That's how things go up until Christmas break. Classes, work on suit, more classes, create something new, even more classes, and lots of Carly in between, during, and after.
We talk about meeting each other's parents during Christmas break, but the entirety of that conversation lasts about three sentences; I guess we're not ready for it yet. The holidays are a lot like Thanksgiving and it's great seeing my family and friends, but I miss having access to the student lab a lot more than I miss my parents. By the way, it would be better if you didn't tell my mom I said that.
Speaking of my mom, I am able to have a couple more conversations with her and let her know all was quiet on that front at school. Her advice of being careful messing with telepaths is reinforced, and my (unspoken) refusal to listen to good advice is foremost in my opinion on the matter. Villain telepaths are no more dangerous than villains of every other stripe, they just have a different way of operating. Instead of hiring henchmen, they control their minds. Instead of beating you into a pulp, they turn your brain into mush. Instead of monologues about how ingenious their plans are, they just put it in your mind how brilliant they are.
Chapter 49
It's my first day back at Nova Academy after Christmas break and I only want to do two things: see Carly and go to the student labs. I'm not sure which one I want to do more. Carly's first as she calls me before I can grab my stuff I need for the lab, and we meet at the Commons to catch up and hang out. It doesn't take her long to figure out I'm feinding for some lab time and she cuts me a break to go to the labs, but only if she can come along, which is fine by me as there is usually a lot of idle time while using the machines.
I spent Christmas break coming up with some new designs, since I couldn't actually make anything at home. So I have a large number of G-Codes ready to go for loading into the CNC Machines in the student lab as well as a circuit diagram for several unique microchips and circuit boards I'm going to need. I only took the first three days of break to come up with these new designs, the rest of the two week break was spent writing the machine codes and schematics needed to have the machines in the lab make the parts for assembly.
We grab some To-Go boxes from the Commons food court and head over to the labs. When we get there, no one is in the lounge area. Classes won’t start again until tomorrow and I'm pleasantly surprised to see the open use machine shop is empty. Now I can run multiple jobs at a time and be finished with the machining in a quarter of the time it usually takes.
I get all of the lathes going on producing one part or another and then settle in for some quality time hanging out with Carly. It's like the best of both worlds; I'm building my inventions at the same time as I'm hanging with my best friend, lover, and partner in crime fighting.
"What are you making?" Carly asks.
"When I went home over break, I couldn't build anything, so I spent most of my time coming up with new equipment we might need. What I'm building right now is an upgraded Black Dragon design. I put a better weapon on it that has a larger magazine for the ammo, which we could have used during the fight. And, I put on a pod that'll allow me to customize the weapon or other gear it's carrying, depending on the mission. The other thing is for a replacement for my baseballs. I love 'em, but they're just not a serious weapon. So, I am making a variation on a bolo. Except, on my bolo the three balls will have Tasers that should disable just about anyone other than a lightning elemental. The last thing I'm making, for myself anyway, is to make more of the nuclear power supplies like the ones for our field generators. They take so long to make, I need to get ahead of the demand. There is no doubt I'll invent something else that needs one, and where would I be if I don’t have one?" The question isn’t a question.
"I like the bolo idea. And, you may not have had to sacrifice the Black Dragon if it hadn't run out of ammo. I was thinking I could use a couple things, too…maybe?" Carly is lobbying for some new toys.
Short of saying, "Hey, what about me?" And knocking on my head, Carly could not have dropped a bigger hint that I am neglecting making a shiny new (deadly) toy for her. "You're right," I acknowledge her unspoken complaint, "I need to make some more equipment for you. I came up with a couple ideas on break, but want to ask you what you want first."
"I'm not sure what I need. The armor and field generator are a great defense, so I was thinking something I can use on offense."
"That's what I was thinking, too. You have your telepathy and telekinetic abilities for ranged attacks. I think you need something for up close and personal. I built in the secondary neural field generator for defense, you may want something so you can still fight without your powers if it's ever activated."
"What about a hand gun, or better yet, dual handguns?" she asks, not knowing the idea of using handguns, for a mad scientist, is one of the most offensive suggestions you could ever make.
I decide not to be offended, "Guns are boring. And overdone. Every baseline in the country owns one."
"That's because there isn't anything that gives a better bang-for-the-buck,” Carly argues, “and, baselines have to have them to have any chance at all of beating even low level supers."
"All right. I'm going to have to work on the ranged weapon concept. I've got a mental picture that I think you'll love, but need to work out some technical issues on it before I can finish the design."
“You’re not going to tell me what it is, are you?”
“Nope.”
“That’s rude.”
“Yep.”
"Alright, fine. I can wait. Do your thang, baby." Carly is pretty happy now with hanging out in the student labs with me since now she knows some of that time is going to be for her benefit.
"Doing my ‘thang,’ is right. What about fighting sticks for close in?"
"They're cool, but…," trailing off I can tell she's not thrilled with fighting sticks. She has the sad puppy dog eyes going.
