William banged his fist on the table. “I’m telling you, it will have to do.”
“And I’m telling you that those tolerances aren’t acceptable!” Bobcat bellowed, looking at the spilled beer on the table with pure horror. “Bethany Anne wants this done yesterday. And you spilled my beer!”
Tina’s spirits lifted at the familiar banter and she giggled, distracting Bobcat and William from their debate.
Bobcat grinned at her. “Heya, Tina! Nice to see you.” He saw her puffy eyes. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
“Boy trouble,” Marcus told him, oblivious to Tina’s rapidly reddening face. “I’ll go and get you that Coke, Tina.” He left the room, heading for the fridge they kept to cut down on beer runs while they were working.
Tina sat down across from Bobcat and William. “I had a fight with Ron,” she admitted in answer to their searching expressions. “He doesn’t get that things are going to change after graduation. And I’m Gott Verdammt sick of him saying I’m too snarky! I’m a snarky person! It’s not my fault he’s not sharp enough to keep up.”
“There’s no such thing as too snarky, sweetheart.” William shook his head in disappointment. “Pay him no mind. Young Ronnie obviously hasn’t learned that females are the superior sex yet.”
Bobcat winked and pounded his fist into his free hand a few times. “Want us to go and fix his wagon?”
Hanging out with BMW was always a sure-fire way to shift a bad mood. Tina shook her head and bent over the table to look at the scattered plans, all misery forgotten. “No, it’s okay. I feel better now. What are you guys working on?”
Bobcat moved the empties as she spread the sheets out. “It’s Reynolds’ project. You probably shouldn’t be…”
Tina ignored him and her eyes lit up as she flipped through the plans. “A death ray? Cool…” A small furrow formed between her eyes as she fell into the calculations. She snatched Bobcat’s pencil and began adjusting numbers here and there. “Your math is a little off. The beer can rings are really distracting, you know. Here,” she made a final squiggle, “that should help.”
She was about to reach for the next stack of papers when she was distracted by a high-pitched squeak.
“I think you could help with this little one if you wanted to?” Marcus asked, holding out the squirming ball of fur responsible for the noise she’d heard. “She needs a name and someone to look after her until we can find her a forever home.”
Tina almost squealed with joy. “A kitten! Oh, Marcus, she’s so sweet!” She held out her hands to take the kitten from him gently. “What’s your name?” she asked the kitten, holding it up so she could see. “Maybe Tiger, for your stripes?”
The kitten objected to the height, digging needle-like claws into Tina’s hands. “Ow! Fu…” she remembered where she was, “…dge.” She turned bright red as the guys looked at her, unable to believe their ears. “Hey, you can’t blame me! You guys curse all the time. It was bound to rub off eventually. Drunken pottymouths, all three of you!”
“Hey! I resemble that remark!” Bobcat complained.
“That’s my defense, and I’m sticking to it!” Tina grinned, snuggling the kitten.
Marcus chuckled. “Looks like we have a name for the fluffball. Fudge it is!”
Tina held Fudge to her chest, inhaling the kitten-smell happily. “Can I really take her with me?” Fudge began to knead her with her tiny paws.
Marcus beamed. “Of course you can. That’s why I gave her to you, Tina. However, you’ll have to take good care of her until we find her a home. If she’s too much to take care of, bring her back, okay?”
“Okay,” Tina agreed. She hugged him with her free arm and danced out of the office, cradling Fudge carefully. “Thanks, guys!”
Marcus looked at the changes Tina had made to the calculations. “By God, she fixed it!”
Bobcat and William gaped as Marcus showed them the corrections.
“How did we miss that?” Bobcat moaned.
William thumped him on the arm. “Too busy thinking about beer, that’s how!”
Bobcat looked pained. “It’s like you know me or something!” He shook his head and looked at Marcus. “That girl is going to put us three on the scrapheap when she grows up.”
“You can’t say the Ds didn’t warn us,” Marcus agreed. “Still, I’m glad I could do something to cheer her up.”
