Sirius Academy (Jezebel's Ladder)

by Scott Rhine

  “That mission’s above my pay grade, sir,” he replied, deadpan.

  That was the first laugh Trina had all day.

  ****

  Red awoke early Sunday morning and tried to sneak out the back. The nurse who caught her said, “That means we’ll have to lock you in your room until Dr. Marsh arrives.”

  “But he’s adjusted all my meds and he took all the samples and readings. God, I’m so tired of this.”

  “He said to add an hour every time you argued,” the nurse explained.

  Red growled as she climbed back into bed, dressed in yesterday’s flight suit. Due to the ‘no thought’ rule, she wasn’t allowed to have a computer or her goggles. She was attempting to jerry-rig the TV to get access to campus resources when a voice behind her said, “Is there a rule that you haven’t tried to break?”

  She almost hit her head on the overhang when she jumped. It was Zeiss, the damn sneak. She replied, “The problem with any authority that requires enforcement of arbitrary rules is that it’s almost always wrong.”

  His hair was wet, reminding her that she still hadn’t showered. The blond TA handed her an ID badge. The picture was the one taken during her admission to the clinic. She looked terrible in the gown. “Professor Horvath expedited your student ID so I could schedule some classes for you.”

  Glaring at the badge, she muttered, “Real mature, Trina.” Turning her best eyelash-batting smile toward Zeiss, she said, “You’re too kind. You wouldn’t happen to have a comp-pad handy so I could look over that schedule?”

  “Sure,” he said, pulling the portable out of his gym bag. He brought up the last page accessed and showed her. “0900 has to be Intro to Alien Technology with Professor Sorenson. The next hour is Anti-terrorism with Professor Horvath, the same as everyone else.”

  “Can’t I test out or something?”

  “You need to take that up with her.”

  “Fine,” she said in a tone that meant anything but.

  “At 1400 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you have Extreme Environment Training.”

  She snorted. “Wash out 101. I’ve heard.”

  He nodded. “Each week, by Saturday at 0800, you’ll have to drop off a log entry to Dr. Marsh. It’ll be encrypted by your badge key and no one else will be authorized to listen. There’s a list of suggested questions.”

  “Yeah, email me.”

  “I teach a seminar on quantum particles next semester. Meanwhile, I have you slotted for remote class in Calabi-Yau modeling at 1700. I hope you don’t mind a Chinese accent.”

  When she saw the professor’s name, she smiled. “No. Sitting in his class will be an honor. How did you get me in this late?”

  “I did some work for him at CERN.”

  Her glow lasted till she saw the next class. “Intro to Tensor Calculus at 0600. Be real. I’ve already learned most of this for something else. And I never get out of bed before eight.”

  “You need to have a firm foundation before building on it. You’re impressive at what you do; you’re off the scale on Intuitive . . . but you have a lot of gaps. Trust me; the devil is in the details. You can’t use your talent as a crutch.” At the word ‘crutch’, she raised an eyebrow. He continued, “It’s only one class, three days a week. You can still take one more elective, your choice.”

  “Flight training, Saturday morning. I’ll need it to unwind.”

  He took the tablet back and tapped in her request for the Saturday slot.

  Red sat on the bed. “I’ll just take the midterm and final for Tensor.”

  Zeiss shook his head. “No. To get credit for the class, you still have to log in every day. They can’t make you watch, but you’ll have regular homework which you can discuss with me each week.”

  “You’ll work with me?”

  “As long as you don’t scare me like that again,” he said with a smile. “Tuesdays at noon are open, but I can meet during office hours whenever you need.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  “So we can discuss geometry, proofs, and all the things you’ve been ignoring for years.”

  “Ick. Why would I do that?”

  “It’s my requirement for being your faculty adviser. With your . . . condition, only about four staff members have the clearance. Of those, only Professor Horvath has an opening.”

  Red rolled her eyes. “I wonder why.”

