Free Serpent's Gift by A. C. Crispin, Deborah A. Marshall

that is okay."
    "That's fine," she said, "I'll be looking forward to the trip."
    Outside the door, Serge glanced at his watch, realizing that there was no way he could make his Physics class. And there was an exam day after tomorrow. But it was worth it, he thought, grinning. Definitely worth it!
    "Hi, Heather."
    The girl looked up from the viewmag in the assistant's outer office to see a short, slender, dark-haired man standing in the doorway, smiling at her.
    She'd never met Rob Gable before, but she recognized him immediately--
    almost any human would have. "Dr. Gable!" she blurted, jumping up.
    Heather was surprised to find herself nervous; but then again, she'd never met anyone famous before.
    He waved her into the office. "Dr. Gable is my dad," he corrected her pleasantly. "Don't make me feel any older than I do already, okay? The students call me Rob, or Dr. Rob. Sit down, won't you?"
    Heather sat down before the cluttered desk, then glanced cautiously around her, taking in the small black cat curled on the other visitor's chair, the huge holo-tank on the wall, and the holo-posters. .. I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Gone With the Wind, and A Night at the Opera. She'd read Gone With the Wind while she was at Melbourne, but had never heard of the other two.
    Rob instructed his Simiu assistant to hold his calls, then closed the door and walked over to her, his hand out. "I'm pleased to meet you," he said as she timidly shook with him.
    "It's an honor to meet you," she replied, looking up at him, thinking he wasn't bad-looking, for an old guy. It was funny, but she'd thought he'd be taller.
    "Even when I knew I was going to get the chance to come here, I somehow never really thought I'd get to meet you-- in person, you know."
    He chuckled. "We'll be seeing a lot of each other. I see a lot of all the freshmen. Would you like something to drink?"
    "An orange soda?" she asked, and he nodded and keyed the servo.
    Moments later he handed her the glass. Heather cocked
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    her head as she looked up at him. "With all the holo-posters in here, I'd have expected to see one from the First Contacts vid," she said demurely.
    Rob grimaced. "I'm still trying to forget about that one," he said, shaking his head ruefully. "I'll never live it down. Everyone's still kidding me about the actor who played me."
    "Trey Leonard doesn't look a bit like you."
    "No kidding. Tall, blond, with muscles on top of his muscles, and all the emotional range of an artichoke--they couldn't have found anyone less like me if they'd put out a planet-wide casting call." He stroked the cat, who'd jumped up into his lap, and when he looked up, Heather knew that the pleasantries were over; it was time to get down to business. "So, what do you think of the Academy?"
    She gave him a winning smile. "It's great, Dr. Rob. I'm glad you picked Hing to be my roommate .. . she's been really nice to me."
    "I'm glad you like her. Almost everyone does," he replied. "Have you thought about what you'd like to accomplish here, Heather?"
    She was slightly taken aback. "Accomplish? You mean, what I'd like to do when I graduate from here?" To Heather it seemed like a foregone conclusion that she would graduate, assuming she decided to stay--after all, she was a powerful telepath. They needed her.
    Rob nodded.
    Heather shrugged, bewildered. "I'm a telepath. I'll become a deep-space explorer, right?" She leaned forward, careful not to seem too ingratiating.
    "I've always dreamed of deep-space exploration, ever since I read Mahree Burroughs' First Contacts-- I've read it at least three times!"
    "Really?" he said neutrally, and Heather, meeting his dark eyes, felt her smile waver. He's not buying the bullshit, she thought. What does he want?
    What's he fishing for? She reached out to scan his surface thoughts--
    --and hit a blank wall, filled with a roaring mental "noise." Heather gasped softly, recoiling, and the glass in her hand tilted, slopping cold soda over her fingers. Behind that