Devina: Finds a new home

A lady named Devina looked out of the living area of her apartment, at the balcony. Nine stories high in the West Tower. The balcony was broken, at one point the concrete balustrading was missing, the concrete of the balcony below the gap in the railings looked as if it had been bitten off. By something that took one metre wide bites. She cautiously walked up to one side of the hole. She took a grip on the remaining railings and looked down.

Yeah, he hit the ground hard enough to produce a splat of blood.

She hardly felt a thing. Almost nothing. She was numb through and through. Except for a vague sense of relief.

It's over. Why didn't I do this when it all started?

She felt no regrets. No warmth for the person whose broken body now lay nine stories down. Even if he was her father.

She went to the bathroom, got out the bandages, and wrapped up the latest cuts and burns. Then she unlocked the door of the apartment, sat down on the kitchen chair, and waited for the police.

The police had been and taken her statement. She told them that her father had stepped onto the balcony, leant on the balustrade, and it collapsed under him. Nothing else.

They made an investigation of the accident site, then left.

I can't go anywhere anyway, so they might as well just leave me here.

Her sleep that night was restless and her dreams full of pain.

The next morning the police came again, merely to say that she was free to go. They also told her that since the apartment was in her father's name, she was expected to move out as soon as possible.

An hour later, she was sitting at a public terminal in a local shopping centre.

Is that all? They just kick me out? Whatever.

She felt so apathetic.

What do I do? What do I want to do?

Not much.

After an hour or so, she finally roused herself to enter her personal password to the computer terminal, and then request a list of available rooms for rent. She entered her search criterion: low cost, female only lodging.

Exactly one result came back.

Strange, in a city this size there should be lots more. But, so what.

She entered her details, and sent off her application.

She brought some sandwiches and ate them.

Tastes like cardboard. But who cares.

She got back an affirmative reply, so she made her way to the address of the room for rent.

A tall, solidly built lady, about twenty five years old, greeted her at the door by, and escorted her into the living area, where there was another lady already sitting on a chair. This woman was about twenty or so, the same age as Devina.

"Hi, I'm Francesca and this is Tamara."

Francesca's very obvious distinguishing feature was the disfiguration of the left side of her face. The skin was unnaturally stiff and reddish, and while it did move and conform to the required shapes as she moved her mouth, it did not appear to reflect any facial expressions. Devina swiftly worked out that she had to rely solely on the right hand side of Francesca's face to figure out what she was feeling.

Devina also decided to not make any mentions about the disfigurement.

I think I had better leave that to when Francesca herself decides to talk about it.

"So you need a place to stay?" said Francesca.

"Yeah, that's right. My name is Devina."

"What happened to your previous place of accommodation?"

"Ah, it was rented by my father, and as soon as he died I was kicked out."

"So, you must be sad to have lost your father?"

"No."

Francesca and Tamara exchanged a brief glance.

"Oh, OK. How did he die?"

"The balcony crumbled away beneath him and he fell."

"Well, OK, then. Hmm, my ability is called Fusion Flash, and Tamara's is called Tracker. I don't suppose you have an ability?"

"Yes. The name they gave it is Divine Disintegrator. The 'Divine' part was their idea, not mine."

"Never heard of that one, what exactly can you do?"

"I can cause solid objects like stone and brick and rock, to crumble and disintegrate. I can focus down to mere grams of material, or up to a tonne or so."

A contemplative silence and another glance between Francesca and Tamara.

"Fine, that seems all right. And, would you to join us in various jobs, also?"

"I suppose so?"

"You see, we get little contracts from someone high in the government. They can pay quite a bit. Although since the jobs are not very often, the payments have to last a long time. And, ah, we call ourselves the 'Girls in Pink'. Mainly because my Fusion Flash fireballs are always pink. But the wearing of pink is strictly optional."

Devina looked at the two, and noted that indeed, each was wearing something pink. Tamara had a pink hair ribbon, while Francesca's jacket had a pink pattern woven in amongst its overall white colour.

"What, exactly, do you do?" said Devina.

----------------------------------------

Adalace: Arranges an expedition

At the recent gathering at Teylon's home, Adalace had been the first to raise her hand to volunteer her place for the next meeting. She had apologised to Teylon for not having a cat, and apologised to everybody else for having a very small apartment. She kept quiet about having a very definite ulterior motive. In fact, she had two. So, three days later, on the day arranged, she was sitting in her office at the watch centre, with the door firmly closed, trying to drum up her courage. Eventually she made a call.

