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It wasn’t as bad a smacking down as Ms Donlevy could have delivered, and I saw the faintest of smiles pass across Miss Del Rey’s lips when our eyes met.

LinkList/Peter_Vincent
333/F11B/289

My Top 5 LinkTunes Playlist

5. My Quantum Beatbox by The Definite Articles

A thumping slice of techno mayhem, with the vocals sampled from a children’s educational film about quantum jumps. Contains equations for the calculation of quantum events, but they never get in the way of the music. And the drum programmer isn’t just keeping time on this track, he’s inventing it.

My Rating: ****

4. If I Dream by Mr Melt

An orchestral opening gives way to some fierce industrial guitars in this cover version of an old Eddie Leakey choon. But where the original was about the courage of dreaming the impossible, Mr Melt subverts the message with subliminal tones that evoke nightmares. Powerful stuff.

My Rating: ****

3. Until the Sun Goes Cold by Laurie Lauren

A smooth, chilled-out ballad. OK, it’s about the eventual cooling down of the sun, but it’s not as gloomy as that might make it sound. Laurie’s voice stretches through the octaves, but it’s in a less showy way than on her last few tracks. ‘The last Winter ever/Temperatures are falling/Hello Hello/Eternity is calling’. 

My Rating: ****1/2

2. Lumpy Gravy by A Clinical Sign

Apparently another cover, but the original exists only on paper and hasn’t been heard for many centuries. A Clinical Sign are forging a bit of a niche for themselves by recording songs from so long ago, but it sounds fresh and new and as if it was written yesterday.

My Rating: ****3/4 

1. Forward, Only Forward by The Little Engines of Destruction

Every now and then a song comes along that manages to condense thousands of years of civilisation into one seven-minute dance track. DogFather’s This Is Where We’re From started the trend, but TLEofD’s title track from their new compilation encyclopaedia takes the idea and runs with it. At times the compressed historical information is a little overwhelming, even disorientating, but I feel that it was kind of the point. And, let’s face it, it’s a great way to learn. 

My Rating: *****

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Mercifully the lesson ended pretty soon after.

The rest of the class were filing out of the lecture hall, but I’d remained seated, waiting for the room to empty. ‘Look, I’m sorry about my outburst,’ said a voice at my shoulder. ‘But she really shouldn’t have done that.’ I turned around and was surprised to see Miss Del Rey.

She was blonde, with piercing blue eyes and a mouth that looked mischievous.

I avoided turning bright red and managed to reply, ‘Who shouldn’t have done what now?’

‘Ms Donlevy, putting you on the spot like that. It wasn’t fair.’ ‘I guess it’s the problem with following in the footsteps of someone with massive feet,’ I said, trying to sound dry and witty. ‘Or living in the shadow of a monolith. Choose your preferred metaphor.’

‘I think I’ll go for metaphor A.’ She said. ‘You’re Peter, right? I’m Alpha.’

‘Alpha?’ I asked her.

It was Alpha’s turn to look uncomfortable.

‘It’s better than Amalfi,’ she said. ‘That’s me, by the way. Amalfi Del Rey.’ She smiled a thin smile. ‘My parents didn’t seem to realise that a name has to be said out loud.’ 

I packed my LinkPad into my bag and zipped it up. 

‘Anyway, I’m sorry about my little outburst. Attacking your father; it was out of line.’

I think I surprised her by smiling. ‘It was an interesting point you were making. And to be honest it was worth it just to see Ms Donlevy’s face. It’s good to meet you, Alpha.’ 

‘Good to meet you too.’

I stood up and said: ‘You’re new.’

‘I know,’ Alpha replied impishly, ‘I was made just yesterday in a secret factory. The same place they make sarcasm and the dappling of light through trees.’ 

‘I meant to this class.’ 

‘I know what you meant,’ she said. ‘And I deflected your observation with some sparkling wit. It’s called a defence mechanism. I’m enjoying talking to you, and know that as soon as you find out anything more about me, about my family, about my background, then any chance we have of being friends will be gone forever.’

I shook my head. This was weird, but I sort of
liked
her, and I didn’t want her to stop talking to me.

‘We
are
going to be friends,’ I told her. ‘In fact, it’s too late. It’s already happening.’

