2. The proceedings

   Friday, August eighteenth

came soon. Catherine, William, Florence and all the others at STD had been

building up plans and schemes all week long. David was incredibly silent ever

since the night that he and Catherine had kissed. Many noticed this and

suggested that it was because David was embarrassed to show his face to Catherine

until she showed hers to him first. On the other hand, Florence and William’s

suggestion was the total opposite because they realized that their friend had

grown quiet too.

   Very soon the Grand Meeting Hall was filled with

chatter. “May I have your attention please!” Joseph called out. The hall

immediately quietened down. Florence, William and Catherine were seated three

seats away from David. “This is a day that we have all been waiting for,”

Joseph continued, “It is up to your plans in which Opollo 4 would proceed to be

built. Let’s begin with George Camburry, shall we?” And so, it proceeded. There

was pin drop silence as each and every person in the room spilt out their

plans. Soon it was time for Catherine to give her plan out. David, Florence and

William had come up with plans which were curiously similar. All three of them

had wanted to go explore Neptune as it was really nice in colour and texture.

Joseph had said that that was a great idea but it was not quite what he had

expected.

   All eyes were now facing Catherine as she

cleared her throat, “Ahem. I have come up with an idea from which we would

totally be able to learn something important as we explore the world around

us.” Catherine paused. She glanced at David. “You can do it Cathy,” he said.

The words had come out of his mouth even before he could stop it. Those words

of encouragement… Especially from the one whom she loved sparked her up a bit.

Catherine continued, “So I thought that we could spend a day on each of the

planets of our galaxy and collect something of importance from each of them. Rock

samples, for example. That way, on our return we could explain the importance

of that specific object. Um… That’s my plan. Thanks.” There was a humungous

round of applause. Even the people who did not get to give out their plan

started to shout, “Cathy, Cathy. Let’s do it her way.” Catherine felt herself

sink on her seat.

   “SILENCE!” Joseph declared. “How many of you

vote for Cathy’s plan?” All hands shot up. Some people like, Ginger Finnigan,

Preieta Rose, Lavender Dunkster and Harry Yeomen raised both their hands up.

“Alright then. It is decided. I shall send word of our plan to our astronautic

and aerospace engineers today. Congrats Cathy. We shall have our next meeting

in four months’ time. If anyone wishes to have a meeting beforehand you may

simply contact me and I shall organize a meeting sometime before. We shall

decide on which astronauts to send out of this earth during our next meeting

which falls in December. Meeting adjourned. You may leave.

   “We’ll meet you outside then Cathy,” Florence

whispered as she and David left the room. “That was great David,” Catherine

whispered. “What was?” David asked. “For telling me that I could do it when I

was ready to shrink into my chair with embarrassment,” Catherine said managing

to produce a couple of giggles. “Oh it- I didn’t know I was going to say it

either,” David laughed nervously. “Well, I had better be off then,” Catherine

said, “Meet you at the Great Hall for dinner then. See you.” “Bye Cathy.”

   Very soon William, Florence, Catherine and David

found themselves seated at one of the round tables in the Great Hall eating

spaghetti. “So, Wil I heard that you are very talented at poem writing,” David

remarked. “Oh well…” “Yeah he is,” Florence said. “It was nice of you to join

us at dinner David. Many have heard that you yourself is very clever at many

things,” William said. “Thanks Wil. You see, I would not have been here if not

for Cathy. She asked me to meet her here and I decided that I would then have a

little chat with you too.” The trio, who had now become a quadruple spent the

rest of the evening laughing and having fun. The four friends got incredibly

close over the next four weeks.

   “Want to go watch a movie in the common room

this evening you lot?” Florence asked her three friends.  “Yeah, how about

‘Sherlock Holmes’?” William asked. “Terrific Wil that’s-” Catherine began.

“Wonderful,” David finished. The next few weeks were happy and joyful but they

were definitely not relaxing.

   “Gosh when is this ever going to end,” David

moaned in the centre courtyard, “And how is it that the girls totally enjoy

doing this?” “Well David, naturally the girls do not like this either. Florence

does, but Catherine only pretends that she likes drawing graphs to keep

Florence happy. She told me so herself as we almost always get assigned to

spend our days drawing these irritating graphs showing the levels of humidity

in each planet of our galaxy and so on,” William replied. The two boys were

sitting on a bench and working on their graphs while on the other hand the

girls had finished theirs a long time ago and had begun skipping. “You done

boys? Florence and I were thinking of getting some ice-cream,” Catherine asked

as she and Florence walked over to where the boys were. “Why don’t you get us

some and we can eat it out here? The weather is rather refreshing today,” David

said. “Oh well alright you two. Continue on your graphs. Catherine and I shall

bring in some ice-cream,” Florence replied. “Thanks Florence,” William said.

   Very soon the four friends found themselves

sitting on the grass, licking ice- cream. “I can’t wait until our next meeting.

It would be really exiting to know who the selected astronauts are. After all

we have all been training for months,” Catherine almost squealed. “Well then

someone’s exited,” David said hugging Catherine and accidentally spilling some

of his ice- cream all over her. “DAVID!” Catherine shouted getting up and

wiping her blouse and skirt. Everyone including Catherine laughed.

   The next few weeks rolled on quite fast and the

meeting came soon. “It is nice to see all your welcoming faces again. And it is

my pleasure to tell you that they look even more welcoming since Christmas is

near,” Joseph spoke, “As you all know today is a very important day. Today is

the day when the shuttle’s crew are going to be announced so here goes.”

   The whole room remained silent. Many astronauts

looked very eager to hearing the news while some didn’t seem the least bit bothered.

“The pilot is to be… Egnus Hangern.” There were cheers echoing in the hall.

“The eight astronauts go as follows: Catherine Watson, David Lewis, Florence

Austen, William Jordon, Flister Roginston, Violet Dashville, James Kinnman and

Olivia Rogerz.” There were humungous claps, cheers, and praises. Then Joseph

continued. “There is also to be an honorary member joining us on our journey

and he is an android named Vigour.” There were gasps in the hall. Who would

have guessed that an android would be joining them? Joseph waited till the

excitement had died down and then said, “Vigour was supposed to be a surprise

but I thought that you lot would like to know of it before hand. These

astronauts will get regular training to help them on their journey. I wish you

all good luck and a very merry Christmas.”

   There was loud chatter as Joseph left the hall.

“Gosh congrats you lot. I obviously knew you would be chosen Cathy, but the

others! It is just incredible,” Harry cheered. “And to think, you’d be travelling

with an android,” Hampton said. “Well, I just hope the android’s good and

sensible,” Olivia wondered out loud. “It won’t be a murderer that’s for sure,”

Florence said. “But wait Joseph hasn’t told us the days in which our trainings

would be held,” Flister said looking worried. “I’ll go ask him,” Catherine said

as she exited the hall.

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