The following happens
during Episode 1 in the cut between the scene where Cybersix, as Adiran,
is shown her classroom and her classroom scene where Lori "introduces"
herself.
"I can do this." she told herself in her 'male' voice, "I CAN do this."
She was in her alias as Adrian Seidelman, her womanhood suppressed under the male guise of the unfortunate boy whose dead body she had found at the automobile accident so many years ago. She had fled the little village where she had lived for several years with her father, the black servant who had spirited her away from Von Richter before he destroyed her brothers and sisters. Unsure of how to hide, she had buried the boy, taken his identity, and lived his life. It went great for a while: school was a novelty which she easily mastered, and she had been fortunate enough to have had two kind and compassionate teachers who saw her talents and had her help some of her classmates. Only a few were thankful, but thanks to those few, added to the inspiration she got from the two teachers who cared, strongly motivated her to pursue a teaching career. It was a wonderful feeling to touch lives. It made her feel that she was worth something.
Naturally, the onset of puberty started to make things 'interesting', and not only because of the obvious difficulties in maintaining her alias. She sometimes caught herself envying the attention that the coeds at college got from the male students, jealous for the kind of approval that would affirm her as a woman and a human being. (At least, based on what she could tell after extensive visits to the local erotic bookstores, video booths, and nude dancing establishments, it did appear that Von Richter hadn't screwed up the physical equipment too much. So why did she feel so, soiled, after coming out of those places?)
She pulled her mind back to the current problem. Earlier teaching assignments were temporary, and under the guidance of more experienced educators. She was now "on his own", and it was making her stomach fluttery. She glanced up at the rows of seats that she had arranged and rearranged in an effort to burn time before having to commit thought to paper. She had talked herself into thinking that her assignment to this third-rate high school would be a challenge worthy of her. Could she possibly inspire these kids to see the beauty she saw in the treasure that was the world's literature? Could she get them to laugh at Shakespeare's Falstaff, cry with Romeo and Juliet, and sense the world of faerie while running through the woods during a midsummer's night? She couldn't tell if the ache in her heart was for her future students, or the effects of starting to run low on sustenance again.
She jerked her head at the gentle tapping at the door, "Come in!" she called, pitching her voice lower.
The door opened and a man in his late 40's, with gray hair and a bushy white mustache, walked in. His blue eyes seemed to twinkle with amusement as he slipped into a student desk at the front. He was of average build, but not overweight. Otherwise, he wouldn't have fit into the chair.
He leaned forward and held out his hand, "Hi! I'm Dr. Anthony Zacharias, Math and Physics, but everyone calls me Dr. Zack. Are you the new Literature teacher?"
"Uh, Yes! Adrian Seidelman!" Cybersix leaned forward and shook his hand. New people made her a little nervous. Would they notice something that wasn't quite right? Her hair was up, and they could see EVERYTHING.
Then she blinked. The weather was hot, yet Dr. Zack was wearing two, long sleeved shirts. No, the inner one had the weave of thermal underwear. She was so puzzled by this that she didn't notice that the visitor had turned her wrist ever so slightly so as to see the fingers and the back of her hand.
Dr. Zack leaned back and looked at her, "Getting the willies, aren't we?"
"Willies?"
"Butterflies in the stomach? Nervous?"
"Nervous? You betcha!" She chuckled, finding it hard to fake male laughter and having little occasion to use it, "I DO remember when I was in high school!"
"Ah! So the prayers of high school teachers past crying out for vengeance are now being fulfilled, right?"
"I suppose so!" she grimaced as Dr. Zack chuckled himself. Maybe she had better start practicing, just to be safe....
"Well, although this may not be the most prestigious school in Meridiana, we have a good faculty that wants to succeed." Dr. Zack said reassuringly, "Feel free to call on any of us for advice or help, such as for that ballast." He pointed at the fluorescent light above her head.
"Yes, I WOULD like that fixed!" She said sincerely while glancing up at it.
Dr. Zack didn't leave immediately, but instead looked at her in a way that began to make her nervous, "By the way, what do you feel about gender equality in the workplace?" he asked suddenly.
"Pardon?" the question seemed totally out of place, yet hit so close that it seemed that the butterflies slammed against her insides like a popping balloon, "Um, well, I'm for equal pay for equal work." She said sincerely, returning Dr. Zack's gaze, "Is there a problem with that around here?"
"I suspect it, but that just may be me. If you notice anything, don't hesitate to speak to me!" Dr. Zack replied, getting up, "I'll fill out the maintenance request after my next class. Good luck!"
"Thanks!" Cybersix watched him go, frowning at the door after it closed behind him, "Well, my good doctor, what's a Ph.D. doing in a dump like this, wearing thermal underwear in 90 degree weather?" she muttered to herself.
The bell rang. She groaned, glanced at her notepad, then said firmly to herself, "I believe in the power of imagination to rebuild the world, to free the truth, to delay the night…"*
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Dr. Zack was rather irritated with himself as he walked down the hall to his classroom. He had tried to be friendly with the new teacher, but had taken an immediate dislike to the high pitched voice and the pretentiously manicured nails and slender fingers Adrian had. He didn't care for men who couldn't fend for themselves in a good fight. The glasses were obviously plate glass with no prescription, since there was no distortion at the edges. He thought Adrian probably wore them to convey an air of studiousness. How Dr. Zack hated pretentious, high-society, nose-in-the-air people! He was sure he had Adrian pegged until, when Adrian glanced up at the buzzing ballast, he noticed the lack of an Adam's apple in the long, slender neck.
"Then I had to do a damn scan, just to make sure." He thought ruefully to himself. He had violated a woman's privacy to satisfy his curiosity. "She probably has a good reason why she's dressing and acting like a man."
He got to his classroom door, reached into his pocket, and swore silently. He'd forgotten his keys on his desk again! He tried the doorknob, and verified that he hadn't forgotten to unlock it.
He glanced up and down the hall quickly, then stared at the door.
There seemed to be a ripple in the air in front of the panel next to the wood, as if it was water and the surface had been disturbed. Then, a black hole appeared and began to grow. A doorknob with a locking mechanism appeared on the other side of it. Dr. Zack gingerly reached through the hole, being careful not to touch the edge. He twisted the lock, and a noise came from the doorknob on the outside of the door. He pulled his hand out carefully, and the hole shrank slowly until it disappeared with another ripple in the air. He then opened the door and went inside.
He quickly went to his desk and pulled out a bottle of aspirin and a candy bar. He took two aspirin and chewed on the candy bar as he mulled over the problem of how to make things right with Ms. Seidelman.
"No, MR. Seidelman.
I shall keep your secret and not embarrass you. I will keep quiet and act
civil." he concluded as he reached for his notebook. Time to get ready
for class. Hopefully, he wouldn't get a headache. He sometimes did when
he tore space open.
* - This is an excerpt of the poem that Cybersix recites in her head, in issue #5 of the French version of the Cybersix comic by Carlos Meglia and Carlos Trillo. "I Believe in", by J. G. Ballard. See the comics section of Frundock's awesome Cybersix Web site.
I would like to thank the following people
for reading alternate versions of this story and giving me feedback on
what I believe to be a rather nontraditional (and puzzling) handling of
Cybersix when she's posing as Adrian: Frundock, Genesis Seidelman,
Eoduin, Chastity Six, Anay, and Cyberpoet. Thanks for the help!