"Hi Dr. Zack!"

Dr. Zacharias looked up from his copy of the "Journal of Quantum Mechanics", "Hello Lucas!" he waved at a chair on the other side of the outdoor lunch table, "It's not taken."

"Thanks!" Lucas Amato slid into the chair across from the professor, "So, how are things going for you?" he asked, opening his lunch bag and fishing out a bag of potato chips.

Dr. Zack sighed, "Fall Fever as usual!" he grimaced, waving to the students lying about on the grass or playing frisbee, "Can't keep anybody's attention with the days being like they are! If they're not mooning about with the weather, they're mooning about each other!"

"Yeah. This is the worst time to talk about the birds and the bees!"

Dr. Zack chuckled, "I think I'll have to demonstrate gravity by dropping two objects out the window, with everyone outside looking on to make sure they hit the ground at the same time!"

"I know what you mean. Even Lori's starting coming on to me again."

Dr. Zack rolled his eyes with amusement, "I'm glad I can't have your problems!"

"Thanks!" Lucas started eating a banana. "What do you think of the new batch of teachers?"

Dr. Zack nodded and smiled, "I think they'll do well."

"What about the new English Lit teacher you've been raving about?"

"Couldn't make it."

"Sorry to hear that." Lucas said, noting a hint of sadness and regret in the older man's voice. Dr. Zack was secretive enough to arouse any man's curiosity, but Lucas decided this was something far too private to pry into any further. He took out and unwrapped his sandwich.

"Luckily, someone was able to hold the position temporarily." Dr. Zacharias said brightly.

"Oh? Who?" Lucas asked, taking a bite.

"Hi!" A cheerful, feminine voice greeted the two men.

Lucas turned to see the source, did a double take, and almost choked on his salami and cheese sandwich.

"Ahh, Elaine! How nice to see you!" Dr. Zacharias greeted her, pulling out the empty chair between him and Lucas.

"MMpth, aaahh!" Lucas nodded, eyes starting to bug and water at the same time.

"Are you okay?" she asked, bending over him. She swept a long lock of red hair out of her face with one hand while putting the other on his shoulder.

"I'm-Ack-fine!" he said, hastily swallowing.

"You sure?"

"If he can speak, he's okay." Dr. Zack said, not as anxious as Elaine was over Lucas' condition. Elaine slid into the chair Dr. Zack had pulled out, "Lucas, this is Elaine Schweitzer, our temp for English Literature. Elaine, this is Lucas Amato, our Biology teacher."

"H-h-hello!" Lucas stammered.

"Hi again!" she said, holding out her hand. Lucas took it, "I just wanted to meet my fellow teachers!"

"Uh, Yeah! Nice to meet you too!"

Dr. Zacharias bit into an apple in a valorous effort not to collapse into laughter. He picked up his magazine and continued to read the article written by one of his sworn enemies. Everyone on QuaNet was raving about the results, but something didn't seem quite right about it.

"So, you're biology, Room 317?" She asked Lucas.

"Yes!"

"I thought so. I'm room 321, just two doors down!"

"Th-that's nice!"

Dr. Zacharias was half listening to the conversation. The author was only using third order tensors as values and plugging them into a fifth order polynomial, so his mind was only half occupied.

"Ummm, can I have my hand back?"

"Uhhh, oh yeah!" He let go. "Umm! Elaine! A nice name!"

"I'm glad you approve! My mother thought so too!"

The bell rang.

"There's the bell! I, ah, gotta go now! Maybe-Can I see you later?" Lucas got up and almost spilled his lunch over his lap.

"I'll be working here. I can't see why not!"

"Ah, that's good! Umm, Room 321, you said?"

Dr. Zacharias tisked and shook his head, comparing the equations on one page with what was on the preceding one.

"Two doors down from yours." She confirmed, smiling.

"Yes, just two doors."

"You are going to be late, Mr. Amato." Dr. Zacharias said from behind his periodical.

"YES! LATE! Ahh, see ya late! I mean later!" Lucas backed away toward the building.

"Bye!" Elaine waved.

Lucas stumbled and almost fell backing over a tree stump. He laughed nervously, turned around, and strode to the building quickly.

"I think he likes you." Dr. Zacharias observed. The cretin had miscopied an exponent and nobody had noticed, including the reviewers.

"Umm hmm!" she said appraisingly, "That JPEG Kayla had doesn't do him justice. I always thought there was something cute about Fixed Ideas."

"Honestly, I'd have thought Lucas would have taken your appearance in smoother stride." Dr. Zacharias turned the page, nodding. The idiot was already an order of magnitude off, and he had gone and switched a sign on another exponent, doubling the error.

Elaine had been briefed on Dr. Zacharias, because he was her point of contact, as well as one of their most important and valuable human allies. Normally, Elaine would have written Dr. Zacharias off as either a homosexual or a victim of castration. However, in his briefing, Von Richter had sternly warned her against jumping to such conclusions, ""I cannot go into detail,' He had said, 'But suffice it to say that there is only one woman in the world that's currently occupying his heart, so don't criticize him because it isn't you.'" The world was full of interesting men, presenting many delightful possibilities. At the moment, Lucas was the one interesting her the most: The brain of a Techno housed in a body built along the lines of a Fixed Idea. More or less. Delightful possibilities indeed. He just might make up for being away from Yellowstone and her beloved wolves.

