I arrived at the college campus at 10am, equipped with two suitcases, a student style backpack, four cardboard bankers boxes, a laptop bag, and Pepsi’s cat carrier (complete with Pepsi, who was more than a little disturbed at our sudden move).  I tried to calm my little kitty, but she seemed inconsolable at the moment.  I sighed, and skritched her chin and ears through the cage bars, and tried to see where I needed to go next.  The cab had dropped me off right in front of the administration building, but there was no way I could get all my stuff inside in one go.  At a loss as to what to do, I stood and contemplated my situation a moment.

 

                In the end, I called the number Ms. Potter had given me at the end of the interview at the RCMP office yesterday, and hoped she was in a position to give me a hand. 

 

                “Hello?”  A voice on the phone answered.  “You’ve reached the office of Nadine Potter.”

 

                “Umm… Yes.  This is Karen Castle.  I’m a new recruit for the MRT and I was wondering if someone could show me where I’m supposed to be bunking.  I have a cat, and she’s getting pretty stressed out, and I’m leery of leaving my stuff unattended.  I’m outside the main entrance.”

 

                “You’re early, Miss Castle.”

 

                “I was told by 11am at the latest.  It’s before that.  Maybe Ms. Potter should have been more clear about the time I was to arrive?”

 

                “Hrm… Yes.  I’ll have someone come out and give you a hand in a moment.  Ms. Potter is still dealing with another recruit.”

 

                “Alright, then.  Thank you.”  I replied.

 

                “You’re welcome.” The voice answered, and hung up.

 

Suddenly, there was a *pop* of displaced air, and the air in front of Karen shimmered like a rainbow for a moment – and then, standing where the distortion was a moment before was a young native man who couldn’t be much past his mid twenties, with long blonde hair in a traditional pony tail, and black eyes.  He was wearing bluejeans, cowboy boots, and a t-shirt with a headshot of Alfred Einstein sticking his tongue out, topped by a light blue windbreaker. 

 

“Hi, Miss.”  The young man said.  “I’m Ben Peters, one of the MRT recruits.  I take it you’re joining us?”

 

“Um, Hi!”  I replied, offering the young man my hand to shake.  “Karen Castle.  I’m a recruit too.  This little kitty of mine is Pepsi.”

 

“Cute… The cat, I mean!”  He sighed.  “Sorry.  My sister says I shouldn’t be let out of the lab until I know how to deal with people.  Sometimes I say stupid stuff. Sorry.”  Ben at least had the decency to blush.

 

I laughed.  “It’s fine.  You’re a scientist?”

 

“Sort of,”  Ben began.  “When all this happened, I was working in the University of Manitoba on my masters degree in applied physics.  Once I realized I had powers, I decided to try and help out the government for a while.  I joined the MRT, and they shipped me here for the next few months.”

 

“Wow.  Is it weird being so far from home?”  I asked.

 

“Yeah and no.  It’s not really that far, but the culture is pretty different.  I’ll manage.  How about you?”

 

“Well, I was working at a minimum wage job as a customer service rep, and then everything went crazy and I got powers.  Pretty much the same story, minus the masters’ degree.”

 

“Cool.  Miss Chambers told me which room you were being bunked in.  Did you want to get there the old fashioned way, or do you want me to teleport us and your stuff?”

 

“You can teleport?  Cool!”

 

“Actually, I’m not sure how I do what I do.  I think I’m manipulating space with my mind – which means I might be able to influence time as well.  I haven’t tried that yet – being eaten by velociraptors isn’t very exciting, I imagine.”  He smiled, and showed he was mostly joking.

 

“Let’s try your way – then if you have a few minutes, I’ll get my cat settled, and maybe you could show me around a bit?”

 

“Sure thing, Miss Castle.”  Ben smiled.  It looked like he was more than happy to help.

 

“Call me Karen, unless you want me calling you Mr. Peters, okay?”  I replied.

 

“Got it.  Thanks.”  He motioned with his hands, as if he was gathering all of my luggage, including myself and Pepsi in a big ghost hug – and suddenly the outside of the campus was gone – and there was a twisting warp to my perception, and just as suddenly we appeared inside what looked like a relatively nice furnished apartment.

