Trouble in Paradise (The Directorate Book 3) Read online

  "Ooo! A high achiever." Heak grinned. "Mind you, I don't believe a word of what Paer told me about your joint Internship."

  "Good." Ebsa grinned. "Because I don't believe it myself, and I was there."

  Azko was in his sociology class and Martial Arts B. Heak in Martial Arts C, with Paer.

  A long lingering gaze into Paer's eyes . . . Professional. Remember? We're going to be ever so professional and studious until the winter break. A quick shower and clean clothes. Worn, and the legs and arms getting short. Why do I have to be one of the Oners who keep growing into their twenties? Well, my budget has enough slack to buy clothes. Barely. He wolfed down a quick breakfast, then strolled toward the Soft Building. Not that that was the official name. Diego Hall, after a Prophet, of course. But the soft sciences were all taught there.

  He was the last one of the group to get there. Azko and Heak were sophomores this year. Overlapping some classes, but not others. The school was supposed to be more interested in abilities than age or rank.

  And, of course, they get the Directorate specific classes spread out over four years. Us transfer students get it packed into two.

  Paer stepped over to make room for him in their circle, but kept talking. "Ra'd! You're going to be in the dojo alone? I'm in this stupid woman's self defense class that is probably going to be dead boring. What the guards haven't taught me hasn't been invented yet. Martial Arts C. It's required for all women students to take it for one semester the counselor said. At least Heak will be there."

  Ra'd nodded. "I very much doubt any of us are going to enjoy martial arts this semester."

  Ebsa nodded. "Azko and I need to coordinate on the firing range times. It seems to cheer him up no end to beat me at it. How about you, Heak?"

  "Yes, please. I'm twice a week."

  "I've got my usual once a week. I've got both biology and anatomy classes. And Medical Certificate A." Paer looked happy, an uncomplicated glow.

  "Enjoyed Embassy, eh?" I'm not jealous of Wolfson. Not.

  "Wow, what their medgicians can do! It was a real eye-opener." Paer sighed. "I still want Teams. But a few years down the road . . . I think medical school will be on my to do list."

  Heak bounced on her heels, all bright-eyed. "Did Endi teach you? I mean Xen?"

  "No, I was shadowing, and getting training, from some witches. But when they came up against something new, they called him in. They couldn't decide between being resentful that a man was such a good medgician, or drooling over him, so they did both. Poor Endi, arg! Xen! I'm still having a horrible time with his name. He ignored the flirting and looked really irritated when they got pushy."

  Ebsa glanced at Ra'd. Silent, looking away. Proud, stubborn idiot. He looked back at Paer. "Did you see Nighthawk?"

  "Yep. She's taking remote classes from several other universities. She's, umm, kind of put out about not being able to come back. She can't attend in person on Earth, either. But she's picking up all the math and physics she can, and working with Q—that's Dr. Quicksilver—she's like, the whole Multiverse's expert in dimensional structure and engineering. Nighthawk figures she'll at least be an average gatemaker."

  They found the right lecture hall and staked out a corner. There were lists of books and a timetable for tests and research reports on the screen.

  The professor was a stranger to them. "We're running everyone through the updated history classes back to back so that we can build on the general history you all had last semester. The first half of the semester we'll be looking at Comet Fall in detail, giving you, I hope, a good idea of the timing and sequence of events occurring at roughly the same time on both the One World and Earth. Then we'll focus on Earth and its colonies."

  "As far as we can tell, the One World split from Earth in 1908 current era, as they call it, when a carbonaceous chondrite—that's a type of meteorite, look up the details—entered the atmosphere and exploded above ground in the Tunguska region of Asia. Except it missed, here. It might—or a completely different chunk of rock—might have hit in 1964 over Moscow. The theory that the nuclear war was in fact started by neither side is interesting, but far from proven. If you use this theory in any test answers or research, be sure to emphasize that it may well be nothing more than wild speculation."

  The professor glanced at his notes. "Right. So tomorrow we'll start in 1908 ce, on Earth. Get the text book, skim chapter one, read chapters two and three before class. For the most recent updates on the history of Comet Fall, we have a blizzard of recent articles. The reprints are available as a bundle. Get them."

