What is This Place, and Why Won't This Line Move?

Callum Greentree's first thought, upon stepping off the boat, was "Why didn't I take that scholarship to Cambridge?" Then he felt something crack underfoot and his shoe went through the dock. His next thought was unprintable.

Once he'd pulled his foot out of the warm surf, he glanced back to the boat almost longingly. Students jostled him on their way down the gangplank and off the dock. He sighed. It hadn't been a bad trip, all told, though he still questioned the University's insistence on using such an antiquated mode of transportation.

The weather in San Francisco had been pleasant when he'd Jaunted in from Scotland two days ago. He hadn't had any trouble finding the ship he was supposed to sail to Ani Dai Island on. He'd even had a pleasant enough bunkmate last night. But (he'd discovered far too late), he was prone to seasickness. Hearty, lasting nausea haunted him for the better part of the past 48 hours. Just watching the ocean swells gently move the boat threatened to forcibly remind him of the dry crackers he'd managed to force down a few hours ago. He didn't think it was particularly fair; he'd grown up in Kirkcaldy, after all! He couldn't even count how many long, lazy days he'd spent inside looking out at the sea, trying to guess where it was through the mists or rain.

He turned his attention back to the Island, and tried to take in a few useful details. This place would hopefully be his home for the next four years or so. His eye was naturally drawn up toward the Clocktower, the most prominent architectural feature on Campus. It was featured heavily on all the brochures and literature about Ani Daigaku. The Wall surrounding Campus proper seemed to have been painted or wallpapered (it was hard to tell from this distance); there were few spots of visible brickwork. He could see a few taller buildings and the roofs of some that appeared to be single-story. There didn't seem to be a unifying theme between them; some were modern designs, and some looked ancient. And...was that...? He blinked, trying to clear his eyes. There was apparently a replica of the Coliseum somewhere toward the middle. Why? Did they expect people to want to visit Rome, but be unable to find the time?

Closer to him, there was a town. He hadn't read anything about it in any of the literature, so he couldn't even begin to guess it's name. It hugged the Wall nearest him (the South Wall, if he remembered right) pretty closely and expanded some out to the left (West?) side. It, at least, looked pretty modern. Maybe he could find some cheap anti-nausea treatments there.

Just ahead of him, he saw that all the other new Students had gathered in one spot, and were having varying degrees of success being quiet. He walked up to the back of the crowd, stood next to a small girl with bright pink pigtails, and could see someone standing next to a welcome sign. A teacher, maybe? She was saying, er, something. Something about dormitories? And the Admissions Office? Callum realized he must have been standing in the surf gawking longer than he had thought. The older woman making the speech wrapped it up almost as soon as he got there, and the gathering of students disbanded.

There was a small group of people standing near the sign once the crowd cleared up some. Callum walked up behind them to try to get a look. "I can't read that one, either!" said a young man wearing what appeared to be black pajamas, "I don't know what language that one is, or that one, or that one!"

"I believe they all say the same thing" said another young man sporting an eye-catching three-quarter-meter-tall shock of yellow hair with black streaks. His voice was a deep and (if Callum could admit it) rather soothing rumble.

The slinkily-dressed Nekojin next to him gave a petulant sigh and said "Wow, thank you Captain Obvious," in a nasally voice clearly designed to annoy as many passers-by as physically possible.

Callum stepped forward between Dandelion Boy and a rather short Altairan girl, who turned to leave and almost stepped on his foot. Another student with far too many arms began to burble urgently at the Nekojin. He ignored the brewing fight and attempted to read the sign. In cramped script, it gave greetings in several languages. He couldn't read most of the alphabets used. Some of them couldn't even properly be called an alphabet – like the Altairan Scrit, which used stylized depictions of plants to convey emotions rather than words. He recognized that one, at least, but what was the one that was just circles and squares filled with what appeared to be hundreds of tiny multi-colored dots? At any rate, there was little useful there. He turned toward Campus and started walking.

