Erasyl the Eraser: Having a lesson on ethics

Erasyl, and a half dozen other students, three boys and three girls, reluctantly entered the classroom, and each found a seat to occupy.

There were mutterings.

"These after school lessons are the pits. I was going to go shopping now."

"Yeah. And why pick on us? The low level espers, and the high level espers, never have to do these stupid lessons."

At this point, the teacher strolled into the room. He must have heard the last comment, since he started by saying:

"Well, obviously the low levels don't need this lesson. They can't kill anyone with their abilities. And, as the for high levels, well, they receive lots of extra, highly personalised, lessons. I'm sure that the ethics and safety concerns of their particular abilities are covered in exhaustive detail."

The muttering from the students declined and they settled in for the lesson with reasonably good grace.

"As you know, there are many different forms of abilities. The most common ones involve producing force at a distance, or the manipulation of magnetic or electric fields, or producing shields of different kinds. They all have their own, specific, ethic and safety concerns. You lot, on the other hand, have a grab bag of unusual abilities."

He consulted his attendance list.

"For an extreme example, we have Erasyl here, who has the unique ability of erasing another person's ability, for a small period of time."

The other six students turned to look at Erasyl, who with a touch of embarrassment grinned and looked back.

"And that is all he can do. So, obviously, every single time he uses his ability, it is to disrupt someone else's actions. Unlike, say, Jaydonen here, who has the almost opposite ability. He can temporary increase another person's esp power, but only by two percent. Not much of an increase, but there it is. I suppose Jaydonen could, if he really tried, use that ability to do hurt someone, but it probably wouldn't be all that easy."

"So, Erasyl, every time you use your ability, you have to make some sort of ethical or moral decision."

"Incidentally, Jaydonen and Erasyl are the only two know Espers with meta esp abilities - their powers work exclusively to modify other people's powers."

"Now back to the examples; Lily here, also known as Water Lily, has the ability to be underwater, manufacturing her own oxygen and controlling how the water pressure acts on her body. Naturally, she would not appreciate her ability being cancelled while she is fifty metres down in one of the artificial oceans, would she?"

Erasyl nodded, not particularly keen on being the centre of attention.

But, I can't argue with any of that, can I?

Sadly for Erasyl, most of the lesson involved him. But no one missed out on receiving at least some attention from the lecturer.

The lesson wound to its finish, with an assignment.

"OK, I want you lot to each produce a short essay, laying out the ethics of your own abilities, and hand it to me by Friday."

An audible groan from the students.

The teacher left, but the seven students remained. None of them knew any of the others to any great degree, but since they had just had a lesson whose main subject matter was Erasyl's ability, they rather felt they half knew him. The ones that were next to him stayed where they were, the ones that had sat further out moved in and clustered around Erasyl's desk.

"So, you can cancel my power? And probably kill me in the process." said Lily, turning around in her seat to speak to him.

"No, no, I mean, I've just had this lesson in ethics, right? I certainly wouldn't want to hurt such a lovely girl - particularly one with such lovely legs..."

Lily, realising that he was looking up her skirt, made possible because of how she had twisted around to see him, gave a squawk and adjusted her position. She now sat with legs closed, hand pulling her short skirt down to her knees.

"Ick! How gross!"

The two other girls agreed. The three other boys laughed, and Jeff said: "Oh, I don't know, shame I missed that."

Currently, Jaydonen was sitting on top of a desk, one foot on the floor, the other leg slung across his knee.

Erasyl turned to him and said "Yeah, it's a shame. But you look pretty good also, you know...

Jaydonen froze in place, taking a second to work out what Erasyl was referring to. And where his eyes were looking. Then he jumped up off the desk, with a slight reddish tinge to his face.

"Uck! Now that is gross!"

Lily laughed. "Oh, so he goes both ways, does he?"

"I have you to know that I don't go for boys!" said Jeff.

"There's nothing wrong with that!" said Erasyl, starting to get defensive.

"For you, there might be nothing wrong with it, but it doesn't go all that well with me!"

The girls were looking at each other, giggling.

One of the other boys had the look of someone who was thinking deeply, and slowly reaching a conclusion.