"Ah, hello Sarsaparilla? Ah, I don't suppose you would like to get to my place an hour earlier. Just to, well, you know, I need to arrange the furniture - not as if I have much, but still, and, well..."

"Sure! I'll love to come over - to help you out of course."

My plan is working! So far.

Adalace showed Sarsaparilla around her flat, a task that took all of twenty five seconds.

"As you see, I've just got a kitchen area, and this is my bedroom-"

This is embarrassing, hurry through it.

"And the combined bathroom and toilet. And if we get back in the kitchen, here is my little computer system."

"Oh my, little does so not describe this, this..."

Words failed Sarsaparilla as she looked at the floor to ceiling array of jammed in digital electronics.

Adalace, who knew from experience not to even attempt to explain it all, just giggled.

"It's all part of my ability. Anyway, I managed to borrow four folding chairs from the couple next door, after all I often fix their computer problems. So if you can help me set them out?"

Adalace had two chairs of her own. A minute later, and the chairs were arranged around the table. The two girls sat down, opposite each other. There was an awkward silence while Adalace fidgeted. Finally:

"Ah, Sarsaparilla, there's a school holiday coming up in a week's time - and I'm thinking of proposing to the group that we go on a little expedition. Out to some of the older domes further up north. We would travel in a hired surface vehicle. Ah, I thought I would ask you first, ah, do you think it would be a good idea?"

If she doesn't want to go then there's no point in me arranging it, is there? Well, there is, but it can wait.

There was a one-second gap, then "Yes! I'd love to. Err, isn't that cluster of unused domes a bit far to make in a day?"

Deep breath here.

"I was thinking of make it more than a day's trip. Maybe two or three."

Or even four!

"But, but, don't worry, everything will be all right!

Make sure she doesn't think that anything weird might be going on!

"We'll hire two three-person inflatable crew pods. One for the girls and one for the boys."

So there'll be Maggie with us, also! See, nothing weird going on. And who cares what the boys think about it.

This time the gap was longer, then "That sounds like fun! But, will the others go along with it?"

She agreed! She agreed!

"Oh, the others. Actually I have it all planned out..."

Hee hee hee! There are wheels within wheels for my little plan!

The others arrived, and if anyone took notice of the fact that Sarsaparilla was there first, they politely kept quiet about it.

"Everyone, you can put your coats and purses on the bed, and pick a seat, the food will be arriving soon!" said Adalace

Paid for by Teylon, of course.

Everyone admired the computer rack, and Teylon, who still prided himself on knowing a thing or two about computers, asked for a brief run down. Twenty minutes later, with Adalace getting more and more animated as she described the various systems and sub-systems, running demonstration programs and producing numerous pretty but mostly incomprehensible displays on the monitor screens, Teylon had to put a stop to it.

"Sorry, Adalace, but my computer knowledge maxed out about five minutes ago. I'm going to have to admit defeat."

Maggie, Erasyl, and Leroy, who had been following the exchange with rapt attention, all laughed.

"She's got you there, hasn't she!" said Maggie.

"Yeah, it wasn't even a fair fight, more like a maglev cargo carrier butting aside a toy truck!" said Erasyl.

Teylon rolled his eyes. "Is the food going to arrive soon?"

"Probably!" said Adalace.

Adalace had not failed to note that, unlike the others, Sarsaparilla had been concentrating solely on Adalace during all of this.

So nice to show off, so nice to have her impressed.

An hour later, after the food had been consumed and the mess cleaned up, they went back to sitting at the table.

Another deep breath here. Now I have to get the rest on board.

"Everybody, I would like to propose another outing for our little group. You know how Teylon's own Angel of Death is apparently keen on our collaboration. So, I was thinking a good start to that is to..."

She gave the same explanation that she had already given to Sarsaparilla.

Now, tackle Teylon first. Mid strength smile, since I don't think he falls for my cute display any more.

"So Teylon, do you think this is a good idea. After all, it appears to be what Esmeralda wants..."

Teylon appeared to be amused by something, but he happily conceded, without the slightest hesitation.

