Continuance Read Online Free Page A

of campus, the traffic had thinned out here, leaving only a few
scattered students, many making their way into the building.
    “Then what is your type?” Stuart asked as they climbed the steps. “Books and beakers? I think
you’re crazy, but if that’s what you want, you should scope things out in class
this morning.” A glass door slid sideways to admit them into the building.
     “Right,” Jason
said. “How long have you been a neuro major? No way we’ll find one that looks
like Katelynn or Ivory in here.”
    Stuart shrugged
as if to say, “ If you say so,” as they scaled a curved stairway toward
the upper floors. “By the way, I don’t know how you talked me into this. They
say Fairchild’s a veteran ball buster.”
    It was Jason’s
turn to shrug. “Can’t argue with that. Ten percent of her lower division
students drop her classes – and I hear the rest wish they had.”
    “But you think
this lab internship will be worth it?”
    “ Definitely.” Just
not for the reasons you think. For access to Arkive – and maybe Michelle –
sticking out a semester under a tough prof would be a joyride on autonav.
    Inside, several
dozen students sat in small groups around tall, octagonal tables. A device that
looked something like a cross between a microscope and a coffee maker rested in
the center of each. The far wall was glass from floor to ceiling, offering a birds-eye
view of the campus. Near the walls at either end of the room, the projected
image of a large photoscreen read, “NEUR 3010 Bioinformatics. Fairchild” in a slow three-dimensional scroll.
    Stuart headed
straight for a table occupied by a girl with dark hair and milky white skin.
Jason elbowed his roommate, ready to concede he’d been wrong about finding any
attractive prospects in class. But then she saw them, and shot Stuart a winning
smile. Jason recognized her.
    “Hey, Ivory.”
Stuart slid into the seat beside her as he gave her a hug. “You remember
Jason.”
    “The speediac
from last night? I remember,” Ivory said, still leaning close to Stuart.
Dressed in faded synth-denim jeans, she wore her hair pulled back in a
ponytail, bangs swept to one side. Jason hardly recognized her from the night
before. He’d only seen her for a quick introduction after the race – wearing a
diagonal-cut miniskirt and a tight-fitting mid-drift top. Today, she
looked…different. “Sweet driving, and with a car that old, too,” she said.
     Jason had no
time to reply as the door opened to admit a woman in a business suit of forest
green and cream. Her shoulder-length silver hair was cut in a layered style, framing
a face with fine features. Though Jason knew from her bio she was in her mid-seventies,
she carried herself with an air of focus and energy. The murmur of conversation
died away as the students in the room noticed her enter.
    “Who has a copy
of the syllabus?” Her tone was congenial but drew every eye in the room. A guy
near the front raised a hand as she stopped by the transparent front wall and
touched a control surface. The glass darkened to near-opacity, leaving only a
hint of the view that had been there a moment ago. “Would you mind reading the
first sentence of the course description for the class?”
    He scrolled
through the document on his table’s embedded photoscreen and read in a broken
monotone. “Students will use analytical and computational tools to document
individually definitive biological patterns and study applied methods for their
subsequent…”
    “Thank you,”
Professor Fairchild broke in. “Or in plain English, you’ll be learning how to
create an exact blueprint of yourself. A blueprint that captures every aspect
of who you are. Your physical body. Your knowledge and skills. Your experiences
and memories. Everything.”
    She gestured at
the text hovering in front of the volunteer. “If you take anything from the
syllabus version, I’d recommend you focus on two key words: