It had been a long day for the new students and it was with some relief that they now headed to their final scheduled lesson, Stealth and Evasion. It had been quite unlike any school day that they had experienced before and Otto found himself wondering if every day would be as unconventional as this or if they’d just been given an educational baptism of fire.
The students filed through the doors into a lecture theatre with rows of banked seating. There was no sign of the teacher, Ms Leon, but Otto did at least now know who the pampered cat that he had seen at lunch the previous day belonged to. The fluffy white cat lay curled on the desk at the front of the room, apparently sleeping, oblivious to the presence of the Alpha students.
After a minute or two all of the class had sat down and were talking amongst themselves, waiting for the teacher to arrive. The noise had obviously disturbed the cat, who stood up and stretched on the front desk, fixing the assembled children with an inquisitive look.
‘Good afternoon, children.’ The woman’s voice had a French accent and seemed to be coming from the front of the room, but there was still no sign of the teacher. Everyone fell silent, curious as to where this disembodied voice was coming from.
‘My name is Ms Leon. Welcome to your first Stealth and Evasion lesson.’
Otto and Wing looked at each other in amazement. The voice was coming from the cat!
‘You will have to excuse my present condition. Suffice to say that Professor Pike’s initial experiments imbuing humans with the abilities of certain animals have not been as successful as he might have liked. I believe that he would describe it as semi-permanent consciousness transfer, but the simpler explanation is that, thanks to technology that was rather more experimental than I was led to believe, I am now resident in this body while my rather confused cat is enjoying the use of opposable thumbs for the first time.’
Over the past two days Otto had seen any number of strange things, but this was on an altogether different plane of strangeness. Mouths were hanging open in shock all around the room.
‘Judging by your expressions you find this a little unusual, but let me assure you that your shock is fairly minor in comparison to waking up for the first time with a tail. That sort of thing can ruin your whole day. The good Professor assures me that he will, in time, be able to reverse the process, but for the moment you will all have to get used to my current form. Which, strangely, does have its advantages.’ With that, the cat sprang two metres from the desk at the front of the room and landed flawlessly on a tall stool that was positioned in front of the students.
‘The purpose of this class is quite simple: to teach you how to remain unseen by those who would seek you out, how to move and act silently – a discipline that will doubtless be of use to you in the years to come. By the time this course is complete you should be able to move unnoticed through even the most highly secured environments.’
Judging by the expressions on most of the students’ faces, they were still trying to accept the fact that a cat was talking to them, rather than wondering exactly what these lessons would teach them. Otto had noticed that when Ms Leon had been addressing the class the cat’s mouth had not been moving, and he was curious to know how exactly she was managing to speak to them at all. He looked at the sparkling jewelled collar that the cat was wearing and saw that what he had originally taken to be a bright blue jewel at her throat was actually a blue LED. He guessed that it must actually be some kind of speech synthesis unit, and that H.I.V.E.mind was probably playing a significant part in providing her with a voice.
Otto heard a boy seated behind him whisper to his neighbour, ‘Do you think she’s got a litter tray or a toilet?’
Ms Leon moved so quickly that she appeared to be little more than a white blur, leaping past the students. Otto turned in his seat to see the cat sitting on the desk behind him, a single razor-sharp claw hooked into the nostril of the boy who had made the comment, his face a mask of sudden terror.
‘A cat can hear a mouse moving through grass thirty metres away on a windy day, so you might as well have shouted that little witticism to the whole room, you stupid little boy. Just so you know, the claw that is very nearly breaking your skin right now is only one of eighteen. All just as sharp as that one and I know exactly where all the softest, most vulnerable parts of your body are. Bearing that in mind, do you have any other jokes that you would like to share with the class?’
‘No, Ms Leon,’ the boy replied in a shaky voice. His face had gone quite pale.
‘Good.’ She retracted the claw, releasing the terrified boy, and leapt from desk to desk back to the front of the room.
‘We will start with some of the basics of surveillance avoidance to better prepare you for your first practical exercises.’ Otto noticed now that the LED flickered slightly as she spoke – it appeared that his suspicions were correct.
