12- Bright College Days

There is a large country, in terms of landmass, on the northern border of Eagleland. It is known as Winters. Its easternmost province is a large island off the coast of the northernmost point of Eagleland's seaboard. This... is New Starwick. And to the north of even this back-of-beyond place, there exists as small, private, yet highly reputable college, which goes by the mane of Cowford.

In this small college, there existed many boarding houses. And In one of these boarding houses, there existed a sleeping young man, with blonde hair. Sitting beside his bed were two sets of glasses, and a soldering iron. There were various tools of engineering- drafting paper, slide rules, T-squares, and other odd widgets to make drawings and calculations easier. Also strewn about the floor were the marks of someone interested in mechanisms- wrenches, WD-40, bolts, pieces of sheet metal, and many more things besides. All of these are strewn about with no apparent rhyme or reason to them.

But now to turn back to our young man, who was having a very, very disturbing dream.

He sat bolt upright in bed, waking his roommate. "Wait! I can help!" His hand was outstretched, and his brown eyes shot open. No sweat.

His roommate awoke with a groan. "For all the saints, Joseph, summer session begins tomorrow. Why are you up in arms?"

"It's nothing, Anthony... Go back to sleep." But young Joseph couldn't go back to sleep. He sat up in his bed. Why are those two in my dreams so often...? I should write this down. So, he got out his notepad and began to write on it. Then, he patted around for his glasses, put them on so he could see what he wrote down, and began to write again.

Elliot and Skye dream again. Two in the same night. The first... I was barely conscious... Elliot was trying to destroy Skye. Fire... And the stench of death. The second was far more vivid.

It was Skye. And Elliot was nearby too. But I couldn't see Skye's face. And she was calling me. They needed help. She wanted me to head south. Perhaps it's reflecting a doubt I have about college? I don't know. In the end, Skye turned away, dejected, and I awoke.

These dreams will be the death of me.

He put down the notepad, and continued to think. And then... he heard the Voice. The same Voice that Skye was.

But she was only in his dreams... wasn't she?

No. No time to explain. We need help. We're more than real. We're in Threed. You must head south. Please... help us.

Anthony sat up again. "Okay... I know I heard something. Something fuzzy. On the edge of hearing. What's going on here, Joseph?"

"I don't know. I'm beginning to think some of my dreams are real. Especially now that you're hearing them."

"And what did this dream tell you?" Anthony put a hand on Joseph's shoulder. Joseph turned his head towards Anthony.

Anthony was a red-haired young man, about Joseph's age, in fact a little older; he had skipped a form in Snow Wood just to see if he could.

Joseph sighed, and pushed away Anthony's hand. "...It told me... I have to leave."

Anthony nodded. "Why not? Finals are over, nothing left to do except go home."

"Mom's not ready for me yet," Joseph responded.

"What? A Mountie, not ready? You must be joking."

"Yeah, but where else am I going to go? I need to go south, apparently.;

Anthony's grey eyes went blank for a moment. "Cross the Loch, and you will find home."; He snapped back.

"...What... did you say?" Joseph looked over Anthony.

"I didn't say anything. But if you're willing to leave now, I'll gladly help out.";

Joseph nodded. "Anything to get me away from the Mounties! Gods, if I have to go to so much as one more social function-"

"Chill. Let's bust out."

Joseph smiled. "I like the way you think. Just let me get that new gadget of mine." He got up and strolled to his closet, where he changed from his long underwear into something a little more like daywear- hell, it was daywear. The Cowford colors, to be exact. Lincoln green blazer and slacks over a white dress shirt- blue or green were also acceptable, but Joseph had taste, dammit- with black dress shoes. Joseph had bought his from the same place his mother bought her uniforms. They were surprisingly comfortable to walk and run around in, so much so that he occasionally wore them to the rugby field.

The 'gadget' in question was a small, translucent, green visor, which had a white metal band over the top. Its guts were sealed, and it had several snap-hooks. "What is that thing, anyway?" Anthony asked.

"I told you, it's a structural analyzer..." Joseph said, snapping it onto his glasses. It became undetectable, except for a green tint over his lenses. "Well, a structural analyzer, a chemical analyzer, infra-vision, night vision, and possible weaknesses, all compressed to give the user an Arbitrary Structural Soundness rating."

"You made that last thing up just to hit on someone, probably me."

Joseph thought for a moment. "Oh, you mean the acronym. Entirely accidental, I assure you." He depressed the left temple, and the tint disappeared instantly. "Just for kicks I added a gravitic compressor, both to power it and give some really neat effects otherwise not possible."

"A what? Have you gone round the twist? Those are only theoretical, they haven't gone through testing yet-"

"The output is only nominal compared with the theoretical maximum. It's like a double a. Only a double-A can't do this-" he depressed the right temple and the green shading came up. "Surprisingly light, too."

"So is uranium, Joseph. At least promise me you won't use that all the time?"

"Sure."

"Good. Now let's see who can help us." Anthony used the closet in the dorm to change.

Joseph had noted a long time ago that there was tension on Anthony's part, but could never quite figure out if he felt the same. As it was, Joseph had backed off, long ago.

Anthony had broken out the fur-lined blazer as well. Well, they weren't fur lined- it was a polyester faux-fur, they'd have never been able to afford real fur.