Next, Maggie. More serious expression, but still smiling.

"Maggie, would you like to come? I think it would be wonderful to have a high level person come along, I'm sure the domes are safe but you never know..."

"I've never been on a group expedition - yes I would like to come!"

Now, Leroy. Big friendly smile, lean towards him.

"How about you, Leroy? Having a gravitational flyer could come in handy, some of those unused domes are pretty large and you could get a bird’s eye view of the surface layout."

"This should be fun!"

Erasyl is a push over. Three lovely girls and a handsome boy. No problems! But, to be sure, I give him a full power smile.

"What about you, Erasyl?"

"Of a course! I wouldn't miss this for dollars!"

Of course, this time there will not be any need for his ability. Thankfully.

She glanced at Teylon, just in time to see him hiding a smile. She had a sudden, unpleasant, thought.

"Teylon, you're not reading my soul at the moment, are you?"

"No, certainly not. As I said, Esmeralda only grants such things when it suits her plans."

"Hmm, it does worry me that he could read my thoughts at any time without my permission." said Maggie.

"OK, how about I promise, in front of my Angel, that if I get a soul reading from any of you I tell you as soon as is practical?"

Everyone liked that idea.

"And if he breaks his promise, he's got to contend with a very powerful being indeed!" said Sarsaparilla. She looked as if she enjoyed the thought.

"OK, that is all to the good." Adalace clapped her hands, "Although there are some details to be worked out."

Hopefully there will be no problems.

"Firstly, I think we should go dark here and put all of our wrist bands into my large Faraday cage. After all, I'm sure the authorities must be aware of us, what with Teylon 'Judging' two men with extreme prejudice."

"Huh?" said a few. But, teenagers being teenagers, they were willing to make the adventure sound, well, even more adventurist.

Teylon raised his eyebrows a little, but did not complain has he added his wristband to the collection.

Adalace snapped closed the lid. She looked around, she had their full attention.

"You see, instead of just making it a trip, I thought we could be productive and conduct a little search for some antique items in the domes..."

"Hmm, don't such treasure hunts come under the aegis of Mars Surface Control?" said Maggie.

"Ah, yes, certainly! Of course, we won't be looting the artefacts left behind by the first colonists to Mars! It should be left there for future generations of tourists to look at, just like we will be looking at them. Just that, well you see..."

Here, Adalace took a folder off her bookcase, and pulled out photocopied pages.

"This is a copy of the dairy, on real paper mind you, of one of the early pioneers. And he stuck actual photos into it. And this page, he is talking about how his granddad bequeathed to him an early computer system, called a VIC-20. And he brought it with him to Mars. It must have cost him a packet to pay for the extra mass. See, this is a photo of the system!"

The others looked at a strangely fat keyboard.

"Originally it would have been used with one of those really old fashioned TV sets, but this person didn't have one of those. Just the computer itself. Totally amazing, it had up to 16 Kilobytes of memory!"

"Don't you mean 16 Gigabytes?" said Maggie.

"No, no! 16 Kilobytes. I mean, you couldn't do any programming with such a microscopic memory footprint. But, they had to start somewhere!"

"And I take it you have an idea where this might still be?" said Teylon.

He was relaxing, leaning back in his chair, looking like he was enjoying himself immensely.

"That's right! Look at this second image, taken only twenty years ago."

Adalace showed them printed out copy of an image, of the internal view of a room. On one side was a shelf full of junk, on the other side was a window looking out to the internal view of a dome.

"This was taken by tourists. Obviously, they hadn't a clue what all of that clutter was. And look, in the far corner of the shelf, it must be that VIC-20, half covered by a discarded pizza box!"

"Oh, so I see! Adalace intends to purloin it for her own satisfaction!" said Maggie.

"Of a course not! There are rules and regulations about taking artefacts. But, if I can prove its existence, I can put in a request with the Verdant City museum to give it a more fitting home in their computer history display. Not stuck out in an old dome under rubbish where any passer-by could pinch it!"

Although it would be nice to have it on my bookcase.

"I know the dome this photo is supposed to come from, so all we have to do is to go there and search for it. The dome is a fairly big one for such an early era, maybe a kilometre across. It is currently abandoned, but, like all of the old domes, its atmospheric integrity is kept up to date by regular checks, so searching it is just a matter of time and effort."

