Mutation (12 page)

Chapter 16

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a lot of time to dwell on what I’d seen in the vortex.  Upon arrival at the Academy, we were quickly shuffled out of the room with the vortex gate; apparently other groups would be coming through from various locations all day.  Afterwards, I was immediately caught up in the hustle and bustle of registration:  room assignment, class schedule, book list, etc.  The only good news was that the first day was merely for settling in; orientation wouldn’t begin until the following morning.

Thus it was that, a few hours after arriving, I finally found my way into my dorm room.  It was a relatively spacious design – about twelve-by-twelve – with a full-sized bed, a dresser and mirror, a desk, bookshelves, and its own bathroom.  There was also a good-sized closet and a couple of chairs.  All in all, I felt like I’d be fairly comfortable here.

I shifted into super speed.  Within a minute, I had my bags completely unpacked and everything in its proper place:  clothes in the dresser drawers, toiletries in the bathroom, etc.  I glanced around to see if there was anything I’d missed, and for the first time took note of the window, which sat on the wall opposite the door.  It was roughly three-by-five feet in size and provided a view of the back side of the dorm, where I saw a well-kept lawn and a wooded area bisected by jogging trails.

Off in the distance, I could see other buildings, and I remembered that the actual campus was the size of a small city.  Moreover, for training purposes, different areas had been designed as replicas of real-world locations.  In other words, there were parts of the campus designed to look like residential areas, others built along the lines of business and commercial centers, and so on.

A dull ringing noise interrupted my reverie.  I looked around and noticed the charger for a cordless phone on the desk, but no phone.  The sound seemed to be coming from the top desk drawer.  I opened it, and sure enough there was the phone.  I took it out of the drawer and tapped the “Talk” button.

“Hello?” I said.

“Are you settled in?” asked an unfamiliar voice.  I was slightly taken aback.  The only two people I really knew here were Smokey and Electra.  I couldn’t imagine why anyone else would be calling me.

“Hello?” said the unmistakably male voice when I didn’t respond.  “Are you there?”

“I think you may have the wrong room,” I said.

“You’re Kid Sensation, right?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Then it’s the right room.  So again, are you settled in yet?”

“I’m, uh, I’m unpacked, if that’s what you mean.”

“That’s good enough.  I’ll be there in a minute.”

The line went dead; I placed the phone in the charger.

Who the heck was that?

Oh well, I would find out momentarily, I suppose.  In the meantime, it occurred to me that I should check the other desk drawers in case there were other essential items hidden.  Fortunately, I didn’t come across anything more than some pens and pencils, as well as a pad of paper that I placed on top of the desk.  At that point, someone gave a shave-and-a-haircut knock on my door.  I stepped over and opened it, not sure what I’d find on the other side.

The guy standing outside my room was about my age, with short blond hair and blue eyes.  He was about an inch taller than me, which would make him roughly six-one, and had a nose that had obviously been broken at some point and not set completely right.  But rather than be an impediment, the nose actually seemed to give him character.  That said, I would soon come to find out that he had enough character of his own.

The guy didn’t wait for an invitation, but rather leaned past me and stepped into the room.  He looked around the place like a drill sergeant inspecting the barracks.

“No posters on the walls,” he noted, “no books on the shelves, no girlfriend’s photo.  Dude, I thought you said you were settled in; the place looks just like it did before you got here.”

“I’m sorry,” I said in confusion.  “Who are you?”

“My bad, man.” He extended a hand to me.  “Adam Adam.”

“Adam Adam?” I repeated, shaking his hand.

“Adam
Adam
,” he intoned, stressing the last name.  I gave him a perplexed look, indicating that I hadn’t noticed the distinction in his pronunciation and my own.

He sighed in exasperation, then reached over to the notepad on the desk and tore off a sheet of paper.  He held the piece of paper up at chest level, then stated his named a third time.  Almost immediately, there was a popping sound, repetitive and distinct, like someone going to town on a roll of Bubble Wrap.  At the same time, bits of paper shot out of the sheet he held in perfect sync with the popping noise.