Let's see if this changes her mind, "The fighting sticks will be energized with your field generator and your striking power will be amplified about a hundred times, give or take. Is that a little cooler for you?"
Perking up, she says, "That's a lot cooler. Okay." She has that predatory gleam back in her eye.
I think to myself, You want cool, wait until you see the blasters I'm going to make you…just as soon as I figure out how to stabilize the power conversion.
Finishing up in the machine shop, we head back to my dorm to store my stuff. The student labs are still quiet, so I might come back later to work on the battle management control system for my suit. It's not anywhere close to being an AI, but it will be someday. For now it's mostly going to control power distribution and the HUD display and targeting.
Monday mornings this semester start with my speed class, Advanced Speed Control, which really gets me jazzed and burns off a lot of energy for the rest of the day. After that is my second semester of Engineering for Advanced Minds, which is completely empty of people when I walk in. I sit down and start looking through my syllabus to see if there hasn't been a room change, then do the same on my phone by accessing the professor's website he maintains for his classes. I'm in the right place, according to the website, so I sit tight.
Dr. Manning walks in the class and sets down his bag, "Ah, good morning, Theo. How was your holidays?"
Looking around, I'm like a deer in the headlights as Dr. Manning has never addressed me about anything personal before. "It was good. Umm, thanks for asking."
"Great. Well, let's get started, the last time we met, we discussed…." And Dr. Manning picks up right where we left off on the last day of class before Christmas break.
I let him go on for a couple minutes, because I'm not sure what is going on. My need for an answer gets the better of me and I finally interrupt the lecture, "Excuse me, Dr. Manning. Where are the rest of the students?"
"Well, like I told you at the end of last semester, none of the other students did well enough to advance to this class. It's rather unfortunate, I kno
w, but that just means we'll be able to cover more material without the less capable students slowing us down."
What are you talking about? is very nearly my response as what he just said is total rubbish. I was in the top ten percent of the class, but there were at least two other students who outscored me on the exams last semester, and NO ONE failed the class that I know of. Besides, this is the seventh meeting we've had for this class and all the ones before Christmas were full of the same students from first semester. "Uh, right," is the best response I can give Dr. Manning. Something is so not right here.
I sit through the entire class and have to give credit to what Dr. Manning said, one-on-one does let us get through a lot more material than we ever did with a full classroom, but something is messed up here. After class I head over to the Admin Building and have the clerk look up my class. According to the school records, I'm the only student registered to take Engineering for Advanced Minds at 10 AM, Mondays and Wednesdays.
I'm starting to get a pit in my stomach.
Chapter 50
I walk into Advanced Chemistry and find the class has about half the usual number of students. The ones that are here are either Biology majors or some other major other than the physics and engineering sciences. I'm beyond concerned now and having a hard time sitting still through the class. Algorithms class is nearly as bad as Engineering for Advanced Minds as the only two other students in the class are studying neurology, which puts me over the top and I leave the class five minutes after it starts. Where is everybody today?
Carly's in class right now, so I text her and ask her to meet me at my dorm later, then start taking a walk around the Science Department only to find class after class either empty or nearly empty. I don't know which lecture halls have classes scheduled in them at this time, but it can't be all of them. I pull up the course catalog on my phone and see several classes scheduled for this day and time, but the catalog does not have the room numbers listed, so I head back over to the Admin Building and start playing twenty questions with the clerk again. None of the classes have been cancelled, but several that are listed as active do not have any students registered as taking the class.
Carly gets to my dorm after class, and I fill her in on everything. Afterwards, we decide to go check out the Oppenheimer Quad to see who is there. What I'm afraid of most, that no one will be there, is exactly what we find, with the exception of the Commons staff who are all still there and carrying on as if they were feeding a few hundred people. We go next to the dorms and I can't find anyone I know to be in the physical sciences. The buildings are nearly empty of students with many of the dorm room doors standing open. There not being many kids makes sense, as it is in the middle of a school day, but doors standing open that obviously look lived in doesn't make sense at all.
Carly and I try to report the missing people, but no one in Admin will listen, they all think we were put up to some kind of fraternity initiation prank, and when we try to report it to the local police, they call the people in Admin, who say no one is missing. That almost gets us arrested for making a false police report.
"What do we do?" Carly asks. We are sitting in her car in the parking lot outside my dorm.
"Who is left?" Is my best response.
"The only people who can't be fooled by this type of thing, at least as a group, are the telepaths. We need to talk to Imelda."
"Great. You know your roommate is kind of creepy, right?"
"If you have a better idea of who to talk to, tell me who it is, and we'll talk to them instead."
"What about Professor Blake? He's a telepath?"
"Professor Blake is more likely to be a villain than he is to be someone who stops a villain. The man is creepier than Imelda by far; trust me.' "
"All right, fine. Imelda it is."
We leave the car as it will just slow us down and run over to Carly's dorm. When we get there, Carly stops before entering her building and announces, "There's a lot of tension here."
I ask her, "What do you mean?"