"That's fine by me! Gives us something to do when we get there." said Maggie.

The others agreed.

Now comes the difficult part.

"Ah, there is a small problem. Well, two small problems, but it is nothing that we can't overcome." said Adalace.

Teylon looks as if he is about to burst out laughing. Well, here goes.

"Yes?" said Leroy, beating Maggie to it.

"Hmm, you see, Mars Surface Control has various regulations and, well, one of them says that any party that travels by surface has to have an adult, age 21 or above, who has a surface travel licence."

"Well, I got one of those, oh, I see, I'm not yet an adult." said Maggie.

It turned out that all of the teenagers had such licences. And, of course, Teylon did not.

"But Teylon certainly is old enough. So, I was wondering, if Teylon could just talk the sales person at the surface vehicle hire place to let us out, since, after all, in combination we do satisfy the conditions."

Teylon was unable to suppress a snort of amusement.

"My apologies for not having a licence. But, sure, I can do my best. I will need to, ah, case out the situation at the hire place. You never know, it might be possible."

"Ooh good, good." said Adalace.

"And, you said there were two small problems?" said Erasyl.

"Ah yes. You see, some old domes are open for passing tourists, while others aren't. Not because of any dangers or anything! No, nothing like that, but only because Surface Control has limited staff and they can't go around to them all and check them all out."

By now, all the others were in various stages of smiling or laughing, not just Teylon.

"My, my, our cute little Adalace really is a bit devious under her smile, isn't she!" said Leroy.

"I'm not devious! It's just that I'm really keen on getting my hands on this piece of ancient computer history - ah, and to see it displayed in the museum, of course."

"Sure, sure, We'll take the left turn instead of the right turn as specified in our itinerary to the hire place. It's not as if I could object, is it?" said Teylon.

Nods from the other teenagers.

"But wait! How to deal with the fact that our position will be continually broadcast via our wrist bands?" said Maggie, "I mean, leaving them off while venturing outside the dome is very unwise."

Adalace's face turned red.

"Well, you see, I thought of that one too. Please don't tell anyone, but I have constructed, from easily obtained generic digital electronic parts, a Martian GPS local area relay. Actually, I made two."

"Ooh, wow." said Erasyl.

"Yeah, you really are determined to get your hands on that VIC-20. And put it into a museum, of course." said Maggie.

"It wasn't all that difficult, you know, Once you know how the GPS system works, which is mostly public information." said Adalace.

"And I suppose the specifications that weren't public, like the passwords, you managed to deduce with a little experimentation?" said Maggie.

"Of course. No problems at all."

"So, how is this supposed to work?" asked Teylon.

"Easy. Once we're clear of the Verdant City's own local area GPS system, I turn on mine. I've programmed it to grab the real GPS signals from the satellites, modify the GPS position according to the itinerary they think we are travelling, then retransmit the signals at low power to our wrist bands. And also to the navigational system in the surface vehicle. No problems!"

Teylon waved a hand. "I have no problems with all of that. Even if I'm the one that gets the blame if somebody finds out about this."

"But, why two?" asked Leroy.

"So that we can split up into two groups, off course."

The others expressed their agreement about this whole proposal.

Whew. They're all on board. I can find my VIC-20, and spend three (or maybe even four!) days living with Sarsaparilla. Oh, plus the others, of course.

"You know, your ability could make you quite a menace to our society." said Leroy.

"Rubbish! She's perfectly OK." said Sarsaparilla.

"Oh, I suppose I'm paying for all of this?" said Teylon.

"Of course!" said Adalace.

Sarsaparilla grinned hugely at this.

They made plans, and arranged subsequent meetings to work everything out, at Teylon's place.

They finished the evening. Just before opening the Faraday cage, Adalace said:

"Remember, no one talks about our little extras for the trip when they are wearing their wrist bands!"

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

----------------------------------------

Sarawatch: Hears about the trip plans

The next day at the watch station, after Adalace had left for a patrol, Sarawatch came to the front desk which Teylon was staffing.

"I've just heard about your plans to tour around some of the tourist domes these school holidays." she said.

"Ah, yes?"

She sat down on the other side of the desk from Teylon.

