YEAR: 25

Braheton City, Central Tharsis, Mars

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Alex fidgeted, scratching idly at the top of the galinium desk with one fingernail as he waited for class to start. As luck would have it, he'd landed in the same Intro to Chemistry section as Reenie. Why she was taking a science track chem class, he didn't know, but she apparently considered this a sign from the universe that they were meant for each other. Alex had been unable to outmaneuver her thus far, and she always managed to find a seat next to him. Today was no exception; she soon appeared in the doorway, scanned the room, and made a beeline for him. A few students threw her annoyed looks as she elbowed her way down the row to plop down next to him.

"Hey, Reenie," he said, realizing he'd sunk low in his seat in the foolish hope she wouldn't see him. He straightened. Even sitting down, he was significantly taller than her. He looked down at the top of her head, wondering if she ever wore her hair in anything other than a ponytail.

"Hi! I beat Professor Hao. Wow. He's always early."

"He is rather punctual."

Someone near him snickered at the conversation. Alex couldn't blame them. Each class he was forced to come up with a new round of small talk, something he knew he was terrible at. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Reenie didn't seem to mind. No matter how banal his observations, she kept it going.

"My dad says Linden Hao is one of the nicest faculty members, but he kind of scares me because he always looks so serious. He's cute, though."

Alex had no idea how to respond to that. "So… how was your weekend?"

"It was okay. I had to go to a family birthday party for my cousin's aunt. It was a surprise party and you could tell she wasn't happy being surprised. Her daughter gave her a horrible dress, and she was trying so hard not to make a face. It was pretty funny."

"Isn't your cousin's aunt your aunt too?"

"Nooo. Natalie is my father's sister's daughter, and the party was for my father's sister's husband's brother's wife. So she's not really related to me. Natalie's aunt, I mean."

Alex blinked, wondering how Reenie could keep all that straight in her head but barely make passing grades in her major. Alex, having grown up without much extended family, couldn't even follow it. "How did you do on the quiz?"

Reenie shrugged, unconcerned by such things as always. "Oh, you know, all I have to do is pass the class to get the credit. My father will get me a tutor if I need one. Or… we could study together."

Another snigger from a classmate. Alex was trying to think of a plausible excuse to turn down the offer when the professor walked in and the conversation was mercifully cut short. A rustle and a general clatter ensued as everyone hauled out their lokes to record notes. Reenie leaned forward as Professor Hao began the lecture, and Alex, relieved, settled back into his seat. After a time, he realized he'd covered the lecture material on his own already, and his mind began to drift, so he scrolled through the Museum of Art Realism Feed for the next hour. When class ended, he let Reenie exit well ahead of him, not wanting to risk more small talk. As he was leaving, the professor caught his eye and gestured to him. "Sharma, a minute."

Alex stepped out of the flow of students and made his way to the podium, trying to think of what he might have done to get the professor's attention. Nothing, as far as he could recall. He'd offered no answers unless called on and asked no questions. Yet the man was eyeing him with curiosity over the student list on his locator.

"Benjamin, is that what you prefer?"

"It's Alex."

"Alex. Okay." He cracked a smile, the first one Alex had seen from him, and offered his hand. "I'm Lin. Only my mother calls me Linden."

Alex shook his hand, glad the man was friendlier than he appeared, but puzzled. "Is there a problem? I'm sorry the first assignment was late. I didn't register until the first day of class. I believe I had spoken to you about it."

Lin waved this off. "Yes, I remember. Nothing's wrong. I'm just wondering why you're taking this class."

"It's a prerequisite for mineralogy."

"Ah. A geology major?"

"Planetary geology, yes."

"This is a first year course, and you're third year. What's the delay?" He listened as Alex explained his change in majors, then leaned back against the podium, his arms folded. "So you haven't taken chemistry at the university level before?" Alex began to get an inkling of where the conversation was going. He gave Lin a cautious no, and the other man looked skeptical. "Some of the answers you gave on your quiz the other day were several steps beyond the course material. It seems you may have gotten a little ahead of yourself."

"I was trying to be thorough."