  “This isn’t a plot. You came in, uninvited and outside normal channels. We’re doing our best to accommodate.”

  Softening, she said, “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. You have been a gentleman and a scholar.” He bowed curtly in acknowledgement of the compliment. “If only there were something I could do in return . . . What was your tensor mechanics problem for?”

  “Sirius level two work, for my dissertation.”

  “You’re struggling with it?”

  “The whole world is,” he admitted. “I’m trying to come up with a new angle. I don’t want to tell anyone until it’s proven.”

  “The FTL flash photos on your ceiling,” she guessed. When his face shifted to a mask, Red rushed to add, “I’m cleared for that. Let me look at your preliminary results. I might be able to help.”

  “Sirius two for a freshman?” the TA challenged.

  She swiped her crypto-ring over the pad, and he blinked. “How? That clearance took me months and I’m a teacher.”

  “If I told you that, men in black helicopters would have to kill you.”

  He shook his head. “I can’t let you pass out again.”

  “No. Don’t worry. Remember intuition? I might surprise you.”

  “You’re a multiple talent,” he whispered. “Simplification?”

  She made an “Oops” face.

  “You had to know I’d guess. I’m Sorenson’s TA for the class on talents.”

  “Maybe I can trust you. You’ve already dragged me into your bed. How much more private does it get?”

  Zeiss looked around for nurses. “Don’t joke about that again. I’m up for a professorship at Oxford. One whiff of scandal, and . . .”

  “Relax. I’m offering an exchange of scientific services,” Red said calmly. “You get up every day at six, right?”

  “How did you know?”

  “The schedule on your office wall.”

  “Uh, yes.”

  “Log me in when you get up, and I’ll help you with your dissertation.”

  “You’re very persuasive. But I make my own decisions.”

  He was resisting her Empathy talent, so she decided for the truth. “Look, if you’re going to be my undergrad adviser, we need to trust each other. Regardless of what you answer, I’ll never lie to you.”

  “Because I’m a teacher?”

  “Because you risked your reputation to save my life,” she asserted. “I’m offering to tell you three things about your own dissertation that you may not have noticed. I’ll give you my badge and you just have to swipe it on the computer on your way by. I’ll do all the work; I just don’t want to get up that early.”

  “I can’t take you back to my room.”

  “Then book a secure simulation suite,” she suggested.

  “I’ll go do that,” he said, cheerfully. When she attempted to follow, he said, “You can meet me there when you’re out of the sin bin.”

  “What?” she exclaimed, outraged.

  “It’s a hockey term. The nurse warned me you’d try to sneak out again, before you did your time. Be a man; take the penalty and learn from it.”

  Red growled in frustration as he waved goodbye. She contented herself with a quiche from her freezer while she waited. The day nurse, Betsy, tried a bite and ended up eating a whole meal while sharing her life’s story. Betsy knew a few burly maintenance men who might do her a favor. In exchange for two packets of Kobe beef, Red had her freezer moved to the dorm while she watched reruns of “The Love Boat” in Chinese. Even the news and stock channels were blocked.

  ****

  Zeiss
was eating lunch in the simulation room when Red arrived. She teased, “Never eat at a keyboard. There are more germs there than a toilet seat.”

  “That’s about the only place I have time to eat, and I’ve never missed a day of school or work.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin, and offered her a bottled tea. “I saved you a drink, same type as before.”

  Nervous, she noted, “Is the other one open yet? I’d like to try them all.”

  He handed his own preference over. “The guest chooses. Before you say anything else, I need to inform you that I’m recording this session. Only Professor Horvath will ever see it. But I have to prove I’m not taking advantage of you in any way. If you do have problems, the doctor can study it for symptoms.”

  “Yes, Mr. Rules.”

  “Now if you’ll turn off that light, I’ll show you my theory.”

  She tapped the button on the simulation room wall while the blond scientist brought up a view of space and overlaid several images.

  “The Honolulu recording of the test,” she noted.

