I am so bored
In the end, Heimdall tells my guard that he takes full responsibility for me, and we walk across the Bifrost. You'd expect it to be slippery, but it isn't. We get to the repaired part, and I point out the snarls and note that energy pools in them. Heimdall looks alarmed and asks if they're dangerous. I shrug.
"I don't know," I tell him. "I've never encountered anything like this before; I don't know anything about its properties beyond the fact that it contains an electron stream and allows the electrons, for the most part, to choose their course. In the oldest part, on the other side, it's like a stream where the electrons have carved their paths themselves. Here, a new chunk of the matrix has just been slapped on, joined by brute force, and the electrons kind of pool in the mess before they can exit." It's kind of like being stuck in a roundabout and not being able to exit due to traffic. I point out exactly where the worst of the damage is--there are three really big pools and one moderately large one; the rest are pretty small and these show signs of smoothing out on their own. I sit down and start to work, but it's not as easy as I first thought; the pools sometimes surge and I feel faint electrical shocks. Heimdall looks worried when I mention this.
"It shouldn't do that," he says. I spread my hands. It doesn't care about behavior, it just responds to natural laws, whatever they may be for this substance. I don't know; I'm a materials scientist, not a physicist, and I have no intention of asking to investigate it. I stop when I get a wicked headache, and Heimdall escorts me back down to my guard, and I go back to my room for the night.
This pattern holds for the next few nights, and once I learn to ignore the electrons and soften the matrix enough to let the electrons make their own straighter ways, the work goes faster, I can work longer, and the headaches are softer and less severe. Heimdall says he can feel the change in the power; it's more consistent and stronger. Finally I tell him that the Bifrost doesn't need my help anymore, and that's that. I've been very careful to not look to see the source of the electrons or where they go; I don't want to provide an excuse to keep me trapped here. And I especially haven't studied the Bifrost matrix. That has got to be a state secret.
The next night at dinner, the hall is full to bursting and for the first time, the head table is occupied. The rest of the diners are dressed finely, and I feel out of place, but all the clothing I have is practical and sturdy and I didn't bring a party dress for tramping through the jungle. I decide to keep my head down and get out fast; it's not an official banquet, it seems, just a big party. A party of Asgardians are seated at my table; they dismiss me with the label of "One of Thor's Earthlings," which I'm fairly certain is an insult, so I listen to their conversation while eating my dinner. They sound like the idle rich; if they have jobs, they certainly don't talk about them. Instead, they talk about the evening, how nice it is to have a reason to dress up, how fun Cap has been. Apparently, whatever they're doing, they take breaks at night to eat and relax a little. I eat as fast as I can without offending the servers; they take their jobs very seriously and they really want everybody to enjoy their meals and have a good time. The women take a break and ask me a few questions; they're shocked to find out my lifespan as theirs is thousands of years. My forty-odd years is bizarre to them, and they are pitying about my white hair and crows feet. I shrug. My grandma had snow white hair by the time she was fifty, and my mom was already getting white streaks in her late thirties when she was killed by a drunk driver. I have some great genes and some that are not so great. They dismiss me again and go back to gossiping about Sif's unrequited crush on Thor. She's apparently beyond the pale a bit because she trained to be a warrior, something that is quite uncommon in this male-dominated society. I restrain the eye-roll; Sif was only allowed the training because her family is noble and she had the support of the crown prince. She might be allowed to fight, but it doesn't mean that her choice is socially acceptable or that it's a challenge to the patriarchy here. She's the only named one in Thor's posse: "Lady Sif and the warriors three." Her title is noted; her status of warrior is not and this makes her sound like an accessory. But this is not my problem.
Finally I finish my dessert, my usual server hands me a packet of treats to take back to my room as is our custom now. I thank him, smile, and get up. I can hear the others tittering about me taking food away. If I'm honest, it hurts to be excluded by a group of women. Women have always been my best friends; guys are usually competition or bedmates. The thing I've missed the most since my accident is my supportive female friendships. I let them go when I turned into a freak. I edge toward the door and it's with relief that I feel the cool night air on my face. I start off toward my room, guard in tow--really? What harm could I possibly do? I'm literally the size of a child here and I don't get to go anywhere now that the Bifrost is fixed. I turn when I hear my name. It's the first time I've heard it on Asgard, I realize; even Heimdall never called me by name. It seems strangely humiliating, for some reason.
But I turn, and it's Cap. He's got Asgardian armor and blue clothing, complete with cape. He looks good in it, although kind of like he's playing dress-up. I'm too used to the images of him in the red, white, and blue costume, I guess. He asks how I've been, and I seize the opportunity.
"I'm fine, but I wondered if you could ask Thor if I can go now. Heimdall says he can send me back if Thor agrees, and I'd like to go, if not home, then at least to my home planet," I say, and he looks surprised. I want to yell at him; he's obviously having a great time, but then he's a warrior in a culture that reveres them and I'm...quite obviously not.
"This is probably the safest place for you," I say, and out of habit I check the metal of his armor, dropping my sight down so I can see the atoms. Then I realize I can see a little farther, a little way into x-ray. I have the sinking suspicion that fooling around with the Bifrost is messing with my mutations. I've got to get out of here before things start to get weird. Weirder. I also see that a treatment's been applied to the cloth of his new glad rags, but just now I'm more worried than interested. Another first for me. "But I'm under guard for no reason I can see, and I have nothing to do. Please." He looks at me for a moment, then agrees to bring it up as soon as he can. I smile and thank him.
Back in my room, I find that I have a slice of the not-quite-a-poundcake that I like a lot, and as I nibble at it, I'm distracted by the hope that I'll get to go home soon. The freedom to do what I want and when I want to do it is frustratingly out of reach, and I'm not used to idleness. It would be nice to talk to somebody who actually says something back when I speak to them rather than just looking at me. When I sleep, I dream I'm back on Earth, setting up a new facility, equipping a storeroom, buzzing with happy activity.
When I get up the next morning, I'm escorted straight to Heimdall. As I enter the observatory, my pack on my back, he turns from the view of space and asks if I'm ready to go. I smile in anticipation. As Heimdall moves to the platform with the sword and thingie that turns on the Bifrost, someone runs into the room and I'm afraid that that they're going to tell me the trip's been cancelled, but the guard hands a satchel similar to a messenger bag to Heimdall, who then hands it to me.
"For your journey," he says, his voice rich and deep. I thank him, then ask if he'd convey my thanks to the servers in the dining hall for me. They were always nice, especially the one for the evening meal. He smiles at me and gestures to me to take my place in front of him. As he activates the Bifrost, I can see activity on the matrix, too far away to see who it is but they're definitely headed here. To my relief, I'm engulfed in the Bifrost energies and Asgard shoots away.