on BlueGreen of Madeleine's experiences , and his plan to test and compare a range of
Blues with different levels of stain, had swiftly been picked up by other Blues
around the world, and multiple groups had organised to do the same thing – a
couple of test sessions were already underway, and others were waiting for day
wherever they were.
When the number of people wanting to join the Sydney test had
risen to more than a hundred, Fisher had asked Madeleine, Noi and Emily to head
to the beach a couple of hours early, to get Madeleine's testing out of the way
before too many people were around. At a
little after seven in the morning it was chill with a hint of mist above the water,
but the sky was a pale blue wash which promised a day worth being outside.
The apple-green Volkswagen was waiting by a white hatchback
as near as possible to the centre of the massive arc of beach, six boys leaning
on the railing above the esplanade. Noi
pulled Tyler's red convertible sports car in beside the hatchback, and grinned
at Pan's expression.
"That's it, I'm riding back with Noi," Pan
said. "I can't take this any
longer."
"We've collected about a dozen sets of keys," Noi
told him. "Come back after and you
can pick one out. I'll throw in a couple
of boats."
"You're on!"
"This is Nick, and Shaun," Gavin said, nodding
first at a freckled blonde boy and then a dark-skinned guy with cool
mini-dreadlocks. "Part of our data
collection team, and volunteer guinea pigs."
They were both Greens, and the brief discomfort that fact
inspired bothered Madeleine inordinately. There was no reason to feel any different about Greens, and certainly
Nick and Shaun were nothing but nice as they showed off the stain-coverage
diagrams they'd created – a front, back, left and right outline of a generic
person – and enthusiastically highlighted almost all of hers.
"Thanks for keeping my name out of it," Madeleine
told Fisher, as Noi and Emily filled out their sheets.
He nodded absently, surveying the beach. "Another advantage to starting this
early. You followed the discussion on
fields versus punches?"
"Yeah." Naturally many Blues hadn't waited for formal test sessions after his
post on 'Subject M', and it had quickly been established that two different
expressions of power were possible: 'punches' focused and pushed out, or
protective fields. Fields seemed a lot
harder to create, but within an hour of the post Blues began reporting that
they'd successfully paralysed themselves by surrounding themselves entirely
with a field, and then trying to throw it like a punch. "Nice to know I did that
ass-backward," she muttered.
"You destroyed a car with a shield," he said. "I don't want anyone else on this beach
when you try to punch. Let's see if we
can get into the lifeguard tower."
This was easily accomplished with the aid of " Noi's Little Helper" – a small crowbar usually used to
open delivery crates – and they explored the circular observation level,
deciding to ignore the beach vehicles kept in a locked garage below.
Pan made a quick, efficient burglar. "Binoculars, first aid stuff – man, I
keep expecting the lifeguards to show up and have a go at us."
"They might still," Nash said.
They moved down to the sand, Fisher leading Madeleine to the
edge of the surf while the others waited by the stairs.
"The beach is a kilometre long, and we're halfway, so
you've got five hundred metres of unbroken sand in either direction,"
Fisher said. "We'll do the tests
right at the wave wash, so it'll be clear each time. Do you think you can punch instead of using
the shield?"
"We practiced yesterday afternoon." Madeleine pointed at a shell and focused the
roil of energy inside her into the tiniest little blip, sending the shell
shooting away in a spray of sand. "No more dramatic collapses for me."
Fisher smiled. "At least a softer landing here. And a better setting." He
gazed down the vast stretch of beach to the rocky rise of cliffs at the
south-western
Blues with different levels of stain, had swiftly been picked up by other Blues
around the world, and multiple groups had organised to do the same thing – a
couple of test sessions were already underway, and others were waiting for day
wherever they were.
When the number of people wanting to join the Sydney test had
risen to more than a hundred, Fisher had asked Madeleine, Noi and Emily to head
to the beach a couple of hours early, to get Madeleine's testing out of the way
before too many people were around. At a
little after seven in the morning it was chill with a hint of mist above the water,
but the sky was a pale blue wash which promised a day worth being outside.
The apple-green Volkswagen was waiting by a white hatchback
as near as possible to the centre of the massive arc of beach, six boys leaning
on the railing above the esplanade. Noi
pulled Tyler's red convertible sports car in beside the hatchback, and grinned
at Pan's expression.
"That's it, I'm riding back with Noi," Pan
said. "I can't take this any
longer."
"We've collected about a dozen sets of keys," Noi
told him. "Come back after and you
can pick one out. I'll throw in a couple
of boats."
"You're on!"
"This is Nick, and Shaun," Gavin said, nodding
first at a freckled blonde boy and then a dark-skinned guy with cool
mini-dreadlocks. "Part of our data
collection team, and volunteer guinea pigs."
They were both Greens, and the brief discomfort that fact
inspired bothered Madeleine inordinately. There was no reason to feel any different about Greens, and certainly
Nick and Shaun were nothing but nice as they showed off the stain-coverage
diagrams they'd created – a front, back, left and right outline of a generic
person – and enthusiastically highlighted almost all of hers.
"Thanks for keeping my name out of it," Madeleine
told Fisher, as Noi and Emily filled out their sheets.
He nodded absently, surveying the beach. "Another advantage to starting this
early. You followed the discussion on
fields versus punches?"
"Yeah." Naturally many Blues hadn't waited for formal test sessions after his
post on 'Subject M', and it had quickly been established that two different
expressions of power were possible: 'punches' focused and pushed out, or
protective fields. Fields seemed a lot
harder to create, but within an hour of the post Blues began reporting that
they'd successfully paralysed themselves by surrounding themselves entirely
with a field, and then trying to throw it like a punch. "Nice to know I did that
ass-backward," she muttered.
"You destroyed a car with a shield," he said. "I don't want anyone else on this beach
when you try to punch. Let's see if we
can get into the lifeguard tower."
This was easily accomplished with the aid of " Noi's Little Helper" – a small crowbar usually used to
open delivery crates – and they explored the circular observation level,
deciding to ignore the beach vehicles kept in a locked garage below.
Pan made a quick, efficient burglar. "Binoculars, first aid stuff – man, I
keep expecting the lifeguards to show up and have a go at us."
"They might still," Nash said.
They moved down to the sand, Fisher leading Madeleine to the
edge of the surf while the others waited by the stairs.
"The beach is a kilometre long, and we're halfway, so
you've got five hundred metres of unbroken sand in either direction,"
Fisher said. "We'll do the tests
right at the wave wash, so it'll be clear each time. Do you think you can punch instead of using
the shield?"
"We practiced yesterday afternoon." Madeleine pointed at a shell and focused the
roil of energy inside her into the tiniest little blip, sending the shell
shooting away in a spray of sand. "No more dramatic collapses for me."
Fisher smiled. "At least a softer landing here. And a better setting." He
gazed down the vast stretch of beach to the rocky rise of cliffs at the
south-western
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