Everyone was at their desks waiting for Mr. Freeman to start, but he was looking at the door instead. The bell rang to start the class, but he kept watching the door.
"I'm already in class, Mr. Freeman," Wendy teased.
He reacted to her with a start. "Where did you come from?!"
Wendy rolled her eyes as the class had a good laugh at her expense, realizing she had played right into his joke.
"On to more serious matters. I was at a sports thing over the weekend, and despite not knowing what was going on or paying attention, I won. So, yay me." Mr. Freeman looked at the girls with a genuinely proud smile before sliding into a stare with the intensity of a pop quiz. "Aside from that, the news, for some reason, had other things to talk about. Does anyone know what that was about?"
"Riots in Thailand?" Someone hazarded a guess.
"Good, you caught a headline. Now tell me why."
"Same as always. Relocation. Everyone who wanted to move into space has done so. Now people are getting pressured to move, and riots happen."
"Anyone know why?"
"Because it always happens. Historically, no group of people has ever been relocated without issue," Trissta volunteered.
"Yes, it's a pattern. But why does it happen?"
"People don't like being uprooted. Trading the familiar for the unfamiliar. Some people don't go to college because they don't want to leave home. And that is when people know they can go back after. So, telling people they need to leave their familiar home, even if it's an awful slum or a mansion, and even leave the familiarity of a planet, they don't like it." Julie saw more of those who came up from Earth by virtue of being on a halo than everyone else in the class.
"What solutions did they have?"
"Money, jobs, anything to get them off the planet," Lyta added.
"What's a planet?" Kimiko joked.
"Pluto!" Wendy shouted with her hand in the air.
It got a laugh and a few joking arguments against it before it got hushed down.
"Didn't we also build water cities in the Pacific?" Devona brought everyone back on topic.
"Yes, but the materials needed are much harder to get on Earth when we are aiming for environmental restoration. Since we are tearing through rocks in space for it, it makes sense to keep it up here and build more stations." Trissta had been to one of the water cities for a boat race and knew just how massive they already were. "They function more like transit cities. Get people to move there as a first step, and getting them into space is easier."
"So what sparked off Thailand?" Mr. Freeman clearly had something he wanted the class to learn.
"They thought they would tear down everything, not just the city. Ancient ruins and whatnot. Despite the Reclamation Authority specifically stating nothing of the sort would happen."
Julie looked at the classmate who had answered and decided she liked him.
"Ruins only get moved if they are below nominal sea level. Even then, only if they can't build a dam and drain the area." Julie added and gave the guy a wink.
"Right, so what's the lesson?" Mr. Freeman looked around at the blank faces.
"People are stubborn idiots that will get angry at the wrong things even when they have more intelligent things to be angry about?" Lyta hardly needed a specific example to make that case.
"Well, yes," Mr. Freeman admitted. "Anything else?"
"No matter how reasonable you are, you must account for the people who won't play along?" Kimiko knew her answer was correct but maybe not what Mr. Freeman was looking for.
"Close enough." She got a big smile. "To use a math term, you need to be able to plan for the lowest common denominator. It's why pacifism doesn't work in practice. The only practical systems are ones that account for those who disagree. That's why the Reclamation Authority has riot gear and tranquillizer gas. Commit a crime, and your prison is in space. So nice of people to gather together like that."
"But is it the right thing to do?" Trissta asked.
"Ah, now that is a good question! Does anyone have an answer?"
"There are still too many people on the planet," Wendy replied. "It doesn't matter if it's right. Poorly designed urban areas, slums, old oil or gas lines, lead pipes, unexploded munitions, and demolished ecosystems are everywhere. We need to take it all down and start over. Plan ahead. Maybe we will have everyone on floating cities in the oceans, but it's faster to live in space for now. As long as we don't outright kill people for refusing to leave, it's right enough for what needs to happen. Humans populate too quickly to leave everything down to voluntary relocation."
Trissta shrugged. "I suppose you aren't wrong per se."
