Ralph smiled and tapped at his pop-pad. “It’ll be a generalized factor survival suit, but it will look and work like one from Jelaria. The desert of Jelaria is very hazardous. The desert region is especially large with very few mostly seasonal water sources. Sandstorms in the central desert can have hurricane force winds. They do a good job of sandblasting everything especially flesh, and if the storm itself doesn’t kill you there are several different pathogens which can and will eat you alive if they get into an open wound. Plus, Tina ordered bio-sensors to monitor your health, and sent me a very specific diet she wants you to stick to as much as is possible. So, I’ll have to adapt your suit to provide the proper nutrition over the course of what will most likely be an extended assignment. It’ll be a fun project. Any more questions?” Yllera shook her head. “Then step on the scale young lady.”
- - - - - - - - - -
Annette trotted down the hall to the cafeteria, going over her notes as she went. Her anxiety over Angela’s second test was growing by the hour. It was five days away. In less than a week, Annette would know her future fate. Despite Niri declaring the weekends rest days, Annette had worked herself frazzled last weekend going over her notes and getting in several hours of practice with the various factor tech items common to most factor packs. Thanks to the transport pods, Annette’s days had stretched to twenty-eight hours or more. One side effect of that was that she wasn’t always sure whether she was coming or going, especially the one time she ran into herself in the hall.
Annette almost changed course for her room, but Tawny’s remote pin bleeped, “Niri told you to head to the cafeteria and eat!”
Reluctantly, Annette followed instructions. Niri had made Tawny Annette’s keeper when she discovered Annette missed meals several days in a row a few weeks ago. It frustrated Annette to have the computer program watching what she ate. Annette honestly hadn’t been hungry in almost a month, there were days food made her nauseous. Despite eating little, and a work schedule which should’ve been burning calories like paper, Annette had been gaining weight. She’d always been thin, not quite sickly thin, but lately she gained weight if she looked at food.
Annette finally reached the cafeteria. She was the last to arrive and found herself at the butt end of a long line. She forced herself to focus and tuned out the noisy room around her, until her pop-pad and a hint of the back of the person in front of her were all she saw. Annette’s stomach began doing flips as she approached the food counter. She wondered if there was something wrong with her. That turned her thoughts to Tina. Despite the mention that the test results would be in within the week, five weeks ago, Annette still hadn’t heard back from Tina about it.
The pop-pad screen in front of Annette wobbled drawing her attention back from where it had wandered. She glanced up and was suddenly hit by all of the noise and light in the room. She had to blink back tears from the intensity. Dimly through the haze of sensation she heard a male voice, “Annette, I thought it was you. Why didn’t you come back and visit me?”
Annette found focus on a young man’s face. He was dressed in a second year purple jumpsuit. She stared at him for a few more moments, still not able to recognize him. “Oh, so you found me less memorable than I found you,” he grimaced, and suddenly she recognized him and remembered. It was Carl, the young man she’d met on her semi-illicit visit to the metamorphic isolation ward.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I’ve been so busy, studying, practicing, and training. Angela’s going to be administering a test which will determine if I become a factor trainee. I only have five more days, and am getting a little stressed about it,” Annette blurted in apology.
Carl smiled and held up his hands, “Back pedal one minute, I wasn’t angry. Just slightly disappointed. If you were busy trying to make the program I can hardly complain. Especially since if you make it we might see more of each other. Don’t let me add stress to your pile! By the way, you look absolutely adorable in blue,” Carl’s smile became a smirk which degenerated into a chuckle. Annette knew he was laughing at her jumpsuit.
“It’s better than nothing!” Annette turned back to her pop-pad in an effort to firmly ignore him.
His chuckles stopped with a grunt, and he turned beet red, though she missed his blush, “I can’t win for losing with you! How about you come eat with me? I’ve got a friend holding a place in line for us.”
