"Stupid skirt!" Beth was mad.

The trip to the professors office had been a waste of time.

"Stupid stupid stupid" She muttered as she thought about it. She knew that professors were rarely if ever in their offices early in the morning. Yet she had gone all the way there only to meet his secretary. 'Personal assistant' she corrected herself.

The nice male undergraduate assistant had been pleasant if a bit annoyed at her abrupt knock. She had apparently caught him with a cup of coffee almost to his mouth. The resulting minor stain to a tie that probably hid other old stains was not really her fault. She had explained that she wanted to see the professor. Of course he had asked why and she drew a blank.

It was perhaps two minutes of uttering words that didn't really make much sense when she mentioned project 14. The mere mention of the name had changed the boys whole demeanor. Suddenly from annoyed person to more helpful. He sent off a message via his I pad. The message was returned almost instantly. Apparently the Professor wanted to see her later that afternoon at three.

While the personal assistant was a nice man she got the impression he was also very gay. Usually when she showed up, especially in the university, most men would look at her with hungry eyes. They tried to not show it too much and most went out their way to try to not hit on her while hitting on her.

She would have felt better if there was a nameplate on the desk so she had a name to put to the face as he never once introduced himself. Beth knew she was not the most attractive woman on the planet but she wasn't awful looking either. Her past boyfriend, cum plastic surgery wannabe student Miles, once showed her how she would look with her nose fixed. Not modified to be extra pretty, he did that as well after, but what her nose would look like if just fixed so that it wasn't bent to one side. She still had no idea how it had happened. Miles said it was probably just a minor bone growth spurt or she broke it as a baby. It was a pity Miles got into a bit of a drug mix-up and got kicked out.

She still believed that he was not entirely innocent even if he was proved such. The guy was just sorta sneaky. She would not put it past him to have set up the whole deal on the semi legal drug purchase. She still did not know the full details as most had been kept quiet but it involved poppy seeds and table salt.

Shaking her head to clear it of the stray thoughts Beth concentrated on hurrying down the passages to her first class with the bottom of her long skirt occasionally wrapping around both legs causing her to slow down.

She was still cursing her luck this morning as she made it to her class, just. Like most she usually had time to setup her laptop or notepad. She had always felt that those students who ran in at the last second to be slackers and had looked at them as such. It was an entirely new feeling to have to face the stares of her peers apparently thinking the same thing about her this morning. This cause her face to grow hot from shame. Both for the stares and for the fact she knew she was blushing so much she must look like a tomato.

Call me Greg, the professor just looked at her while she took her seat with many apologies. She even almost burst into tears when she fumbled her stylus and it fell to the floor. Two boys on either side of her rushed to get it bonking heads in the process. She giggled as this happened. It was nice to have that small bit of power of men.

"If Ms. Tanner is finished turn to page 423." Call me Greg stated. The rest of the class rushed to comply as Beth was still waiting for her laptop to finish booting so she could pull up the relevant text book page. Some of the girls in the class had giggled at his remark causing Beth to blush again.

The rest of the morning passed in a blur of calculations for major business accounting. A few jibes were directed at her from Greg but she was able to answer most of them so it was not a major pain for her. She even got complemented on her ability to study and understand the material unlike the one scholarship student. She did not know what the scholarship was nor how he got it but the boneheaded fool just refused to study even the simplest of material for class. Probably spent too much time partying. Men!

Legal studies, a required course, followed Macro Economics. This class was actually kind of interesting as it discussed the more legal aspects, and pitfalls, of the business world. Beth had a pretty good idea that if she ever did open up her small dream shop of fashionable clothing for larger women she at least would not make a total fool of herself. In the short term she was training for a managerial position. This meant that much of her classes were focused on men instead of women, however there was more or less an equal display of sexes in the class. It was just that much of the material covered was written from a male point of view.

Lunch was more or less the small period of the day that she could use to get something to eat. Her class schedule did not specifically say lunch nor did any other students. It was just a time of day that was free enough for her to grab a bite to eat. The highschool days of having a regularly scheduled lunch were long gone. As Beth ate her taco salad that was more taco than beef with a salsa that taste more like tomatoes than spices, she reflected on her memories of highschool. The times her and her girlfriends, dressed up in outfits that were risky on the dress code. The shared yogurt in the tiny drink cups. Mostly she missed the good old gossiping that went on.