He followed the majority of the students from the boat up the road. At one point, he caught a glimpse of his ex-bunkmate, but quickly lost sight of him behind a larger student. He really didn't mean to eavesdrop, but couldn't help noticing the pink-haired girl from earlier. She was nattering away energetically and skipping slightly to keep up with the rest of the crowd. Callum thought she sounded nice, but realized that she was mostly filling the silence; it seemed to make no difference to her whether the person she was talking to responded in any way.

As he got closer to the Gate, he found a signpost. Upon closer inspection, it gave helpful directions such as "Town ←" and "AniDai Campus ↑." That's really what they named it? Town? Really? It was next to an intersection. He looked at the road at his feet, read the sign again, and looked at the Gateway into Campus. It was about ten paces away. He shook his head and followed the larger group of Students through the Gate and into Ani Daigaku itself.

As he crossed through the Wall, Callum's first impression of AniDai Campus was that it was full of life. Students and faculty members strolled or ran or floated by on private errands, or called to one another in happy, vibrant voices. Most were human, of course, as AniDai was the only one of the five so-called "Great Colleges" that was actually located on Earth, but there were a fair number of aliens scattered about. They intermingled with each other and the humans, regardless of species. That gave Callum a little glow inside; while any sapient species was accepted and treated well throughout most parts of Earth and, indeed, the entire Alliance, most simply stuck to their own kind when business took them to one of the Homeworlds. He himself had only met one or two Altairans and perhaps a handful of Nekojin in his entire life.

He had been correct, too: most of the buildings on Campus were relatively modern in design and construction. Here there was a five-story tall dormitory, there was a long, low cafeteria. Building names and numbers were on signs near entrances, each in several languages. The grounds were well kept, with manicured lawns, and trees, bushes, and shrubs offered scattered shade. The overall effect of one lawn was one of invitation and relaxation, while another offered meditative peace behind short walls, and yet another had flowers and trimmed hedges for those looking for a spot of artisanal beauty. The only oddity that Callum could see was that no-one seemed to walk on the grass at all, except directly in front of buildings. He filed that information away under "things to ask about later" and carefully stuck to the concrete walkways.

Not far into the school grounds, though, he started seeing evidence that something drastic had recently happened. There were scorch marks on some buildings, and broken glass and food wrappers lying at the base of one dorm. He could see streamers and empty cans and suspicious puddles scattered about as well. There were a few students, even at ten in the morning, stumbling around drunkenly. He began to suspect that there had been a major celebration the previous night. But for what? And why all the property damage?

He caught up with one of the students from the group he'd been following, a short blonde girl, anorexically thin. She'd apparently slowed to gawk at her surroundings as well. She wasn't looking his direction and jumped when he spoke to her.

"All right, miss?"

"Excuse me?" she said, with a puzzled expression.

"I said 'all right, miss.'" When she didn't respond, he tried again. "Blimey, but it looks like some blokes totally lost the plot last night, innit?"

Her eyebrows met in consternation. "Oh, I'm so bad with accents. Are you British?"

Callum blinked and said, a little slower, "Yeah, I'm from Scotland. Name's Callum. Callum Greentree. What's yours?"

She seemed slightly relieved and stuck out a hand tentatively. "I'm Amelia. Amelia Longmire." She said her name with an odd look on her face, like she was trying out the tone or wording for the first time. "This is my first time on Earth. Isn't it amazing here? Also, what were you saying about ...uh… 'plotting'?" Not from Earth! That explained the accent she had. He hadn't been able to place it before.

"Oh, er… I meant that it looks like everyone went a bit nutty last night? I just… with the…" he trailed off lamely and pointed at some of the rubbish.

"Oh. Right." Amelia stood there awkwardly for a moment, rubbing the back of her head. Then, with forced cheerfulness, she said "This place is amazing, though. It looks just like it does in World in Peril VII! Um. Do you know where we're supposed to go first? Professor Ina said something about an admissions hall, but I didn't catch where."