Annette looked up to see him point at a boy in purple near the head of the line. The boy waved and tapped his wrist as the line drew a few feet closer to the salad bar. Annette did a quick calculation in her head, if she accepted the offer she could be finished eating fifteen to twenty minutes sooner, but she might be subjected to more unwanted taunting. Funny how part of why she wanted to join the factors was because they treated her better than most. You really couldn’t tell from how the trainees behaved. Annette glanced at the time readout on her pop-pad. She could use fifteen minutes more time trying to get the telekinetic amplifier to work. “Okay, Carl, but if you start cracking up about my jumpsuit again I’m leaving!”
“You did remember my name!” Carl crowed in triumph, “I promise, not to laugh again, even though I wasn’t laughing at your jumpsuit, just a mental picture I had. It had almost nothing to do with you!” He gestured gentlemanly for her to precede him. Annette eyed him warily and stepped out of the line, which she was the end of. When she didn’t head towards his friend, he did, checking behind him to make sure she followed.
“Yo, Carl, I thought you said you knew her. What took so long?” The boy holding their places asked as they arrived.
“Sorry Mike, it took a couple of minutes to remind her and convince her. Thanks by the way,” Carl responded.
“You didn’t mention she was this cute,” Mike said looking Annette over carefully. She felt an annoying itching at the back of her mind and suddenly realized Mike was trying to communicate telepathically with her. She tried to open her mind, and listened very hard, but nothing more than a faint buzz came through. The look on Mike’s face changed from invitingly welcoming to uncomfortable, “I see Scope over there, I think I’ll eat with her if you don’t mind.”
Carl looked confused for a moment, and Annette felt silent words pass between him and Mike. Carl glanced at Annette with surprise, and shook his head. Then Carl turned gruffly back to Mike, “Yeah, so, fine with me man!”
Annette felt a sensation akin to her ears popping, and suddenly an uncomfortable wave of anger from Carl washed over her followed by an explanatory fear from Mike which resolved itself into faint words, “She couldn’t hear me, she’s not a telepath and that creeps me out man!”
“Whatever!” Carl growled. His anger was sharp and painfully piercing to Annette, even directed away from her. She drew herself back, wanting to throw her hands over her ears, but knowing it wouldn’t help. She returned her focus to her pop-pad ignoring them both. Slowly, but more quickly than Carl’s anger abated, Annette managed to shut the room out and put her focus onto her pad.
A jarring jab to her elbow shook her mind from its study of temporal mechanics, back into the lunch line. Again the noise was too loud and the light too bright, but not as bad as before. They had stepped up to the utensil rack while she was otherwise occupied, and Carl was looking her worriedly in the eyes.
“Are you okay? Nobody was home a second ago,” He asked.
Annette shook his intruding concern off, what reason did he have to be worried for her. “I’m fine.” She tucked her pop-pad into her thigh pocket, lifted and began filling a tray with eating utensils.
Carl looked at her suspiciously and did the same. At the salad bar Annette piled spinach, carrots, cheese, ham and dressing on a plate then started for the tables. Tawny’s remote pin chirped again, “Carbohydrates missy, and get yourself a milk and a juice!”
Carl looked at Tawny’s spider-shaped remote pin with a bit of surprise, “That’s a remote pin? I thought it was just jewelry. You must have a cool room.”
Annette sighed. “Yeah, s
he is. Though, she isn’t exactly my room. I’m just staying there until after the test. It was more convenient for Niri to have me staying there during this preparation. I’ll get to move to the dorms as soon as I make the cut, or back to my foster-parents’ if I don’t.” Annette pretended to miss the bread and crackers while she spoke.
Tawny bleeped, “Roll, now, or I’ll tell Niri!”
Carl grabbed a small one with the tongs and slipped it onto Annette’s plate, “Strict isn’t she?”
