Valerie backed away quickly, with the knife in her hand.
"Don't be afraid!" Elie laughed, which she tried to suppress. "They can't chew that knife, or your safety clothes."
"They are biting!" Valerie cried from fright.
"Yes, that's why we are wearing protection!" Elie said with ease, to soothe the girl. But Valerie's eyes were widened, and she was panting heavily. She was definitely in shock. "Don't worry, they can't bite you! Look!" Elie offered one of her mittens to the atoms that were clicking their teeth.
They bit into the mitten, but they could only chew, not bite through. Valerie's nervousness diminished.
"The others didn't bite at all! Cried, but didn't bite! Why do they want to bite?" She asked, but carefully stayed away the violent little ones.
"The less they are, the angrier they get. The angrier they get, the more they bite."
"When Conrad and K.O. made the ball, they weren't biting at all!" She protested.
"Because the boys were making the ball from atoms. It was a harder, but a safer way to make a ball. Until the Carbon atoms don't develop layers from their free hands, they are harmless. We are making the balls from graphite, so it is faster, but more dangerous. The free hands of the Carbon atoms are making dangerous circles, instead of layers, which make the atoms angry. So they bite. That's why we have to wear protection."
"Wouldn't it be safer if we built the balls one by one?" The girl asked, but it was clearly visible, that she calmed down.
"It would be safer." Elie nodded. "But do you remember, how many hours the boys were spending building one single ball?"
"Oh! I remember." Valerie sighed. They really had to speed up to have the quantity, needed for the earrings.
"So, don't be afraid! Cut those slices! I will put them away to the safe distance, okay?"
Valerie nodded, and managed to put on a weak smile. The easier part of the job was hers. She just had to slice up the tube. In safety clothes and screen. She took a big breath, and began to cut the bonds of the Carbon atoms. Elie brought them away, and lined them up by the bars. They had had to be stored with a space between them, or else they could make new bonds with each other. When there were no more safe place in the pen, Elie stopped the girl.
"Here comes the worst part of this work." She sighed. " We have to cut and build the crown parts."
" Is it dangerous?" Valerie asked nervously. She had already used to the slicing. The new task made her a bit uneasy.
"It will be different. We have to cut flowers from the graphite at first."
"Okay, flowers are okay. "She nodded.
"But these flowers will also have teeth!" Elie warned her. "We have to cut them into the right shape, make a hat from them, and put onto the rings. After this process they won't be angry anymore, so the work will be simpler."
"How do I cut them into shape?" The girl asked, and held the knife high. "Fear Carbon atoms! I'm Bond! Valerie Bond!" Valerie really had guts.
Elie laughed for a while, then she showed the pattern. Valerie made the cuts, and she made the hat from the flowers.
"Do you want to put the first hat to the ring?" Elie offered the task for the girl.
She nodded. Elie cut the top Carbon atoms from the ring, and Valerie put the hat to the remaining parts. The Carbon atoms cooled down, they were blinking in their place peacefully, and their original black color faded.
"They were tamed!" Valerie said stunned.
"Almost. For the final taming, we have to finish the ball!"
Valerie lifted up the unfinished sphere, Elie cut the bottom of the ring, and it was placed to another hat, which was upside down. The Bucky ball was finished. The blackness turned to a yellow color. All of the Carbon atoms were happily chirping, when Valerie caressed them with her mittens. They didn't want to bite her at all.
"Whoa! It is magic!" She said, amazed by the change of the behavior of the little ones.
"It's just Chemistry."Elie corrected her. She let the girl rejoice a little in the success. "Come on!" We have to tame the others too!"
"OKKKAYY!" Valerie cried, and started to cut the new flowers.
But it was easier to said, than done. After making a lot of balls, they were full with small groups of Carbon atoms, who were seeking for the others.
"It is high time to use them, and build hats from them!" Elie said.
"Why don't we just store them?"
"Because in the end we would have to build balls from them, like the day before yesterday."
"It would be difficult." Valerie agreed.
"If we make them to hats, we have to cut less from the tube, and making the balls will be faster!"
Building hats from the bouncing, squirming Carbon atoms was just as challenging, as two days ago. Valerie remembered, that it had to start with a pentagon, so it was easier for her. But there were so much shape, and it was hard to find the suitable pieces.
"How can you choose the right little ones from them so quickly?" Valerie asked the woman.
Elie's stock was far more bigger, than hers.
"Oh, it's easy. When I was a girl, like you, I played a lot with Tetris."
"Tetris?"
"It is an old video game. It was very popular in my childhood. I think, the game it is still on your hand device. It is a game with bricks. There are different shapes of brick groups are falling into a pit, and if you make a line from them, it vanish, and you have more space to build another line. If your pit fills up, you lost."
"It seems a bit boring. Just putting bricks into places."
"Comparing to nowadays' video game, it is sure a simple game. But it seems it was useful to play! I could catch the right blocks of little ones faster, than you!" Elie smiled.
"I will try your game in the evening!" Valerie said seriously, and she thought so.
"Don't you want to go play with your friends?"
Valerie's face were like she was biting into a sour apple. Elie was right. She would prefer to play with the other girls.
"Your will have time to try before going to sleep!" Elie comforted her and patted her shoulder.
"Okay!" The girl smiled. " I will cut these groups, so I will make the hats faster!"
"Good idea!" Elie smiled.
Valerie really managed to made hats faster, although she had to refill the knife more, than Elie. When they turned all the single blocks of Carbon atoms into hats, another tube was made.
"Don't slice it up!" Elie warned Valerie.
"Why?" Valerie didn't understand. She had made it before.
"Because we put a hat to the tube first." Elie replied.
She get a hat, and pushed to the edge of the tube. The bonds were made quickly.
"It was fast!" Valerie was amazed.
"You just have to cut along this line, and we could put the hat to the bottom!" She showed the line to the girl. Valerie were cutting, where she was told. Elie was holding the unfinished sphere, and she just had to put the hat to the bottom. A ball was made again.
"It is very fast! We could start with this method!"
"Hardly, but we could continue like this." Elie agreed.
It was easier to cut the flowers from the graphite layer (Elie told Valerie, that one layer of graphite was called graphene, but the girl liked the previous one better), than running after the blocks of Carbon atoms. The work went faster, and at the end of the day, they were ready with the half amount.
"We are ready with half your ears!" Elie tried to joke, while she took off the safety clothes from the girl. "Run, and play with your friends! I will wait for you in the caravan!"
Valerie smiled, turned to run, as she was told, and froze. Elie helped her to make a lot of balls. She also helped her a day before with dealing with questionnaires and idiot people. And the day before yesterday too. She never asked anything in return. A strange feeling caught Valerie, which she couldn't name.
"Elie?"
"What's the matter?" She asked. It seemed she was exhausted, and tired.
"What is your wish?"
"My wish?" She asked, surprised.
"K.O. wanted a new balloon. Conrad wanted to make fireworks. I wanted earrings. What do you want?"
Silence. Elie couldn't say anything. What did she want? She didn't even know. She was just spending her time to heal her wounds, and getting on her feet again. She didn't have a single wish at that moment. A zombie didn't have any. But the girl was there, waiting for her answer.
"I don't know." She said the truth.
"Okay." Valerie nodded. "When you have one, tell me!" She said simply, and ran toward the playground.