"Yeah, I thought it was something like that. I dunno, though. I'd rather been hoping you could tell me. What's World in Peril vee-eye-eye?"

"Um. Oh. It's a, um, a video game."

"Right, okay, well, I'm going to keep walking this way. We're bound to find someone that can tell us what we're supposed to do. I hope." Callum stepped out again, hesitated, and glanced back at Amelia. "You're welcome to stick with me. At least you'd have someone to be lost with."

Amelia looked even more relieved, and trotted a little to catch up. They passed a few more dorm buildings, and Callum began to realize that they were all part of the same dormitory complex. It was loosely arranged in some sort of a pattern, and there were paths leading straight from one side door to another.

The dorms soon gave way to more class buildings, and he could see the Coliseum replica ahead. It took him another five minutes of silent walking before he gave in and walked up to a likely-looking Student, lounging on a bench in a small quad. He ignored the three other Students chatting nearby. The boy was tall, muscular, and bald except for a ridiculously long moustache of brilliant green. Callum briefly wondered if that was its real colour, and then decided that it didn't much matter.

"Wotcher, mate. You look like a fellow what really knows his onions, yeah? Me and the bird here are new about Uni. Where do we flit off to first?"

For some reason Callum couldn't fathom, this got him nothing but blank and slightly suspicious stares. Moss Man looked at Amelia for clarification, but she just turned beet red and shook her head.

"Sorry mate," said Callum, "I'm a bit flustered, yeah? I talk too fast when I get that way. I'm just asking where we're supposed to go. We're new, yeah?"

Greenpeace stared at him a moment longer and then raised a finger to point, leaving his arm on his lap. Callum turned to follow and found himself staring up at the Clocktower. Of course. The most prominent building on Campus, and featured in all the documentaries and brochures he'd ever seen of the place. Why, exactly, had he not thought of it before?

Just as he turned to go, though, he heard a hoarse whisper coming from behind him. "Miss, you might want to know – Psych is in the Medical complex, that way." He heard Amelia squeak something incomprehensible in reply, and then she caught back up to him.

They set off in a completely different direction. Callum was silent for a few minutes, and then finally said "Do I really sound bonkers?"

"No. It's just that… it's just that you have a really thick accent, and I'm not sure that half of your words are real words. I'msosorrypleasedon'thateme."

Callum blinked and parsed that last sentence. "Well I asked the question, didn't I? I've never really had much interaction with people outside of my little corner of the world. I guess I'll have to talk a little slower or something."

Callum couldn't see it, but Amelia nodded in agreement. They spent the rest of the trip in a more comfortable silence.

The Clocktower loomed over an older brick building that looked an awful lot like an old-style financial bank. He'd seen pictures of them during his history classes, and had even visited one as part of a tour of Old Boston several years ago, on his only previous visit to the USA. This one had the classic look – brick archways, tall windows, columns. There was a line of students filtering in through the only doorway that did not appear to have rusted shut decades ago. The windows, to the extent he could see, were filthy. Hopefully this was just a façade, and the interior would be much more modern. Most operational buildings these days were like that.

Callum stepped into the line and prepared to wait.

***

Rio Castellanos Alvarenga surveyed his surroundings. So much of this place was at once strange and familiar to him. The people here were very different to those he grew up with in Honduras. His family's…farm had hired humans exclusively, but the Offworlders he had seen here so far did not strike him as particularly alien at their core. They were still, one and all, sheep. Not one of them, so full of power and the potential for power as they were, truly had that drive to make the world their own.

Take this Professor Ina, for example. He had listened very carefully to her welcome speech, and then just as carefully to the responses of the other new Students he was standing with. If one of the Farmhands had spoken of his father like that…well. They would not dare it twice. And yet, though Professor Ina had most assuredly heard the comments, she did nothing.

