To his relief, Burt’s voice was warm when he responded.
“Of course, I understand,” he reassured him, “but you will have to trust that the students have been offered a full scholarship and the credits will be paid into the appropriate school accounts, should they accept the offer.”
He couldn’t think of a single reason why they would not, but he didn’t say anything and Burt continued.
“Those students who accept the offer will be trained with a new curriculum, but one that merges your normal foundational credits with new training created by One R&D specifically for them.”
“I see,” the chancellor replied, brought up the notes he’d been sent, and tapped the keys on his laptop to page through them. “Which brings me to my next question.”
“Go ahead,” BURT told him, although the AI was fairly sure he knew what was coming.
Neil cleared his throat once more. “This new curriculum... I understand it hasn’t been tested by other schools?”
“That is true,” he agreed and Elizabeth picked up the conversation exactly as they’d agreed she would if this particular point arose.
“We do understand the concern with untested or un-verified studies,” she said, her voice and expression sincere. “We really do, but you must understand that we are at the forefront of this field and there is no other peer review capable for these classes.”
“When you say you are at the forefront of this field,” Neil continued and glanced at his screen, “are you able to tell me who created these classes?”
“Stephanie Morgana,” Burt answered. “So unless you wish to perhaps hire a few Meligornian Masters—at your own great expense—to confirm the course material is practical and its theory sound, we believe that the only witch in recent human history is the go-to expert most appropriate for the design of this theory and curriculum, particularly as she has experienced it herself.”
Neil looked at Sandra and the recruiting head glanced at the dean and marketing manager in turn. After a moment’s hesitation, they all nodded, and the chancellor turned to the blank screen. He did his best to ignore the fleeting smirk he thought he saw on Ms E’s face.
When he did not immediately reply, BURT continued. “It has been tested, I assure you. We ran it through the Virtual World under the careful oversight of the most practiced of programmers.”
Dean Fischer broke the brief silence that followed and moved the discussion on to their next point of concern.
“This class on ecological disasters and magic,” he prompted and tapped his own screen, and Neil hurriedly changed to the appropriate file.
BURT let Elizabeth field that one.
“Stephanie has decided that war should not be the only area in which we do research, and we decided that more minds on this problem would benefit humanity as well.” She shrugged. “You never know. Maybe one day, magic can help us clean up the worst of our problems.”
Neil could not blame the dean for looking unconvinced but he was relieved when the man did not argue.
“This would help put the school at the forefront of a new technology,” Anthony murmured, “and make it the only school in the country to have a curriculum designed specifically for it by the only Witch of the Federation.”
It was perfectly understandable that the man would count the marketing beans, but the chancellor winced when Anthony turned to the blank screen. “I take it One R&D will allot us a percentage of the profits from new patents developed by our students?”
“Of course,” Burt replied. “I will have our lawyers draw up a contract to cover it and send that through for the board’s approval.”
Neil couldn’t be sure if he’d heard the faint emphasis on “board” or not, but he felt Burt was entitled to it if it was. He was almost relieved when the dean added a question of his own.
“This new curriculum…will you make it available to other students attending the University?”
This time, Elizabeth answered. “We will consider it. Although, given the material, any such students would have to pass a strict entry process.” She let that idea sink in before she added, “For their safety, of course.”
Sandra made a sound that could have been a sigh of relief. “Oh, that’s good,” the liaison officer said. “I know there will be parents who want an answer as to why their little Johnny or Mary-Lou wasn’t selected.”
“Tell them it’s a trial program and once you’ve seen the results from the test classes, it will be opened for students who pass the entry exams. Not every student will be able to safely undertake the classes, and the testing will weed out most who cannot cope.”
“Most?” The parental liaison officer sounded alarmed, and Anthony looked concerned.
Neil was a little concerned himself. An accident at the school would see the public liability costs go through the roof, and those were steep enough as it was.
“Speaking of accidents...” Anthony began and glanced toward the chancellor for permission.
With a sigh, he gestured for him to continue and the marketing manager retrieved a tablet. He activated the screen and pushed it across to Ms Smith. “Can you spare a few minutes to read this?”
“Certainly,” she agreed and nodded as she reached for the device.
Knowing what it was and what a PR disaster it had been for Stargazers International, Neil watched as she scanned the article. He was not surprised when she looked at the blank screen.
“Burt, have you seen today’s lead article in the Australian Times? The one to do with Lachlan Hennessy?”
“One moment,” he said, and Elizabeth smiled.
The chancellor wondered why but she would never tell him that BURT had found, reviewed, processed, and analyzed it in less time than it had taken for him to answer and now waited so that he seemed human when he replied.
“Anytime now, boss,” she said to cue him in. “I’m not getting any younger.”
She added that last quip with a roguish wink at the board and watched as they tried to decide whether they should laugh or look horrified. Neil decided it must be good to have that close a working relationship, although he hoped none of his people tried to emulate it.
Burt didn’t seem to mind, though.
“I see,” he replied, and only Elizabeth knew he was deliberately solemn. “I’m sure the date I’m about to make you late for won’t leave you and go off on his own if you leave him unattended for another moment or two.”
