Dreams of Cappella
By Allen Kitchen
all rights reserved

incomplete.. Begun July 97

	"Staring up at the stars again, are you Christy?" Gary chuckled 
as he sat down on the cool damp grass beside her.
	Christy smiled back at him, even though she knew he 
wouldn't be able to see her in the deep dark of night.  "Aren't I 
always?" she teased him.  "And watch where you put your backside 
this time.  You've accidently sat on my hand twice tonight already ."
	She felt him lie down beside her, propping his head up on one 
hand and facing her.  She knew he was grinning widely at her, 
although the only thing she could see was his outline from their 
campsite about 100 feet away.  The campfire behind him made his 
brown hair glow as it illuminated him from behind.
	"So who said it was accidental?" he snickered, reaching out 
with his free hand to stroke her arm.
	She playfully punched him in the chest with that same arm, 
and giggled.  "Oh!  You... you man you!" she laughed.  He chuckled 
warmly back at her as he took his hand away, rolled over, and 
stared up into space alongside her.  
	Together they lazily watched the stars pass slowly by.  They 
laid there in the soft green grass for some time, and stared up at 
the far away suns.  Far, far away.  But somehow, the stars just 
didn't seem to be as distant as they used to be.  They looked the 
same.  The same as they had always looked to stargazers.  They 
just... felt nearer.  Like they were at arms reach all of a sudden.
	"They are all so beautiful." Christine whispered, quietly noting 
the constellations about them.  "But somehow, the magic in them is 
gone now.  They feel closer than they did when I was a child."
	"They haven't changed, you know." Gary mumbled.  "The stars 
never change.  Only we do.  Mankind only exists within the tiniest 
second of the cosmic clock.  Why should the stars change just to suit 
us?"
	"Oh, I know they haven't really changed Gary." she replied 
quietly, trying not to shatter the beauty of the moment.  "But now 
that mankind can finally travel to the stars, somehow they don't 
feel the same anymore.  Like something mystical and mysterious 
has been taken away by our arrival.  I don't know.  Stargazing just 
isn't the same anymore for some reason."
	She sighed a bit, and turned her head to stare at her 
boyfriend laying there beside her in the cool Colorado grass.  "I'm 
being silly, I suppose." 
	"Not at all Christy.  I like it when you wax poetic on me.  But I 
wonder if the stars will be as beautiful once you are out in space?" 
Gary said aloud.  "I'm told they don't sparkle once you leave Earth."
	"No, they don't twinkle out in space." she pointed out.  "That 
much is true.  It is the atmosphere that makes them sparkle, you 
know.  But on other worlds with air, they still sparkle, just like they 
do here on earth."
	"What's really different is the way the sky appears when you 
go to other worlds.   The constellations that we all know and love 
disappear without a trace."
	He snorted disbelievingly at her.  "I don't believe that for a 
minute Christy.  How can constellations vanish?  They've been the 
same since man first hopped down from the trees.  Like I said 
before Christy, why should the stars change for mere humans?"
	"Oh, the stars don't really move or change." she said, picking a 
blade of grass that was tickling her neck and chewing on it.  "We do 
all the changing.  When you cross the great void to another sun, the 
stars in the constellations we know so well all suddenly appear to 
be in different places in the sky.  Leave the area of Sol, and the 
imaginary lines that we dream up to connect the dots don't line up 
anymore.  Thus, the constellations vanish.  
	"The stars are still there.  They just appear to be in different 
places than we're used to."
	She felt him move beside her, reaching into his pockets for a 
stick of gum.  At least she assumed it was gum.  She had not seen 
him dip any chewing tobacco in quite some time.  Not since he 
learned that his college of choice had a very strict 'no tobacco' 
policy, and would refuse admittance to those who smoked or 
chewed.  
	Christy had long thought that it was a lousy policy for a 
school.  Any school.  Gary agreed, and so did lots of lawyers across 
the land.  Every year, another lawsuit was launched, challenging the 
legality of the restrictions.  And year after year, the school won, 
since it was a private school and did not accept any public funds.  If 
the applicant did not like the restrictions there, they could go to 
college elsewhere.  Thus the school could deny anyone an education 
for any reason at all: drug use, smoking, sexual orientation, religious 
beliefs, race...
	Funny how things always end up like that, Christy thought 
sourly to herself.  Even if someone's original intentions were noble, 
they didn't stay that way.  Once you gave somebody power over 
you, they always found a way to abuse it.  Once you started down 
the slippery slope of exclusion, it quickly became impossible to stop 
the descent into dictatorship.
	That was one reason Christy was so eager to be on her way 
offworld.  She yearned for another place to call home.  A new 
world, with a clean slate for mankind to start over.  A frontier 
where no politicians and lawyers had yet arrived to ruin utopia 
with their mind control and social experimentation.  She did not 
believe that space would remain so free forever.  But she wanted to 
experience it for that brief amount of time that it did.  
	He unwrapped his stick of gum, and folded it into his mouth.  
She could smell the spearmint on his breath as he teasingly spoke 
to her.  "Not even a cadet yet, and already you're an expert on 
space.  And where were you when I was sweating out that last 
science exam?  I sure could have used your help."
	"I was 3 seats behind you, so you couldn't copy off of my 
paper." she teased back.  "Besides, just because I've been accepted 
into the starpilot academy doesn't mean I am an expert on space 
yet."
	"Well, it makes you a lot closer to one than I am."  he sighed 
as he put his free arm around her waist.  "I am really going to miss 
you when you leave Chris.  You know that don't you..."
	She put her hand on his, and rolled onto her back once more 
to stare up at her future.  "Yes, I know." she lowly replied, trying 
hard not to feel depressed about leaving her boyfriend behind.  
Leaving her home and family didn't bother her.  She had never 
really been much of a homebody.  Leaving her friends bothered her 
some, but she consoled herself that schoolyard chums often 
seperate after graduation.  That was just how things were.
	But having to leave her boyfriend hurt.  A lot.  She knew deep 
down that high-school romances didn't usually last past graduation 
either.  That didn't make things any easier to deal with though. 
	"I don't report to the initial training center for 4 more weeks 
Gary." she told him, rubbing his bare arm as he held her waist.  "We 
have that much time to ourselves, at least."
	She heard him sigh deeply.  "4 weeks.  Only 4 more.  Then 
you go off into space, and I go off to college.  And we will never see 
each other again."
	"I still don't see why you don't try to join the space fleet with 
me..."
	He laughed gently at her, and rubbed her waist.  "Not 
everyone is destined to go to the stars Christy.  I'm not cut out to go 
and explore brave new worlds.  So I have to content myself with 
exploring this tired, old one.  I won't be bored, I promise.  I just... I 
just wish you and I could find a future doing something together is 
all."
	She nodded.  "It isn't fair, is it?  You and I being torn apart 
like this?"
	He paused a moment before answering, and the stars above 
continued their relentless journey across the heavens.  "No." he 
finally replied.  "It isn't fair.  But crying about it won't change 
anything.  I could no more become your spaceman than you could 
become my housewife.  We aren't made from the right materials, 
you and I.  We'd both be miserable, and you know it."
	"Yeah.  I know.  But that doesn't make it any easier..."
	Gary took a deep breath through his nose, taking in the scents 
and smells of the Colorado summertime.  "So, the little time we 
have left is precious then.  Precious, because it will never come 
again."  He then leaned closer to her, and placed his forehead 
against hers.  "And precious also, because we are still together.  As 
improbable as it is, we are still."
	She smiled, and slowly tilted her head back, pressing her lips 
to his.  She gently kissed him, feeling his heartbeat against hers on 
his soft moist lips.  He returned her affection, kissing her long and 
slow as he drank in the magic of the moment.
	He finally broke off the kiss, and pulled back to lay beside her 
again.  "That was nice." he sighed.  
	Christy nodded, then felt foolish about it since he couldn't see 
her nod in the dark.  "Yes.  It was." she quietly replied.  
	Suddenly, Gary pulled his hand away from her.  He sat up 
once more, and looked down on her.  His hair shone once more as 
the distant firelight passed through it again.
	"Christy, tell me one thing." he urgently asked.  "I'm still 
worried about you going off into deepspace.  Do you really think 
you have what it takes to control one of those giant starships?  I 
mean... can you really do it?"
	She snorted at his sudden lack of faith in her abilities, but did 
not allow herself to get annoyed with him.  After all, like he said, 
this time together was precious.  Why waste it by being angry?
	"You've been watching too many fantasy holos." she 
grumbled.   "Starships aren't some giant flying city, like you see in 
the theatre.  Real starships are only about the size of a city bus.  
That's why they fly back and forth to the colonies so often.  They 
can't carry a great deal of cargo.  Not yet anyway.  Scientists would 
love to be able to build larger starships, but right now they can't."
	"Why not?"
	"Well, it has something to do with the ParaLight drive." she 
added, sitting upright and turning to face him.  "The brains all say 
they can't send anything bigger than a bus past light speed.  
Otherwise the drive fails horribly.  The ship and everything within 
it turns into a atom-wide ribbon of matter, zipping through space at 
near relativistic speeds.  A nasty way to die, if you ask me."
	"Well, there aren't any good ways to die." he countered.  "But 
why do they need psychics and sensitives like you to act as pilots?  
Why can't they use computers or something to fly the starships?"
	Christy shook her head slowly before he even finished his 
sentence.  "No, Gary.  That doesn't work.  You see, moving faster 
than the speed of light is supposed to be impossible to start with.  
But somehow, the scientists figured a way around that.  Everything 
would be fine, except for one thing.  When you are in paralight 
space, there are no beacons or references anywhere to guide you.  
There isn't any way to tell where you really are.  You're just 
screaming along through the dark, with no clue at all where in real 
space you might be."
	Gary rubbed his chin thoughtfully.  "Interesting." he 
mumbled.  "Okay then, why not just stay at a set speed for however 
long the trip takes, and then drop back into real space at the proper 
time?  A computer could handle that task well enough."
	"That would work Gary, except that each time the drive is 
fired, you move at a different velocity in paralight space.  One trip 
could take a few minutes, and your trip back could take several 
weeks.  Same distance, same route, but different paralight speed.  