A few of the Students now gathered near the Gate, he observed, were ineffectively trying to establish dominance over the others. Their attempts were laughable, unimaginative, and showed obvious deep-seated personal insecurities. Rio supposed that this was acceptable. All people must start weak and find their way. He would have to keep an eye on them, however; some could end as rivals but most would undoubtedly turn out to be nothing more than bullies. Rio could not stand bullies.

A strange girl with unnecessarily bright pink hair chattered just on the edge of his attention. From her clothes, Rio could tell that she came from a family without great means, and his heart went out to her. There was some good in this university, then, to provide financial assistance to the worthy. Perhaps, when he had settled the matter of his housing, he would seek out this poor young thing and grant her the friendship she so desperately craved.

Until then, however, he decided that he should go to the Clocktower to meet with this Dean of Admissions. He pushed his way through the throng and strode into Ani Daigaku Campus like he already owned the place.

As he passed the first set of classroom buildings ("Medical Studies," he decided, "or possibly Mathematics"), Rio fought against the urge to stare like a tourist. He had known that he would come to this place for years now; he had received the acceptance letter six weeks past his thirteenth birthday. He would not allow those undoubtedly watching from the high, cold windows see him as anything other than perfectly in control.

When he came to the first buildings of the impeccably manicured living quarters, he began to pay closer attention. He wanted the very best rooms, of course, but he also had the feeling that there was something going on here. He had surreptitiously watched his own family's business dealings often enough to sense something in the area. He suspected under-the-table deals were taking place inside most of these buildings. He covertly glanced behind bushes and around corners as he walked, looking for any underhanded dealings. He was not sure if he would stop one or approach with an eye to make contacts. He supposed it would depend on what was being done.

Suddenly, from a window on the third floor of the next dormitory in line, he heard someone shout "Hey, Squiddy!" He looked around, and realized the comment had to be directed at a Shok-Hito fanning itself in the shade on the ground at the base of the same building. Its longer tentacles held a book of some kind, and three of its eyestalks rotated upward, drawn to the young blond man leaning out above. Rio barely had time to register his own displeasure at the nickname when something came sailing down and struck the Shok-Hito on the head. It was, honestly, kind of hard to tell, but the 'Hito appeared agitated by this as it extracted the object from what might have been its mouth. It dropped the book and waved its tentacles frenetically, making short chittering noises.

Rio started forward to ask if it required assistance, but it gathered up its belongings, got up, and left before he could arrive. The Shok-Hito, moving on eight prehensile appendages, moved a lot quicker than he. Instead, Rio took careful note of the building number and the specific window and vowed silently to return and see that something unfortunate happened to the blonde man.

He wondered if AniDai had a bullying problem. He hoped not, but was beginning to suspect it did. Yet another thing that he would end when he came into his own.

He grudgingly started toward the Clocktower again. As he walked, more and more Students and faculty appeared, each busy about their own tasks. There was a brief moment of excitement when he was almost struck by a passing fool on a unicycle. The man was bald and had bizarrely huge legs, but was gone before Rio could formulate a suitable response. He opted, instead, to keep an eye out for any further vehicles. There was a groundcar in the distance, but it was not heading his way. He saw some sort of aircraft passing overhead, apparently descending toward the far end of the Island. The small spaceport was certainly quite active; there were several small ships variously approaching and departing the large, flat area outside the North Wall. So far as Rio could tell, however, none of them were likely to run him down quite yet. He set his gaze on the Clocktower once again.

A few minutes later, he had reached it. It was very tall and looked quite old. There was a bank in Trujillo, near the family "plantation." The building at the base of the Tower looked very similar to it. The clock was accurate, at least.

There was a line coming through the glass-and-aluminum double doors. He took one look at it, saw that the other new Students were waiting with varying degrees of patience, and walked right past it and inside, ignoring the complaints of his less imaginative peers.

The line extended forty meters into the interior of what did indeed appear to be an old bank. Rio glanced at the waiting figures as he passed them and suppressed a whoop of triumph. He had passed the first test! Most of the "people" waiting were actually statues. Or, possibly, the mummified remains of previous supplicants.

