One more to introduce to you:

Jerome Brady is the oldest of our three friends, though the youngest in his family of six siblings with one elder brother and four sisters.  He’s a sophomore on the university track team as he’s a just under a year older then Raylin. His speed and love of running never stopped him from hanging out with the girls who have always been encouraging him.  He’s a lively guy with a love for fun and the occasional harmless prank.  He likes to keep his brown hair on the longer side that can cover his warm brown eyes when attempting to appear compliant.  He’s got a strong sense of loyality to his family, friends and team.

He’s studying history at the university on a track scholarship.  He loves Raylin’s stories and the theories that Gracie brings to their conversations, which is how he spends most of his free time.  The three of them met in grade school, finding that they lived within three blocks of each other and have been together ever since.

Another introduction is now underway:

Just a month younger then Raylin, Gracie is the only child of two brilliant scientists.  She had no problem following in their footsteps and is studying at the university to eventually join her parents at the research center. Also like them, her pale skin sets off  her deep blue eyes but unlike her parents, she was blessed with red hair.  Standing at 5 foot 6 inches, she’s four inches shorter then her best friend but still has the friendly, kindly manner that Raylin sometimes lacks.  She’s of a more gentle frame, not being very athletic as her two best friends, but she’s not frail at all.

She spends her time researching when she’s not in class or with her friends.  She’s also the treasurer of the Science club at the university.  Raylin’s little brother and sister consider her a part of their family calling her their older sister as well.

Jerome’s dorm room had the same layout as the girls room, save the deco reflected his sporty nature as well as his roommate’s flare for female models.  Raylin always hated coming here just for that reason.  It wasn’t that Troy, Jerome’s roommate, was a bad guy or anything, just too much into what he called ’smokin’ babes.  He was a physics major, but you’d never know to look at him.  Troy wasn’t in when they arrived, so the girls got to wait peacefully for Jerome to shower and change into some clean clothes.

“So, what do you look forward to the most, Rayn?” Gracie asked after some minutes of silence with the girls just sharing the couch.

Raylin blinked at her, stared then realized that she was being talked to. “All of it!” she said enthusiastically.  “Earth was the home to us all at one time, you know. It’s just so hard to believe.”

Gracie chuckled lightly, “Three hundred years is a long time for you, but for this planet?  Hardly. It’s barely a dent in its history.  Even Earth’s history goes back nearly ten thousand years before they reached Tara and found it was suitable for settlement.”

Raylin sighed.  “Really, Gracie, I don’t need a history lesson.  I’ve known all this for years.”  Raylin stood perfectly still and mocked the monotone voice of the InfoBank.  “The fact that Tara had nearly the same type of atmosphere mixture, gravity and rotation to Earth is what made it so ideal.  That the distance soon became nothing, shortly after it’s founding, with the inter-spatial tunnels, which made this the planet’s population boom those first hundred years.”  Gracie finally laughed aloud and Raylin giggled too.  “Now there are mixtures of Tarans and Eartheons all over the surface, that we don’t really know one from the other.  Not that it matters, travel between the planets isn’t as necessary as it was during the founding years and we’re pretty self sufficient.  The trade that does go on hardly seems to matter as everything looks and acts the same wither it’s Tara-made or Earth-made.  It’s Earth’s pre-planetary travel that I’m interested in.”

“Honestly, don’t you know anything?  Most of the higher end technology comes from Earth.  This campus is lucky to be so close to Whitman Spaceport.  We are able to access to that technology long before the rest of the world.” Gracie continued her lecture, “We house the biggest research facility for new technology on the whole planet, second only to the one on Earth.”

“Which tells me,” Raylin said smiling, “that we have some smart cookies on our side as well.”  She patted Gracie’s shoulder. “You, being one of them.”  She stood and walked over toward the kitchen, turning to throw a sly look at Gracie, she added, “I’m sure some of those new breakthroughs will be coming from you, and then we’ll be the big shots.”

Jerome walked out of his room, dressed in blue jeans and a dark green polo shirt. “What do you mean, THEN?  We already are!  We’ve got the best athletes this side of the galaxy.” Raylin stuck her tongue out at him.

Gracie rose and walked toward the door.  “Too bad your running isn’t as fast as your ego’s wit. If it were, you’d never lose.”  It was Jerome’s turn to make a face.” What’s that to mean?” he asked, feinting injury.  “Just that you need to train more during practice, instead of pulling pranks.” Gracie said over her shoulder as he followed them out, locking his door behind them.

“Okay, okay, I give,” he laughed, raising his arms into the air.  “Enough picking on me and lets get on to the museum.” “Agreed,” the girls chorused in unison.