  “They’re the clearest.” Pointing with a laser device, he said, “See these dark patches? I think the anomalies are windows, not the same ones we captured in the first drive flash. I’ve compared to two other flashes, and look. They’re moving light holes. These equations are attempts to predict the next opening. I’ve anticipated only one so far.”

  “That’s brilliant,” she said sincerely. “You’re so close.”

  “What?”

  “Make this flat image three-dimensional by using data from all the observatories.”

  The import took him twenty minutes. She borrowed his pad and played a game on it. While he was distracted, she also downloaded some subtle spyware to infiltrate the Academy systems. The virus would obscure evidence of her true identity.

  When all the images were in sync before them, Red grabbed his laser pointer and announced, “One: they’re not moving, at least not as fast as you think they are. The windows are opening in sequence, only when facing the sun.” She indicated the sun and the pattern in the sequence he hadn’t caught.

  “Yes. How did you . . . ?”

  “Two: it’s a giant sphere. There’s a formula to find the circle size.”

  “Using four points to determine the origin.”

  “Yeah, I hate geometry.”

  He did the calculation in his head. “It’s huge, over two kilometers across.”

  “Damn, and you don’t even get a nosebleed doing that. Maybe you can teach me something,” she admitted.

  Zeiss stared at what was now incredibly obvious. “Why didn’t I see it before?”

  “Brace yourself,” she warned, and he literally sat down. “That’s not the important part. Look for chlorophyll on the wavelength scans.” When he looked puzzled, she whispered, “Three: the windows are there to feed plants.”

  “You’re a genius,” he said with awe.

  “Yeah, but those are a dime a dozen around here.”

  “This is world-changing.”

  “Don’t ask me to write a word of it down. I hate spelling as much as I hate proofs,” she insisted.

  “I need to capture the information and wipe the memory banks before they turn this whole simulator building into an arcade for Sunday afternoon.”

  While he was still gawking at the pattern in wonder, she said, “About the morning class . . .”

  “I’ll take care of it. Just be in my office Tuesday at noon.”

  She tossed him her ID on the way out.

  Chapter 6 – Dinner Party Conspiracy

  Risa wasn’t happy when Red returned. “Did you send those imaricons with that huge freaking freezer?” She radiated onions and peppers, the kind one needed latex gloves to handle safely.

  “Yes?” said the girl in the flight suit. The Panamanian engineer cursed in Spanish while Red looked around the common area. “Where did they put it?”

  “The other girls refused to keep it in the group kitchen because no one else can unlock it and no one else wants to pay for the extra electricity. Then they put it in my day room. It takes up more space than the sofa! In fact, they had to move the sofa out to get your freezer in. Then, while I’m arguing on the phone with facilities about a hundred-dollar weekend hookup fee . . .” Red tuned out during another invective stream. “. . . stole my sofa out of the common area.”

  “Breathe. I’ll pay for the hookup. My bad. Let’s step into our room; people are gathering to watch.” When they were alone, Red explained, “You have every right to be upset. However, I was being held captive in the clinic, and I didn’t want a month’s supply of gourmet food to rot while some doctor ran another test that came up negative.”

  “Are you okay?” her roommate said, concern momentarily trumping the anger.

  “Fine. It turns out I just hadn’t eaten in a while. And I really need this food,” Red stressed. Holding up her wristwatch, she said, “This button here scans for radioactive poisons because someone actually tried them on my mom at a public dinner.”

  “Madre de Dios.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t consult you, but I paid them to deliver the freezer so it would be here for the party.”

  The Latina’s attitude shifted. “Party?”

  “Yeah, a housewarming dinner party I wanted to throw for you, Sojiro, and a few other people I’m thinking of recruiting for my team.” Sensing the engineer was about to yield, Red added, “Of course I’ll need you to help me decide who we invite.”

  “Well, we’ll have to invite everybody in the pod . . . except those thieving bitches in room three.”