It's different every time, and the scientists haven't figured out why.  
Personally, I think that the scientists don't really know how their 
invention works yet.  They will never admit it, of course..."
	He chuckled at her final comment.  "Yeah.  Probably not.  
Sometimes I think they have double doors on laboratories just to 
let the scientists' egos through.  But all that aside, do you think 
they'll ever figure it out?  The size limitation and speed problem 
that is?"
	Christy nodded to him, and put her hands behind her head 
and stretched.  Long and hard.  
	"Eventually." she replied as she arched her back, feeling the 
muscles tighten and stretch.  Her voice was strained as she tensed 
all the muscles in her torso and arms.  "After all Gary, we only 
developed the paralight drive a mere 15 years ago.  It amazes me 
that we have already colonized over 100 worlds in so short a time.  
It also amazes me that there are more starships built and ready to 
go than pilots available to fly them.  So yes, I am certain that the 
scientists will figure out how to make the ships more easy to 
control.  They have to.  And when they do, psychics like me won't 
be required for space travel anymore."
	Gary watched her stretch in front of her.  He stared intently 
as she pressed her chest out while arching her back over.  Her 
breasts were very easy to make out, straining against her white 
Tshirt.  Even in the dark.  He was grinning a little bit, enjoying the 
show.  But of course, she knew that.  She wanted him to notice her.  
Otherwise she wouldn't have stretched in front of him the way she 
did.  
	 "You will have a great deal of experience as a pilot by then 
Christy." he pointed out to her as she finished showing off to him.   
"So I doubt you'll be out of a job when that happens.  Like you said, 
they already have more ships than people to fly them."
	She put her arms back down in her lap, and nodded.  "True..."
	"But I still don't understand why they need so many psychics.  
Why is the talent so important for a starship pilot?"
	She laid back down on her back again, still staring up at her 
boyfriend.  "It's really quite simple Gary.  Just as the paralight 
drive beats the speed of light limitation, it also beats the time 
dilation effect.  If your flight requires a week, then when you pop 
back into normal space, the planet you are trying to reach has 
moved along in it's orbit for a week as well.  You would arrive at 
your destination fine, but your world wouldn't be there to greet 
you.  You would have to spend another week or two just chasing 
the planet in real space, trying to catch up with it."
	"But psychic phenomena is instantaneous Gary.  It works in 
normal space, and in paralight space equally well.  It is not affected 
by distance, time, or dimension.  Psychics always know where their 
ship is in real space, and where their destination is as well.  They 
can feel it as they move through paralight space, even though the 
ship's speed varies everytime the stardrive is used.  Psychics can 
fine-tune their ship's course as they fly to arrive within a few 
thousand miles of a world, instead of a few billion miles.  No 
computer will ever be able to do that."
	Gary chuckled a little bit to himself, then moved over the 
couple of feet to her on his hand and knees.  He sat on all fours, and 
looked down on her.  The firelight in her red hair shone like bright 
copper in the darkness.  He could also just make out her facial 
expressions.
	He put his left hand on one of her shoulders, and began to 
caress her.  He gently rubbed her through her shirt, taking his time 
and moving slowly.  "You know Christy," he said lovingly.  "There 
are a number of things that a computer will never be able to do."
	Christy grinned, and looked up into her lovers face about a 
foot away.  She couldn't really read his expression very well in the 
dim firelight.  She didn't really need to though.  "I don't have to be 
a psychic to know what's on YOUR mind..." she snickered.  "You 
naughty man you..."
	Gary leaned forward and placed his lips to her ear.  He gently 
blew into her lobes and moved his hand lower, lower towards one 
of her breasts.  Christy let out a soft gasp of delight as he let his 
warm breath tickle her ear.  
	"Oh, I'm not such a naughty man." he whispered to her.  "In 
fact, I can be quite good.  When properly motivated, that is."
	"You can, can you?" she replied, her breathing already 
starting to accelerate.  She could already feel her pulse beginning to 
rise.  She put her right arm around his shoulders, and held him 
close.  "So what do I have to do to motivate you?"
	Gary let his weight off his legs and straightened them out on 
the cool grass again, laying down beside her.  "I'm sure you'll think 
of something." he quietly laughed as his hand cupped her breast in 
one of his hands.
	Christy gasped once again, and held him tighter to her.  "What 
about the stars?" she breathlessly asked him.
	"They aren't going anywhere." he replied as he caressed her, 
feeling her warmth through the thin cotton of her Tshirt.  He 
fondled her breast slowly and lovingly.  He felt the nipple through 
the material begin to stiffen in arousal to his attentions.
	She kissed him, softly, and quietly spoke.  "Well, the stars 
may not be going anywhere Gary.  But you sure are..."
	Gary inhaled again, this time taking in the scent of her, not 
the meadow.  He breathed in the scent of her hair, and sweat.  He 
smelled the gentle aftertone of her perfume, almost gone now after 
a full day.  The scents, the firelight, the fireflies flitting to and fro, 
the future, everything about the moment was intoxicating to him.
	He felt drunk with passion.
	"I may not be able to fly you to the stars, but I can fly you to 
the moon and back." he told her as he pushed his pelvis against 
hers.  "What do you say?  Would you like to come with me?"
 	She took a deep breath, then reached down with her right 
arm to pull up on the bottom of her Tshirt.  "I'd love to." she replied 
as she pulled on the fabric to expose her breasts to the cool night 
air, and to the eager lover next to her.  "But first, do you think you 
could get off of my left hand?  You're sitting on it again."

*******

	Christy stared blankly out the window of the Hummingbird 
personell carrier as it roared over the Neveda desert some 5000 
feet below.  She had been looking outside since the flight began 
several hours earlier in Denver.  There was every reason to be 
elated.  After all, she was about to undergo training to become a 
starship pilot.  She was flying to her future on silver wings and fire.  
The stars were just a bit further ahead, and the academy was her 
doorway to them.  
	She had many reasons to be thrilled, but she wasn't.  Christy 
glumly stared out the aircraft window and ignored her energetic 
classmates on the flight.  Most of the other 20 cadets on board were 
very excited, jumping all about the cabin and showing off their new 
uniforms.  Bright blue with golden buttons, and an insignia for 
Starship Pilot (Three 8pointed stars, with an arrow passing through 
them) on the right shoulder.  Everyone was eagerly talking amongst 
themselves, walking about and getting to know the other cadets in 
their graduating class.  
	Everyone but Christy.
	The Tiltrotor aircraft was flying horizontally now, so the pilot 
up front tolerated everyone's moving about.  He probably knew 
from experience that it was impossible to keep a bunch of raw 
recruits settled in for any length of time anyway.  As long as the 
engines were pointed forward and the machine was stable, he could 
afford to let them horse around a bit.  There was no real danger 
while the Hummingbird flew as a traditional aircraft, held aloft by 
its wings.
	But once the pilot converted the Hummingbird to vertical 
flight mode, he'd be very different.  The aircraft's center of gravity 
couldn't bounce around while the aircraft hung motionless, 
suspended on its two massive propellors.  Once the two engines at 
the end of the wings swiveled upwards for vertical flight, the pilot 
wouldn't take any crap from anybody.  The whole group would be 
strapped into their chairs and silent while the pilot settled the 
aircraft onto the desert floor, close to the training center.
	None of it mattered much to Christy though.  She hadn't even 
unstrapped herself from takeoff, and had no plans to do so.  While 
the rest of the passengers onboard were whooping it up, she just 
stared out the Plexiglass window beside her, feeling sorry for 
herself.
	Because only a few hours ago, she and Gary had hugged for 
what was likely to be the very last time.  A little while ago she had 
watched him standing on the taxiway, waving farewell to her in the 
morning sunlight as the Hummingbird lifted slowly off the ground.  
She waved back to him as the engines tilted forward, and all too 
quickly took him from her view, leaving him behind on the earth 
while she roared off into the skies.  Leaving him behind... forever.
	She knew that the seperation was inevitable, but dammit, 
why did it have to be so painful?  And this was just a short little 
flight to Nevada.  For a few weeks.  Pretty soon, the distances 
between them would be even greater.  Astronomically greater.  Say, 
a couple of decades as the photon flys?  
	Christy reached up to her face, and wiped a tear from her 
cheek with the blue sleeve of her brand new uniform.  She absently 
wondered just how many tears had been wiped on sleeves of other 
uniforms over the centuries.  Soldiers heading off to war.  Sons and 
daughters heading off to school.  Cadets heading off into space.  So 
many people had put on a uniform and left their loved ones behind.  
So many.  Some returned home again, to the loving arms of those 
they left.
	But many did not.  And it didn't take much concentration for 
her to figure out which side of that tally sheet she would end up on.
	She suddenly noticed a change in the landscape they were 
flying over.  She put her forehead against the glass, and strained 
her eyes to see the ground more clearly.  The rolling brown sands 
had abruptly turned into a solid white flat plain.  They were now 
flying over a salt flat, a dead lake in the middle of the desert.  
Perfectly level and many miles wide, salt lake beds had been used 
for decades as a proving ground for aircraft.  They made superb 
emergency runways when an experimental aircraft developed 
trouble.
	They also made wonderful landing zones for starships.
	Christy sighed.  They were almost there.  Almost to the 
starpilot's training center.  Only a few more miles to go before they 
reached the center of the salt flat, and the underground bunkers of 
the academy.
	"All right you cadets!" she heard the pilot say over the plane's 
P.A. system.  He sounded like one of those old-time marine drill 
sergeants from the old war movies.  "It's time to settle down and 
get back into your seats.  We are about 6 miles from Terra Alpha 
training center, and I'm about to convert the plane to vertical mode 
for landing.  So all of you get back to your chairs and strap 
yourselves in.  There will be plenty of time for you to hobnob over 
the next 12 weeks.  That is all."  The P.A. system then cut off with a 
loud click as the blue-uniformed youths slowly and reluctantly 
returned to their assigned seats.
	Christy turned to face the front of the plane as an oriental girl 
sat down in the seat beside her.  Her eyes were brown, and her hair 
was short cropped and jet black.  She smiled at Christy, and eagerly 
stuck out her right hand to shake.  "Hey there." the girl said smiling.  
