Free Near Future 1: Awakening by Randal Sloan Page A

need you to make up a list of everything you think you will need and send it to me. Don't cut corners as I suspect you will. Also go ahead and take a look at the classes offered this term. I suspect when I get you officially admitted with your test results, they will immediately agree that you have completed the requirements for all the basic courses. That means you should be able to take the classes that you are interested in taking. I believe that they have a special projects class that would give you the opportunity to develop further the ideas you were talking about earlier."
    The doctor started toward the door. "I will be back as soon as I have everything taken care of."
    Miranda easily worked out the list of classes she wanted. She had already determined what she wanted to take when she first looked at the school. She just hadn't thought that it could happen. She was rather nervous about it all. Since she had no memory, everything was new. She guessed that everything was going to be new for a while, so she would have to tough it out. Luckily, she had Doctor Ted and Andrea to look after her. She knew that despite her special circumstances, they were both going way beyond the call of duty, and probably no other doctor and his staff would have done that for her.
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    It didn't take Doctor Ted long to finalize all the details to get Miranda set up at school. He had already done most of the work, and was only waiting to get confirmation from Miranda. Based on everything he had seen when reviewing her VR history, he had strongly suspected she would want to do this, the plan they had worked out for her that had the best chance of protecting her.
    Doctor Ted checked his VR, and Miranda had already sent him her list of things she thought she would need. It was about what he had expected to see. He and Andrea had gathered most of the things on the list, and they had a few things he knew she would leave off, either because of the cost or because she wouldn't think of them. He had already had a lot of time to think about it. He didn't spare any expense in making sure that she had the best equipment available, especially her compu-pad and VR equipment. He also made a VR call and was pleased that when he explained what he needed, he got an immediate "Yes!" response. He worked on a few other tasks related to his "other" job while waiting for the ones he had called to arrive.
    It really wasn't very long until he got a VR message. "Be there in a minute." Gathering everything into a bag, he met them at the entrance to Miranda's hospital wing, and stopping at her door, he motioned and whispered quietly, "Wait here for a couple of minutes. I will open the door when I am ready. I have left this as a surprise for her."
    Entering the room, Doctor Ted was not surprised to see Miranda deeply involved in more of her research. He continued to be amazed at what she could do.
    "Everything is taken care of," he said as he handed her the bag that he had gathered for her, and watched as she dumped everything out excitedly. Within the bag he had a number of things, including a HUD and a high-end compu-pad with a portable VR interface that could be worn on the wrist or around the neck. Everything she saw was way beyond what she expected, and she was extremely grateful. There were also a number of things that Andrea had added, and he wisely didn't discuss any of them.
    "Thank you," she breathed. "This is all much more than you should have done. I see Andrea's touch here too. Thank you both very much."
    Doctor Ted looked at her with a big smile. He told her, "And I have one more little surprise for you." He walked to the door, opening it with a flair. Miranda was surprised to see that she had two visitors, Zeke and Emily.
    Emily was the first to speak. She was a little apprehensive of the response, but she forged ahead. "I am so sorry about our first meeting. Caitlyn is not really even one of my friends, and yet you probably think I'm like her. If we can