"I just want to be sure; you're not planning anything - nasty - are you. Some sort of exploitation? Or maybe you have some sort of plan to become a cult leader? After all, they are five teenagers. And judging from Adalace, five probably not very sociable or secure in themselves teenagers. You know; the type that could be sitting ducks for a really manipulative con man..."

Teylon leant back in his chair and waved his hands in front of him.

"I assure you, I have never gone into anything like that, not in my entire life. And now, when I have Esmeralda making her presence continually felt, it is even more out of the question!"

"Hmm, OK. Personally, I don't think you would, anyway. But, if you ever did - abuse - them in any way,"

She picked up the paper knife that happened to be lying on the desk, and felt its edge.

"I'll use this blunt knife to slice off your you know what."

Teylon shrank back from her smile.

"Ah, yes, ah, well if I ever did then I suppose I would certainly deserve it." he said.

"But, perhaps, you could allow me some pain blockers while you did it?" he continued.

She smiled, this time a friendly smile.

"Oh, sure. I mean, I wouldn't want to appear to be unmerciful, would I?"

She dropped the knife and went back to her office. Before she went back to her web novel, she spent a little time ruminating about things.

It's still a pity he's not available.

----------------------------------------

Leroy: Travelling across Mars with the others

A week later, Leroy got out of bed just before dawn.

This is exciting. I haven't been on a group outing since my junior school days. Which didn't work out too well, but let's not dwell on that.

He scoffed down his breakfast, put on his school uniform, and then hoisted his backpack on to his back. He had spent an hour last night packing everything.

I know I should walk to get my exercise, but to hell with that, I'm flying!

He stepped out of his front door and locked it behind him. He took the elevator to the surface, stepped out and zoomed up into the air. After first checking for any other air bound traffic, of course. His special classes on how to handle his ability were most insistent on that little detail. As the instructor pointed out:

"You each have gravitational levitation ability. But it never comes with any sort of air traffic detection ability. So it's up to you to use your own eyes and to always be on a look out. Otherwise you could end up joining that small number of people who have flown themselves at high speed into overhead structures, or other flyers, and ended up extremely dead."

He really did not want to miss out on this trip, so he flew carefully through the morning light. The morning was cool and crisp, the day promised to be fine. Just as the weather engineers had planned.

He arrived at the North Lock, and touched down in front of the surface vehicle hire shop. Due to his eagerness, he was an hour early.

I can sit on a bench and saviour the anticipation - what, Erasyl and Maggie are also arriving early?

Three embarrassed teenagers greeted each other.

"So we're all early, just in case?" said Erasyl.

"Well, I had nothing else to do and I couldn't get back to sleep." said Maggie.

"Same here!" said Leroy.

None of them could think of anything else to say, so they sat in a row on a bench and waited.

Half an hour before the agreed upon time, Adalace and Sarsaparilla arrived.

Ooh, together! I bet Adalace planned this trip just to get some time with Sarsaparilla.

Greetings all around, then more silence. Finally, at exactly the agreed upon time, Teylon arrived.

"Right, let's see you." he said as he checked out their clothes.

"Yep, you’re all wearing school uniforms, and you've managed to coordinate your jackets at least, to make it look like you're all from the same school."

"Maggie loaned us two of her old jackets." said Adalace, as Sarsaparilla nodded.

The jackets were a bit tight on Adalace, and a bit loose on Sarsaparilla, but by leaving the jackets unbuttoned, it wasn't too obvious.

"And Leroy loaned me his spare jacket." said Erasyl.

It should be noted here that they all went to different schools.

"OK, the next part is critical, since if we fail we can't go." said Teylon.

Groans from all five teenagers.

"Line up with Adalace and Sarsaparilla in front, put your best smiles on, act like dutiful little students, and follow me!"

They walked into the hire office.

Teylon's giving a pretty good imitation of a responsible teacher.

Teylon nodded affably to the sales man.

"Good morning sir, we're here to pick up the vehicle for six, plus the two sleeping pods."

"Certainly!"

He got the papers together and presented them to Teylon.

"So, it’s a school outing?" he asked.

"That's right; it's all part of providing valuable experience in leadership to our best students."

