1
Seven weeks… should be ample
“Oh no! Look at my hai…!”
“Lucy?”
“Oh, ah, sorry Prof, I just caught sight of my…,” and Lucy’s outburst stumbled to an embarrassing halt when she realised the eyes of the tutor group were on her. “Ah…, sorry Prof.” Lucy had just caught her reflection in one of the Prof’s cupboards.
“Can I continue now?” the professor asked.
Lucy nodded vigorously. “Yes, sorry.”
“Thanks Luce,” the Prof said, his lips curled in a smile. “I’ll try again, shall I. And so, ladies and gentlemen, as I was just about to say, it’s time to put everything you’ve learned to the test.” The professor paused and looked about the room, making eye contact with each of his students. “We have come at last to the final assignment: The Random Target Subject.” The students scribbled feverishly as he set out the guidelines. “This person should be known to someone within your circle, but not necessarily known to you, and they should only be approached if someone within your sphere can vouch them safe. This is very important. You must never put yourself into an unsafe situation.”
After spelling out his Rules of Engagement, Professor Beske’haht, affectionately known as the Prof to students and faculty alike, looked up and smiled. “Tut, tut. Rabbits in the headlights,” he said, and chuckled as he shook his head. “Don’t look so worried, you can do it. Come on, cheer up, you’ve already done it in controlled environments. Now all you have to do is pull together everything you’ve learned. After all,” he said, spreading his palms, “it’s not as if I’m asking you to do something that’s genetically impossible. You all possess the Homid Gene; telepathy is one of your natural assets. You guys can do it.”
Then he smiled and continued, this time speaking directly into their thoughts. [>“I’m giving you seven weeks for this assignment. That should be ample.”<] Again, the students scribbled. [>“By the end of four weeks, you ought to have established a definite contact. By five, you and your target should be chatting across the mindPlain and building a rapport. At six, I would expect you to be making arrangements for some sort of meeting; a coffee perhaps, or something in that vein. And by seven? By seven I would hope that you can introduce your target subject to me.”<]
The Prof waited a few moments whilst his students finished their notes. Lucy Hettler was first to put her pen down and sit back; she was smiling, and she had a plan.
Beske’haht returned her smile and topped it with a wink. She winked back. Then, as the rest of the group rested their pens and looked up, the Prof said, [>“Now don’t forget I want to see you all back here in four weeks with your interim report, and in seven I want to be introduced to your new friend.”<]
Before he sent them on their way, he reiterated the guidelines verbally and emphasized the safety warning. “Never put yourself into an unsafe situation; I am deadly serious about that, as there are some nasty people out there. Okay?” He waited, looking them one by one in the eye, and only when he was satisfied that they understood, he spoke again directly into their thoughts. [>“Good. Now off you go, no time to lose. Get to it.”<]
Lucy gathered up her notes, arranged them into some sort of order and slipped them into her bag. For a couple of minutes, she chatted with the other course members whilst she put on her coat, then took out her comb and glanced again at her reflection. The students were milling about, reluctant to make a move, all thinking out loud about how they might approach the task. She was excited.
“This is the one I’ve been looking forward to,” she said. “I have two people in mind to make contact with, I’ve just got —” But she stopped short and gasped. “Oh no, it’s worse than I thought it was. It’s such a mess.” Lucy twiddled when she concentrated, and her hair was in knots. “This needs more than a comb,” she muttered, taking her beret from her bag and pulling it down to her ears. “That’ll have to do for now. See you all in four weeks,” she added, and after a few hugs and kisses, they went their separate ways. But as she picked up her bag the Prof called to her.
[>“Can you spare a couple of minutes Luce?”<]
Lucy had always had goals. Number one, she wanted to go to Mecklenburg Uni; she’s there. The second, she wanted to be a lawyer; she’s studying for that. And the third, well maybe that should have been the first. Lucy wanted to have a good time, and in the first six months, she certainly did that. Lucy, and her room-mate Cristi, fully immersed themselves into the Meck-U scene: they joined everything. They were living the dream and they partied hard. And, of course, it took its toll. Lucy failed her first unit, bringing her down with a bump. She found out the hard way that if you wanted to do both, you can’t do them both to an extreme.
That F was her wake-up call, and she flipped her priorities and spent the next six months doing extreme studying instead and re-sitting the first unit whilst doing the next in parallel. Lucy threw herself into her studies and settled down. And she met Billy.
Billy helped her get back on track, and they were good together for nearly a year until they went their separate ways. It was a mutual split; it had run its course, and it wasn’t a messy parting, they just had different paths to tread.