  “Agreed. And I want to customize the wiring in here, so I was going to start with someone who has a skill we need on the mission but also does electrical wiring. We’ll slip that request in over dessert.”

  “Herkemer,” Risa said, licking her lips.

  Red raised an eyebrow. “That was quick.”

  “You know, we have a few classes together.”

  “Is he cute?”

  “Ay!”

  “Available?”

  “Yes, but unaware women exist. We’re just shorter people who pass him tools.”

  Red chuckled. Then she pulled up her research on the man. “He’s a Polish robot technician who got a medal for heroism for defusing a bomb. He’s almost twenty because he had to finish two years of military service. He even invented a new gizmo for the fingers of the disposal robot. His grandfather was a general.”

  “Wow. You’ve got a lot of data there.”

  “All public domain.”

  “What do you have about me?”

  Without looking at the pad, Red said, “Seventeen, you competed in a solar-powered car contest this past June. You noticed a crack in one of the other cars’ frames, redesigned the load distribution and welded the damage for them. They won the event.”

  “You knew who I was when you met me?”

  “I liked what I read. I had to meet you to know you.”

  “What are you doing here?” Risa asked, wrinkling her eyebrows together.

  “All will be revealed after dinner. But if this Herk character passes muster, we’ll be seeing a lot of him,” Red noted. “I’ll be sure to invite him by on at least three occasions when you’re conveniently wearing something feminine.”

  Risa grinned predatorily. “You actually plan things like that?”

  “Me? No. But a friend of mine in ladies’ finishing school is notorious for it . . . which is why she’s doing time in an all-girls’ school.”

  Risa chuckled. “Okay. We let the freezer gigante in on a trial basis.”

  Red did the math. Four packets for bribes and twelve for the party shortened her food supply by almost a week. She’d have to order more in another two weeks, but she forced a smile as they planned.

  ****

  Sojiro was first to arrive, coming fifteen minutes early, while the girls were still preparing. The girl from across the hall came into the commons in curlers, panicking till Red explained, �
��Gay.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Red pointed to his fingernails. “Manicured today, and his shoes cost more than yours did.”

  The girl breathed a sigh of relief and continued to the bathroom.

  Sojiro chuckled. “I wish my parents paid attention like you did. Maybe I wouldn’t still be dreading that big discussion.”

  Red was in a blue flight suit that matched her eyes and the new colored stripe in her hair. “Mine are dead, so I can’t help you there. Have some mole dip; Risa made it.”

  “Are you getting moved in okay?”

  “Yeah. I just had to run out to the BX to get shampoo. They won’t let me use the stuff I stole from my hotel—not environmentally friendly enough.”

  “Smells nice: cherry,” he noted. “Did you get all your textbooks while you were there?”

  “No. I’ll buy them tomorrow before class. It’s not like I’m going to read them all tonight.”

  “Sunday’s the best time to shop. Everyone else is playing at the pool, getting skin cancer and VD.”

  She laughed. “I don’t like crowds.”

  “I . . . don’t have many friends. I brought you a gift.” He handed her an 8x11 sketch of an anime character in underwear, goggles, and a bomber jacket. She was packing two blasters and a lot of attitude. Behind her stood a robot with a phallic rifle. Across the top was the title “Magenta.”

  “Red, Magenta—you don’t think someone will get the connection?”

  “The people here are supposed to. It’s my fictionalized journal, remember?”

  “What part is fictionalized?” she asked with a grin.

  “It’s set in a world where the first Cassavettis Drive test blew up most of the planet.” Her smile vanished. “Relax. I’ve got a lot of wild ideas in my manga. One of my ideas got me sent here. I came up with a theory that the aliens use base three because they have only three fingers.”

  “That actually makes sense. I always assumed it had something to do with being telepathic and wanting to be as clear as possible. Did they let you try out the red-giant mapping device?”

  He nodded but didn’t clarify.

  Red noted, “You think like an alien.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment,” Sojiro said. Nodding to the sketch, he asked, “How do you like it?”