for so many years, and now I have to forget you because of them? I've been meaning to ask you, they're mad at you because you're dating Sheldon, which has been no secret for a long time, but why now? I'm not ready to openly contradict them, but we need to come up with something to mitigate your situation, sweetty.
She touched her shoulder, giving her a friendly pat. Sandra nodded and replied:
— I myself wanted to know what was on their minds, but this conversation is not for the street where we can be overheard. All I can tell you, Amanda, go to Susie, ask her how to join the "Bene Gesserit of School", she will explain how we keep the connection a secret from everyone.
Meanwhile, a nondescript student approached them, and when Sandra saw him, she smiled with joy. Amanda looked at her with affection, knowing all the subtext and also greeted him with respect:
— Hey, Sheldon, didn't you save Sandra from the nasty sadistic cans? And you're probably a good guy. Usually Jenny does all this, saving everyone, but you didn't make a mistake. How would I live if we lost our darling! Okay, I won't bother you, lovebirds.
Amanda left and Sheldon started talking to the cute brunette.
— Outside the city, — he said softly, — I'm putting together my new project, it's almost finished and I want to show you. Jenny and Brad, as always, have no time, she flies to save the world, and he goes after the girls.
Sandra accepted his invitation and after lunch they rode a bicycle and skateboard to the outskirts, where there was an old abandoned factory. Despite the dilapidation, the building was still standing, which allowed Sheldon to use it as a hangar. They went inside and Sandra gasped. Inside the old building stood a real spaceship, with a dark beige hull, shaped perhaps like the letter L, with two double greenish wings, pointed at the edges, fifteen meters each, spread out on top of it. It towered about six meters high, being topped by a rectangular cabin with an oval porthole.
— Did you put this together? Alone? The girl said in amazement.
— Not quite alone, the weights were moved by robots most often, which I temporarily rented so that they would do heavier work that I would not be able to do. As you remember, I used debris and parts from the Cluster flagship that fell apart in half, you will recognize its silhouette on the wings, and its engine for interspatial flights turned out to be almost intact, and while everyone was busy rebuilding the city, I took it for myself. I've only added my atmospheric engines.
— But how could you design everything alone?
— I have a lot of experience. After my silver man costume, I wanted to move on and see what I could do, so I decided to set myself a new task, to make a space yacht for personal travel.
— Did you get in the way of strangers? Building in secret from everyone in such a place is risky, some thieves or vandals will get in, they won't steal it, they'll break it.
— So that no one else would meddle here, I have placed repellent devices with holograms around the building, - Sheldon grinned. — In order for them to scare away all uninvited guests, I took a souvenir projector made of flakes as a basis, only I made a more powerful version of it. Look!
There was a small device on the floor, like a saucer, Sheldon stamped his foot next to it and it ejected a hologram with a creepy-looking ghost. It was trembling all over, spreading its torn limbs and emitting a heart-rending howl beyond the grave, and Sandra caught herself thinking that perhaps if she had stumbled upon such a thing unexpectedly in an abandoned building, she would have been scared and rushed away as fast as she could. It is not surprising that the yacht under construction was unharmed
— How original. I can't stop admiring you, Sheldon! What can your ship do?
— I'll give it the name “Wanderer”, with the engine that the Cluster Empire used to get to us, it will be able to deliver a dozen passengers at least in the next fifty light-years to any planet and then back, it's enough to know their coordinates.
Sandra clung to the guy and kissed him on the cheek.
— You're a miracle, Sheldon is so smart and diligent. I'm proud of you! Why did they always turn on you like that at school? No one appreciates you, how unfair it is.
— Oh, are you worried about this? I'm sorry that you're in trouble now because of me.
— No, no, don't blame yourself for their stupidity. Well, have you tested your ship yet?
— Not yet, but I will check it soon, and before that I still need to register this vehicle with the department. But as soon as everything is ready, I'll take you on a trip around the galaxy.
After that, they returned to the city and stopped to relax at the Mezmers cafe, eat ice cream and drink a milkshake, and there their appearance again attracted the unnecessary attention of some of the students, although most did not care anymore.
— Don't pay attention, let them think what they want, — Sandra told Sheldon. — I don't care what they think.
Cousins came into the cafe and passing by, stopped briefly, Brit said haughtily:
— Look who we have here. A bore and a nerdy girl, a couple, a goose and a auk. By the way, our party last night was awesome, it's a pity you didn't see it, and you won't if you keep messing with this.
— Because people like you are not allowed in there, keep hanging out in dusty labs with your nerds and nerds and playing underground dragons or whatever they play, — Tiff agreed as always.
— Passive aggression, as usual from them, — Sandra shrugged as they walked away and lowered her voice to a whisper, adding, "and it seems to me that Brit is jealous of me.
— Jealous? Why do you think that?
— I'll explain later when we're alone.
Don Prima approached them, walking mannerly.
— Good afternoon, Sandra, I'm thinking about inviting you to a party this Sunday, — he said, ignoring Sheldon as if he didn't exist.
— Thank you, can I come with Sheldon?
The most attractive guy from high school twisted his face as if he had heard something nasty and even condescended to take a quick look at the girl's companion.
— No, just without him. We don't invite untidy nerds in stupid cheap sneakers who are talking nonsense.
—Hey, it's not nice to talk about a person like that in his presence," Sheldon protested, frowning at him.
— I'm not going without Sheldon, — Sandra shrugged.
— It's a pity, so the party will be without you. You're missing out on a lot of our elite social circle for the sake of your nerd. It is not surprising that they glue sheets of nerd and nerdy on your backs, and you will walk with them until you find someone prettier.
The handsome but rotten inside guy left.
— Don't worry, Sheldon, — Sandra touched his palm.
— I'm not upset. I don't care about the opinion of these empty-headed people from the self-styled elite crowd and I never liked their company of snobs.
After finishing their cocktail and ice cream, the couple went home. Returning under the evening sky with the first stars appearing, Sheldon and Sandra continued their conversation.
— I understand you, Sandra, you're sad, because you wanted to sit on two chairs, be on good terms with the high society of fashionable girls and with our company, and meet with me, and be friends with those who can't stand me, and it could work... But because of the bias and bitchiness of the former, it was doomed to fail. I thought that maybe our relationship could raise my social status at our school, and I would be more respected, but on the contrary, they lowered yours and you felt uncomfortable. I'm sorry about what happened.
— No, I'm not really sad. It opened my eyes to how rotten their party is, I won't trade my beloved savior for them, be sure! I'm more comfortable with you, Jenny, Brad, well, if we've often participated in flash mobs with the latter before, then you're new to me, but I'm even glad, it wasn't difficult to join you, you're good guys.
— And tell me, what do you think about my appearance? Only honestly and objectively. They've given you a boycott for being a cool girl and seriously dating an unsightly guy like me. I wouldn't want you to be taken anywhere because of me.
Sandra rolled her eyes and gasped, realizing that Don Prima's words and attitude as unworthy to have a relationship with her did not slightly hurt Sheldon, despite his outward, like protective armor, calmness. Silence reigned, only something was happening above the streets, raising their heads, they saw Jenny Wakeman rushing after an alien space fighter-bomber, outwardly similar to a crescent moon deployed concavely forward and shooting after him, the rumble of rocket engines and the sounds of firing from Jenny's blasters and retaliatory fire from the tail turret of a fighter, similar events no one was particularly surprised in the city anymore, even Sheldon and Sandra were watching them, just wondering how soon Jenny would win and throw the shattered skeleton of the insolent man into Earth orbit.
— And it often happens that a partner does not cling to appearance, that's how you hooked me when I was able to look at you better.
— Not for my appearance, — Sheldon repeated, looking up at the girl from above, where the chase was taking place, — so, judging by your evasive answer, in your opinion, my appearance still leaves much to be desired? — Just don't take it as a reproach to you, Sandra. Do you want me to take care of her?
— Understand, you generally suit me, even though you are not a handsome man, and like any inventor who is passionate about intellectual work, you are not particularly up to spending time caring for some kind of appearance. And these fashionistas are so short-sighted and narrow-minded that any discrepancy in appearance to their standards is already a reason for them to consider a person unworthy. Well, for me... it certainly wouldn't hurt for you to take care of yourself a little better, it's not for nothing that they say, "they meet you by your clothes, they see you off by your mind," these fools simply don't notice your admirable mind because of the external impression, but if you were a little prettier, maybe in the eyes of the school you would too I gained more respect and then the attacks on us will weaken, what do you think?
— Oh, well, I understand you, Sandra, there is common sense in your words, I will take the advice into account. Maybe in the end they'll get over it and leave us alone if I get prettier. And by the way, what about Brit Crust? You said you'd explain.
— It seems to have dawned on her that you can become successful and rich. She glanced at you once with some interest. But she is not interested in you, but only in your potential wealth. As Kiki told me, who happened to overhear the conversation of her close Cousins, when Brit found out that you took me to Japan for the weekend, she almost burst with envy.
— Brit Crust is not my type, — Sheldon laughed, — because of her nasty temper and creepy rat—like incisors. So she wouldn't have been in danger. Look what I wanted, my heart is already occupied by one charming sweet girl who appreciates me and helps me, who managed to crack my preconceived attitude towards girls, who listens to my sometimes boring stories about science, and even if she understands little, seeing her enthusiastic sparkle in her eyes, I am pleased to be with her.
— That's good to hear, Sheldon. The more my ex-friends put pressure on me to break up with you, the more I become convinced to be with you, to spite them. And I will never forget how you saved me, my brave hero.
They looked at each other sweetly, but the moment that was supposed to lead to a kiss was interrupted by a roar of noise, the air was torn apart by the roar of an entire squadron of three dozen moon-shaped fighters, and now they were rushing after the robotess who fled with a panicked face, pouring heavy fire from green blasters on her.
— Hey, Jenny seems to have problems! — Sandra noticed, looking surprised.
— It looks like it, but nothing, Jenny did not turn the tide of battle in such situations in her favor, she will cope, she is no stranger to it, — Sheldon replied, watching the chase, and pressing his palms to his mouth, shouted after: — hey, Jenny, go ahead, victory will be yours! We believe in you, give ‘em!

Chapter 5: That terrible day

Chapter Text

Saturday in Tremorton promised to be sunny and bright, residents rejoiced at the shortened working day and looked forward to a rest. Brad was preening and thinking about plans for where and with whom to go, Sheldon was busy in the workshop in the morning, about to leave the city, restless was playing in the yard and only Nora Uyekman was anxiously watching radars and early detection systems, which greatly annoyed Jenny, who, with a high level of danger, had to be on guard, of course, steel The girl would have preferred to mind her own business, but duty was duty.
Meanwhile, Sandra was also idly relaxing in her house, she talked to Kiki on the phone, the news was encouraging, Amanda also joined their girl allies club. After completing the conversation, the girl left the room and went out into the courtyard, Sandra agreed to spend the day with her parents, help plant flowers and decorate their garden. Her mother, a sweet brunette, from whom Sandra got her raven-colored hair, carried pots with seedlings, her father, brown-haired half a head taller than her, helped her and brought garden tools and fertilizers.
— Mom, Dad, I'm ready, how can I help? The high school student smiled at them as she approached.
— In the meantime, you can plant decorative ivy over there near the fence near the road, and poke flowers here and there to your taste, — woman replied.
— All right! Sandra replied and busied herself with the seedlings. — It's a pity that Veronica is not with us, she probably plants flowers today too, only with her grandmother.
Pulling out a row of neat holes, Sandra staggered gladioli, dahlias and chrysanthemums. Carefully sprinkling the sprouts with earth, she watered them from the watering can, and went to the other end, where she planted ivy near the fence. Clapping her hands, shaking off the remnants of the earth, Sandra smiled, pleased with her work, went into the house and returned with a cute feeder that her younger sister had made and hung on a tree. As if expecting this, an elegant red bird with a tuft immediately sat down on the white fence next to it and looked at it with interest.
— Hello, red cardinal, — the girl sat down, smiled and put the sunflower seeds she had already saved on her hand. — Will you? My treat.
Chirping as if in the affirmative, the beautiful creature landed on her hand and began to eat the seeds, taking one at a time and methodically chewing with a powerful beak and looking with beady eyes at the person.
— Trusting creature, it's good that no one has offended you and therefore you are not afraid of people.
Sandra looked lovingly at her parents, who were watering the planted crocuses in the inner part of the yard. The girl returned her gaze to the bird, thinking that it would be nice to show this miracle to her family. The bird, in turn, having finished another seed, grabbed a new one, but having started pecking at it, stopped and froze. Turning his head restlessly, the cardinal dropped the seed and quickly flew away. Shrugging her shoulders, Sandra poured the remaining seeds into the feeder.
About to go to the house, she took a step and stopped, listening. Somewhere in the distance, something was happening, there was some kind of noise. “It doesn't matter, Jenny Wakeman will figure it out, whatever it is”, thought Sandra and took a box with pots of seedlings stacked in it, and then she felt a gratuitous panic, as if a sense of approaching danger, although not a single sign of such was observed and realized that the cardinal had not flown away in vain, something of his It scared his off. The subconscious screamed at the girl that she needed to get out of here as soon as possible, but suppressing this feeling with her mind, she calmed herself down. Trying to figure out what was going on, she walked to the roadway, peering into the distance, from where a noise like explosions could be heard.
A dull sound, as if something had fallen on the ground, made her turn around. Ahead, a figure emerged from the dust raised in the air, heading towards their plot and her parents. People sat up and stood up, staring in surprise. Sandra peered, trying to figure out, like her parents, who appeared in front of them, it was completely unclear whether it was a man in a strange suit with shoulder pads, or a helmet, or a growth on his head of a strange shape, and a tube-shaped thick tail, an alien creature, or a robot, but the tail swayed from side to side too naturally for two arms and two legs gave a clear resemblance to a man, naturally a man in a suit, and that's all, even the face had clearly human features, except that it was olive in color. The woman cautiously clung to her husband, who hugged her by the shoulder, and something was approaching with a measured but fast step. Then the tail with a spike at the end tensed like a spring and made a quick jerk that the eye could barely follow. Sandra looked from the side and at first did not even understand what had happened, only a veil of red steam rose in the air and her parents collapsed on their faces and froze. For two seconds, standing rooted to the spot, the girl stared, blinking, and her brain at first simply refused to believe what was happening, it seemed like it was just some kind of pre-planned prank. But then it dawned on Sandra, she trembled all over, her eyes bulging, her mouth wide open in horror, her breathing lost.
—Dad... mom... no..." she said, looking at her decapitated parents, then her words turned into unintelligible babble.
The vile creature tasted its prey before her eyes.
— Disgusting, — muttered the creature in an indescribable, alien voice, — maybe the brain will taste better?
Sandra, seven meters away from him, did not react, paralyzed by horror, the box fell out of her hands and pots rolled out onto the lawn, she clutched her head with shaking hands, shining peas of tears rolled out of her eyes, her mouth twisted and the girl squeezed her eyes shut, uttering a cry of “NOOOO!”, that's all she could say, torn between horror and despair.
The monster moved impressively towards her, its tail with a spike aimed at her like a spear, and three meters from the new prey, it prepared to strike, tensing like a spring. The schoolgirl opened her eyes and realized that she was next and there was no one around her who could protect her, and by and large she didn't care, but consciousness with the last of its strength, obeying an ancient instinct, gave an impulse, and Sandra, gritting her teeth, took a step back from the monster when he, aiming at chest, swung his tail, the girl heard a sharp whistle cutting through the air and felt as if a gust of wind swept over her, but the thorn froze before reaching her five centimeters. With a clang, white metal hands stretched out from above grabbed the middle of the tubular tail, like a savior descended from heaven, and a second later a turquoise-white robot landed behind the creature. She looked resolute and stern, in some places on her body there were dark burnt spots from a recent collision, Jenny pulled the monster towards her, but it turned around and rushed towards her with a disgusting hiss, baring its toothy mouth.
The paw strike was blocked, but it was strong enough to push the battlemech away. Jenny recoiled, but immediately leveled off. Stepping back and thinking about what remedy to use, the robot stumbled over something soft and almost fell. Looking down, she opened her eyes wide at the sight she saw. Jenny was momentarily horrified, which was immediately replaced by anger. She returned her gaze to her opponent.