Lin regarded him a moment longer, then chuckled. It broadened his face and made him seem much less stern. "Well, you were certainly that. Here's my proposal. I have an advanced chem class in half an hour. Why don't you try that one out instead? It should still count for your major. In the meantime, I'm short a teaching assistant for this class, and it seems that you're more than qualified."

Alex was relieved but uncertain. "You want me to help teach a class I haven't taken yet?"

Lin gave him an abashed smile. "Look, I'm going to be honest here. It's not a prestigious gig. As a brand new junior professor, I'm lucky if I can get the grad students to talk to me, never mind TA my class. Hell, a lot of them are older than me. You'd be doing me a favor, and doing yourself a favor with the double credit. Besides, it beats surreptitiously checking the Feed out of complete boredom, doesn't it?"

Alex cringed, embarrassed that he had been caught. He'd thought that the plain-looking articles on the museum Feed would be nearly impossible to pick out amongst all the students using their lokes to record notes—lesson learned. Alex wasn't positive he was up to the task of grading papers and leading labs, but he wasn't inclined to turn down an offer worth double credit. At nearly two years behind, he could use all the extra science credits he could scrape up.

Lin was right; the advanced chemistry class was much more to Alex's liking. They chatted for a while after the class was over, first to lay out Alex's responsibilities in the lower level class and then small talk. Lin, as he had hinted, was young, only five years older than Alex. He had transferred into Kepler at age eighteen and stayed all the way through medical school. "I'm doing this teaching gig until a space opens up in a neurology lab in Normandy City. What are your plans?"

"I'd like to go into terraforming. It's been something I've been thinking about since I was a child. I realize it's not as glamorous or as lucrative as scoping," he added, as he caught Lin's surprise. The Kepler geology program, with its historic ties to Trident, was well known for producing mineral scopers, his father among them. Mining companies snapped up the best prospects after the results of the GESAT test were released each June. Alex knew several students who in their junior year were already in study programs for the test. Even after such a short time in the science department, he had become well-versed in the mythos of the quest for the perfect GESAT score, a feat some swore was impossible due to trick questions but others chased like the Holy Grail. Alex hadn't decided yet where he fell on this spectrum; he was good at taking tests, so didn't expect trouble in any event.

Lin smiled. "Research neurology won't exactly make me a millionaire either. But, like you, it's a longtime interest of mine. We probably would have gotten along pretty well as kids. The science nerd brigade."

"Probably," said Alex, laughing. "Too bad we grew up on different planets."

"It is too bad. I could have used a kindred spirit around. I'm the lone scientist in a family full of bankers and shop owners. Can you believe that? Bankers! On Asada, of all places. My father was disappointed for a long time, but he's over it now that he can brag about having a son who's a doctor."

Alex smiled and changed the subject. He didn't want to compare notes on their fathers. In a parenting contest, Ben Sharma would lose, every time.

Later, he met Ric at Marta's, an eatery he had discovered in Little Spain during his first week on Mars and taken an instant liking to. The restaurant was set up cafeteria-style and it was affordable, which made it a popular choice for students and other young people. It was a nice change from the Kepler dorms, which served food that resembled traditional Spanish dishes by sight but tasted more like mangled Italian. Alex told Ric about his new teaching assistant position, and Ric told Alex about his disaster of a date the night before.

"The lesson here is never date on a Monday night."

"That's the lesson you got out of that?" Alex couldn't help laughing.

"What other lesson is there?" said Ric around a pastry. Crumbs sprayed from his mouth and settled on the table between them.

"Don't take a girl prone to motion sickness on a ferry ride in the dark?"

Ric dismissed this with a furrowing of his brow. "That's Monday's fault. If it were Friday or Saturday I'd have taken her to a decent club."

"So why didn't you just wait until the weekend to go out with her?"

"Are you daft? That's five days from now. I'm no a monk like you."

"I'm not a monk. I just have standards."

Ric let out a guffaw at this notion, sending more crumbs flying. "Well, they're too high if you haven't had a single date in the last month. By the way, have you gone through the holodisk your auntie sent?"

