Chapter 14

In previous years the students would have been treated to a big Christmas celebration once the graduation ceremony was completed. As a sign of the cautious times the students were all sent home, allowed to finish the school year a half day early.

For the AURA Project members, they had a private celebration lined up on the roof. Miss Abrams had organised it all with meticulous care and a generous budget from Jericho-Two, her excitement infectious to all her students. It was with great expectations the six students crowded into the elevator and put in the access code for the roof top level.

“Surprise!” shouted an exuberant Miss Abrams when the doors opened, setting off a confetti bomb that showered them all with red, white and green paper streamers. Eric had managed to stop himself drawing his concealed pistol but Carmody had yelled in alarm and was three steps towards the teacher before she stopped in embarrassment. The girl lowered her cricket bat and sheepishly apologised to the stunned Miss Abrams.

“That’s Okay, Carmody” her teacher replied a little shakily. “I should have thought that through myself before I did it!”

The students walked out onto the roof space and ogled at the pavilion that had been erected next to the Guard Post and Stanley’s House. It was red and white striped and had large plastic candy canes fixed to the uprights, with red and white balloons tied in bunches as extra decoration. Inside could be seen a long table covered in a red cloth, set with white plastic cutlery and clear tumblers.

“It is very festive” marvelled Angelina, taking Carmody’s hand and leading her to a Christmas tree under which sat gaily wrapped presents. “Look, there is a gift for each of us!” she gasped.

“Miss Abrams, how much did this all cost?” Eric asked her, standing to one side as his friends milled about exploring the party arrangements.

“Hardly anything compared to the costs of repairing the damage to the school this year” she admitted. “And the kids all basically work in the Project for free, so I told your brother he could lash out for once on a decent party for them”

“Well, the Project does cover all the student fees for them” Eric countered. “That would be saving their parents a small fortune each year. Plus they are paid funds into a Trust Account that they can access on their sixteenth birthdays”

Miss Abrams gave him a smile and laid her arm around his shoulders. “Spoken just like your big brother” she laughed. “But these kids deserve some reward right now Eric, and not something as boring as having their school fees paid. That’s what this is all about!”

Eric pondered her words and had to admit she was right. He saw the looks of elation on his friend’s faces as they saw the buffet table, laden with hot dishes and salads, bowls of cold desserts and jugs of soda. At one end of the table was a large circular rug with a big platter set on a stand, waiting to be filled.

“You even made a space for Stanley!” Eric commented and Miss Abrams shrugged her shoulders. “He was the reason this whole thing got started, wasn’t he? Anyway, if I forgot to set him his own place at the table I would have Sarah giving me grief until home time”

In short order the students found places at the long table, settling themselves in pairs. Carmody sat alongside Angelina, Lilly and Achmed obviously sat as close as possible to each other, even Miss Abrams taking a seat next to Miss Smith. The four Guard clones had been invited too, dressed in their basic blue uniforms and sitting self-consciously as a group at one end of the table. Eric noted with approval that they had not brought guns to the table, yet stacked close by were four Assault Rifles, ready to hand if anyone or anything dared to interfere with the celebration.

“Only one seat left” Sarah declared and patted the empty one at her side. The other side of her was where the large rug was placed and Eric saw what was becoming a familiar blurring of the air. It seemed Stanley had arrived as well, settling himself on the rug and waiting like the rest of them to start eating.

He strode over and was about to take his seat when Miss Abrams made a loud ‘ahem’ sound. When Eric looked at her, she mouthed a single word he recognised easily. He was expected to give a speech!

Eric took a position where he could see everyone and they all met his eyes, his school friends, his teacher and the Guards. He glanced at where Stanley sat and noticed that the blurred area was more definite now, showing him a long, sinuous shape curled up on the rug.

“Well, I am not much for speaking as you all will know” he began, which got a small chuckle from his friends. “This assignment was meant to be my first as an active Agent for AURA, yet it turned into my whole life. It has only been three months since I got to meet you all and I still can’t believe how much I have enjoyed it”

He paused and felt a strange feeling welling up inside of him. It was sadness and joy, grief and elation all mixed up somehow, filling him with uncertainty.