Either way, he skipped directly to the teller's stand, raised an eyebrow at the person behind the counter, and allowed himself a small superior half-smile.

***

Rebecca Bridgewater hummed quietly to herself and trotted along the path, trying to shake the unpleasant feeling that her fellow Students were ignoring her.

Everything in the past several days had been so interesting! First had been her first solo trip to Earth. AniDai had paid for her very own room! That had to have been expensive! She'd spent most of the trip trying to talk with the ship's captain and crew about their experiences zooming through the interstellar lanes, but they'd treated her with polite caution the entire time, and rarely said more'n three words to her. She supposed they were probably just busy.

Then she had actually gotten to see California first-hand! Her cruise ship put down in San Francisco, but there was absolutely no way she could pass up the opportunity to do some sightseeing! The first night, she colored her hair a gorgeous shade of pink in anticipation.

During her three-day stay at the SanFran Spaceport Hotel and Juice Bar, she had spent far too much money on Jaunts. First was the Golden Gate Arches, of course. She was so excited when she realized that you could still make out the ancient and fraying base of the Old Bridge in the water. Then off to Modesto to visit the Galactic War Monument. That had been interesting and all, but a little too somber for her tastes.

She'd Jaunted to Lincoln, Montana to tour the CRUD facility the second day. Now that had been great. Lincoln was such a big and modern town, and the refinery was amazing! She had rounded off her tour with a trip through Old Ell Ay, back in California. And don't get her started on the nightlife in San Francisco!

The boat ride had been unique. She'd never seen so much water before! Not even on Rea Prime! And Rea Prime was 96% water! There were several people aboard that looked sick the entire time. Rebecca was just glad she didn't catch whatever was going around! Those that were feeling fine had a great time playing board games and showing off their Abilities. She'd gotten some very impressed oohs and aahs as she zoomed around, twenty meters above the deck. Great times!

When they'd finally put to shore, she leapt off the side before they'd even extended the gangplank and flew to the beach, excitedly pressing her nose into the brochure. She probably should have waited to walk down with everybody else, but who could be that patient!?

That Ms. Ina teacher was very nice, and explained just where they were supposed to go to get their rooms, and roommates(!), and where to sign out a school starship, and get school supplies, and where to find food, which reminded her that she hadn't eaten breakfast this morning due to nerves, and what she wouldn't give for more of her mother's famous Derailed Salmon right about now, like she had had for dinner the night before she left home…

Her train of thought was derailed when she reached the Gate into Campus. She gave a small shiver of anticipation, turned to one of the nearby Students, and gushed: "Did you see? The Clocktower looks just like the pictures! And, look, the Arena looks so fun! Ooh, d'you s'pose we could see a Match tonight? Or d'we need special permission? I heard that they sometimes throw you into it if you get in real trouble, but that sounds made-up to me. Hi, I'm Rebecca! I'm Spacefaring and Culinary Arts! How 'bout you?"

The young man's eyes glazed over slightly and he mumbled something about "Business and Political Science" before hurrying on. It was just as well, really. There was so much to do still!

She pressed on, only stopping whenever she found a group of Students larger than three. Nobody seemed all that interested in striking up a conversation with a New Girl, she supposed.

Soon enough, she found herself standing on the lawn in front of the Admissions Hall, the famous Clocktower rising above her, just like on HV and on all the pictures of AniDai that she'd ever seen! Then she saw the line and sighed. But, she decided, she would make the best of it anyway and skipped lightly to the back.

She waited there, humming quietly to herself, for almost a full minute before she got bored. She started fidgeting, then bouncing, and then singing lightly under her breath before she finally gave up and turned to the nearest figure standing in the line ahead of her. "Wow, I can't believe I'm actually here! We're waiting in line to get our dorms and schedules and everything! I hope I get a bunch of fun roommates, don't you? I don't know if I could deal with it if they turned out to be really boring or quiet or something. Well, I suppose I could learn to live with it, I mean, I'm not cruel. I can't wait for my first classes to start! I have heard so many fun and exciting things about them! I'm…pretty sure you're not paying any attention to me, either."