"I'm Patty." 	
	Christy half-heartedly took her hand in hers and shook with 
the stranger.  "Hi, I'm Christy."
	Patty squeezed her hand tightly, and shook.  "Good to meet 
you Christy." she exclaimed.  "Oh, this is all so exciting!  Don't you 
think so?"
	Christy slowly took her hand back from Patty's embrace, and 
placed it in her lap.  "Yeah, I guess so." she flatly replied.
	Patty cocked her head a little bit, and stared at Christy 
concernedly.  "Are you okay Christy?  You sound like you're 
airsick."
	She shook her head dejectedly.  "No.  No, I'm not airsick."
	"Well, you sure don't act like someone who's about to learn to 
fly a starship.  You act more like someone who is going to jail or 
something."
	Christy took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly, trying to 
relax.  It didn't work.  No surprise there though.  That trick had 
never worked for her.  She looked into Patty's brown eyes, and felt 
like crying.
	"Everything has just hit me all at once Patty." she nearly 
sobbed.  "I've left all of my friends and family behind.  I've just left 
my entire past, never to return.  I won't see any of my old friends 
again, ever.  So sue me if I am a little blue."
	Patty laid back into her seat, and put her hand on one of her 
cheeks.  She regarded Christy with a small mischievious smirk as 
she answered her.  "Yeah, I noticed you staring out that window all 
throughout the flight."  She began to chuckle audibly.  "Your 
boyfriend Gary must have really been something.  One of these 
nights you will have to tell me all the juicy details about him."
	That caught Christy completely by surprise.  Her jaw dropped 
as Patty just sat in her chair, giggling at her.  "How on earth did you 
know my boyfriends name??" she finally spat out.  "I've never told 
you anything about him!"
	Patty just grinned, and tapped a finger against her forehead.  
"Oh come now Christy.  Did you really think you are the only 
psychic on board this aircraft?"
	Christy suddenly felt very much the fool.  "I usually am..." she 
began, then stopped, feeling even more foolish than before.
	Patty started to laugh.  "Not on this flight you aren't.  Think 
about where you are going!  You are surrounded by the most 
sensitive talents on earth.  Psychics, each and all.  Every single one 
of us knows what you are feeling Christy.  We can't help but know."
	"Am I broadcasting my emotions that loudly?" Christy asked 
apologetically.  She really wasn't aware that her feelings had run 
away with her talent like that.  It was considered to be in bad taste 
to openly broadcast your bad feelings to everyone around you.  
That was one of her earliest lessons in controlling her talent.  "I'm 
sorry.  That was very rude of me.  I'll try to put a lid on it from 
now on."
	Patty turned away from her new friend, and grabbed a bag of 
peanuts from the pocket on the seat in front of her.  "Don't worry 
about it honey.  We left you alone throughout the flight because 
you were feeling so down.  We didn't want to intrude on your 
private thoughts, no matter how public you made them."
	"I loved him so much Patty.  It was magical."
	"Yeah, sure."  Patty commented offhandedly as she struggled 
to open the peanuts plastic wrapping.  She pulled repeatedly on the 
red-colored tabs.  "You will find another man, Christy.  Perhaps one 
of the guys on this very plane."
	"You weren't listening.  I said that Gary and I shared 
something magical..."
	"Your next love will be something magical too.  In a different 
way maybe, but magical nonetheless."
	Christy shook her head at the idea that she could ever love 
somebody else.  It was too soon.  "I could never find another man 
like Gary." she sadly pointed out.
	"I never suggested that you try."  Patty was pulling at the bag 
of nuts with all the strength she could muster, and her voice was 
stressed from her exertion.  The plastic baggy refused to tear open 
and release its contents to her.  "You shouldn't be trying to 
duplicate him, you should be trying to replace him.  Go on out and 
find somebody new.  Someone different.  Someone you can have a 
future with.  After all, Gary was only your high-school lover.  It 
never had a chance of going anywhere, now did it?"
	Christy began to scowl at the black-haired woman beside her.  
"Where I come from," she said with some irritation, "it is rude to 
peer into other peoples minds without permission."
	Patty sat the bag of nuts on the armrest between their seats, 
and glared at the stubborn package.  "Where I come from, it is 
impolite to broadcast your emotions all over the place.  So I guess 
we are even, you and I."
	"Still, stay out of my mind unless you ask first.  Okay?"
	"Fair enough." Patty nodded, still glaring at her peanuts.  "Just 
remember what I said though.  Gary won't be the last lover you 
ever have.  He will always have a special place in your heart, but 
you will have other men in your life.  Probably quite a variety, 
considering your figure."
	"Hey!"
	Patty looked up from the peanuts and into Christy's shocked 
expression.  "Well, it's true!" she protested.  "I wish I looked half as 
good as you do Christy.  If I had your body, I don't think I'd ever 
be alone in bed again!"
	Christy began to grin at Patty, in spite of her depression.  
"You're impossible!" she sputtered.
	"Heh.  Of course I'm impossible.  I'm your roommate!"
	Christy's grin quickly became a look of surprise once again.  
"My... my roommate?  MY ROOMMATE?"
	Patty put her hands on her hips, and glared at the still-intact 
bag of peanuts on the armrest.  "Hmph!  We can travel to the stars, 
but we still can't make an easy-to-open bag of nuts." she fumed.  
"Sure I'm your roommate.  What, did you think you were getting a 
private room at the Ritz or something?  And I'm supposed to be 
impossible for you to deal with.  That's what having a roommate is 
all about.  It's all part of the bonding process."
	"I know some ways of bonding people that you might not like 
Patty." Christy commented, smiling again.  She was starting to like 
this new roommate.
	"Don't count on it sweety." Patty said, looking down to stare 
once more at her snack, trying to think up a way to open it.  
"Whatever it is, I've probably already done it.  Twice .  I can be 
pretty inventive when I want to be."
	Christy then rapidly raised her hand in a fist, and brought it 
down forcefully onto Patty's bag of nuts.  The sudden pressure 
inside the bag burst the seam along the top of the plastic wrap, 
popping the bag open with a bang.  A couple of nuts flew out of the 
bag, but most remained inside, albiet slightly crushed now from 
being punched.
	Patty slowly looked up at Christy, impressed.
	Christy smiled at her, and said "I can be pretty inventive too."
	Patty slowly grinned back at her, and picked up her now-
open snackbag.  "Oh, we are going to have some wonderful times 
together, you and I." she said, dipping her hand into the crushed 
nuts.  "We're going to have a lot of fun!  The academy is going to 
regret putting us together, I'm sure of it.  Together, we'll rule the 
place before we head on out into space."  
	Chuckling to herself, Patty looked down and began to belt 
herself into her seat as the engines began to swing upwards, and 
the aircraft began to slow.  They were about to land at the 
starpilot's academy.  Christy tried to think of the good things that 
awaited her.  She tried to push Gary out of her thoughts and 
imagine the trouble that this woman next to her could get her into.  
Would likely get her into.  She about halfway succeeded as she felt 
the plane begin its near-vertical descent to the desert floor.

***

	"Okay Cadets!  Welcome to the second most barren and empty 
place you will ever see!"  The tall man with the megaphone called 
out to them as they stepped out one at a time from the aircraft.  He 
was dressed in a white jumpsuit with several tags and lables sown 
onto it.  He was standing on the hood of a jeep parked about 20 feet 
from the back of the plane.
	Christy followed Patty, stepping down the short ladder in the 
side of the aircraft.  She could feel the wind from the still spinning 
rotors on the end of the wings as they beat the air downwards.  The 
engines were not running, but something as large as those rotors 
couldn't instantly stop.  Too much mass moving far too fast for that.  
So the propellers were still going while Christy and the other cadets 
were deplaning, kicking up dirt and wind onto them.
	And that wind was HOT!  Christy felt the sweat bead up on 
her forehead just seconds after stepping out of the plane.  After 
only a moment outside, she knew exactly why the facilities were all 
underground.
	The tall white man with the megaphone kept talking.  
"Welcome to the Terra Alpha Starpilot training center.  My name is 
Lt. Clark.  And no, I don't run the place.  Major Suleika does.  But I 
am an instructor here, so you had better listen when I talk.  I don't 
like having to repeat myself to you, or to anyone else."
	Christy and Patty walked to the back of the plane where the 
baggage access doors had been opened.  All the cadets were looking 
inside as the pilot and his engineer climbed inside to toss out the 
luggage for the passengers to sort through themselves.
	"As you can all see," Clark continued  "we are in the middle of 
a large flat salt lake in the middle of the desert.  There is a good 
reason for this.  You all have strong psychic talents, but not all of 
you have the kind of talent we need to pilot starships.  This dead 
lake bed is where we will find out if you have what it takes."
	Patty watched the bald-headed man standing on the hood of 
the black ATV.  "I wonder if he has what it takes." she said aside to 
Christy.  
	Christy turned and looked the same direction as Patty.  She 
opened her mind a bit, and focused her concentration on the officer 
still shouting at them.  After a second or two, she was able to gauge 
his psychic energy levels.  She "felt" him as a slightly brighter grey 
blur against a sea of blackness.  He was alive, no surprise there.  
But he did not have the color or brilliance normally associated with 
Talent.  Of any kind.  
	She may as well have been probing the plane, for all the 
Talent he had.
	"I sense no talent in him." she said to Patty as they both 
turned around to look at the growing pile of bags collecting on the 
ground behind the plane.
	Patty looked surprised at Christy for a moment, then shook 
her head smartly.  "I'll bet he has a talent all right.  You just aren't 
poking around correctly."
	Christy thought about it for a second or two, then figured out 
what her roommate meant.  She began to blush.
	The megaphone barked "All of you will get to prove you can 
find a target using only your psychic senses.  You will each have to 
find a target out in this large empty waste.  You will be driving 
ATV's like this one.  We keep about 12 of them in the underground 
garage for such testing purposes, and general use."