It had always made her feel like a part of something bigger than herself. Here at university it was rare to even see some of her sorority sisters during lunch and the few people she had managed to make friends with was about the same. There was no group of girls sitting at their table that was a safe haven from the stares of other people. Not just boys her age but girls, staff and visitors. You generally ate what you could as fast as you could and left. The cafeteria's, there was 4, and the one Tim Horton's, were busy places that were functional.

One thing about university is that there was lots of students, some new, some not, that came and went. Every other month a student would arrive or graduate from their course and be out on some program or another. Officially students all graduated in June, unofficially it was whenever they completed the course work. The rest of the time was sponsored work ed. If you worked hard and got lucky a student could be hired straight out of school permanently. These few students kept it hush hush until the formal graduation where the company rep, all in nice expensive suits, would hand the student, who acted surprised, a prized plaque. Some were in bronze most were really just cheap foil laminated on some wood.

Graduation also had rented props. Such as the rolled diplomas. The real ones were shipped in the mail or by courier. A rolled diploma generally had a very good chance of being damaged in the festivities. The fake ones were paper advertizements of graduation stuff rolled and glued with a satin bow. For some reason girls got pink while boys got black. She never understood that. Her university degree, if she got that far, would be in business management. It would have her full name of Elizabeth Marie Tanner on it written in real calligraphy pen on a watermarked thick paper. The paper had fancy imprinted lines of raised ink for a border. A gold, real gold, seal on the lower left corner with the stylized university seal on wax in the top center. It was very hard to fake it.

Beth sighed audibly. She was doing it again. Distracting herself with mindless musings to distance herself from a real problem. The upcoming appointment at three with the professor had her nerves worked up. Her biggest worry was that he or she would have no idea what she was talking about or who Eric was. Her second worry was that he or she would. The whole not knowing thing was not helping calm her nerves at all. She was more than half tempted to not go.

She knew however she would. She had to know what happened to Eric she owed that to her parents and herself. Beth was walking to her doom or what felt like it as she passed the partially open door leading to one of the drama department's mini stages. The mini stages were smaller theaters used for a variety of purposes. Mostly it was rented out by students for movie nights as it had a good sound system. It's official purpose was as a smaller practice stage for pre production screenings. Unofficially everyone knew it was the old theater before the newer, bigger, one was built back at the end of the 1960s.

What attracted her to slipping through the door was the music. As she got nearer she saw that there was a variety of costumes on racks in the hall. The final door there was music pouring out of the room. She recognized it as N-trance Staying Alive. She found her feet shifting without her knowledge. Beth had always enjoyed dancing even when she was very young. Right now she really needed the release dancing would give her so much so that she never gave thought to whether it was a good thing to do.

As Beth reached the last door she saw kids on the stage and off of it in a variety of costumes. Some disco style, others in mid 80s and 90s. Her bag dropped to the ground as she joined the throng and started to let loose. She flipped her hair back and forth while her hands raised her skirt. Her hips were already moving to the music in a slow but energetic and graceful movements. She was not trying to dance in any form but any boy would recognize it as being erotically attractive sexy. It invited people to dance with her instead of opposite her. In a word she danced hungrily. It did not bother her, nor anyone else apparently when the song repeated itself.

She did not notice as her and a guy dressed in a flashy silver reflective wide lapel half open shirt pulled her to the middle of the open floor which opened up for the both of them. Beth was lost to the music ruling her body as the two of them danced and danced. Beth arms became liquid ropes moving around her partner without actually touching. Her arms suggested her need, her burning need to be freed. And her partner responded by kicking up the dancing a notch. The two switched to a more energetic dance her skirt twisting around her as she danced using her two hands to include the skirt as a part of the dance walking to and from her partner with sharp shakes of her head. Other times she would bop her hair flying.

When the song finally ground to a halt she found she had worked up a bit of a sweat but it was the lights going on that really got her attention. The collection of students parted as a older man came forth towards her. The expression on his face was not bad, if anything his smile was warm.

"Can I have your name my dear?"

"Uh.. Tanner. Elizabeth Tanner."