She gave a small pout and then a double-take – the person standing in front of her hadn't moved at all. She was sure of it! She reached up with a hesitant finger and gave an experimental poke. The clothes were real, but… it was a statue or something! Why was there a statue in line!? Suddenly she realized that she'd been seeing other people skip the line completely for almost five minutes and felt more than a little foolish for not having realized it sooner. Fine, then, she would just go up front herself!

She stepped out of line and strode purposefully toward the front of the line, only pausing to gather groups of Students that had gotten stuck in the line ahead of her. She led a line of more than twenty slightly annoyed young men, women, and aliens to the single teller's window in a long line of them. There was a young man just finishing up speaking with the very bored looking Dean. He gave her an imperious nod as he passed her, and practically marched out of the building.

Rebecca stepped up to the window a little timidly, looking anywhere but at the Mole-man behind the counter. There were twelve such teller's windows, but each was closed up, covered with what might be a centimeter of dust, and decorated with "Not This Window, Idiot" signs. She gave a little jump when the Dean of Admissions cleared his throat in a polite but pointed manner.

"Uh, uh, hi! I'm Rebecca! Rebecca Bridgewater, uh, Your Deanship!"

Dean Dennis "Dennery" Molesalot was wearing pinstripe trousers, a neatly pressed brown jacket, (unbuttoned) with a deep, almost purplish, red vest on over a crisp collared white shirt and a neat brown bow-tie. On the desk, next to his computer terminal, was a fine black bowler hat and, just visible from in front of the window, his umbrella hung from a hook in the wall off to one side. "Ah, yes, Miss Bridgewater. I was looking forward to meeting you! It's not often that we get students here that make it into the news before arriving on Campus! If you could please bear with me, I shall have your packet momentarily."

Rebecca blushed furiously, and a wild look flashed across her eyes. She managed a bright smile almost immediately. "Don't you need my identification?"

"Why, no, my dear. Observe!" The Dean gestured toward the entrance, where a worried and slightly confused young man with a very wet foot was just stepping through and failing to notice the telltale blue sensor beams wash over him. "We scanned you as you walked through the door. We know who you are, and, from that, can easily deduce what information your packet will require. Ah! It is finished!" He placed a stack of papers into a large manila envelope with surprisingly narrow and dexterous fingers. "Off you go, Miss. You will find directions to your assigned dormitory in here, along with quite a bit of other useful information. Have a pleasant day and may all your studies and endeavors here be met with success!"

Rebecca took the envelope and wandered out of the building a little dazed. She hadn't realized that people on Earth had heard of her! Outside, she shook her head and opened the packet. "Greenwood? Well, that sounds nice enough. Ooh! It even has a full kitchen available!"

***

Amelia Longmire was worried. When Callum told her that he was just going to cut in line, she tried to stop him. He was going to get in trouble, right? And with that accent, she wasn't sure he could talk his way out of it!

She stood in the line. It didn't move. Registration must take a while, she thought. She once again took out the map printed on the back of the brochure. It was just as useless as before. It showed the Clocktower facing the ocean, and didn't even mention the Wall at all. Now that she looked closer, though, she realized that she should have known it was wrong – even the photo on the other side proved that. The map had the Arena right next to the Clocktower, but the photo clearly showed that it was barely visible in the background. She shook her head and put the brochure back in what she liked to think of as her Inventory.

She started to plan what she would say to the…person…she was standing in line to see. She realized that she didn't actually know who it was, but didn't want to bother the person standing in line in front of her. He was obviously lost in his own thoughts, and probably wouldn't appreciate the interruption.

Her stomach growled, and she took out a small container of carrot sticks and tried to eat them unobtrusively. She hoped the crunching wasn't bothering anybody.