Dr. Zacharias nodded to himself and put the magazine down to drink his juice. Naturally, the fool had gone ahead and concluded that the probability of the particle's existence was about 10%, which put the results into the category of the probable. In reality, it was very close to zero, if not zero. That, in Quantum Mechanics, was the same as saying that its uncle was a unicorn. "Well, the fact that he likes you makes your task that much easier." He said, "At least get him to stop that ridiculous series of articles."

"I read them," Elaine frowned, "They DO seem rather unusual, but I can't put my finger on the reason."

"Think you're up to teaching English Lit?"

Elaine swallowed. Her throat suddenly felt dry. "I-I like to think I was taught by one of the best." She said.

He emptied his juice a little too hastily, "And how is everyone taking it?" he asked more quietly, leaning toward her.

She shook her head, "Not good. Not good at all. The Technos and Fixed Ideas are pissed off at the Cybers, the Cybers are furious at the Training Board, and Jose and Grizelda are spinning everybody up. Nobody's seen Terra for days. Father is having a terrible time trying to stabilize the situation, but being in that damn wheelchair-" she paused, then continued, "Mealtime used to be such a wonderful time together. But now-" she sighed, "the atmosphere is so tense and poisoned, one may as well not eat for all the good it does."

She reached out and put her hand on his, "And how are you taking it?" she asked. Finding out was one of her mission orders.

"I-I never knew her, although from the papers she submitted to be hired, it was clear she was an extraordinary person who would have been a delightful colleague and friend." He looked away, "I wish I had never-"

She squeezed his hand, being careful not to break any bones, "You wanted Kayla to have the best, and you gave her the best. If you'd never made that katana, she would have used something else. Besides," Elaine put on a brave smile, "The thing was too damn loud for Kayla's line of work anyway."

Dr. Zack laughed, "You're right about that!" He put his other hand on hers, "When you talk to your father, let him know I'm ready to help him in any way I can."

"I will. Which reminds me." Elaine looked serious, "I went by the Troddens to see my niece. They told me someone had stolen their shipment of sustenance."

Dr. Zack frowned, "Did they get Fedex to trace it?"

"Yes. Delivery records say it had arrived at their doorstep at the usual time."

"How much?"

"12 Vials."

"Damn. That's not good." Pound for pound, the stuff was eighty times more powerful than TNT, "We need to add a radio tracer or something like that on all our packages. It was probably taken by a street person or orphan looking for something valuable to sell."

Elaine swallowed when she heard the words "we" and "our". "A normal who thinks as if he was one of us. We're so lucky." She thought. Aloud, she added, "I'm not too sure about the orphan, but I AM worried about them. Do you have a few vials to spare until their next shipment?"

"Of course. I'll walk some by this afternoon." He assured her, "Come by if you come up short too."

"Thanks."

"Now what makes you think it wasn't a orphan or street person who stole it?"

She sighed mightily, "I may have sugar coated the problems we're having because she committed suicide."

"Sugar coated?! How could it be worse?"

"Five of her batch mates have not acknowledged receiving the news. Kayla did a computer search, and three are turning up AWOL.  Two are from nations adjacent to ours."

"Oh no!" Dr. Zacharias had been impressed with the military-oriented dedication of the Cybers. For one to go AWOL seemed incredible, "Batch mates?"

"You know that Cybers, Technos, and Types are grown in batches of 500, right?"

"Yes."

"To ensure variations between everyone, the first 50 are given special attention to be unique. The DNA of the following sets of 50 are minor variations on the first 50. Cyber 50 is much different from Cyber 49, but Cyber 100 is just a minor variation on Cyber 50, as is 150, 200, and so on. Get the idea?"

"Yes." he nodded, "I suppose, then, that batch mates are particularly fond of each other?"

"It depends. The six and 1022 batch sets are unusual in that all the batch mates are very, very close to each other." Elaine shrugged, "And the 509 batch mates can't stand each other. Goes both ways."

"So you think the thief is one of these AWOL batch mates of hers?"

"Very likely. They need sustenance to survive, and everyone knows of three places where it can be found."

Dr. Zacharias nodded, "The compound, because that's where it's made. My place, because I'm doing research on it. And the Troddens, because everyone knows Bethany."

Elaine looked distressed, "Please don't panic, Dr. Zacharias. The six batchset has some very high compassion and empathy scores, and find it difficult to harm anyone. Cybersix was the only one of the batch that attained leadership ranking, so her losing it, and then committing suicide, must have hit them very hard."

"What can I do?"

"If you encounter any, just tell them it's okay. Tell them they're forgiven, and that we'll make it right. Tell them to please come home again."

"I will." He nodded, touched by her earnestness.

"I guess I'd better get ready for my first class. Thanks, Dr. Zacharias!"

"Good bye, and good luck!"

Dr. Zacharias watched Elaine leave. Pretty, but not a replacement for-

He hastily gathered his trash together and his magazine. Better get on QuaNet to tell everyone about the goofs in the article before somebody decided to add a few billion Euros worth of upgrades to the main CERN ring to look for a nonexistent particle. The problem now was how to present the unpleasant truth while implying that the zero probability also represented the author's IQ without flat-out saying so.

Then he'd have to figure out how to deliver the sustenance to the Troddens without Bethany seeing him. The kid has over 10000 aunts and uncles, but HE'S the only one with whom she wants to play "horsey"!

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Chapter 4
Chapter 6