/ Chapter 14 – Challenges of Many Kinds /

The first day of school arrived too quickly as the next few days passed in a whirlwind for Frank. He was a mix of very curious and very nervous about what his classes would be. Mrs. Kowalski had been very impressed with his math abilities, more mildly impressed with his reading and language skills, and made no comment about the rest, making Frank feel stressed by the omissions.

One thing was unquestionably exciting beyond his wildest dreams, and that was visiting the lab he'd been given access to. The funny thing was that he'd been so intimidated by Nix that he'd forgotten to ask where it was. Fortunately Athena knew where it likely was, and took him to a squat building down a tree-lined street between his apartment and the school, with a number of separate labs that were shared among researchers who lived in the area. By Tomorrowland standards, it was a rather plain building but he wasn't complaining in the slightest.

When he approached the building wearing his pin, the door announced, "Welcome, engineer, to your lab. You have been given special access by Dr. David Nix, with no expiration date. Your faceprint has been memorized, so you have no further need for the pin. Please state your name." After giving his name, the door told him he could access Lab #3, and directly off the lab, Workroom #16. The main lab with various equipment and large power tools was shared, the workroom was his privately where he could store his projects and do actual construction.

The lab was all he imagined. In fact, it was far more than he imagined because it contained various equipment labeled with things he'd never heard of, and things he'd only heard of in science fiction magazines. There was even a holographic video recorder that he couldn't wait to try out and see how it worked. Of course, the lab also had a full assortment of normal hand tools and power tools. He practically salivated at the idea of having a real machine shop he could use for his jetpack.

What was even more stunning than all of this was the supply catalog. They'd given him a budget he could draw upon to order engineering supplies, including different metals and plastics, and there was a whole automated manufacturing arm that could shape parts for him (though he hadn't learned how to use the drafting function of the T-Net terminal). And craziest of all, there was a whole section in the catalog with electronic and computer components that blew his mind with some of the descriptions. Tomorrowland was so far ahead of 1964 Earth technology that he almost felt guilty.

But it wasn't even enough that he could order all this stuff. The cherry on the sundae was that it was all delivered via TomorrowPost right to his lab, sometimes in ten minutes if the part was a standard stock part. This was so magical that Frank ordered some simple nuts and bolts at random times, just to watch them pop up in his delivery box.

Athena helped him move his jetpack stuff over to the lab (some of it he was able to send over via T-Post, but some of it was too big) and he'd already spent some time disassembling it and analyzing exactly what the repair robot did. Unfortunately, the modifications it made were subtle and there was no quick way to truly understand it. It was going to take math and physics, but at least he now had the resources to understand it. His T-Net terminal gave him access to an amazing array of engineering materials and knowledge.

Not all of Tomorrowland's knowledge was available on T-Net, unfortunately. But Athena showed him how to access the Tomorrowland Main Library, which was completely amazing. Apparently the founders of Plus Ultra believed in having a well-stocked public library, because it held an enormous variety of books. He didn't even have to go the main building, which was fairly small. Instead of shelves of books, they were stored in the vast underground automated warehouses. When a book was requested, it was sent to the requestor via T-Post, popping into their mail box (either home or the lab) in about ten minutes. When done, you popped it back into any convenient T-Post box. If a book was checked out, it would even ask the holder if they were done with it or if they would loan it to you temporarily; Frank thought the social aspect of this was interesting.

All these things were nearly overwhelming, but the whirlwind was evidently just getting started. He was now walking to his first day of his new school and feeling very nervous. He couldn't decide if Nix's orientation made him less nervous, since at least he knew a bit of what to expect, or if it made him more nervous, since he knew things were radically different and there was a lot still to learn.

One thing Frank did do was take Nix's advice and get there plenty early; he still had an hour to go, just to give himself time to get his schedule and wander around. He went up to a kiosk, which had a lit sign that said, "State your student name to receive your schedule." He did so and a small slip of paper appeared, with a list of times, courses and places. It looked like he was starting with math, English, history and art.

Frank now stood outside his math classroom with about fifteen minutes until classes started, just watching the other kids milling about, feeling very self-conscious and out of place. Everyone looked like normal kids (other than the crazy Tomorrowland fashions), but somehow they seemed like some superior species of human since most of them grew up in Tomorrowland's environment like Athena, who often definitely seemed like a superior human species in many ways. He half-expected everyone to be like her, though he knew they couldn't all be like that. Athena was one of a kind, at least in his limited experience.

"Are you new?" said a blonde boy standing next to Frank. He looked a few years older with some sort of Scandinavian accent.

"Yeah, my name's Frank," he said.

"I'm Sven," the boy answered. "I've been here for three years. My father was recruited as a geologist. Who was recruited from your family?"

