Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #17 August 2015 | Page 7

class, tried to look in eager agreement with that. Rubi “Use your head, Rubi.” Professor Zeon was ad- looked mildly terrified by the prospect. She wasn’t very amant. “It’s called a bonding point. Terms are made for good at telepathy. a reason.” “If the bonding point is in the middle of the Tener stared at Rubi as if he were trying to picture, then what is surrounding it?” Professor Zeon achieve telepathic contact with her without actually asked, waving at the transparent diagram he’d set up touching her and share his knowledge, but he knew if earlier. Tener quickly started to put down all informahe said a single word he was bound to get a zero for the tion written on it, counting on the others to answer the lesson. It was no hard task to get a zero in this class. It question. was much harder to get a nine or a ten. There were mutters around the class, some said “Because... people bond... if they... touch it?” ‘protection,’ others opted for the word ‘walls.’ SomeRubi mumbled unconvincingly, and the Professor’s body said in a loud whisper, “A cocoon,” making their neighbours snigger. frown deepened. “A shield?” a girl’s voice asked from the end of the classroom. When everyone turned to look who came up with that word, she did her best to pretend she Rubi looked ready to vanish into thin air from hadn’t just peeked into her textbook. “Yes, the correct shame, but Tener knew she said the right answer so he term is ‘shields’,” the Professor agreed. “The shields let out a silent breath. Sometimes it seemed the Pro- are often manifestations of the person’s connections to fessor was more interested in students defending their the outside world, which are often impossible to interpret unless you make studying this subject your major opinions than cramming. goal. We are not going to go as deep now. We’ll start by “How can the bonding point be tampered with?” learning types of objects you can encounter in shields The Professor continued asking, but the rest of the class and their properties. Pages 210 to 221 are your homefell silent because they had no idea. Tener knew the work. The notes on the chapter are due next lesson. Are there any questions?” answer but he, too, wanted the others to think. “Louder. More confidence. Less mumbling and pausing.” “Are we going to talk more about the bonding Arcus sounded very bored when he started talking. Tener turned to look at him. The young man point, sir?” somebody at the end of the class asked. Tenwas horizontally balancing a pen on his index finger er nodded showing he was interested too and looked while leaning back on his chair, making it stand on its back at the Professor, who answered: hind legs. “It is studied to a deeper extent every year, be“We can control the person either with his se- cause it is a complicated subject. Have you mentioned crets or with planting false thoughts into his mind,” it in other classes?” he drawled lazily and, when the Professor nodded at “We need to make a model of it for our Creative his words and turned away, mouthed ‘obviously’ and Thinking class by the end of the year,” Rubi spoke up. rolled his eyes at the rest of the class. It was her best class so she felt more confident to menSeveral students shared whispered conversa- tion it. “We need to learn to concentrate really hard and tions. The Professor, with his back to the class, showed picture our own. Miss Taora told us everyone sees it differently.” he could hear them, by raising his voice: “That is a useful task,” Professor Zeon nodded, “Arcus is absolutely correct. We wouldn’t want to happen to us, would we?” He looked back at the class looking pleased. “We will not return to the topic this sharply again, and Tener, along with the majority of the semester, but you should know that it requires consent 7