New Markets - 02 (13 page)

The ground whipped past underneath me at an unbelievable pace.  Metrocity approached in a number of minutes, and I angled toward home.  I dropped out of mach speed near my rented home, and flew fast to the house.  I landed hard, barely staying on my feet in the process.  I might have made record time for grabbing a pink long tiered skirt and lucky jade 3-button henley shirt.  I quickly put them on over my costume, grabbed my backpack and rushed out the door, again stepping into the air and immediately jabbing my knee up for high acceleration.  I hit mach almost immediately again.  I wasn’t lined up straight, and made a large crazy arc in the sky before righting myself.

I wonder if feeling rushed, or having adrenaline in the system kicks up my speed.  I’m pretty sure it took less time to get home than to get down to Rikesville.
  During the flight I stripped off my gloves, mask and belt and stuffed them into the backpack.  Fortunately the white boots would go with the pink skirt. 
Thank goodness for this aura that slows down wind shear.  If I had to do this with winds ripping at me I'd lose something....

I planned to fly in very fast to the biology building I needed to be at, and then rush in.  I stopped pushing myself and dropped out of mach near school, but stayed at a few hundred miles an hour.  I wasn’t even certain how this all worked, as my speed simply decreased if I didn’t actively want to continue moving so fast, and yet to slow down below a hundred miles per hour or more I had to step down.  I dive bombed to the building once I saw it below me.

I came in too fast again, my legs barely held me up from the impact on the ground, and I couldn’t stop my forward momentum from slamming me into the wall to the left of the door.  I stumbled backward stunned.  My arms flailed about as I tried to gain my balance and I ended up falling on my butt in front of the door.  I caught a fuzzy image of someone coming at me from inside the building, and a mindview appeared, though it was as unclear as my own vision.  My knees hurt a bit from the landing, although that sensation faded quickly.

A few seconds later my vision cleared, as did the mindview.  A handsome student was kneeling next to me.  He put one hand on my jaw, the other behind my shoulder for balance.

He said, "Are you all right?  What happened?"

"I, uh, I think I ran into the wall."

He chuckled.  "You should avoid those, though they have a tendency to leap out at us at the worst of times."

My nose bled momentarily from the impact. 
Yeah, that's a pretty sight.

"Are you good to stand?"

"Um, yeah, thanks."  He helped me stand up.

"Wow, you must work out, you have great muscle tone on your back."

"I do, thanks."  I smiled.  He was thinking to ask me for my number.  I figured I'd head that off to avoid having to reject him.  "Thanks for helping me, but I'm really late, I've got to get to class."  I quickly hugged him, I'd have kissed his cheek but for the blood on my lip, and then I rushed into the building toward the nearest building.

I was almost out of mental hearing range as he thought of how to catch me.  He hadn't expected me to run off so fast.  I didn't slow down.

Mindviews appeared and disappeared from nearby rooms, perhaps from other floors.  The voices of people thinking something occasionally made me glance around as if they were nearby.

It took me a minute to reach the nearest restroom to clean up.  I looked at my reflection in the mirror. 
Thank goodness for not having any mindviews in here.
  Everything looked in place once the blood had been cleaned off.  I couldn't even tell I wore my costume underneath the clothes.

I ran out of the restroom to reach class.  I was already late by a minute when I reached the classroom, although Professor Zilgard hadn't begun speaking yet.  He was busy writing something on the board at the front of the room.  One glance around the room showed most of the thirty seats full, with those near the front empty.  Megan sat at a desk with an open seat and motioned me to her.  I rushed in and quickly sat down, barely finding the seat due to the mass of mindviews that appeared.

The mindviews instantly reminded me of my error.  I had completely forgotten about my problems yesterday in my rush.  The desks held pairs of students in this classroom, as with most.  This left at least fifteen mindviews spread out in my vision, most of which were studying me at the moment.  It was too many to concentrate; it took effort to swallow and even try to look like I was paying any attention to the professor.

I blindly dug out my notebook and pen with effort, listening to the clamor of mental voices wondering who I was.  Most people recognized each other by April in classes this size, and my new gold hair stood out.  Most of the din quieted down, but at least five people mentally made loud background noise for me at all times during class.  It turned out to be a waste of time.  I failed to learn much of anything, perhaps apart from acting like I was paying attention while under what felt like a mental assault.

The end of class was the worst, as everyone walked nearby on their way out.  I swayed slightly as I fought a losing battle for consciousness.  The students that had been out of mindview range all packed together near the exit … and me.  The only thing that saved me was Megan sitting next to me.  She reached out and steadied me until most of the students had filed out and freed my mind from the barrage of images and voices.

I had my eyes closed and was breathing deeply as I heard her respond to Professor Zilgard.  "This is Stephanie, she must have colored her hair."

He said, "Huh, I didn't even recognize her.  That’s a pretty wild hair color.  Stephanie, are you all right?"

I took another deep breath, opened my eyes and blinked a few times.  "Uh, yeah, yeah.  I'm fine."

