Open Minds: The Bubble (2)

Chapter 2: The Assignment

In Which Driving Laws are Planned to be Broken

LEXI

Lexi met up with Jean and Taylor in the hub. After a few minutes of waiting for Corduroy to show up, the trio began to navigate the maze of cubicles and offices. They stopped before Allison's office. Lexi turned to face her friends. She saw the excitement sparkling in their eyes and knew it was in hers too. "Are you ready? I am."

Taylor and Jean linked arms and nodded. Taylor's feet were hovering a few inches above the floor. Lexi inhaled and pushed open the door to Allison's office. It was empty.

Lexi scanned the room, perplexed, and sat in a chair. Taylor and Jean did the same. Only then did Lexi notice Corduroy, sitting across from her reading a magazine. "Dude! You're getting good! How long have you been here?"

Corduroy glanced up and shagged. "Few minutes. I was around." He crossed his legs and looked back at the magazine. Impatiently, Lexi squirmed to get a look at the cover. He looked up again and showed her the front.It was an ancient addition of People. He shook the pages and went back to reading. Lexi leaned back in the chair and stared blankly at the ceiling. SAEPTA seemed to have no respect for her time at all. Most of their missions had no preparation time, and now an urgent summons with no-one there to greet them. Just then, the door opened with a bang.

Lexi jumped up as Allison and Cambridge strode in. Cambridge, tall and hunched, was preoccupied with talking into an earpiece as he staggered under a stack of folders. Allsion plopped in her desk chair and stared from behind her thick bangs at Lexi. Cambridge set the files on the floor and left.

"New haircut?" Lexi asked tentatively. Allison stared daggers at her. Then smiled widely.

"Yes. Straightened and trimmed just yesterday. Like it?" She bent over and placed the top files on the table. "Of course you do. Now down to business."

Corduroy closed the magazine and turned to Allison. She nodded to him. "And, by the way, Dr. Pule likes your internship idea. We'll finalize the program's plan this week." Opening the top file, she skimmed the papers. "Yes, your mission. We received a distress call from an out-of commission agent in California. It went straight to Seattle instead of Fresno, so we told Fresno we'd handle it. They have enough on their hands with the lake thing."

Lexi nodded like she knew what the "lake thing" was, even though she didn't.

Taylor raised his hand."So, you want us to go investigate and stuff?" He kicked his sneakers against the leg of his chair. Jean reached over with one foot and nudged him to stop.

Allison pushed her chair back and stood. "Yes and no. You four are growin' really well. This mission is a final test. If it goes well, you'll start gettin'"-She smiled and held up a checkbook-"A salary." There was a general outcry from the team. Allison held up a finger. "Shush-shush-shush. Because we're gonna start treatin' you like adults, your task is pretty open. Drive down, figure out what's what, and take it from there." She turned around and opened her window. The porthole window-adjustment made the drizly seattle skyline look back at the room like a sleepy, grey eye. Lexi loved the view from Allison's office. She was about to compliment her on it when Jean spoke up.

"None of us are legally old enough to drive the team to Cali. How're we gonna get there?"

Allison frowned and looked back at the papers. "I thought Corduroy was 16?"

He shook his head. "In a few weeks. Not yet."

"Well then, he can drive you. Level-headed and almost has a license. I'll send you your necessary things tonight. Bye-bye then, I have more work to do." Allison waved them towards the door. They trooped out. Lexi was the last one left in the room.

"Allison, I just wanna say thanks for-"

"The mission? You're very welcome, hon. Bye, now" She didn't even look up from the files. A little disgruntled, Lexi left.

TAYLOR

The team sat in the Common Room. Lexi was microwaving a Cup Noodle, Jean lounging on a beanbag chair, and Corduroy was adjusting the old, manual radio to play jazz. Taylor glanced down at his phone from time to time. Silence aside from the static and sound from the radio.

Finally, Corduroy seemed satisfied and turned the radio way down. Taylor knew the other boy likes soft background noise whenever he could have it. He watched Corduroy glare at the carpet, the door, and Lexi.

She spoke up, her back to him. "Internship program? Didn't know you had that in the works." She took the noodles out of the microwave and set them on the counter. Without turning around, she took an egg from the fridge.

Corduroy sighed in irritation as Lexi cracked half the egg into her noodles. "Yeah, duh. You said..." He fidgeted. "You said you wished you could have, like, an apprentice or something like they do in stories n shit. I just asked Allison if that was a thing already and she said it would be." Taylor sniffed in surprise. It wasn't like Lexi or Corduroy to do things for other people.

"Don't say shit," Lexi said flatly. "But that was nice of you. Thanks." She turned around and sat on the floor next to Taylor's chair. "So. Missions, huh." Taylor smiled and nodded. Jean leaned back in her beanbag chair with a sigh.

"Y'kmow? I was way more excited before we got the assignment. Something about rainy days makes me really tired, I guess." She raised her hands toward the ceiling, middle fingers extended. It didn't mean much, it was just her favorite gesture.

Taylor snickered. "You an' everyone else, JJ." He stretched out his legs and placed a hand on Lexi's head. "While we wait for the info packets, how has everyone's day gone? I just chilled."

Corduroy looked up, "As you know, oh chipper one, I was talking to Allison about internships. That's it." He paused. "I guess I did my GenEd online this morning."

Jean moaned. "Heh. GenEd. Nerds. I went to Rendezvous for coffee. I almost got movie rentals, but I got the alert insead." She mimed pointing a gun at Lexi. "Your turn, Lex." She fired and made a little pcheeww noise. It made Taylor giggle.

Yawning, Lexi said, "I just went to a late GenEd class. I was late for the-Oh! Diana's leaving!"

Corduroy and Jean looked up. "Bitch Diana?" They said in unison.

Lexi frowned. "Don't say bitch. Yes Bitch Diana."

"Why?" Taylor was wondering the same thing himself.

Lexi shook her head. "SAEPTA didn't know what to do with her after the Fog thing. She was kinda bouncing around remote locations, but she's gonna visit family for a year and then go to some other branch." She pulled a face like an old man. "Y'know. 'Cause the Fog thing is supposed to be all hush-hush"

Then, a voice from the doorway said, "Hi, wonderkids! What's supposed to be hush hush?"

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