Chapter 69: The People He Chose

Dante answered Professor Bell before his imaginary council could nominate somebody less important. He would carry the cost himself, provided the professor agreed there was a limited test worth attempting.

The council requested a review of its working conditions, then helped him finish the message because witnesses remained an excellent reason to behave responsibly for several consecutive minutes.

At the equipment room the following afternoon, Professor Bell placed the practice diagram between them. An empty rectangular frame would hang above thick padding, supported by a prepared lift and its ordinary charge bank. The ruby would select Dante for the living cost while he tried one short change in control.

“The bank supplies the movement,” the professor said, touching the drawing on the left. “The selected source carries the cost of forcing the control change. Those are separate jobs.”

Dante followed the line from the professor’s grip to the frame. “You hold it first, and I take that path.”

“If the initial check succeeds, you attempt one permitted tilt. No extra turn for the audience, and no proving you can continue after a warning.”

The permitted angle was marked on a small scale fixed beside the catch area. A hinged limit strap would keep the frame from swinging into anyone if the lift shifted, while its empty center left nothing heavy balanced above it.

Professor Bell opened the cabinet and checked the case without connecting it. The lender had given separate permission for this narrow supervised research use during the remaining loan, and the written terms stayed beside the storage record.

“The director’s complaint remains open,” the professor said. “Permission to use equipment doesn’t decide what happened to him.”

Dante nodded, remembering how unpleasant it had felt to hear his impressive result described from the other room.

Honey arrived with the records she had shown him in the library. She placed the unresolved limits on top, where nobody could overlook them in favor of the successful reading.

“Distance, recovery, and whether the route stays selected through a longer hold are still unknown,” she said. “The women feeling all right once isn’t proof that the link has changed permanently.”

“We aren’t testing a longer hold,” Professor Bell replied. “We also stop if any of you reports a new symptom.”

Dante asked where the observers would stand and whether they would hear the source explanation before anything moved. Professor Bell marked the rear line and said he would give it himself. Anyone expecting a performance without limits could leave before the equipment was connected.

That removed several opportunities for Dante to describe the arrangement in a more impressive way. He accepted because the room would still see the part no speech could supply, if he succeeded. If he failed, they would see that too, a possibility his council attempted to bury beneath a discussion of suitable clothing.

Jett joined them for the unpowered rehearsal. At the professor’s direction, he pulled the physical release, opening the ordinary supply connection and letting the empty frame settle into the padding.

“That removes the lifting power,” Professor Bell said. “It isn’t evidence that every living connection would end with it. Dante’s release must be checked separately before any movement test.”

They rehearsed the spoken stop, Dante opening his grip, the professor’s check of the source reading, and Jett’s release of ordinary power. Honey would observe from behind the line and report her own condition, not decide how long a struggling source should continue.

Dante disliked how clearly that distinction pointed backward. He also liked knowing that every person in the room would hear him choose the cost before anybody saw the result.

That evening, the common room filled with the ordinary noise of people avoiding homework by arranging it attractively. A kettle sprouted steam legs and tried to walk away until Jett turned its handle back toward the hot plate.

Posey had written practice turns on a small board and saved the chair beside Dante. Her pear-and-tea scent reached him when she leaned across to move his notebook away from a wet cup.

“I have squad practice later,” she said. “You get me until seven, and then you’re supposed to miss me politely.”

“I make no promises about the quality of my suffering.”

She blushed and settled closer while Rhae came through the door carrying a container of bottled drinks. Her dark hair was tied away from her horns, and her tail held the door until Jett took it.

“Admire them after you’ve carried this to the counter,” she told Dante.

He obeyed, which she found satisfying enough to brush his hand when he returned. The small order had been paid for, and she described the next batch in quantities that sounded like a business rather than a wish.

Jett cornered him by the counter. “Could you give me the room tomorrow evening? I have company.”

“Is this company aware of the other company?”

“She knows I’m dating,” Jett said. “She doesn’t need a guided tour of every bad decision.”

Dante considered the shared calendar. “I’ll study here. If anyone asks, you are unavailable due to a private review of residence policy.”

“Could we just say I have a date?”

“Your lack of ambition damages the entire department.”

At the practice table, the notebook student prepared the target and admitted when she had placed its pad too close to the edge. Dante thanked her for catching it before anyone cast, and she spent the next turn helping another student end a lift cleanly.

When the skeptical student arrived, a chair had opened near Honey. Dante noticed him waiting, remembered the argument in the library, and waved him in before he asked twice.

The student checked the pad and suggested moving the drink cups farther away. It was a good idea, and Dante accepted it without pretending he had issued the instruction first.

Rhae asked about the chairwoman’s offer while they packed up. Dante said he had declined the event, and the others heard him clearly before Jett dragged him upstairs to negotiate the remaining room schedule.

Anika stayed behind to stack the practice sheets. When the room emptied, she opened a private message to the chairwoman and offered to discuss the old paid-session terms and the unresolved welfare complaint. She promised neither Dante’s attendance nor a demonstration.

Anika checked the room reservation before sending the location. A small meeting space beside the library entrance was available, close enough to the public desk that an invited visitor could find it without being led through a private house. She booked it under her own name and copied the accepted time into her calendar.

The reply arrived while she held her phone above the last stack. The chairwoman could meet after the university research session, and Anika saved the agreement without forwarding it to Dante. He had refused the woman’s event. Anika read that refusal again, then kept her separate appointment, certain there was a difference between going behind his back and handling something he should not have to worry about.