She didn't wear glasses, so she couldn't go through the cliched routine of taking them off, cleaning them, and then putting them back on to see if the spaceship was still invisible.
Invisible, she thought. It must have a Cloaking Device, like in Star Trek.
Wordsworth was a devoted fan of Star Trek: The Original Series, and not so much so of The Next Generation or Voyager, and definitely not a fan of Deep Space Nine or Enterprise.
"The original Star Trek had such.... joie de vivre, she'd say. Mankind on Earth had conquered all its problems and brought peace to the strs. But the subsequent series were so...depressing...with the stars full of wars between alien species, death and destruction, suffering and dying..she much preferred the optimistic view of the first series. And the fact that every episode of Star Trek: TOS ended with a fight between Kirk and the villain was merely an added bonus.
Wordsworth had left her purse in the library...and in her purse was her cellphone. She didn't want to waste time going in to get it and making a phone call, but she had to. She'd seen way too many TV shows where some silly woman -- and less often, some silly guy -- had gone to investigate a strange occurrence all by herself, without telling anyone else where she was going or when she'd be back, only to disappear and be found dead months later, or, in TV shows of a less grim nature, tied up in some back room, ready to be rescued by the handsome hero of the show.
But who could she call?
Wordsworth returned to the library, and quickly recountedwhat had happened, writing quickly on a sheet of paper: "I've seen a rocketship land on the roof of the library, and I am going up to investigate."
She placed the sheet in a prominent position on her desk, easily seen. Then, she dug her cellphone out of her purse and transferred it to her pocket. She would not call anyone, yet, but if something strange happened on the roof...if, for example, an energy beam of some kind knocked her off the roof, or simply repelled her, she would then call someone.
Should she bring a weapon?
Wordsworth looked around the library. The common trope (a common theme used in storytelling) used in science fiction stories, at least throughout the 1950s, was that the aliens always came in peace. But from the 1980s onward, they more likely came to eat or enslave. She would take no chances. But there were no useful weapons in a library....well, perhaps a screwdriver from the toolkit kept in the alcove that had the ladder that led up to the roof.
Wordsworth vacillated between a hammer and a screwdriver, and finally selected the hammer. She pushed this through one of her beltloops so that it hung securely, then, taking a deep breath, she climbed up the ladder and pushed open the trap door that led to the flat ceiling of the library.
Vocabulary
cliched - A trite or overused expression or idea
Cloaking - Something that covers or conceals (not to be confused with a cloak, a garment that is worn)
joie de vivre - a French phrase, "joy of life"
subsequent - following in time, order, or space
species - A kind, variety, or type (of animals, of businesses, of professions)
optimistic - expecting a favorable outcome
investigate - to examine systematically
recounted - To narrate the facts or particulars of (not to be confused with "a recount" - to re-count numbers or votes.
trope - a common theme used in storytelling
vacillated - to go indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another
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