However, the hard work coupled with Billy’s calming influence had paid off, and at the end of her first year Lucy was awarded a training contract with Beadles Legal, one of the top five law firms in Meckloe. During her second study year, Beadles invited her to join a team that was leading a government initiative to Mii’een, the green planet in the Belt of Homid, the homeland of the nomad sheep drovers.
The Mecklenburg government was keen to set up a supply-chain partnership with the livestock markets on Mii’een, to victual their mining enterprises, and Lucy was present at all of the major negotiations. She had been asked primarily because she possessed the Homid Gene and could do a bit of telepathy, although at that time she wasn’t particularly proficient. The little she did know proved useful. That was one of the reasons she was included in the party. The other? Well to put it simply, Lucy was stunningly attractive. She was tall and lithe, with long and shiny dark hair. She had a slender neck, was neatly proportioned, gently curved, and had legs that went on forever. At Meck-U, Lucy had been voted ‘Horny and Gorgeous’ and ‘Miss Body Perfect’ by both the boys and girls student unions. And, of course, Beadles weren’t about to let that go without putting it to some use. But it works both ways, and one evening whilst the team was relaxing after a day of intense meetings, and Lucy was eavesdropping with the little bit of telepathy she knew, she was able to listen in on a hushed conversation between two senior lawyers.
“I always say,” said one to the other, “a little bit of eye candy never goes amiss when the negotiations flag.”
Lucy thought and smiled, [-“If showing a bit of leg helps me get on, then maybe I’ll show a little bit of leg.”-]
There are two planets in the Belt of Homid; Mii’een and Sckeria: Sckeria is the closer of the two to Mejjas Major. Lucy was Sckerian, born and bred, but she had spent most of her life on Mejjas Major because of ‘a father’s love for his family’. Her father, Colonel Kurt Hettler, the Fleet Supply Director, had for many years commanded a Fleet Supply Vessel but had taken a surface-based post in Meckloe because he loved his family more than he loved cruising the void: Each supply trip would take him away from home for three months at a time, which meant Kurt was missing seeing his family grow. It was the little things he missed the most; helping his girls with their homework; shining their shoes for school and brushing their hair. His wife Annie did it all, and he just wanted to share those everyday things with her.
So Kurt took a desk job at the Central Command Centre, a few miles from the seaport city of Meckloe, the capital city of the Mecklenburg State on Mejjas Major. It meant relocation, and the family moved, hopefully for the last time, from their lovely home on Sckeria to a nothing-special company house on Mejjas. It was a small sacrifice that was far and away outweighed by its benefits. At long last Daddy was able to go home every evening to be with his family and to be with his wife to watch their twin girls blossom through their teenage years and mature into young women.
2
Is this really your very last assignment…?
Lucy and Cristi jostled for position in front of the mirror in their tiny wet room as they put the final touches to their Friday night make-up. There was just enough space for a loo, a basin, the all-important mirror and a shower, but not much else.
“What time did we say we’d see them?” Cristi asked.
“Eight-thirty, under the Hoof, but I bet they’ll be late,” Lucy replied as she tightened her lips before colouring them.
“What, later than us,” Cristi said, chuckling, “it’s eight-fifteen now! And that bus is always late. It’s going to take twenty minutes at least. I reckon it’ll be more like 9:00 before we get there.”
That evening, their bus was on time. They had to run for it, and as they squeezed into the last two seats, Lucy turned to her friend and asked, “How long before Sam and the others get back from their Fleet duties?”
“Two more weeks, why? Have you got your eye on one of the others? You’ve kept that quiet.”
“No,” she yelped, surprised her friend would suggest such a thing, “nothing like that, and anyway you’ve got the only one worth a second look. No, it’s to do with my final assignment for this course unit,” Lucy replied. Cristi gave her a sideways glance as Lucy continued. “We have to make contact with a Random Target, and I want to try that boy that Sam’s group always shun and pick on.”
“Really? You want to hook up with JD, honest?” Cristi was surprised by her friend’s choice. “Each to their own I suppose. You don’t believe in easy, do you? As it happens, I had a text from Sam this morning. Says they’ve been given a real pitz of a job and that he misses me loads, and they will be two more weeks.”
“Great, that means I’ve got two weeks to do some catching up with my studies, and a chance to take things a bit easy too.” Lucy laughed.
“How long have you got for this assignment?”
“Seven weeks.”
“But they’re not back for two weeks, will you have enough time?”
“Yeah, of course, I’ve had some really good results so far and he looks like he needs a friend. I’m going to nail this. You just watch me.”
“Well, if you’re sure. You don’t want another fail. Billy isn’t around anymore to sort you out, is he?”
