S.P.E.C.T.O.R-Chapter 536: Water Polo and Underwater Torpedo

“I do not,” Emma replied.

“Few, that’s good,” Rowena said in a relieved tone.

“I’m not sure that’s a good thing, grandmother,” Stacey remarked.

[LadyErkath (Alastor): No, it isn’t.]

“Of course, it is my granddaughter. This means that whatever is about to happen to Emma here is far more interesting,” Rowena replied happily.

[LadyErkath (Alastor): Damn this woman, sometimes she really makes me mad.]

“So you all travelled from who knows how far across the universe in order to come check on me?” Emma asked in surprise.

“Pretty much,” Stacey replied.

“Not to sound ungrateful, but why?” Emma asked.

“Well, first of all, Erkath was concerned when you stopped messaging her back,” Rowena explained.

“Erkath?” Emma asked in surprise before quickly grabbing the mouse on her table as she went to check her messages.

“What are you doing?” Tephe asked as she and the others observed Erkath’s actions.

“I’m going to see if I have any new messages from Erkath,” Emma replied.

“Oh, oh, can I watch? I’m curious how you use this laptop computer thingy,” Tephe asked eagerly.

“Errr, sure,” Emma replied.

“Yay,” Tephe cheered before standing up and moving around behind the desk to stand next to Emma.

“Ohhhhh, the little pointer icon on the screen moves when you move that object,” Tephe remarked.

“That object, as you call it, is called a mouse,” Emma explained before she clicked the left mouse button twice.

“Ohhhhh, why did a new window pop up after you clicked the mouse twice?” Tephe asked.

“It must be the way you open new windows,” Aphrodite remarked. At some point, all the other women had joined Tephe behind Emma’s desk to watch.

“This must be the messaging app Earthlings use,” Lorelie said with interest.

“You only used one click to select Erkath?” Rowena asked curiously as they saw Emma hover the pointer over Erkath’s name and left-click once.

“Generally, it’s one click to select and two to open,” Emma replied before adding, “I don’t have any new messages from Erkath.”

“Of course not, she hasn’t sent it yet,” Rowena said with a smile which soon turned into a smirk as she saw the contents of the message before she said, “Still, that's one interesting conversation the two of you have been having.”

“I don’t know what you're talking about,” Emma replied as she quickly closed the chat.

[LadyErkath (Alastor): Wait. What did she see?]

“What did it say? What did it say?” Tephe asked curiously.

“You didn’t see it?” Rowena asked.

“No, I was too busy looking at this,” Tephe replied as she pointed at one of the other monitors on the desk.

“It showed a woman wearing some kind of protective clothing standing at what appeared to be some kind of starting gate atop a steep hill covered in snow.

Attached to the base of her boots was some kind of long, narrow, semi-rigid material and as they watched, they saw the woman launch herself down the slope.

“What’s that idiot doing? Doesn’t she see how the hill suddenly drops away?” Stacey asked in disbelief.

“She’s not going to stop in time,” Lorelie said in panic.

“That’s the point,” Emma said in amusement just before they all saw the woman launch herself into the air.

“Wow,” Tephe said with bright eyes.

“Is she trying to learn to fly?” Aphrodite asked in confusion.

“She won’t get very far without wings,” Rowena replied.

“She’s coming down,” Eri noted.

“Told you,” Rowena said smugly.

[1000yearsofdeath (Earth): Hahaha, I’m cracking up from their comments. Kekeke.]

[Noobkiller9000 (Earth): They clearly haven’t realised it’s a sport.]

[Tessisdabest (Imperial Down): That’s a sport?]

“Why are so many people watching her try to fly?” Tephe asked as they saw a crowd of spectators.

“They're not trying to fly, they're trying to fall with style,” Emma said with a chuckle.

“What?” All the other women asked simultaneously while wearing confused expressions.

“It’s a sport,” Emma said with a smile.

“A sport?” Aphrodite repeated before asking, “There’s a sport that involves falling with style?”

“It’s a winter sport called ski jumping,” Emma began to explain as Adam watched the women with amusement. “It’s a competition where people compete to jump the furthest. The winter Olympics are being held in Italy right now.”

“That would make more sense than trying to learn to fly,” Rowena replied as she shot Aphrodite an amused look.

“Don’t look at me like that, you're the one who commented that they need wings to fly,” Aphrodite retorted.

“Is Italy a country here on Earth?” Lorelie asked curiously.

