New Markets - 02 (34 page)

When Professor Stonewall saw me he smiled and walked over to the corner I waited in.  He thought,
Wait until she hears Gentry's good news!  Okay, I can't let on until he sees her this afternoon.

That made me grin.

He said, "Hello Miss Quinn.  I've been thinking about your ... problem.  How about you sit in one of the chairs we keep off to the side for special guests?  We can move it around, if you need to.  Assuming you don't mind some stares from students who will wonder if you are a speaker or something."

"I'm fine with that.  I'd rather be in the classroom - ideally more than fifteen feet from other students, since if I'm in range of one, I'm probably going to be in range of a whole group sitting packed in the auditorium seats."

"Exactly."  He motioned for me to follow him and gestured to one of the side chairs up on the front floor area.

The auditorium had about twenty feet between the frontmost students and the wall with the projector screen on it.  Megan sat down in the front row very near me.

I wouldn't be able to see the screen if I were only a few feet from the screen wall, but found that I still had Megan's mindview in range in the corner.  Strangely enough the students next to her on each side weren't in range.  That was odd.

I put the chair in the corner and figured I'd use Megan as my eyes again.  Many other students still in my mental hearing range wondered why I was sitting there.

Kell and the boys came in from the top door somewhat later.  Trevin looked directly at me, made a pointing motion with his chin as he said something to the other two.  He led them as close as possible down near Megan.  The section had filled most of the seats, so they had to sit a few more rows up from Megan.

It was a minor enough annoyance to still partake in the class, though.  I felt a lot like I was in the corner being punished through class.  Professor Stonewall hoped I was doing all right a few times, but generally kept his mind staunchly on class material.

I heard Trevin's mental voice wonder why I didn't move the backpack a few times.  I realized he must be trying to make me do it and it wasn't working.  I was out of mindview range of him, so I couldn't see what he was even visualizing me doing.

However, since I had Megan's mindview up, I pulled it to fill my vision and asked,
Can you hear me?

I saw her grin and look at me.  She thought,
Yes!  I see you!

I thought to her,
Trevin, Kell and Odes are a few rows behind you.  I'm pretty sure Trevin's trying to make me do something and getting a little frustrated.

She glanced back up at the boys and waved at them. 
Well, serves him right.  He shouldn't be trying that.  How's he trying to make you do something, anyway?

I'm not certain, probably by picturing me do it.  I can't see his mindview right now, he's too far.

I grinned. 
So, do I look like I'm in the corner and in trouble?

Hmm, no, it looks like you are auditing his class or something.

Oh, well that's far cooler.  Hope everyone thinks that.  By the way, Professor Stonewall couldn't help but think that the study group was okayed.  He expects Professor Gently to tell me after class this afternoon.

Yay!  Do I get to be in it?

No idea.  I got the sense that it would be for the really advanced students doing their doctorates though, rather than us pre-bachelors people.

Oh.  That sucks.

Yeah.  Though depending on what you are interested in we might be able to do some analysis outside a study group.

True, but it'd be cool to get class credit for it, not to mention just to be
in
on that.

I can ask Professor Gently.

I wonder if I can bum my way into it, can I tag along with you when he tells you to see if I can?

Yeah, that's fine by me.

Halfway through class one of the upper rear doors opened and a woman walked in.  Professor Stonewall immediately noticed her enter and quickly take a seat.  I glanced up at her and realized he'd seen Firebane enter, out of costume, however.

I glanced up at her a few times, and once she waved at me when she saw me look.  She pointed at herself and then at me.  I wondered what she meant, but she didn't get up to leave or anything, so I figured it must not be urgent.

Shortly after that I noticed mental whispering of students saying
That's Psystar.  What's she doing here?
  Glancing up showed people leaning over to others near them and whispering out loud.  The mental chatter thinking about me on the lower right side of the classroom grew rather loud.  The audible chatter got so bad that Professor Stonewall stopped his lecture.

He said, "I'd appreciate if people would focus on the class and cut out the chatter."  He pointed directly at a number of students.

Son of a beehive.  Someone recognized me and can't keep their mouth shut.  Stupid supers rags.
  I sighed.

The professor returned to his lecture after the students became silent.  The news continued spreading once he stopped focusing on the section, however.

I debated on spreading pheromones to force them all to pay attention to Professor Stonewall again, as I'd done on Monday.  I didn't know what that would do to the professor himself, however, since the last time I'd been at the top of the auditorium rather than down near him.