"I say, boys, you know, I think he's just given us another lesson in ethics. Your reaction," nodding to Jaydonen, "was exactly the same as Lily's reaction."

The girls held their breath, as if waiting expectantly.

"Wait, wait, ah, I get it, when Erasyl made his pass at Lily, and we laughed at her discomfit... yeah, it really is not funny after all." said the third boy.

"Oh, right, geez, this is bad, you mean, every time I've teased a girl with some suggestive comment, she was actually feeling exactly what I just felt when Erasyl looked at me?" said Jaydonen.

The girls were ecstatic.

"This is wonderful! For the first time this decade some boys have finally got the message! You are so so clever, so wonderful!" said Lily.

She clapped her hands, and bowed deeply to the ever so wonderful three boys.

The second girl joined in the act, and also bowed deeply.

The third girl said "Oh, really, there's no need to go overboard. Just be thankful for once that some boys do get it."

Jaydonen, with a sheepish smile on his face, said: "I suppose we deserve it... say, do you think we can go and get an ice cream or something, and continue to compare notes?”

The two other boys nodded their heads. The girls exchanged a three-way glance.

"Providing you don't back slide from your lesson, I suppose so..." said Lily.

So three boys and three girls, chatting amongst themselves, walked out of the classroom. Erasyl was left sitting at his desk. As Lily walked through the door, she half turned and sort of waved in his direction.

"See ya."

And then they were all gone.

Erasyl stared down at his desk.

They didn't invite me. Just like all of the other times. How am I going to get a girlfriend, or boyfriend, without making a pass at someone? How do I get to that point?

The classroom with nobody but himself in it felt bleak and cold. He gathered his things up and was about to leave when-

Hello, someone's wallet.

He picked it up.

More like a purse, ah, a name... Lily.

Looks like I had better see if her phone number is in it, and ring her up...

Thinking about it, his normally olive toned face went red.

No way, she will either think I'm harassing her, or she will just make me feel embarrassed all over again. I know, I'll hand it into to the nearest neighbourhood watch station.

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Teylon: Expanding his entourage by one more

Teylon was sitting at the front counter, starting to doze off.

Adalace is so lucky; she is free to delve into her programming if there is nothing to do. Which is most of the time.

He got himself a cup of coffee. It was not the best, but it did keep him awake.

Another half hour, then I get to do a walking-around-saying-hello-to-the-shop-keepers patrol.

A teenage boy walked up to the counter window and tapped on it.

My goodness gracious me, something to do!

He opened the window and said hi.

"Sir, my name is Erasyl, and this purse was left behind in my classroom. Unfortunately I don't know the owner's phone number and it would be kind of embarrassing for me to approach her anyway..."

Teylon took the purse.

"That's fine. Returning lost property is one of the few things I can help you with. In fact, this is the first time that I've helped anyone at all since starting this job. Makes me feel like I'm of some use to our wonderful society!"

"Sorry?" said Erasyl, somewhat flummoxed by this answer.

"Ah, never mind."

At this point Teylon had one of those vivid technicoloured soul readings, showing Erasyl’s complete and total failure in making any meaningful contact with the others in that classroom.

OK, so I need to invite this boy along to join the others. That much is clear. But how, what do I use as a hook?

Being an accomplished Teflon Rat, his mind did not remain blank for long.

"I say, Erasyl, there is no official rewards for this sort of thing, but, you see, I know three teenage girls, all nice young ladies, and I'm thinking of making an outing to the lookout on the north tower soon. How about I invite you along, also?"

Erasyl looked slightly hesitant.

Crap, me knowing three teenage girls does sound a bit funny, doesn't it?

Fortunately, at this moment, Adalace came out from the back room.

"Teylon, I'm off to a patrol. You know, at the place where all of those kindergarten kiddies congregate with their mothers. There's always some excitement going on there!"

"Ah, just in time. Adalace, meet Erasyl. I'm thinking of inviting him, plus you and the other two girls, to a lookout party on the north tower. Interested?"

Adalace gave a quick glance at Erasyl. She turned up the cuteness to moderately high.