— What kind of abomination are you? It doesn't matter, you'll pay for it!
The arms stretched out again and captured the two-legged creature, after which they threw it into the distance, where Jenny immediately rushed away, starting to deliver crushing blows with huge fists with spikes, but Sandra was not interested in the battle, she stood motionless and looked at her parents, whose bodies lay decapitated and lifeless. Her legs gave way and the girl collapsed to her knees, covering her face with trembling hands, police sirens sounded in the distance, but crushed and devastated, she did not attach importance to them like nothing else.
Jenny's battle was not an easy one. The monster did not receive any damage from her fists enlarged by transformation, as it seemed, and in response, if his lunge reached the target, he crushed her durable alloy, as if it were plasticine. The combat robot extended its deadly swords and fell on the enemy in a violent hurricane, but only blunted the blades on his durable shell. And he was coming, Jenny looked at him in more detail when he rushed at her: dirty green with purple veins all over his armored body and on his humanoid olive head, a well-protected part, like a helmet, faceted slanted eyes and rounded pressed ear shells, muscular legs, also with veins, somewhat resembling the paws of a grasshopper, with claws, like the front paws. Jenny flew up on jet pigtails and transformed her right arm into a powerful laser cannon, she did not mince words, seeing his steadfastness, immediately firing a volley with a thick beam of energy, hitting exactly the target. But the monster did not mind, moreover, he crouched down and tore at her, swinging his paw, but Jenny dodged, fortunately the quick reaction of the sensors did not fail, she did not need any extra damage at all. At that time, her mother got in touch.
"XJ Nine, did you deal with the enemy robots?"
— Yes, Mom, but there's something more dangerous here. What's it? — the robot girl turned the screen on the monster that stood on the asphalt, leaving a pothole in it after landing and waving its tail in impatience.
— I just wanted to tell you about a new danger that the scanners have detected. I can't understand it," Nora Wakeman said, thinking quickly. — I've never met anything like this, according to the data I received, one thing is clear to me: this is some kind of mutant. You know what to do. Eliminate him.
— Easier said than done! Jenny exclaimed, put away the kinescope for video communication and grabbed a giant mace, swung it. She decided not to talk about the fact that civilians were killed yet and focus on the goal.
The enemy dodged a few swings, but Jenny still hit him, putting all her anger and all her strength into the blow. He was slammed into the asphalt, but when the robot yanked the mace back, he stood up as if nothing had happened and jumped on her, knocking her down. The sharpest claws scratched the metal like foil and threatened to damage the internal units. Jenny squeezed the opponent in a vice and threw him up, he flew spinning around his axis and Jenny fired several missiles at him. Deafening explosions of shells hit the monster, but again it was at least a henna Panic rose around, residents screamed and ran away, and the robot made the right decision - to grab the enemy with super-hands and soar up. The vile creature growled and fought back furiously, claws began to pierce the suit, Jenny barely endured the few seconds it took to reach the stratosphere, spun and threw the creature into orbit, and before it began to fall, Jenny dressed herself with an additional layer of armor, becoming similar to the appearance of a ruby rocket, but if last time it was made for deception and selfish purposes, now it was necessary for the warrior to survive at all. Without hesitation, Jenny rushed forward, simultaneously scanning the unknown creature with different types of vision and was surprised to notice that it was surrounded by some kind of glow of strange energy.
Crashing from a U-turn and grabbing the enemy in a kind of squeezing press, the robot finally flew into orbit, the creature managed to punch a hole in its device and scraped on the reinforced armor with one of its paws, leaving deep scratches, and Jenny forcefully launched the enemy into the distance, herself preparing to use the most powerful disintegrator. The monster soon slowed down and made a movement with its legs, like a swimmer, began to approach. Jenny, pumping her weapon, looked at him with X-ray vision and decided that a strange energy aura must be helping him, enveloping his body in a cloud. The creature bared its fanged mouth of sharp teeth with hatred, trying to get at it, but Jenny fired at it with a bright white ray, having time to notice that the monster curled up in front of him.
- what? Even that didn't work? Jenny muttered in a shocked voice as the veil lifted and the sight of the still—living monster opened up to her.
He floated through the void of space, waving his tail, small dark spots of burns and chips were visible on his shell, but nothing serious, and in his gloomy purple aura swirling around otherworldly matter, even the Sun faded slightly behind.
—That's right, if I can't destroy it, our luminary will do it, I doubt it will withstand the temperature of its surface," Jenny exclaimed.
She held out one of her outstretched arms, twisting the creature and rushed towards the luminary. It was not difficult for the robot with its enhanced engines to fly to the Sun, and there the defender of the Earth spun like a bundle and released the monster, launching it directly into the star, watching it disappear in a flash. Finally it was over, she thought, she folded the reinforced armor, and was about to return to Earth, but after flying away a little, she turned around once more to double-check, and was stunned: a dot burst out of the star and began to approach. When she brought the eyepiece closer, she shuddered, saw the outlines of the creature. She was still alive. EVEN the HEAT OF THE SUN did not destroy it. Incandescent to orange, the abomination floated through space in its purple aura of incomprehensible energy, enveloping the creature from all sides, waving its tail and paws, piercing the combat robot with uncontrollable hatred.
—There's one last decision left," Jenny said firmly, "and I have one idea how to turn this to good use...
With her vast experience of fighting, she instantly revealed that the enemy was potentially in a vulnerable position after bathing in the Sun. Folding her hands, Jenny formed a powerful device out of them and letting the creature get closer, fired a freezing ray at it. The monster screamed and the superheroine saw that its cherry color had gone out and numerous cracks and chips appeared on the shell. Jenny transformed her arm into a large hammer and rushed at the enemy with acceleration, hitting him with the most powerful blow she was capable of. The mutant burst into a pile of dark fragments hovering in the void of space, mixed with drops of thick dark blue liquid. The monster was finished, Jenny watched with relief as all that was left of the mighty enemy slowly flew towards the Sun attracted by gravity.
Jenny flew to Earth with a sense of accomplishment, but when the planet took her into the arms of its atmosphere, Jenny shuddered, she managed to forget that today took at least two lives before she could do anything and not anyone, but the loved ones of a person she knew well. Grief and horror gripped poor Jenny even before she returned to Tremorton. Hovering over him, she contacted Nora Wakeman and reported that the monster had been defeated, but still did not dare to tell her about the victims that she could not prevent.
Police and ambulance cars have already accumulated near the house where it all started. Landing nearby and looking for the schoolgirl among the many policemen and operatives scurrying back and forth, she found her sitting near the wall of the house, covering her face with her hands. Someone came up and tried to talk, but Sandra didn't react to anything. What was happening had already attracted onlookers, and Brad came.
— Jen, what's wrong? — He said restlessly, running up. — I heard there was a commotion at the center.
— Sandra's parents… I didn't save them... poor Sandra…
Brad gasped and understood everything according to her words, then he caught sight of two lifeless bodies still holding each other's hands, the police fenced off the place with striped tape, and the doctors looked around in confusion and dragged brown bags: they had no one to save.
— God... what a tragedy. Should we tell Sheldon? — Brad stammered.
Jenny formed a mobile phone on the right side of her head and dialed a number on it, then said into the phone in a trembling voice:
— Sheldon, where are you? Drop your spaceship, and go to Sandra urgently. Everything is terrible. She lost her parents.
Very soon, he rushed up on a bicycle, with the speed of desperation, threw it off near the sidewalk and ran into the yard. Sheldon's eyes were wide with fright. After looking at Jenny with signs of damage, he seemed to understand a lot at once, then rushed to Sandra, clumsily stopped, glancing at the stretched police tape in the yard and the dark cloth from under which his legs were visible, from what he saw the guy frantically clutched his head. Meanwhile, a policeman was talking to the unfortunate girl, but for the most part she was silent and answered haltingly. Finally, he left and Sheldon rushed to his beloved.
— Sandra? He cautiously held out his hand, but stopped and realized that he couldn't find the right words.
The girl, hearing him, slowly raised her head, raising her tear-stained, reddened eyes.
— Mom... dad... they're not... they're not! They are not there! — Sandra repeated, her gaze turned to the void. — What am I going to tell Veronica?
Brad and Jenny came up to them. Sheldon took the girl's palm in his hands, barely holding back tears, Brad sat down next to her and also touched her shoulder reassuringly, followed by Jenny who decided to gently hug her friend's shoulder. A child's bicycle appeared on the sidewalk.
— Brother? What's happening? — the voice of a little schoolboy in a striped T-shirt was heard. — I heard Jenny was fighting a monster. Did she win?
—Tucker, go home,— Brad told him. — You can't be here.
— But how...
— You can't see this. TUCKER. HOME. Quickly!
The boy understood his brother's serious tone and got back on his bike and quickly drove away.
All three were so terrified that they could not even cry, they just held the orphaned girl, trying to somehow support and show that she was not alone.
Medical staff in the courtyard shifted Sandra's lifeless parents into pathology bags, zipped them up and took them on gurneys to a medical carriage, two others carried a couple more orange bags in their hands. Seeing how people dear to her were being carried past, the girl jerked and let out an indescribable, bone-piercing anguished scream, filled with pain, horror and despair, Jenny barely held her with a soft hug, she herself squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her mouth, sinking even more into despair and grief from guilt.
— No, don't take them away from me, no! Mo-o-om, da-a-ad! Don't take it away!
Being in a not quite conscious state, Sandra struggled and tossed in the hands of friends until the carriage door slammed shut, closing the former life of their close friend left behind, and the brunette seemed to give up, stopped struggling, collapsed powerlessly and cried with renewed vigor, and tears could not affect anything.
Brad watched the car leave with a mournful look and turned his gaze to Jenny, her eyes glistening with tears, his robot friend was ready to burst into tears herself and barely restrained herself.
— We're so sorry, Sandra. What a grief, God, what a grief!
Sheldon sobbed quietly, holding her hand.
The student's sobs subsided and she staggered to her feet. Her face was haggard and gray, and her eyes were red from shedding tears.
— Friends, — she managed in an undertone. — My dears. Leave me alone. I need to be alone. Comfort me later.
She trudged to the front door, slowly, as if under hypnosis, neither Sheldon nor her friends dared to interfere or contradict her. There, a policewoman caught her and said:
— Miss, you need psychological help, I can offer you a psychologist.
— No, I don't need a psychologist. Will he bring my mom and dad back to life? No! Then why do I need it?! What am I going to tell my sister?! Leave me alone, everyone!
Sandra exclaimed in response and slammed the door after entering.
Inside the house, the orphaned girl looked at the empty, unusually quiet house, and looking in front of her with a deadened, indifferent gaze, went up to her room, where she fell back against the door and covered her face, slowly slid down, remaining motionless.
— How did it happen? Sheldon muttered after seeing his beloved off, glancing at Jenny, more with sorrow than with reproach. — How can we help poor Sandra?
— The attacking robots landed in the center, I fought with them and before I dealt with them and flew here, where there was an unknown creature ... then the irreparable happened, I did not have time.
Jenny broke off and covered her eyes with her palm, baring her clenched teeth in indignation at herself. Brad pointed to her boot-shaped shin.
— Hey, it's from this thing, who fights with you?"
Jenny reached and with a creak snatched out, as it turned out, the tail spike of the monster stuck in the shin, in the heat of battle she did not notice that the enemy, before disappearing, managed to deliver the last blow. Clutching it angrily, Jenny said:
— That thing was dangerous. I barely managed it. The worst thing is that I didn't save poor Sandra's parents. I'm going to give this to my mom so she finds out what it was, because I have no idea what I'm up against today. But this must not happen again!
Sheldon, as if not listening to anyone, stood muttering something unintelligible, pressing his palms to his temples, the tragedy of the girl clearly hurt him.
— What a grief... what a grief. How can I help... bring back to life, bring back to life... but what if? Yes, it is an option. Maybe I can. Maybe this will help me. Jenny? His tone became more focused. — I wasn't there, can you tell me everything how it was, in as much detail as possible what happened and when?
Depressed and grieving, they moved towards the Wakeman house, and from above, from a bird's-eye view, the hungry eye of a small flying tracking device with a propeller looked down at them. There was a transmission from the device and in a room far from the Tremorton, everything was broadcast on a monitor behind the control panel.
— Is IXJ-Nine still alive?! Was she able to defeat a super mutant?! — insinuating, creepy voice of the figure in the dark raincoat bubbled with anger.
— Yes, but we believe that we have collected enough data by observing the collision of our sample with a robot, — responded an unpleasant-looking man in opaque eyepieces with disheveled gray hair and a white lab coat with a badge in the shape of a yellow-eyed snake. — This was only the first field test, its purpose was to find out what our developments are capable of. We can move on.
— In that case, continue your research, move on and, if possible, create new, more powerful samples.
— Yes, Ms.Viper, it will be done.
At the Wakemans' house, Jenny told her mom everything. Brad and Sheldon also listened to her story, Sheldon listened especially attentively and even asked the time when this or that event happened, but Jenny was not particularly willing to answer, she was too burdened that her mistake caused the death of residents. Nora Wakeman was already aware of the victims, but she was in no hurry to scold her daughter, but her face darkened with inner sorrow and mental anguish.
— Your classmate Sandra is not the only one who lost loved ones today. As I learned from the radio, before her, your opponent killed four policemen who were the first to react to the arrival of that biomutant, then walked through the city, where a random passerby was unlucky.
—Oh no, how come," Jenny gasped in horror, clutching her head. — For the first time I can't cope... how scary... poor people... poor Sandra…
— Don't blame yourself, you couldn't split up. The simultaneous mass attack of the mysterious aggressive robots Alphatrons already familiar to you and that unknown monster took us by surprise.
Jenny was slightly reassured by her mother's words. She handed her a jagged spike with a piece of tail.
— That's part of body this abomination. Try to find out what it was. I've never met anyone like him, he withstood all my weapons.
— Okay, I'll do a molecular analysis. You did the right thing to bring me a sample of the enemy. We also need to find out where this creature came from. My radar detected this biomutant and sounded the alarm, but even earlier an object was detected in the sky. We have to take a look, let's go.
Jenny looked around at her friends, as if asking if they were with her. Brad maintained a gloomy silence, Sheldon looked worried and tense, and the incident traumatized them, although not as much as, for example, the orphaned Sandra.
— Go find out, and I'll go," he said, standing up, his gaze resolute, "I'll fix it."
— Will you fix it? — Jenny asked, exchanged glances with Brad, who looked up, and they counted each other's thoughts, it began to seem to both of them that each other was starting to go crazy with grief and worries. — We can't fix it anymore, Sheldon. It remains only to do everything not to repeat this.
— I can do it. I've been through so much in my life. I became indifferent to my own suffering and pain, I don't feel them, as if I was dead inside. But I just can't sit idly by, seeing how someone defenseless, someone who is dear to me, suffers and cries from grief! Whatever it takes, I'll fix it!
Sheldon walked resolutely to the door and left without saying goodbye, his mind was busy with some thoughts.
— What a grief. Anyone could have been in Sandra's place," Brad remarked on the way out. — Even I am.
He waved at Jenny and Nora Wakeman getting into the car and went to his room as they sped towards the outskirts of the city. Upon arrival, after a short search, they found a dirty gray capsule similar to an oblong projectile, stuck into the ground with a conical end, opening like a flower with three petals, with rims in two places around the frame.
— This is it,— Nora Wakeman said. — That biomutant arrived in it and began its deadly march from here.
She tapped the object with her fists and added,
— Ordinary Earth galvanized steel with a rubberized coating inside, nothing unusual.
— Not aliens? Then who could have sent this thing to us?
— The early detection system did not detect the moment from where it came, the radar showed it already near Tremorton. Whoever created this covered their tracks well.
Back at home, Jenny collapsed on the couch and while her mom was busy in the lab, she ran through today's memory. Over and over again, she replayed all his events in her electronic brain and reproached herself. She had never made such mistakes before, and although it was not her direct fault, she felt worse than ever. Long-held back tears finally burst out and the robot girl burst into bitter tears.
— People died because of me. How could i failed?!
— Dear Jenny, please don't beat yourself up. The unpredictable happened today, — her mother came up and hugged her daughter. — It's not your fault that so much has fallen on our city today, it wasn't you who pursued the goal of bringing chaos and horror, and I will certainly find out who did it sooner or later.
