Free Sirius Academy (Jezebel's Ladder) by Scott Rhine

time, Daniel had stopped any pretense of working out.
    “While I held his hand, praying,
Ulrich moved his feet. He never played again, but we went hiking together a
year later,” Zeiss said, choking a little. “You don’t ignore a miracle.”
    The wording made Daniel pause for a
moment. “The cure explains why you gravitated to alien sciences. So that
incident is why you didn’t put your father’s name on the application?”
    “I didn’t write my father’s name because
he would have influenced your choice. I wanted to make it on my own merits.”
After a pause, the TA admitted, “My dad’s Heinrich Zeiss.”
    “He won a Nobel Prize for physics.”
    “Only because Jezebel Hollis died a
month before the judging.”
    “Okay, I’m going to embarrass
myself publicly for our friendship. I hope you’re happy.” Professor Sorenson
looked at the martial arts instructor and shouted, “Hey good-looking; I’ll bet
I could bench press you.”
    She strolled over to the bench,
sizing him up. Her voice was frigid. “Really?”
    “If I put my hands in the right
places. And from what I’m seeing, they are all the right places.”
    “How many times?” challenged the
platinum blonde.
    “It’s not about quantity, it’s
about quality.”
    “So, just once and then you’ll have
to take a nap, old man?”
    Zeiss winced. Ballbreaker one,
nerd zero. “Um, we still have forty-five minutes in your workout.”
    Daniel whispered, “She’s two years
older than me.”
    “No way,” exclaimed Zeiss.
    Trina smiled. “Thank you.”
    Daniel hissed, “I won’t tell anyone
if you go out on a date with me.”
    She considered for a moment.
“There’s no place good to eat around here. Could we just go to your room
instead? Then you could prove that stamina thing.”
    “Okay,” Sorenson agreed. “Get me
back in my chair.”
    Zeiss blinked as he complied. “What
just happened?”
    When they were outside, with the
woman following, Daniel whispered, “Meet my wife, Trina.”
    Distracted, the TA stepped off the
path into the uneven grass, almost falling.
    “Hah! Babe, this is my new friend,
Conrad,” said the man in the wheelchair. “ He thinks my jokes are funny.”
    “He never left eighth grade?” she
chuckled.
    “He also checked you out to make
sure you were good enough for me and his kids.”
    “How did I do?” she asked.
    Daniel crowed, “He said you’re the
most loving parent he’s ever met, and we’d be a good match if I ever worked up
the courage.”
    “Dangerously perceptive,” she
purred.
    Zeiss was dying to ask questions,
but had to wait for more privacy. When they got to Daniel’s pod, Trina badged
them in. They had the whole floor—an unheard-of luxury on the island.
    When the door closed, Zeiss
guessed, “You’re keeping the marriage a secret because she’s the head of
anti-terrorism? If the enemy knew, they could use you against her?”
    “That’s part of it,” Daniel admitted.
He struggled to ease into the next topic. “Conrad, it’s a good thing you were a
gentleman when we talked earlier, because my wife and I have no secrets. What I
know, she knows.”
    “Good policy,” Zeiss approved.
    “Not a policy, it just is. Trust me;
there were some woman things I wish she didn’t share so much. But she sees and
hears everything eventually, from my point of view. We’re pair-bonded.”
    “Wow. No window shopping.”
    “You get used to it.”
    “I’m honored that you’re telling
me.”
    “Don’t be,” said Daniel, getting
serious for the first time since they’d met. “She wanted me to ask you some
things as a friend. You’re good at keeping secrets.”
    “I’d never betray a trust.”
    Trina said, “That’s why we invited
you here.”
    “Your secret’s bigger than mine,”
Zeiss admitted.
    “That wasn’t the secret,” Daniel
explained. “I wanted to let you know that I own this school. Dean Stanton just
runs the place because I can’t stand paperwork.”
    “Whoa. And