	Christy's attention was suddenly drawn to a black shape 
rising right up out of the salt floor.  An ATV jeep had seemed to 
just drive up out of the ground.  She looked harder at the area the 
jeep had come from, and noticed that there was a ramp there, cut 
into the salt lake floor and leading underground.  That must be the 
garage Lt. Clark was talking.  While she watched, another jeep, as 
black as the first one began to come topside.
	"This is how we seperate the starship pilots from the 
wannabe pilots." Clark announced, grinning a bit.  "And just for fun, 
I want all of you to put your hands together.  Everyone form a line 
in front of the plane, right now."
	Christy, Patty, and all the rest just stared at him.  Unsure 
what to do.
	"Well, move it Cadets!" Clark bellowed through his 
megaphone.  Christy jumped.  His voice sounded loud enough to 
carry across the desert even without the megaphones help.  "I said 
form a line and link up hands!  Now!"
	Everyone rushed around, bumping into each other and trying 
to figure out where to form up.  The Hummingbird pilot and 
engineer behind them laughed aloud at the disorganized stampede 
of cadets.  They roared with laughter as one young man fell onto his 
face, tripping on a bag another cadet had hastily dropped in the 
rush.
	Before long, all the cadets were lined up besided the aircraft 
for Clark to review.  Christy and Patty stood in the middle of the 
group, holding hands.  As they stood there, Clark watched them 
intently while the black jeeps approached.  Christy noticed there 
were 5 jeeps pulling up to the aircraft, not counting the one Clark 
was sitting on.
	After what seemed like an eternity, Clark hopped off the hood 
of his ATV and called out to the crowd again.  "Okay troops.  I want 
you to look at the person to your left."
	Everyone looked to the left.  Patty looked at Christy while 
Christy was staring into the back of someones head. 
	"You see the person beside you?  That person is not going to 
pass the training!"
	Christy felt her hands beginning to shake.  She felt Patty 
squeeze it tightly.  She was frightened now also, she could feel it.
	"We have about a 50% failure rate right now people." Clark 
continued, putting down his megaphone and walking toward the 
line of cadets.  "Like I said before people.  Not everyone with talent 
has what we need to guide starships.  This desert strip is where you 
will be made or unmade, the whole lot of you.  Some of you will 
have that special skill we need, and will go to the stars on a plume 
of flame.
	"The rest of you will leave on a plane just like that one." he 
said, pointing to the Hummingbird that had brought them.  
	Christy was really trembling now as he paced cooly and 
slowly in front of the line.  He studied each and every cadet with 
his steel-grey eyes as he walked by.  He silently regarded each and 
every one of them in passing, as if he was trying to determine 
already who could do the job and who could not.  
	If this performance was designed to frighten the cadets, it 
was working.
	Lt. Clark finally finished walking in front of the cadets, and 
stopped at the end of the line.  He looked severly at all of them.  
	"You are the sorriest bunch of talents I've ever seen come in 
here.  But I can't just let you roast in the hot desert sun.  Everyone 
get your bags, and take a seat in one of the jeeps driving up.  
Dismissed!"

***

	The black ATV was going about 20 miles/hr across the desert 
floor.  At least that was what Christy thought anyway.  She couldn't 
be sure.  She was blindfolded, and couldn't see the dash, the 
instruments, her instructor, anything.  Lt. Clark was driving now, 
controlling the machine from the passenger side with the auxilery 
controls.  He was currently moving the machine to a safe distance 
from the academy, so he could give the controls to her.
	Then the test would begin.
	"Here you go Christy." he said aloud.  "The jeep is now yours.  
Please take the controls."
	"Yes sir." she meekly responded as she took the wheel in her 
hands.  She could feel the tires rough rumble through the soft 
plastic.  She swore that she could feel the potential of the jeep.  
Could feel it's untapped power as the machine slowly lumbered 
across the salt flat.  It seemed to want to move faster, begging to go 
to a higher gear and race across the desert floor.  It was as if the 
jeep thought it was a racing car for some reason.
	If only she could feel as confident as her vehicle.
	"Okay, now remember." he gruffly said to her.  "Mr. Ortiz is 
somewhere out here in a helium balloon.  Your job is to drive up to 
him.  Don't worry about hitting anything, because there isn't 
anything out here to hit.  That's one reason we put the testing 
center in the middle of a desert.  All you have to do is find Mr. Ortiz 
out there, and drive up to him.  Simple as that."
	Christy was still unnerved by the strength and presence of Lt. 
Clark.  She knew he was staring at her with those cold steel eyes of 
his.  She was still quite intimidated by him.
	"Yes sir." she replied, trying to regain some confidence.  "Are 
there any rules to this?"
	"Only that you must drive with no aids other than your 
Psychic talent." Lt. Clark replied.  "We are trying to see if you can 
find a simple target, a fellow psychic in a balloon.  You can have no 
clues or help at all except your talent, hence the blindfold.  If you 
can find Mr. Ortiz, then you pass, and you go on to the next level of 
training."
	Christy heard the material in his seat creak as he leaned back 
into it.  Apparently he didn't have any concerns at all, other than 
making sure they didn't crash into something unexpected.  
	Well, why should he, she thought to herself.  After all, he 
wasn't the one being tested. 
	"And if I can't find him?" she nervously asked.  
	Instantly, Christy wished that she'd kept that question to 
herself.  She could feel his look of disapproval next to her.  She 
shrank into her seat from his dislike of her question.  
	"If you can't do it today, then we will try again another day." 
he gruffly answered her.  "You get up to 3 shots at this.  Three 
attempts to prove you can navigate psychicly.  But if you are 
worrying about what happens when you fail, then perhaps you 
aren't ready..."
	"No sir.  I'm ready." she quickly interrupted.  "I... I was only 
curious.  That's all."
	"Well, don't be." he smartly said.  "Don't be curious.  Not here, 
not now.  You should be focusing on nothing except finding Mr. 
Ortiz, and guiding the jeep to him.  You will have time enough for 
curiosity later.  But you have to get past this exam first."
	"Yes sir."  she said again, trying to sound as strong as he did.  
It came out as a nervous warble.  Again, she felt the wave of 
disapproval from him.
	Christy took a quick breath, held it a second, and opened up 
her mind.  She conciously lowered the mental defenses that all 
psychics develop to protect their minds and their sanity from the 
cacaphony of minds around them.  She carefully lowered the steel 
wall she constructed in her imagination, and peered out from over 
the rim.
	All she could see was darkness. 
	She lowered the wall still further, and timidly leaned forward 
into the blackness, trying to sense anything.  There was still nothing 
but void around her.  A cold inky jet emptiness.  She could not feel 
anything within it.
	Christy increased her sensitivity, making the blackness 
around her mind gradually become a deep dark grey.  It was as if 
she was in a thick fog.  There wasn't even the slightest sensation of 
other talents around her.  There was only the slight glow from Lt. 
Clark sitting next to her.  
	If Lt. Clark had rattled her nerves before, she was getting 
really worried now.  Why couldn't she find him?  She had used her 
talent to find people for ages, but what if she couldn't make it work 
on command?  Suppose she didn't have what it takes after all?  
What would happen to her?  What would become of her?
	She continued to peer into the psychic ether with her mind.  
Her eyes were shut, more out of habit than neccessity.  Christy 
stared hard into the nothingness, her palms sweating as they 
supported her weight on the shield wall.  She was able to sense the 
desert around her, and its utter emptiness.  There was no life for 
miles around her.  No life at all.  Nothing but empty sand and flat 
hot rock.
	"This is a big desert..." she said aloud, still trying to find a 
flicker of TalentFire in the emptiness.  Her forehead was sweaty, 
whether from the heat of the desert or her nervousness.
	"Ha!  You think this is big?" Clark grumbled.  "Wait until you 
get out into space.  Then you'll know what distance really is.  Once 
you start scanning for a tiny world orbiting some sun across 
countless light years, this will be like sitting in your dorm room 
watching television."
	"I just hope the reception is better." she feebly joked.
	Clark didn't laugh.
	Christy shrank a little deeper into her seat.
	"Either you can find him, or you can't." Clark grumbled.  "So 
tell me.  Have you located him yet?"
	"I'm... not sure." she nervously replied.
	"He's a very talented psychic.  Anyone with any talent should 
be able to locate him easily."
	The jeep continued to move ahead.  "All I see is a grey mist.  
I've never had trouble finding anyone or anything before.  I don't 
know what's going on, or what to do about it."
	Christy clearly heard him sigh.  Like he was grasping for 
patience.  "Try pretending that he is lost in the desert, and will die 
if you don't find him.  Make a life or death situation out of it.  
Pretend that you are one of those superheroes you find in the 
graphic novels, and go rescue him."	
	"You mean a comic book?"
	"I mean what I said." he shot back.  "Stop correcting my 
speech, and get on with finding Mr. Ortiz.  You don't seem to be 
taking this very seriously.  You are being tested, pass or fail, and 
there are no points for good grammer!"
	She took a quick gasp of air, and slowly let it out again, trying 
to calm her shaking nerves.  Oh, she was taking this seriously all 
right.  If he only knew just how much she was worrying about it 
all!  After all, she had to prove herself out here.  Not just to the 
other cadets or to her family, but to herself as well.  She wanted to 
go to the stars so bad... If only she could get out of this desert and 
away from this jerk beside her.
	Christy gripped the wheel more tightly.  She prayed silently 
that she was up to the challenge.
	She decided to change tactics, and circle around a bit.  After 
all, she may not be detecting her target because it might be behind 
her.  It would be just her luck that she'd fail the test because she 
was looking the wrong direction.  So gradually, she turned the 
wheel and let the jeep swing to the left, making a gentle curve.  
	Christy nervously reached out with her mind again, and this 
time tried to make a telepathic contact with Mr. Ortiz.  She knew 
what his mind felt like from their previous encounter, so she 
searched for the particular sense of his mind in the grey mist.  She 
sought a particular voice in the silence, hoping that a narrow focus 
would allow her greater sensitivity.  Allow her to find him.
	She scanned the area for several minutes.  Still nothing...
	Christy finally sighed, feeling defeated, and pressed the brake 
pedal.  The jeep obediently stopped.  
	"I'm sorry sir." she stammered, still facing forward.  "But I 
just can't seem to locate Mr. Ortiz.  Or anything else for that matter."
