Carmody and the Electric Dragon

10th District Junior High School, Pan City

Friday October 26th 2046

“Thanks for the ride, Nata” Carmody called to her new friend as she got out of the auto-cab. Nata was seated inside still, dressed in a shirt, jacket and jeans, looking like a young fashion model with her exotic dark skin and eyes. Carmody was dressed in the same clothes she had on last night, minus the stained and torn coveralls she had worn over them.

“Are you sure you are Okay to go to school today?” Nata asked with a concerned tone. They were both fully healed after the night’s rest, much to Carmody’s amazement, yet the older girl was worried anyway. “It was a very traumatic night you had”

“I’ve had worse!” Carmody answered with a smile. “I’ll call you tonight, Okay?”

“Alright then, stay safe Carmody” Nata said and let the auto-cab door close. With a whine of electric motors it pulled away from the school, Nata giving her friend a final wave before it was swallowed up in the morning traffic.

“Hi Carmody” called a girl’s voice from the courtyard in front of the main school building. She turned and saw a tall, slim girl with two long ponytails sticking out at right angles from her head. Her narrow face creased into a smile as Carmody spotted her and waved hello.

“Morning, Angelina” she called to her and walked into the school grounds. “Why are you here so early today?”

“I am on the Halloween Party committee, remember?” Angelina said. “We are having a meeting before school to thrash out some of the final details”

“Oh right” Carmody replied. “I completely forgot about that. It’s next week isn’t it?”

“Uh-huh” Angelina answered her. “I am really looking forward to it”

She fell in step with the taller girl as they both walked slowly towards the main entrance. There were a couple of other early students in the yard too, but neither of them knew many other people so they ignored them, talking quietly instead to each other.

“You always seem so distracted at school” Angelina commented, her voice tinged with concern. “Is that special project you are working on causing you trouble? Is Sarah making trouble for you?”

Carmody had to laugh at the situation. Before Angelina had become friends with Sarah, the two girls had been the most bitter of enemies. Angelina was a Grade Two Telekinetic, meaning she could move things from a distance using the power of her own mind. She had been pretty scary and had attacked Sarah more than once on the school grounds.

Yet Sarah had been the one to find Angelina’s Soul Spark, stolen by their Physics teacher Mr Albright, who had been working with the Emissary. When Sarah had returned it to the girl, something had changed between the two of them.

It was not a full blown friendship, more like a mutual respect between Sarah and Angelina. Somehow in the middle of all that, Carmody had become friends with Angelina.

Maybe it was because they were both naturally shy girls with few friends. Or perhaps because they were in the dangerous vicinity of the Tornado of Trouble, Sarah Evermore. Either way, Carmody liked spending time with her new friend. It made a difference from dealing with the other members of the AURA Project and Stanley the Steam Dragon.

“She is not making any more trouble than usual” Carmody finally answered the other girl. They had reached their lockers so Carmody grabbed what she needed from there and addressed her friend.

“Shall we have lunch today? I’ll need to buy mine as we were on an overnight course for the Project”

“Sounds great” Angelina answered with a smile. With a cheery wave she headed to the stairs and clattered up them with her shiny school shoes.

Once her friend was out of sight, Carmody went to the bank of elevators and tapped in her personal code. The doors opened and she stepped inside, checking guiltily to see if any students or teachers had seen her. That done, she pushed the button for the roof and let the doors close.

Only teachers and staff were allowed to use the elevators. Students with mobility issues could also get permission to use them, but Carmody did not fall into that category. As part of the AURA Project her and the rest of the team had been given priority access to any section of the school, including use of the elevators.

However, being allowed to go anywhere at the school was not something she wanted to advertise. It was bad enough the whole school knew about the ‘special project’ being conducted on the school rooftop. Nobody knew for certain what they were involved with, so speculation ran riot amongst the students. Added to that were the teachers, who were only told that Sarah, Achmed and others were part of it so may be called upon to attend special classes and meetings.

All of that meant Carmody and her friends got asked a lot of questions all the time that they were not allowed to answer. People watched them constantly and whispered all kinds of weird things about them behind their backs. Sometimes they did not even bother to whisper, stating their wild theories out loud where everyone could hear them.

It was all very draining and Carmody leaned back against the elevator wall until it stopped, the doors opening to show her one of the Guards on duty. He nodded to her once he recognised her and stepped out of the way.