“Yes,” Emma nodded before adding, “It’s part of the central continent.”

“What country are we in now, then?” Stacey asked.

“The United States of America,” Emma replied as she shot Adam a curious look, wondering why he hadn’t told them.

“What’s this Winter Olympics you speak of?” Lorelie asked with interest.

“It’s a competition for winter sports that’s held every four years,” Emma began to explain. “It’s the winter version of the Olympics, which is also held every four years and the two events are held two years apart.

The teams are country-based and they compete against each other in various sports to win medals. First gets a gold medal, second gets silver and third gets bronze.”

“So it's a competition of numerous different sports to find out which country has the best athletes in the world?” Rowena asked.

“They would never admit to that as the Olympics are supposed to be about friendly competition, but a country’s aim will always be to finish first on the medal chart,” Erkath replied.

“Is there a sport like Watersphere?” Lorelie asked excitedly.

“Not at the Winter Olympics, however, the Olympics have Water Polo, which I suppose is the closest thing we have to Watersphere,” Erkath replied.

[OfficialMuriel (Aqua Primus): Oh?]

Seeing Lorelie’s excited look, Emma smiled before continuing, “It’s also played in water between two teams who try to score.

This main difference is that it’s not played underwater since we Earthlings can’t breathe underwater and is instead played in a pool.”

As she finished speaking, Emma used her mouse and keyboard to open MeVid before searching for videos of Water polo and playing one for them to watch.

“I see, they tend to throw the ball to each other instead of swimming with it,” Lorelie remarked.

“It does happen, but because of the water's resistance, we Earthlings can’t move through it like you Merinmians,” Erkath replied as she typed something else into MeVid before playing another video.

“What’s this?” Lorelie asked as they all watched two teams of men in different coloured swimming trunks.

They swam underwater and grappled with each other while throwing something between each other before trying to place the object in a small goal that was attached to the bottom of the pool.

“It’s called Undewater Torpedo and they're hoping it will be included at the twenty-twenty-eight Olympics,” Emma replied.

“Underwater Torpedo?” Adam asked, as he had never heard of it.

[Superhearofangirl (Earth): What’s Underwater Torpedo?]

[StealthAssassin9 (Earth): Never heard of it.]

[Whostolemyduck (Earth): It’s a competitive aquatic sport combining rugby, football, and freediving, where teams of five use breath-hold skills to move a weighted, torpedo-shaped ball into an opponent’s goal at the bottom of a pool.]

[OfficialMuriel (Aqua Primus): That looks more like WaterSphere.]

“It’s been around since twenty-eighteen, but it’s still relatively unheard of,” Emma replied.

“Now this looks fun,” Lorelie remarked before she looked up at Adam with a smile and suggested, “Maybe we should try it when we get to Aqua Primus.”

“Won’t the team you're part of have a distinct advantage?” Adam asked with a smile.

“So I’m on one team and Muriel can be on the other,” Lorelie suggested.

[OfficialMuriel (Aqua Primus): I’m game.]

[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): They can’t see your message, Muriel.]

[OfficialMuriel (Aqua Primus): Oh, right. I will be sure to mention it to Diva Lorelie when they arrive. 😆]

“Wouldn’t it still be one-sided since Adam can breathe underwater?” Stacey asked.

“You can breathe underwater?” Emma asked in surprise.

“It’s one of the upgrades my body received,” Adam replied before asking, “Have you tried this Underwater Torpedo?”

“Once or twice with some friends, though I generally play Paddle Ball to keep fit,” Emma replied.

“Paddle Ball?” Lorelie asked curiously.

[Superior4horns (Vinox 3): I never realised that Diva Lorelie was so into sports.]

[Lizziethetruepower (Palaxia): Neither did I, I thought it was just Watersphere she was a fan of.]

“You never told me you were so into sports,” Adam remarked with a smile.

“Agreed, even I didn’t know you were so interested in them,” Rowena remarked.

“We all have our interests,” Lorelie replied with a shrug before walking back to one of the sofas and sitting down while asking, “But shouldn’t we get back to the main topic?”

“Yes, you're right,” Emma said in agreement before looking at Rowena and asking, “You mentioned that Erkath became concerned about me when I failed to reply to one of her messages?”

“Yes, it seems you will mysteriously disappear after leaving work tonight and no one is quite sure what happens to you,” Rowena replied.

“And you returned to Earth to find out what happened?” Emma asked as she looked at Adam with appreciation.

“That and to talk business,” Adam replied.