	She heard Lt. Clark scribbling something down on a pad in his 
lap.  "What do you mean?  You  can't sense anything at all?  
Anything?"  He sounded surprised for some reason.
	"No sir.  I'm don't sense anything."
	"Try again." he urged.  "Right here, right now, with the vehicle 
sitting still.  Reach out again, and tell me what you feel."
	Christy didn't see the point, but she did as he ordered.  She 
looked out at the grey cloud about her once again, and shivered.  
For several minutes she sat there, feeling the pulse of the jeeps 
engine, and probing for even the tiniest glint of light from Mr. Ortiz.  
She tried for several moments.  There was nothing out there.  
Nothing at all.
	She had never had this problem before.  Never been unable to 
control her talent.  It had always reacted as she wished.  She was 
becoming very frightened, the sweat starting to bead on her 
forehead.  Her talents had never let her down before.  And they 
had to pick today to stop working.  Today of all days.  Now that she 
needed it most, her skills were failing her!
	She leaned her head forward and rested it on the steering 
wheel.
	"I'm sorry." she began, trying hard not to cry as her forehead 
lay on the steering column.  "I can't seem to be able to find 
anything today.  I'm not picking up a thing." she whimpered.  
"Maybe next time I will do better."
	Clark let out a 'Hmph' as he began scribbling on his notepad 
once more.  He sounded annoyed with her.  "Well, we will certainly 
try.  But I'm not holding out much hope for you young lady.  Go on 
ahead and take your blindfold off.  This test is done."
	She slowly sat up again, and reached behind her head to pull 
the black cloth off.  The sudden brightness of the desert light made 
her wince with pain.  It was several seconds before she could see 
anything clearly in the intense sunlight.
	What she finally saw when her eyes adjusted made her jump 
with surprise.
	There was the helium balloon, only a scant 50 yards ahead of 
her.  She was so close, she could have yelled to Mr. Ortiz in the 
gondola there, and he would have heard her!   She'd almost driven 
right up to him, without sensing him at all.  So close.  Her target had 
been so close!  
	And she never sensed him once...
	Lt. Clark was looking down at his notepad while jotting down 
some comments for later.  "When I saw the balloon coming up, I 
thought for certain you were going to pass the test." he growled.   
"But when you stopped in your tracks, and said you weren't picking 
up anything, I couldn't believe my ears.  So I made you try again, 
just to be sure.  I mean, that man is close enough for you to talk to 
Christy, and you STILL can't sense him?  Just what the hell kind of 
sensitive are you?  I could have found him by sense of smell at this 
range."
	Christy closed her eyes, and felt the tears begin to flow.  She 
put her hand to her face, trying to hide her weakness from Lt. 
Clark.  
	Of course, he wasn't so dense as that.  He knew she was crying 
into her hands.  He gave her a disgusted look, and turned forward 
again.  "Aw, shit." he muttered irritably.  "Release the brake petal, 
little girl." he accented the words 'little girl' strongly, making it 
clear what he thought of her.  "I'll drive you back to the academy, 
so you can call your mama."
	She release all the controls, and her tears as well, as Lt. Clark 
turned the ATV around and headed back to the underground 
garage.

***

	"Okay Christy." Lt. Clark grumbled from the passenger seat.  
"Let's try this again.  Hopefully you'll have better luck this time.  
You have the controls."
	Christy once again took the steering column and the 
footpedals of the ATV.  And just like before, she was blindfolded so 
she could not see anything. 
	But unlike before, there was a lot of pressure riding on her 
performance this time.  Not just for her own sake, but for everyone 
else in the academy as well.  Everybody in her class had passed this 
test but her.  It was an academy record!  Never before had so many 
cadets passed this psychic screening process.  So far, she was the 
only one who hadn't made it past this hurdle.  
	The staff was thrilled with the accomplishment, and the other 
cadets were pressing her to  pass so they could graduate with every 
single cadet that came in.  It would be the first and only time a 
graduating class didn't lose a single cadet.  Their record could 
possibly be tied, but it would never beaten.  They would go down in 
the history books.  So the others in her class were really putting on 
the pressure for her to hurry up and beat this thing, so they could 
get the trophies ordered.
	How could she tell them that she was afraid she may not 
graduate with them?  After all, her psychic skills didn't exactly 
earn her the nickname 'bloodhound' last time.
	She was excelling in all her other subjects in the academy.  
But if she couldn't even do this simple task, then she would never 
become a starship pilot.  Ever!  And she would remain on this 
dustball of a planet for the rest of her life.  The thought of 
disappointing her friends and family and being trapped forever on 
earth was terrifying to her.
	Christy gripped the steering wheel tightly.  Her hands were 
trembling again.  She just had to pass the test this time.  She just 
had to!
	"Whenever you are ready Christy." Clark said aloud.
	"I'm ready." she replied, not really feeling ready at all.  But 
damned if she was going to tell HIM that.  She was nervous as hell 
about botching up a second time, but wasn't about to give him the 
satisfaction.
	Christy closed her eyes, and let her mind wander for a second.  
She relaxed as best as she could, and began to lower her defensive 
barriers.  They were difficult to drop for some reason.  She 
concentrated some more, trying to get the psychic barriers to come 
down.  The steel walls in her mind barely budged.  It was as if they 
were automatically staying up.  Like they were protecting her from 
something.
	She pressed and tugged at the barrier in her mind.  It only 
grudgingly moved.  And not enough for her to sense anything 
either.
	Her skills were failing her again, she panicked.  She couldn't 
even control her own mental shielding this time!
	Christy cried out in her mind.  No!  I can't let this happen to 
me.  I WON"T let this happen to me!  There is too much at stake!  I 
want to see out of my mind.  NOW!
	She angrily beat on the metal barrier with her fists, her fear 
and alarm lending strength to the assault.  Unfortunately, her panic 
also helped strengthen the psychic shield around her mind.  What 
little the barrier had dropped before, now quickly raised back up 
again in response to her alarm.
	She stopped beating on the mental barriers, and paused for a 
second to stare at them.  Gradually, she began to come to her senses 
and realize that getting all worked up over the test wasn't helping.  
All it was doing was making her automatic defenses go up.  And 
with them in the way, she wouldn't be able to sense anything.  
	Christy paused for a moment, and relaxed a bit, calming 
herself.  The jeep continued to roll on straight ahead.
	"Is there a problem miss?" Lt. Clark
	She took in a deep breath, imagined that her lungs were filled 
with her stress, and let it out slowly.
	"Nothing I can't handle sir."
	"You can't see anything, can you?"
	She sat upright, and tried to concentrate.  "Not yet, no."
	"Some sensitive you are." he said, dismissively.  "You don't 
have a very good control of yourself."
	"I'm doing my best..." to ignore you, she finished silently.
	"Uh huh.  Look, why don't you just admit you aren't cut out to 
be a starpilot?  There is no shame in washing out of the academy.  
Most people can't even get in.  If you like, I can arrange for a plane 
to take you home tonight."
	She turned to face him and hissed.  "If you would just shut 
the hell up, I could pass this damned test!"  She then turned her 
blindfolded head back forward again, and tried to tune him out yet 
again.
	Clark glared at her.  The wet-eared cadet had just cursed him 
out.  Him, an officer.  With good reason, he admitted, but still...  He 
gruffly turned around and faced forward again, keeping quiet.  He 
would have some words with her about the matter after her test 
was finished.
	And at this rate, he may not have to have words with her at 
all.  She might just be on the next plane out.
	Christy, of course, saw none of it.  She quickly cleared her 
mind again, and tried once more to send her mind forth and look at 
the psychic fields around her.  And found herself staring at the 
same psychic shield as a moment before.  It had not budged an 
inch.  
	She kept her cool this time, and reminded herself that the 
shield was a construct of her own mind.  Thus, she controlled it.  It 
answered to her will.  And if she told it to vanish, it would vanish.  
She calmly, but firmly, ordered the mindshield around her to drop.  
	And it did.  The metal walls quickly came down to chest level.  
The speed of its descent surprised her.  Also the fact that it didn't 
drop all the way down as she willed it to.  It wasn't perfect, but it 
was good enough.  The wall was no longer keeping her from seeing 
out.  She pushed her face forward, over the wall, and stared out 
into the blackness.
	Out there, she found a brilliant light.  About 90 degrees off to 
the left.  Actually , there were lots of lights, and close too!  They 
weren't far away at all.  The jeep was practically on top of them.
	She turned the wheel, and swung the jeep around, pointing 
towards the lights.
	Christy began to grin as the lights came nearer and nearer.  
She was elated.  She was going to do it!  She was going to pass!  Her 
talent wasn't gone after all, she was nervous the first time.  She 
wasn't such a failure after all!
	"Um, Christy?" Clark said, a touch of concern in his voice.  "Do 
you see your objective."
	She nodded her head, still elated at her accomplishment.  
"Absolutely." she excitedly told him.  "There are a whole bunch of 
Talents ahead of me.  Lots of them."
	"Stop the truck." he urgently ordered her.
	"What?" she answered in surprise.  "Why?"  The truck kept 
moving forward.
	"Stop the god-damned truck!" he furiously roared.  "NOW!"
	She instantly slammed on the brakes as hard as she could.  
Even with the anti-locking system, the jeep slid forward a bit on 
the dusty surface of the salt lake bed.  They were both thrown 
forward against their seat restraints as their momentum continued 
to carry them forward.
	Christy banged her head on the steering column.  A sudden 
sharp pain exploded in her mind, and everything around her went 
white with pain.  The psychic shield instantly went up again.  And 
the impact knocked the blindfold off from her right eye.  She could 
see out from under it.  She put her hand up to her head, feeling for 
any bleeding.  Fortunately for her, she felt none.  All she felt was 
the throb in her head from the impact.
	After a moment, she slowly sat up again and stared at Lt. 
Clark.  He was scowling at her, leaning over to put her face right in 
front of hers.  It was plain that he was furious.
	"What the heck was that about?" she complained, still holding 
her hand to her head.
	"When I say to stop the jeep," he yelled. " I mean to stop it 
right then and there!  Not when you feel like it!  I'm not here for 
the pleasant conversation, Cadet!  I'm here to make sure you don't 
kill yourself by accident!"