Jenny felt calmer, because she generally expected a reprimand and punishment from her parent, but the woman scientist seemed to feel that it was not worth exaggerating the colors of an already gloomy day, and looking for the culprits was not the main thing, much more important was the task of finding out what they were dealing with.
At home, Sheldon Lee spent a long time writing, drawing and calculating on a tablet, calculating and modeling something on a computer, forgetting about food and rest. Sometimes he would glance at the heart-shaped framed photograph of Sandra smiling, freeze, and then return to his task with renewed vigor. He spent the rest of the evening doing calculations and then left the room. In the garage equipped as a workshop, he decisively threw off the tarpaulin from the time machine he had created, opening the dome. He inserted the disc into the drive inside and downloaded the software for a while and when it was over he sighed, collecting his thoughts.
— Let's get started,— said the inventor. — Although no, wait a minute, I need to warn Sandra, not to worry in vain.
He snatched out his mobile phone, startled when he looked at its screen: as a background there was a photo of him with Sandra, where she hugged him, before this background reminded that there was someone who loved him with all her heart, but now it caused more grief and compassion, but even more - a willingness to act. After dialing the number, Sheldon began to wait and rush nervously, no one answered the phone.
In her room, Sandra was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling with an indifferent look of tear-stained eyes, with her right hand she held a photo of her family, on which she, her younger sister and their parents were smiling happily, this happiness left their family forever, forming a black void that nothing else can replace and fill. A mobile phone was frantically ringing on the table, but she didn't even move to take it, just closed her eyes.
Sheldon threw his cell phone on the table in desperation.
— Hang on, honey, I'll fix it.
The last preparation was to put on a wrist bracelet in which a device with a bluish shimmering crystal was fixed. Without hesitation, he sat down in a chair in the time machine, set the date and pulled the lever. Outside, evening turned to day, the inventor did not hesitate to get out, pulled off the tarpaulin from the Silver Shell he had built and opened the garage. Soon he was flying over the serene city, knowing what was about to happen.
— So, it's morning, shortly before everything starts,— Sheldon said, his gaze full of determination. — Jenny told me approximately what was happening, but I have to observe for myself. So, a group of robots calling themselves Alphatrons will land in the center, but they are not the ones I am interested in. Well, well… I'm from the past now away from home, packing my spaceship… so I'm from the future, back in the past, I can act calmly.
He saw a group of rocket engine lights coming down, moving towards the city center. A turquoise flash also flashed in the direction there - the heroine defender of the Earth was flying. Knowing that she could handle it, Sheldon rushed to the place where Sandra's house was. While the battle was just breaking out in the center of Tremorton, the inventor was ready. The sensors of his combat suit detected an object diving from the sky to the ground. Bringing the camera closer, he saw how a large capsule stuck into the ground in a vacant lot, a tall man could fit into it, it swung open and a creature that could be mistaken for a man in a suit got out. Sheldon immediately recognized him, the mutant from Jenny's story, as tall as she was, with a wagging tubular tail and turned out to be an extremely dangerous opponent. He looked around, crouched down, aimed somewhere and waved a jump for a good hundred meters, Sheldon traced his trajectory, he landed on the street, next to some unfortunate passerby and immediately ended his life. The robot pilot clenched his hands indignantly and continued to watch. Police cars drove up, a police squad got out of them, snatching their service weapons. Sheldon was about to rush into battle, but he was careful.
"Even Jenny had a hard time defeating this creature, and I'm significantly inferior to Jenny in combat abilities, I can't stand up to him.
Gunshots rang out, but the monster didn't care about the police's weapons. Sheldon watched impotently, already realizing what was going to happen, the monster waved its outstretched tail, and the observer almost vomited from the terrible sight. Sheldon squeezed his eyes shut and looked away.
— And then he will go to Sandra's house, where she suspects nothing. And only there will Jenny clash with him. So, I think I've figured out what to do!
He memorized the time, unwrapped the Silver Shell and returned home, jumping into the time machine.
— Return! — he pressed the flickering key and after a short flash appeared again in the evening.
Sheldon walked back and forth through the workshop. Lost in thought, he muttered, assessing the information and making a final plan of action.
— Yes, we need to come back a little earlier and prepare. Prepare and help Jenny.
The inventor, tense as never before, got back into the car, measured out how much time he considered sufficient, the time machine buzzed and disappeared in a flash. Sheldon found himself back in the daytime, while his version from the past was just riding a bike out of the yard and without hesitation, began to execute the plan. He dismantled everything unnecessary from robot suit and installed devices for more powerful transformations and loaded additional weapons. Glancing at his watch, he realized it was time, he had finished just in time.
At Jenny's house, sirens warning of danger began to hum, alarm exclamation marks flashed on the monitors and target pointers marked approaching enemies. Without hesitation, she rushed towards a new battle. On the way to the center, Jenny's old acquaintance, robot Silver Shell, caught up with her.
—Oh, Silver Shell, hello,— the robotess smiled at the sight of him. — Do you want to help me?
— Hi, Jenny, the situation is very dangerous, — the interlocutor went straight to the point, his tone sounded serious and collected, immediately rejecting any objections. — To the west of here, on the outskirts of the city, an enemy much more dangerous than these will appear any minute. You have to take care of him, and I'll replace you here.
— What? More dangerous? How do you know that?
— Trust me! Make the right decision, Jenny, you will save a lot of lives with this!
Jenny looked at him in shock and, nodding, obeyed, they missed each other and the Silver Shell faced the task of fulfilling the promised. He hovered over the business center of the city and saw how the purple robots he already knew landed there in combat formation and there were no less than two dozen of them. The fight was going to be tough, but Sheldon was ready for it inside his combat suit.
Large robots marching clanked down the street, and passers-by ran screaming, making them think that they would not be offered any resistance, but this impression was erroneous. Rockets hit them from above in the back, small but very powerful for their size, hitting exactly at the junction of the torso and head, the cumulative jet pierced a weak spot and the robots collapsed with their heads torn off, the rest of the squad immediately turned around, but saw no one.
— I knew it, the scan gave the right results, there is their weakened zone, — Sheldon said to himself with satisfaction. — Now we need to change the firing position.

He had already flown to another building, and imperceptibly taking up a new firing position on top of it, took a rocket launcher from the robot's shoulder, singled out targets and fired five more missiles one after another. The bulky robots, having been hit in the articulation of the head and torso, collapsed heavily with sparkling holes.
However, the amount of missiles was limited, only ten, and the robot operator knew this, so he used the tactic of first attacking from a commanding height and putting down as many enemies as he could, and only then engaging in open combat. Now the intruders found him at the top of a high-rise building and, issuing a furious battle cry, more like the hum of faulty electronics, opened fire on him from turrets that extended on his head. The Silver Shell expected this and soared skyward. The five robots soared up on rocket engines that extended from the back and quickly caught up with the silver one, but he transformed additional acceleration and maneuvering engines from the shoulders and accelerated somewhat, not letting them grab him. He was much better at sharp maneuvers than his enemies, who were bulky even against the background of his far from small robot, and he took advantage of this.
To begin with, Sheldon rushed outside the city, where there were no people, and then headed for the mountains, increasing speed, the opponents, firing at him, also sought to catch up with him, but then Sheldon added power to additional engines and jerked up, he was pressed into a chair from overloads, but the calculation turned out to be correct, the purple robots accelerated they slammed into the mountain, there was a screech of metal and a crunch of rock, when the dust cleared, Sheldon saw that the opponents were badly damaged, but alive, as far as it could be applied to robots and swarming among the rocky debris. He flew up and coolly finished off each of them with a laser beam, the installation of which was mounted around the eyes on the head, and the power at the request of the operator could vary from capable of piercing heavy armor to suitable except to set fire to the hair on the head.
Without hesitation, he turned to the city, fifteen enemies were defeated, but he still had nine targets left and he engaged them in battle, unexpectedly attacking one of them from a raid while they were rampaging through the city, thinking that the enemy was defeated, and tore off his rounded head, then throwing it up and blowing it up with a laser shot. The eight remaining began to pour dense fire on him, the silver robot soared in a spiral, several shots hit him, dark traces remained, but the armor still held, the maneuvering engines roared and the nimble sturdy man turned out to be behind the bulky but loose enemies and with well-aimed laser shots into the joints of the legs threw one of them to the ground, forcing him to crawl awkwardly and he soared up himself, luring three more behind him, turned a deceptive maneuver and forced them to fly on their own, the shooters damaged several allies with shots, and those, the disoriented did not have time to maneuver and the air was filled with a terrible screech of metal, as if two steam locomotives collided, two pursuers collided with two of the remaining ones on the ground and remained lying in piles of twisted sparkling and smoking scrap metal.
Sheldon turned the robot around and turned off the engines, landed, leaving a lane on the asphalt after braking. He stared menacingly, preparing for the last battle, the robots opened their insides and fired a hail of missiles at him, but they were all destroyed by fire from a laser installation in his head. While the smoke and dust settled, remaining enemies, having hummed among themselves, took out the rocket engines on their backs and simply retreated, along with the remaining legless cripple.
— Yes, the experience gained in the secret agency makes itself felt, they taught combat tactics for a reason, — Sheldon said contentedly and added into the microphone, speaking through a robo-suit, shaking his fist at the sky: — And you get lost and never come back!
The residents around burst into enthusiastic applause and playing the smug, boastful robot hero, Sheldon even stayed a little while, waving his hand, but remembered what he was up to and without even bowing in response, rushed off to another part of the city.
— Jenny, when she fought with them, chased them when they retreated and killed everyone to the last, did not let anyone leave, — the inventor reasoned, — if she had not started chasing them, then she would have had time to save Sandra's parents, her determination played a cruel joke. But no matter, I can fix everything, I will save not only them, but also other people, they all deserve to live. How is Jenny, I wonder?
Finding himself on the other side of the city, Sheldon hovered in the air and saw that Jenny was already fighting with an ugly creature. As he approached the field of view, he realized that their battle had gone completely differently, the robot was losing, or so it seemed to him, trying to cope in close combat, but the enemy was too dexterous and strong, the swords were blunt, the circular saw broke the teeth and slipped, and with a blow of a muscular and unusually strong tail, the enemy knocked her down with a blow to her forehead, she threw up her arms and fell to the asphalt.
— Now I'm going to kill you for trying to stop me, — monster said haughtily, walking up to Jenny, who was lying face down.
— Oh, no! Sheldon exclaimed in horror, "the reality that I will create with changes may be even worse!
With a desperate jerk, he sent the robot to intercept and managed to grab the monster's tail, which was already rushing into the back of Jenny's head, which he may have saved by doing this, but most likely prevented serious damage. She opened her eyes and rolled sideways across the asphalt, after which she deftly jumped to her feet.
— Jenny, are you okay? The robot's voice boomed. — Are civilian safe?
— Yes, no one was injured, everyone disappeared away from the mess and…
The second delay and distraction to the conversation cost the silver robot dearly, the creature turned around and attacked him with unrestrained fury, twisted its flexible tail and pierced the thorax with a thorn, starting to open it like a can opener, and with paws with sharp and strong claws clung, groped the seam and tearing off the armor sheet.
— Silver Shell!
Jenny exclaimed and rushed to help. He struggled and was able to somehow kick the creature away, but it almost tore off the chest plate, Jenny arrived and finally helped push the attacker away, grabbing and throwing him far to the side.
— Are you okay, Silv…
The damaged chest plate remained dangling on one latch and everything inside the robot was exposed, Jenny looked and was stunned speechless, her friend Sheldon was sitting inside in a chair. They stared at each other in shocked silence.
— Sheldon? Jenny finally exclaimed. — Are you the Silver Shell? How is that…
— Jenny, this is not main right now! He cut her off. — You have to destroy this mutant, by all means, he is too dangerous, you have to save people from him! Destroy this creature and we can talk later! Only you can do it!
Sheldon's serious tone and look made Jenny realize that now is really not the time for showdowns. She looked at him in surprise for a while longer and then resolutely shifted her armor and nodded, after which she turned around in a fighting stance.
— I know the future, Jenny, innocent people will die if you fail, — Sheldon added, recalling Jenny's story about how her fight took place, about which he questioned her in detail. — Fight him off-planet, where there will be no accidental casualties and do not hesitate to use the most powerful weapon you have, and when you do, grab a sample for research so that we find out what kind of creature it is!
The greenish, purple-veined creature bent its legs and rushed furiously, with a menacing hiss, but was grabbed by the tail of the former alert Jenny Wakeman, after which they disappeared into the sky under the roar of her engines.
Sheldon stared after him, panting. Nearby, several law enforcement officers were hiding behind police cars, and residents peeked out from behind the corners of buildings. Finally, he started the engines in his legs and flew slowly to his home. After examining the Silver Helmet suit, he examined the damage and concluded: “it is fixable, I will repair it later.” From there, he waited for the results, peering upward with binoculars, it took a little time and finally he saw the familiar turquoise traces of rocket engines.
— Mission accomplished, I can go back, — he breathed a sigh of relief and headed for his time machine. — However, unforeseen events have happened.
He looked at his robot.
— But this is the price for saving my dear Sandra's parents. I accept this price.
Sheldon returned back to the time he was leaving from. It was evening outside, and crickets were chirping peacefully. He clicked on the control panel of the time machine, the option “save the changes made in the current time continuum” appeared on the display and the inventor clicked on it. He opened the transparent dome and put his feet on the floor when the device crackled, its displays went out and part of the bottom of the car fell out with a sheaf of sparks and smoke, a mysterious crystal looped in the rim burst on his hand, evaporating into a cloud of turquoise blue.
— What?! Oh no, burned out from just two time travel in one day?! Sheldon exclaimed, throwing himself on the floor and peering under the bottom.
Pouring foam from the fire extinguisher and extinguishing the fire, he scratched his head in annoyance, removing the thin belt from his arm.
— It will be difficult to fix, if at all possible. But most importantly, I saved Sandra's parents, as well as other victims. By the way, I need to visit Sandra soon. The continuum changes will take effect soon.
Then Sheldon realized how tired he was and also hungry, jumping into the kitchen, he quickly drank a glass of orange juice, and ran out of the house, grabbing a chocolate snickers, which he chewed on the run, the only thing that worried him was his beloved and even fatigue could not hold him back.
It was late evening outside, the setting sun had already sunk behind a cloudy horizon and its serenity did not at all remind of the tragedy that had happened today. In her yard, Sandra sat on her knees, motionless as a statue, police tapes stretched out in front of her, and the lawn behind them was sprinkled with white powder. In the girl's hands was a framed photo capturing a happy moment with her parents, whom she had lost today. The look of her reddened, tear-stained eyes was turned into emptiness, into her thoughts and memories. Someone called her from behind, but she did not react, continued to sit aloof with an expression of despair and madness which was getting closer and closer.
—Sandra, your parents... they're going to live," Sheldon said, out of breath from running, coming up and bending over her.
Looking at her, it was clear that she was on the verge of losing her mind.
— Sandra, Sandra, everything will be fine, — Sheldon touched her shoulder, patting her slightly, — I have made changes to the time continuum and they will now reach here.
— Are you kidding me? — looking up at him, the girl said in a low voice, more with resentment and a slight reproach than with indignation.
— When was the last time i kidding you? Look, the changes are already coming!
To the amazement of both, the police tapes disappeared, followed by the white powder poured for disinfection, there was a sound like a booming roll, then the evening blackout was abruptly replaced by light coming from the windows of the house. Sandra didn't understand what was going on and what Sheldon had done, but her attention was immediately drawn to the house, where silhouettes of people were moving in the windows and familiar voices sounded.
— Your parents will live, they're fine! Go check it out. Come on.
Without hesitation and still not believing in what was happening, the girl went to the entrance to the house from the backyard and went into the kitchen, stunned. Her parents were busy there, as if nothing had happened.
— And here's Sandra, she arrived in time for dinner, — a man's voice was heard.
— Why are you looking like you've seen a ghost? — The woman asked, smiling and worried. — Sandri, have you been crying? Who offended you?
— Me? No one. Are you... sure you're okay?