 

I felt a little dizzy, and Ben reached out to steady me.  “Sorry about that, Karen.  If you’re not used to it, you’ll feel dizzy the first few times.  I should have warned you.  My bad.”

 

A few moments later, I did feel better and more steady.  “Thanks Ben.  I’m okay.  That was something else!”

 

“Yeah.  The longer the range, the more the disorientation.  I haven’t figured out my maximum range yet, but when I go much farther than 50km to 60km, I can barely keep myself from passing out.  At least so far.  The more I’m using it, the better its getting.  I figure it’s like muscles – the more you work out, the better they get.”

 

“That’s really cool, Ben.  Could I have a moment to get my cat settled, and we can go meet some of the others, or at least show me how to find my room normally, without teleporting.”

 

“Sure thing.”

 

I quickly made sure Pepsi’s litter box was set up in a quiet corner, and put my luggage, laptop bag and backpack on the bed; the bankers boxes went on the floor.  Once all that was finished, I let Pepsi out of the cat carryall, and got him a little bowl of food and water.  Pepsi cautiously looked at the open door of the crate, and scooted as fast as lightning under the bed, meowing.  I sighed.  It would be a few hours before he felt safe enough to come out.  I unzipped my bag and put a sweatshirt with my smell under the bed with him, and stood up.

 

“I’ve done all I can for now, Ben.  What do we do next?” 

 

“How about I introduce you to some of the people on the team, while showing you around the dorms.  By the time we’re done, I’m sure we’ll run into Ms. Potter sooner or later.”

 

“That sounds great!”  I knelt down near the bed’s edge and called out to Pepsi. “Hey Pepsi… Mommy will be back soon.”

 

Pepsi mewed in reply, and I shrugged and stood to follow Ben.  She would have to adjust on her own time.  “Why don’t we go then.  I… I tend to dote on my kitty.”

 

Ben smiled.  “No worries, Karen.  I find that you can tell a lot about people by how they treat their animals.  I’m guessing she’s pretty much family?”

 

“Is it that obvious?”  I asked, laughing.

 

“Yeah, kinda.”  Ben replied, leading me out of the small apartment and into the rest of the student residence.  The inside of the building was nicely painted, giving it a warm, welcoming feeling and brightened up the area, without making it seem garish.

 

                “We’re on the second floor of one wing of the student residences in the college – we’ve got the whole floor to ourselves for safety and security reasons – and the rest of the MRT lives here.”  Ben began.  “I understand a few more people will be arriving on the weekend, and then we’ll begin training Monday.  The feds aren’t wasting any time.”

 

“I guess not.”

 

We passed a few rooms with closed doors, and entered a lounge area, where a good half-dozen people were sitting, watching TV.  There was a short furry catboy, a big black man with piercings in his eyebrows, a pair of generic Caucasian men, an Indian man that was dressed as a Sikh, and a woman in her mid 30’s with a bluish metal arm and leg – the other arm and leg seemed to be still made of flesh. 

 

“Hey folks!”  Ben called out.  “We’ve got some new blood here.  This is Karen Castle.”  He motioned to Karen, and the strangers turned around to get a good look.

 

I felt their gaze as they looked at me, and felt a bit uncomfortable.  It was obvious some of them found me attractive – which was nice – and equally obvious some of them couldn’t care less for me, which wasn’t so nice.  The catboy showed some interest, as did the pair of Caucasian men, while the Sikh and cyborg woman seemed neutral.  The black man with the piercings seemed almost hostile, and I couldn’t tell why.  Did I look at them wrong?

 

“Uh… Hi!” I said a little too meekly for my preference, and gave a little wave. 

 

The first to speak was the Catboy.  “Heya!”  He said.  “I’m Jimmy Reed.  I’m a techie and can build lots of weird stuff that shouldn’t work.  The big guy here is Cliff, and the lady with the metal arm and leg is Eleanor, but she prefers Ellie.”  Jimmy was hard to place an age on, but he was short – maybe 5’ 6” and no more than 140 pounds.  His fur was reminiscent of a Norwegian forest cat, and he had cute little fangs and sharp fingernails – but I wasn’t sure they were actual claws.  He also had catlike whiskers on his face, and looked like he could do the puss-in-boots look.  I didn’t want to test him on that.

