ANTIOCH UNIVERSITY CAMPUS: SEATTLE WASHINGTON- January 01 2012:

   When it was founded in 1852, Antioch was named after the Syrian city where the apostle Paul launched his missionary expeditions. Antioch's beginnings were indeed Christian, although its first president was statesman Horace Mann, himself a fierce non-denominationalist.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:41, Sun 08 Jan 2012.

Luke stopped just near the front gates.  He dropped his duffle bag by the tree trunk, and sat down to enjoy the available shade.  It had been a long walk from the budget bus depot that he had conned a ride into town on.

But Luke was used to walking these days.  It's really all he did.

From his vantage point, Luke could see the yonder dorm buildings ... his destination.  He wasn't enrolled, of course, but that had never impeded his use of the communal laundry facilities at any other Uni across the country, nor his use of the Gym's change rooms for that long awaited shower.
Nobody ever took exception; because nobody ever cared enough to notice that he might not be a student.

After a short while, he hoisted the duffle bag onto his shoulders again, and headed into the campus, and across the large car park.

Alexander stood and began to pack up his things from the table.  It had been a long day, studying high-end programming was mentally exhausting.  Packing all of his books and gear into a backpack, he finally left the campus library.

As he walked across the campus, Alex didn't pay particular attention to anything but the growling in his stomach.  Eventually, he found himself in the cafeteria
ordering up his usual sandwich.

   The cafeteria, which most of the students called the "Feeding Trough" still had a respectable number of students huddled around the well worn oak tables.  Some sat in clusters, books open on the table, others had lap tops, iPads, or iphones on the go, and still others lay back listening to music.  Some were even eating, not that the food was particularly special, but some of it was quite good, and most of the regulars knew which items were worth their precious money.
   Moments after Alexander finds himself a seat, he notes that he is not alone.  Parminder Patel, a second year Computer Science major, stood looking down to him with her bright chocolate eyes and smiling.  A striking woman of Indian-American descent, she had made friends quickly with Alexander, whom she considered 'moderately intelligent' or so she claimed.  She watched him for a moment, holding her tray, on which could be seen a sandwich which was undoubtedly vegetarian, like Parminder herself.

   "Hi Alex, may I join you?" she asked politely, as always.


---------------------------

   It was late in the afternoon, just after five, and the sun was peeking in and out of the grey clouds, on its way towards the horizon.  It was still a few hours before sunset, however, and Luke found the parking lot all but empty of people as he threaded his way through the tightly parked cars.  The few folks who were out seemed to pay him no attention, too busy on cell phones or lost in their own thoughts.
   Almost to the sidewalk, Luke sees a young woman stumbling towards him. She appears to be in her early thirties, with striking waves of red-golden hair and pale green eyes.  She was wearing a forest green cloak, over a brown wool bodice and green plaited skirt.  The styling of her clothes is clearly antiquated, to Luke's eyes, and as she comes closer, he can see dark stains from mud and...blood!
   Coming close to Luke, her eyes light up, as if he is somehow familiar to her.  She smiles weakly, though this is quickly replaced by a grimace of pain and she falls forwards, leaning against him.

   "You're not at all what I expected...." she gasps in a lilting accent, then slips into unconsciousness.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:37, Mon 09 Jan 2012.

Luke caught the woman in his arms as she fell.
"I gotta be honest, lady ... You are not at all what I expected, either", he replied to her limp form.

He looked around quickly, to assess the threat situation; caring not for any quizzicle looks from campus dwellers, but worried about the inevitable arrival of whomever had gifted this woman these wounds.

Seeing nothing immediately, he scooped her up in his arms, and carried her off the car park.

Under the awning of a nearby building, he carefully lay her on the grass, and placed his duffle bag nearby.  Like any wise traveller, he carried the basics of healing, and quickly drew the first aid kit from his bag, along with a towel and a bottle of water.
Kneeling beside her, so that he could watch for any danger approaching, he began to gently strip the wound. With the sodden materials removed and her rendered flesh cleaned down with the dampened towel, he inspected her wounds.