Annette nodded and stared at her tray, feeling nausea wallowing around in her stomach. She reminded herself she would feel better once she ate. Beside her Carl filled his tray with at least a sample of everything they passed, but he was still thin from his metamorphosis. She watched him as she slid her tray along past the array of foods. Why was he was wasting his time with her she didn’t know. She looked up at him. She was still a short four foot nine inches. He was taller than when they met. He had to be almost a foot and a half taller than she was. His hair had grown out shaggier than when they met. His face was still baby smooth, she wondered if it was genetic or whether he took the time to shave. He was very much a fully mature man, though he was so thin he somehow looked younger. She wondered how old he was.
“Fourteen, last month,” He answered before she could ask. He also scooped up a glass each of milk and apple juice before Tawny could scold her for missing them.
Annette blushed in response, and thought of her own birthday. She stopped, causing grumbles from everyone behind them in the line. Annette snatched her pop-pad from her pocket and glanced at the date indicator. Her birthday was the day after the test, an interesting coincidence. She would either have the best birthday ever, or a reason to ignore the day for the rest of her life.
“Uh, Annette, I think we should get moving before we’re lynched,” Carl suggested shoving her tray onward with his and elbowing her to move.
Annette nodded back, tucked her pad back into its pocket and took control of her own tray. She’d been so absorbed and enthused by her training she’d forgotten all about her birthday. The year before Annette was old enough to enter pre-training, her foster mother had arranged for a tour of the factor training center, and lunch in the cafeteria. Here she was eating practically every day, but by her fourteenth birthday it might all be over with. After making a few more selections Carl had to elbow her again to get her attention.
“Come on, let’s go find some seats,” He steered her towards a large rectangular table almost filled with purple jump suited students. Given her own initiative, Annette would’ve sat at one of the small round tables at the fringe of the room. It was nearly always possible to find one of them empty or at least mostly so. On reaching his selected table Carl sat his tray in front of one empty seat. Then he took Annette’s tray and sat it on the table next to his own and pulled out the seat for her. “Milady,” he said forcing eye contact with her.
Her cheeks turned violently red again. She didn’t usually blush so much, but she also wasn’t used to guys giving her the time of day either, let alone pulling out her chair. “Thank you,” She mumbled, sitting quickly. She adjusted the placement of her tray, while he pushed her seat forward. He tried again to catch her eye as he sat next to her, but uncomfortable, she managed to evade him.
Annette bowed her head to give her customary thanks for her food. Across the table one of the second year trainees scoffed loudly, then jabbed the boy next to him, “Look, she’s praying, isn’t it cute. We have a guest visitor from baby school.” He and his friends then laughed loudly at his taunts. “Can we get you a sippy cup?” Another taunted.
Annette quietly tried to ignore them as she began her prayer. With her head bowed and loose hair dangling in front of it, they couldn’t see it the shade of red her face was turning. She’d been taunted all of her life what was a little more? A thought crossed her mind for the first time, she could forgo giving thanks. At the thought of giving up one of the few things she still had from her parents, Annette’s embarrassment began to turn to anger. Why should she feel ashamed. She didn’t have to eat with these people! Annette started to push her chair back, but Carl’s light hand on her arm stopped her.
“Real mature guys! Maybe you should rethink who is acting wet behind the ears. As factors you will have to go out into the universe and at least be mature enough not to insult the cultures around you. You can’t even manage that here! I think you should go find somewhere else to sit!” Carl said staring down each of Annette’s taunters.
“Oh come on, she’s into that whole god-myth thing! How can she still believe that stuff? People have explored every corner of the universe and never seen him. How can he exist?” The lead bully retorted.
“Have you ever seen your personal data organization program?” Carl asked.
“Sure!” The bully pointed at his remote pin.
“No, that would be a remote pin. I’m talking about the program,” Carl said slowly, as if talking to a toddler.
“No, it’s in the computer.” The boy answered quickly.
“So, how do you know it exists?” Carl asked.
“It does stuff like wake me up and print out my papers and get my clothes cleaned.” The boy answered, a little slower.
“So, you’ve only ever seen the stuff it has done, never the program. You talk to it a lot don’t you? Maybe we should be laughing at you.” Carl continued to press.