‘You say that now,’ Alpha said, ‘But when you hear my dark secrets, you’ll run a klick. In record breaking time.’ 

‘I couldn’t break a record if I tried,’ I said. ‘Who wants to talk about family anyway?’ I offered her my hand. ‘Peter No-Middle-Name Vincent. Officially a friend of Amalfi Del Rey.’

She shook the hand gently, and smiled.

‘You’ll run a klick,’ she said, but warmly.

‘A lady of mystery.’ I grinned. ‘Save the secrets, I don’t even want to know them. How about we just go and get ourselves a drink?’ 

‘Done and done,’ Alpha said. ‘If you’re good, I might even let you pay.’

LinkList/Peter_Vincent

The Dark Secret of Amalfi Del Rey

So, I’ll run a klick, huh? But run from what?

Here are my top five guesses:

1. She’s a clone We’ve been making them for years, because clones without consciousness make perfect transplant banks, but what if she was a clone that had accidentally developed a real brain. And had escaped from a spare-parts bank? And was on the run?

Likelihood rating: 1/2

2. She’s a serial killer Once upon a time, long long ago, people were born who were different to everyone else. Instead of going about their lives in the ordinary way, they hid under bridges and jumped out and killed people. OK, so the existence of serial killers is probably a myth, a scary story to tell the kids, but what if she really is one? Better not go under any bridges with her, just to be on the safe side

Likelihood rating: 1

3. She’s from a parallel universe

Certain interpretations of quantum theory say that there are zillions of multiple universes, even one where I’m made of cheese and am king of the world. Maybe she’s slipped over from the universe next door to borrow a cup of calcium, and she’s taking in a few of the sights before she leaves.

Likelihood rating: 1 3/4

4. She’s a robot from the future

If you could send a robot back in time, chances are it wouldn’t look like a hunk of junk with death rays and stuff, but would be an exact replica of the people it was going to meet in the past. Maybe she is on a mission to change something in the past to avert a global catastrophe, and she’s made friends with me because I’m important to her unknowable future-robot scheme.

Likelihood rating: 3 

5. She’s completely imaginary

Maybe I’m losing my mind and I’m just imagining her. She’s like some
alter ego
or something, a figment of my imagination that embodies my essential boredom with the world. And I invented her to make my life a bit more . . . unpredictable. 

Likelihood rating: Let’s face it, 5

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We bought a pair of fruit soys from the refectory and took them outside to sit in the fresh air.

The sun above was scorching hot, but humidity was mercifully low. Yet again the people at Climate Control had managed to pull off another spectacular day, even reassigning the rain to somewhere that actually needed it.

I connected to my jacket with my filaments and in seconds it was a shirt.

Alpha turned a blouse and trousers into a floralpatterned dress.

A rough template, sure, but there were lots of pinks and yellows in the pattern and it kind of worked.

I really don’t usually notice things like that.

We walked past the seats on the terrace and opted for the manicured lawn that sits out the front of the college. There we discovered a mutual liking for mango soy and banana soy, but a mutual dislike for the banango variety.

‘Hybrid fruits creep me out,’ Alpha announced. ‘If you want an apple crossed with a gooseberry – which, in fact, I really
don’t
want – then put them in a blender, but don’t go combining genes.’

‘They’ll kick you out of biogenetics class for statements like that,’ I said wryly.

‘They’ll do that the first time they grade one of my papers,’ Alpha said. ‘It’s my parents that are keen on me getting some science into my life, so here I am, hopping classes in a desperate hunt for something that I’m actually good at.’ She frowned. ‘Two classes with Ms Donlevy have convinced me that biogenetics is not it.’

‘Don’t worry,’ I said. ‘Two lessons aren’t enough to make that judgment. You’ll find your feet soon.’

‘OK, I’ll stop talking like the world’s number one loser,’ she said, and then she looked around us. ‘Has everyone here gone study mad?’

‘A centrally administered learning quota adjustment,’ I said. ‘Or, in everyday linguish, they just raised the bar again.’

‘Looks like I picked a great time to arrive,’ Alpha said. ‘I guess I’ll start packing when I get home.’

‘No, you had a point today,’ I said. ‘I just don’t think Ms Donlevy is looking to have her thinking changed.’