She stood rooted to the spot, not believing her own eyes, and then rushed forward, spreading her arms and hugged a man and a woman, and clinging to them, held her parents and could not let go, as if she was afraid that they would disappear again, whispering to them how she loves them, over and over again. Only when they, puzzled by such a sudden outburst of feelings from their daughter, were reminded that they needed to continue cooking, she let them out, finally realizing that this was not a vision, but reality, which for some reason changed and remembered who was involved in it.
Outside, she approached Sheldon, who was sitting on a garden bench near the entrance, propping his chin on his folded hands and thinking.
— Sheldon? How did you do that? Did you save my parents? — a girl's voice, soft as a bird's song, was heard, which made him turn around.
— Yes, I saved them, and not only them, but the main thing for me was to help you. Your grief was unbearable for me. I vowed to fix it at all costs.

Meanwhile, in the Wakeman Mansion, Jenny, sitting dejectedly on her bed, jumped up as if stung and exclaimed. Her mother's exclamation was also heard from the workroom. She rushed out of the lab, and Jenny ran out of her room to meet her.
— What was that? It's like my memories in my processor are mixed up with memories of a completely different day. What's going on, what the hell?
— And you're not as rumpled after the encounter with the mutant as you were, — Nora pointed at her, and only now Jenny was surprised to notice that the damage on her body had also changed, there were noticeably fewer of them.
— So, I need to check on my classmate's parents. And Sheldon… Ah, the silver liar... well, i need to have a serious talk with him.
Two people were standing near a typical Tremorton house with a rounded foundation and walls. Sheldon explained his actions for a long time to a medium-sized brunette standing next to him. She listened, trying to understand, sometimes blinked, but eventually raised her hand and the narrator stopped.
— Okay, Sheldon, you don't have to bother, I didn't understand anything from scientific terms, but I understood enough: you used a time machine and changed the past to save my parents, — then Sandra looked at him with a long, grateful look and her eyes became wet with tears.
— I did everything for you, yes. I couldn't just leave it like that.
— Sheldon, thank you! My darling, I will never forget everything you have done for me!
The girl wrapped her arms around his shoulders and collapsed into his arms, sobbing, but now with joy and gratitude. They just stood hugging each other, Sheldon stroking Sandra's head and her pigtails, which he liked so much, whispering that everything was over now, and everything would be fine. The silence was interrupted by the sound of a robot landing. A little further away on the sidewalk, putting the rocket engines back into the ponytails on her head, Jenny Uyekman stood shrouded in curling steam after landing. Her face was serious and stern, and Sheldon immediately understood everything and guiltily lowered his eyes.
— So, Sheldon, tell me what's going on, seriously, what the hell is going on, and most importantly, how are you involved in this? So you've been a robot Silver Shell all this time, right?
— Yes, I am him, and he is me.
The robot girl frowned menacingly, but Sheldon looked indifferent.
— So, in your opinion, it's okay what you did when you were him?
There was tension in the air and Sandra felt it too.
— Listen, Jenny, — she released the guy from her arms and turned to her, as if covering Sheldon with herself.— I do not know what kind of story happened with Sheldon and his Silver Shell, why you were so upset with him, and what kind of grates you have because of this, but isn't it enough that he saved my mom and dad's lives today, which you couldn't do, to put the brakes on it? You're doing great too, Jenny, I was only alive because of you, if it wasn't for you, the thorn of that monster would have reached me and remember my name. I went through the worst day of my life, I lost my parents, I almost went crazy with grief, but Sheldon miraculously fixed it on his time machine, don't scold him, Jenny, it's already hard for all of us today.
There was silence, Sandra looked sadly and wearily into Jenny's eyes with a frozen request, and her gaze eventually changed from angry to understanding and sympathetic.
—...I, I just wanted to say, great job, Sheldon! He coped where I couldn't, really. With your help, no matter how, we were able to prevent the worst scenario. By the way, will you show me your time machine? It's not the first time I've heard it, but I've never seen it myself. Okay, I won't bother you. Sheldon and I will talk and sort it out later.
With these words, she left them, taking off into the sky.
— The time machine... — the young inventor echoed sadly, — I'm afraid you won't be able to look at it anymore, like no one else... only at its shell.
"What happened to her?"
— How should I say... the whole filling is burnt out from overheating and tension.
— Can you fix it? Or build a new one," Sandra asked hopefully. — Do you remember how we dreamed of going to see the Triassic period and the Early Cretaceous, Cambrian, Miocene and Oligocene and seeing their inhabitants?
Sheldon was glad to see that the girl was dreaming again about the plans they had hatched, it seems her state of mind finally began to return to normal.
— Oh, I'll try, but I doubt very much that it will work. Even great creators have creations that they will not be able to repeat.
— Oh, what a pity. You saved my parents, but you broke your best invention in the process.
— I'm not sorry. Sandra, you are much more precious to me than any time machine.
Sheldon took her hands in his and said, fixing a gentle and devoted gaze into her eyes:
— To see you suffer, your fear and pain, it was unbearable for me! I stopped feeling my own pain a long time ago, but not someone else's. Ever since the day I saved you and we finally got to know each other, ever since you started to show me affection, I've also felt affection for you, finding someone new that I haven't had yet. An affection that grew stronger and stronger until I realized that I also loved you, just like you loved me. My dear Sandra, I will always be there for you, I swear to always protect you, no matter what happens and no matter what it costs me, as long as you are happy and safe and everyone who is dear to you!
As he spoke, his eyes began to fill with tears and his voice trembled.
— Sheldon, my dear, I still remember how you saved me that day, and now, you saved my soul again today. I want to be with you. With you and only you! I will be with you until the last day!
They hugged each other and slid exhausted onto the lawn, fell to their knees and burst into tears, kissed with tears in their eyes over and over again, holding each other in their arms and not letting go, as if unwilling until they calmed down.
The door of the house opened slightly and a female voice called Sandra to dinner, and then the young lovers finally reluctantly opened their arms and went home, waving goodbye to each other.
At home, Sheldon had a snack, drank tea and dug late into the garage with the time machine, removing its supporting frame and pulling out the burnt-out chips until he took out the heart of the entire mechanism turned into a coal and sighed with annoyance, holding it in his hands. Shifting his gaze to the Silver Shell, he consoled himself that at least he would fix it without any problems. At this time, the familiar sound of rocket engines rang out in front of the garage and Jenny Wakeman sat down, spraying concrete slabs with steam.
— I knew you'd show up, Jenny, — Sheldon said calmly, taking off his gloves and tossing them aside. — Do you want to talk?
— Yes I want to. You're quick-witted, — behind the calm tone of Jenny, who had managed to cool down, there was coldness.
Sheldon came out of the garage and stood next to her.
— So you've been throwing dust in my eyes since the Silver Helmet first appeared in the city? And when I was with Don Prima at the Mezmers, and at the white dance ball?
— Uh, do you still remember all this? I thought you'd forgotten already.
— Of course I remember! My memory card saves all the events that I see! You lied to me! Sheldon, aren't you ashamed?
— I'm glad you have such a good memory card. Of course, I'm ashamed. Are you going to beat me?
— Beat you? Oh, no, you are such an insignificant and vile deceiver, I despise you so much that I don't even want to flog you! Yes, you showed your best side today, but does that erase the way you deceived me using your silver robot and wove some intrigues with them that fit two cousins Crust, and disgraced me? Congratulations, you've reached their level!
The guy shrank, and seemed to shrink in height standing in front of her, nervously rubbing his trembling palms.
— You disgust me, you liar!
— I understand that you have every right to despise me, and I have no right to claim even friendship with you, let alone something more.
— That's for sure.
— Okay, you don't want to know me anymore, but let me just explain to you for my actions committed in the form of a Silver Shell. I was so admired by you, and I tried to become your equal, because I was nobody at school and I wanted to be someone, a brave hero like you, to be respected, to be accepted by society, I found a way to become the equal of such a brave robot hero like you, becoming a Silver Shell, but often I acted Having gained possession of this powerful force is wrong, being still inexperienced. Later I decided to tell you the truth that he is me, I wanted to do it at the white dance ball, I didn't want to hide the truth from you anymore. And I would have done it if it hadn't been for a very unfortunate combination of circumstances, a gang of space bikers broke into the ball, and I decided to hide it from you, for your sake, and hoped that I would quietly cope with them without attracting you, but it didn't work out very well, because they turned out to be too persistent and when I I kicked them out, they returned to continue the fight. Because of that, I never told you the truth, even though I wanted to and accidentally put you to shame. What a fool I was...
Jenny listened and her expression changed from angry to understanding. Sheldon turned around and trudged towards the garage with his head down, but Jenny followed him and her hand rested knowingly on his shoulder, stopping him.
— Wait... how do I understand you. To be someone, to be respected, to be accepted.
Sheldon stared questioningly at the robot girl over his shoulder.
— I'm sorry for my words. You don't disgust me, Sheldon, and you're not insignificant. I'm sorry that I blurted out in a hurry, not understanding.
— No, I'm sorry for blowing dust in your eyes and acting dishonestly with you, using my robot costume, hiding from you that he is me.
— I can't believe you were able to build it, will you tell me about the progress of the development?
Sitting on the curb near the garage, they talked a little about creating a Silver Helmet robot.
— You've done an impressive job, Sheldon. He created himself a suit as fast and maneuverable as me. I think using it, you can help me in the fight against various aliens and monsters in Tremorton, you did a great job today. I would not refuse your support in these turbulent times. Didn't you use a time machine to change the past and prevent casualties? How does it work?
— She maintained functionality on an artifact that I brought from space from a distant planet, after I was sent by you with a team of pirates who thought I was very cute and grew up among them to a normal age. They sailed the unexplored regions of space, and I was their captain. I, a fifteen-year-old captain, guided our spaceship through the depths of space.
Sheldon raised his head thoughtfully to the starry sky.
— Over the years spent with pirates, I got used to and accepted the fact that I would have to live among them to my normal age. You can get used to anything. Once, on one planet, we discovered the ruins and tombs of an ancient civilization, and inside the tomb I found an artifact whose name can be translated into our language as the “key of eternity”, it allowed us to move through time. As I remember now, I pulled it out, stared at it and couldn't take my eyes off it. “My precious”, I whispered, looking at his mysterious, mesmerizing shimmer. When it was time to return home, I dragged this curiosity to myself and only with it did my time machine finally fully work, allowing not only to passively observe the past and the future, but also, if necessary, to land and interfere in it. I never fully understood how this artifact worked and provided such opportunities, but it just worked. I thought it might come in handy someday. It's a pity that it burned out from overexertion and I'm unlikely to fix it.
— What a pity. But I still haven't apologized to you for resorting to such a way of growing up for you, to give up to space pirates for more than fifteen years. I'm sorry about that.
"It's okay, Jenny. We both periodically treated each other in an ugly and dishonest way. I cheated and schemed with the Silver Shell, and you gave me up to pirates to raise.
— Let's consider that we're even, and there's nothing to be angry at each other, okay?
— Yes, it's ironic that in the end your sending me to grow up with pirates turned out to be the most successful, I'm even grateful to you for that, if you hadn't done it, Jenny, I wouldn't have been able to make a fully functioning trip to the past, and I wouldn't have been able to save Sandra's parents. I wanted to use a time machine to get answers to historical riddles: who shot Kennedy and why, did Hitler escape to Argentina, who invented the wheel... ... what did fish from the Devonian period taste like? Apparently, it's not fate. But I don't regret it, I saved Sandra's parents and her soul from the horrors that struck.
— At least your robot requires only a small repair, patch up the chest plate and it will be as good as new. I used to think that he was my perfect match, the perfect robot guy... and that guy turned out to be you.
They exchanged meaningful glances.
— I hope you and Sandra will be happy.
— What is it, do you regret our chance at a relationship?
Jenny did not answer, lowering her eyes.
— And if space bikers hadn't interfered at the white dance ball and I had revealed the truth to you, what would your answer have been?
— A difficult question, but I think…
— No, don't tell me. Let it remain a secret. Anyway, now I'm with Sandra and I'm going to be with her. She appreciates and loves me, and today I saw how vulnerable she is, I have to be there to protect her and those who are dear to her in these turbulent times. You, Jenny, are a fighting robot, you are strong, and what is not dangerous to you is still deadly for her, a simple human girl. I have to be there to protect her. But I will always help and support you, too, when you need it.
Jenny nodded, getting to her feet.
— You've grown up a lot, Sheldon. And by the way, you have good taste, Sandra suits you better than my mom, whom you began to stare at after your first return from space.
— Oh, did I really hit on her? I think I was losing my mind then. Grown up… Just like you, Jenny. I hope you can find someone you'll be happy with.
They looked at each other sadly and hugged and held each other's shoulders for a while, closing their eyes, and then Sheldon released Jenny, saying:
— I have to go, I'm so tired today, I would like to rest, probably you too.
— That's for sure. I'm going to recharge. Till tomorrow.
With that, Jenny flew away. Entering his room, Sheldon looked around and sighed. Everything was the same in it, the mess on the table littered with calculations and drawings and Jenny's altar in the wardrobe. He looked once more at the superheroine smiling from the photos near the candles and thought about why his path to her mechanical heart seemed to be paved with continuous failures and punctures, every time he seemed to be close to the dream of being with her, every time something went wrong and a stick in the wheel he inserted some insignificant trifle, but on the contrary, with Sandra, as if luck favored him, this girl, with whom they had very little acquaintance in the past, herself fell to him as a gift, like a lottery win, like a ripe fruit on a sagging branch - just stretch out your hand and it will be yours. Was it providence or just a combination of circumstances? He looked at the table where there was a photo of him and Sandra from Tokyo.
It doesn't matter anymore, Sheldon thought, Jenny will remain in his heart a platonic admiration that is remembered with nostalgia years later and being her good friend is also a great outcome. He flopped into bed from exhaustion in what he was wearing, closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep.
The next day, the self-taught inventor did not have time to have breakfast, his phone rang, he picked up the phone and spoke.
— Yes, Sandra? Are you all right?
— Hi, Sheldon! I'm getting back to normal. What are the plans? If you're free, why don't you come over? I invite you to visit, we'll treat you to our apricot pie, and call Jenny and her friends too. I want to see you again, I feel calm and comfortable with you and our friends, come.
On the way to her house, Sheldon crossed paths with friends, Brad, Jenny and Tuck walked together, chatting.
— Hey, Sheldon, how did you do what you did? — Brad was the first to speak. — Everyone is confused, especially the city authorities.
— It's a long time to explain, Brad. There is nothing that my genius mind cannot do.
— Mom was afraid that the universe would self—destruct due to interference and paradox, — Jenny chimed in. — But then she calmed down, saying that it seemed to have worked out and tells you that she is glad that you did not blow up our universe with your time jumps.
—The collapse of the universe from time travel is just a stereotype," Sheldon waved away. — Because of what I was doing, especially with that software on my time machine, it wouldn't have happened.
— Do you have a record of Sheldon fighting against evil robots? Brad's brother chimed in in his thin voice. — I'm already used to Jenny's battles, I want to see the Silver Shell under Sheldon's control in action, I'm surprised that you decided to return to the superhero path.
— Uh, yes, maybe I'll upload the recording from the hard drives later.
When they reached the classmate's house, they rang the doorbell and soon her father, a medium-sized brown-haired man with a friendly face, opened it. The smell of pastries and apricots came from inside.
— Are you going to see Sandra? Dear guests, come in and our robot heroine Jenny.
Sandra came out to them. The girl had more or less recovered from the horror of the previous day and looked much more cheerful than yesterday, although it was still clear that the consequences had not yet passed to the end.
— Oh, you've all come.
— Of course,— replied Brad. — You need support right now.
— Sandra, how are you? Sheldon smiled at her tenderly.
— More or less, Sheldon. You have a seat. And let's just not talk about yesterday, it's too hard to remember. By the way, my sister has returned from her grandmother's, she will be with us.
A girl came out to them, about ten years old, very similar to Sandra and her mother, with braided pigtails like her older sister, she clearly imitated her, in an orange T-shirt and gray pants.
— Hello! — She greeted all. — Oh, even the famous Jenny came to us? — she asked, focusing on her guest. — I did not expect that you would ever come to us.
— Yes, it's me, let's get acquainted!