William looked up from the table. “Hey, Marcus, here’s something you didn’t think about. Tina is back at school now, right? Did you ask the Ds if Tina could look after that cat?”
Marcus paled. “Um…”
CHAPTER SIX
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Etheric Academy, Main Lobby, One Week Later
Devi paused at the doors to the administrative wing and sniffed delicately.
She liked the human children, but she’d learned to take a minute or two for her sensitive nose to adjust to the heady mixture of the scents they sprayed on themselves, not to mention the hormones the adolescents exuded when they encountered each other.
She greeted the students with happy chuffs as she made her morning rounds before class. They might smell funny, but they always bring me a treat...or three. Who am I to disappoint them by refusing?
On the first day Dorene had accompanied Devi to ensure that the students did not mob her, but all had been respectful of her space–especially after Dorene had made it clear that anyone harassing her would be in a world of trouble. Since then, Devi had made her rounds each morning and then sat in on whichever classes took her interest that day.
Today she was excited; she was going to see a rabbit for the first time!
The name alone intrigued her. She felt like they were something she needed to know about. The still images Ms. Treble had shown the class had stirred her, speaking to her puppy heart of a canine glory she had yet to experience.
Her parents had just looked at each other and burst into doggy laughter when she’d told them about the rabbits.
She wondered what they looked like when they ran...
She trotted up the stairs leading to the classrooms, puffing out her chest so her sparkly tie caught the light of the galaxy display and making sure her tail was fluffed out for maximum prettiness as she went. She caught up with Mischa and Masha at the top, her tail starting to wag the moment she saw her friends. The device on her collar translated her chuffs of greeting for the twins. “Mischa, Masha! Today is the day we see the rabbits!”
The twins smiled at her, something she’d had to get used to with humans. The wolf-natured didn’t see that human expression as a threat, bared teeth or no, so Devi had learned not to either. She wagged her tail harder.
As always, Mischa and Masha bent down to Devi’s eye-level and began fishing around in their pockets for a treat. That was one of the reasons she loved the twins—they always had a bit of jerky on them. “Yes, Devi. Did you ask Meredith to show you the vids?”
Devi shook her head. “Seeing is overrated. I want to smell the rabbits. Vids can’t do that.”
The twins nodded and did the strange shoulder movement Devi could never manage to duplicate.
“We’d better get into the classroom before Ms. Treble gets here.”
Devi liked how Mischa and Masha did things at the same time. They reminded her of her bonded humans, only the girls were much more liberal with the treats than Diane and Dorene. They only gave her the treats she’d earned, which she respected.
Still, free jerky was free jerky.
She followed Masha and Mischa into the classroom and hopped onto one of the seats made for four-legged Yollins as usual. She stretched out on the padded cushion and listened to the twins talk with Yana about the trip. There weren’t any Yollins at the Academy just yet, but they would be well provided for when they arrived.
In the meantime, they make good puppy chairs. Devi made herself comfortable on the cushion while they waited for the teacher.
Ms. Treble breezed through the door a few minutes later.
“Good morning, class! I hope you’re all ready to visit with Boomer and his family?”
Devi jumped to attention with a happy yip, her tail wagging hard enough to create a breeze.
Her excitement was to be short-lived.
Ms. Treble checked attendance before leading the students down to where Max was waiting to take them to the plants and ecologies area.
“Morning, kids,” he called from the driver’s compartment. “Morning, Devi. Dorene told me you were excited to see the rabbits today.”
“You bet I am!” Devi yipped, her tie flapping as she spun in a circle.
“We’ll be there soon. Settle down now, Devi,” Ms. Treble told her. “You can look out of the window and tell us when you see the cornfield.”
Devi jumped onto the seat next to Masha and put her paws on the window. “Yes, ma’am.”
Ms. Treble went to the driver’s compartment to speak with Max.
“I like her,” Yana declared. “All that stuff in class about which fly had whatever-colored eyes should have been awful to sit through, but she made it interesting.”