  "Today we will look briefly at what is known of the natural history of Comet Fall. Then once we've followed Earth to the point of the Exile in 2117 ce, we'll shift back to Comet Fall and their early years."

  A map flashed up on the screen. "This is a map of Comet Fall, assembled from satellite coverage thirty years ago . . . "

  It was a rather horrifying hour, full of estimates of the dates of impacts and damage. The high speed tectonics were astonishing. There was some evidence that it had been barely a million years since the first major impact had shattered Australia and created a new spreading center through the Indian Ocean. And opposite the impact, North America had developed a rift system, broadening the continent. Deep trenches ran all along the west coast of South America. Trenches and volcanic island arcs lay hundreds of kilometers off the west coast of North America.

  A brief discussion. "Our geophysicists are quite certain that several tens of million years must have passed since the first impact, to allow time for the plate movements we can see. This is at odds with the surviving native biota, which is mostly recognizable, and indicates a split no more than a million years ago, and probably less than half of that."

  "To a non-geologist, a spreading ridge separating by ten kilometers a year sounds tame. But since they usually measure spreading rates of two to six centimeters a year, perhaps they have a point."

  "But getting to what we have better evidence for, there was another impact around fourteen thousand years ago. The ice age that was retreating at that time was reinvigorated, and holds on still. If there were any native humans, any hominids, they all died in the impact and aftermath. More may have been lost just a thousand years ago, when a pair of impacts killed probably ninety percent of the exiled genetically engineered Earthers."

  "Our first explorers found a very simplified ecosystem, just starting to diversify from the species that had survived that recent impact."

  Flashing rings in eastern Asia and northern Africa. "We'll get back to that in a few weeks."

  Ebsa scrolled his comp back to the map. Damn. And once they'd recovered, we happened to them. Talk about a cursed planet.

  Sociology was just around the corner. Ebsa's eyes were glazed by the half hour mark. Definitions. Theory. Research. Human interactions. Historical patterns. History of the field of Sociology. Gender roles. Oh Dear One. Crime. Religion. Culture. Law.

  Only one research paper. Four tests.

  Maybe I will survive. Maybe.

  Then he changed into his karate gi and met up with Azko outside the dojo. Ra'd's going to have to go in with no one to watch his back. At least the girls will be together, and Paer's guards will be . . . around. Somewhere.

  A new Sensei gestured them into the grid. They took the last two places in the fifth line, and ignored the wide-eyed glances toward Ebsa. Everyone's heard about the senior sorting.

  "Excellent. Everyone is on time." The short muscular man smiled pleasantly. "I am Sensei Umbu. In this class you will be learning advanced techniques and refining what you already know. You will be doing quite a bit of sparring, as we work to smoothly combine the various strikes, kicks and blocks. Some of you have Speed. You will not use it in this class. You will learn to control your temper—all of you. Now. Let's see what you know already . . . "

  This is exactly what I need.

  After lunch, it was time for the advanced Magic course. It was going to be honking fantastic. So lon
g as he could keep up. Genetics, especially genetic influences on magic were intriguing, but it was the practice that was really fun.

  Then Zoology 300. Comparisons of biota between worlds. Yes! This is what I want to do!

  And that was his Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule.

  Dinner that day was much more relaxed. The kitchen served over an extended three hour period, and seating was all open. The five of them coordinated times and grabbed the end of a table for themselves.

  "Tomorrow they'll be done testing the new students at the range." Ebsa looked over at Azko. "I'm free from thirteen hundred on, Tuesdays and Thursdays. One only knows when I'll find the time to squeeze in another hour's practice. Heak? How many hours for you?"

  "Three." She looked glum. "I'm open 1500 to 1600 every day."

  Ebsa took a hard look at his schedule. "Why did I wait until I was a junior to transfer in? This semester is going to be brutal."

  Azko eyed him. "Why did you? I can't see any advantage."

  "Well . . . let's just say that my high school grades were . . . in need of burial before I applied."

  Paer nodded. "Yeah."