At this, Adalace put on her maximum cute expression. Sarsaparilla tried to outdo her with sweetness, although she did not quite succeed. Adalace had a slight edge when it came to this. Maggie made a determined effort to banish any negative thoughts, and managed to produce a happy smile. Leroy and Erasyl had already decided to go for a more subdued and respectful mien, but still with a moderate smile.

The sales man was almost blinded by the radiance from the two girls in front. He took into account the three teenagers behind who were also looking like students of honour.

"What an excellent bunch of students!"

"I agree. It is a pleasure to be a teacher for them."

"Now, if you can sign this form to say you are the nominated person in charge..."

Teylon signed. That is, he waved his left wrist over the counter, and twitched out the appropriate commands. The form on the monitor updated itself with Teylon's details.

The sales clerk went and produced another form on the screen.

"Now if you could also sign this one, to say you are the chief driver..."

"Actually, could I get one of my students to sign it? It's all part of training them in being responsible adults and potential leaders."

"Why, certainly! I'm sure they will all be a credit to our society in the future!"

By agreement, Adalace stepped forward. Turning up the cuteness to 110%, she signed the computed document.

Will the computer accept this? Or will it cross check to make sure that the chief driver is also nominated leader?

Teylon exuded calm confidence. Five teenagers were nervous - but the sales clerk happily accepted the form, and said.

"Follow me and I can get you started!"

Maggie is right, Teylon really is a con man.

Except when that angel of his makes him be honest.

Twenty minutes later, Adalace closed and locked the hatch, sat in the right hand front seat, and drove out through the North Main Airlock. There was a wave of laughter from behind her.

"We did it!" said Sarsaparilla, sitting besides Adalace.

"Yeah! Now I'm beginning to see how a con works." said Maggie, sitting next to Erasyl.

"Think nothing of it, that was ever so basic." said Teylon, sitting at the back next to Leroy.

In good cheer, they settled in for the drive. Adalace turned on the vehicle's GPS guidance system, and she followed the arrows that were projected onto the front window screen. The dome, lit up by the morning sun, slowly sunk out of sight behind them. The route they were following meander its way around micro craters, took the easy way up and down the dunes, and deftly avoided sink holes and rocks and the occasional piles of junk that sadly littered the entire surface of Mars. The route had been followed by countless other vehicles before them, so the auto pilot system knew exactly where to go. Especially since Adalace had not yet turned on her jury-rigged GPS relay.

The teenagers viewed the scenery, mainly red dust plus small rocks, flowing past in companionable silence. Which lasted all of ninety minutes.

Sarsaparilla innocently started the avalanche; she tossed the first pebble down the mountainside.

"Say, Teylon, you never married nor had kids, but did you have any relationships?"

Yeah, did he? Maybe I can learn something about how to get a girlfriend? Leroy turned his head to Teylon in anticipation.

Erasyl, as well as Maggie, turned around in their seats to look at Teylon. Who made a momentary grimace, and then replied without any fuss.

"Ah, well, let's say I had a series of short and medium term relationships with various ladies..."

"Hmm. And, I suppose, the main motivation of those ladies was the money you gave them?" said Maggie.

Maggie is definitely the cynical one amongst us.

"I'm sure they were all, ah, satisfied with my company! That is, two people in a longer term relationship have to mesh together their personalities and needs and if they find out that they are not necessarily compatible enough then there comes a where they have to agree amongst themselves to regretfully call their relationship unsuccessful and acknowledge that they are better off finding other partners and of course such a relationship can only really start if there is at least some chemistry between the two of them from the very beginning, in other words money wasn't everything you know for my ladies..."

Teylon, realising that he was not making much sense, even to himself, ground to a halt.

What bullshit! I'm going to be better than that! Leroy was almost smirking.

Maggie, a grin on her face, said

"In other words, you had a whole lot of prostitutes. By the sounds of it, high class prostitutes, but prostitutes nonetheless. Correct?"

Teylon wriggled around uncomfortably before finally admitting yes.

Sarsaparilla, looking like a cat that has caught a mouse and was currently restraining it by a paw on its tail, continued.

"And, were you satisfied with that life? I mean, an endless cycle of meaningless relationships, one after the other?"

Teylon was looking at four teenagers looking back at him, with various expressions from interest to amusement to derision on their faces. And he could tell that Adalace was listening intently.

Everybody could hear him sigh.