“There has been a lot I didn’t like too. Sadness and pain and so many things I still don’t understand” he continued, his voice halting at times. “There is so much I still need to learn about being a human, so much that fills me with confusion”

Eric could not speak anymore and he stood like a statue, tears welling unexpectedly from his eyes. Sarah was the first to respond, maybe because she was closest. She got out of her seat like a rocket and wrapped her arms around the boy, pulling him close in a fierce bear hug.

“We are all your friends here Eric” she said into his ear, her head close to his own as she pulled him down to meet her. She kissed his cheek and released him and Eric smiled at her from less than a handspan away.

“Thanks Sarah” he told her and then the pair of them “oofed” as the rest of their friends crowded about them in a group hug fest. When they finally all started to smile and laugh at the situation, they broke apart and stood looking at each other.

“You are all the best friends I could ask for!” Eric declared.

“That was lovely” Miss Abrams added. “How about we eat that food before it gets cold?”

There was a chorus of assent and the students all rushed to the buffet table, the adults and Guards standing back to give them room. Miss Abrams nudged her friend Fiona as they observed their charges piling up their plates, chatting and giggling happily as they did so.

“Going to load up too, Fi-Fi?” Miss Abrams teased the ex-Guard. They both knew the clones needed a lot more food than regular people due to their faster metabolisms.

“Of course, So-So” she replied evenly. “But you better take it easy. I noticed your flight suit was looking a little tight the last time you had it on”

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After the long and highly enjoyable meal was finished the six friends starting playing an improvised ball game. This involved two teams whose membership seemed to change frequently and rules that got invented, discarded and re-introduced about every five minutes.

Eventually the children decided they should play against the adults, so Miss Abrams, Fiona and the four Guards got embroiled in the riotous game. At some point the use of Abilities was allowed, which delighted Lilly, Carmody and Angelina. To counter this, Miss Abrams started flying and Fiona and the Guards used their considerable strength and agility.

It was mid-afternoon before the exhausted teams retired from play, each side claiming victory. Since the method of scoring of points had changed three times according to Eric’s meticulous memory, the true winners would never be known.

Eric watched with amusement as Carmody walked around high-fiving the Guards, calling each by name much to the astonishment of her fellow students. He could tell them apart easily since he could ‘see’ their Idents in the Quantum Network, but he wondered how the girl did it.

“How do you do that?” Miss Abrams asked Carmody before Eric could. The girl smiled and told them all it was easy if you looked for the clues. This made everyone want to know so she called the four Guards together and had them stand in a line.

“This is Lucky” she announced, pointing to the first clone in the line. “He always looks at people he likes only using his left eye, the natural one. He tilts his head so they aren’t looking at his enhanced eye. I guess if he doesn’t like you he uses his Cybernetic eye in case he has to shoot you!”

That got a laugh and Lucky smiled faintly too, which pleased Carmody even more.

“Next is Deuce” she declared, standing in front of the second in the line-up. “All the Guards can use either hand really well, but most of them use their right hand by default. Deuce always uses his left hand, to pick up things or throw balls, that kind of thing”

“That’s true!” Achmed agreed in surprise. “I never noticed that before!”

“Then we have Nero” Carmody continued, smiling at the third in line. “The one thing I always notice the most about Nero is he always blinks twice before speaking aloud, especially when you ask him a question”

Nero blinked twice then asked “Is that true?” and even Fiona had to laugh aloud.

“Finally, my brave hero Francis” the girl said. “Francis is a lot like me I reckon. He always carries a knife on his belt, even though it is not standard issue” She pointed to the large fighting knife strapped to the right hip of the Guard, which none of his brothers wore.

“He started wearing it after the Halloween battle” she explained. “Like me with Excalibur, Francis won’t be caught unprepared if an enemy attacks us again” Francis nodded solemnly to the girl and she grinned back.

“There are lots of other little differences, but those are the easy ones to tell them apart” Carmody finished. She bowed to the four Guards and everyone applauded her little presentation.

“Actually, that reminds me of something” she added and ran to her school bag near the table. She returned with five small paper wrapped bags and in turn presented them to each of the Guards. “There is a small pin attached that I got for each of you. It is the first letter of your names. I thought if you pinned them to your uniforms, everyone would find it easier to recognise you”

Lucky opened his first, finding the ‘L’ pin and a bag of home-made cookies. His brothers eagerly did the same and soon the four of them had the letter pins in their hands.