— What, you still don't know Jenny? I see her every day, she's my neighbor, — boy sitting next to her addressed her.
— I'm lucky, I wish I was like that. By the way, I'm Veronica.
— Tucker. I remember you from the sibling competition, when you were with your older sister, and I was with Brad, and then Jenny brought all her robot sisters and they made a mess there, but then like heroes they sealed the broken dam.
A woman came out carrying a freshly baked pie, and each of the guests was cut off a piece of fragrant pie, only Jenny said that she, like a robot, did not eat human food, but only batteries and engine oil, and then the hostess brought her a couple of batteries from the flashlight reserves on a saucer so that the guest would share the meal with everyone. They talked about this and that, mostly lightheartedly. But at some point, the parents said that they remembered a strange memory, like a bad dream, as a sinister monster was heading towards them with evil intentions, but Jenny assured that it was a bad dream, and this would never happen again, at the mention of this Sandra began to look anxious, but Sheldon, sitting next to her, gently stroked her palm and It seemed to calm her down. After that, the seniors and their juniors went out into the courtyard, decorated with flowers now planted, and Sunday gatherings continued in it. No one bothered the company, there was not a single incident that day where Jenny was needed or alien attacks, perhaps because, apparently, even supervillains had Sunday off.
While everyone was chatting, sitting down on the green manicured lawn, Sheldon held Sandra's hand, showing that he was with her and helped drive away dark memories. A lot of time has passed since they started dating, despite the ridicule from some students of the school, they held on to each other like never before, did not give up under the hardships at school and the most terrible event for them, as it turned out, was not the mockery of school bullies or the machinations of harmful girls, but they were able to They survived him and only strengthened their feelings for each other, however, they had another test, the last battle for respect and peace, this time at school. And while they were relaxing peacefully, Tuck and Veronica, who was a year and a half older than him, played together, they seemed to get along well with each other. At the feeder on the tree, the younger students saw the birds that had arrived, the already familiar handsome red cardinal and his girlfriend, also crested, but much more modestly colored bird, poured seeds into their palms, the children offered them treats, trusting creatures landed in their arms and began to eat, not afraid of people. The children playing and laughing serenely reminded everyone that good and goodness still prevail in this world, and it's worth fighting for them.

Chapter 6: The end of the School War

Chapter Text

Jenny was lying on the bed in the room and reading a magazine when the call came in.
— Yes? — she replied, pulling the phone out of the right side of her head and connected to the conference. — Hi girls, Sandra, Kiki, Suzy, Amanda, glad to hear from you! Is the union of girls of resistance to cousins all assembled?
— Hi, how are you, Jenny? Besides protecting the Earth.
— Quite nothing, I put out a couple of monsters today, otherwise nothing special. And thanks to the fact that you warned me about the impending machinations, I caught the cousins of Crust when they broke into my locker with things and were going to replace the batteries lying in it with defective ones with which I would be short-circuited.
— They could get in trouble for breaking into the locker, — Amanda pointed out.
— I didn't turn them in. For now. But I warned them, now I have dirt on them, they will be quiet for a while. Keep an undercover eye on them.
Are they planning anything about me? Sandra spoke up.
About this, however, no one knew anything.
— Then let's talk about something urgent and not about the intrigues at school, — Suzie suggested. — What do you think about the new show named “War of giants"?
The conversation turned into a discussion of the new Japanese series, which gained considerable popularity, and did not ignore the students of the Tremorton school: the whole group of girls watched it, everyone found something different in it. The series was about humanity, which during the middle of the nineteenth century faced an almost invincible enemy for them in the form of mysterious giants, and hid from them behind three mighty walls, but the danger did not pass after that, and a group of teenage cadets studied and prepared to protect humanity from sinister giant monsters.
— “War of Giants” is such a fascinating sight, — said Suzy, — and what diverse and colorful characters there are. I personally like Kasami. She is so beautiful, skilled and brave. And who do you like?
— Airen.
— I like Miran, he's so cute and smart.
— All of the three main characters, what a banal choice you have, — after listening to them, Sandra grumbled.
— Then who are you?
— You'll never believe it, Caroline.
There were giggles.
— No wonder, this character looks like you, — replied Kiki. — Wears the same pigtails. And Caroline also seems to like Airen.
— Kasami loves Airen too,— Suzie pointed out. — it will not be easy for Caroline to compete with her. She is very tough and jealous.
— Frankly speaking, yes, I'm rooting for Caroline and Airen relationship. Maybe the author intended to make them a couple?
— Aren't there a lot of girls who have a crush on Airen? — Amanda spoke doubtfully. — Kasami, and Carolina, and Kristina. Some kind of harem already. I don't like this, a nasty feature of Japanese animated series. I didn't want to watch this series at first, but you talked me into it. In such circumstances, there is no time for love affairs, actually, when you are under siege by ten-meter monsters.
— One thing is good, Anna is definitely secretly in love with Miran, and he loves her, in the end they confess their feelings to each other, — concluded Kiki. — And who will be with Irena, the authors are deliberately catching up with the intrigue.
Jenny summed it up:
— That's what I liked the most about the musical accompaniment in the “War of Giants”, it is a masterpiece and is ideally suited to every situation!
Everyone unequivocally agreed with this and said goodbye to the meeting at school. After putting down the phone, Sandra heard conversations in the living room. When she came out to be curious, she found that two police officers were talking to her parents.
—...We know exactly what we saw. You were lying in the morgue, it definitely happened, now you're alive again, how did this happen? This is undoubtedly good, but what is not good is the chaos and confusion in which all the services are after that, — said one. — This distracts the police from more important matters, so we want to know the exact answer: How did this happen?
— And it will also take us a lot of time and resources to change all the documents again and make you legally alive according to the documents, — added the second.
Not to mention the fact that four of our patrolmen also became alive in a completely incomprehensible way, which is of course good, but plunges into great confusion.
— I told you, we are alive again because Citizen Sheldon Lee prevented those events, — replied the hostess of the house. — And Sandra can confirm that she knows him well.
— Oh, that crazy inventor. These crazy inventors are completely arrogant, changing the past without getting a license for it.
— He's not crazy, but the most wonderful guy I've ever met. Sandra chimed in. — Yes, it's a little weird, but it's a small flaw. Be at least a little grateful to him if he saved the lives of your people too!
The police soon left the house, they had to do difficult paperwork with another resident, who had risen in an unknown way, leaving no trace in the morgue.
"I still can't believe it was real," the woman said, closing the door behind them. — If anything, Sandra, I fully approve of you, marry him.
The student smiled shyly, but in her heart she was flattered that her parents approved of her choice. She wondered, because this was her first crush on a boy and her first relationship in general, and how far they had come. As a beautiful girl, she was periodically courted by guys from school, at one time Dylan was very actively pursuing her, running everywhere after her, just like a faithful dog after the mistress. She didn't mind being friends with him, but when it came to romance, she politely but firmly rejected him. He didn't grieve for long and soon she saw this well-fed guy hanging out with another high school student. What did she dislike about him? In terms of appearance, he was superior to Sheldon. Wasn't he an interesting enough conversationalist? Or did she dream of an exalted relationship, of a brave knight from a heroic fantasy that would save her and carry her away like a princess? This happened that day, and as much as Sandra hated, now with fierce hatred, all those who invade Tremorton, she felt a strange feeling of gratitude to those purple robots who unknowingly brought her and Sheldon together.
She saw him again the next day, the inventor was happy to tell her that his spaceship was ready and he would soon show it in action as soon as all the documents for it arrived.
— Nerd and nerdophile, — they could hear giggling and giggling in the hallway.
The couple looked at each other and realized that they were completely tired of it and needed to take retaliatory actions. Soon they were laughing among themselves, enjoying watching the bewilderment of those who had recently teased them. Sheldon and Sandra had inscriptions in proud font “nerd” and “nerdophile” engraved on their outerwear.
— Why do they think we should be ashamed of this? Sheldon was saying with a grin. — “Nerd” is not a swear word at all!
Later, at the next break, two big guys, probably from the football team, surrounded them near the lockers.
— Listen, here's the thing, can we... a bully you two? Just a little," one of them asked uncertainly, almost shyly.
Sheldon and Sandra exchanged glances and he asked:
— Just a little? How's that? What are you going to do?
— Uh, lock you both in the locker.
— Is that all? — it was clear from his look that he knew something in advance. — If Sandra doesn't mind, then close it. Just think about it: how long will you keep us there?
It dawned on the girl that Sheldon had something to answer that and nothing to worry about.
— Well, let's say we let you close us down,— she played along with Sheldon.
The guys shoved them into the locker and slammed the door. Sandra and Sheldon found themselves face to face in a cramped locker.
— Yeah, for the first time in my life they lock me in a school locker, — Sandra complained slightly grumpily
— For the first time in my life, I am locked in a school drawer with someone.
— Being in such a tight space with you... it's not bad at all.
— That's for sure, for the first time in my life I'm locked in a locker and this situation doesn't upset me, but I like it.
— Huh, do you like that situation we're in too? — girl languidly closed her eyes, looking at him, her heart began to pound faster.
— It's a pity, but now is not the time. We have to go to class.
— Yeah, i agree, it's a shame that we need to get out of here and go to class, otherwise I would be happy to play here with you. So what should we do?
— Now, I'll just reach into my pocket and take the teleporter.
Outside, the hapless bullers exchanged glances with a mixture of chagrin and amazement. Then a bluish ray flashed in the hallway, it expanded and the two they had pushed into the locker materialized out of it. As if nothing had happened, they went about their business.
— What is it, our bullying doesn't work. I no longer feel the joy of bullying, — one of the guys sighed and they sadly trudged away.

After the end of the lessons, Sheldon informed Sandra that he wanted, as she suggested, to take up appearance.
— Hey, Caroline! I see you've found your Airen, haven't you? — Sandra heard giggling on the way out.
It was Kiki. She came up with a kind new nickname for Sandra.
— Ah, hello again, friend. A new episode of ”War of giants" is coming soon. It's interesting to see what the authors will present to us.
— Listen, you won't believe what I've heard. I'll tell you on the way home.
When they were separated, the red-haired student said in a low voice:
— Brit, I overheard by chance, she was paying attention to your, uh, “Airen”. I inadvertently overheard her conversation with Jantrice from around the corner, she was saying: and if you squint hard, then Shel... oh, “Airen”, quite nothing, and his finances, which can be pulled out for a new wardrobe, perfectly pay for his flaws.
Sandra frowned and clasped her hands in jealousy.
— Thanks for the information. Our secret Bene Gesserit organization is useful, anyway. I'll think about what she might do. She will try to steal my boyfriend away from me — let she not even dream! What an outrageous impudence!
—Did you mean the “girls' union”? Oh, you all call our band this weird synonym, although it's your business, of course.
It seemed that Sandra and Sheldon emerged victorious from any situation, beat their detractors, but they found something over which they had no control. It was time for a new episode of the Japanese TV series and Sandra started watching it with interest, the cadets had their first real fight with the giants, and Caroline, Sandra's favorite character, got screen time and rushed into battle with Airen, but then the show presented an unpleasant surprise. A girl with pigtails was picked up by a giant, hit the back of her head against the wall of a building and lost consciousness. Sandra watched with bated breath.
— Now, someone will save her, yes, the team's revenue will win! Come on, will someone save you? Come on, come on... at such moments, they always save you, at the last moment.
Meanwhile, the character of the show was grabbed by a giant with a blunt face, drooling and intending to bite a man on the head.
— Now, now they will save you… No, no, no, no! WELL, WHAT THE HELL?! The student burst into an angry exclamation and jumped up from behind her chair.
— Sandra, don't yell! — the mother's voice rang out, slightly calming the girl.
— Damn your... division! Sandra muttered softly through her teeth, imitating the curse of her grandfather, a retired military man, and slammed her palm on the computer table in a frenzy.
In discussing the series on a conference call, everyone, without exception, sympathized with Sandra:
— I'm so sorry ... you loved this character. Yes, the risks in this series are high, but the authors are completely unfair, they took and killed the character Caroline, — Jenny said sympathetically, — I see you're upset, Sandra.
— They ruined a character with brilliant development opportunities and individual character traits, for the sake of primitive and superficial scaring of the audience. From now on, I promise not to get attached to minor characters in horror series, — Sandra replied.
— That's right, it's just an animated series, life is more important, you don't have to take it to heart, — Suzie supported.
— Well, he helped me to distract from unpleasant events... and such an unpleasant surprise. Sandra broke off, adding in a dramatically changed tone, like a boiling kettle: "the author unfairly killed a unique character who could have done something in the plot! Well, okay, so be it, maybe they will develop stories and a plot somehow and so ... - and her friends laughed together, however it was not funny to her. — Why are you laughing? This is a bad sign, it shows how a work can be handled and begin to create author's arbitrariness.
The next day was calm, only Jenny flew into low-Earth orbit to destroy a couple of large asteroids. After school, as always, Sheldon and Sandra met in front of the schoolyard and talked. The guy looked slightly different, he put on a different T-shirt, which featured an image of an atom with electrons rotating around the nucleus, and this was not his only change.
— Have you changed your hairstyle? Or did he brush his hair more carefully? You look a lot neater.
"Both. I was told at the barbershop that shorter hair suits me. I just wanted to look smart today. You're ready for a surprise, aren't you, Sandra? Let's go.
In the school parking lot, Sheldon took a remote control out of his pocket and clicked buttons on it when a gold-colored sedan with a retractable roof pulled up and stopped. Brit Crust, who recently got her license, looked at them from it.
— How do you like my brand new car? A gift from my father. Do you all walk?
Sandra folded her hands and turned away, coldly answering:
— Hi, Brit. Why are you even talking to a girl from a lowest rank, to which you have relegated me?
— I just wanted to show you by my example how important it is to be able to focus on what is important, on gaining influence. Maybe this will push you to the right conclusions.
— Right, i’m focusing on the important things, — Sheldon grinned and added solemnly, — And now you can see it!
An approaching rumble was heard, forcing everyone to look around anxiously, some people guessed to look at the sky, pointing with their finger where an object with a pair of twin wings was slowly floating through the air towards the school. Sheldon pointed to an empty area with the control panel and turning in the air, the ship, shaped like a shoe with appendages on the sides, headed down until it landed next to it, right in front of the astonished Brit's car. Sliding doors opened and a ramp slid out.
— Do you still drive? Well, go, and Sheldon and I flew, it's not bad for me to be with him at the lowest rank!
The dark-skinned fashionista, with her mouth open, looked at the maroon-metal device towering at least six meters high and looking at her car, then at him, realized how small it was compared to him.
— Driving around the streets is the last century, we flew on my personal space yacht to see the Soul nebula, — Sheldon said and went inside.
The sliding doors slammed shut and giving the engines in the stern of the hull two jet jets and blowing a hot wind around, the spaceship lazily and noisily rose up and flew through the air. Inside, thanks to the noise insulation, there was almost no noise, the students settled in two chairs: Sheldon in the pilot's seat and his companion sat in the passenger seat.
— On my spaceship, assembled from parts of a Cluster’s space dreadnought that collapsed in two, there is everything, — Sheldon told with pride and you can feel calm: there are backup oxygen sources, a carbon dioxide absorber based on calcium oxide, and I did not forget about the sanitary unit, it is in the corner in the stern, sealed suits and spare parts for repairs of possible breakdowns, but I doubt that anything will break on my “Wanderer” in the next five years, I approached its design very responsibly and scrupulously.
— I believe you and trust what you have built.
— Then let's go! The pilot clicked on the control panel.
The people watching below only looked after the apparatus that had risen a hundred meters into the air, and it seemed to form a green-turquoise funnel portal in front of itself and began to distort, the front part of the spacecraft retracted first, followed by the rear, after which the funnel seemed to self-close, bending inward. Elsewhere, among the stars of the constellation Cassiopeia, space warped and a space yacht with two passengers jumped out of a pulsating sea-green formation, like a whirlpool of energy.
— We have arrived, — the creator of the spaceship announced, looking at the sensors on the display, then clicked and the window curtains moved back, and an unprecedented sight appeared behind the thick armored glass.
— Wow! — the girl sighed admiringly, looking out, — what a beauty!