For the next twenty minutes Ms Leon sat on the stool and talked to them about the basic principles of infiltration and counter-surveillance. Otto was surprised at how quickly he and his fellow students adjusted to the fact that they were being taught by an animal, but he supposed that, like him, the other students were becoming somewhat immunised to such bizarre situations by their experiences at H.I.V.E. so far.
‘So, it is important that you learn to recognise the patterns inherent in a surveillance system, to spot the gaps and exploit them . . . I’m sorry, Miss Trinity. Am I boring you?’
Otto glanced over at Shelby just in time to see her stop doodling on her notepad and quickly sit up straighter in her seat, a slightly embarrassed expression on her face.
‘Perhaps you think that there is nothing that I can teach you, hmm?’ Ms Leon continued. ‘What with all the practical experience you have had of this.’
Laura, who was sitting next to Shelby, gave her room-mate a curious look.
Ms Leon tilted her head, her whiskers twitched. ‘Oh, don’t tell me that you haven’t told anyone yet. You should know that we don’t have to keep secrets at H.I.V.E. We’re all friends here Shelby, or would you prefer me to call you the Wraith?’
It was as if the mask had slipped from Shelby’s face for the first time. Her expression hardened and she fixed the white cat with a cold stare.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Shelby replied evenly, never breaking eye contact with Ms Leon.
‘No, of course you don’t. I suppose that you must have qualified for the Alpha stream because of your immaculate manicure. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the fact that you might know something about the several million dollars’ worth of jewellery that have mysteriously disappeared from some of the world’s most secure locations over the past twelve months. That would be ridiculous, would it not?’ The expression on Shelby’s face suggested that she knew exactly what Ms Leon was talking about. Students all around the room were nudging each other and whispering. The Wraith had become something of a celebrity over the past few months, a thief who seemed to pass straight through supposedly impregnable security systems, leaving no trace of their passing and stealing only the very finest, most exquisite pieces of jewellery. The only mark that the thief had left at each location was a card inscribed ‘My thanks, the Wraith’, resting where a spectacularly valuable piece of jewellery had once sat. At first the insurance companies and security firms had managed to keep this quiet, but eventually the press had got hold of the information. The story had stimulated the public imagination and there had been much speculation as to who this apparently invisible thief might be. Otto suspected that very few people would have believed that these robberies were actually the work of a thirteen-year-old girl. Shelby looked more angry than embarrassed that not only did Ms Leon appear to know exactly who she was but had chosen to announce this fact to the entire class.
‘I don’t suppose that there’s much point trying to deny it, is there?’ Shelby’s voice had a cold, hard edge that Otto had not heard before. The grating Valley girl persona that she had displayed up till now had vanished.
‘Hardly, chéri. I have been following your exploits with some interest. You show . . . promise. A diamond in the rough, so to speak. You have a rare natural talent – it is not something you need to be coy about or hide from people here.’ Ms Leon finally broke eye contact with Shelby and addressed the whole class again. ‘Anyway, as I was saying, recognition of surveillance patterns is vital if . . .’
As Ms Leon continued with the class, Shelby seemed to be listening more attentively than before, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she had suddenly become the centre of the other students’ attention. Otto knew he couldn’t be the only one who noted the way she was glaring at their new teacher. This might be an interesting battle of wills, he thought to himself.
The class finally ended, bringing their first day of lessons to a close, and Ms Leon, having dismissed them, trotted out of the classroom with her tail waving in the air. Several of the students approached Shelby, clearly intrigued to meet the celebrity who had been hiding in their midst, but the withering look that she gave them as they approached obviously made them think better of it and they hastily retreated. Laura, however, was not so easily deterred.
‘So were you planning to tell me about this at any point?’ she asked as Shelby packed her books into her backpack.
‘Not if I could help it, but it looks like anonymity isn’t something that people have a whole lot of respect for around here,’ Shelby replied, angrily shoving the last of her books into her bag.
‘You could have told me. I wouldn’t have told anyone, you know.’
‘Look, it’s not something that I wanted to talk about. I just wanted to get off this damn island as quickly as possible and go back to my old life, but now everyone knows who I am, how am I supposed to do that?’ Shelby replied angrily. ‘Just leave me alone, will you?’
Laura took a step back, hand raised. ‘OK, OK. I just wanted to see if you were all right, that’s all.’