	Christy just stared at him with her one exposed eye.  She was 
too shocked for words.  What was his problem?  What had she done 
wrong this time?  What was going on?  She ran the event over in 
her mind quickly, but didn't understand what he was so upset 
about. 
	"But sir," she protested.  "I saw their talent lights, plain as 
day!  I was heading towards them when you stopped me."
	"Them!" he shouted again.  "Plural, miss Green!  And you 
almost reached them, didn't you?!"
	"That's right..." she slowly replied.
	"Tell me Cadet." he continued, quieter, but just as intensely.  
"Just who was it you were tracking?  Which particular talent?  Who 
were you targeting when you saw and set course for the lights?"
	Christy took in a gasp of air, and finally realized what he was 
talking about.  Uh oh...
	"Uh huh.  That's what I thought." Lt. Clark fumed.  "You saw 
the signs for talent all right, and you raced straight at them.  You 
didn't even bother to see if any of them was your target or not.  
You just headed off for the first thing that caught your attention!"
	Christy continued to meet his gaze with her one uncovered 
eye.  She swallowed hard as her instructor glowered down at her.
	"For your information missy," he snarled.  "Mr. Ortiz is about 5 
miles behind us.  You should have turned right, not left.  What you 
saw was the glow from the talents of your fellow cadets, deep down 
inside the academy!  Not Mr. Ortiz at all.  But you didn't check to 
see if he was among them or not, you just up and ran toward any 
light you saw!"
	She continued to face her raging mentor. 
	"But I saw them." she whined.  "Doesn't that count for 
something?"
	"Not a bit!" he said, cutting the air with his hand.  "It doesn't 
count for squat.  What good is a starship pilot who guides her ship 
to the wrong world, huh?  Why would we want a starship pilot who 
can't keep her eye on the destination?  You didn't even bother to 
find your target before turning the wheel.  Had you been in space, 
just which planet do you think you would have ended up around?"
	Christy sullenly nodded to him.  She knew he was right.  He 
was.  She didn't look for any particular psychic glow as she knew 
she was supposed to.  She was so distraught she had leaped at the 
first sign of any talent she saw.  Not a good practice.  She would 
have to watch that in the future.
	"Yes sir.  You are right." she said while reaching up to pull her 
blindfold down once more.  "I'm sorry.  I was excited.  I won't ever 
make that mistake again, and I'm sorry I messed up.  But I'll get it 
right this time.  I promise."
	She didn't get the chance to pull the blindfold over her eye.  
Lt. Clark stubbornly shook his head.  "The hell you will." he snarled.  
"Give me the controls.  We're done for the day."
	Christy deeply sighed, and set her hands down in her lap.  "As 
you wish." she said dejectedly.  "But you are not being fair about 
this.  After all, you ordered me to stop.  I deserve another chance..."
	"Not with me onboard you don't." he shot back. 
	"But it isn't fair sir!" she cried out.  Why was he trying so hard 
to ruin her chances of getting into space?  "I would have figured it 
out in a moment.  I would have realized my error, and corrected it.  
But no!  You ordered me to stop, and I did so!  You made me quit!"
	He turned to face forward, and stared out the windshield.  He 
stabbed ahead of them with a pointed finger and growled  "And 
that's why!"
	She turned to look where he was pointing, and followed his 
finger with her uncovered eye.  
	They were only 20 yards or so from the opening to the 
garage.  The ramp leading down was on the far side of the hole, and 
they were heading straight for it.  
	Straight for the wrong side of the opening.
	Had she kept going, she would have nose-dived the jeep into 
that hole, and fallen the 60 feet straight down to the cement floor 
of the academy.  In chasing her comrades talent signatures, she 
almost drove straight into the wrong end of the entrance to the 
garage.  From the other side, she just would have driven down the 
ramp.  But from this side, that first step down was a doozy.  60 feet.  
No doubt the airbags would offer them little protection from such a 
crash.
	She'd damn near killed them both!
	"I don't give a damn if you think I am being fair or not!" Lt. 
Clark snarled as he put the jeep into reverse.  "You nearly killed us!  
You are a weak talent at best, you don't check your destinations, 
you are driven by your emotions, you have no self-control... 
Dammit Christy, I'd like to see this class graduate with all its 
members.  It means a lot to them, and to the staff here as well.  But 
if that means putting you in charge of a starship, then too bad.  You 
don't have what it takes girl.  You never did have it!"
	"And I'll tell you this much Christy.  So long as I live, you will 
NEVER be a starship pilot.  Never!"

***



	Christy felt the jeep tilt upwards as Lt. Clark carefully drove 
up the ramp, heading for the desert outside.  The cool dark of the 
underground garage began to turn into the hot sun of the midday 
desert as they rode the ATV up out of the sands.  She felt it on her 
cheeks.  
	Christy gritted her teeth, and mentally prepared herself for 
her third attempt at the psychic targeting exam.  Her last try.  
There would be no mistakes this time.  She was going to do it by 
the book, start to finish.  She wasn't going to let anything or anyone 
screw it up for her.
	Not even her instructor.
	Rumor had it that Lt. Clark was going to sabotauge the test 
somehow.  Patty came and told her last night.  She wouldn't say 
how she heard about it, or what Lt. Clark had planned, but she 
insisted Christy get some extra practice in.  So they spent the next 2 
hours playing hide and seek inside the academy.  Patty would hide, 
and Christy would find her.  Every time.  So far, Christy's locating 
skills were batting 1000.  Even when Patty hid inside Michaels 
room and tried to use his talent to hide hers, Christy found her.  
	She found Patty partially disrobed within Michaels muscular 
arms, but still found her.  
	At first, Christy was a bit wistful as she saw his dark-brown 
body wrapped around Patty's.  For a moment, she remembered 
what it was like when Gary made love to her.  She recalled how it 
felt to feel his heart race, to feel his pulse inside of her.  
	But she began to realize that the past was past, and she could 
never have it again.  It was over between them.  Their lives had 
gone in different directions.  She could look to the past and be 
miserable for the rest of her life, or she could look to the future and 
live over it.  Gary was gone.  It was time to accept it and move on, 
she decided.  She paused for a moment to sneak one last peek at 
Michaels body, and smiled.
	Well, she thought closing the door to give them some privacy.  
Maybe Patty is right.  There are lots of men in the universe.  I don't 
have to be alone if I don't want to be.
	She realized her thoughts were straying as the jeep leveled 
out coming off the ramp and out onto the desert floor.  Time to 
concentrate, she thought, her mind returning to the here and now.  
After she passed the test, she and Patty could celebrate with a 
double date. 
	If the test was legitemate, then she was certain she could pass 
it.  But what if the rumors were true?  What if Lt. Clark really did 
sabotauge the test somehow?  She wasn't naive enough to believe 
there wasn't a way to wreck a psychic exam.  After all, Lt. Clark had 
been running these tests for years.  He had the advantage here.  If 
there was a way, he would know it and she would not.  Could not 
know.
	All of a sudden her self confidence began to fade again.  She 
began to doubt herself once more.  If Lt. Clark really wanted to ruin 
her chances, could she do anything about it?  Would she even 
recognize the trap before she fell into it?  
	Then she heard Gary's voice, deep within her mind.  Again, he 
was asking her if she was good enough to fly a starship. 
	Christy instantly came back to her senses.  She yelled at his 
nagging voice within her mind.  "Yes!" she mentally shouted.  "I am 
good enough!  I can do this!  And I'll prove it to you!  I'll prove 
myself to everyone, you wait and see!"
	She felt the voice vanish once more.  It would not bother her 
again, she knew. 
	"Okay Christy." Lt. Clark grumbled beside her.  "Time for you 
to take over again."
	That surprised her.  She took the wheel in her hands as she 
puzzedly asked.  "So soon?  We only just left the academy's parking 
garage.  We're still very close."
	"It doesn't make any difference Christy." he said confidently.  
"You are going to fail this test just like you failed the other two.  So 
why bother driving way out into the desert?  You can get lost just 
as easily close by."
	Christy was starting to get steamed at him.  "Well, aren't you 
just a fountain of empathy today?" she fumed.  
	"I don't care if you like me or not."
	"Good thing..."
	She heard him chuckle.  "The only thing I care about is 
making sure the best psychics get off planet to become starship 
pilot's Christy.  And that half-skilled talents like you end up 
predicting the weather for the evening news.  That is all I care 
about."
	"And is that why you have been trying to bust my ass since I 
got here?" she snapped at him.  "Is that why you have been 
deliberately trying to wash me out?"
	"You got it missy." he admitted.  Christy couldn't tell with her 
blindfold on, but she believed he was smiling at her.  "I've seen 
more cadets come through this school than you could possibly 
believe.  And I've learned what makes a good pilot and what 
doesn't.  And you, little girl, you just don't have what it takes."
	Her neck began to feel hot with anger.  
	"If I don't have what it takes, then the testing alone should 
wash me out.  I don't need your help to fuck up."
	She heard his knuckles pop as he stretched his hands out.  
"Well, sometimes even the best tests need a little help." he pointed 
out.  "That's what I am here for."
	"You are here to teach me, and help me!" she shouted.  "Not 
screw me over just because you don't like me!"
	He began to chuckle again.  "It's not a matter of like or dislike.  
I just don't believe you have what it takes to be a starship pilot."
	"And just what is it you look for in a pilot?" she shouted 
again.  "Tell me!  What quality did you seek that I lack?"
	"You are a chicken-hearted emotional young woman." he 
plainly answered her.  "If you were a man, I'd call you a wimp.  You 
are so wrapped up in your feelings that you can't control them.  You 
mope and you complain and you don't deal with your problems.  
That's what I don't like about you!"
	"I don't recall those qualities being grounds for 
disqualification."
	"Well they ought to be." he shot back.  "When you are out 
there in deep space flying a billion dollar starship, you don't have 
anyone else to help you.  You are all alone out there, and you have 
to be in control of yourself and your ship both.  If you can't even 
keep your feelings straight, then how the hell are you going to pilot 
a starship?"