“Yeah,” Halli agreed. “Her name is pretty, too. I have a cousin named Katie.”
Yana leaned over to get a closer look at Devi’s paws. “Is that nail polish?”
“It’s my pet-icure,” Devi chuffed. “Mischa did it.”
“It’s very pretty, Devi. We should have a girls’ night soon, I bet the polish doesn’t last long with you walking around all day.”
Mischa grinned. “You’d be surprised. Ron made it just for Devi. It’s made of a similar material to the stuff they paint the antigrav shipping containers with. Nothing will chip it. Ron gave me a special remover with the polish.”
“That’s...amazing,” Yana breathed. “It never chips?”
Mischa shook her head.
Halli’s eyes shone. “Not even if I was working on an engine? Wow, that is amazing.”
___
Katie returned from the driver’s compartment as the tram pulled to a halt. “We’re here, class. Gather your belongings and join me at the door.” She smiled at her students, thinking about how she’d ended up here.
Leaving Earth behind for the Queen’s benevolent dictatorship, embarking on this crazy adventure? It was the best decision she’d ever made.
She’d spent her twenties teaching science in the most challenging public schools, her initial hopeful wide-eyed naïveté turning to shock, dismay, and eventually downright fury at what the education system offered children in the inner cities. The children in these areas had no chance of a brighter tomorrow when their schools were underfunded, understaffed, and outmoded—not to mention unsafe.
Her colleagues all had the same tired, jaded attitude, but Katie had never been the type of woman to back down from a challenge, so she had done whatever she could. She’d bought books and school supplies for students out of her wages, even bringing food for kids who arrived at school with empty bellies on more occasions than she could remember.
She organized after-school clubs, community projects, and cultural experiences on top of her teaching duties, all in the hope of opening their young eyes to the possibilities in the world.
It hadn’t been enough to keep the majority of her students from failing to launch after high school, but the few she had helped to realize their potential had never forgotten her.
Katie had waged war against a broken system, resigning from teaching to tackle the root of the issues directly in her early thirties. Her singular focus was tearing it up from the inside and becoming a thorn in the side of the bureaucrats. She was present at every meeting, every gala, fête, or fundraiser, campaigning relentlessly for equal provision for those below the poverty line.
She fought until she could fight no more. The doctors back on Earth had given her months to live at most—then TQB and Bethany Anne had turned everything on its head. Katie had been invited to the Polaris, and her death sentence had been repealed. She had sworn to serve Bethany Anne in whatever capacity she was needed.
She just hadn’t expected the call back to teaching.
When Dorene had approached her about taking a position at the Academy she’d initially turned it down, unable to face another go-round of seeing bright minds crushed by a system designed to slot them into preconceived boxes or be left behind.
The Velasquez sisters’ retraining program had quickly disabused her of that notion. The children of the Etheric Academy were to be taught differently, each given the freedom to find their own path, their own inspiration. Her job as a teacher was to guide them as they grew to their full potential, not to strip them of their individuality and force them into some preconceived mold to meet an arbitrary target. None of them would be left behind.
Katie had fallen in love with teaching again.
The tram’s doors opened and the class disembarked under her direction. It was a short walk from there past the fields to the animal habitats. Katie spotted another German Shepherd puppy playing fetch with a four-legged Yollin at the edge of the cornfield.
Huh, the things you see.
They were met at the entrance to the rabbit habitat by a thickset woman in her mid-fifties wearing a sweater set and a scowl.
“That dog is not welcome here,” the woman complained as a greeting, pointing an accusatory finger at Devi. “It’ll scare my rabbits.”
Katie was taken aback. “You didn’t say anything when we spoke, Bernadette. I sent you the student roster. Besides, Devi is an enhanced dog. She would never do anything to scare the rabbits.”
Devi wagged her tail and chuffed. “I’m here to learn about the rabbits, Ms. Treble.”
