Vicky wanted to ask what results she was talking about. Did these people believe that you couldn’t learn something new once you got into your thirties? That was a strange idea. She looked at Chain who shrugged.
“Well, I find my results with Chain to be very satisfactory,” she said firmly. “He’s an excellent student.”
“Oh, well—as you say, then. I hope you’re right because I’m afraid you’ll be expected to prove it before anyone will deal with you.” Professor Lornah said.
“Prove it? How?” Vicky was bewildered.
“You know—in the usual way, of course.” The other woman fluttered her hands expressively, though she didn’t give any further explanation, much to Vicky’s irritation. “We must go—they’ll be expecting you at the Lecture Hall in the Insect and Arachnid University—that’s where the meet and greet for new professors is always held, you know.”
Vicky wondered if it was a university dedicated to the study of insects and arachnids…or run by then. Was she going to be meeting huge anthropomorphic alien bugs? The thought made her shudder. But even if she was, what could she do about it? She would just have to play along.
“That sounds fine,” she said as Professor Lornah and her student led them across a rolling lawn of neatly clipped silvery-green grass. “But I’m actually here not only to study but to buy an ancient artifact that’s here on your planet. It’s called the T’lix-Kruthe—have you heard of it?”
“Oh, an ancient artifact, is it? That will be held in one of the antiquities collections. Professor Torella of the Vessels of Antiquity University will be the one to speak to about that.” She frowned. “But I’m afraid she won’t deal with you until you’ve proven your worth as a professor.”
“But…how can I do that?” Vicky asked, dismayed. “Do you want me to present my credentials? Because I would have to go and get them.” She wondered if she could contact the Mother Ship and ask them to whip up a batch of fake doctoral diplomas or something like that. She certainly hoped so!
But Professor Lornah was shaking her head.
“Oh no, my dear—you just have to prove you can teach. I tell you what—we’re headed to a symposium right now where Professor Torella will be in attendance. I have the last lecture slot but you can lecture right after me. No one will mind staying to hear such a renowned professor who has come from so far away.”
“Oh, well thank you,” Vicky said blankly. “But I didn’t really bring any of my, uh, lecture materials with me. You know—visual aids and such.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Professor Lornah said, making a shooing gesture. “We have a fully integrated sensory auditorium. You’ll be given everything you need to make an impressive showing.”
“Oh, um, okay.” Inside her head, Vicky was madly scrambling. She hadn’t expected to have to make a presentation on this alien world—especially not as soon as she landed! Then she took a deep breath and told herself to calm down. Despite the strange circumstances, this wasn’t her first rodeo—she’d been teaching high school for years.
And I don’t believe lecturing to a roomful of stuffy alien academics can be worse than trying to teach a bunch of bored, hormonal teenagers, she told herself firmly. I’ll figure it out.
Just as she had that thought, they came up to an even larger and more impressive building than the ones they’d been passing. It looked like a Medieval church to Vicky, with gray stone sides, soaring architecture, and stained glass in the many windows that seemed to shimmer and shift as she looked at it.
The colored glass pieces in the two vast windows on either side of the main entrance were in the shapes of enormous insects, she realized as she took a closer look. One looked like a giant orange praying mantis with pink and purple butterfly wings and the other looked disturbingly like a large cockroach—a turquoise one—with candy-apple red legs and wings.
As she watched, she realized the insects in the floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows were moving—flexing their wings and curling and uncurling their antennae very slowly but noticeably.
Vicky stared in astonishment. It must be some kind of alien tech in the window glass, making it look like the huge insects were moving, but it was amazing all the same.
“This is the University of Insects and Arachnids,” Professor Lornah explained, waving at the windows. As you can see.”
“Yes,” Vicky said. “I certainly can.”
“Your craftsmanship is very impressive,” Chain said, speaking for the first time. “I would love to learn the technology behind the shifting patterns in the glass—unless it’s a trade secret of some kind which cannot be shared.”
“Oh, you’d have to ask Professor Dunna of the Architecture and Adornments University,” Professor Lornah explained. “Though I don’t know if she would speak to you. And, being only a student, I doubt you’d understand anything she said anyway.”
She gave him a once-over, as though he must be stupid as they ascended the gray steps of the Insect University.
“I find my student to be an extremely good judge of mechanical matters and architectural structures,” Vicky said indignantly, defending the big Kindred. “In fact, Chain has innovative ideas on many subjects.”
“Is that right?” Professor Lornah arched an eyebrow at her. “Then maybe you’re teaching him the wrong things. Come along now, we must hurry,” she continued as they mounted the steps and entered the grand double doors which guarded the main entrance. “Oh, and this is a dinner lecture,” she added to Vicky as they passed through the arching double doors which rose twenty feet above their heads. “So I hope your remarks will be