"Um, no one, actually. I came here by myself. I guess I was recruited," Frank answered, remembering his conversation with Nix.

The boy looked dubious at this. "How old are you?"

"I turned twelve a couple weeks ago," Frank answered.

"You're recruited?" he asked sarcastically. "Yeah, sure. No yestey is recruited that young. If you don't want to tell me what your parents do, fine. But don't lie."

"Really!" Frank said, not wanting to get off on the wrong foot. "I mean, I don't how to prove it, but I live over in the apartments. I got here about a month ago."

Sven just gave him a withering look and walked away, leaving Frank feeling like his day was already looking shaky. He saw Sven talking to another girl and saw him gesture back at Frank, and both of them laughed.

Music suddenly played from a loudspeaker, sounding like something jazzy with a saxophone, though Frank didn't recognize it. Everyone started filing in the classroom, so apparently that was the 'bell' that started class. Frank hoped the rest of the day improved.

The bell was some kind of ethnic Polka music this time, as lunch time came at last (apparently the school used the bell opportunities for music appreciation). Frank was feeling intimidated with the amount of new information he was taking in about how the school worked. Overall, he was very impressed, but everything was new, the school, the system, the kids… heck, even the planet is new, he thought to himself, amused.

When he reached the cafeteria, he was actually startled because it looked like a cafeteria, with tables and a line to get food. He wasn't sure what he expected; maybe conveyor belts moving him around and placing food in his mouth. Well, I guess not everything can be radically different, he thought. I guess there are only so many ways to eat food.

Frank got in line behind a group of kids that all knew each other, making him feel a bit lonely, but then, he normally ate by himself anyway at the old school. But at least he'd known those kids for years, some from kindergarten. Here everyone was a stranger.

When he finally got to the front of the line, he did notice that the food seemed much fresher, at least. It was some roasted chicken pieces and vegetables. He overheard the lunch lady who was handing out food say to some girl's question, "Yes, we just got a delivery from the hydroponics garden." That was interesting; apparently Tomorrowland grew their own food, though he imagined they must import to some degree.

Carrying his food over to the tables, Frank found an empty one where he could get his bearings. He starting eating, and the food was definitely a cut above his old food.

About ten minutes later, a girl with short, curly dark hair plopped across from him, perhaps a bit older than him. "Are you the kid who says he was recruited?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, I'm Frank," he said, between bites. She seemed at least somewhat friendly, though now that he was looking up, he could see a group of students at another table grinning at them. Apparently she was a scout for them to ask questions.

"I'm Lena," she said, looking at him carefully. "Were you really recruited?"

Frank felt shy and under-the-microscope. "Yeah, that's what they tell me, anyway."

"What, don't you know?" Lena asked suspiciously. "I've never even heard of kids getting recruited."

"I mean, they didn't call it that," Frank said quickly. "I went to the World's Fair in New York. They gave me a pin and I was able to stay here." Of course, this was a drastic oversimplification of what happened, but Frank didn't feel like complicating the picture any more than it already was.

Lena seemed stunned at this, with wide eyes. "You got a pin? Nobody gets handed a pin unless they've been specially chosen. I mean, sometimes workers are recruited and they come here, but that's a whole different thing than being given a pin. I've heard that pins are given out when they want to impress someone they want."

Frank shrugged, but groaned inside, feeling more conspicuous by the second, when all he wanted to do was fit in and keep a low profile.

"Where are your parents?" she asked.

"It's just my dad back in New York, my mom passed away a couple years ago. He said I could go to school here."

"What happened at the World's Fair for you to get a pin?" she asked.

"They had this inventions contest thing and I showed them some stuff."

"What the heck did you show them? It must've been something to impress Plus Ultra."

Frank decided he wanted to just avoid the whole jetpack discussion, which he felt would just drag the whole story out of him, and the current story was apparently already unbelievable enough to everyone.

"I just showed them some stuff I was working on, but it needs more work," he said modestly. "Dr. Nix is letting me use an engineering lab."

This also seemed to rock Lena. "You got special access to an engineering lab? And you're twelve years old?"

"Yeah… I guess…" Frank said his voice fading out, now very uncomfortable and feeling freakish and self-conscious. He supposed he should feel proud of himself for evidently having such high honors, but in fact it made him feel more pressure to live up to "expectations," the word echoing in his head in Nix's voice.

"I mean, I wasn't trying to brag or anything," Frank said hurriedly. "I didn't know any of this was unusual."

Lena now looked very awkward. "Is this really all true?" she asked, sounding very unsure, as though no one would make up anything so outlandish.

"Well… yeah… but honestly…" he started. Frank wanted to say, "I'm just a normal kid," but that sounded like he was either being falsely modest or pompous or something bad. He couldn't figure out any way to unwind the previous conversation, so he changed the subject.