Katie smiled at the puppy. “I know you are, precious.” She had a soft spot for all animals, and Devi was a delight to her. She stood and faced the woman. “Bernadette, be reasonable.”
Bernadette’s scowl deepened, and she folded her arms tightly as she glared at the puppy. “Either the dog leaves or you all do.”
Katie narrowed her eyes, trying to work out the woman’s issue. “I don’t understand. The class is scheduled; you can’t cancel it.”
Bernadette’s chin jutted as she spoke. “No. Dogs. Take it up with whomsoever you like, but the dog stays outside.”
Devi whined, looking up at the woman in confusion.
Katie bent down and reassured Devi with a gentle hand on her neck. “I’m so sorry, Devi, but we’re on a schedule today. I saw one of your littermates over by the cornfield. Perhaps you’d like to go and join them for now? I promise I’ll deal with this later, but for now we need to get class underway.”
“Okay,” Devi chuffed. She looked up at Bernadette. “I’m telling my humans about you. You’re mean!” She stalked toward the cornfield with her tail held high and a dignified tilt to her snout.
Ms. Treble addressed the students. “Go on in, class. I need a quick word with Bernadette and I’ll be right along.” She watched them file into the building before turning a stern look on the woman. “This is entirely unacceptable, Bernadette. Devi has as much right to learn without discrimination as any of the other students. What if I had brought a Yollin? Would you turn them away, too?”
The rabbit handler blanched. “How dare you, Katie! Wait until I speak to the Academy administrators!” She turned on her heel and marched inside.
Katie turned to check on Devi one last time before she went inside; she and the white puppy she’d seen earlier were tussling at the side of the field.
She snickered as she closed the door behind herself. She had a class to teach, and she was happy to let Bernadette run to Diane and Dorene. When she got back to her office, she would make popcorn and watch the verbal flaying the wretched woman got when the Velasquez twins found out their puppy had been treated so poorly.
CHAPTER SEVEN
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Medical Level
Masha and Mischa skirted a commotion as they passed through the lobby after school ended. Masha glanced with concern at the three orderlies restraining
a distressed man in a hospital gown who was trying to leave, but Mischa was so busy talking she barely even noticed the two Guardians appear from the west corridor.
“I felt sorry for Devi. She really wanted to see the rabbits,” Mischa prattled, oblivious to the drama. “Poor puppy. Bernadette should have told me she wouldn’t be allowed in the building before we arrived. Did you see how sad she was when she had to wait outside?”
“At least Snow was there to keep her company,” Masha offered.
Mischa nodded. “I suppose so. I cannot believe Craig is in Medical again. I really thought he would stop doing stupid things now that he’s a Guardian.”
Masha snorted. “I can believe it. It’s been a while since he took that epic beat-down by the Chinese Guardian team. You didn’t think our foolish wolf would go too long without another mishap, did you?”
Mischa and Masha strolled down the corridor to the ward where Craig was recovering from yet another injury.
“Maybe all those darts screwed with his brain.” Masha snickered, twirling a finger next to her temple. “I know I wouldn’t have asked Jian for a rematch. Have you seen the vid from when the three of them took Craig down?”
Mischa’s cheeks turned pink. “Well, I thought it was brave of him—if a little stupid—but that’s Craig all over. He wouldn’t be Craig if he didn’t put his heart into everything he does.”
They took the turn onto the ward, waving to the nurses as they passed the station by the door.
“Have you gone sweet on him?” Masha’s eyes narrowed, scrutinizing her twin’s face as she held the door. “You have!”
Mischa’s blush deepened. “Shut up, Masha!” she hissed. “He’ll hear you!”
Craig had a twinkle in his eye when they entered his room but whether he’d heard them or was just in pain Mischa couldn’t tell. Either way, his face was pretty much the only thing they could see that wasn’t covered by a plaster cast or the blanket strategically draped over him.
Mischa gasped when she saw the traction apparatus. “Craig, how bad is it?”
Alpha Class - Graduation_A Kurtherian Gambit Series Page 4