 

“Thanks, Jimmy.  I could have told her that.”  Ellie said.

 

“Sorry Ellie.  I was just trying to introduce everyone.”  Jimmy looked a bit abashed.  “The others are Kumar, Dominic and Malcolm.  Dominic is our supervisor, but he has powers too, like us.”

 

“Hi everyone.”  I replied, smiling.  “It’s nice to meet you.”   Kumar was dressed in light tan slacks and a button down shirt, with his Sikh turban, and a little ceremonial belt knife in his belt, while Dominic was wearing grey sweats with a white RCMP t-shirt. 

 

“Hrmph.”  Cliff snorted.  “We’ll see.” He said, and got up from the couch.  “I’m going back to my room.  See you guys later.”  With that the big black man maneuvered his large bulk out of the lounge nearly shouldering into Karen as he brushed past.  Cliff wasn’t fat – he was built big, like a linebacker – tall, broad and intimidating, and to be honest, I felt a little intimidated.

 

I couldn’t help but notice the canoe sized chip on Cliff’s shoulder, and just shrugged.  Whatever I’d done to piss him off, I couldn’t help.  It was his problem to deal with.

 

“Awkward.”  Ellie chimed in.  “Don’t worry, Karen. He’s like that with Jessica too.  I don’t know what his problem is, but you didn’t cause it.”  Ellie was about 30 years old, with black hair and green eyes.  Her cyborg arm and leg looked bluish white – like mithril from Lord of the Rings, but it moved and bent like flesh.  Some sort of living steel, I guessed?  I wasn’t sure.

 

“Thanks, Ellie.  I noticed you were describing powers.  Is that how we ID ourselves with introductions?”

 

Malcolm snorted. “It’s how JIMMY ID’s us with introductions.  I prefer a handshake and a first name.”  Malcolm looked to be in his early twenties, with a tall lean build and a short shock of blonde hair.  He kind of reminded me of Chris Evans, in both manners and demeanor.

 

“Gotcha.  Good to know, Malcolm.”  I replied.

 

“Please – Mal.  Only my parents called me Malcolm.”  He moaned.

 

“Sure.”  I replied. 

 

“Did you want to stop, or keep going with the tour?”  Ben asked.

 

“This isn’t everyone?”  I replied.

 

“Nope.  There’s still a few more of us to meet – Jessica, Rain, and Mike, plus I should show you where the admin building is, where we can find Ms. Potter’s office, and where the training facilities are for us – we have a separate gym from the rest of the college, for obvious reasons.”

 

“Maybe I should meet everyone else, first.”  I replied.  “I’ll see you all later?”

 

Ellie replied “Sure!” followed by Mal and Kumar, Dominic and Jimmy. 

 

“Follow me, then.”  Ben announced, and led me from the lounge and deeper into the residence.

 

We passed a few more dorm rooms, and came to an area with some offices.  Ben motioned to one of the offices, and spoke.  “This is Ms. Potter’s office.  It looks like she isn’t here at the moment – probably off with that other recruit, or looking for you.  She’s in charge of keeping us happy, and letting us know what the government expects from us.  Dominic is our Field Supervisor.”

 

“Gotcha.  Why is Dom a supervisor?  He’s a recruit just like us, isn’t he?”  I asked.

 

“Not really.  He’s been an RCMP officer out west for two or three years.  He’s pretty much been trained – he’s here to make sure we learn what we need to, and to learn to use his powers with us as a team.  As I understand it, he can control rock, stone, and earth and even use it as a form of armor or huck it as weapons.”

 

“That’s pretty cool!”  I replied.  “I guess I’ll learn everyone’s talent in time.”

 

“Yeah,” Ben began.  “Probably sooner than later.”

 

Just as we were debating which way to head next, a trio of people appeared at the end of the hall – two youngsters around the age of 16-17, one male, one female, and Ms. Potter.  All three were laden with luggage and boxes.

 

“Mister Peters!”  Ms. Potter called out.  “A little help, please?”

 

“Sure thing, Ms. Potter!”  Ben replied.  “Where they going?” 