‘I’m fine,’ Shelby snapped, and pushed past Laura, heading for the door.
Otto and Wing walked over to Laura, who had a look of concern on her face as she watched Shelby leave.
‘Is she OK?’ Otto asked.
‘Not really. I think she hoped she was going to keep that secret a wee bit longer.’
‘It does seem unfair that she should be exposed so publicly,’ Wing added, ‘but she would not have been able to keep her true identity hidden for long. Consider her performance with the grappler earlier. You may be able to hide your identity, but it is much harder to hide your abilities.’
Otto thought about this. They had all indeed shown hints of exceptional ability throughout the day and it did feel as if they had each been somehow tricked into displaying what they were truly capable of. He knew he might just be being paranoid, but it did seem to him that they were teaching the staff as much about their own capabilities as they themselves were being taught. He didn’t know what Dr Nero might do with such information, but he had little doubt that the staff would dutifully report the various events of the day back to him.
‘Now I am seeing everything. A talking cat, what next?’ Franz asked as he joined them.
‘Well, Block and Tackle are talking apes, so I suppose it’s not that surprising really,’ Otto replied with a grin. ‘Although it does suggest that volunteering for Professor Pike’s experiments may not be a very good idea.’
‘Oh, it can’t be all that bad.’ Laura smiled. ‘Don’t cats sleep for seventy-five per cent of the day? I certainly feel like I could handle that at the moment.’
Otto knew what she meant. He was exhausted and his shoulders ached from swinging around in the grappler cavern earlier. His brain, too, felt overloaded with information, trying to analyse all they’d seen and heard. Whatever more sinister reason there might be for confronting them with so many strange situations throughout the day, it had certainly guaranteed that they were kept off-balance.
Nigel wandered over and started chatting to Franz about the events of the day, giving Laura an opportunity to pull Otto and Wing to one side. Looking around to check that nobody was listening in on them, she whispered, ‘Shelby wants out of here too. Do you think it’s worth talking to her about what we discussed earlier?’
Wing raised an eyebrow at Otto. Clearly he was a little surprised that their informal escape committee had been extended to include her as a member.
‘Maybe. Why don’t you try to talk to her later, when she’s cooled down a bit,’ Otto suggested.
‘We should be cautious. We do not yet really know who we can trust,’ Wing added. The brief look that he gave Otto implied that he was not sure that they should even be discussing this yet with Laura.
‘I know, but we can’t do this alone. We’re going to need all the help we can get, and her experience at getting past security systems unobserved could be useful. Speak to her, but try to make it as casual as possible. There’s a lot we don’t really know about her yet,’ Otto reminded Laura.
‘That’s true of all of us, Otto. We have to trust each other if we’re really going to get out of here,’ Laura replied.
Otto nodded. ‘I know, but just be careful. If the staff gets any hint of what we’re up to, we could be leaving the island in boxes.’
An invitation to dinner from Dr Nero was not something that any member of the teaching staff at H.I.V.E. was given the option of refusing. And so it was that the Contessa, Professor Pike and Colonel Francisco were now seated at Dr Nero’s dining-room table talking amongst themselves, awaiting the arrival of their host. Ms Leon was also there, sitting upon a large red velvet cushion on top of a chair that raised her to the level of the table. The room would not have looked out of place in an English country home, and only the lack of windows served as a reminder that they were deep underground. A member of Nero’s personal staff busied himself around the room, bringing in serving dishes and pouring drinks for the Doctor’s guests. After a couple of minutes Nero finally entered the room.
‘I’m sorry to have kept you waiting. There were matters that I had to attend to that detained me longer than I anticipated.’ He turned to the white-coated attendant. ‘Ivan, please serve the first course.’
Ivan dutifully began to ladle soup into bowls and served them to the assembled diners, with the exception of Ms Leon who was served finely chopped smoked salmon in a silver bowl.
‘So, how did our new Alphas cope with their first day? I trust that there were no unforeseen difficulties?’ Nero asked his guests.
‘Their performance was as anticipated,’ Francisco replied. ‘You were right about the girl, she showed remarkable proficiency. The others performed as expected – Fanchu and Malpense proved capable, but the rest of the class were typically lacking. It’ll take some time but I’ll get them all up to scratch eventually.’