	"I'll show you how!" she savagely spat out at him.  "I'll find 
Mr. Ortiz right now, and show you how I'll pilot a starship!"
	He started to laugh.  "Do you really think you can?  Well, go 
on ahead.  Prove me wrong.  I dare you."
	"I will!" she snapped.  And after I do, I'll watch that stupid 
grin of yours vanish, she thought.  
	She quickly opened her mind up, and instantly she was 
rewarded with a view of her mental shields from the inside.  
Normally it took a moment for her to reach out like this, but this 
time she was instantly there.  Those practice sessions with Patty 
must have payed off.
	Christy willed her mental shields to drop.  They immediately 
did so, swiftly vanishing into the ground around her feet.  She took 
two steps forward, and stood on the edge of her mental plateau.  
Normally she played it cautiously, never venturing off the plateau.  
She never walked out into that black void about her.  She was 
always afraid of getting lost out there, and never getting back.
	She confidently stepped off the disk this time, and she strode 
purposefully out into the blackness, looking about her as she went 
forth.
	She saw a large number of multi-colored lights behind her.  
The lights of the other talents in the academy, she remembered.  
But this time she wasn't as paniced.  This time she wasn't going to 
go rushing toward the first talent she saw.  This time she was going 
to find Mr. Ortiz, and drive up to him just like she was supposed to 
do.
	She wasn't going to give the bastard beside her the pleasure 
of seeing her fail again!
	She stood in the void, and ignored the lights of her classmates, 
looking instead for another light reasonably close around her.  She 
turned around and around, searching for another talent all alone in 
the desert.  There was nothing there.
	The first time, she had panicked because she thought her 
skills were failing her.  The second time she was so eager to succeed 
that she acted carelessly.  Both times she let herself lose control.  
Well not this time!  This time she knew she could count on her 
skills, and she wasn't about to act rashly and make a hasty decision.  
This time she would stay in control, and find Mr. Ortiz.
	She took a deep breath, thought about the particular feel of 
his mind, and sent out a telepathic call to him.  "Mr. Ortiz!" she 
called.  
	There was no answer.
	She quickly took an even deeper breath, and poured on the 
power as she called out to him again.  "MR ORTIZ!"  The blast that 
left her mind illuminated the area about her like a flashbulb.  For 
an instant, she could see the jeep around her.  She saw her 
blindfolded body, and the cocky grin on Lt. Clark's face.
	Then, without warning, a yellow flare erupted from the 
academy as Mr. Ortiz answered her.  "What?" he asked her, sending 
his thoughts forward in an equally bright burst of thought.  Once 
more, she could see everything around her in the physical world.  
She saw all the way to the academy's garage, and the jeeps tracks 
leading from...
	Wait a second! she quickly thought to herself.  That telepathic 
message came from behind!  From the Academy!
	"Mr. Ortiz?" she quickly sent back to him.  She wasn't sure 
yet, but she was beginning to smell a rat.  But before she could say 
anything, she had to be certain.
	Again, Mr. Ortiz sent forth a burst of psychic light from 
behind her.  "Yes?" he replied.  She noticed his talent light was 
many feet underground, together with all the others.
	Mr. Ortiz wasn't even out here for her to find!  
	She stepped on the brakes hard, and the jeep quickly stopped 
in its tracks.  Christy locked her arms to keep from rocking forward 
from the inertia.  Lt. Clark had no warning.  He let out a gasp as his 
head slammed into the dash in front of him as the jeep suddenly 
slammed to a stop.
	"What the hell do you think you are doing?" he yelled at her 
as he sat back up again, holding his forehead.
	Christy clinched her teeth and hissed at him.  
	"You goddamned bastard!" she snarled, letting her rage flow.  
"You set me up!  You couldn't even give me an honest chance to 
pass the test... no, you had to rig it!  Mr. Ortiz isn't even out here!  
He is back underground in the academy!"
	Lt. Clark continued to hold his forehead.  "Hmm.  I'm 
impressed." he quietly said.  "And you are right.  He isn't out here 
for you to find.  I never told him we were coming out today.  He 
thinks the test is tomorrow."
	Christy grated her teeth back and forth.  "I'm going to report 
you." she hissed.  "I'm going to tell the Major exactly what you've 
done to me."
	Clark suddenly threw his head back, and laughed out loud.  
Heartily.  "And who do you think he is going to believe?" he said.  
"Some teenager who failed her psychic exam 3 times and will say 
anything to stay in the program, or an instructor who has been 
teaching here for going on 9 years?"
	Christy stopped her jaw, and thought about that for a 
moment.  The bastard was right.  The Major probably heard such 
accusations from every cadet that washed out, and wanted to get 
even.  He wouldn't listen to a word from her.  She'd have better 
luck telling her story to the walls.  She'd be on tonight's 
Hummingbird leaving for Colorado.  Probably Mr. Ortiz would be 
told some story about her giving up and going home.  Nobody 
would ever know the truth.
	Clark stopped laughing, and stared hard at Christy's 
blindfolded head.  "You aren't the first unworthy cadet that I have 
run out of the academy Christy." he flatly said.  "And you won't be 
the last.  Don't you think I've made sure there's nothing you can say 
or do to hurt me?  Don't you think I've thought of everything?"
	Christy reluctantly nodded her head.  Lt. Clark seemed to 
have covered all the bases alright.  And that made her even 
madder.  
	In the red glow of her resolute fury, she once again began to 
see the grounds immediately around her.  She could see the desert, 
the tracks, and the ramp down into the academy garage some 800 
yards behind them.   
	He continued to taunt her.  "You are nothing in this place.  
And here, I am god.  I can make careers, or kill them in their 
infancy.  Yours, I have killed.  Fairly or not, I have done so.  You 
had best get used to it Christy, because you are never going to pilot 
a starship.  In ten minutes or so, I'm going to take the controls back 
again and claim that you could not find your target."  
	"So enjoy these next 10 minutes, Christy.  They are your last 
as a starpilot."
	Her rage at being so unfairly cheated made her psychic talent 
flare even brighter.  She could now see everything around her, as 
plainly as if she wasn't wearing a blindfold at all.
	She remembered what the janitor had said to her.  "Make 
sure you are right, then never give up girl!"  She knew she was 
right, dammit.  She knew she could pass the test, if given a fair shot 
at it.  But Clark had set things up so she couldn't pass, ever!
	Or had he?  Her eyes lit up as she realized that she could see 
the area around her with her psychic vision.  Even with the 
blindfold, she could now see.
	And there was a loophole in Lt. Clark's trap that he never 
thought of!  
	She quickly spun the wheel, and stomped on the accellerator.  
No, she wasn't going to give up!  Never!
	Both Christy and Lt. Clark were flung against the seat 
restraints by the sudden surge of motion.  The powerful engine of 
the jeep leaped for joy at the chance to show its power.  The ATV 
did a fast donut there in the sand before Christy straightened the 
wheel again, and floored the gas pedal.  The inertia pushed both of 
them into their seats again as the black machine accelerated rapidly 
across the salt flat.
	Straight for the academy.
	"What are you doing Christy?" Lt. Clark cried out.  
	Christy smiled evilly, showing her teeth.  "Driving to Mr. Ortiz 
sir." she replied.  "Just like I'm supposed to do."
	Clark's face went white, and his cocky attitude vanished as he 
realized what she planned to do.
	"Stop the jeep miss Green!" he ordered.  "Stop it this instant!"
	"Fuck you, sir!" she snapped back.  "I have a job to do, and 
dammit, I'm going to do it!"
	He began to shake with fear.  "You can't drive blindly into the 
garage!" he cried.  "We'll be killed!"
	She nodded her head quickly.  "You should have thought 
about that before.  You set this up, you son of a bitch, so you have 
nobody to blame but yourself!"
	Clark put his hands on his head, and shrieked.  "You'll die 
too!"
	She resolutely drove the ATV straight for the entrance ramp.  
"At least you won't be able to screw anymore cadets out of their 
rightful place in the stars."
	Besides, she thought.  She wasn't exactly blind.  Her talent 
was giving her eyesight of a different kind.  She could see the ramp 
for the academy approaching rapidly as the jeep raced toward it.  
	He made a desperate grab for the wheel with his left hand.  
She just as rapidly swung her right hand down and right, aiming for 
his crotch.
	Christy found her target...  and hit it hard!  She heard him 
grunt in pain as she smashed her fist into his groin.  He took both 
hands, and held himself as wave after wave of agony swept 
through him.  Suddenly he was powerless to do anything except 
watch as the jeep roared up to the lip of the ramp...
	And down!  Christy's stomach did a flip as the jeep leaped 
into the air before gravity reexerted it's hold on it, and pulled its 
black weight onto the downward slope leading into the concrete 
womb of the academy garage.  Suddenly they were in an cement 
tube, racing deeper into its depths.  Christy could see the 
reinforcment beams along the walls as they rushed by.
	Lt. Clark cried out in terror and pain as the jeep flew towards 
the bottom of the ramp, and the concrete wall just past the sharp 
right turn there.
	Christy saw it too.  She saw it as a red blur in her psychic 
vision.  She could tell they would never slow in time to avoid 
smashing into it.
	She spun the wheel rapidly to the right as the jeep rushed 
downwards.  The wheels shrieked and spun as the machine tried to 
turn into the ramp's wall.  But the downward momentum was too 
much, and the high center of gravity caused the vehicle to tump, 
turn over, and roll.
	The jeep flipped several times inside the rampway, tossing its 
passengers into their restraints like toys.  The garage echoed with 
the grinding sound of hard metal upon even harder cement as the 
ATV flipped over and over again, each time slowing a bit in speed.
	Christy relaxed her body, but never let go of the wheel.  Lt. 
Clark was terrified, and screaming at the top of his lungs as he was 
flung to and fro in his seat.
	Then, as quickly as it had begun, the jeep suddenly stopped 
turning as it reached the bottom of the runway.  It sank down and 
rocked on it's tires as it sat upright on the floor of the garage.  They 
never even came close to the wall.  The mirrors had broken off, and 
were bouncing after the ATV down the rampway.  The black body 
was dented and beaten up beyond belief from the violence of the 
stop.  But the jeep was upright, still running, and facing in the 
direction Christy wanted to go.  