From the look on the redoubtable Ms Smith’s face, that remark was unexpected—and, Neil mused, accurate. The woman really did have a date waiting. Anthony snickered, and Sandra tried in vain to hide a smile.
Dean Fischer merely rolled his eyes.
Elizabeth smoothed the shock from her face quickly and narrowed her eyes at the blank screen. So, BURT had done his homework, had he? And without her coaching.
As mortified as she’d been, it was startling to see how far he’d upgraded his understanding of human humor—and how fast. BURT, however, was more interested in the matter at hand.
“I have to admit to being startled,” he told them. “I was unaware of this young man and will amend my news filters accordingly. Tell me, do you believe him to be a savant?”
“Something like that,” Neil admitted. “He has shown magical ability early—and to a degree most humans never dream of. I’m afraid that if we wait until he graduates, we might lose him and I don’t know what will happen.”
“It’s too late to pull him into this class,” Burt explained, “but I will seek opportunities in order to provide him training in his country. We will not let him fall through the cracks.”
“That is the best I can hope for,” the chancellor replied and relief colored his tones.
“In the meantime,” Burt added, drawing the conversation back to the next item on their agenda, “we have fifteen students joining Harborview next semester. I trust you have the infrastructure in place?”
“We most certainly do,” he assured him. “We’ll quarter t
hem in the same wing where Stephanie and her team first conducted their training. It’s still separate from the school’s system so your corporate data and IP will be protected.”
“And we’ve since added similar measures for our own students,” Dean Fischer told him, “so should you wish to have joint classes, you should be able to incorporate your students safely.”
“Very good,” Burt responded approvingly. “If you could organize with Ms E for one of our security specialists to examine your arrangement, I can change the curriculum to reflect those changes.”
“We believe it would be best for these students to engage with their peers as much as possible,” Sandra interjected. “Not only that, but I could also more easily assure the other parents that there is no real special treatment reserved for a small, select group.”
“I see your point,” Burt agreed. “Please forward the concepts underpinning these ideas so we can incorporate them.”
Neil Cotes breathed another sigh of relief. Perhaps working with One R&D would work out, after all.
Todd laughed as Stephanie dragged him around the side of the house and to the front yard. His mum had become really sneaky in her old age and his friend looked really pleased with herself. She looked less pleased, though, when he stopped.
In the next moment, she laughed. “Your face!”
His face, all right. His jaw hung open and he knew he was staring like he’d been hit upside the head with the stupid stick. “Where the hell did that come from?”
She gave him a grin of pure, unadulterated delight. “It’s mine.”
“Yours?” he asked, and his voice cracked. He took a step forward to study the massive shuttle that blocked the street in front of his house. “The neighbors are gonna complain.”
Stephanie laughed. “I doubt it.”
Todd thought he knew why. The shuttle wasn’t all that stood in front of his house. There was a Dreth, too—a big-ass, motherfucking Dreth. It took considerable effort to close his mouth and not let it fall open again.
It was a struggle, though. The rest of Stephanie’s team was also there. Todd recognized their leader—the tall, blue-eyed one—and the blond man beside him...Johnny, he recalled, and the two dark-haired ones. They looked like twins but weren’t. He’d forgotten their names.
The whole team was decked out in body armor exactly like Steph’s—all black with the shoulder and chest patches—and they were armed to the teeth. It made him wonder where they’d gotten their permits from or if they’d even bothered.
As soon as he saw her, the Dreth stepped forward to virtually attach himself to Stephanie’s other side when she cleared the side of the house. Todd didn’t miss when the big man’s gaze scanned over him, and he really hoped he didn’t come up short.
From the looks of it, the neighbors did not intend to complain. Most of them were too busy staring or taking selfies with the team and the shuttle in the background. Todd assumed the street would swarm with curious thrill-seekers in less than an hour and hoped his mum and dad would be okay.
“So, this is your idea of a quiet family visit, huh?” he asked and gestured around them.
“What?” Stephanie quipped and pointed to her team. “This is my family, now. You ought to know that.”
If she meant the men she fought beside were her family, yeah, he got that. He took a quick breath and looked at the Dreth. “So, what’s he, then? Your bigger brother from another mother?”
“Who are you calling a mother?” Steph asked, and the Dreth cast him a sharp glance.
Todd flinched when the big guy bristled. “No fair, Steph. I haven’t even met your bro and you’re already getting me into trouble with him.” The warrior snorted. “Girls,” he muttered and cast Todd a conspiratorial glance, which earned a startled look from Steph. “Always getting us boys into trouble.”
Todd had never had a sister, but he’d heard the other guys talk about them at school.
“That’s women all over,” interrupted the security guard who’d accompanied Stephanie into the house. “Always trouble.”
“Hey!” she protested and they chuckled.
“If the boot…uh, fits...” Todd quipped.
She gave him a wide-eyed stare, “And here I thought you avoided kids’ cartoons.”
“Not that one. I had cousins whose dad believed in the classics.”
