(solo)

Sebastian sat at his recently tidied desk wearing a brown woven suit jacket over a pale yellow shirt and tie. The pants matched the jacket and were specially tailored to leave room for his white tail to swish freely behind him. His full beard was neatly trimmed for once, and his hair was pulled back into an efficient and tidy ponytail. He looked a respectable fifty years of age, the beginnings of smile lines highlighted his sparkling blue eyes.

“Are you sure you have all those cords hooked up correctly?” Sebastian leaned over his desk, staring dubiously at the recording equipment that had been assembled in front of his work space.

“Yes, sir. There really are only two cables. I could show you how to connect them, then you could do this on your own next time,” responded the slouching seventeen year old boy standing behind the camera. His dress was more casual than the headmaster's, but was still more formal than the average high school senior: he wore a pale green button down shirt and black dress pants with a thin pinstripe down the side. His eyes were directed downward, trained on his sleek black hand held gaming console.

Sebastian held up his hand, “No, no. I trust you Thomas.” Sebastian found his seat once more and straightened his shirt one final time. He would never be able to understand technology. It advanced faster than he could learn to use it. “Alright, I am ready.”

“You can start speaking... now,” responded the dark haired teenager as he casually reached over and pressed the record button on the camera without looking away from his game.

Sebastian smiled and began his message:
“To the leaders of the Colony in Antarctica,

My name is Sebastian Csendes and I am the headmaster of Pax Academy based in New York City. We are a charter school with a curriculum designed to promote peace. We have both human and mutant students that learn side by side, which helps prepare them to peacefully share the world.

Your colony on Antarctica is one of the only areas of our world that has been untouched by violence and it is an excellent example for the rest of the planet. With your permission, we'd like to send two of our teachers to tour the colony and discuss setting up a potential partnership between our school and your settlement.

We hope to eventually be able to send groups of students to visit Antarctica to witness firsthand a place where peace is prospering for educational field trips and perhaps even internships for the older students. They will also be able to observe first hand the way the people of the colonies use their natural gifts to solve problems and work together, just as we are teaching them to do.

Please consider my request to send two instructors as ambassadors from our school. I sincerely hope to hear from you soon. Thank you.”

Sebastian then repeated the message in Mandarin, Arabic, Spanish, and French then nodded toward Thomas when he was finished. Master of peripheral vision, the technologically adept teen switched off the camera once again without missing a beat in his game.

“Thank you,” Sebastian smiled. “I don't know what I would do without you... what I will do without you once you graduate,” he corrected himself.

“No problem, don't mention it. Will there be anything else, sir?”

“No. Except... could you show me how to get it out of there again?” Sebastian frowned toward the many complicated looking buttons on the side of the recording device. Last time he had tried to take the tape out it hadn't gone at all well.

Sebastian checked his cheat sheet, and carefully followed the steps to check his email, all the way from "Move the mouse to the Fiery Fox logo" to "type the password and press enter". There, in his email box was a message from Antarctica:

>>>Mr. Csendes,

>>>I would be pleased to receive your emissaries. I have studied your information online about your Academy in detail. It is a very substantial and important advance in relations. While we normally do not allow humans here, I am sure we can work something out. Most of this is due to the fact that the majority of our residents have suffered at the hands of humans and the Council here wished to be free of the general ongoing drama between the two species.

>>>I, myself, believe this is an excellent step in the right direction. I would like to ask for your discretion now. My assistant, Peter, has a mutation that allows him to open gateways across space. We could easily access a common place in New York and give your emissaries a way to traverse the long space between there and here without the 22 hour plane flight. this keeps down on costs and danger for both of us. I look forward to hearing your response.

>>>Cordially,
Garrett Wills, M.D.

Sebastian read the email with a sigh of relief. So far, things seemed to be starting out smoothly with the Colony of Antarctica. They seemed willing to meet with the Pax Academy teachers, and had not (yet) objected outright to allowing students to eventually visit the colony. It would be truly a wonderful learning opportunity for the students, and perhaps even the colonists, if everything worked out.

He carefully selected the “reply” button and began to slowly type his response. Writing on a computer wasn't anything like typing on a typewriter. For one thing, the keys were so sensitive that letters appeared if he so much as thought about pressing a key. As a result, there was not a satisfying clacking noise when the keys were pressed, nor was there a ding to reward him for finishing a line. It made the writing seem much more laborious.

For some reason, the computer also decided to underline many of his words in red. According to his cheat sheet, that meant the computer was disagreeing with him about the spelling of a word. Honestly, a typewriter would never have been so quarrelsome. Also, Sebastian thought, whoever had decided that the spelling of words should be changed from their original spellings should be dug up and given a stern lecture.

"Dear Doctor Wills,

Thank you for your response. I am encouraged by the possibility of arranging for student visits to your peaceful continent. Thank you for considering the possibility along with your council of leaders.

Your partner's ability sounds like it will make traveling the long distances very convenient. I hope that bridging the long distance will cause him no inconvenience. Certainly, I hope that my knowledge of his mutation shall likewise be less than troublesome and I shall handle this knowledge with the discretion possible.

The two teachers who will be accompanying you back to Antarctica are Sara Nobes and Rayne Srisai. If it is convenient for you, they will meet you at platform 22 as the train station in New York City on the first of October at noon. I will ask them to be prepared to travel whenever you are ready to make the return journey. In the meantime, I hope they can show you some of the sights of the city.

I look forward to your further correspondence,

Sebastian Csendes
Headmaster of Pax Academy"

Sebastian allowed the computer to have its own way with the English spellings, then delicately pressed the send button and allowed the message to travel nearly instantaneously through wires and airwaves, across continents and oceans, to the inbox of Garrett Wills, head doctor for the Colony.