"Sure, why not. Ah, aren't those places a bit expensive..."

Sigh. "Of course, I'm paying." said Teylon.

"Then count me in!" said Adalace.

She waved happily to Erasyl and disappeared down the street.

Erasyl watched her go.

"OK, you've convinced me, I'll give it a go."

They exchanged email addresses (which on Mars also acted as phone numbers), and Erasyl left.

Teylon set about the job of returning the purse to Lily.

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Teylon: It could be getting to be a habit

Teylon lived in the north tower, ten stories up. Above his apartment, the tower kept on going, for another two kilometres. Its top joined with the underside of the dome, the tower helped support and stabilise it. At the one kilometre mark was an outlook area, a large deck stretching out from the tower. Buttressed by steel beams below, surrounded by a two metre high safety fence, filled with tables and chairs and umbrellas; the location was a favourite place for outings.

Teylon, being the host of this party, had decided to arrive early. He strolled out from tower, through the thin crowd, and up to the safety fence. He had to struggle a bit, for some reason it was extremely windy.

Bloody hell, is it always this gusty?

At this point, he saw one of the announcement screens, which was currently apologising for the windy conditions caused by unexpected instabilities in the atmosphere.

So, that's why most people are inside.

But the view was worth it. Hanging onto the railing to stabilise himself, he took a good look. Straight down was the dome floor, a patchwork quilt of trees and grassed areas and buildings and waterways. Out to the sides, through the transparent dome, was the Martian landscape, mainly dust plains with small hills. Up above was the dome ceiling. In the direction of the sun, it was bright, but away from it the ceiling was the blackness of outer space. And seemingly stretching from Mars to heaven was the tower itself. In the distance could be seen the South, East and West towers. He could also see one of the huge atmosphere circulation fans. Its fan blades would normally be a grey blur, but right now they were slowing to a halt.

He glanced again at the announcement screen: apparently, they were turning off the fans in an attempt to stop feeding the air turbulence.

He turned around and took stock of the available chairs and tables.

There's plenty of choice, what say I pick one a bit in from the edge but away from anybody else... That one will do.

He moved to stake his claim on his temporary territory. The closest potential invaders were a large group of adults and children to one side, and a group of four teenage boys to the other, but after a quick appraisal Teylon deemed them all to be friendly.

He leant back on his chair; tried to think through his situation.

I still can't make this add up to anything constructive. Four teenagers, three with esper powers. One unhappy ex police officer, and a Teflon rat. What does that equation equal to?

"Hey, old man, the wind will blow you over if you keep leaning back like that."

"Why does everybody call me an old man...? Oh, it's you, Erasyl."

Erasyl took a seat.

"Because to a teenager, you are an old man?" he said.

"Hey! You're supposed to be diplomatic about it, and pretend not to notice!" said a new voice.

"Hello Maggie." said Teylon.

Sigh. Never mind. Looks like I'll just have get over the old man bit. After all, being reincarnated and all of that, it doesn't actually matter, does it?

The two remaining girls soon arrived, and there were introductions all the way round.

Sarsaparilla, momentarily looking a bit grumpy as she tried to pat down her hair which was blowing all over the place, cheered up and smiled radiantly at everyone.

"Hi there! Pity about the windy conditions, I call them my bad hair days. I could almost swear they follow me around just to mess with my hair. But that's all right!"

Of course, Adalace's hair, being longer, was in an even worse state. She gave a big smile back at Sarsaparilla.

"So, it's all your fault, is it?"

"Sure is!"

And then, as if having exhausted their conversational reserves, there was a long awkward silence.

Crap, I forgot that this lot are not exactly stellar in the sociability stakes. I had better start breaking the ice.

He opened his mouth to say something, but was distracted by the strange sight of a table umbrella flying past, with a small child firmly attached. None of the others were looking in the same direction, so they didn't see it. The wind gust propelling the umbrella caused it to swing around in an arc, and then head directly for the edge, the child being dragged through the air behind it.

