Fixed by Beth Goobie

other in two large circles, one inside the other. As the circles began to move slowly in opposite directions, each cadet touched the forehead of those she passed and whispered, “File it deep, deep deep deep, and now we are free.” Between Lierin and Phillip, Nellie circled with the others, whispering the quiet phrase. Each time she touched a forehead, she felt something slip away from her, weightless and invisible. Like something dying, she thought unexpectedly and then the thought vanished, leaving her with the eerie whispering and circling. By the time the two circles had completed an entire rotation, the excitement buzzing the room had dissolved and the cadets were standing quietly, their faces calm. Turning with the others, Nellie faced the front of the room and saw Col. Jolsen, his face also quiet and relaxed. Behind him the wall screen was blank.
    “At ease,” said Col. Jolsen. “Your minds have been emptied, and you are now prepared for an evening of fun and relaxation. This afternoon is gone as if blown away in the wind. Blown away in the wind,” he repeated soothingly. “You will think no more of it. This has been commanded by the Goddess.”
    Commanded by the Goddess, thought Nellie. Blown away in the wind . Taking a deep breath, she looked about herself. She was standing in a large circle between Lierin and Phillip in the Common Room, and from the look of things, they’d just finished a lectureby Col. Jolsen. What time was it? She glanced at her watch. A half hour past suppertime, no wonder she was so hungry! It must have been an important lecture to have gone overtime like this. A frown creased her forehead as she tried to remember the contents of the lecture and drew a blank. Oh well, she’d probably been told to file it — some kind of top secret stuff that needed an access code for conscious recall. It was an excellent system that really simplified things for a cadet. This way she accessed necessary information only in appropriate situations when given the required code, and didn’t have top secret information floating around the front of her mind which could be mistakenly blurted out to strangers. Cadets didn’t always show the best judgement.
    At the front of the room, Col. Jolsen raised a hand and silence fell across the group. “After dinner,” he said, “wait an hour or so, then visit a Mind Cleanser before lights out.” His face split into a quick grin. “I hope you’re hungry. Rumor has it the cooks have prepared dengleberry pie for dessert. You’re dismissed.”
    With a roar, the cadets broke ranks and headed for the exit. Squeezing through the doorway, Nellie launched herself at Phillip and tackled him from behind. “Last one to the cafeteria is first course for the Goddess’s bloodsucking hounds!” she hollered and took off down the hall, a stampede of cadets behind her.
    FOCUSED ON her deep breathing exercises, Nellie stood quietly as Lt. Neem taped the last of several electrodes to the back of her left leg. Surrounded by life-sized mannequins and training equipment, they were in the gym, a vast drafty room that gleamed off-white in every direction and echoed with the grunts and thuds of a class practicing gymnastics at the far end. Nellie had spent fifteen minutes warming up with them, then trotted toward the lieutenant in response to his summoning whistle. Now she leaned her weight onto her right leg and tried not to tense the left as the lieutenant buckled it into a padded harness that belted at her waist.
    “Check,” said the lieutenant, pressing a handheld device, and a burst of electric shock ran from the electrodes into the back of Nellie’s leg. “Gotcha?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow.
    “Got me.” Nellie flexed her leg against the harness, which was connected by several jointed metal rods to a rectangular five-foot-high machine beside her. As the lieutenant took his place behind the machine’s control panel, she listened to the low hum the device emitted —