"At the time, yes I was satisfied. I prided myself on not having any connections to anyone else. Since, after all, I might have had to leave any particular location at a moment's notice. I prided myself on not holding anyone else ransom to my life style. But, lately, like since I've come to Mars, I'm beginning to wonder. Just a little."

"Esmeralda is making you reply honestly, isn't she?" said Sarsaparilla.

"Let's say she drops little hints, and it behoves me to scrupulously follow them, on pain of extreme consequences if I don't."

"I really like Teylon's guardian angel!" said Sarsaparilla.

Maggie, similarly unaware, tossed a bigger rock down the mountainside.

"Out of interest, what was the first time you pulled a con and took someone else's money?"

Teylon rolled his eyes.

"It was in junior high school. The kids were pooling their money to buy a batch of ice creams, one each. And I, by cleverly manipulating things, managed to appear to be putting in my share, but in actual fact I didn't. Then I made sure that I was one of the first ones to claim my ice cream. So it meant that the last person in the line, a girl, was left without her money and without her ice cream."

Sarsaparilla was visibly startled by this. And, as for Leroy, "Hey, that's nasty!"

"Yes. It was. I recognised that almost immediately. The girl burst in to tears and was miserable the rest of the afternoon. So from that point on, I resolved to never steal from an innocent person again. And I never did."

"But still, you didn't take it to the next step and somehow reimburse that girl, did you?" said Leroy.

"Ah, no, I guess I didn't..."

"And why not? I'm sure you could have worked out some means, even without admitting guilt!"

Leroy was getting worked up and his voice was rising.

"I suppose I just, err, didn't"

"So you left that girl to cry all afternoon! And Maggie's grandparents, you left them destitute! What do you have to say for yourself?"

By now, Leroy was half standing, leaning over Teylon, pointing his finger at him.

Teylon shrank back. "Well, I suppose, well, perhaps I wasn't as good a person as I thought I was..."

"You weren't at all! You should have done better! What are you going to say to your Angel of Death at your judgement, hey?"

Teylon was stuck in a small vehicle with five teenagers conduction an inquisition, surrounding by kilometres of barren Martian landscape in near vacuum, continually reminded that Esmeralda was taking note of everything he said, faced with the impossible task of justifying his actions without lying or being evasive. He started to sweat.

"Well, I suppose I will have to, well, admit to being, well, guilty of hurting people."

"You're not supposed to hurt people!"

By now Leroy was poking Teylon in the chest, he was livid with anger and had completely forgotten about everybody else.

Teylon's temper frayed and broke.

"Damn this! Could you cut this out! I don't like this too, you know! I've never had to subject myself to such indignity in my entire life!"

There was a lurch and the vehicle slithered to a halt, its large wheels sliding across the dust and making small furrows in the ground. Adalace brought the vehicle to a stop, switched off, turned around and screamed.

"Leroy! You are acting like a bully! Stop it this instance!"

To emphasis this, she had pulled a length of wire from her pocket. Ten centimetres long, a few millimetres thick, she held it in her hand. The end of it was glowing red-hot. She waved it menacingly in Leroy's general direction.

Sudden and complete silence.

Oh shit, shit, shit. I was bullying, wasn't I? I broke my promise to myself, never act like a bully. Shit.

And what's with the red hot mini poker?

Eventually Leroy managed to get his brain to generate a suitable reply.

"Sorry! Sorry everyone. I, guess I got carried away. It's like, you see there were cases of, ah, students at my previous school who were treated very badly, and, I felt very sorry for them, and, well, I guess I got a little freaked out with Teylon's story..."

Shit, don't give myself away! Keep control of myself! Is that a good enough explanation to satisfy their questions?

Presumably Adalace thought so, as the red glow from the piece of wire abruptly disappeared. Somewhat shame facedly she put it back into her purse.

"Then, maybe I'll apologise for going slightly overboard. Because, well, you see, I was bullied a bit in lower school also. So..." said Adalace.

Teylon straightened out.

"Sure, I'm sure that's fine, Adalace and Leroy. Perhaps I should apologise too. Speaking with total honesty can be pretty unpleasant, for all parties, as you no doubt are now fully aware."

"Yeah, it is." said Leroy.

He hesitantly held out his hand and Teylon was happy to briefly shake it.

Everybody relaxed back into their seats, and were silent for a while.