(Based on characters in The Lightning in the Collied Night)

February 13, 2039

Lai looked up from the research paper on the Zeeman effect that she was reading on her pad for her Quantum Mechanics II class and gazed out the window of her room in the Sally Ride House. The Stanford University campus was coming to life on a sunny, lazy Sunday morning. Looks like it’s going to be a gorgeous day… but not a happy day for me and a lot of other people, she thought sadly as she recalled the dreadful event from three years earlier.

She took a sip from her second mug of coffee of the morning and returned to the research paper, but soon her study was interrupted by her roommate coming in the door.

“How was church, Maribel?” Lai asked. She thought it was amusingly ironic that a non-believer like herself would have had a Muslim roommate as a frosh and now a Catholic roommate as a sophomore.

“Good,” Maribel replied as she hung up her light jacket in her wardrobe cabinet and sat down on her bed, across from Lai. “Father Dominic gave a lovely homily on forgiveness.” Forgiveness… talk about irony! Lai thought as she remembered the people, and one man in particular, who’d made life miserable for her parents and many other people over the past three years. “Maybe you’d like to come with me next Sunday? There’ll be a brunch after Mass—we’re celebrating Pancake Day a little early,” Maribel said with a smile.

“Pancake Day?”

“Sorry… the day before Ash Wednesday—the start of Lent. You might know it as Mardi Gras.”

“Oh.” Lai knew a little about Lent from one of her childhood friends. “Thanks, but I don’t think so.” Maribel often invited Lai to join her for Sunday services and other Stanford Catholic Community events, but her answer was always the same.

“Maybe some other time, then.” Maribel looked at Lai’s pad. “What’re you reading?”

“Something for my quantum mechanics class. Maybe later you could help me with my Shakespeare assignment?” Lai and her roommate were different in many ways. For instance, Lai was majoring in Physics while Maribel had a double major, English and International Relations. But they shared a love of Shakespeare and were both taking the Shakespeare and his Contexts class that semester.

“I’d be glad to, but I think you know Shakespeare better than I do,” Maribel said with a grin. “Can we do it before seven? Tony’s taking me to dinner at a new Filipino restaurant near campus, for Valentine’s Day—he has to work tomorrow night.”

“Oh sure, that’s fine, thanks.” I wish her boyfriend wasn’t named Tony… “The protest should be finished by three or four.” Lai set her pad on her bed and looked at Maribel. “Have you thought any more about joining us?” Lai had helped organize an on-campus protest against the American Security Act; it was the third anniversary of its enactment.

“I have. I know how important this is to you, and I know some people who’ve been affected by the ASA. I’ll be there. I talked with Tony about it, and he’s coming, too.”

Lai smiled, got up from her bed and hugged her roommate around her shoulders. “Thanks, sweetie. I really appreciate it. Thank Tony for me, too.”

“I’m glad to do it. What time does it start, and where should we go?”

“Let me double-check on that with Jared,” Lai replied as she went to her desk and picked up her phone. “Sirai, ask Jared what time the protest starts and where everyone should gather.” Jared was a senior—a poli-sci major who was leading the student protests against the ASA.

After about 30 seconds, Sirai responded, “Jared said everyone should assemble outside of Memorial Auditorium, and he asks that you meet him there at 12:45 p.m. The protest starts at 1:00 p.m.”

“Who’s Jared?” Maribel asked.

“He’s leading the protests,” Lai replied as she turned her phone toward Maribel so she could see Jared’s head shot.

“Look at those blue eyes… he’s cute!” Maribel said with a mischievous grin. “Are you two…?”

“No,” Lai scoffed, “we’re just friends.” That’s all I can handle right now, after what happened two years ago. But Lai did like Jared, and she admired him for his leadership on the campus protests. She appreciated how he and the other leaders had kept past protests non-violent. Jared had promised Lai that the protest that day would be orderly, and respectful of people and property. She’d demanded that assurance before she added her name as a co-organizer of the event.

“Besides,” Lai added with a sly smile, “I gave up guys for Lent.” Maybe forever… or a very long time, at least.