"Are you on drugs?"

"What?"

"I said, are ... you ... on ... drugs?  I expect an honest answer."

"No!  Why would you ask that?"

"Oh, perhaps the unfocused look all class.  Maybe the swaying.  Possibly the flushed face and odd blinking eyes?  Maybe those reasons?  Either that or you have a concussion, and I can’t imagine what you’d be into to get one of those."

"What is it with people thinking I’m on something?  I'm not on drugs.  I'm sure you'll hear very soon from Professor Stonewall or Gently about it.  I shouldn't have come into the classroom; I can't handle being near so many people any more."

Megan asked, "That's weird.  You've never had a problem before."

"I ... yeah.  Well, I got messed up this last weekend, and have problems with it now."  I shook my head; the mental voices were quiet enough that my head was clear now.  I suddenly had an interesting thought.

I asked, "Megan, could I have a few minutes alone with the professor please?  Oh, and thanks for helping me there, I appreciate that."  I leaned over and gave her a quick hug.

She smiled.  "Not a problem.  If you want to talk about it, I'll be heading down to the cafeteria, come and join me."

I believe my heart leaped up into my throat at that thought.  I swallowed and said, "Uh, I can't go in there, way too many people.  Damn."  The image of me in her mindview looked like a deer caught in headlights.

She looked disbelieving.  "Uhh, okay.  Well, I guess I'll see you in our study group later."

"Sounds good, and thanks again."

She walked out of the classroom, backpack in hand.

Professor Zilgard waited for her to be out of the room and asked, "All right, what can I help you with?"

"How do I ask this?  Can I invade your privacy for a moment to review this class?"

"I don't understand."

Once that special class is created I'll bet all the genetics professors will be in on it to some degree, I might as well fess up.

I said, "I, uhh, am a telepath now.  I'm a super.  But please don't spread that around!"

"Oookay.  I'll believe that considering the recent meteor shower and your changed eyes and hair.  Wait, so you want to read my mind now?"

"Actually, I automatically read everyone's mind near me.  It's always on, thus the problems in class just now.  What I'd like to try is to pull your memory on this class to see if I can learn anything from it.  I promise not to pry into other things."

His eyes narrowed as he looked at me.  "Are there any negative consequences to either of us?"

"Not that I've seen on anyone I've done this with yet."

"Sure then, I'm willing, so long as you promise to restrain yourself to the class."

"Thanks!"  I hopped up and hugged him, then stepped back quickly.  "Oh, sorry."

He chuckled.  "So do you need to touch your fingertips to my temples or something?"

"Like Spock?  No.  I just do ... this."  I leaned my butt against the table I’d been sitting at, mentally pulled his mindview close and entered it.

As usual, I found myself in his central mental chamber.  It surprised me that he was there as well, looking at me.  He asked, "I ... can see you here.  I didn't realize I'd know that a telepath was 'in my head' so to speak."

I answered, "Yeah, that's not a first for me either, though that's only happened when the person is conscious, and normally when they don't want me in here."

"You have a golden glow about you now."

"Thanks!"  I quickly went to the door to his memory chamber and entered.  The nearest memories tended to be the most recent, or sometimes those recently reviewed.  It was easy to find the memory of teaching the class because it was right there in front.  I fast forwarded through it, trying to pick out core topics, and hoping I'd remember the entire thing, as I have other less savory memories.

I looked back at his mental self, he stared only at me.  He didn't even seem to be aware of all the memory videos and sounds floating in the vast room.

I asked him, "Hey, are you willing to try something with me?  Something hopefully good?"

"If you are careful, sure.  What do you want to do?"

"Everyone has an emotional chamber, I'd like to give you some happiness."

"Hmm, I don’t know, this sounds pretty odd.  I guess I’m willing to try once. "

"Great!"  I took his hand, and found it was one of the few times in someone else's head that I didn't use the golden tentacles that tended to appear around me.  Then I walked us to his emotional chamber.  He didn’t even seem to be aware of the room before I led him there.  It was unlocked, as I expected.

The chamber was large, but not as large as the memory chamber.  As with other people, to me his emotional states appeared in pools around the room.  He appeared to take in the room as well.

He asked, "What are the ponds?"

"Emotional states.  Happiness, fear, love, hate, etc."

"It seems odd that they are ponds."

"Perhaps it's just how I visualize it, and you are somehow tapped into my view of it.  Maybe because I'm holding your hand.  Come on, let's find happiness."

I wandered around them, the emotions flowed from the various ponds, so it was easy to discern them without entering any until we found happiness.  His was near the entrance.  I walked with him to the edge.

"Touch it.  I'd throw you in to make you really happy, but you might have a tough time keeping your mind on classes if you are ‘high on the happy.’"

"I can see that."  He scooped a handful of the emotional liquid into his hand.  It was silvery, and glittered as though from some unseen light source.  Most of it ran through his fingers, but some appeared to be absorbed into his skin.  I could sense the shift in his state of mind, and after he scooped up a few more handfuls I pulled him away.