Outside, a breathtaking sight appeared in space, golden and orange structures dotted with many membrane layers with dark specks of interstellar gas, like sculptures of stellar matter with a blue-white veil in the center, the creator of which was the universe itself.
— Let me introduce you, the emission nebula “Soul”, and to the right of it the nebula “Heart”, its shape speaks eloquently about why this one was so named.
The girl was beaming with joy, folding her palms on her chest, and then she turned her gaze to her lover, and hugged him, sitting down next to him while the universe illuminated them with a gentle light.
— The heart is definitely about us, isn't it, darling.
Returning to Earth, Sheldon landed the spaceship on the road near Sandra's house, at the exit Sheldon once again pulled the girl to him and they kissed, after which she returned to her room and it was time for him to cast off and put his space yacht in the parking lot.
Since then, they have periodically visited different parts of space, spending time there on excursions and for recreation. Sandra used to run out of her room with her purse and address her parents:
— Mom, dad, do you mind if me and Sheldon fly to the golden resort on the planet Ellenier? That's nice, if you don't mind. Well, see you soon, — and ran out into the street, where a spaceship with two double wings and its pilot were already waiting.
— Yes, when we were young, it was enough for us to be happy to go out of town to the lake, — her mother said thoughtfully, looking at the taking—off spaceship, exchanging glances with her husband. - And they need a flight to another planet in another part of the galaxy!
— Oh, young people, — sighed her husband, — you can't please them like that now. They became completely spoiled.

A new working week came, full of energy, everyone went to work or study, Sandra, having rested on the weekend, also enthusiastically welcomed her.
Lost in thought and remembering how well she spent the weekend with her beloved, she went to the locker for storing things, and clicking the combination lock, only now noticed that a thin, almost imperceptible fishing line was tied to it, which she pulled. Before the girl could figure out what was going on, something wet and nasty poured out on top of her, and looking at herself, Sandra realized that she was covered in red liquid. Her hands began to shake, her heart began to pound with fright and the girl let out a martyr's cry of horror, shaking her hands and shaking off this abomination. A characteristic nasty metallic taste hit my nose. Not understanding what was happening, the student shook off the red slush from her head and hands, wailing and sobbing. The red liquid, whatever it was, awakened the most terrible memories hidden inside her for the time being and the world around her seemed to cease to exist, she was left only with her horror, paralyzed by it and screamed:
— I'm in blood, I'm in blood, I can smell it! Blood, blood on me! Take it away, TAKE IT AWAY!
Ryan was next to her, and when he heard her, he hurried to figure out what was going on. Touching her shoulder, the blond man felt the red liquid on his fingers and confidently declared:
— Hey, it's just tomato juice, calm down.
But the girl did not react, she slid her back down the locker to the floor and sat down, covering her face with her hands, trying to hide from reality, surrounded by giggling teenagers, and remained sitting there, trembling with small tremors and her mind clouded with nightmarish visions. It's not clear how much time has passed, but finally she realized that she was being loudly called by her last name.
— Miss Wolfmesser. Miss Wolfmesser! I'M TALKING TO YOU!
Forcing herself to raise her head, the student, covered in red mud, realized that the squat headmaster, Razinski, was standing in front of her.
— Stop violating discipline with inappropriate appearance and yelling. You have been issued two disciplinary notices for polluting the school premises and inappropriate appearance, immediately clean yourself up! One more disciplinary remark and you will be suspended from classes!
The student, feeling crushed, struggled to her feet and heard the hallway filled with laughter from the gathered crowd, of course above her. Not everyone laughed, some sympathized, but most were amused. With difficulty gathering her strength, Sandra, humiliated and disgraced, trudged along the road, then remembered that the toilet where she could wash herself was in another place. Meanwhile, Jenny Wakeman made her way through the crowd, attracted by the screams of horror caught by her scanner.
— Oh, my God, are you hurt?! — the robotess appeared next to him with lightning speed and began to fuss restlessly. — Are you bleeding profusely?! And why tomato juice? Now, I will fix everything and help! She took out a portable vacuum cleaner, in a couple of strokes the liquid substance disappeared from her clothes and hair, everything was dry and as good as new, except that it did not shine.
Seeing that her friend was still staggering like a fragile aspen in the wind, Jenny transformed, taking out a medical gurney from her stomach, grabbed and laid the girl on it and took out a defibrillator from her hands, lifting it over her.
— Is the heartbeat lost from shock? This will cheer you up!
— Hey, hey! Are you trying to finish me off? Sandra exclaimed, staring at the defibrillators. — Stop, it! I feel bad, but not that much, there's no need!
Jenny put the devices away, put Sandra, who seemed to have cheered up a little, on her feet and forced an awkward smile, running her toe along the floor.
— A cheerful start to the day, you can't say anything, — the pretty brunette muttered to herself, drooping. — Not only did I discover a new trigger for panic attacks, but I was also guilty of two disciplinary punishments without guilt.
— Poor. You don't deserve it. I know by myself, sometimes it falls for nothing.
Jenny hugged her, stroking her back, and it seemed to help Sandra.
— Everything will be fine.
— Thanks, Jenny, I'm feeling better. You have more humanity and kindness than other people. Now I understand what it was like for you.
— I wonder who could have done this, — Ryan asked, pointing to a mechanism of several levers and an almost imperceptible fishing line to which a plastic bucket was tied.
— We'll find out,— the robot girl said firmly.
At the dining table, Sandra's friends were quietly outraged.
— They knew how to put pressure on a sore spot, — Kiki shook her head.
— In my opinion, they did it by accident, — Amanda replied. — But how disgusting of them, my opinion of them — only you know who could have done it — or at their direction, collapsed.
— They've gone too far, — Jenny scowled angrily. — By the way, here they come.
— Hey, why are the two-ranked ones sitting with the lower ranks? — A haughty voice was heard, Brit came up, followed by Tiff. - This is not according to your status, you should not sit with a walking hair dryer and declassified.
— Jenny, seeing them, transformed her right hand into a heavy cannon and began stroking with her left.
— Hey, what are you doing, tin can? The cousins backed away warily.
— I'm just cleaning my laser, otherwise it's dirty, I don't want it to malfunction and accidentally spontaneously shoot and burn off all the hair on someone's head or brand-new clothes, you don't want that, do you?
The cousins quickly left without a word.
— Okay, I'll go, otherwise you'll fall from your ranks for communicating with me, you'll get the same as me, — Sandra got up and walked away, whispering: — better by phone. The Bene Gesserit gathering is today.
— Oh, she still keeps calling our “girls' resistance union” in her own way, — Suzie shrugged.
In a conference call, they scolded cousins Crust, but they couldn't come up with anything.
— We don't even have direct evidence that they poured the tomato juice! Jenny exclaimed frantically. "But my instruments will help detect traps.
— If they started using offensive prank tactics, then I should be more careful. Otherwise, if they think of buying real blood from the farm and pouring it over it, then I'll go completely crazy with horror, which I would not like.
— So do we, we need you in your right mind, girlfriend! We will help you in any way we can!
— And yet, I still don't understand why they are doing this and why they brought down these bullying on Sandra.
The decision was taken: Jenny is scanning the school for traps and Sandra will be careful. The next few days, she carefully looked at all the corners she passed, kept her eyes on the ceiling, expecting that there would be a bucket of tomato juice or worse again, but in the end she got tired of it and thought about something else. The new episode of the Japanese animated series “War of Giants”, which Sandra was looking forward to, finally gave people the strength to defeat the giants for the first time, they were able to return the city of Trostheim. The giants fell one after another from cannonballs and swords of brave soldiers. “Taste my sword, you wicked monster!”, — the brave hero shouted on the monitor screen and chopped the back of the giant's head, falling heavily dead to the enthusiastic exclamations of Sandra, who watched the series from the bed.
— So them, there they are, the foes!
The general spoke from the monitor, addressing the soldiers: “only bravery and bravery can defeat evil monsters!”and the soldiers saluted him: “Let's dedicate our hearts!" Sandra, seeing this, thought about it and after a short reflection on the series, said:
— I'm so tired of being afraid. The school abusers hiding in the dark are the same as those giants from the series. And there are monsters and hostile aliens lurking for a treacherous attack. I can handle all of them.
Her gaze fell on the katana hanging in the case, which her lover had given her as a souvenir.
That afternoon, Sheldon stopped by Sandra's and found a very curious sight. In the courtyard of the house, Sandra practiced with the katana he had given her. A swing and a stabbing blow, a step back and a new lunge, the movements are smooth, like a dance dissecting an invisible enemy.
— What are you doing, Sandra? You said you wouldn't use my gift, — Sheldon grinned as he approached.
— I just relaxing. He calms me down a little.
— Do you imagine how you punish offenders? I heard how you were doused with them, my poor girl. Jenny told me about it and how shocked you were. I would pour a gallon of ectoplasm on them as punishment! No one dares to harm my Sandra out of hooligan motives! You have done nothing wrong to anyone, for which you are being so harmed!
— Punishing school offenders with your donated katana is really not an option, i can end up in jail. But I would punish all sorts of alien reptiles with it, however, one katana against those who climb into the Tremorton will probably not be enough. It's Jenny who's so strong that she's almost not afraid of anyone, and I'm just a fragile, vulnerable girl. I wish I could become stronger so that I wouldn't be afraid of enemies. So that that day would not happen again and I could stand up for myself and my loved ones on my own, and not wait for a superhero to arrive and save me. Life dictates its own requirements, you have to adjust to it.
— Katana against those enemies that Jenny is fighting will really not be enough. At least we need a blaster. To begin with, I would like to get rid of your and my enemies at school somehow, — Sheldon sighed.
— That's right. I have a plan here. Let's go into the house, I'll tell you there.
Inside, the girl hung his gift on the wall. Sheldon's drawing hung in a neat frame next to it, he looked at it and touched his chin and muttered:
— And if I could help you get at least approximately closer to Jenny's armor protection...
— What are you talking about? I have a plan, listen.
She began to tell me. Meanwhile, Pteresa was walking along the street with her boyfriend Sebastian, a giant against her background, their height and size difference made their couple look extremely ridiculous, Sandra and Sheldon saw them from behind the curtains, remaining unnoticed. Then the girl remembered that a classmate periodically walked this way, and also quite often past Sheldon's house. A suggestion flashed through her head that during meetings with Sheldon, in the courtyards of their houses, where they sometimes spent time outdoors, reading books or listening to music, they might not even notice this red-haired sneaky student passing by, and she perhaps this one, seeing them, guessed that Sandra and Sheldon had a real relationship not pulling money, maybe she could even figure it out by making them kiss when they weren't seeing her. She could have brought it to the Krast cousins. After listening to Sandra's plan, Sheldon agreed without much enthusiasm.
— Okay, let's try it, see what happens.
The next day, Sandra was packing her things at her locker, not forgetting to check if there was any nasty surprise nearby. Sheldon came up to her.
— Hi, listen, will you come to the comic book show with me?
— Hey, don't come near me! — brunette with pigtails exclaimed, she looked annoyed.
— Sandra, what is it?
— I'm fed up with you and your eccentricity, we're breaking up! I've told you so many times, but you didn't listen, and you've caused me more problems at school.
— Wait, but why? It was so good for us!
— And don't talk to me! Slamming the locker door, the girl walked away, arrogantly closing her eyes.
— Sandra, why, how can you? Sheldon lowered his head in frustration.
The raised-pitched conversation attracted the attention of other students, and there were chuckles and whispers. He did not hide from Jenny and Brad either.
— What? They broke up, — robot girl was surprised. — How unexpected. Why would that be?
— Did she leave Sheldon? I thought better of Sandra. — Brad frowned. — He brought her parents back to life by manipulating a time machine, not to mention that he saved her from robots, and she turned out to be an ungrateful ugly girl.
Jenny, however, turned out to be wiser, her attention was attracted by a group of students in another part of the corridor. Brit and Tiff, and with them Pteresa, watched the quarrel with great interest and then began to laugh.
— Don't jump to conclusions, Brad. Somehow they had a very convenient quarrel and broke up without explanation, so that all this could be seen by the cousins of Crust, in front of their eyes.
They exchanged glances, and Brad understood what his friend meant. A depressed Sheldon came up to them.
— What happened? — Jenny asked.
— I don't really want to talk about it, it's too sad. Maybe later.
— Yes, I understand,— the robotess replied significantly. — Then let's not bother asking questions and reopening the wound, okay, Brad?
The next day, Sandra and Sheldon avoided each other, the girl also avoided Jenny and Brad, and they, in turn, were in no hurry to ask questions. The last bell rang and the students rushed home like an unstoppable avalanche, and Sheldon was walking behind them, immersed in sad thoughts, when a female voice called out to him.
— Hey, hello, Sheldon, what's so sad?
The excellent student looked up, turned around at the voice and was almost stunned. Brit Crust was standing in front of him, but her clothes were different from those boring trousers and a high-collared coat. Today, the fashionista was in a short striped dress and low boots, she let down her long dark hair falling to her waist, it flashed through Sheldon's mind from this sight that Brit was quite good-looking, a slender Indian oriental beauty, and that was all.
— Brit? What is it?
— I heard that Sandra dumped you. How annoying, let me sympathize with you, — replied she. — Apparently, she got tired of you and wanted someone more popular than you.
— I do not know the reasons for this, — the excellent student sighed, lowering his head and putting his hands in his pockets.
— How sad that she turned out to be so ungrateful! The whole neighborhood knows the story of how you saved her family with your miracle machine. And she left you after that, how terrible.
— That's right, I didn't expect that from her.
— But there is a plus: now you are a free guy. And you can find yourself another girl, better and prettier.
Brit approached him with a graceful step.
— Perhaps, yes, — the excellent student forced a strained smile, looking away.
— With your ability to earn money from your projects and books, you will not be left alone, do not worry. By the way, I am also free. And by the way, you're looking quite good, if squint eyes properly, you're very okay, and most importantly, you're so smart and capable.
— Uh... thanks? I'm happy for you, Brit. It's convenient to be free.
The dark-skinned fashionista twisted her face in mild irritation, and began to lose patience, which she had never possessed, said:
— Hey, you're not dumb, but now you're being silly, you don't get the hints.
— Hints? — asked Sheldon.
— Would you like to come to my place? Brittany put her hand on his shoulder. — I'll explain everything to you more clearly. I can give you a ride. Or do you prefer your spaceship? I've been too biased against you for a long time, I was wrong, you're a very good man, so capable, you're sure to be a rich inventor.
— Ah, now I think I understand what you're getting at. Do you really want to date me?
— Oh, what rude extremes, from one to the other: sometimes you doesn’t understand the hint, sometimes you so straightforward. Well, okay, you can say that. What do you say?
— Oh, it's very difficult for me right now, — Sheldon lowered his head, pulling away, — I just broke up with Sandra. I loved her. I'm not ready to think about a new relationship with someone yet, I'm sorry.
— Oh, that's how it is. I understand. Okay, you think about it for now, I won't rush you.
Brit Crust mannerly left and Sheldon, fumbling with his hand in the pocket of his hoodie, couldn't help but grin.
On the street, as soon as Sandra left school, Tiff Crust caught up with her and spoke.
— Are you sick of that boring Sheldon that you dumped him?
— Yeah. As you can see.
— He probably took out his brain with his nonsense, so you couldn't stand it. But now you can find yourself a new boyfriend, a better one.
— Yeah.
— You even lost that inscription “nerdy girl" from your jacket.
— yeah. You're observant, you see how serious it is.
— Don't worry, it's for the best. To brighten up your grief from the breakup of a relationship, I'll talk to Brit, ask her to return you to the third rank so that you don't get upset, no bully in school will touch you anymore with our roof, especially when you return to the second, you have a suggestion: help us, uh, play Jenny Wakeman and for this, you will automatically move immediately to the second rank, you just need to find out something from her.
— How tempting, I don't mind. Only it's not so easy to get close to her," the brunette with braids replied thoughtfully. — Yes, and Jenny and I haven't become that close yet. It will take from a couple of days to a week.
— Okay, I'll wait.
After dinner at his home, Sheldon heard the phone ring and immediately answered it.
— Hello. Do I have anything to say to you? Absolutely! Sandra, your plan to stage a provocation worked out well, better than could have been expected, and I recorded our conversation with Brit Crust as planned.