"Meh, it's a government program. 'Not exactly wrong' is pretty high praise." Wendy wasn't going to die on that hill.
There was a bit of a laugh, and Trissta shook her head. "I just worry about things worsening, even if we are so distant from the problem."
"Things could always get worse with humans involved even if it was all totally morally justified. Just look at my grades." Devona got a much bigger laugh and dissolved the tension instantly.
****
Ceph headed away from the cafeteria by way of the hall Julie used to get there, hoping to intercept her. The halls were packed right after the lunch bell, but he did his best to get through the crowd. When he did spot Julie, who was already coming in his direction, a familiar voice came from behind before he could get her attention.
"Ceph, eat quick and come to the gym." Coach Rosewood was in a bit of a mood. "We need to go over the footage from the game."
Ceph was distracted and confused. "We already did that after the game, sir."
Coach waved his hand dismissively. "Not ours, the girls' team. We must ensure they don't beat us when we face up."
Ceph was personally excited for the chance to face Julie in a real game and noticed her pass them by as they talked. "We can do that, sure."
"Don't get friendly with them either. We need to make sure 'they' know who's the best." The coach didn't notice Ceph looking past him at Julie, who surreptitiously ducked into a utility room.
"Our total score count was higher than theirs over the weekend." Ceph returned his focus to the coach and tried to toss a meaningless fact at him aiming to appease him.
"That's good, but we didn't exactly face the best teams. I'll try to find the others but let them know if you see them." The coach stormed off.
Ceph shook his head. Every team was more or less on equal footing for experience, and the only advantage his own team had was the low gravity training that Julie had shared with them. Back to focusing on Julie, Ceph went to the door he had seen her enter through. He jiggled the handle as he turned around to look for anyone in the crowded hall watching him before quickly opening the door and backing inside.
In the dim light were supply shelves, boxes, old pep rally posters, air vent access, and one woman holding onto the shelves above her head while leaning against it. Her eyes were wide open, with her blouse lifted over her breasts and panties in her mouth. Her legs were resting on some boxes positioned to keep her legs open wide.
Ceph smiled. "Very subtle, Julie. I like it. Were there no road flares or landing lights in here to make it more obvious?"
Julie rolled her eyes and looked away while she mumbled something as Ceph unzipped his pants.
Ceph stepped between her wide-open legs and rubbed Julie between them while his other hand guided him inside her. She huffed a moan through her panties as he pushed deep into her. With her mouth full of her panties, Ceph bit at her neck as he felt her hips start to thrust against him. Her breasts felt soft in his grip as he held them firmly. He wondered if the noise of the shelf moving with every thrust was audible outside, but the multitude of voices he could hear would have drowned them out.
Julie kept her head tilted to face the other shelves as she could feel the rhythm of bite, kiss, and lick moving up her neck. She was mildly annoyed; she couldn't speak, but the feeling of Ceph sliding inside her strangled the sensation. The metal shelves weren't the most comfortable of surfaces to be rammed against, but she couldn't contain the hard moan as she finished, hoping Ceph would do the same quickly.
Ceph was surprised to have satisfied Julie so quickly and knew he was in a hurry himself, so he let her down so she could let go of the shelves, pull the panties from her mouth, and take him down her throat, but he couldn't wait that long. His load of cum fired right onto her face and covered it with three hard spurts before getting the rest into her mouth.
"Sorry about that. Coach wanted me in the gym, but I saw you come in here and didn't want to leave you hanging. You good?" Ceph zipped up.
Still trying to swallow so she could speak, Julie nodded and was left on her knees as Ceph quickly went back into the hall.
"Well, shit. Sorry about that." Julie sighed as the door closed
Her classmate came out from behind the shelves. "You are fucking the team captain of the guys' team? I wasn't expecting that."
"I can understand if this was a dealbreaker." Julie gestured to her face as she stood up.
"That depends on how comfortable you are with anal." He turned Julie around to face the shelves and lifted her kilt to expose her ass.