Teylon was off and running. He angled towards the railing, hoping to catch the child as he flew past. Unfortunately, just as he was going to catch the boy, the wind gust changed direction, pushing the umbrella up and over the fence. The boy was momentarily stuck on the top and the umbrella detached itself from him and flew out and away. Teylon scrambled madly up the railings, breaking his fingernails in the process. He gripped the top of the fence and reached out to the boy, but there was air between the boy's hand and the railing. Lunging out, Teylon managed to grab the boy's hand, but the sudden weight made him loose his grip on the railing.

He was upside down, holding onto the boy, a couple of metres on the wrong side of the fence, watching the steel structure supporting the deck going upwards. And away, the wind was still blowing and pushing him out.

"Teylon!" screamed Maggie. She was outside also, reaching out to them, but she was not closing in on them.

Of course! She can't fly if she's too far away from some steel for her magnetic ability to catch.

So, without any further thought, he threw the boy at her. She plucked him out of free fall, and stuck herself, hugging the boy, to one of the massive steel columns that supported the deck.

Teylon was pushed out even further by the momentum, and kept on falling. He ended up in facing down, arms legs out; the proper free fall configuration. The wind on his face gradually, at a leisurely pace, picked up speed.

This is actually peaceful. In its own way.

He watched the dome floor directly below. Filled with trees and gardens.

I've done it again, haven't I? Killed myself saving a child's life. I hope Esmeralda isn't annoyed by my failure to complete my task. Unless I'm due to be saved?

He had no idea how that would be possible.

He kept watching as the dome floor came closer.

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Leroy becomes a hero

A little while beforehand, Leroy and three other teenage boys had sat down at one of the tables. They were not looking at the view; instead they were having an argument.

"Come on, let's get up and go inside to the show." said one of the boys.

As well as restaurants and food halls inside from the deck, there was an entertainment complex, with movie theatres and other types of shows.

This is getting embarrassing.

"But I really don't appreciate this sort of thing." said Leroy.

Snickers from the other boys.

"Come on, be a man. Unless you're one of those..."

"No, no, I like girls. It's just that..." said Leroy.

"Just what? You too scared to go and see a strip tease? Have you ever seen a naked lady before?"

"Ah, well, not really, ah"

Laughter from the other tree.

"Or is this your stupid hero thing?" said the first boy to speak.

"It's not stupid! I have a high-ranking ability! So what's wrong in wanting to use it to save people?"

"Stupid it is. The probability that you will be in just the right place, witnessing just the right sort of situation that your ability could make a difference, is miniscule."

"But..."

"But so what, even a hero should be able to relax and watch a lady take off her clothes."

More snickers.

"Well, I don't know. I really don't think that that is what a hero should pay to do so..."

Outright laughter from the three boys.

"You have to make up your mind, Leroy. Are you a member of this group, or are you not?"

And while Leroy struggled with what to say to that one, he looked up from the table and outwards. Just in time to see the rather unusual sight of a man, upside down, just outside the top of the fence, holding a boy. The man and boy were beginning to fall, accelerating in Mar's gentle gravity.

There was the sound of an empty chair crashing to the ground, and a girl that had been sitting at a table nearby zoomed across the decking, a metre above it. She whipped up and over the railing and caught the boy as the man fell.

Another empty chair spun around and bounced on the deck. Leroy flew diagonally up, swerved around some umbrellas and went head first over the railing.

The girl and the boy seem to be stuck to the steel column... Some sort of magnetic ability?

But the man was out and down and falling. Leroy took a glance, his subconscious ran the equations of motion automatically and delivered the answer.

Easy, accelerate, brake, end up right above him, wrap my arms around him, flip him over and accelerate back up. Assume he weighs 75 kg, add to my 50 kg, then loss of height will be 800 metres while I slow down our ascent. The floor is a full kilometre below. No problems!

Actually, Leroy had forgotten the day pack he was wearing, another fifteen kilograms. So by the time he had decelerated to zero velocity, the trees were disconcertingly close.

"Sorry, old man, that was a bit close, carrying an extra one and half times my weight is pretty close to my limit."

Leroy was parallel to the ground, facing up, with the man lying on top of him, also facing up. Consequently, Leroy couldn't see the man's face.