I noticed from Professor Stonewall's own thoughts that he was well aware of the students continuing their whispering.  He simply knew there wasn't much he could do about it without making a spectacle.

I felt fairly worn down as class continued, as though I needed a nap.

Once class ended a lot of students seemed to hang around longer than normal.

I walked up to Professor Stonewall as he gathered his notebook and such, leaned close and said, "All that whispering was about me.  Someone appears to have recognized me and spread it around the room.  They were wondering why I was here.  Still are in fact."

His mindview showed him becoming distracted by my scent, so I put a hand on his shoulder and moved back slightly.

He glanced back at the unusual number of student still sitting in their seats, scowled and said, "Class is over guys; have a good day."

An audible groan came out of a fair number of students.  A few walked up.

Tom Wiese cleared his throat and asked, "So, uhh, can we ask why she sat in on the class?"

Professor Stonewall thought,
Shit.
  Then he said, "She's sitting in the class for the rest of the semester.  Are there any issues with that, Mr. Wiese?"

One of the guys looked at me and asked, "Can I have your autograph?"

I stared at him for a few seconds and blinked, "Umm, sure, I suppose."

Several of them scrambled to pull out notebooks and pens.  I looked at Professor Stonewall and shrugged.  I walked over to the edge of the stage, stepped up to fly up a foot or two, and then stepped down so I floated down to their level.

Might as well give them something to talk about.
  I signed each of the books quickly, as 'Psystar, xoxo" in large cursive.

I glanced around after that was finished, and found Firebane standing nearby.  She stepped forward and whispered, "We need to talk."

I replied, "How about we talk on the way to eat?"

"Okay."

Megan joined us as we left the auditorium.

"Everything going all right?  Oh, and Megan, this is Firebane.  Firebane ... Megan.  Megan is a friend of mine."

"Okay.  So, I wanted to know, can you, well, smell, hmm, or hear other superheroes?"

"Sure, Spartan and Black Tiger both have their own smell.  I'm sure we all do.  Why do you ask?"

Then I heard what she was thinking, and realized she wasn't talking about actual smell, but some other sense of knowing where they are.

Firebane was attempting to figure out how to describe it when I said, "Ah, I see what you mean now.  You have some kind of new sense.  Like hearing people's thoughts to me, but I'm not really hearing them."

She said, "Yeah.  I smell them, or hear.  It's hard to say.  I just know which direction and roughly how far they are at.  If I really concentrate I can see where they are, well distance and direction - not their surroundings."

"That's a pretty cool ability to have.  You just figured it out?"

"No, I felt something yesterday when I first met you and Spartan, but then I saw Black Tiger and didn't feel it, so I got confused."

"Wait, you don't sense Black Tiger?"

"I didn't yesterday when we were all by the reporters."

"Cool, maybe he has some kind of stealth power."

"Oh ... I hadn't considered that."

"Either that or you can't detect mutants.  They seem to be more radically different than most of us."

"How will I know which?"

"If you meet a mutant you can detect, then Black Tiger is probably stealthy."

"Makes sense."

"Speaking of those two, I really ought to check in with them on the kidnapping case we are working on.  A group of supers have been nabbed, and we're ... wait a second."

"What?"

"If you can detect them we can just have you find the missing people."

"How will I know which are which?"

"You don't know which person you are detecting?  How did you know I was the one you'd find here?"

"You said you had to go to class, and there are only two supers at the University that I could detect.  I checked the other room first, but didn't spot you.  You
are
pretty easy to spot with your gold hair."

"Cool, there's another super here at the U?"

"Yeah."

"I wonder why they aren't having problems with their classes."

Megan jumped in, "They probably aren't a telepath."

I said, "Ah, yeah, that makes sense then."

Megan said, "Well guys, I have to jet.  Be good or something, 'kay?  Good meeting you, Firebane."

Firebane said, "You too.  Study hard."

I hugged her goodbye and Megan walked away.

I looked back at Firebane, "Let me call the guys, this could really help the case."

She grinned.

I grabbed my H.E.R.O. phone and called Spartan.  It went to voicemail after a number of rings.  Then I called Black Tiger with the same result.

I raised my eyebrow as I looked at Firebane.  "That's odd, neither are answering."

I took out my personal cell and tried both of their personal phones as well.  Neither answered those either.

I said, "Okay, this is weird."