— And what did she say?– the girl on the other end of the line answered, sitting behind the bed.
— You won't believe it, Sandra! Brit was hitting on me, dressed up for me in probably one of the best outfits, and sang like a nightingale, it was so unusual to see it, usually poison drips from her tongue.
Hearing this, Sandra opened her eyes wide, and then smiled strangely and even ominously.
— What a snake, she threw me off my position at school with one hand, and decided to take my boyfriend away with the other and grab it for herself. We will turn this to our advantage. I'll come by your place, I want to hear for myself what that rat said to you.

At Sheldon's home, Sandra listened in amazement to what he recorded on a dictaphone. After listening, she grinned:
— I don't even know, whether to be angry or glad that my dear Sheldon became in great demand and one of the most popular girls claimed him. But Brit made a big mistake, took the bait right away, and was too hasty. I'm calling our secret group of girls who are unhappy with Crust cousins.
This afternoon, the first live meeting of the "girls union" took place, the meeting took place in the courtyard of Susie's house. On it, Sandra sarcastically told about everything she heard from the recording recorder. She couldn't wait to avenge her humiliations and lay siege to her abusers. After thinking a little and discussing how to act, the students decided: an anonymous letter would be sent to the cousins. Sitting in the courtyard, they worked out together how to make a sharp joke about the Crust cousins. Jenny wrote on a piece of paper under dictation, pulling a pencil out of her finger and listening to advice, while the other girls laughed and chose more sarcastic and mocking words with which to tease Brit Crust and warn her against new attacks, threatening to reveal her flirtations with Sheldon to the whole school. Sandra, while Jenny was writing, laughed in an unusually sinister way, imagining Brit Crust's indignation and her fear of shame. When the letter was finished, Jenny delivered it, flying to the gorgeous Crust’s mansion and putting the letters in the mailbox. After reading the message, Brit Crust experienced a real storm of mixed feelings, and her face at the same time looked like a red-hot pot.
The next day at school, to everyone's surprise, Sandra was walking down the hall with Sheldon again as if nothing had happened, they were smiling at each other, laughing at jokes, and the quarrel seemed to have never happened. Seeing this, Jenny and Brad exchanged knowing glances. Brit and Tiff exchanged glances of annoyance. Dylan whined in annoyance to Jeremy, who was standing next to him:
— I thought that now I would be able to approach Sandra, if she is free. What a shame, I wish Vicky would come back to school... even though she turned out to be Vexus, but she wasn't bad for Vexus!
At the end of the lessons, a group of Jenny's friends headed for the exit from the school playground, talking about this and that.
— Why, didn't you leave Sheldon? — asked Brad.
— It was a provocation, we didn't break up.
— Oh, I knew it right away! More precisely, we are.
Robot-girl cast a disapproving glance at the red-haired student. Approaching the exit, they noticed that cousins and their two henchmen were coming towards them and immediately realized that something was about to happen, Jenny and Sandra looked at each other and realized that their calculation to quietly get rid of their Cousins was wrong, wounded pride did not scare them off, but spurred them to attack with renewed vigor.
— Look who we have here, — said Brit Crust, — all the school losers gathered together with a short-circuited toaster?
— What do you need? Jenny muttered.
— Losers? And weren't you of a different, directly opposite opinion about me yesterday when you came over to talk? — Sheldon said.
— What are you talking about? I didn't talk to you yesterday.
— How hypocritical, Brit. Are you saying it was your robot doppelganger or an alien Body Snatcher?
— Maybe it's your hallucination after you reread your boring comic book nonsense. Do you think anyone will believe you?
— Sandra, how low have you fallen, hanging out with these losers, and you could have been in our elite hangout, — Tiff spoke up. — but you preferred them.
— In exchange for what you're offering, harming Jenny under the guise of a prank, I refuse. I won't be your puppet, you know that.
A crowd of students began to gather around and watch the unfolding dispute.
— Come on, what's the point of arguing with them, — Jenny waved her hand and her friends followed her.
— Yes, I'll go with you, — Sandra agreed, — you're more pleasant company than some.
— Well, get lost with them, you stupid Italian vermicelli-head, keep going with your new friends, this is the lot of someone who has boiled spaghetti instead of a brain.
Sandra stopped when she heard this, and her companions stopped and turned around after her.
— What did you say there? — said she, and her voice had lost its usual calmness and sounded menacing.
All three of them, as well as the surrounding people, were stunned to see her expression with cold fury. Seeing that face and that look, even Jenny took a step back. Brad, who had been in school longer than she had and knew more, chose to take two steps back. Sheldon raised his hand reassuringly, and Sandra slowly turned to cousins, her palm turning into a fist. She hated when her partially Italian ancestry was insulted, literally boiled over from this, as well as from any racism, and once, at a time that Jenny did not find, there was a case when, as the rumors said, a bully began to tease her for this, in the end Sandra's patience broke and the bully experienced the wrath of the good a human being, so after that he preferred to transfer to another school. Brit Crust did not let up, towering like Goliath over David, she continued:
— What is it, did you want to go with them, or did the spaghetti in your head burn and lock up, the vermicelli is the head, or did you change your mind and come back to us in exchange for our demands?
— And what kind of children you and Sheldon will have, if you keep hanging out with him, let me guess, you'll call them el fascisto and der nazisto, that's fun, — Tiff tweeted maliciously, trying to provoke her opponent.
The cousins guffawed with each other, other students giggled from the side, and the teasing girl looked around, but not at them, but as if looking for something. The ridicule of her partially Italian-German ancestry was what infuriated her.
— Jenny, — she turned around, — do you have anything heavy from your transformations?
The robot shook her head and took a couple more steps away, fearing that she might go behind a heavy object.
— Sandra, my dear, don't, please stop, they are deliberately provoking you! Sheldon almost pleaded, looking at her and it had a calming effect, he was probably the only person who could make her calm down.
The brunette with pigtails looked at him and her gaze softened, becoming a little sad, she took a deep breath and exhaled, restored emotional balance. No, she realized, it was not an option to respond to them with what they wanted to see, victory must be achieved in another way, it must be a psychological victory.
— Tell me, what are you trying to achieve? Have you found yourself a new bullying target to replace Jenny? — Sandra said with annoyance in her voice. — Why did I not please you so much?
The cousins looked at each other.
— It's either them or us, you have to choose! Tiff replied. — You can't be in our company if you're talking to a tin can, if you haven't figured it out yet.
— And if I chat with her and go out with Sheldon, stupid school teasers are waiting for me, ha ha ha, they scared me. Do you seriously think that after what I've been through, this will somehow hurt me greatly? But I would not advise you to get carried away with them, have you already forgotten your experience with Misty or do you want to repeat something like this?
From the side, Kiki and the rest of the secret allies watched the action. The red-haired schoolgirl nodded and two girls came over.
— What are you clinging to her for? Don't you have anything to do? — Kiki, who had gathered her courage, spoke on behalf of everyone, her voice sounded firm. — Leave Sandra and Jenny alone at last and don't tell anyone who to be friends with and date! Was that tomato juice joke your idea? It's not funny at all.
— Keep it down, or your rank might be shaken, — Tiff hissed.
— You can push these ranks much deeper!
— Oh look, the bad influence of the toaster and her friends has now spread to Kiki, what a walking transmitter of waves of stupidity!
— If that's the case, it's the same for Amanda and me, — Suzie said, — but the bad influence is much more about you and your poison, you two snakes!
Sandra smiled mirthlessly and said:
— For so long you have been trying to harm Jenny, because of your prejudices, which you invented for yourself, although she always saved all of us. And now they began to put pressure on me and persuade me to take action against her. Why do you dislike me now, even though we used to be on quite good terms? Your teasing and contempt, oh, what a tragedy, oh, how am I going to survive all this? This is after my parents were killed in front of my eyes with a terrible death and only Sheldon was able to prevent it, but your machinations and pressure are like peas against a wall, I don't care! But in the place of my parents, yours could easily have turned out to be, to whom you owe your wealth in which you bathe, and your inflated success, and a bunch of new outfits in which you flaunt, or anyone else in the city.
— What are you talking about?
— Don't you dare interrupt, I'm talking now, but you listen and keep it in mind! — the brunette suddenly said sternly and imperiously, which made the fashionista dumbfounded. — If something happens to Jenny, whom you have been trying to humiliate for these years, you will have a very hard time. At any moment, such terrible monsters can descend on the Earth that you will instantly forget about all your rags! Think about who you owe the safety and the idle life you're swimming in. The one who got the most bumps from you. Aren't you ashamed, do you have a gram of conscience? And now trying to put pressure on ranks at school, and against the background of such dangers that I have seen, it looks frivolous, you will not force this to change my mind. Don't try to force me to break up with Sheldon, to whom I owe my life and the salvation of my loved ones, or to be your puppet and harm Jenny, to whom we all owe our lives repeatedly!
A wave of murmurs and whispers passed through the crowd of students. The events of the terrible Saturday had not yet been forgotten, and the policemen, whose lives, along with Sandra's parents, Sheldon also saved with his time travel, had children who studied at Tremorton School, for them the loss of their fathers was also the same tragedy, and their miraculous return from oblivion raised respect for Sheldon after the school spread rumors that he is the one who is involved in the miraculous resurrection from the dead of several seemingly untimely deceased people who were someone's parents or the parents of their close friends.
— I'm not talking about what you said to my Sheldon recently, when we supposedly broke up.
— What are you talking about, noodles? What a dreamer! — Brit Crust, to whom the interlocutor nodded, tried to laugh it off, but was clearly nervous, realizing where everything was going.
— Sheldon and I did not part, it was our provocation and a trap, and you fell into it.
The brunette nodded slightly at Sheldon, who pulled a dictaphone out of his pocket and grinned:
— I have everything written down yesterday.
— How despicable... how dare you! Give it back immediately!
Brit Crust exclaimed desperately, involuntarily holding out her hands.
— Even if I give it back, it won't do anything, I transferred the recording of our conversation to computers.
— If you don't leave them alone, then it's not just us who will laugh until we drop, but the whole school, — Amanda joined in.
—That's right, don't doubt it, — Suzie replied. — When I heard retelling from Sandra, I laughed so hard I almost burst. And according to your rules, But, after that you have to fly from your highest rank to the lowest, because you kicked Sandra out for that.
— It doesn't prove anything. And the rules with ranks are dictated only by me!
— Your ranks are outdated and they only harm our school community! We will not obey you.
Then Jeremy jumped out, a metalhead with a violent temper and a prickly hairstyle, who also watched the school showdown and delved into the essence of the conflict, what's what, now he decided that he understood enough and exclaimed:
— Down with the ranks! Down with the tyranny of cousins! Long live the revolution! Overthrow the tyrants!
The assembled students, who had previously hesitated, one by one, in small groups, began to support his slogan. “Down with the tyranny of cousins!”
— You dare not! Brit Crust screamed, trying to outshout them, but she was cut off in response:
— And you are generally silent! You can't shut everyone up.
— Yes, the Cousins of Crust during the invasion of the Cluster, from whose enslavement Jenny saved us all, were collaborators and defected to the Clusters, — it was heard from the crowd of students, — why should we obey them after that?!
— And you and I also had a hand in saving the Earth, — Brad remarked with a sigh, addressing Sheldon. — But despite our small but important role, we are not remembered…
— Yeah, Brad, we deserve respect for those things too. And where is it?
Another student answered from the crowd:
— That's right, I remember how they messed with the occupiers bugs robots!
— Crust cousins kissed metal asses, — some wit said.
— Kiss the shiny ass of the bugs from the Cluster! — shouted Jeremy.
— Ugh, the collaborators are shameful! They dare to point something out to someone else at school after kissing the asses of the invading robots! Disgrace on you two!
There was a lot of noise, hum and murmur, slowly but surely more and more students took the position of Jenny, Sandra and their friends. “The cousins of Crust kiss the shiny metal ass of alien robots!”, “down with tyranny, down with the division into ranks", “school ranks are an invention of cousins - idiocy!” It was heard from everywhere and the cousins could not do anything about it. The discontent smoldering among many schoolchildren finally burst out in an indomitable torrent.
The two cousins only looked around in horror, their mouths slightly open, looking for their supporters, but there was no one who wanted to support them, while they were booed and ridiculed, all the girls from the second, not to mention the third rank also rebelled against them, seeing how Kiki, Amanda and Susie rebelled, standing up for the declassified Sandra.

— Your ranking system for girls is really a stupid idea and it should have fallen sooner or later, which happened, — said Stephanie, who at one time during the war of practical jokes equally laughed at the failures of the group of Jenny and Misty and cousins, now even a formally loyal supporter abandoned them, — Now clear up this mess yourself, — and walked away from them.
Jantrice and Pteresa, seeing what was happening, preferred to get lost in the crowd and disappear unnoticed from unwanted attention, especially the short pest Ptereza looked panicked. No one came out to intercede for the cousins. Sandra, along with Jenny and the girls' union, triumphed while the cousins hunched and hunched like a withered leaf.
— That's what your desire to dominate everyone and tell everyone how to live has brought you to," Jenny concluded.
— But you started it all, — Sandra said. — I know, and I also know exactly how, during the incident with the fire on Jenny's first day at school, the thing that closed it got into her laser, and who, and most importantly, why it was fired. I accidentally overheard you at one of your parties. I know a lot about you and your secret dealings that are not worth revealing, don't you, as well as recording on a dictaphone?
The cousins shuddered and exchanged glances. Brit stared intently into the eyes of her former henchwoman, realizing that Sandra had overheard and learned a lot during her time in their party.
— You are your own evil pinocchio, and you dug a hole for yourself into which you fell, — Sandra said in a stern but more condescending tone. — You blame Jenny for your misadventures, demonize her and believe in it yourself. Somehow this is not right and stupid. Actually, I liked being at your parties and hen parties, walking in your company and chatting about this and that, it was fun, but what is not fun at all is your habit of starting to mock those who do not support your opinion. Jenny can save you from evil robots or aliens, but not from your moral bankruptcy. No one can save you from moral bankruptcy and preserve the remnants of your reputation right now, not her, not me, not all the gods combined, no one but yourself, if you make the right decision.
Tiff and Brit looked at each other in silence, as if asking each other what to do, doubts were hovering inside them and a struggle was taking place. The short cousin nodded slightly to her tall friend, who was the unspoken intellectual leader in their company, making plans and making decisions, and leaning forward, Brit said, lowering her gaze and tilting her head down:
— Excuse us. We were wrong. I'm sorry, Jenny, Sandra, and everyone else, we behaved incorrectly, with you and with everyone around, we admit our mistakes, this will not happen again, just forgive us.
— We behaved unforgivably rudely! Tiff echoed her. — What should we do to make you forgive us and make peace between us?
— Are they asking for peace? What do you think? — Jenny smiled at Sandra, Sheldon and Brad.
— Peace should be made, of course, but on our terms, — Sandra replied, most of all wishing for the return of a quiet life and that she had no enemies. — Tell me, for mercy's sake, did you make that prank when I was doused with tomato juice?
—Yes, it was us, — Brit replied. — We didn't expect you to be so horrified by this, I'm sorry.
— So you didn't expect me to react like this?
— Not at all. Hey, you should have stopped me when I started preparation! — Tiff muttered to her cousin.
— I expressed doubt that this might not cause Sandra the best associations due to recent events and that it might not be worth doing this, but you didn't listen to me.
— You didn't insist on it enough! She said: “do what you want, implement her idea of a joke if you want!
— And you could finish it yourself without me, there's nothing to rely on me forever, be able to think independently!
— You approve the decision with us, you should have insisted more strongly, if you feel that this is too much, it's your fault!
The cousins angrily grabbed each other and a scuffle began, they shook each other, accusing each other and saying “u-uh, y-you ...”, “ah, you!” and grabbing their necks, they began to shake and strangle each other to the laughter of others. Jenny, Sandra, Brad and Sheldon didn't know whether to laugh at bickering cousins or be surprised that they still had some moral principles and doubts about their actions.
— Well, calm down, — Jenny wedged her transformation between them and pushed classmates aside. — Time out, time out! What is there about the conclusion of peace?