"A lovely name Elizabeth."Raising his voice to be heard throughout the room but not directed at her" It takes a real girl to get you all to finally dance? For shame! Young Elizabeth heard the music and let it control her. It was because of her that some of you all finally danced." He turned back to her and in a quieter voice said for her alone but just loud enough for others to hear."Thank you my dear but perhaps you should get on to your classes while I turn this sorry group of drama queens into actors."

She received a hug from the man. Not a gay type hug but a real hug of thanks. He turned back to his class and started to bark out orders for them to restart from scene something and act whatever. His back to her in a clear sign of dismissal. A few students smiled at her while more than a few girls glowered at her. Ducking her head in embarrassment Beth left the room retrieving her bag on the way. A quick stop at the reflective surface by the door to straighten herself she left the room just as the sounds of the song started up again.

With a smile on her face Beth exited the door into the hall proper and continued on her way to the professors wing. As usual the mere act of dancing had driven much of her anxiety over the coming meeting from her. She had time to think deeply about her missing brother as she moved through the tunnels up to the more modern entrance to the wing that the ancient door in the bowels of the university. She knew without question that her parents loved her. Even if she found her brother Eric and found that she had a different past she vowed to herself that Beverly and Henry and no matter what a part of her would always be their daughter, she loved them both so much for it to be any other way.

The now familiar door to Professor Tandy's private sanctum did not scare or intimidate her as it once did. The former loomingly large door appeared almost shabby to her now. She knocked on the door and the familiar voice of the unknown assistant told her to enter. She was expecting some sort of neatness to the front office from the morning but if anything the place looked more like a train wreck than anything. There was a few boxes on the floor arranged haphazardly. She recognized that if they had been piled neatly they would have taken up much less room. There was exactly two visible chairs both full of notebooks, files, and one actually looked full of trash yet to be taken out.

The assistant's desk looked to be the current depository to trays of paper and a few plastic panels. The assistant's body was partially hidden as he bent over what appeared to be the inner workings of a printer with its skin off. She had no idea what he could possibly be doing to the poor thing. As far as she was concerned, not being all that good with mechanical things, it was a wreck best replaced by a new and much smaller printer. The huge thing was a remnant of the early 90s and best left to be recycled.

"Just put them on the floor anywhere." He said without looking up.

"Excuse me?" Beth was a little shocked at his apparent disregard of even the minimum politeness one deserved when entering a professional office. He did at least finally look up at her voice.

"Oh it's you." He sneered"He's in just go in. I think he is expecting you. Uh better yet just a second." He left the printer who's heart Beth went out to. She could only hope he cared more for machines than people. The assistant moved to the inner door opening it without knocking leaned in and she could clearly him say."The uh she's back you wanna see her now?"

Beth almost expected to hear a scathing remark from the professor or even a word of some type at all to give her a clue to the mysterious person know as professor Tandy. Nothing happened the assistant lifted himself back via a doorframe, a doorframe that now sported some black dust she didn't want to touch if she could help it.

"Yeah just go in. Later" and he went back to the forlorn printer. She approached the door checking for any other signs of the black dust she was sure would stain her clothing. Seeing none visible she none the less did not touch the door aside to close it from the inside.

The inside of the room was dominated by an old oak desk. There was signs of some modernization to said desk as there was a hole through the top lined with a much newer brass ring. The most important attraction to her was the slender legs that curved. Indeed the whole desk was a mass of gentle curves with intricately carved wood. It was also far to big to ever get through the door she just came through. The rest of the room was a mass of shelves on the far wall. She had the impression they were once meant to hold volumes of hard cover books. At the moment it was more of a collection of binders in cardboard boxes, all in grey with unreadable handwriting on them, a few mementos, piles of papers half wrinkled taking up more room than they would ironed out. There was one shelf however that was different. It was very neat and looked far cleaner than any others. There was some hard cover books but in the middle was two pictures of a woman. On either side of these pictures was candle holders and small glass cups holding fresh flowers.

The one wall with the large window, a modern lcd type window currently set to partial shading, surrounding the window was a beige wall covered in plagues, diploma's and pictures of people who were important somehow. Under the window was an aged but clean cast iron radiator supplying the room with heat. Unlike most of the others she had seen with multiple layers of chipped and peeling white paint this one was actually a smooth dark brown color all nice and glossy. The small chrome bell mounted on it looked out of place otherwise it seemed much like all the others she had seen.

