The Unspeakable's eyes lit up, and a wan grin spread across her face.

"Depends on whether he'll take me, eh?" she asked, flashing the Department Head an intrepid smile. 

Technically, her expertise on the matter ended once the object landed on Earth.  But she was fascinated by the thought of the extrasolar object, and dying to learn more about its composition.  Was it sent by another interstellar lifeform?  What could they learn from it about long-distance travel between solar systems?  Why had it traveled so far and so precisely?

One of the things she'd come to like about the Department of Mysteries was that the researchers here seemed to be less strict about staying in their lanes.  On a project like this, no one was really an expert because nothing like this had ever been encountered before.  There was far more room on Level Nine to learn and explore than there had been at Victoria University.

"I already told him I'd like to be," she admitted, nodding in the direction of the small, oblong asteroid that was still racing through space.  "But I reckon he's going to have a list of names that's several kilometres long, if the chatter about it's anything to go by.  Here's hoping he's feeling generous when he makes up the list."

Virgil, even without taking his mind magic into account, could sense the building anticipation in the Space Chamber. His own as well as Kaia's and Yavin's and their combined awareness of how invested level nine was becoming in their 'extraterrestrial visitor'. Putting a date on it made him even more keen on the event: like he could circle the date in red ink on the little calendar he kept in his head.

            "But I reckon he's going to have a list of names that's several kilometres long..." The Unspeakable was saying.

"I think the list will grow much shorter once the exact timing gets around," he remarked dryly as he stretched out against the blackness, a lethargic cat floating in space. "Everyone's got their own time-sensitive projects, don't they?"

Especially the Time lot - Peppers Unspeakable. Virgil reached out as Yavin returned the log, having finished his brief perusal and the purpose of his visit. Merlin knew which chamber he was going to bless with ominous little comments next. The older wizard smiled kindly at Kaia. "I think your opinion would, aha, would be a valuable one to have on its arrival. I'll put in a good word."

Which, in Virgil's ears, was as good as a guarantee, although he knew better than to say it out loud. He re-opened the log, instead, jotting down Yavin's visit in the comments section.

A good word from the Head of their department was about as good as she could hope for.  Kaia beamed back at him, doing an extremely poor job of hiding her excitement.  Unless something changed with the asteroid’s path, there were only a few short weeks remaining until its arrival.

Until then, they’d keep watching — observing and monitoring the strange little speck of light as it raced white-hot through their solar system, inching ever closer on its way to its final destination.

“However I can be of service,” she said cheerfully, freeing her wand again as she returned her attention to the asteroid.  There were other calculations she needed to run, to see if anything more could be gleaned about the its density and composition, before she could move on to her other, more usual work in the Space Chamber.  “I think we’ll all be glad when we finally get to meet the little bugger up close though, eh?”

            "I think we’ll all be glad when we finally get to meet the little bugger up close though, eh?"

He laughed, folding his arms behind his head and kicking backwards towards the chamber door. "One way or, hah, or another, yes!" Yavin raised his eyebrows with ominous meaning. His protege shook his blonde head, attention already shifting back to the expanding cosmos. It was so easy to get lost on level nine - both literally and figuratively. You forgot the world outside.

"Until then, hm, keep me updated." Yav turned around to grasp the door handle. "And let me know about the more, ah, the more outlandish theories. The crazier the better."

In his office, he kept a little book in which he scribbled down the various ideas the Unspeakables propounded pertaining to the meteor. A neat collection that said as much about their speakers as they did about the nature of the mysterious object's arrival. As fascinating as it was to speculate, Yavin preferred to keep at least one of his many eyes on the ground and on his people.