chapter four - revolutionary girl lucy

"attendance in higher education has gone through some periods of highs and lows. counting from the start of the 20th century when education started to become more prominent throughout the western sphere, we see a sharp rise in the number of people getting educated for longer, with dips during the great depression, the two world wars, and a massive rise during the eighties and into the nineties.

in the 21st century, we see a similar dip during the 2027 great depression, and then a sharper fall in the 2030s, with a subsequent rise during the early 2040s to where we are today.

we haven''t quite recovered to mid-2010s levels, but we''re quite close."

--rise and fall of the educated, a thesis, 2051

***

"so, what did you think?" lucy asked as we stepped back into the bastion.

"eh," i said with a shrug. the vice principal had a few things to show us after the cooking class, but the other classes were out at the moment, and so there really wasn''t too much to show except for some empty training facilities and some big rooms that had nothing in them. we did meet with one professor, the hardass teacher who did combat training, and i kind of liked that bit, but... it wasn''t huge?

"yeah, i had the feeling you''d feel that way," lucy said. she didn''t sound disappointed or upset about it.

"i mean, yeah. but i don''t mind coming over a few times," i said. lucy wanted this, and it was hardly a huge sacrifice. though it did beg the question. "so, did you just wanna do the cooking thing, and that''s it?"

"hmm," lucy hummed. "yes and no. did you know that a lot of revolutions start in schools?"

i blinked, pausing halfway to the bridge. "uh.. i guess?" i said. "what''s that got to do with learning how to cook?"

lucy snorted, and then she wrapped her arms around my middle and dropped her head into the crook of my neck. "silly," she declared. "the cooking thing is an excuse."

"you''ve got plans, then?" i asked.

"i''ve got ambitions," she replied. "and while i appreciate your help, i think i can do a lot to push them forwards all on my own. i just need to be in the right place and at the right time, with maybe the right contacts."

"and do you care to share those with me?" i asked. for a moment a small part of me worried that lucy might have ambitions that didn''t include me, but that struck me as unlikely.

"mhm!" she said before breaking the hug only to squeeze past me and into the cockpit. she flumped onto one of the seats at the back, the opposite one from the seat she''d taken on the way here. "so! schools foster revolution. do you know why?"

"i have no idea," i said.

"yeah, same. at least, i didn''t know. but i''ve been looking into it for a while now. you remember the kittens in burlington?"

"it''s like, riot cops and normal security. school police. not an army. they were really not equipped for tackling aliens," lucy said. "so there were a lot more deaths than necessary."

"how did the school survive the global incursion, then?" i asked. new montreal had a wall all the way around it now.

"lots of favours, i think," lucy said. she shrugged. "there''s a lot of important people that went to school here. this is where they made lots of their earliest connections."

i eyed lucy for a moment. "are you sure you don''t want to be mayor?" i asked.

lucy poked herself in the cheek and tilted her head to the side. "i''m too cute for politics. tee-hee."

i shuddered. "don''t ever do that again," i said.

lucy''s laugh was more genuine after that. "sorry! but maybe later? i think i''d either just get chewed up and spit out, or i''d be shoved into a corner where nothing i say matters, like the last few presidents and prime ministers. just a punching bag for the media, you know? i''d need years of connection-making before i can even start going down that route."

years of connection-making that she could very well do in the place known for making connections. i shook my head. my girlfriend was scary sometimes. it was also real hot.

"you know, if you get into politics, you''ll have to start wearing pantsuits," i said.

"oh? is that a bad thing?" lucy asked.

"no. very much the opposite. who doesn''t like a lady in uniform?"

lucy snorted. "c''mon! we left the kittens at home unwatched for a few hours. we''ll probably come back to find the entire building burnt to a crisp and the kids complaining that they''re hungry."

yeah, that sounded about right. "alright, alright," i said as i took my seat and started to flick on the bastion''s engines.

a minute or so later we were pulling up and away from the campus. i... suspected we''d be coming back here soon enough. which probably meant finding a more appropriate place to park in.

maybe they''d give me one of those stickers i could slap onto the windshield that let me get access to their parking garage? i resisted the urge to laugh. i didn''t know if they had parking police here, but if they did, then the poor idiots would need a serious raise.

"what''re you laughing at?" lucy asked.

"ah, nothing smart," i said as i kicked us off the ground and started to rotate the bastion in the general direction of home. "nothing smart at all."

***

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