“Good morning, Miss Brentwood” the Jack said to her in his flat, emotionless manner. His rifle was in his hands in the ready position, not threatening but always prepared.

“Morning, F-Zero-Five” she replied with a smile. “Did you enjoy the cookies I left with Fiona?”

The Guard clone looked uncertain for a moment, then his face showed the faintest of smiles.

“Yes, thank you Miss Brentwood. They were very delicious” He paused and Carmody stopped walking and looked back at him.

“Is there something wrong?” she asked F-Zero-Five.

“Miss Brentwood, would you give me a name?” the clone asked her, his voice faltering minutely.

“Oh” was all she could say in reply. This was rather unexpected but inevitable she suddenly thought to herself. “Do you have any names you like?”

“No, Miss Brentwood” he answered. “Do I remind you of anyone?” he added. It sounded like Fiona had been sharing more than just the cookies.

Carmody racked her brain, trying to think of anyone the Jack reminded her of. Or maybe something that sounded like ‘Zero-Five’. Put under pressure like this, her brain was freezing up. She had nothing!

The Jack’s face was shifting back to its usual flat expression and the girl felt really bad, like she had let him down somehow. Then she remembered her cat, sadly passed now, whom her and Vance had loved very much. He was a Siamese Cat, a very pretty boy with white fur and dark face and tail.

“How about Nero?” she said, “Because it is very regal and kind of rhymes with Zero”

The Jack regarded her for a moment, then spoke.

“Is that not the name of a Roman Emperor who burned the city to the ground?”

“Well yeah” she admitted. “It was also the name of my best cat ever so I think it is pretty cool”

“Thank you, Miss Brentwood. I accept the ‘pretty cool’ name you have gifted me with” said Nero.

“You’re welcome, Nero” she said and with a wave she dashed off to Stanley’s little house.

The Guard named Nero watched her go until she was safely inside the house, then signalled to his brothers and sister who were stationed at the Post.

“I have a name too” he announced to them via the quantum network. “My name is now Nero” he said with pride. His clone brothers F-Zero-Two, Zero-Thirteen and Zero-Fourteen congratulated him, then began an earnest conversation about how they too could get a name from Miss Brentwood.

Fiona, the female clone and nominally in charge of the other four, signalled them all to stop their chatter and return to their duties. They complied instantly but Fiona knew she had unwittingly stirred up a hornet’s nest. Her brothers would all need to have a name now, not just any name either. A name gifted to them personally by Miss Brentwood. This was going to cause problems she was certain.

“Fudge!” she swore aloud and then clapped her hands over her mouth in surprise.

=====

“You’re late!” said Eric with his arms folded across his chest. He was looking at a red-faced Carmody who had just entered the main room at Stanley’s house. The rest of the AURA Project team were seated around the long metal table, hot drinks and the remains of breakfast scattered in front of them.

“Sorry, I was caught up thinking of a name” she apologised and sat in her usual chair, resting her cricket bat against her leg. This unexpected statement left Eric with a perplexed look on his face.

“For who?” asked Achmed.

For whom?” corrected Lilly, once again sitting far closer than she needed to the boy.

“Hmm? Oh, for Nero” Carmody replied absently, wondering if there was still any tea in the pot. Nata had made her a very nice vegetarian breakfast and a Chai tea, but she would kill for a strong white with two sugars right about now.

With that thought, she got up and went to the kitchen area and collected her favourite china cup. She came back to the table and checked the tea pot. It was still warm and when she opened the lid there was still half a pot of steaming tea.

“Score!” she said happily and poured herself a full cup. She dropped in two sugar lumps, noting the bowl was getting low (Stanley had tea this morning too she guessed) and made a mental note to refill it. She raised her eyes to her friends and asked “Who’s got the milk?”

Stony silence and glares met her enquiry.

“Something the matter?” she asked and felt herself blushing again.

“Please sit down, Carmody” Eric told her calmly and walked from the head of the table to her seat. As he came he collected the milk jug from a side table and poured a little into her cup. He picked up a teaspoon and gave it all a gentle stir before resting the spoon on the table.

Carmody murmured her thanks and took a small sip. It was perfect since Eric had added exactly the right amount of milk she preferred.

“Ah, thanks Eric. You remembered how I like it” she gushed in appreciation.

The boy tapped the side of his head, right where the computer processor was implanted.

“I remember everything” he told her.