In the center was an older man. Hair grey turning to white with an unkempt beard. The beard was probably neatly trimmed this morning and presentable along with the rest of him however at the moment he looked like he had slept in it. She knew without looking this was the result of a long married man missing his other half. She knew that a woman much like herself would have made sure the man was presentable at all times. She wonder where she was.

On the desk in front of the old man was a thick file folder. Beside the folder was a large brandy glass that showed remnants of liquid. What the liquid was she had no clue as there was no visible bottle to show her more. The man she assumed was Professor Tandy wore a dark brown three piece suit. He even had an old fashion tie clip with chain leading to a pocket. The pocket however did not have the round bump of the old pocket watches. She assumed it was for show instead. His face, when he looked up, was old with an almost devastated expression on it. The expression changed as he noticed her to one with an attempt at a warm smile for her.

"Please tell me you are here to be my new secretary!" The rich deep voice that emerged surprised her as well as the question.

"Uh no actually I'm your appointment." She was shy for some reason and looked to the floor in the presence of this man.

"Appointment? Oh yes. But who are you?" He seemed at a bit of a loss for some reason. The fact he did not recognize her gave her a bit of hope.

"I'm uh my name is Elizabeth Tanner. I'm here about.. well you see my brother Eric Tanner was listed under your name and something called Project 14." Beth did not see the professor's eyes grow huge nor that he suddenly stood up to his full height of 5' 10". She did notice when he walked around the desk and looked her up and down. She stood her ground feeling strange as if he was examining her like a doctor would a specimen in a lab.

"Well well well. How long have you been taking hormones?" He suddenly asked.

"Never!" Beth blurted out suddenly. What was with the question?

"Really? Fascinating... I wonder.. Eric Tanner you said? Project 14?" he asked her. Beth could only nod not sure what was going on.

Professor Tandy walked to the shelf of cardboard binders in boxes and went through the illegible writings till he 'ah' and pulled out a box. He brought it to his desk and opened the box which was actually a small collection of cd's in plastic sleeves. He then picked a cd apparently at random and inserted it into something hidden from her view. The mouse and rubber pad on the desk were moved into a better position as he clicked and typed in silence. Beth waited patiently.

He apparently found something and gave her a one eye squint look before looking at the screen again and again. She waited patiently as she clicked and typed a few more times. She started to look around at the office as she waited.

"Project 14 code 161744 Alpha Mark 2020." He stated out loud and clearly to her. Beth looked back at him. She wondered what that was supposed to do. He was clearly waiting for something. Nervous but without her voice shaking she dared to ask a question.

"I'm sorry but I don't know what that means."

Professor Tandy looked up from his screen and examined this girl in front of him. She was not exhibiting any signs of post hypnotic suggesting and indeed seemed to be telling him the entire truth.

"Please Professor. I need to know what happened to my brother and.. where I come from." Beth stated this time her voice quivering.

Professor Tandy used his left hand to rub his chin with an audible scrunch of whiskers just poking out. He sat back into the chair behind his desk and seemed to contemplate how to talk to her. Beth felt the beginnings of fear as this man obviously knew something. What he knew exactly had yet to be told. The strange string of words, a code of some sort but for what? He finally opened his mouth before reaching down into a desk drawer pulling out a bottle of expensive brandy.

"Care for a sniff?" He asked. Beth shook her head and he nodded before he bellowed out." David make yourself useful and get the lady something to drink!" The voice shocked Beth as she moved backwards from the force of it. In the opposite room she heard a curse and the noise of some plastic crashing.

"Have a seat Miss Tanner. When David gets back here with a drink, one I hope has some though behind it but don't be offended if the dolt comes back with a generic can of cola from somewhere and no straw." Beth nodded and took a seat in the one padded brown leather chair in the room opposite the professor. She sat on the edge with back straight after sweeping her hand under her skirt. Her bag was put behind her. Her hands wanted to be busy but she force herself to relax them across her lap. Her normal nervous habit of the moving foot she stilled by curling it behind the other foot as she waited.