"I can feel a lot of anxiety, it's not normal for this place. Telepaths are generally the most confident and laid back crowd you'll ever meet."
Well now, that makes sense, doesn't it.
"Let's go. Stay alert." Carly grabs my arm and pulls me into the building to go to her dorm room. "She's not here," she announces as we're walking down the corridor to her room.
"Do you want to wait?"
"No, let's go over to the Commons and see who's there," Carly says. The Erikson Quad Commons is always an adventure. I hate Erikson Quad and the Commons is the worst part, "Great. I get to be stared at by a hundred people. Lovely."
"Oh, stop. They're starting to get used to you. Most don't even stare at you anymore." This earns Carly a scoff from me. As if.
"That's not because they've stopped trying to break into my head. It's like my head is a window and a hundred people are tapping on the glass with their finger."
"Yeah, well try having a hundred people talking to each other through an open window that you can’t close and you'll know what I'm feeling. Why do you think we always meet at your quad for dinner?"
Okay, fine. That would be worse, so I shut up and follow her to the lounge in the Commons.
The room is full of people and, as soon as we walk in, the tap-tap-tapping starts in my head. Which, since I’m already annoyed, causes me to shout, "Hey! Knock it off! Have some freakin’ manners and leave my head alone!" I stare around the room and even more people are staring at me, but the tapping has died down to a tolerable level. "Thank you."
"Really?" Carly says, shaking her head, "How do you get away with that?"
I guess she can tell they stopped, so I just shrug and smile and motion her to lead on. Instead of moving further into the student lounge, Carly starts scanning the room. I'm assuming she must be doing something telepathic, and it's confirmed when I see someone in the back of the room look up at Carly wave us over.
"Hey, Spencer."
"Hey, Carly, what's up?"
I'm pretty sure they're speaking out loud for my benefit as when I look around the room just about everyone is engaged with others, but no one is saying a word. It's the quietest gathering of a hundred plus students you'll ever see in the known universe in here. I can even see a classic case of a boyfriend being chewed out by his girlfriend. The body language from one to the other is unmistakable. He's getting his butt chewed on like he's being yelled at by his mom for breaking the window when he was six, yet neither one is saying a word out loud.
"Theo,” Carly tries to grab my attention, “Theo! This is Spencer." Carly pulls me back from my gawking at the freak show.
"Oh, sorry. Hi, nice to meet you. Spencer, right?" is my recovery response.
"Yeah, you too. This your first time here?" He asks.
"No. Couple times,” I reply.
"Nice ability you have. That might make you the only non-telepath on campus that can survive being here."
Without smiling, I reply, "I think the jury is still out on that one."
Spencer’s laughing, "I bet. Carly tells me something's up over at Oppenheimer. Want to fill me in?"
I tell him everything, from Henderson Robotics to the missing students today and have to give Spencer credit for listening the entire time without asking a question. It took Carly a month together with me before she could listen to more than a few sentences from me without asking me to clarify something.
Getting more and more apprehensive, Spencer finally asks in a tight voice, "What do you want from us?"
It is pretty clear Spencer is not eager to even know what I've just told him, but the telepaths are the only source of information we can think of right now, "It's on us to find them. No one else seems to even know they're gone. We need some help."
"Well, I can tell you you're not the only ones who know they're gone. A couple telepaths who have minors in science saw some of it. There were at least three busses loading students on Sunday, but they didn't
know what it was as everyone they saw seemed to want to be there. Are you sure the science students didn't voluntarily leave?"
"I've already had this conversation with Carly. Having someone make you want to do something isn't the same as you wanting to do it. That's what happened before, and I have no reason to believe it's not happening again." I'm starting to get annoyed, "Let me cut through the crap here, I know what telepaths can do. I'm immune to it, and have serious problems with it, but I'm not trying to change the status quo. I don't think I could change anything even if I wanted to. What I can do, is try to help these students, if for no other reason than there is no one else who will."
Spencer turns to Carly, "You told him?"
"Yes, everything. And, before you start, know that I'll defend telling him. And I'll win. He has an advanced mind, and he has a right to know."
Spencer does not seem concerned, but continues to try to warn Carly, "I think you could make that argument under normal circumstances, but if this gets out of hand, I doubt very much your argument will stand. You're taking a risk, you know."
Carly doesn’t back down, "I know, it's my risk to take. I don't know who the telepath is behind these kidnappings, but he's powerful, and he's ambitious. Two traits you know don’t belong together. Not in a telepath."
"That's true. All right, I'll put the word out to keep an eye out for these guys," he concedes and offers to help.
I say, "Honestly, I doubt it if any of the students will be in public. Try looking for people who you can't read their minds."
"Actually, it'll feel mushy and have a metallic flavor to it. Like licking aluminum." Carly offers.
Spencer looks at Carly with a frown, clearly not understanding what she's trying to describe, "Show me," he says.
Carly and Spencer stare at each other for a few seconds before Spencer says, "Icky," and shudders. "Okay, words going out now, but don't expect to hear anything for a while."
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