Sheldon expressed his thought:
— I propose that both sides sign a peace treaty with conditions that both sides undertake to comply with. We can sign it on my spaceship “Wanderer”, let's call it the "peace treaty at school and beyond.
— I approve,— Sandra agreed. — By the way, I did not understand, you said “her idea of a joke”, the idea of pouring tomato juice red as blood on me was not yours? But whose is it?
— Pteresa suggested this to us. — Tiff sighed. “She said that it would be nice to kick you out of our group because things are serious realtionships between you and Sheldon.”
— More precisely, she didn't just say it, but actively insisted on it," Brit added.
Hearing this, Sandra opened her eyes wide and couldn't say a word for a long time. Was the true culprit of her misadventures, damaged nerves, panic attacks due to the color red and visits to the school psychologist to get rid of the phobia of red color all this time in the shadows and manipulated cousins, which they themselves did not even realize?
Soon Sheldon drove the makeshift spaceship to the parking lot and everyone went inside via a retractable ramp. Sheldon took out an album sheet and wrote on it the text of the peace treaty and its terms, which were: prohibition of insults to each other, offensive jokes and mockery, any form of bullying and harassment, elimination of the ranking system for girls and their friends, from now on all high school girls were equal regardless of how fashionable or rich they were families, and Sandra added to these points a ban on trying to steal someone else's boyfriend. Jenny signed under these conditions, and after her, after a little hesitation, without much enthusiasm on the faces of Cousin Crust. Brad went outside, waving a peace treaty leaflet to the applause and cheers of the students.
— Thank you, you helped a lot, — Sandra nodded to her friends from the secret group of the girls' union, giving a thumbs up, they smiled at her, nodded and went home, other people also began to disperse, and Sheldon suggested:
— And now, as a sign of reconciliation, I invite you all to fly with us to see the Crab Nebula.
— Is it safe? Tiff Crust asked doubtfully. — I've never been into space before.
— Don't doubt it! Sandra replied. — I tend to trust everything that my Sheldon built.
— Okay, we'll trust you. But remember, Wolfmesser," Brit Crust said petulantly. — If anything happens to me in this space of yours, my lawyers will sue you! By the way, what about the recording on the recorder of my carelessly thrown words?
— We will not disclose and publish it for anyone, as promised, but for now it will be kept with us as a deterrent for you if you decide to mess around again like in the past. Do you agree?
Brit Crust nodded obediently in silence. Sheldon, meanwhile, sat down in the pilot's seat, slid the ramp and closed the entrance behind him. The spaceship roared grumpily and rose into the air. Soon, the space in front of them seemed to float through the porthole, and at the end of the tunnel, an exit appeared in the distance, it was approaching, increasing, and now an immense cosmos full of stars and an arm of the galaxy opened up. The pilot turned on the main engines and turned the device to the left.
— I present to you, the Crab Nebula, — the owner of the spaceship solemnly said, pulling the lever, the metal doors of the cabin parted to the sides, opening the porthole wider for walking mode and he, as a guide, began to tell: — now we are 6500 light years from Earth. The size of this nebula is about 11 light-years and it is expanding at a speed of 1,500 kilometers per second.
— Wow, what a beauty! What a charm! — the guests exclaimed at once, when the light of a golden radiance appeared in front of them in the darkness of space, spreading out in light veins between bluish gaps.
The former guests of Krast's cousins were the most impressed.
— We have never seen such beauty before! More beautiful than all earthly treasures! They gasped, covering their mouths in amazement.
The Krust cousins began photographing the cosmic structure on iPhones, photographing it, then themselves, then each other against its background.
— That's when I study after school and become a fashion designer, I'll make an outfit with a pattern in the form of this nebula!
— Yes, you can't see such a sight every day! Brad echoed.
Sheldon looked pleased and proud of the significance of his device. When everyone had seen enough, he announced:
— Now I can take you to see the Cat's Eye nebula, believe me, it is no less beautiful!
Later, after watching the wonders of space and taking memorable pictures, the students returned back to Earth. There, landing on a high hill, the cousins were dropped off at their house.
— That's how it is, so you were persuaded by Pteresa to start pestering me? — Sandra asked Brit as she got off the ship, her voice sounding annoyed.
— Yes, as well as to arrange that prank for which we are ashamed. And she offered to buy real blood and pour it out of the bucket next time.
— But why?! Oh, well… I'll ask her later. That's how the leader of the support team...
— Had a nice time, goodbye, we are glad to restart our relationship, — Brit Crust said goodbye before leaving. — Have a nice day.
— And don't get sick, — Jenny waved.
They parted, for once without feeling hostility towards each other.
— What do you think? As they disappeared through the front door, Jenny nodded to Sandra. — Will they calm down now?
— I'm sure that yes, we played our trumps very competently. First, we pinned them down by threatening them with a whip and then offered them a carrot if they would compromise with us and we did not push them harder than necessary. We gave them a chance to retreat and preserve my dignity. It is dangerous to leave enemies humiliated, they will take revenge even more fiercely, and we avoided this. We have a deterrent, compromising evidence on them, they will not tempt fate as long as they value the remnants of their reputation and influence at school and will be quieter than water. It's not the first time they've been burned trying to hurt you, but now they've been burned especially painfully and this lesson will be remembered forever. No wonder there is a saying: until you get burned, you won't get smart, and I have no doubt that now we have taught them to be smart.
— So the confrontation with the cousins is finally over.
— So, yes, now the school environment will become more friendly. And my panic attacks and nervous tic from any red liquid resembling blood seem to have begun to pass and will stop soon, ha-ha.

So the conflict with the cousins was over and Sandra played an important role here, for a long time she was invisible among the gray crowd of schoolchildren, did not attract attention to herself, but along the way listened and learned everything they said and she knew about many of the cousins' affairs and secrets that they would not want to blab, for example, Jenny, they they underestimated her and at the crucial moment it turned against them, but in the end it even helped them realize their mistakes and change for the better and perhaps changed their fate.
Sheldon flew over to his place and parked the "Wanderer", from where the teenagers went home, fortunately they were not far away.
The next day there was a meeting that was supposed to happen. In the hallway near the sports section, where the red-haired student Ptereza turned, she unexpectedly found a figure standing at the corner and realized that it was Sandra, she herself was looking for this meeting to talk face to face.
— Sandra? — Ptereza stood rooted to the spot in surprise, sighed and hurried to turn the conversation to another topic, while it slowly and rather ominously turned towards her. — Did you come to ask to be a cheerleader again? Well, I don't mind you being taken back.
— Don't try to talk my teeth out, — the brunette took a quick step towards her, from which she recoiled. — That's not what I came for, but to talk.
— Uh, S-s-andra, have you and Brit and Tiff agreed on everything? Now you can be on our support team again, I wanted to call you back myself, we missed you and your outstanding qualities.
— You'd better tell me: so it was you who gave them the idea to pour tomato juice on me?
Realizing with a drop of common sense that denying was not an option and lying would only make it worse, Pteresa replied:
— Well, I, I thought it would just be a joke.
— Just a joke? Then why did you, after learning about my reaction, suggest that they do it with real beef blood from farms next time?! Didn't you realize that after the events of that Saturday, I would feel bad from the red liquid, especially from real blood, and still insisted on continuing these “jokes"? Why?
Pteresa was silent, running her eyes from side to side.
— Didn't you push cousins Crust, when you found out that Sheldon and I were really dating, and not for the sake of getting money from him, to kick me out of the company and start bullying me? Did you come up with this idea? For what?!
Sandra's voice sounded so menacing and commanding that the red-haired girl shrank and seemed to shrink in size in front of her.
— Well, yes, I messed up a little bit, I went too far. Come on, to make it up to me, I'll take you back to the cheerleaders, kicking you out was a mistake, I admit it.
— Don't shy away from the question. It all started with you, Ptereza, it wasn't you who went with the flow after your cousins, but you started egging them on to treat me, wasn't it? But why ?
The red-haired schoolgirl's gaze wavered at these words and it became clear that the assumption was correct. Frowning, and emboldened, apparently guessing that nobody were not going to attack her – Sandra was not like that–she suddenly blurted out in a haughty tone:
— It infuriated me how you started going out with him and how you regularly hung out and hung out together and were so happy to be in each other's company, it looked so sickening. You picked it up like discarded leftovers, used material and cleaned it up for myself, a pathetic sight, I stopped respecting you after that. And then there was the success of his book, to which you stuck like a leech, he was purely lucky, nothing more, I just taught you a lesson so that life would not seem like honey to you, as if everything would always be fine. Who allowed you to be together at all and be calm at the same time? If you start hanging out with an unpopular outcast, then be prepared for the consequences. People like you have no right to be successful. To be kings at school and in life, it's not enough to get all sorts of stupid gadgets or huddle with all sorts of boring rabble, who miraculously enriched themselves on delusional stories and no less delusional devices.
— Oh, so it hurt you that my Sheldon has already achieved success an order of magnitude greater than your Sebastian, despite everything, and did it with my support, and you realized that you missed the chance to get from him significantly more of the money that you shook out of him for imitation dates?
— Stop already whine like a victim, — red—haired impudent girl sneered. — Should I do you a favor, should I take you back to the cheerleaders or what?
Sandra didn't answer anything, just caught and held her gaze, they looked into each other's eyes for a while, and then, although she didn't even move, her opponent screamed and recoiled as if from a blow.
— You can't attack at school, fights are prohibited on its territory! — Pteresa exclaimed.
Sebastian immediately ran to her heart-rending scream from somewhere, hugging the red-haired girl by the shoulders and covering her with himself as a shield. Sandra just turned around and walked away, while he and Pteresa, peeking out from behind his powerful shoulders, chattered and shook their fists after her.
— What a mess! There are such among us," she grimaced with disgust, "Oh, I need to calm down, yes, think about something good. Oh, that's right! Today will be the final episode of “War of Giants”, i will finally see the long-awaited finale of my favorite saga, I hope it does not disappoint! At least something good will happen today!
At the end of the lessons, Sandra and her friends happily sat down at their computers waiting for the stream of the latest episode of the show to which they had developed an attachment.
— Is everyone ready, girls? — Jenny called over the phone. — Finally, the story of Airen, Kasami and Miran is coming to an end! Will the heroes stop the global gigan-apocalypse, who will Airen be with in the finale: with Kristina or with Kasami, now we'll find out everything, let's go! Cough, cough, personally, in my unbiased opinion, I think that it is better to bring him together with Kristina in the plot. He treated Kasami, who was adopted by his family, like a sister throughout the series, but with Kristina they had an excellent and more romantic relationship, they became especially dear to each other after she refused to turn into a giant and eat Airen to take away his giant werewolf power, despite the fact that it was her duty and so her evil manipulative father, the secret king of walls, pointed out to her.

— I agree with Jenny on this issue,— Sandra replied. — It's started, it's started, hush everyone!
The audience turned their eyes to the monitors to see, as it turned out, a colossal disappointment. The final battle with the giants turned out to be so dull and insipid that it was now simply impossible to empathize with the characters, the constant looming danger over which was the main feature of the Japanese series. But the worst was to come, in the final scene, the main character, the perfectly handsome Airen, sat wet and humiliated in the sea, in front of his childhood friend, sobbing and wailing: “Oh, Miran, no, I don't want this, I don't want Kasami to be with someone after me. I want her to think only about me all her life! Oh, Kasami, Kasami, my Kasami!”, but that wasn't all. Later, Kasami, an asian brunette with a care haircut, mourned for Airen, who turned to evil himself and was defeated, sitting in front of his grave under a tree, saying that she missed him very much. Then a seagull with head features and hairstyle, as far as it is possible for a bird, looks suspiciously like Airen, flew to Kasami, adjusted the hat on the girl's head with her beak, which Irena had once given her as a child, after saving her from kidnappers-slavers, and soared skyward. This was the end of the series. All the viewers froze in front of the monitors, not knowing how to react, Jenny sat with her eyes rolling in confusion, Sandra clutched her head in shame for the animated work, Susie frowned in bewilderment, Kiki sat almost angry with folded arms, but Amanda looked different.
— What was that, girls? What kind of theater of the absurd is this? — robotess spoke first, and then Amanda's unrestrained laughter rang out.
— Damn it, it was so bad that it was even funny! — she exclaimed. — In a series in which the stakes were bigger than life, were we given this sugary love of Airen and Kasami in the finale and replaced with this disclosure of historical riddles that were thrown at us? Could you have expected this?! Oh, no wonder I didn't want to take up watching this!
Others, however, were not amused, because they were firmly attached to the animated division of the land of the rising sun. Suzy and Sandra began to argue about which line of relationship was more suitable for the plot: Airen with Kasami or with Kristina, and the first reminded the second that they had made a bet for ten dollars and Sandra lost in it, but she did not want to admit it, calling Airen's relationship with Kasami in the finale a dumb fanservice and author's arbitrariness, the argument grew hotter and hotter, they began to nag each other, calling each other hypocrites with prejudiced views, until Jenny intervened:
— Girls, stop! Don't swear, girls, it's just a series! I understand that you are upset, as I am, but there is no need to start a quarrel over this.
— The finale is such a farce, there are simply no words, as if the creators ran out of money and ideas and decided to get rid of it as soon as possible, completely forgetting about revealing the secrets of the plot and all the minor plot moves! — Kiki sighed in frustration. — It's good that at least the pair of Miran and Anna was made more or less normally, but even there it leaves much to be desired.
—Okay, see you all soon, I've had enough of this nonsense from Japan, with all due respect to their country," Sandra muttered and hung up.
She slowly got up from the table, as if a weight was weighing on her.
— What is it, how unlucky i am, and i owe ten dollars now!
Her gaze caught on the wall, on which hung a poster of a favorite show: a giant, red with anger, looked out from behind the fortress wall, and a warrior with two swords stood with his back blocking his way. Without thinking twice, she came up, pulled it off and rolled it into a tube, threw it into the trash without regret, saying:
— Only there with such final arches is your way, — after which she plopped down on the bed.
After lying down for a minute or two, collecting her thoughts, the high school student turned her gaze to the bedside table next to her, and saw there a frame with a photo of her and her lover Sheldon Lee. A gentle smile lit up Sandra's face.
— A real relationship is still better than these fortune-telling and expectations of who the hero will be with at the end of the show.
In the afternoon, Sheldon, having done his homework, began to work as a design engineer in a workshop set up in the garage. With a concentrated look, he was taking measurements on the drawings and assembling something similar to weapons, when, like a ringing bell, a cheerful girlish voice was heard behind him.
— Sheldon, hello, my beloved!
He turned around and saw Sandra beaming with a cheerful smile at the sight of him.
— What are you doing?
— Hi, Sandra, it's good to see you, you won't believe it, but I'm just doing something for you.
— How interesting, — she came up and looked over his shoulder, looked at the drawing, which showed something vaguely resembling armor with a rounded helmet and massive shoulder pads.
— When I do, it will help you, as you wanted, to become stronger and feel protected in our dangerous time.
The girl carefully stroked Sheldon's shoulders and head and kissed him on the cheek.
— How curious. So you're going to spend the rest of the day designing a new project?
— Well, in principle, I can postpone my project and do it later to be with you. Where do you want to fly today? To Aldebaran? Antares? Or maybe to the Andromeda Nebula? My “Wanderer" will be able to get there through subspace transitions!
— I would like to go to our city lake and stay with you there. I love nature.
— It's also an option. I like.
He closed the garage door and they walked down the street, holding hands, not being shy of anyone, they no longer had to hide their feelings from anyone in the city.
From above Jenny swept by from while on patrol. She looked around, everything was calm and quiet, a peaceful evening was creeping up. But there were still villains of all stripes lurking nearby, hiding in dark corners. In orbit near the Moon, an ugly asymmetrical spaceship flew by, with an elongated left side and a purple coat of arms in the form of an ugly gear with the letter “A”, aiming an observational rangefinder at Tremorton, a small cloud of pinkish fog curled in the crown of a tree in the city itself with a pair of cunning eyes on it, an evil gaze intently watching the robot flying past, and in his sky, small devices on propellers hovered, becoming invisible every time someone approached them, with an eager mechanical eye that transmitted an image to a monitor of a gloomy figure in a distant place. There was a lull before the storm, but Jenny was more determined than ever, and ready to fight evil and any surprises.