After a few seconds, the noise ceased.  My guest held the sheet of paper out to me.  Looking at it, I saw that the bits of paper that had come out of the sheet hadn’t done so randomly – they actually formed letters:

A
-
D
-
A
-
M
-
A
-
T
-
O
-
M

Then it hit me.

“Adam
Atom
,” I said.

“Pleased to meet you,” he said with a grin.

*****

Adam, it turned out, was my Campus Buddy - a current student who had volunteered to be paired up with a new entrant in order to show them the ropes.  He had been given my contact info (phone number, room number, etc.) when he arrived.

As to powers, he apparently had the ability to split atoms, either in small (and relatively harmless) individual bursts - as he did with the sheet of paper - or in lengthy, violent chain reactions that could explode with nuclear force.

“That last part’s theoretical,” he had explained.  “I’ve never actually
caused
a nuclear explosion, but all the experts agree that I could if I wanted to.  Also, I can only make non-living atoms explode.”

Outside of that, I quickly came to understand two things about Adam.  First of all, he was a fantastic Campus Buddy.  He had a thorough knowledge of where everything was located at the Academy, and with him leading the way I quickly found out where all my classes were located, where each portion of the new student orientation was to take place, and where to pick up my supplies - books, uniforms, and so on.

The other thing I discovered about Adam is that he had a well-deserved reputation as a practical joker.  One of his favorites seemed to be making someone’s pen explode so that they got ink on themselves and everything else.  (That one, however, usually involved Adam receiving a cleaning bill, so he didn’t pull it too often.) He didn’t stop there, though.  If you tried slipping someone a note during a class that he was in, you might find it exploding into confetti in your hands.  Or if you were drinking a soda, you might suddenly find it leaking through a small hole in the bottom of the can.

After discovering all this from Adam himself, I should have realized that I wouldn’t have immunity from his sense of humor, and I didn’t.  Thankfully, he didn’t play his first - and last - joke on me until later in the afternoon.

We had just finished taking my supplies back to my room, and I was congratulating myself on getting everything done early enough that I would have a bit of free time.  That’s when Adam suggested a late lunch.

A few years back, I’d participated in the Super Teen tryouts, and the Academy was the place where part of my testing had occurred.  I had also visited as recently as a few weeks ago as part of a program to help teens with super abilities develop a network and camaraderie.  Thus, I already knew where some facilities were, including the cafeteria.

Despite the fact that it was late afternoon, there were a fair number of people in the lunch line.  Presumably, this was because quite a few had been going through the same ordeal I had earlier in terms of preparing for orientation and school.  Still, the line moved fairly swiftly, and before we knew it we were through and headed towards an empty table to sit down and eat.

I had gotten a burger and fries, as well as a soft drink that came in a disposable cup with a plastic top.  I had also picked up a drinking straw, still factory-wrapped in paper, and was preparing to take it out and place it in my soda when it unexpectedly exploded in my face, showering me with confetti.

“I’m sorry, man.  I couldn’t resist,” said Adam, laughing - as were the kids at the table next to us.  “Here, you can have my straw.  I picked up an extra.” He held a straw out to me.

I nodded but didn’t say anything as I took a hand and wiped the bits of paper from my face before reaching for the straw he offered.  This time when I unwrapped it nothing happened, but when I tried to put it in my soda the plastic top exploded.  It startled me slightly, making me slosh the soda around and get some on my hand.  Adam laughed hysterically.

There was a napkin holder on the table, and I reached for one to dry my hand.  No sooner had I pulled it out than it burst into a jillion pieces.  Adam almost fell out of his chair laughing.

That was it.  I’m an easygoing fellow and like a good laugh as much as the next person, but I didn’t have the patience to deal with this.  I teleported him, sending him over by the food line.  He was in a sitting position when I sent him off, but I didn’t send the chair with him.  The end result was that when he appeared, he immediately flopped down onto his butt.  Laughter broke instantaneously, as kids throughout the room pointed and giggled.