“Don’t worry, it’s in the bag. I’ll be okay.”
As they’d thought, the other girls were later than them; and they were fifteen minutes later than they had predicted too.
“We needn’t have rushed.”
“We didn’t,” Lucy replied.
“But they don’t have to know that do they,” Cristi whispered as the two girls hoisted themselves onto the statue’s plinth and made themselves comfortable under the horse’s Hoof, their usual meeting place. Cristi and Lucy shared a small attic apartment in a quiet street that was twenty minutes that way, give or take, whilst the others had a part-share in a house twenty minutes in the other direction; the Hoof was a good central place to meet.
It was Friday night, the end of a hectic study week, and the girls were going clubbing. Tonight, they had tickets for a new club, the ‘Club5eightZero6’, the ‘hottest’ venue in town, and with two weeks free, Lucy was looking forward to her fourteen late nights clubbing and fourteen even later rises. She could push back her mindPlain studies and catch up on other parts of the degree course, and have a bit of fun too.
“The night has promise,” Lucy said, laughing out loud, “oh yeah!” She was determined to have a very good time.
Lucy shuffled up close to her room-mate but was puzzled. Instead of being excited and cheerful, Cristi was quiet and thoughtful and staring into the distance.
After a few minutes, Cristi whispered, “Is this your very last assignment, Lucy? Will you be leaving after you hand this one in?” She looked worried, and Lucy, picking up on her friend’s nervous thoughts, wondered what was wrong. “What’s up Cris?” she asked, but before Cristi replied Lucy realised.
“No silly, we’ve got another year,” she said. “I’m going to stay as long as you do. And anyway, you and Sam are bound to be hitched and gone long before I am.”
“No! No,” Cristi exclaimed, “he’s just a good screw, that’s what I miss about him. He’s not going to come between us. I’ll stay as long as you do.” Cristi had already stayed a year longer than she’d originally intended. She had finished her degree last year with a 2:1 and had taken a job as a research assistant with the Meckloe City Museum’s archiving department, just so they could stay together. It didn’t pay much, but it was enough to cover her part of the rent and food, and a bit of clubbing too. “It’s been three good years, hasn’t it Luce. It’s been great, and I’ve never had such a good friend. I’ll miss you y’ know, when all this is over.”
They had been friends since their very first day at Meck-U, when the halls were being allocated. Their eyes had met, there was an instant connection, and they believed they’d remain close for the rest of their lives.
“Oh come on Cris, we’re supposed to be out for a good time. We’ll always be friends, always,” Lucy said and put her arms around Cristi, and pulled her close just as the others arrived.
“Put that girl down Miss Hettler, we’re going to miss the opening,” Judi shouted as they crossed the square.
3
He looks so pathetic …
“Why the lonely boy?” Cristi called through the open door across the hallway, their conversation on the bus coming to mind. The girls were in their own beds after an exhilarating night of dancing. The ‘Club5eightZero6’ had been all that it had promised to be, and they were both overflowing with adrenalin, and neither could sleep. Their attic apartment was always cold and often they would share a bed for warmth. But after a night of dancing, and the thrill of the new club, plus the bubbling goodwill of everyone present, as well as the freebies, and of course the ever-flowing alcohol, the coolness of their rooms was a welcome respite.
[-“Somewhere up there,”-] Cristi thought, as she stared at the stars through the un-curtained skylight, [-“doing his pitz of a job”-], “But another two more weeks? Ohh,” she groaned as she slid her left hand between her thighs and clutched her swimming head with the other.
In the other room Lucy took her time in replying. To be honest, she wasn’t sure herself; she just had a feeling and wasn’t certain how to explain it. [>“I suppose it’s because he looks so pathetic.”<] she said using mindSpeak and planting her words directly into Cristi’s thoughts. [>“I’m hoping that because he’s a lonely outcast that he’ll want someone to talk to. That’s why Cris. I hope I’m right, and that I’ve read the situation correctly. Although I won’t know that until I give it a try.”<] She paused, then added, [>“I suppose it’s because I’d just like to get to know him.”<]
But the swimming head had got the better of Cristi and she’d let the sleep take her as the alcohol displaced the adrenalin and Lucy, still in tune with her friend’s thoughts, smiled as she read her slowly dissipating threads.
[>“Thinking of Sam, Cris? Bless you.”<] She smiled, and slipped off her bed, tiptoed across the hallway into the other room and, staring down at her friend’s naked body, thought, [-“He’s a lucky lad, is our Sam. Very lucky.”-] Then she gently pulled the duvet over her friend and went back to her own cosy bed.