	She slammed on the accelerator again.
	The jeep wasn't as thrilled about racing this time.  Christy 
decided that something inside the engine must have been damaged 
in the crash.  The tires were now off alignment, and the jeep 
vibrated violently as she made it race through the rows of other 
jeeps lined up along the walls.  The black shapes passed by as their 
battered machine rapidly passed in review.  
	Clark was still screaming, madly crying out for somebody to 
stop the jeep before the bitch killed him.  She ignored him, and 
concentrated on her driving.  
	At the end of the hallway was another wall, and a set of 
double doors on the left.  She could barely see the aluminum of the 
doors, but could see the telltale signs of talent still on the 
doorframe.  Having so many psychics use the handles, the doors 
glowed slightly with psychic energy.  
	Christy spun the wheel once more.  Again, the jeep's wheels 
struggled to obey.  The tires shrieked as they tried to take the jeep 
in a new direction, whereas the jeep followed its inertia and 
continued to move forward.
	They were traveling sideways when they smashed into the 
concrete wall on the passengers side.  The garage echoed again with 
the violent reshaping of the ATV's body.
	She didn't even pause this time, but immediately went to 
power again, pointing the jeep at the glass double doors in front of 
her.  Again, the jeep obediently jumped to her command.  And 
again, Lt. Clark cried out in alarm.
	And he dared to call ME a wimp? she thought to herself.
	The jeep smashed through the glass and aluminum doors with 
an explosion of sound.  She saw the hallway run about 200 feet, 
then open up to the central common room of the academy.  She 
could sense the 15 or so talents in the room ahead of her as she 
raced the engine and drove into the hallway.
	The tires must have been in worse shape than she thought.  
The jeep was only barely under control, slamming against one wall 
then another as it careened madly towards the common area.  Each 
impact slowed the jeep again, and pointed it to hit the other wall a 
short while later.  Christy leaned on the horn.  She blared out a 
warning to anyone in the academy that she was coming through, 
and to get out of her way.  
	Everyone was well out of the way when she burst out of the 
hallway and into the common room.  She fought the jeep for control 
as the machine first wanted to go this way, then that.  
	"The steering is damaged!" Lt. Clark cried out, making his first 
coherent statement in a long time.  
	"Tell me something I don't know!" she screamed back as a 
comfortable chair exploded when the jeep plowed into it.  Pity, she 
thought.  That was her favorite chair.
	"Stop the damned jeep miss, or so help me I'll..."
	"You'll what?" she snarled at him.  "Flunk me?  Ruin my life?"  
She saw that the jeep was getting near the offices on the far wall of 
the room.  
	"Well, tell you what Lt. Clark." she continued.  "What say we 
get you a little help first?"
	Christy stomped on the brakes, and the jeep quickly stopped 
a few feet from the door of the office she had been looking for.
	The office of Mr. Ortiz.
	Lt. Clark held his manhood with his left hand, and opened the 
door with his right.  The door fell off the jeep entirely, and clattered 
onto the marble floor.  He quickly undid his seatbelt, and half 
stepped, half fell out of the jeep.
	He limped a few steps away, and turned to face the 
blindfolded cadet in the badly damaged ATV.
	"You're crazy!" he screamed, still holding himself.  "You stupid 
bitch!  Look what you've done!  You could have killed someone."
	Christy thrust both hands forward, and leaned on the horn.  
At once, the jeep cried out, drowning the furious protests from the 
hunched-over Clark.  The sound filled the chamber with the loud 
airhorn's shriek.
	Without warning, she saw Mr. Ortiz walking up to the door 
with her psychic sight.  She saw through the wall with her psychic 
vision.  She watched him put a donut into his mouth as he walked 
up to the door, coffee in hand.  He opened up the door with his free 
hand...
	And stood in shock at the sight before him.  One of his 
students had driven a jeep into the academy common area, right up 
to his door, and almost destroyed the room and the jeep both.  A 
fountain of steam poured out from the front grill, and green fluid 
spilled onto the fine marble floor.
	His donut fell to the ground as his mouth hung open.  
	Christy suddenly felt very tired and weak from all her 
exertion.  Being in multiple traffic accidents over the last couple of 
minutes probably didn't help either.  Also, she began to feel a dull 
throb in her left arm.  She was becoming so weak.  So weak.  She let 
the pressure off the horn, and placed both of her hands in her lap.  
Again, that dull pain in her left arm.  
	"Mr. Ortiz, I want this maniac out of here!" Lt. Clark yelled out 
loud.  "Look what she's done!  She destroyed an ATV, damaged the 
academy itself, and almost killed me.  I want her in chains, and out 
of this academy now!"
	Christy was very very tired.  Suddenly, her psychic sight 
disappeared as her rage subsided.  She was very quickly 
surrounded by blackness again, since she was still wearing her 
blindfold.
	Mr. Ortiz began to slowly walk around the side of the jeep, 
and move to the driver's side door.  "Are you telling me she did all 
this damage on her own?" he quietly asked Lt. Clark.  "That she 
drove into the garage, found the doorway into the common area, 
drove through the hall and straight up to my doorstep all by 
herself?"
	Lt. Clark nodded urgently.  "Yes, that is exactly what I am 
telling you she did!"
	"And she did all that while blindfolded?"
	The words hung in the air for several seconds.  The weight of 
that one realization was incredible.  Other cadets were beginning to 
gather around the jeep now.  They were all quite confused and 
puzzeled about what was going on.
	But Mr. Ortiz wasn't.
	"And just what were you doing with her in the first place?  
Were you outside in the desert?  You told me her test was to be 
tomorrow." Ortiz asked Lt. Clark as he pulled and tugged on the 
driver's side door to open it.  It didn't budge.  The warped metal 
refused to yield.
	Lt. Clark gulped hard.  He knew he was cornered, unless he 
could think of something fast.  
	"It is.  I... I was giving her a practice session so she could feel 
more at ease with the vehicle." he lied, wobbling to his feet.  "I 
thought she might be afraid after almost crashing last time, and I 
wanted to give her a fair shot at passing."	
	"That is not standard procedure."
	"Yes, yes I know.  I wanted to help her.  I really tried.  But 
when she discovered that you were still in the academy, she flipped 
out.  She went paranoid on me, and drove back into the academy.  
I'm telling you, the bitch is nuts!  You see what she did to this 
place!"
	Christy wanted to tear Clark's lying tongue out of his mouth 
and use it to wipe the floor.  But she was exhausted.  She didn't 
have the energy left to explain what had really happened.  And she 
doubted anyone would believe her even if she did.  
	Her head fell limply to the side, and laid against the warped 
metal of the driver side doorframe.  It was no use, she thought.  
The bastard still had her cornered.  He still won, after all.  Even 
after everything, the bad guys still won.
	Mr. Ortiz reached through the broken window, and gingerly 
put his hands on Christy's forehead.  He gently pulled off her 
blindfold, taking care not to touch any of her numerous bleeding 
cuts.  
	She felt his hand on her skin.  It made her feel stronger 
somehow.  Christy slowly opened her eyes, and sadly looked at him.   
She was still far too weak to talk.  She couldn't tell him what had 
really happened, no matter how much she wanted to.  A single tear 
rolled down her left cheek as Mr. Ortiz gently held her head steady.  
She couldn't explain to him what Lt. Clark had done. 
	She didn't have to.  All at once she felt a soft, warm feeling in 
her skull.  The kind of feeling you get when you're safe in your own 
room, in your own bed.  She felt that loving tickling sensation that 
often accompanies a mind probe.  He was reading her thoughts, 
studying what she had experienced over the past hour or so.
	Mr. Ortiz quickly began to frown.
	Lt. Clark was yelling again as he rose to his feet.  "I'm telling 
you Mr. Ortiz, that woman is unstable.  Look what she's done to this 
place.  She has no control of her emotions.  She has no respect for 
superiors.  She doesn't give a damn about how much damage she 
does."
	Mr. Ortiz nodded, and took three steps back.  He then looked 
at Lt. Clark severely.  
	"And she is going to make a top-notch starpilot!" he 
trumpeted.  "You cadets carefully get Miss Green out of that thing, 
and over to the infirmary immediately.  
	"And you four cadets there!  Grab MR. Clark and drag his 
sorry ass to the brig!" he roared.  "He is under arrest, as of this 
minute!"
	Lt. Clark just numbly stood there as several of the bigger 
male cadets rushed forward to take him into custody.  "You... you 
can't do this to me!" he cried as they grabbed him by his arms and 
forced him to stand. 
	Mr. Ortiz crossed his arms and turned away from him.  "Just 
watch me." he strongly said in dismissal as they drug the 
blubbering bastard away.  He refused to watch the man's 
departure.  Mr. Ortiz wanted no further vision from the man to 
pollute his eyes.  Nobody should be able to abuse his position as a 
teacher like that, he furiously thought.  Nobody.  
	Clark was here to aid the students.  There was no telling how 
many careers the man had flushed down the toilet, just for the sake 
of being mean.  No way in hell of finding out either.  
	But he swore that there were going to be some fundamental 
changes made in the program.  He wouldn't tolerate another 
episode like this.  Never!  Mr. Ortiz watched as a cadet cautiously 
climbed through the passenger side door with a first aid kit.  
	"You be careful with that young lady." he told the young 
brown-haired cadet.  "Anyone who can guide a truck at full speed 
through a dormitory is rare indeed!  We will need to keep an eye 
on her.  She may teach all of us a thing or two about starseeking 
that nobody else on earth knows."
	Christine opened her eyes again, to see another pair of blue 
eyes staring back at her.  They were filled with concern for her as 
they scanned her body, taking note of her injuries.
	Shit, she weakly thought.  He would only be interested in her 
injuries.  And just her luck, she was in no condition to do anything 
with him anyway.  He was so attractive, she observed.  Who the 
heck was he, and why didn't she ever notice him before?  
	She gathered up the last of her strength, and quietly gasped 
against her sudden pain.  
	"And when I am better I may teach you something special;  
not having anything to do with starships." 
	His smile was the last thing she saw as the world went grey, 
then black.