"Some of it."

"And?"

"And nothing. I've found nothing about any research my father did. Unless he was researching Norman pornography."

Ric's eyes grew wide. "You found his porn?"

"Right alongside the architectural drawings and the client lists."

"Let's see it, then."

Alex gave him a look. "You're sick. You know that, right?"

"I was joking. Relax, Alex. Even if what you're looking for isn't there, you might find some other clue."

"I don't even know what I'm looking for. How would I recognize a clue when I saw one?"

"Use that oversized brain of yours and figure it out." Ric tossed back the rest of his drink and stood, letting out a loud belch. The people around them laughed, and Ric grinned. "See? For every action there's a reaction. Take some action and the answers will come to you. Your science lesson for the day."

Alex eyed him as they ditched their trays on the belt that ran into the dishwashing room. "First of all, that statement has no science behind it. Second of all, you're disgusting. I don't know why women follow you around."

"Because I'm fun. You ought to try it sometime. Being fun, that is. Or women. Or both."

Since it was a nice day, they decided to walk the few kilometers home, ducking into several stores along the way. Ric had become obsessed with Christmas shopping even though it was only the second week of November, and was determined to find gifts for everyone on his long list. Alex discerned that the holiday must be a much bigger deal in Ric's family than it was in his, and felt somewhat wistful about it despite the fact he wasn't even sure what he was missing. He expected nothing from Aunt Isha, who had already transferred him some welcome and needed credit at Diwali, or his mother's parents, who only loked him once every couple of months. He was surprised, therefore, when Ric told him that he was staying through the multi-week break in December and January.

"I thought you'd go home for Christmas."

"Aye, well, I'm no so fond of hypergates, and it takes too long to get there and back on a ship." Ric ran a hand through his hair, looking a bit sheepish. It was the first time Alex had seen him act at all self-conscious.

"No hypergates and no elevators?"

Ric shrugged. "It's better than no women, aye?"

As they stopped to look in a store window, Alex noticed a face he recognized reflected from across the street. His brain gave a split-second hiccup as it parsed the data, and he knew by the look Ric gave him that the moment was outwardly visible. His father used to call it the "instant of collation" and despite the fact that Ben had more than once laughed at him for the involuntary reaction, Alex had never figured out how to hide it.

"What then?" said Ric.

Alex turned and scanned the other side of the street, but the man he'd seen had moved on. "There was a guy over there I've seen before. He's been outside the dorm twice, and last week I saw him in South Braheton at the M stop."

"That man who knew your da?"

"No, not him."

"Someone from one of your classes, perhaps?"

"No, he's too old to be a student. Maybe a professor or something."

"Perhaps." Ric gave him a sidelong look as they continued on. "Are you all right? You seem jumpy ever since you ran into your da's old friend. And why are you hanging around South Braheton? It's no a place for people who fancy living."

"No one has ever bothered me there."

"Aye, well, you don't look much like a stimrunner, so I suppose that helps."

"Thanks. Neither do you."

Ric laughed. "You are tetchy. We'll find you some chocolate. That always seems to help with your womanly moods."

Twenty minutes and a bar of chocolate later, Alex did have to admit he felt better. Someday, he thought, he'd catch Ric being wrong about something, and he'd be sure to record it for posterity. As they turned onto the street for the dorm, Ric was laughing at Alex's description of today's conversation with Reenie when he stopped in mid-guffaw and pulled Alex into an alley.

"What…" began Alex, but Ric shushed him as he watched people pass by the narrow open space between the two buildings.

"Just wait," he said, sotto voce, resembling a Space Pirates character.

"Come on, Ric. You're weirding me out." He was about to leave when Ric reached out, snagged the arm of a stranger, and hauled the unsuspecting victim into the alley with them. Alex jumped back as Ric shoved the smaller man against the rough gray wall face-first and held him there. What the hell? Definitely way too much Space Pirates.

"Is it him?" said Ric.

Alex's shock at Ric's actions turned to alarm as he caught sight of the man's face. "Yes. That's the guy."