  Heak and Azko eyed each other.

  "4.75," she said.

  He grinned. "4.99. The principal said if it was allowed, he'd have given me a 5.0."

  They all looked at Ra'd, but he was casting a disapproving glare past Ebsa. Ebsa turned.

  Ajny and Ilhe. Hovering indecisively.

  Ebsa sighed. "Kindness to newbies."

  "Guys, this is Ajny—a soon-to-be-expert in Neanderthal languages, and Ihle, who is here to study information management and analysis." He waved at the group. "Azko, Heak and Paer. Sit and eat. Ignore us. We're just trying to work out our range schedules."

  'Range?" Ajny sniffed. "Not my favorite sport, but I suppose I'll have to drill."

  Ihle jumped in. "I suppose. And you, Princess? Surely they don't make you learn to shoot."

  Ebsa shook his head. "Oh Hilly."

  "Do not call me that." Ilhe glared.

  Ajny glared. "Closey. Watch your step. I heard you nearly got tossed out last year."

  "Indeed. There were some interesting moments." Ebsa tried to keep his voice mild, but his back and shoulders were refusing to relax.

  "And all students are equal here, and judged by results, not prejudice." Ra'd showed his teeth in what only an idiot would mistake for a smile.

  Ajny laughed. "How naïve."

  Ra'd's eyes narrowed dangerously.

  Ebsa shook his head. "Ah Juh Nee, maybe you should sign up for some classes on reading body language and picking up clues. It might help in your studies." Ebsa stood up and walked off. Dumped his tray. Paer was right behind him.

  A thin arc of the sun shown above the horizon, the street lights were starting to brighten. The air was clear and crisp, and Paer walked beside him all the way to the first girls' dorm. Close enough that their arms brushed occasionally.

  "But we're being very professional." Ebsa made his voice firm.

  A corner of her mouth turned up. "Right."

  At breakfast the next day, Ape and Blob were sitting with the other Action teamers. They all turned cold glares his direction.

  Crap.

  Chapter Four

  6 Qadah 1403

  Tuesday, the first sessions of his Tuesday, Thursday classes.

  Introduction to Management, a huge impersonal auditorium full of wannabe bosses.

  Ugg! What a thing to face first thing in the morning. He wrote down all the info and headed for the fun class. Team Equipment 402. I used so much more "stuff" than Ra'd and Paer. Bwahahaha! I'm ahead of them. Which also, drat, means they aren't here with me.

  Information Management 400 was a nice small class. Ihle sat near him. What's worse, a complete stranger or a Clostuone?

  The professor breezed in, barely on time. Middle aged woman. Nice suit, messy hair, bright intelligent eyes. "I'm Professor Kyal Withione Cagliari Sardegna. Call me Professor Kyal. So, how many of you have found yourselves in need of information handling skills?" She spotted Ebsa beginning to raise his arm. "Tell us about it."

  "My second internship last summer was data entry at an archeological site. They'd discovered a pre-nuclear war seed bank and had hopes that even though none of the seeds would still be viable after fifteen centuries, that they could recover enough DNA to recreate some of them. All the machinery was trashed of course, and the labels on the seed vials were often indecipherable. They weren't familiar with this sort of record keeping, so I had to build up a logical system from scratch." Ebsa shrugged. "And hopefully they've stuck to it."

  "Anyone else?"

  Three women had bookstore and library experience. One fellow's father was an accountant and he'd clerked for him.

  "Right. So the rest of you can see that record keeping is not just useful, but necessary, if information is to be found in an expeditious fashion. Now . . . What is information?" She pointed at Ebsa.

  Ebsa gulped. "Everything."

  "Umm, good try, but there's also a lot of noise. The trick is keeping track of everything until you can figure out what's the noise and filter it out."

  Ebsa started taking notes. I can do this. I will do this. But he was glad that it was the last class, Tuesdays and Thursdays. He expanded his notes, ate dinner and collapsed.

  Beginning Magical Techniques was awesome. Spring semester's lectures put into practice.

  The hardest thing was sitting on the floor in pants that were getting tight. At least nothing ripped.