“These are not approved for use by the Guards” Nero explained, blinking twice before he spoke. “Are we allowed to wear them?”

The four clone brothers looked to Fiona, who they still considered their sister and commanding officer. She shrugged in a very human way and looked at Carmody.

“I think you need to give them permission, Miss Carmody” she explained. “That order from Jericho-Two was never countermanded”

“Very well” giggled Carmody and faced the Guards. “You are officially ordered to wear your Letter pins as an aid in identification. Is that understood, men?”

“Roger!” the four shouted in response and then began an earnest discussion about exactly where they would all wear the pins. Fiona came over to Carmody and laid a hand on her shoulder.

“That was well done, Carmody” she told the girl. “You have earned yourself a very loyal team of Guards right there”

“I owe them a lot” Carmody answered. “You too, Fiona. This one is for you.” She gave the woman the fifth bag and the ex-clone opened it carefully. Inside was a bag of cookies too and a narrow metal tag on a key chain.

Fiona lifted it up and saw her name laser-etched on the tag.

“Thank you, Carmody” she said softly to the girl. “You have gifted me with my name twice” She swept the surprised girl up in a hug, lifting her in the air and spinning her around before setting her gently back onto her feet.

“I’m glad you like it!” she replied. “I figured you already had a name tag since you are Head of Security, but you probably have lots of keys now”

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The party had finally wrapped up about an hour before dusk, with everyone helping to clean up the mess and pack away the chairs and tables. A catering company would arrive in the morning to finalise the process, but Miss Abrams had insisted on the children doing their share.

Sarah had pointed out the worst mess was all the paper streamers that the teacher herself had fired over them. This had earned the poor girl a day of detention as soon as school re-commenced in the new year. Miss Abrams had advised her the reason was Insubordination which she then had to explain to her student as Sarah had no idea what she was talking about!

In the end it was only Eric and Miss Abrams sitting quietly side by side, watching the sun set behind the residential towers. Fiona had gone to oversee her Security team’s roster for the coming weekend, the Guards were back on duty and the students had all gone home. Even Stanley had left, taking Sarah for a joyride around the City before dropping her at home.

“You don’t need to wait around for me, Miss Abrams” he told her. “I am used to spending my time alone”

“That’s Okay” she replied. “I’m waiting for Fi-Fi to finish up then we are heading home together”

“Of course” Eric answered. “It must be a nice to have someone reliable like her as a room mate”

“Yes, it is” his teacher said. “She is even neater than I am so we are a good match. She misses her brothers though, so I am glad she got to spend time with them today”

Miss Abrams shifted in her chair and faced Eric directly.

“You know you are always welcome to spend time with us” she said earnestly. “I know what it is like to live alone, I did it for years. Come and have a visit or a sleepover, whatever you want”

Eric regarded her solemnly. “I appreciate the offer, but what brought this on?”

Miss Abrams just smiled enigmatically at the boy.

“Let’s just say I have seen what you might turn into it if you are left alone for too long. I have decided I need to take more care of you”

“I see. I thought you told us you weren’t going to be our mother when you joined the Project?”

“Things change Eric” she answered. “That’s what life is like for a human being. It changes every day whether we want it to or not”

Eric nodded his head in acknowledgement of her words. Fiona returned at that point, telling them the school was secured and they could head home.

“Okay” Eric agreed. “I’ll see you both at the Levitator Rally at the tower tomorrow?”

“Yes!” Miss Abrams agreed. “Fiona will be my pit crew and I hope all the students are there to cheer me on. It has been six months since I last raced but I reckon the work your brother has been giving me kept my reflexes up!”

As she walked away from them towards the elevators, Fiona cast a critical eye over her snug fitting skirt.

“I hope that flight suit is made of stretchy fabric, So-So!”

Miss Abrams stopped and looked back over her shoulder with a fierce glare.

“I will have you know that some people like a fuller figure!” she declared.

“Maybe so” responded Fiona. “But they won’t be the one trying to zipper you into that suit tomorrow”