 

“Miss Cologne is going to bunk with Karen.  Mr. Maloney with Jimmy.” She replied.

 

“Okay!  Grab some stuff, Karen – it looks like we’re backtracking.”  Ben said, grabbing some stuff from Ms. Potter. 

 

Miss Cologne looked relieved to have someone assist, and I graciously took three large boxes from her, leaving her with a suitcase, a purse, and a laptop bag.  “Thanks,” she replied. 

 

“No problem, Miss.”  I laughed.  “I needed help a little while ago too.  Ben teleported me and my stuff to our room – and I nearly passed out.  Walking will be a piece of cake.”  The young lady was about 16 years old, and stood about 5’ 7”, and was fairly slender – maybe 135 pounds as most.  She was well dressed – some of the clothes looked rather expensive, and she had short red hair cut in a pixie-ish bob, with a smattering of freckles and blue eyes.  She didn’t exactly look elfin, but she could have pulled it off without too much trouble had she tried.  She also had a French Canadian accent, so I assumed she came from out east.

 

“That must have been different.”  She replied.  “Call me Krissie.  It’s short for Kristina.”

 

“Okay, Krissie.  I’m Karen – it’s short for Karen.”

 

The young lady giggled, and shook her head at my stupid joke.

 

The young man came over and introduced himself too.  He was also about 16 years old, with brown skin, standing about 5’ 10”, with a lean runners build – athletic but not muscular.  He moved with a catlike grace – like some martial artists do; kind of like they’re dancing – or ready to fight.  He had green eyes.

 

“Hi, Karen.  Ben.  I’m Emile.”

 

“Hi, Emile.  Welcome to the gang.”  I replied.  Ben also greeted him too,

 

Ben stopped at a door.  “Karen, this is where Emile and I get off – this is his and Jimmy’s suite.  Krissie is with you in your unit.  Can you help her get there and get settled?”

 

“Yeah sure.”  I replied. 

 

“Afterwards, I’ll have one of the team come fetch you and Miss Cologne for lunch, Miss Castle.”  Ms. Potter broke in.  “Once everyone is settled, we’ll have a short meeting this afternoon, and you’ll all have time to get to know one another.”

 

“Yeah, that would be nice.  There’s still a few people I haven’t met.” I said.

 

Ms. Potter smiled.  “I’m sure you’ll meet them soon.  I have to return to my office.  If you need anything, I’ll be there.”

 

Krissie and I nodded, and kept going down the hall, leaving Ben and Emile to get settled. 

 

When we got to my suite, I opened the door for her, and waited while she went inside.  “I’m the bedroom to the left.” I said.  “So I guess that means the other one is yours.”  Our little suite had two bedrooms, with a shared bathroom and a small kitchenette with a fridge.  It looked cosy, and I gave it a look over since I hadn’t had much time to see it myself.

 

“Thanks, Karen.”  Krissie replied.  “Can you bring the boxes in here?”

 

“Sure.”  I entered, seeing a room much like my own, and placed the boxes down.  “I hope you’re not allergic to cats.  I have a kitty named Pepsi.”

 

“No, it’s fine.” She replied.  “I love cats.  I have two at home in Trois Rivieres.  Jean-Claude, or JC, and Mittens.  Mom and dad said they needed to stay at home, so I guess I won’t see them until the holidays.”

 

“Well, I’m sure Pepsi will like you, then.”

 

“I hope so.”  She said, smiling.

 

I stood for a moment, and realized she was probably waiting for me to leave and let her get unpacked, so I headed to the door.  “I’ll see you in a bit.  I should see if Pepsi has calmed down a bit too.  She was pretty upset about the move here.”

 

“Oh!  You don’t live with your parents?”  She asked.

 

“Umm… no.”  I replied.  “How old do I look?”

 

“Maybe eighteen, nineteen at most.  Why?”  Krissie looked confused.

 

I smiled wryly. “I was a fair bit older before I emerged.”  I began.  “I knew I got younger looking, but I didn’t think it was quite that young.  Damn.”

 

“Is it that bad?”  She asked.

 

“Nah – just a bit of a surprise.”  I replied.  “I’ll see you in a bit.”

 

She nodded, and I went to my room to check on Pepsi and unpack.