"Um, when did you get here?" he asked.

"I was born in T-Land. I was never a yestey," she said, still looking very intimidated.

"What's a yestey?" Frank recalled Sven used the same word.

"Oh! That's someone from Earth. Like, Tomorrowland / yesterday-land / yestey. Some people think it sounds mean, especially newmos, but it's not really meant that way. It's just a word. Oh, and a newmo is someone new, but that's obvious. It's short for a 'new-morrow.' You'll pick it all up."

"Yeah. Well, I still feel like a yestey," Frank said.

"Everyone is like that for a while," she said. "But I guess you'll probably adapt quicker than anyone."

Frank sighed silently. More expectations, he thought.

Music played over the loudspeaker (this time Rock & Roll, I Want to Hold Your Hand, by the Beatles), signaling the end of lunch, mercifully in Frank's opinion.

"Well, nice talking to you," Lena said, getting up and giving him a polite smile, the kind she might use with an adult rather than a peer.

"Yeah, you too," Frank said, wanting to find something to say that might normalize him in her eyes, but nothing came to mind. He watched her quickly head back to her original group, apparently wanting to deliver a quick report. Frank sighed again.

A dramatic opera piece played as Frank exited his final class, the heavy, ponderous music feeling appropriate to his mood. He was feeling very overwhelmed with his first day of school with all the new information to absorb, but what it made it even more difficult was the unexpected way he was viewed by the students. He noticed walking out that many of the kids were giving him either curious or wary looks, again making him feel very self-conscious. He walked out the front door and down the walkway, just looking forward to some familiarity.

His spirits improved considerably, however, when he saw Athena waiting for him in front of the school, smiling.

"Hello, Frank," she said.

"Hey, Athena!" Frank said with surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I was curious how your first day of school went, so I decided to wait for you," she said.

"Oh, are you done with your mom's school?"

"I have more work to do, but my hours are flexible and vary from day to day."

"That sounds like a nice deal. Anyway, you want to walk home with me?" Frank asked.

"All right," Athena said, as they fell into step with each other. "How did your first day go?"

Frank gave her a rundown of his schedule, and they discussed the things he found interesting between Tomorrowland school and his old school. They'd just about covered that subject when they entered his apartment. Frank wasn't sure he wanted to go into what happened with the students, but then, maybe Athena had some insight, since she seemed to know how the whole system worked.

"Something else happened today that was kind of weird, though," Frank started. "I mean, I don't think I told you, but Nix called me a 'recruit.' I didn't think it was a big deal, but everyone today hardly talked to me, especially after they found out I got a pin."

"It's extremely unusual for someone as young as you to receive a pin," Athena said. "In fact, I believe you're the youngest ever. But you deserved it. Dr. Nix should have given you one himself, but we know what happened there."

Frank smiled. "Yeah. Anyway, I felt like a freak. In a weird way, it was kind of like how it worked at my old school. No one understood me there, either."

"Keep in mind that you may think the students are significantly different here, but they are not as different as you believe," Athena said. "The vast majority of students are children of recruits, or second generation of recruits. They are children of optimists and grow up in Tomorrowland culture, so are probably more optimistic and future-oriented than average, but ultimately they are children with all the same variation and personalities you experienced before."

Frank nodded, thinking about this. "You know, you're right. I guess I did expect the kids to be different somehow, but yeah. People are people, even in paradise," he said, grinning. "Thanks! That helps a lot. I'll just let things happen, work hard, and not worry about what everyone is thinking. Kind of what I did before, actually."

"That's the spirit," Athena said, beaming at him. "I know you're going to do fantastic in the school once you get your legs under you."

Athena's confidence in him made Frank feel much better about things. "Yeah, I think so, too. Hey, do you want to play a game of chess?"

She frowned. "Don't you have homework to do?"

Frank felt a little guilty. "Well, yeah, I guess I do, but I was thinking I could do it tonight after…" he trailed off, as he saw Athena's look growing more disapproving by the second.

"Or maybe I could get my homework done, and then we could play chess?" he tried, with a grin. Part of him felt he should be annoyed at her but he couldn't help being amused instead. And besides, there was no escaping that she was right that 'business before pleasure' was a good policy to establish, and he did want to do well.

Athena smiled. "That's a better plan. We can study together; I have some work I can do on your T-Net terminal. If it won't bother you to have me here, that is."

Frank thought it would never bother him to have Athena around at any time. "Sure, you won't bother me. I don't think the homework will take me long, anyway. Fortunately, they took mercy on us and kept it light for the first day."

Author's Note: And if you would like to take mercy on your author, leave a review! They're appreciated. :)

The official story site is at www. frankandathena .com for discussions of the story! - T.K.