Free Fixed by Beth Goobie Page A

the usual sinking sensation occurred as the cabinet vanished. When her head cleared, Nellie found herself staring at an empty doorway, alone in her room.
    Briefly, Duikstra’s head appeared in the doorway. “Your room is a shambles, cadet,” she snapped. “Five minutes to clean it, or there’ll be a pejorative on your file.”
    As the dorm mother’s head withdrew, Nellie turned to look at the room. Duikstra was right — it was a shambles. The barricadehad been pushed every which way, and one of the dresser mirrors was lying smashed on the floor. Textbooks, hairbrushes and containers of deodorant were scattered everywhere. What in the name of the Goddess had happened here? Was this one of Lierin’s jokes? Or had Tana suddenly and completely lost track of her senses?
    One thing was for certain — no one, but no one, was going to bother explaining it. In Advanced, things just happened, you survived the chaos, cleaned up after it and got on with the next item on the agenda. There was no sense in complaining, it would only bring another pejorative and that would mean missing the next Street Games. And Street Games and maze runs were the only highs in an Advanced cadet’s bewildering and mind-jerking life.
    With a hiss, Nellie began picking up objects from the floor.

Five
    T HEY WERE PREPARING for Street Games. Side by side in a row of chattering female cadets, Nellie and Lierin leaned into the brightly lit mirrors of the Costumes Room, applying eyeliner, mascara and lipstick. The image had to be just right — today’s activities called for them to fade into the crowd on Marnan’s busy streets and they had to look anonymous, like any civilian twelve-year-old.
    “All right!” Lierin surveyed her reflection with satisfaction. “Now for the skin-tight, sex-goddess jeans.”
    The crowded room radiated excitement. Not only were they about to go above ground and mingle with normal civilian life, it was the thirty-third day of Lulunar, the Goddess’s birthday. Festivities would be taking place everywhere. Following Lierin to a rack of clothing, Nellie flipped through it until she found a hanger with her name attached. It was just as Lierin had predicted — skin-tight, sex-goddess jeans. Eagerly she slid them on, then reached for the silver-spangled T-shirt on the next hanger. A heady dizziness filled her as she pulled the sequined cloth over her head. Cadets weren’t permitted to wear street clothes unless on assignment. Other than that, it was a plain black bodysuit, day in, day out.
    “What did I tell you?” crowed Lierin, strutting before the mirror in shorts and a halter top. “Sex goddess, or what?” She stood preening, a smug grin plastered across her face. “I come from the constellation Daina. I am a sex goddess with a comet for a tail, and I’m so gorgeous—”
    At the far end of the room the door opened and a piercing blast cut through the giggling chatter. “Listen up, girls,” said Ms. Duikstra in clipped tones, lowering a whistle from her lips. “It’s time to get a move on. Your final briefing starts in the Common Room in five minutes.”
    Shooting Lierin a grin, Nellie picked up a black clutch purse that lay on a nearby counter. Then they slipped into the line of girls filing through the doorway and down the hall toward a large meeting area known as the Common Room. As Nellie entered, she saw the boys already seated in several rows of chairs at the front of the room. Heading toward them, she settled beside Phillip, who gave her an exuberant grin. Dressed in a muscle shirt and shorts, he’d layered his hair with sun streaks. A fake stud sat in his nose and he was wearing green contact lenses. Nellie had dyed her hair black and was wearing hazel lenses. It was such a rush — these first minutes in the Common Room after putting on costumes, she thought, twisting to look at everyone. Almost the way she’d imagined it would feel to take erva — everything real but tilted, coming at you from odd