“Except map directions” muttered Lilly which set Achmed and Sarah laughing. Eric stood there fuming until they finally wound down to a few fitful giggles.

“Am I missing something?” Carmody wondered aloud.

“I don’t get it either” Stanley confided in her from across the room and shrugged his massive shoulders. “You probably had to be there at the time”

=====

“I can’t believe you met a Hunter from the Order of Michael” enthused Sarah as they headed to the closest stairs. Carmody had told all of her friends about what had happened to her after she was separated from Sarah and Achmed. In turn they had told her all about the fight with the swarm of tiny robots and how Achmed used his Scanner ability on them.

For some reason, Eric and Lilly glossed over their adventures in the tunnels. Eric had been particularly upset at one point when Lilly mentioned how easy it was to confuse I-6-1 and I-9-1. As Stanley said, you had to be there at the time to get it.

“Yeah, Nata is super cool” Carmody agreed. “I am going to try and catch up with her over the weekend. She wants me to help her out with some stuff”

“You are not going back into those tunnels are you?” Lilly demanded. “Eric is sending a report to his brother Two. Let the Guard investigate it, it is too dangerous for us”

“Yeah, of course” Carmody said, mentally crossing her fingers. As the group of them clattered noisily down the stairs, she wondered if that was what Sarah always did. Promise one thing knowing full well you intended to do another thing entirely?

Carmody left the three friends at the door to their homeroom, waving a brief hello to Angelina at her desk before heading to her own class. She was nearly at her own room when she spotted Miss Abrams running in the hallway, frantically buttoning her coat and smoothing down her hair.

It was so unlike Miss Abrams to be late, especially since she was a Levitator and could fly herself to school. No worries about traffic jams or late trains for this teacher. As the harried teacher rushed past, she was muttering to herself about someone called “Jericho”.

Carmody gave her a wave hello, which the teacher responded with a brief smile and then she was past. She could be heard apologising to her homeroom class and Carmody was thinking about the name she had overheard when someone called out to her.

“Miss Brentwood?” said Mr Ishikawa, her home room teacher “We would all appreciate you joining us so we can begin the day”

“Sorry sir!” she cried out and dashed inside the class, dropping her bag at her desk and leaning her cricket bat against the chair. Her teacher glanced with disapproval at the bat so she laid it under her desk, out of his sight. It was no wonder some of the Year Sevens had started to call her ‘Bat Girl’ since it went everywhere with her.

Carmody slumped at her desk, only calling out “Here, Sir” in response to her name at the last second. Being a Brentwood she was always near the top of the class register. With all the stuff she had gone through last night, she really hoped today was going to be an easy one.

=====

“Blurrghh!” Carmody said to Angelina and collapsed into a chair opposite her friend in the school cafeteria, then slowly leaned forward to rest her forehead on the cool plastic table top.

“Well hello to you too!” Angelina replied merrily. “Are you eating lunch or will licking the table be enough?”

Her friend lifted her head minutely to roll it sideways, placing her left ear on the smooth surface as if she was listening for a heartbeat.

“I have no energy to buy my lunch” she whimpered pathetically. “Double Maths then Chemistry has turned my brain to mush”

Angelina looked with pity upon the wretched girl and told her she would go buy it for her. Carmody had burbled her thanks and fished out a five Panda note from a pocket.

“Just an egg salad roll please” she said.

When she returned with the roll and a Two Panda ceramic coin in change, the girl had not moved an inch. Angelina sat down beside her and rested her head on the table too, their faces a few hand spans apart.

“Your eyes are open and you seem to be breathing, so my expert opinion is that you are still alive” Angelina said with a smile. Carmody smiled in return and sat upright so Angelina did too.

“Tough day?” asked Angelina, handing her the egg salad roll and change.

“Fighting the monsters is Okay, it’s the schoolwork that is killing me” Carmody replied and unwrapped her roll.

“Is that what you do in that special project?” Angelina mused.

“Hmm?” Carmody responded with a mouthful of egg salad. She mentally backtracked over their conversation, trying to remember what she had just said.

“It’s alright. I know you aren’t allowed to talk about it. I’ll forget what you said”

Carmody swallowed and waved her arms frantically, sending bits of egg and mayo across the table. “No, it’s not like that! I can explain!”

“Look, I meant what I said” the other girl continued. “You don’t have to tell me anything, I don’t need to know”

She smiled at her and Carmody felt a strange feeling come over her.