Probably terrified, I had better try to say something more.

"But don't worry old man, don't worry, I can fly. And, since there is no reason why we shouldn't, I'm taking you back up to where we came from."

"Ah - ah - th - thanks."

A few minutes later, Leroy and Teylon floated over the railings, drifted along the deck and came to a halt at a small gathering of people crowding the entrance to the tower. They did not seem all that keen on going out on the deck itself. Leroy had no problems in discerning three separate sub groups- a group around a lady hugging the boy, his own friendship group, and another slightly bigger group that the man apparently belonged to.

Everybody looked relieved to see them appear.

Leroy smoothly rotated himself to the vertical, and decanted the man directly in front of the boy and his mother. The man staggered, almost collapsed, then straightened up, took a step towards the two.

"H - Hello - argh"

He took a breath and tried again, this time in a firm voice.

"Hello, my name is Teylon and I'm very glad your boy is safe."

The mother, anguished and still too shocked to respond coherently, just looked at him. She was trembling and holding the boy tightly. One of the women surrounding them finally spoke.

"Thank you both, and the girl. I'm afraid my friend's in no state to talk at the moment..."

She led the mother and boy away, and their group followed.

Leroy moved back from Teylon a little. On one side of him was Teylon, being greeted by three teenage girls and a boy. On the other side were the three boys in his group.

The girl who had flown and saved the boy lunged forward and grabbed Teylon's hands.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I couldn't reach you, you were too far out!"

"Maggie, that's all right. You did the right thing and saved the boy."

He reached out as if to pat her head, then seemed to reconsider and patted her hands.

Another girl, a real cutie, held his arm.

"That was so fantastic, how you saved the boy!"

The third, tall, girl, and a real sweetie, put her arm around Maggie's waist and her other hand on Teylon's free arm.

"Yes, wasn't it? Both of you were incredible!"

Finally, the remaining teenager, a boy, nodded his head.

"Yeah, got to hand it to you, old fella, you're a hero!"

Yeah, Teylon's the real hero here. He risked his life, while I was safe at all times.

He remembered his miscalculation concerning the total load.

Well, maybe I can privately claim just a little bit of the accolade?

Teylon looked around at Leroy.

"And I have to thank you, ah..."

"My name's Leroy."

"Right, and, ah, I'm sorry I broke up your own social occasion."

Teylon nodded in the direction of Leroy’s group. Who, in contrast to the displays of emotions on Teylon's friends, were looking on with a distinct lack of engagement.

Leroy looked from one group to the other, then looked at Teylon. Teylon, on his part, momentarily had a pre-occupied look on his face, as if he was seeing something else and was not paying attention to what was in front of him. He then came back to full awareness.

"Say, Leroy, we were in the process of having a social event ourselves, how about joining us?"

Before Leroy could answer, the leader of his previous friendship group spoke.

"Yeah, sure, that sounds like a good idea for you, Leroy. Be seeing ya."

And with that, the three of them walked off, through the entrance to the tower and turned towards the entertainment complex.

Leroy looked at his new friendship group. Who appeared to be quite agreeable to inviting him in. Teylon, however, took a step forward, and collapsed onto his knees.

"Sorry, I think I've had enough for the day. Why don't you lot enjoy yourselves while I go to my apartment and have a rest. I'll still pay."

"Don't be stupid! As if we could do that!" said Maggie.

Leroy was beginning to realise that Maggie's default attitude was annoyance. Or maybe that was extreme annoyance?

The cute girl got even cuter and said:

"Yes, we couldn't possibly celebrate without you, so why don't we all escort you back to your home before leaving?"

"Ok, thanks. But still, you should all meet each other again, say tomorrow? Don't worry about me; I think I'll need a day or so to recover."

It was arranged. They accompanied him back to his home, then arranged a time and location for the next day.

Leroy, at a loose end since he had planned to spend the day with his now ex-friends, went back to his own accommodation.

I was a hero, even if only a little bit wasn't I?

But it doesn't really make up for...

No, it doesn't.

But, this new group looks like they could be far better company than my old group.

Although it is strange that they have such an old man with them. But, whatever.