He also made sure to check what weapons she had, should he need to defend her.

Alex smiled at Parminder, "Of course, Parmie."  He gestured toward the empty seat across from him.  As nervous as he was about the test, Alex had always found studying the weekend before take the edge off."Do you wanna get together to study for the big test Friday?"

   Luke tries to make the injured woman as comfortable as he can.  Baring the wound, he can see she has a deep hole in her chest, the size of a quarter, the skin around it is red and tender, blisters beginning to form.  Blood is seeping from the wound, now that Luke has removed the hasty cloth bandage ties around it.  She has lost a considerable amount of blood, and it is astonishing that she had the strength to make her way to him.

   Her eyes flutter and she looks up to him, smiling weakly. "Its...not...m...me that matters...now, Luke.  F...Find Alex...he needs...you...g...go..."  She lapses back into unconsciousness once more.

   On her person she has not discernable weapons.  In fact the only things she has are a small silver pen...or at least it seems to be, a tarnished silver mirror, an odd looking old fashioned ornate key, and a creased and yellowed picture of a young man's face.  Underneath is hand written and still barely legible the words:

   'A reasonable likeness of me to keep close to your heart, as you requested.  Fondest regards, dear Charlotte.'  Humbly yours ALEXANDER DE MAREST

Luke crouched upon the ground.
His back was to the wall; from where none could come at him unexpected.
The woman's form at his feet; where he could step up and over her to protect.

And he looked, with consternation, over the wounded body, and the array of items spread before him on the ground.

'Find Alex ...' she had said ... and carried a likeness of some self-monikered picture of one Alexander De Marest.
Coincidence?  Luke thought not.

And she had known Luke's name.  He wondered on this.

She was unconscious, and in a bad way.  'Find Alex ... He needs you' she had said.  But Luke wasn't willing to just leave the woman here.

Pocketing the assortment of items he had looted from her, he took a moment to look carefully at the picture. Then tucked it into his top pocket for easy reference.

Then, taking her in his arms, he stood, and looked around.  Heading off through the Campus, he went looking for a phone box.

*******

Ten minutes later, he inserted coinage into the pay phones slot, and dialed the information service.

The woman lay, probably uncomfortably, outside the booth, where he could watch over her.

When information services connected, he asked them to locate the phone number for 'Alexander De Marest'.   If the stars were aligned right, this might actually put Luke in contact with the man.   When asked for a location, Luke went out on a limb, and said 'Seattle', hoping that the woman's arrival here indicated that this mystery man was somewhere close.

   Parminder smiled with a warmth that could light up the whole cafeteria.  Then she ran one hand quickly through her long raven hair and nodded.  "Sure Alex, I'd like that a lot...I could really use the study time I mean. Networking and Information Security Applications has been rough this semester.  I mean professor Hanover is seriously critical of everything I do.  Sometimes I think she just doesn't like me.  Um, so how about tomorrow evening?  You could come to my dorm room, my room mate is out late most nights, she won't even know you've been there."
   She regarded him for a minute hopefully, then she blinked and her eyes opened wide.  "Oh, Alex, I almost forgot to tell you.  Professor Medvedev would like to see you before you go home he said.  He didn't say why, just said it was important.  I thought maybe you'd know."
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:29, Fri 13 Jan 2012.

"Tomorrow evening sounds great, I'll see you then.  I know Hanover is pretty tight with us all, I don't think it's personal.  Hrmm... Professor Medvedev..."  Alex paused, trying to think of what the professor would want him for.  It sounded pretty urgent.

"I don't know really, but he is my mentor for my computational modeling project.  Maybe he had some breakthrough he wants to share."  He wondered aloud, as they walked out of the building together.

Once outside, the two went their separate ways.  Alex wandered off to Professor Medvedev's office hoping to catch him there.