They reached the front gate and Todd paused again to admire the shuttle. The closest he’d come to riding in one of these in the Navy had been the dropship to Sanmar’s and even that hadn’t been this big. “Man, you sure know how to pick a date up.”
Stephanie snickered and punched him in the shoulder. “Oh, so this is a date, now? And you’re paying? Do you have any idea how much the fuel costs for the shuttle if this is a date?”
The very thought of it made his mouth go dry. “Well...I... Steph... I didn’t...” he sputtered when he realized he wouldn’t even be able to cover the cost of it starting, let alone flying anywhere. If he had to pay for the date, he was well and truly screwed.
Vishlog looked over Stephanie’s head at him and said something to the other guys in Dreth.
“What?” Todd demanded when several of them snorted. “What did he say?”
He scowled when the Dreth gave a heavy sigh.
“I said,” he told Todd and spoke Federation with a slight accent, “that you are lucky your ‘date’ is a self-made female, or you would owe money for years to come.”
He opened the gate and ushered them through, leaving her security escort to close it behind them. Todd couldn’t help agreeing with him as they walked up the ramp into the shuttle.
“Yeah. Fortunately, I’ve known her since she was simply Stephie-from-the-Block.”
“Nice, Toddster.” Stephanie dropped into one of the padded flight chairs and extended a hand to pat one of the big cats that appeared as soon as the door was shut behind them.
Todd couldn’t help feeling relieved that she’d kept the two creatures inside when she’d stopped to visit. The neighbors might tolerate big-ass shuttles and tame Dreth warriors, but he doubted that Mrs Helmand would as open-minded about one of Steph’s “kitties” chasing her dogs.
Especially one with horns and a bright black-and-yellow coat. He remembered seeing them at the hospital and wondered where the other one was. Instinctively, he looked around and it stuck its head over the chair in front of them.
The Dreth warrior put out a fist for it to head-butt.
“Nice, Vishlog. Now, you’ve taught him something else I didn’t approve of,” Stephanie snarked.
“Huh,” the smallest guy snapped back, “at least he didn’t try eating it this time.”
Vishlog laughed. “He only does that for you, Frog.”
The rest of the team trooped inside and the two almost-twins moved to the cockpit.
“Make sure you don’t stall it, this time,” Frog called and the shorter of the pair made a brief and thoroughly impolite gesture with his hand.
“In your dreams.”
“More like his nightmares,” Johnny snorted, and Frog twisted to look at him.
“Johnny! You said you’d never tell.”
The rest of the guys roared with laughter as they buckled in.
Contrary to the warning comment, the shuttle lifted off smoothly.
“I didn’t know your guys could fly,” Todd remarked, and Stephanie smirked.
“We didn’t want to risk getting left behind so we put it to the vote and Brenden and Avery drew the short straws. They went through intensive pod training to get it fast, and here we are—on their inaugural flight.”
He felt a small flash of alarm. “Inaugural?”
Frog snickered. “On Earth. They had endless practice on the way back.”
Todd frowned and recalled the reports showing the Navy providing pilots. “But why?”
His friend’s face grew serious. “Because we never want to find ourselves stranded because we didn’t bring our own. And because there might come a
time when the Navy can’t come get us. This way, it doesn’t matter.”
Lars leaned over them to look out the window. Several people waved as the shuttle lifted and squinted as their hair was blown back by the downdraft. He waved back. “She sure does make an entrance, doesn’t she?”
“And an exit,” Frog added.
One kid sat on her father’s shoulders and waved with both hands. Frog and Lars both gave a two-handed wave in return. The kid grinned and her father grinned too. He managed to wave without releasing her shins.
“Aren’t we the shit?” Frog asked and stood as the guys chuckled.
“Yes,” Johnny replied, also waving. “Yes, we are.”
Frog wandered up to the cockpit. “I’d better get to work.”
Stephanie caught her friend’s look and laughed. “Someone has to keep us on course.”
“You guys are doomed.” The words were out before he could stop them, and the guys immediately laughed.
“I heard that.”
She chuckled. “He’s on weapons, too.”
Todd’s jaw dropped. “Man, you must really like playing with fire.”
Frog stuck his head around the cockpit door. “I’ll have you know that I have never gotten these boys lost...ever. Johnny, on the other hand...”
“Never takes his eyes off the instruments when he’s on the job,” Lars snapped.
“Johnny,” Frog started again, “once had the boys set us down right where the captain’s pinnace was supposed—”
“Now, Frog, you know that never happened,” Stephanie intervened when Johnny began to sputter.
Calls of, “That was you,” followed by, “And it was deliberate,” followed and she rested her head against her hand. “Do you see what I have to put up with?”
Lars straightened. “It never happened,” he muttered, “but now, these clowns won’t let Frog live it down.”
“Well, what about the time Johnny brought that box on board and it ended up being a Dreth stowaway?”
“It must have been a big box,” Todd murmured, and Vishlog elbowed him in the ribs.
“Get back to work, Frog,” Lars ordered, and a groaning sigh issued from the cockpit.
Witch Of The Federation III (Federal Histories Book 3) Page 5