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"Even in the best of investigations, and even with the most capable investigators around, there is always room for something to go wrong."
"Ughh..." came the familiar groan of Hugh O'Conner, who was presently slumping in his seat. "Surely there aren't actually people in here who need to be told this..."
"Hey-!" snapped Robin Newman from beside him, voice kept to a muted level so as to avoid disturbing the rest of the students in the lecture hall. "Zip it, Hugh! Some of us are trying to learn!"
Hugh made a dismissive gesture and rolled his eyes, leaning to his other side to look away from his friend.
"Please just be patient a little while longer, Hugh..." Juniper Woods chimed in from next to Robin, her voice almost inaudible. "The lecture's almost over."
It was not uncommon to see this sort of reaction to a lecture from Hugh O'Conner, self-proclaimed genius of the defence course at Themis Legal Academy. Hugh's rather poor opinion of the school's curriculum was well-known amongst his short list of friends. More irritating than his interruptions, however, were his consistently stellar marks in his course work. It was hard to justify demanding him to be quiet for his own sake during a lecture, considering that he truly did not appear to need the help to excel in his work.
Once Hugh had settled down again, Robin and Juniper relaxed in their seats.
Robin frowned at a moment of discomfort caused by the heavy brace "he" wore. It just wasn't comfortable at all. The brace was, however, the most crucial item Robin possessed for the purposes of maintaining a certain secret.
No one in the lecture hall but Robin was aware of the truth, but Robin was in fact not a "he" at all. With the mind -- and body, no less -- of an adolescent girl, Robin had struggled throughout her time at Themis not just to make it through the prosecutor's course, but also to ensure that no one around her learned that she was not the boy she claimed to be. Her parents had, for most of her life, insisted that she pretend beyond any reasonable standard to be a boy, alleging that she would not succeed in law if she were to present herself as the girl that she really was.
"And, sadly, simple human error often remains the most common source of these mistakes." the lecturer continued. Her voice was unbelievably dull. Robin had to agree that this professor probably could've made anything sound boring.
"For those of you in the defence course, this is, naturally, where you come in." the lecturer added, gesturing to a large sign reading. "cross-examination".
"Now, as a special demonstration, I have been given permission by the local precinct to show you all this piece of evidence."
Rumbling voices of interest could be heard from around the hall as the professor opened a box to reveal a bagged device of some kind.
"In the missing persons case in question," she went on, "Much time was spent on examining and re-examining this device. Dr. Misty Ayke was reported to have disappeared without warning from her home lab, with all evidence around the scene suggesting that she had been working on this device up until the day she vanished. You may recall if you follow the news that Dr. Ayke disappeared almost a year ago now, and no trail to suggest her whereabouts has yet been found."
The voices around the hall suggested that the professor was losing the audience once more.
"I have also been given express permission to demonstrate the function of this device to you all today." she said, putting on a set of gloves and removing the device from its bag. The crowd began to stir with interest again.
The device looked like a modified remote control of sorts. It was made of unpolished materials, like it was a simple prototype lacking in any of its finishing touches.
"Now, I say 'function', but in truth, this is more a demonstration of the device's lack of any particular function." the professor said. With that, she turned a knob of the device, causing a light on its front to switch on. She then pressed a large button on its side.
Several tense seconds passed, but nothing else happened.
"Nothing, as you can see." the professor said. "The device was thoroughly examined by the police forensics unit, as well as several consulting colleagues of Dr. Ayke's, but no particular function for it was ever discovered. Not even Dr. Ayke's notes appeared helpful."
"So, a flimsy sci-fi gadget doesn't do anything to help." Hugh droned, rolling back in his seat. "Riveting."
Juniper sighed. She had to admit that this lecture was rather boring, but she would've appreciated it if Hugh kept his comments to himself.
By the lecture's end, Hugh was sounding ready to do anything at all aside from move on to another class. Fortunately, it was lunch.
"Hey, I thought it was interesting." Robin said as the trio left the lecture hall, lagging towards the back of the crowd.. This was only partially a lie.
"Congratulations." Hugh deadpanned. "Shall I find you a medal as a reward?"
Robin groaned, pushing against Hugh's shoulder and causing him to stumble. Juniper giggled.
"You're impossible, Hugh." Robin said. "Y'know, some day, I bet you're gonna hit a wall. There's no way you'll keep getting away with slacking so much forever."
Hugh scoffed. "You're free to think that, if you want. My grades speak for themselves."
Juniper looked over at the hall that led to the school's lunch room.
"We should get going and pick up lunch before everyone else does." she said, eager to end Hugh's petty argument with Robin before it could get going in earnest. She reached for her bag, only to realize that she was missing something. "Oh..."
"What?" Robin asked, glancing at her.
"I... forgot by notebook." Juniper said. "It must still be by our seats."
"Well, let's hustle back at get it!" Robin replied. "I don't wanna wait all afternoon for lunch!"
The trio returned to the lecture hall, finding it empty. The professor was gone already, but to Juniper's confusion, she noticed the box, bag, and unexplained device from the lecture still resting on the table the professor had left them on.
(Shouldn't those be getting back to the police...?)
"I'll be right back." she said, leaving the group to head up the stairs and back to where shed been sitting. Her notebook was easy to find; it had fallen into the gap behind the seat ahead of her. She tugged it free and stowed it back in her bag before returning to her friends.
"Did either of you see where-...'
She had been planning to ask if either of her friends had spotted where the lecturer had gone, but the question didn't make it out of her mouth. The device on the table was letting off a gentle hum.
"What's that...?" Robin asked, turning around. She'd barely managed to glance in the device's direction before it suddenly let off a brilliant flash of light.
Juniper squeaked in surprise, covering her eyes.
...
Blinking rapidly, Juniper found that she'd fallen onto her hands and knees. She felt a hand at her arm and accepted Hugh's help in standing back up.
She gasped as her vision cleared.
Where was this? She felt like only a few seconds had passed, yet she and her friends seemed to be somewhere else entirely.
"D-did I pass out...?" she asked worriedly.
"N-no, it's not that..." Hugh answered, sounding strangely anxious. "Just... look around."
Juniper did so, and she let out another gasp.
She recognized this area after all; it was the same place she'd just been, but it suddenly appeared much, much larger than normal.
"W-we..." Robin stammered, "W-we shrunk-!!"
The moments that followed were a panic. The trio couldn't believe it, but Robin seemed to be right. They had shrunk, reduced from their normal heights to what looked like mere inches at best.
They were standing in the shadow of the first row of chairs in the hall, staring around at a positively cavernous room that seemed to go on forever.
"J-just stay calm...!" Juniper tried to urge her friends, failing once her own panic set in. "Th-there has to be a reason for this, s-so just..."
-BOOM-
The trio jumped. A distant noise that rattled the very floor beneath them had sounded from far off in the distance. They followed its source to the double doors they'd entered the room through.
Was someone coming in to investigate the mysterious flash from the device?  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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