The line still hadn't moved. The sun was beginning to sink below the horizon. A ship of some kind flew high overhead and made its way down to the north end of the Island. She felt the little thrill again, and made up her mind (for the third time that day) that she would ask to add Engineering classes to her schedule. The captain of the transport she rode to Earth on was so nice! She'd never been on a starship of any kind before, but he showed her around and told his crew to answer her reasonable questions (he emphasized that, for some reason). Amelia had been smitten with the Engineering compartment on the tiny ship. It just felt nice!

It was starting to get dark, and she was getting very worried. What would happen if she didn't finish her registration (or whatever) today? Then it hit her: this must be a Decision Point! She had to make a decision! Did she stand here and wait for them to tell her what to do, or did she, in desperation, cut the line and accept the consequences? As soon as she had this thought, she felt foolish. Would Mogo from the World in Peril series have just stood here all day? No, of course not! She was a Main Character! And wasn't that what Amelia was here to learn to be?

Sufficiently psyched-up, Amelia stepped out of line and, with barely any hesitation, trotted through the open door past the line of poor, patient Student hopefuls. She paused briefly when she saw the sensor beam sweep over her, but, since it didn't affect her in any way, she quickly joined the shorter line right up at the teller's desk. There was a plaque above it, telling her that the Dean of Admissions was named Dennery Molesalot. She thought this was slightly unnecessary, since it was obvious that he was a moleman. The name was a bit much, but, she supposed, he probably couldn't help it. Most likely an old, honorable, family name or something.

As she stood waiting for the two people ahead of her to finish up, she constructed a whole family history to go with the name. By the time she had gotten to the front of the line, she had changed her mind about it entirely. Anyone whose ancestors had dug the first runs and galleries of the great underground City of Urd and almost single handedly (paw-edly?) fought off the deadly Vulpine Invaders through cunningly designed burrow-traps deserved special respect, in her opinion.

She finally stepped up to the counter. As she was about to open her mouth, the Dean said "Miss…Longmire, is it? Yes, I have your packet here. I'm afraid you're the last Student to come through today, so there's only the one room left available to you. Not to worry, though. Amara and Boris are Good Eggs, as they say." He had a posh accent, like some nature documentarian. It was kind of nice, and reminded Amelia of Callum for some reason, though she had no trouble understanding the Dean.

She almost blurted out congratulations on his family's many victories before she caught herself. "Um, Mr…err… Dean? I wanted to ask you something." It was a good thing she'd practiced talking to people in the mirror! She was proud of how steady her voice sounded.

The Dean, who had been collating her Welcome Packet (the last of a long day) with relief, blinked at the statement. "Yes, Miss?"

"I wondered if IcouldaddanotherMajor and registerformoreClasses!"

Dean Molesalot pondered briefly, then, with barely suppressed annoyance, said "You wish to add Classes at this late juncture?" At Amelia's nod, he continued: "Very well. Fill this in, please, while I ready your new packet."

Amelia took the pad and quickly typed in her request to add Engineering as a second Major. She decided to drop the CGI course this Term and added Transportation Technology in its place, thinking it sounded nice and general. She hoped she wouldn't have any trouble keeping up. She'd played with computers her whole life, but vehicles of any kind were practically exotic to her.

The Dean took the pad back and looked it over before giving a slightly undignified grunt and placing one huge, be-taloned thumb over the scanner at the bottom. A few keystrokes later, and he gathered the new papers together, turned one baleful eye to Amelia, and put them in an envelope. "Your packet, Miss. Good evening." He hit a button beneath the desk, and the window slammed shut. Amelia was left standing in a large, darkening building with no idea what to do next.

She opened her packet and looked. There was her newly updated Class schedule, a holofilm that appeared to be a map, and some directions on how to get food and student identification. The main bulk turned out to be some information on the college's history, and some expired coupons to some restaurants, presumably located in Town.

She shook her head and went to find her dormitory.