“Lent hasn’t started yet,” Maribel rejoined.

“Yeah, okay. Anyway, I think he has a girlfriend.”

“Like Chaucer said: nothing ventured, nothing gained,” Maribel said with a wink. “Or something like that.” She stood up from her bed. “I’m going to get something to eat. Do you want to come with me, or can I get you anything?”

“Thanks, I already had breakfast. I’ll probably grab some lunch on the way to the protest.”

“Okay,” Maribel replied as she opened the door. “If I don’t get back before you leave, I’ll see you there.”

“Great, see you then.” The door closed behind Maribel, and Lai picked up her pad to resume studying. Since she wasn’t dating anyone and didn’t have to work during the school year due to her scholarship and help from her parents, Lai focused on her classwork. She was already at the top of her sophomore class. The previous year, she’d won the prestigious Jeffrey Alan Willick Award for being the top physics major, which was almost unheard of for a frosh. She’d talked with her faculty advisor about starting graduate studies as early as the summer of 2040, at Stanford or perhaps Cambridge.

Lai liked everything about physics, but she was especially interested in quantum physics and astrophysics. She was intrigued by black holes and wormholes and excited about the chance to study them someday. She’d already investigated an internship at the Harvard Center for Astrophysics for the upcoming summer and believed she had a good shot at it. I’m really lucky, she thought as she looked at the sunshine streaming through the window. Things would be almost perfect, except… She thought about what had happened to her parents within the past year—they still hadn’t been able to find jobs in their fields. And, Lai herself had been verbally abused by people who knew nothing about her; they’d judged her to be their enemy based only on her appearance. Jared and I, and Maribel and Tony, and lots of other students, are going to do whatever we can to right that wrong.

***

As Lai walked toward Memorial Auditorium, she saw that a large crowd had already gathered. Looks like hundreds of people—maybe a thousand or more! she thought happily. We’re going to make a difference today. Many were holding signs and banners and were talking excitedly as they waited for the protest to officially begin. Lai noticed Jared and two other leaders of the protest standing on a makeshift platform by the entrance to the auditorium. “Hi, Jared!” she called out to him as she approached the platform. “It’s a great turnout, isn’t it?” She stepped onto the platform next to Jared.

“It sure is, Lai. We’re going to make ourselves heard today.” He scanned the crowd, and Lai looked around also. She saw two familiar faces standing across the Jane Stanford Way circle from them.

“There’s my roommate and her boyfriend,” she said to Jared as she shielded her eyes from the sun.

“Where?” Jared asked.

Lai pointed straight ahead, “Over there, by Hoover Tower.” About thirty people had congregated in front of the iconic building, which was closed for renovation. She waved and called out, “Hey, Maribel!” but her roommate couldn’t hear her over the distance and crowd noise.

“Shit!” Jared blurted out. “Everyone was told to gather by Memorial!”

Lai looked quizzically at him, “What’s the matter?”

“They need to get away from there, NOW!”

Why is he so upset about it? It’s not that big a deal. “Okay, I’ll go tell them,” Lai said and began to step off the platform, but Jared grabbed her right arm.

“NO!” he shouted at Lai.

She tried to pull her arm away from him, “Jared, what’s wro—“

Her next words were obliterated by a deafening explosion from Hoover Tower. A fireball burst from the building’s main entrance as most of the tower’s windows blew out. The people who’d been standing outside the building were knocked down to the pavement.

Lai was stunned by the force and heat of the tremendous blast, and her ears were ringing. She saw Maribel, Tony, and many other people lying on the sidewalk in front of the burning tower and was overcome by shock… and rage. She wrenched her arm from Jared’s grip and swung around to face him.

“What did you do, Jared? WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!”

“I stood up for our rights, Lai! YOUR rights—and your parent’s rights! We need to be heard!”

She glared at Jared, incredulous about what had just happened and what the man she’d trusted had done. “GO TO HELL, JARED!” she cried. She jumped off the platform and ran toward Maribel and the other injured people as wailing fire and police sirens grew increasingly closer, and louder.