  Meditation and gathering power. No problem. Rael had taught him all of that, years ago. Disbursing power and shunting power. Check. Mental shields, and then they got to actually do the basic mental spells.

  All talked to death first, then practiced in small groups. Against each other. With minders looming over them. Sleep was easy, against an unshielded target. Triggering yawns, coughs, laughter, and hiccups more difficult, but also more fun. Well, would have been except for the steady assessment of the coaches. Then the emotional spells. Fear, panic, lust . . . all surprisingly easy to trigger.

  "Do not use any spells on another human being out of class. Period." The coach eyed them. "It is too easy to apply too much force and kill someone. Next Friday, the first test. Read the material, ask questions. The lectures, from here on out will be brief, and pertain to what you are about to do."

  Zoology started with the Algae Worlds. No matter. A glance through the textbook had shown that they'd progress quickly to more interesting subjects. But . . . if over two thirds of the time since a planet formed and cooled enough for liquid water . . . before complex multicellular life developed . . . then two thirds of all possible worlds might be Algae . . . possibly more, as the early history was full of cosmic encounters. The early worlds would have done much more splitting than the later worlds.

  Ebsa made notes to check on that. And paid more attention to the suites of algal types. And the things that ate the algae. No matter how simple at first glance, there was always something eating something else. Could we pin down the branches of splitting worlds by analyzing the algae biomes?

  Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays that was his last class. He had two free hours before they'd start serving dinner, and headed for the range. The hideous schedules they had, joint range time just wasn't going to happen.

  "So, just back from a trip Across. Your report said you fired one of these?" the range master handed over a Brisbane Armory twenty millimeter.

  Ebsa grinned. "Yep, with penetrating fragmenting shells."

  "Hit what you were aiming at?"

  "It was big enough and close enough even I couldn't miss." Ebsa checked it out, took the single shell he was offered and loaded.

  "To qualify." The range master tweaked his controls, and a target popped up way down range, close to the tall earth berm. "All you need to do is hit somewhere on the target for fifty percent of your shots. Do not miss the berm. The neighbors two kilometers away don't appreciate it."


  Ebsa knelt, used the table as a rest and zeroed in on the target. It's going to be pure luck. Maybe I can pretend it's a T-Rex. Leaned solidly into the stock. Lined up on the target. Windage? How far can it drop going that far? He focused on the target. Like Ra'd says. Be one with the gun, absorb the recoil, feel the target . . . Eased the trigger back. It kicked hard. The target disintegrated.

  Ebsa blinked downrange, checking that that was indeed his target.

  "And when someone bags the first shot with this baby, we move on to the next weapon you need to qualify on. Replacing the targets is expensive. What else have you worked with?"

  "Twelve millimeter dacca, and shotguns. Umm, carried, but never actually shot the ten millimeter." Ebsa shrugged. "Stunners. Didn't work worth beans on oversized bugs."

  "Those, you will practice with inside." Superior snort. He opened another case and handed over a 12mm dacca.

  Five shots, five hits. Not as grouped as he'd have liked, but he qualified.

  "Right, let's give your shoulder a rest, and move to the handguns . . . "

  Which he did not qualify on. Shotguns, no problem.

  All in all, a most satisfactory hour. I'm actually going to do well at this. Handguns twice a week, long guns once.

  ***

  There was one drawback to walking around the campus late and alone.

  Looming silhouettes against the bright sun low in the west.

  "Get him!" Blob jumped forward, fist swinging.

  Blob and Ape had fairly high Speed, three or four, maybe. Idjit and Oh Hey were level two.

  Ebsa jumped his Speed up as he ducked and dodged, turned back and kicked Blob in the gut, a sidestep and leg sweep to dump Oh Hey. Grabbed Ape's arm as he struck, twisted it, and chopped, controlled the impact so the bone barely snapped . . . He stepped back and paused.

  "Well, Idjit?"

  "Right. Never mind. Oh Hey, get up and let's go. If Ape and Blob really want to get hurt, they can keep this up." He bent and hauled Oh Hey to his feet. Pulled him away.