Post by Atom on Apr 15, 2010 14:36:42 GMT -5
Ray Palmer, Professor Emeritus at Ivy University, was spending a few moments of quiet contemplation. Not sleep or even rest exactly, since he was in fact driving a bus full of college sophomores and two freshmen to The Big City from Ivy. Still, a bus full of science students was a pretty quiet space, especially since one of the students had wired the thing with a pretty powerful satellite wireless receiver. All Ray heard was the hum of the big diesel in front and the click-click-click of keyboards behind.
Things really have come full circle, but I feel more at ease then I ever have before in my life. I am back teaching and doing research at 'the I', but I have almost no pressure to publish! Since I revealed my secret identity a few years ago, enrollment in the Phys Sci department is so coveted that Ivy is getting the absolute cream of the crop, and charging whatever they wish for the right to study here! Grants are way up as well as long as I make a few appearances for the alumni each year, so financial aid is keeping pace. I never thought I would be Ivy's Favorite Son, but there you go!
Ray broke out of his revelry just in time to hear his assistant goading him urgently to take the next exit, which he did in an almost unsafe manner, provoking cries of outrage and excitement from the students in the back. Ray waved his hand in apology and kept on toward the Metropolis Science Museum.
"So" he said out loud to his pretty TA, Sonia. "Do you think we have much of a shot this year at a prize? The Met Physics Competition is getting more and more intense and competitive every year. I know we have a bunch of talented kids, but this thing is, well, humbling in it's scope."
She was about to answer when half of the bus pointed out of the window and started yelling all at once. There was some sort of commotion at the Science Museum in the distance. Ray slowed the bus to a stop behind the traffic back-up. They were only a block or two from the place now but it was in plain sight due to the slight dip in the road.
"Calm down kiddies" Ray said with more confidence then he felt, "I am sure it is nothing."
A car flew high in the air, soaring past them into the distance.
"...or maybe it is a little something..." Ray mumbled to himself.
He waited a moment, two, three, hoping to see the familiar red and blue blur enter the scene. So far, nothing.
Damn! he thought to himself. I really wanted to do a Ray Palmer only day today. Oh well, duty calls.
"Sonia, I need you to assume a leadership role for a little while. Keep everyone in the bus until the problem has been resolved Once the path is clear, please proceed to the center by following the signs. I will meet you there."
He then faced the back and addressed the students. "Ladies and Gentlemen, please do as Ms Bertucci tells you, I need to be gone for a few moments. Please be on your best behavior. Remember that you are here representing Ivy U."
With that, he disappeared from sight (unless one knew where to look), shrinking down to his fighting size of three inches and transforming into the Atom. He headed off toward the trouble at a rapid clip, smiling at the cheers of support and adoration from his bus full of students, and Atom-fans, in his wake.
"Go get 'em indeed!" he thought to himself as he sped toward, well, he knew not what.
Things really have come full circle, but I feel more at ease then I ever have before in my life. I am back teaching and doing research at 'the I', but I have almost no pressure to publish! Since I revealed my secret identity a few years ago, enrollment in the Phys Sci department is so coveted that Ivy is getting the absolute cream of the crop, and charging whatever they wish for the right to study here! Grants are way up as well as long as I make a few appearances for the alumni each year, so financial aid is keeping pace. I never thought I would be Ivy's Favorite Son, but there you go!
Ray broke out of his revelry just in time to hear his assistant goading him urgently to take the next exit, which he did in an almost unsafe manner, provoking cries of outrage and excitement from the students in the back. Ray waved his hand in apology and kept on toward the Metropolis Science Museum.
"So" he said out loud to his pretty TA, Sonia. "Do you think we have much of a shot this year at a prize? The Met Physics Competition is getting more and more intense and competitive every year. I know we have a bunch of talented kids, but this thing is, well, humbling in it's scope."
She was about to answer when half of the bus pointed out of the window and started yelling all at once. There was some sort of commotion at the Science Museum in the distance. Ray slowed the bus to a stop behind the traffic back-up. They were only a block or two from the place now but it was in plain sight due to the slight dip in the road.
"Calm down kiddies" Ray said with more confidence then he felt, "I am sure it is nothing."
A car flew high in the air, soaring past them into the distance.
"...or maybe it is a little something..." Ray mumbled to himself.
He waited a moment, two, three, hoping to see the familiar red and blue blur enter the scene. So far, nothing.
Damn! he thought to himself. I really wanted to do a Ray Palmer only day today. Oh well, duty calls.
"Sonia, I need you to assume a leadership role for a little while. Keep everyone in the bus until the problem has been resolved Once the path is clear, please proceed to the center by following the signs. I will meet you there."
He then faced the back and addressed the students. "Ladies and Gentlemen, please do as Ms Bertucci tells you, I need to be gone for a few moments. Please be on your best behavior. Remember that you are here representing Ivy U."
With that, he disappeared from sight (unless one knew where to look), shrinking down to his fighting size of three inches and transforming into the Atom. He headed off toward the trouble at a rapid clip, smiling at the cheers of support and adoration from his bus full of students, and Atom-fans, in his wake.
"Go get 'em indeed!" he thought to himself as he sped toward, well, he knew not what.
