Page 15 of Love, Nemesis
Jasper pulled back a light trigger on his Atlas. “I’m spending fifteen seconds at the default concentration,” he said and tossed it in front of the class. Everyone watched in sheer amazement as an orb swirled out like clear water with a flash of blue light, surrounding the Atlas as it hovered in the air.
Not wasting a moment, Jasper slipped a glass off a nearby desk and tossed it into the orb. Water swirled out of the glass as it spun into the orb, and everyone watched as the glass slowed down, spinning as if in a dance with the water.
Jasper circled the orb, watching the water droplets. They looked like gelatinous diamonds. One passed through the orb and sped up again before it landed with an undignifiedsplatagainst the ground.
He reached inside, lightly pinching the glass and guiding it through the orb. “Now, I can do this because the Atlas is using my own time. I’m immune,” he explained. “If any one of you tried”—he guided the glass around the droplets, collecting all the water—“you’d be slowed down too.” He withdrew the glass, lifting it out of the orb before pinching a bronze retrieval ring on his left hand.
The Atlas absorbed the time and slapped into his hand against the ring.
Jasper drank the water in the glass, his back to the class, before setting it down on the desk.
Ana adjusted her watch.
“Now. Does anyone know how to operate one?” Jasper asked.
The class still seemed to process its amazement.
Tick.
Tick.
She had to speed things up.
Tick.
“You use the three levers on the left,” Ana announced. The class turned, and she entered, walking down the stairs between the rows of desks. “You dial in how many seconds you want to use, or how many minutes, or hours.”
Jasper turned to see her, his brows lifted in surprise.
“In case of an emergency,” she said, reciting the basic definition instead of effective improvisation, “you can force the levers against hard springs in the opposite directions. That way you can spend days, months, and years.” She controlled the waiver in her voice, adding words she’d stolen from one of her previous professors. “As Numbers, we affectionately call these the death levers.”
“Ladies and gentlemen. Some of you may recall me mentioning a specific Minute soldier when I talked about modified combat,” Jasper said, gesturing toward her.
The students began whispering among themselves as she joined Jasper at the front desk. He offered her a warm smile and eyes that searched her motives.
“Hello, everyone,” she said, pulling the velvet ball from the leather net on her utility belt. She whipped the velvet off, revealing her Atlas. The sphere was a perfect fit in her palm, a heavy bronze ring sporting a modified clock on one side and a compass on the other, both encased in thick glass that gave the object its round shape.
“I thought she could come by to answer a few questions about the use of an Atlas,” Jasper said, gathering himself as he watched her Atlas. “Ana is a fine Minute. She’s gotten plenty of field experience.” He jerked his head back in the class’s direction as if he’d realized he’d been staring at it.
The students’ eyes poured questions. An eager brunette with freckled skin blurted out from the front row, “You were the one from Dal Hull two years ago. You saved all those people with your time.”
She had saved some workers. That part was true. The fact of the matter, however, was that she’d used her time to fight the other Numbers and ultimately escape with her life.
“That’s right,” Ana said with a chuckle before Jasper could redirect them. She had to give Jasper credit. In its own way, this was nerve-wracking.
Another student spoke up. “What made the mine collapse all of a sudden?”
Well, she’d used explosives in the mine to destroy the Strike’s coffin.
“How many people did you save?” someone else asked.
Workers had heard the commotion and had gone back into the mine. She’d yelled at them, barely dragging Pat out with her own serious injuries.
“Question for the class,” Jasper interjected, glancing at the clock. “What type of mutation were Ana and the other officers investigating?”
According to the official report, that had been their reason for being there—a reported mutation.
Another brunette from the front spoke up. “The town was near En Sanctus. Everything that touches that country is mutated.”
