The youngest-ever incumbent (in these days of accelerated learning, 'youngest ever' meant nothing, of course) of the Teziman Combined Chair for Systems Security & Computational Mathematics at the University of the Northern Hemisphere reclined in the slightly less exalted chair that flanked his desk and inspected the figure standing to attention on the other side: the scratchy cadet uniform in an off-green that must once have represented camouflage colours and was now purely traditional (when he complained about the profusion of cadets in his classes, the Vice-Chancellor pointed out that each off-green-uniformed behind represented 10,000 credits a term: arguments based on hard cash he found difficult to refute); the shiny black boots, their complex lacing clearly designed to develop the patience; the beret pulled low over the forehead, one long dark lock escaping to graze those ridiculous shoulder pads. Standing, he twirled the hair round his fingers, kissed the line where its shadow fell on the long white neck, then slicked the lock between his lips and tucked it neatly back beneath the beret.
'You'll pass,' he said.
Ten days later, the name Cadet 10391 Valan (breathy 'Serena, please') topped the class lists, gaining the highest-ever mark in Computational Theory.