The boy made a face, “No, man it’s like totally different. When I ask it a question or to get me something, it gives me an answer or whatever I asked for. God doesn’t do that!” The boy grinned as if he’d made a telling point in the debate.
Carl grinned back at him, “So what you’re saying is that, it is real because it does all of that stuff for you, even though you can’t see it. It gives you what you ask for, sometimes even when it’s things you shouldn’t have, or it tells you it can’t give them to you. Right?” The boy nodded and Carl continued, “So the response isn’t always yes. Well, I would put forward that god exists and can be proven real with the same proofs you used. God has left everything he’s done for us just lying around to see. People talk to him all the time, and get answers. They aren’t always yes but they are always what’s best for the person. He gives people what they ask for, when it’s good for them, not before. So, do you still think you should be laughing?”
The boy laughed back, “Name one person who has gotten what they asked for!”
Carl grinned, “Annette, despite all that Chavez argued to the contrary, she’s sitting here learning to be a factor. Now, I say again, I think you and your friends should find somewhere else to sit.”
A strangled argumentative sound escaped the boy’s throat before he backed his chair from the table and left, taking his tray. The others who had been so quick to laugh silently turned all of their attention to their food.
Annette was dumb struck. She couldn’t believe that Carl had gone to such trouble to defend her. She was un-used to people noticing her, let alone being on her side. Suddenly people were coming out of the woodwork, first Niri, then Tina, and now Carl. It occurred to her rapidly that she should show her appreciation, “Thanks Carl.”
He smiled and deliberately stabbed a forkful of salad, “No problem, besides I wasn’t just defending you. After all were kind of training to work for him anyway. Why shouldn’t I stick up for my future employer.”
Though he said otherwise, Annette sensed Carl’s main motive had been her defense, “Well, then, let me thank you for him too.”
“You better hurry up and eat, don’t forget it’s a long time to supper,” Carl smiled at her and shoved the fork in his mouth.
Annette started to spear her salad as well, then she realized that Carl had mentioned Chavez. Clearly rumors about her and her status had gotten around, and he had heard them. That served to redouble her questioning of his interest in her. Annette eyed Carl suspiciously again. Was he in some strange way a part of the test? Could a student be in league with Angela, and part o
f her test? Annette’s intuitive inner voice told her Carl honestly wasn’t. All of a sudden many of the itchy places of her intuition all pulled together. Yes, a student could be part of Angela’s test, and so could some of the people being tested!
Annette speared a chunk of ham and stuffed it in her face then turned to Carl, “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“Helping me become a factor,” Annette answered off hand.
He almost looked cute with a look of confusion on his face, “How did I do that?”
Annette smiled, “Just by standing up for me.”
- - - - - - - - - -
Chapter 6
Don’t Get Testy!
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Max hunkered down to avoid the camera as it swung back in his direction. Once it passed he darted down the corridor, until he was out of range of the camera. He checked the map on his pop-pad, around the corner was the target room, all he had to do was get inside and it would be free sailing. He pulled out a scanner and waved it in an arc in front of him, then he tucked it back in his pack. He started to move forward and paused, removing and replacing the scanner in the right pocket of the pack. For some reason, the woman in charge of his testing was a stickler about it. He didn’t want her docking points for a disorderly factor pack. Max tapped his pad and was relieved to see that the way to the room was clear of booby traps. Stepping boldly forward he headed around the corner to the room. He was almost to the door when a sharp pain struck his chest, and he went numb from the neck down. He crumpled to the floor, dropping his pack and his pad.
“Ooooh, you came that close,” Niri said holding her fingers a hairbreadth apart. She was standing over him with a laser rifle. The weapon wasn’t lethal, in fact it had no effect unless someone wore a training harness, like the one Max had on.
Max groaned, “Where did you come from?! I scanned the passage way! You weren’t there!”
Niri smiled, and picked up his equipment. “I guess I cheated.” She answered, and then tapped the reset button on the training harness.
Sanctuary Falling Page 12
