There's a scratching sound and a series of beeps at their door.

Aegis sits up.

The door slides open.

It's a familiar face. Hello, Sue's new best friend.

"Hiding in your room? What, forever, Tommy?" asks Sue's new best friend. "Not very sociable of you."

(Sue's name is, alas, not hard to find. The teachers will use a nickname simply because that's the only way for them to get him to respond, but "Thomas Chester Sanderson" goes on being stamped into every official record.)

Aegis stands in one fluid motion.