The rows of cadets looked up as their professor entered the classroom on the first day of class.
"Good Morning, Class!" he said brightly, with a gleam in his eye. "Well, it's a good morning for me, at least."
"For you, I am sorry to say," he stepped behind his desk and shuffled some data pads around, looking for a specific one, it seemed.
The pause seemed interminable. Cadets began to fidget nervously.
He looked up, seeming to remember that he had a class.
"You!" he gestured to a young Bolean male in the front row. "What kind of grade do you think you may get in this class?"
"Uh, I'm hoping for an A," the teacher's brows drew together, "…or maybe a B, a B would be good too. Uh, Sir."
"You failed." The teacher barked and turned to a Human female, "How about you, cadet?"
"An A- wait, what?" she whipped her head around to look at the Bolean in confusion, and then the teacher. "How could he fail on the first day of class, Sir?"
"F," the teacher intoned. "What about you, there in the back?"
The Vulcan male thus indicated paused, "My records show that I am an excellent student, therefore it is logical to assume that if I present my usual standard of work, it is improbable that…"
"Fail," the professor cut him off mid-sentence dismissively. "And you, cadet?"
Across the room a human male cadet who had not been addressed jumped to his feet. "What is wrong with you, Sir?" he questioned angrily, "You can't just come in here and fail us all the first day! You haven't even given us a chance!"
The professor was unruffled as he acknowledged the outburst, smiling eerily. "You did not turn in any of your homework, let alone your final project. How could I give you any grade but an F?"
"It's the First. Day. Of. Term. There were no prerequisite assignments posted. You haven't given us any homework! And who in their right mind expects the final on the first day of term! That's unreasonable! With all due respect, Sir." The irate young man crossed his arms and glowered at the smirking instructor.
The professor paced deliberately to the front of his desk, crossing his arms and looking at the ground with a pensive expression before suddenly looking up and making eye contact with the whole class at once. The cadet who had just been shouting sat down shakily.
"The final was due yesterday."
The loud cadet started to stand back up, but the professor glared sharply at him and snapped, "Are you even aware which department you are in?"
The whole class was startled at the seeming non sequitur, and they all looked around, waiting for someone else to answer the lunatic professor.
The Bolean who had been addressed first eventually said slowly, "I'm not sure what-"
"Temporal! Mechanics!" the teacher shouted. "Non sit tempus, sicut hesterna! No time like yesterday! No final projects of my desk all day yesterday! I waited! You all FAIL!"
