Free Marooned! by Brad Strickland, THOMAS E. FULLER Page A

he just didn’t know the answer for certain. Fifteen minutes left, then ten.
    Finally the screen froze in the middle of Sean’s entering an answer. “Time’s up,” Ellman announced. “I’ll score your examinations now.”
    Sean took a deep breath. He hadn’t even begun onthree of the postponed problems, and he wasn’t sure how well he’d performed on the ones he did answer. At least he didn’t have to suffer a prolonged period of waiting.
    The exam had taken three hours. It took only one second for Sean’s hopes to be dashed. His score showed up in bright, glowing yellow figures: 3.34. It was a decent B. It would even pull his shaky average in physical sciences up to a fairly steady C.
    But it wasn’t quite enough.
    Sean slapped the desk in annoyance.
    “I can dock a few points for misbehavior,” Ellman said sharply. He glanced at his own monitor, which gave him a readout of all the grades in the class. “Well, look at that. Mr. Doe, I don’t understand your impatience. You did very well. Congratulations.”
    Sean clamped his jaws shut. All the other students filed out, except for him and Alex. Sean sat slumped in his chair and stared sullenly at the stupid numbers, two one-hundredths of apoint too low. Alex came up behind him, bent over his shoulder, and said, “My man!”
    “I needed a 3.36,” Sean growled.
    “Oh, really? Move over.”
    Alex called up a calculator program and fed in Scan’s scores. The result was 3.746.
    “I’m still short,” Sean pointed out.
    “Well, you’re lucky that the grading program goes two decimal places and rounds up, aren’t you?” Alex asked. The display flickered to round the figures up, and there it was, a big, beautiful 3.75.
6.3
    “I’m going, Goldberg!” Sean crowed that afternoon at dinner. “3.75! Read it and weep!”
    Mickey shrugged. “Lucked out, did you? Well, I got a 3.88, for your information, so don’t get too full of yourself. But I guess I’d be scrambling too if I was afraid of being shipped out.” He paused.“Good going, Doe.” His tone was grudging.
    “Thanks,” Sean said.
    And then Mickey added, “If you’re taking the Bradbury run, see if you can fly with Alex. I don’t want you getting airsick in any cabin with me.”
    Jenny came in, and Sean jumped up from his table, momentarily forgetting the low gravity. He recovered his balance and carried his tray over to her table, beaming from ear to ear as he sat down next to her. “Thanks for everything. I did it!” he said. “Skin of my teeth, but I squeaked it out! I’m going with you.”
    “Going with me?” Jenny asked with a frown. “Where do you think I’m going?”
    “The Bradbury run,” Sean said. “You know—” He broke off in confusion as Jenny’s face turned bright red. “What’s wrong?”
    “I’m not going on the Bradbury run,” Jenny said. “I don’t qualify. I thought you knew. I’m lousy at history. I’ve only got a 3.70 on the exams.”
    “What? But if it’s just history—I thought—you’re so smart!” Sean spluttered.
    She gave him an angry look, and he saw tears in her eyes. “In biology! But I’m scrambling to keep up in everything else. If you weren’t so wrapped up in yourself, you might—oh, never mind.”
    “What’s wrong?” Sean asked. “I didn’t mean to—”
    Jenny was looking down. Tears fell into her lap. “I’m so scared,” she whispered. “Everyone else here is so smart, and I’m so dumb. I feel like a fake. Every time we take an exam, I’m sure I’m going to wash out and be sent back to Earth.”
    “That’s just how—” Sean broke off. “Hey, you don’t have to worry. You’re brilliant at biology. They’d never—anyway, all the teachers like you.”
    Jenny still wouldn’t meet his gaze. “I don’t care what happens. I’m not going back to the orphanage.”
    “What?” Sean asked. “You didn’t have a—”
    “A family? I’m a Skinner kid,” she said bitterly. “They never let us be