For a second, Adam looked disoriented - as if he didn’t know what had happened (which he quite possibly didn’t).  Then he noticed everyone laughing all around him.  Laughing
at
him.  His brow furrowed; for once in his life he was the butt of the joke, and he didn’t seem to care for it.

Adam got up, dusted himself off, and headed back to our table.  He smiled gleefully at everyone chuckling all around him, trying to make it clear that he could take a joke.

“That was a good one,” he said when he got close.  He placed his hands on the table and prepared to sit.  “You really got
–
”

I teleported him again as he was in the process of sitting, cutting him off.

Next to the cafeteria was the student break room.  It was filled with
all kinds of games - pool tables, air hockey, table tennis, etc.  - and during the school year it was usually full of students.  I’d popped Adam in there this time.

Uproarious laughter suddenly sounded from next door.  I could only assume that Adam - teleported as he was preparing to take his seat - had once again ended up on the ground.

A minute later he came back into the cafeteria, looking around sheepishly.  I didn’t say anything as he approached; I just kept eating my lunch.

“Well, that was fun,” he said when he got to the table.  “People think I love a good practical joke, but you’ve got me b–”

I teleported him again - this time to the jogging trail I had seen outside the window of my room.  As before, he was in the process of sitting when it happened, so I assume he went sprawling in the dirt.  It was a full ten minutes before he made his way back to the cafeteria.

Instead of approaching me directly, he grabbed a white napkin from a table near the door and walked over, waving it in the air.

“Truce, truce,” he said as he approached.  He placed the napkin on the table when he got close enough.  Then - very carefully and looking me in the eye the entire time - he took his seat.

Thereafter, I had no more issues with Adam or his practical jokes.

Chapter 17

After lunch there was nothing formal on my agenda until orientation the next day.  I was supposed to meet Electra and Smokey a little later, but at present I wanted to explore.

From a teleportation standpoint, my strength lies in being able to send various items (including myself) to any one of numerous locations.  Thus, the more places I visually log into my teleportation rolodex, the more options I have when using that power.  With respect to the Academy, this meant I needed to see as much of the place as possible.

Once he understood what I was hoping to do, Adam was an impressive tour guide.  He not only took me to all of the major spots on the campus map - the library, the gymnasium, the commissary (where I bought an entire box of candy bars) - but he also showed me several lesser-known but good-to-know-about areas:  rarely used stairwells, isolated areas of the mazelike basement, sparsely utilized entrances and exits, etc.

By the time we finished (at a door that led down to a sub-basement level), I only had about an hour before I was to rendezvous with Smokey and Electra in the break room.  I gave Adam a breakdown of our plans and told him that he was free to join us, then teleported back to my room.

I tossed my box of candy bars on the dresser, then looked around the room.  The supplies I had picked up earlier were sitting on my bed, which is where I’d tossed them when Adam and I had made a pit stop here earlier before heading to lunch.

I switched into super speed, then began putting up the supplies I’d received:  books on the shelves, uniforms in the closet, and so on.  I’d even been issued a laptop, which I set up and connected in no time flat.  As before, it took me less than a minute to get everything done.

When I finished, I grabbed one of the candy bars, ripped it open, and began eating it.  I hadn’t used up an inordinate amount of energy at any point today, but I typically liked to eat something after shifting my metabolism into high gear.  Better safe than sorry.

Afterwards, I stretched out on the bed, relaxing for the first time that day it seemed.  Everything was still somewhat surreal to me.  I was actually here - at the Academy!  - officially about to start fulfilling my dream of becoming a superhero.  Of course, it was coming a couple of years after I had originally passed the requisite tests, but I was here all the same.  Better late than never.

At the same time, my mind turned back to what I had observed in the vortex.  I couldn’t stop thinking about the other people I’d seen.  Who were they?  What were they doing?  Were they more advanced than us?

The questions I asked myself came in rapid-fire fashion, and I found myself coming up with all kind of fantastic scenarios as to who those other vortex travelers might be and what their purpose was.