Nero nodded. ‘Tabitha, any problems?’
Ms Leon looked up from her bowl. ‘No. As you expected, Miss Trinity had not revealed her true identity to her classmates but now, if you’ll excuse the obvious pun, the cat is well and truly out of the bag. I suspect that she is feeling suitably exposed.’
‘Good. It may have been that she would have shared the true details of her past with her companions in time, but I’d rather not delay things any longer than necessary.’ Nero turned to Professor Pike. ‘Professor, did your lesson proceed as planned?’
‘Yes, Malpense performed as predicted, but the Brand girl was more capable than I had expected. It appears that her fundamental understanding of technology is not just limited to computers. I might even use a couple of the alterations that they suggested in the new version of the Poseidon device – power consumption efficiency could be improved by as much as twenty-five per cent. Their innovative use of distributed phase arrays could create a geometrically scaled multiplication in damping resonance by –’
‘Thank you, Professor, perhaps we can go over the finer details later. Did everything else go smoothly?’ Nero asked.
‘Malpense behaved just as you predicted, Doctor.’
‘Excellent.’ Nero had not shared the details of Malpense’s sponsor with the rest of those around the table – he had too many unanswered questions of his own to announce Number One’s personal interest in the boy just yet. Thankfully the staff were used to Nero focusing on one or two pupils from every new intake, so they would not consider his interest in the boy to be anything particularly unusual. Ever since Nero had singled Diabolus Darkdoom out for special attention all those years ago the staff had exhibited remarkable faith in his ability to spot potential in this way.
‘If those two are such technical geniuses, perhaps you could enlist their help in trying to return me to my proper shape, Professor. It would seem that you require some assistance.’ Ms Leon made no attempt to hide the note of contempt in her voice.
‘I have told you I’m working on it. This was an unanticipated side effect. It will take time to reverse safely. If you would just submit to a few more tests, I could –’
‘You’ll understand, I’m sure, Professor, if I am somewhat reluctant to submit myself to any more of your experimental procedures. Your success rate has been rather disappointing of late. While there is undoubtedly some novelty value to this body I do grow tired of hearing your excuses for your apparent inability to correct your mistakes.’ The fur along Ms Leon’s back bristled slightly as she spoke.
‘I warned you the procedure was experimental, but you insisted –’
‘You told me that it might not work, you did not tell me that there was a chance I would wake up with an irresistible temptation to chase balls of wool around the floor of my quarters. I was promised agility and heightened senses, not hairballs and claws. Perhaps I should find new ways to motivate your efforts.’ Ms Leon raised one of her paws in the air, flexing her razor-sharp claws from their sheaths.
‘Don’t threaten me, Tabitha, or perhaps you’d rather stay as you are –’
‘Enough!’ Nero looked angry. ‘I am tired of listening to you arguing about this. Number One personally instructed the Professor to continue this research, and I can think of no better motivation than the thought of disappointing him. Tabitha, I understand your frustration but you must be patient. Your original body is quite safe in the cryogenic chamber, and as soon as the procedure can be reversed it will be. And you, Professor, should redouble your efforts. Number One expects results, not excuses, and you know quite well that he is not a man renowned for his patience.’
The two teachers fell silent. They had learnt long ago not to push their luck with Nero. He was concerned, though, that these clashes were becoming more frequent, and he wondered how much longer he would be able to keep them from each other’s throats. Quite literally, in Ms Leon’s case.
‘What about Darkdoom’s son?’ the Contessa asked. ‘Surely he is worth watching too?’
‘I’m not sure,’ Nero replied. ‘I had hoped that confronting him with a history of his father’s achievements would help motivate him, but he does not strike me as being quite the boy that his father was when he arrived here.’
‘He may just need time to adjust,’ the Contessa replied. ‘I would hate to think that my efforts in persuading his mother to let him attend the school were wasted.’
‘I take it that he is not aware of the true circumstances of his father’s death yet?’ the Colonel asked, taking a swig from his glass. The question made the other teachers look uncomfortable.
‘No,’ Nero replied, ‘and I expect you all to ensure that it stays that way. We have quite enough to worry about at the moment as it is.’