It was just past 2300, and Leander was sitting in her dormitory, a laptop on her lap, and a slip of paper with very methodical handwriting on it.
Before Leander left to return to her classmates – and the unfinished assignment she still had to complete – Hero had shoved the slip of paper into her hand, reassuring her that much of the data she’d need could be found on it. When Leander had the time to read the paper, she’d been disappointed to see that it was only numbers – until she realized that in fact a link.
Now she sat in front of the computer, an expression of utter frustration on her face. No, apparently not. She’d typed in the link, and write now she was staring at a page full of blank space. But maybe it’s not that obvious, she reasoned. Try something else. Check the coding. Right click, open source – yeah, she thought, scanning the coding, there’s an image here. She closed the open box, and frowned. Maybe if I… Clicking on the page, she highlighted the whole thing, and gave a fierce grin when a large text box appeared on the screen. “Well that wasn’t very difficult,” she said out loud, then winced instinctively. Hero had warned her against being watched – or heard. She turned her attention back to the computer screen.
Hero’s requests
1. There is a harbor on the far east of the city, and if you don’t know of it, you are a very sad person who needs to go out more. In this harbor there is a boat that never sails. That’s because I arranged for the owner to keep it there for compensation. He may have forgotten about it at this point but that doesn’t matter, he won’t find out. The boat is called ‘The Loretta’.
2. Locate this boat and get on it (preferably around twilight during the weekday, there is poor security in this area). There is a key hidden underneath the far chair in the back of the boat. You’ll recognize it, it’s painted chrome. Keep the key. Store it somewhere safe, and for pete’s sake don’t be obvious about it.
3. On the 7th day of May, I will be going out for my final test. It will include a stamina test (they all do). I will be programmed to run only on the track provided. On this day, you will hide near the track, hidden in the foliage. They won’t follow me; they’re lazy and the stamina test is so standard they won’t expect discrepancies. Pull me out of the track (it will be difficult, be sure to get a good grip on me).
4. Here’s the part where you get to think. Transport me from the track to The Loretta. I assume that you don’t have a car? Public transportation won’t work. Be smart. Bring a disguise for both of us.
5. You better fucking know how to manually handle a boat because they don’t teach us that. They seem to think we’d get ideas of escaping. This boat will not alarm when it passes the boundaries because it’s practically older than Solumnic. I will give you coordinates.
1. There is a harbor on the far east of the city, and if you don’t know of it, you are a very sad person who needs to go out more. In this harbor there is a boat that never sails. That’s because I arranged for the owner to keep it there for compensation. He may have forgotten about it at this point but that doesn’t matter, he won’t find out. The boat is called ‘The Loretta’.
2. Locate this boat and get on it (preferably around twilight during the weekday, there is poor security in this area). There is a key hidden underneath the far chair in the back of the boat. You’ll recognize it, it’s painted chrome. Keep the key. Store it somewhere safe, and for pete’s sake don’t be obvious about it.
3. On the 7th day of May, I will be going out for my final test. It will include a stamina test (they all do). I will be programmed to run only on the track provided. On this day, you will hide near the track, hidden in the foliage. They won’t follow me; they’re lazy and the stamina test is so standard they won’t expect discrepancies. Pull me out of the track (it will be difficult, be sure to get a good grip on me).
4. Here’s the part where you get to think. Transport me from the track to The Loretta. I assume that you don’t have a car? Public transportation won’t work. Be smart. Bring a disguise for both of us.
5. You better fucking know how to manually handle a boat because they don’t teach us that. They seem to think we’d get ideas of escaping. This boat will not alarm when it passes the boundaries because it’s practically older than Solumnic. I will give you coordinates.
Leander stared at the page for a few moments in silence. “Well, now that that’s done…” she muttered. “It sounds far easier than it should, that bitch.” Leander checked the date again. May 7 was a little over a week from today, which didn’t look like nearly enough time to plan out some sort of secret transportation. She’d have to think fast.
The alarm chimed 2400, interrupting her mental. “Brilliant.”
Before she went to sleep, Leander cleared the history on her computer, and ran the paper through a shredder in the corner. When she climbed into bed, she was surprised to find that she was trembling.
*****
She was still trembling when she woke up the next morning, the thought of helping Hero escape from Solumnic haunting her throughout the night. Only barely registering the fact that she would have nothing to bring to class today, Leander dressed and left the room, still hoping that some miracle intervention would erase every stupid thing she had done yesterday, starting with the fucking door.
In class, Leander found a single relief: today, the students would pair up and criticize each other’s articles – the due date would be sometime next week. Leander was paired with the person next to her – Iris.
Leander shoved her chair around to face her partner, whose hair today was a wavy clump of red. “So, what’ve you got?” she asked chipperly.
“Some stuff,” Iris said vaguely, pulling a single sheet of paper out from underneath the desk. “It’s a feature article, 500 words.”
Leander whistled appreciatively. “You found a 500-word story in that crap?” Iris gave her a proud grin. “Overachiever. Here, hand it over, let me read.”
“Where’s yours?” said Iris, sliding the paper across the desks toward Leander.
Leander gave her a weak smile. “It’s – you know – somewhere,” she said vaguely, picking up the sheet of paper. “I’ll let you read it in a second, I just wanna read yours – oh, you spelled prerogative wrong, geez Iris, you’re a shitty speller – ”
It was enough to distract Iris from her lack of an article, and the next hour was spent discussing the correct spelling of prerogative, ridiculous, and revolutionary. By the end of class, Leander handed Iris back a sheet of paper that was now more red than white. “Way to fail, Iris,” she chuckled, standing up and slinging her messenger bag over her shoulder.
“Damn,” Iris moaned, moving her desk back, “I’ll never be able to fix all this by the 7th – are you sure that’s not the right address for the museum?”
“Yes I’m sure,” Leander muttered, fussing with the buckle on her bag, “I’ve only been there a million – wait, what?” Leander looked up from her buckle. “When’s the article due?”
“May 7th,” Iris sighed, standing up and cracking her back. “Why, sooner than you thought?”
“Fuck my life,” Leander groaned. “We can email this shit, right?” When Iris shook her head, looking distinctly puzzled, Leander gave another groan. “Dammit.”
“What’s wrong?” Iris asked, now looking highly interested in Leander’s dismay. “Do you need help with something – ”
“Nothing’s wrong, see you tomorrow,” Leander interrupted, throwing her chair back under the desk.
It took a great deal of willpower to avoid running out of the classroom, but as soon as she was out, Leander broke into a sprint, heading for a large park in the center of campus. I don’t have time for this shit, she thought to herself, muttering obscenities under her breath.
A mass of students were beginning to congregate in the park, a popular hang-out between classes. Leander navigated her way through them quickly, seating herself on one of several metallic benches dotting the sidewalks. She dropped her bag next to her, leaned over, and buried her face in her hands. “You’re stupid,” she said to herself, “You’re retarded and – and – hell, Hero never even said when the test was… you could drop it off, or – you know – fail the class… shit,” she said, looking up when she realized what she had just said. Hero’s really gonna make me stand in the fucking forest all day, just waiting for her? Bitch.
Holographic powerpoint presentations? Not quite writing, but hey! 
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