Joseph got up off the bed, and headed for the door. "Come on. I think Maxwell is still in the lab."

The dorm commons were the gathering place for every student in Cowford. There were still some stragglers there. Joseph looked around. The day after tomorrow, they would have to move out, and the decorations for that party were now up. Lazing around were the organizers, who would also be the beneficiaries.

Joseph waved to them. "How's it coming?"

"It's going all right, man. Have a puff: the man in question passed a pipe.

"Nah. I gotta get going, need to stay sober," Joseph said. "You guys know where Maxwell is?"

Everyone responded at once. "Down in the cheese vault, countin' up his cheese."

"Thought so." Joseph nodded.

"Why you wanna know?"

"I need to leave."

"Ah, don't tell me security's gonna be an ass tonight?"

"Probably. They're on lookout for hacks ever since you boys did the Bar None."

"Aw. Well, good luck, man." They shook hands, and Joseph hauled down to the bottom floor of the chemistry lab.

In the deep, dark recesses, there was a small hallway behind a door. This hallway led two places. One was a circle vault door. The other was a locker room.

Having no business in the locker room, Joseph pounded on the door. "MAX! I know you're in there!"

No response. Oh, well. At least now, Maxwell would have no excuse. Joseph twisted the flange-knob. Open. Figured. He hauled it open and-

Max was already at the door. "Joe, my man... Have you ever heard of an intercom?"

"Eh. I can take 'em or leave 'em."

"How about a cell phone?"

"You know I lost mine three weeks ago. And six weeks ago. And ten weeks ago. I think Mom is starting to realize that cell phones are just going to get lost around me."

"By the way, I found it in the compactor. Rescued it too."

"Gee, thanks." Joseph rolled his eyes.

"So a little bird tells me you're planning on getting outta here before Mom can pick you up."

"Um, well, something's come up. Something... important."

"Oh. I see. Something's... come up. Though I find it hard to believe you'd get the guts to ask."

"Huh?"

"No worries. I'll let you and Tony off without a hitch. Not my job. And what the heck, as a little gift-" Max produced a key. "The master key for the locker room. Hehe. I figure- anything left is fair game. Go to it."

Joseph took the key "o... Kay..." He could only wonder at the conclusions Max had drawn as he tried to open the lockers. Nothing.

"Crap." He turned around. "Max, it's busted!"

Max walked over. "Yeah, I kinda figured that one. It's been giving me guff, so I made this machine."

"Lockpicker? Aren't those illegal?"

"Says the man who makes gravitic compressors without a permit."

"I have a permit! And it looks perfectly legal!" Joseph said, indignantly.

"Just go. And call me if you need some chat time away from your man friend."

Joseph sighed, and rolled his eyes. "I'll be sure to."

Joseph looked through each locker, finding little of value. There was an ill-fitting hat, a Nerf gun, and what, on closer inspection, turned out to be a broken paintball marker, as well as several things that at first glance appeared as useless as the marker- some leftover buckshot, a busted compressor, some fresh batteries.

"We still have a pressure tube... and a feeder. Sturdy one, too- there's no neck. Excellent..."

Someone had left an empty backpack; Joseph stuffed all the broken things into it and zipped up, taking the Nerf gun. "At least I can brain someone with this..."

"Interesting choice of weapon, Joseph," Anthony said, returning from upstairs with two cases. One held Joseph's tools; the other held his BB gun and ammo. "I thought you might like this, instead."

"Uh... thanks... but I don't think I can carry the case and the tools. You'd have to carry something. I'd rather it was the gun, I can always make another. Or, for that matter, you can send it to me- I'll keep in touch."

"Right. Your tools, then." Anthony handed them over.

"Now comes the hard part-"

"Sneaking past security." They both nodded. They were old hands at this ever since their Snow Wood days- and the more lax security at Cowford made leaving easy pickings compared to the boarding and finishing school.

First, out of the building. Then down the steps, along the quad- not across it- and then they followed the alleys. Carefully... Carefully...

And just as carefully, they walked right into Security Officer Kowalski.

Kowalski was a rotund man in his late forties, shorter and stouter than either of the two boys.

"Book!" Both Joseph and Anthony could run faster than Kowalski, who was legend for his lack of shape besides 'round'. Huffing and puffing he was left in the dust, breathing heavily into his PB unit. "I... Need... Backup..."

"Yeah, maybe you wouldn't need backup if you stopped goin' to Tom Hirton's for every meal, hey?"

"Seriously... Two... After Curfew... Headed for the gate..."

"Let it go, Kowalski."

"No!"

It was in some bushes that Joseph came to the obvious realization.

"They're going to try and constrict a net around us," Joseph said.

"They only called for you, Joseph," Anthony said quietly.

"Huh?"

"They only called for you. I heard it... but they were calling you. I'll distract security. Get over the wall."

"But what about-"

"But nothing. I'll be fine. Just get out of here and do your job." Anthony stood up out of the bushes for a moment, then kneeled back down. "Oh, and one more thing." He gave Joseph a peck on the cheek. "You damn well better keep in touch." With that, Anthony was over the hedge and running.

Joseph scrambled to the wall, and found the bricks weak and easy to climb on and over. "Bye... Anthony," he said, as he landed. "Let's meet again sometime."

Joseph set off into the night, to find friends he'd never met.

End- Chapter 12