“You are my best friend, Carmody” Angelina said and put her hands in her lap, clutching them tightly. “In fact you are my only friend” she added with a ghost of a smile.

“Sarah is your friend too” Carmody responded.

“She is more of an acquaintance” the girl said quietly. “But I hope we will become true friends”

The two girls sat in companionable silence for a while, Carmody chewing her way through her roll and Angelina sipping from a can of Diet Panic Cola (All the regular Panic but half the Calories the label said).

“You still feel threatened by something, don’t you?” Angelina asked. Carmody looked at her enquiringly so she nodded to the cricket bat leaning against the table leg. “It goes everywhere with you”

“Yeah, I guess it does”

“I know we have different Abilities, but I can help you develop yours if you want”

“Really?” Carmody said excitedly. Her trainers at the Testing Centre were good, yet she felt they did not appreciate how urgently she needed to get better at her Kinetic Enhancement.

“Yes. My parents spent a lot of money getting me private tuition from other Telekinetics. A lot of the techniques they showed me will work for you too”

“When! When can you show me!”

Angelina thought for a moment.

“Are you free tomorrow? You could sleep over at my place and I can teach you what I know”

“It’s a date!” Carmody said, full of energy once again. “I’ll call you once I know what time mum can drop me off”

The warning bell sounded for end of lunch, meaning they had five minutes before the second half of the day.

“Come on Carmody” urged Angelina. “This afternoon is PE class until hometime.

Carmody looked dumbstruck. She had forgotten today was Friday! With a sigh she collapsed back into the cafeteria chair.

“Dear Lord, just finish me now” she moaned.

=====

It was late in the afternoon and Carmody was walking out of the school gates when she spotted the large black sedan waiting at the kerb. The windows were all heavily tinted and the number plate on the front just said PAN-TWO. It looked decidedly familiar and on any other day she might have wandered closer to see who was inside.

Not today. The PE class had been brutal, especially since it rained just after lunch and the humidity left them all dripping with sweat. She was exhausted, grumpy and just needed a hot shower and some dinner.

The rear door opened and a blonde haired man in a dark grey suit climbed out smoothly, his eyes shielded behind a pair of dark glasses. Carmody absentmindedly slid her cricket bat off her shoulder as the man walked up to her and hefted it in her right hand.

“Peace, Miss Brentwood” said Jericho-Two, holding his empty hands up, palms toward her. “Since I was here already, I thought it would be polite to say hello”

“Oh? Sorry, Mr Jericho” apologised a flustered Carmody. “It has been a rough day. Eric was just finishing up some reports in the Guard Post and should be out soon”

Jericho-Two did not smile, but his manner seemed to become slightly less intimidating. He was so much like an older version of Eric, which in a way he was, yet the younger boy had developed much more personality. His older brother still creeped Carmody out whenever she met him, despite Eric’s assurances he was a good guy at heart.

“Thank you, Miss Brentwood, but I am not here to collect Eric. I am waiting for someone else”

“Okay then” she replied. “Have a great weekend!” she added and started walking away along the still damp pavement, twirling her bat around as she went. She was a dozen meters down the road when she heard a woman’s voice call out from the school courtyard. Intrigued despite her tired feet, she paused and looked back.

Miss Abrams, her English teacher, ran lightly out of the gates and stopped in front of Jericho-Two.

“I told you Jericho, you don’t need to pick me up. I can meet you there!” her teacher said. She was dressed in her normal teaching clothes but she had a long black suit bag draped over one shoulder.

“There have been some incidents” Jericho-Two answered. “I wanted to make sure you were safe”

“Really? Well in that case, thanks!” she responded. Jericho-Two helped her and her bag get settled into the car and closed the door. He was walking around to the other side when he observed Carmody watching from the pavement.

“You really should be getting home, Miss Brentwood” he stated in that flat voice of his. It was like he had turned on his emotions for a bit and now shut them down again. Definitely creepy!

Carmody just nodded and set off at a quick pace, her shoes slapping the pavement noisily. She heard the sedan’s electric motor start up and the vehicle pulled out. It did a sharp turn and drove past Carmody on the other side of the road, the tyres throwing up water from the puddles as it went. The windows were totally opaque yet she felt Jericho-Two’s eyes on her as they drove past.

Eric’s older brother might be as handsome as he was, yet Miss Abrams could do a lot better than dating Jericho-Two!