*****

I awoke to the sound of the phone ringing, and for a second I was totally confused by the unfamiliar surroundings.  Then it hit me as to where I was.

I must have been more tired than I realized.  I had obviously dozed off and taken a cat nap without even intending to.  I got up and reached for the phone, answering it on the third ring.

“Hello?” I said, sounding sleepier than I felt.

“Hello yourself,” Electra said, her voice holding something of an edge.  “Did you forget about meeting us?”

There was a clock on the desk; I was supposed to have met Electra and Smokey more than thirty minutes ago.

“Sorry,” I mumbled.  “I dozed off.  I’ll be there in a sec.”

I hung up the phone and stepped into the bathroom.  I spent a few minutes washing up, including splashing some cold water on my face to chase away the last bit of drowsiness.  After checking the mirror to make sure I was presentable, I teleported down to the break area.

To my surprise, the room was packed - standing room only.  In fact, there was also a crowd of people milling about not just outside the room but all the way down the hallway.  The indecipherable chatter of hundreds of conversations going on simultaneously filled the air.

I scanned the room quickly and saw Electra and Smokey, as well as Adam, huddled up around a pool table and holding cue sticks.  I walked over to them as quickly as I could without shifting into super speed.  They finally noticed me making my way through the crowd when I was a few feet away.

“I’m glad you could join us,” I shouted to Adam over the din, clapping him on the back.

“No problem,” he said.  “I’ll take any opportunity to beat Electra.”

I was a little surprised.  “You two know each other?”

Electra laughed before responding.  “The school’s not
that
big, Jim.  Plus, Adam and I have history.”

I raised an eyebrow quizzically, and Adam offered an explanation.

“She got wind that I was going to do my exploding pen trick on her, so she decided to beat me to the punch.  We had a science class together, so she went in one night and jury-rigged some gizmo to my chair so that my seat would hold an electrical charge.  Then, the next day - just before I sat down - she zapped it.”

Electra burst out laughing at this point.  “He practically jumped through the ceiling!” she said between hysterical giggles.

“Yes,” Adam replied with a sly smile.  “So I still owe her an exploding pen.”

Following that, we broke off into teams and played three games of pool.  After each game, we switched partners so that each of us had a chance to team up with (as well as play against) everyone else.

Surprisingly, Electra turned out to be the hustler among us.  She barely missed a shot, with the result being that she won every game.  (The rest of us, being partnered with her only once through the course of play, won one game each.) After the third game, we gave up the table, giving other people a chance to play.

I discovered to my lament that the nap I’d taken had caused me to sleep through dinner, so I got a bunch of snacks from a vending machine and then we all went outside.  It was just starting to get dark, with the stars slowly becoming visible.  It was still hard to believe that we were in an entirely different dimension when so much seemed the same.

We were in the main courtyard of the school.  There were tons of other students out here as well, but with so much space, everyone was spread further out, giving the impression of there being fewer people in the area.  We found a few unoccupied square feet of grass and sat down, and spent the next couple of hours talking (although much of it consisted of them enlightening me with regards to what to expect during my time at the Academy).

After picking their brains (and getting a full list of rookie mistakes to avoid - like missing dinner - while I munched on snacks), I noticed students starting to drift inside.  As it was getting close to curfew, we decided to follow suit, with Smokey and Adam heading off to the guys’ dorm and me walking Electra to hers.

The guys’ and girls’ dorms were actually at opposite ends of the main campus.  (What’s up with that?) Furthermore, there was a lobby/common area on the ground floor of each dorm that members of the opposite sex were not allowed to go beyond.

In brief, Electra and I found ourselves saying goodnight in the lobby of her dorm, along with dozens of other couples.  Moreover, there was a staff member - a matronly woman with a stern and unforgiving look - on duty behind the lobby’s main desk to make sure nobody got any ideas about sneaking upstairs.

Needless to say, none of this set the end-of the-night tone I was hoping for, so I had to settle for a quick peck on the lips, then watch as Electra slipped upstairs.