‘But you are.’ She arched an eyebrow and it kind of turned her statement into a question.

‘I guess so.’ I studied the muddy deposits at the bottom of my drink. ‘I’m trying to be the perfect student my father wants me to be, but he doesn’t seem to notice. Lately, I’ve been wondering why I keep trying so hard to please him.’

‘It’s not a bad question,’ Alpha said.

‘I even signed up for a literature class. My father would freak if he found out.’

Alpha studied my face for a moment, and then shrugged. ‘We all have to do things our own way. There’s actually no point in following in another’s footprints
too
exactly, you’ll end up leaving no tracks of your own.’

I nodded.

‘The point is that you need to stop worrying about what others think and start concentrating on what
you
want,’ Alpha said.

‘I guess that’s where I hit the wall,’ I said. ‘I don’t know what it is that I want. I just know that this . . .’ I gestured around me, ‘. . . is not quite it.’

‘That’s a start, though, isn’t it?’ Alpha said. ‘Sometimes I feel that we all have potential inside us, we just have to discover what our greatness is and how to let it out.’

‘I’d settle for quite goodness.’ I said.

‘The universe has a way of putting us where we need to be,
when
we need to be there,’ she said. ‘Then it’s up to us to rise to the challenge, or turn our back and let someone else be great.’ She shook her head.‘You are allowed to tell me to shut up. I mean the girl most likely to fail school is giving advice on greatness.’

‘You won’t fail,’ I told her. ‘You’re a lot smarter than you admit.’

‘Yeah, I’m sure you won’t be saying that when I fail biogenetics. Spectacularly.’

Before I could stop myself, I heard myself saying: ‘I guess I can help you catch up if you need.’

There was a moment’s silence that was almost awkward.

‘And why, pray tell, would you do that?’ Alpha wrinkled her nose.

I gave her an answer that wasn’t entirely true. ‘I like to help. Especially my friends.’

The misleading bits of that answer were: I only have one true friend, and he has
never
needed my help with his studies before.

But there was something about Alpha that made me think it would be worth helping her out. Because in a few short minutes she had helped
me
out considerably, putting all that stuff into words for me.

‘Friends then,’ Alpha said. But there was an odd note of sadness in her voice.

‘It’s the least I can do for my identical fruit soy twin,’ I told her.

‘You know I
am
going to take you up on your kind offer?’

‘Well, let me give you my LinkAddress.’ I offered her my hand and she took it in hers. We both turned on our filaments. I gave her my addy, and she blinked to save it, then transmitted hers. I saved it to ‘friends’, bookmarked it too, and smiled.

‘I gotta dash,’ I said, standing up. Blades of grass clung to my trousers. I slung my bag over my shoulder. ‘I have to spend the afternoon plotting some quantum uncertainties.’

‘Hey, have fun with that,’ Alpha said.

‘I will.’ I replied.

Alpha looked as if she was about to say something else, had her mouth open to do it and everything, but then she thought better of it and gave me a smile instead.

Walking back towards the physics block I found myself wondering what had just occurred. I was thinking about the way she was . . . different to anyone else that I had come into contact with.

It was confusing and weird, and I still didn’t know why I’d offered to help her out with her coursework, but I suddenly felt like the world had got a little bit lighter, brighter, and a lot more interesting.

LinkList/Peter_Vincent
333/F11B/286

My Top 5 LinkApps

5. Diary Plus+

A filing app for LinkEntries that simplifies the whole tagging process. It could almost be called “Tagging for Dummies”. And it supports geotagging, accurate to the metre, of all LinkDiary entries.

Pros: Fast, easy to use, with multiple tags for multiple formats.

Cons: The MemoryFlow view is still seriously laggy, even since the upgrade to Plus+. And the templates are still a little restrictive –couldn’t they let us design our own?

Overall: ****

4. BubblePop Evolved

Sometimes you don’t want to save the world; sometimes you just want to use your filaments to pop bubbles! For those times, this is the app for you. With multiple levels of difficulty, and a pretty near infinite number of game configurations, this one will just last and last. But the fun doesn’t stop there. There’s an add-on that lets you take the app into the real world, harnessing the electrical fields generated by our filaments, and allowing us to physically pop soap bubbles in the real world!