Chamber's College
"Dean Ockham, you must come, quickly!" The woman holding the lamp was tall and thin. At first Tox thought she was older than he, but as the lamp swung in her grip he saw that while her expression was severe and her clothing conservative, her face was unlined.
"What is it?" Ockham asked, the tone of his voice urgent.
"Please come," she said, and turned for the door. Ockham followed, as did Leblanc. Tox fell in behind. The three men hustled through the hallways, which were slowly filling with faculty members idled by the darkness. At the end of a long hallway they passed through a doorway and down a flight of stairs to ground level. There they encountered a small crowd of people idling near the door to the outside. Occasionally flashes of lightning illuminated their calm faces.
Tox followed the light through the crowd to one of the few doors he recognized. Beneath the Faculty House was the campus sauna. Chamber's College was a very hierarchical organization, and the separation between the faculty and the students was encouraged. The sauna was the one place that seperation broke down, and Tox had been delighted when he found it. In addition, the sauna held a number of particularly ancient graphiti.
The sauna was actually a series of rooms carved into the bedrock the Faculty House sat on. Amazingly, even though the power was out throughout the house, the small lights set into pockets in the damp stone were still lit, filling the sauna with orange light. Three people, a woman and two men, were huddled near the entrance to the sauna, and parted to make way for the group. From their expressions Tox assumed they had seen something disturbing. He couldn't tell if they were students or faculty; without any clothes, all people looked very much the same. "This way, Dean Ockham," the woman said, pausing before the door before the first large sauna room. "It's Miss Beau."
"What is it?" Ockham asked, the tone of his voice urgent.
"Please come," she said, and turned for the door. Ockham followed, as did Leblanc. Tox fell in behind. The three men hustled through the hallways, which were slowly filling with faculty members idled by the darkness. At the end of a long hallway they passed through a doorway and down a flight of stairs to ground level. There they encountered a small crowd of people idling near the door to the outside. Occasionally flashes of lightning illuminated their calm faces.
Tox followed the light through the crowd to one of the few doors he recognized. Beneath the Faculty House was the campus sauna. Chamber's College was a very hierarchical organization, and the separation between the faculty and the students was encouraged. The sauna was the one place that seperation broke down, and Tox had been delighted when he found it. In addition, the sauna held a number of particularly ancient graphiti.
The sauna was actually a series of rooms carved into the bedrock the Faculty House sat on. Amazingly, even though the power was out throughout the house, the small lights set into pockets in the damp stone were still lit, filling the sauna with orange light. Three people, a woman and two men, were huddled near the entrance to the sauna, and parted to make way for the group. From their expressions Tox assumed they had seen something disturbing. He couldn't tell if they were students or faculty; without any clothes, all people looked very much the same. "This way, Dean Ockham," the woman said, pausing before the door before the first large sauna room. "It's Miss Beau."