Once out of the dormitory, the sun was just starting to lower in the west. The sky was mostly clear with small white clouds floating lazily across the sky.  The temperature was warm, but not overly so.  It was late spring on Tara, so the heat was still very bearable.  The trees bore resemblance to those on Earth, just darker greens and browns.  The lane they were now following was lined with Cherry trees.  Raylin loved the blossoms, though most had already fallen from the trees, littering the walk way.  Rarely would anyone be past by the moving walk as exercise was highly encouraged.  There were no local teleports within the campus, only outside the gates.  If you were traveling from one end to the other and were in a hurry, then you’d get clearance for a moving walk.  Even once you got to the teleports, if your destination was within half a mile, they’d not work.  There were buses and trains everywhere, in town and out.  It was rare to even see a private car, those came with wealth and government positions but that too needed special permissions and guidelines.

Their dorms were close to the east gate of campus and only had them walking past one other building, which was also a dorm.  The gates were colored like stainless steel, but not made from it.  The walls that surrounded the campus were only made to look like stones, when really they too were of molded polymers. The guard on duty didn’t bother looking up as they passed as their id cards were auto-scanned by the computer as they went through.  To their left was the bus stop and the right contained the transporters. Jerome checked the time on his wristband and nodded to his left.  They made their way to the bus stop and sat down.  Gracie noted the schedule and stated, “Only three minutes to wait.”

“Great.” Raylin said, and then looking toward Jerome asked, “So what time does this thing open at anyway?  Obviously not too soon, as you opted for the bus.”  They all knew that the museum lay on the opposite side of town from the campus.  Raylin always thought that was odd, but her father had once said it was to make the city more even.  She’d never understood what that meant at all and, she bet neither did her dad.

“We’ve still got about an hour,” he stated simply, “so a scenic drive through town won’t hurt us one bit.”

In due time, bus arrived.  They boarded one by one, choosing the long side bench to sit on so they might all sit together with Jerome sitting between the two girls.  The bus pulled away from the stop and headed on its way toward the museum and all its wonders.

Both Raylin and Gracie looked up at Jerome with quizzical eyes while Gracie replied, “Hear what?”

Stepping into the room so speaking to both was easier, “That the University students get a preview of the exhibit before it opens to the public tomorrow,” Jerome’s eyes were lit up with excitement as he spoke.

“Which, they have three opening tomorrow?” Gracie questioned as Raylin jumped up, rushing at him and interrupted with, “You’re kidding, so we could go in now and see it all?”  She was nearly jumping in place.

Jerome grabbed her arms gently to stop her from running him over in her excitement.  “The Eartheon and yes we can,” he laughed, though he was as excited as she was. “So calm yourself, RJ.  If you get any closer with that hopping of yours, you’ll break my toes.”  He tried to hold her still, but she was still dancing on her heels.

“Hardly, I’m not that heavy.”  She stopped her nervous hopping and turned back to Gracie, whose face was barely showing the excitement she felt in the news.  “I say we go now!”

Gracie giggled, “You would. What about that assignment you were working on?”  Though she was the calmest of the three and was more composed, she was just as excited as the two of them.  “When did you find that out?  I’d been trying to get tickets to the opening show all week long since they went on sale!”

Jerome straighten his green t-shirt and rested his hands on his hips, acting like he was about to state he was a super hero.  “I just happened to be waiting for the Dean when they gave him the news and was able to get the first tickets for the preview.”  He kept a straight face all the while till Raylin snorted.

“Right,” she teased, “more like you got in trouble with your coach again and he’d sent you to talk to your uncle.”  She’d walked over to him while talking and now tipped him onto the couch next to Gracie.  He fell awkwardly as he didn’t want to land on her and glared a fake hurtful look back at RJ.

“Why on earth would you think that?” he whined, fake injury to pride lacing his tone.  “I have never needed to see the Dean before.” Sarcastically he added, “I’m also on my best behavior at practice I’ll have you know.”

Gracie and Raylin laughed aloud at his speech.  “Hardly, you get into trouble at least once a month or more,” Raylin retorted, standing over him.  “So, what really happened?”

He straightened himself out, untwisting his shorts as he set his legs firmly on the floor. “I pulled a prank on the senior sprinter.” Gracie hit him playfully for that and he continued, “Really, it was totally harmless, but Coach wasn’t in a good mood and just pointed to the door muttering, ‘Dean.’ I walked out and up to his office.”

Here he was interrupted by Raylin who continued the story for him, guessing how it went. “Knowing you, you just walked right in, not bothering to knock.  Got a dirty look and told to take a sit while he finished his talk with the Curator.” She sighed, “Really, I don’t know how he puts up you.”  She dropped that quickly though as she got back to the real point, “There you heard about the preview and got the tickets from your uncle.”

“Pretty much,” he said, and then after an elbow from Gracie added, “Of course I got a lecture on prank playing by the Dean, before my uncle let me have them.”  Jerome pulled a face. “You think the guy didn’t know how to have fun, but then again, he can’t be too easy with me.  Think he’s harder on me then everyone else here.”

Raylin kicked his feet gently as she sighed unsympathetically down at him.  “Oh, life is so hard for ya.  Cry some more, then lets get moving.”  She stared at a nonexistent watch on her wrist, counted silently to ten, then reached down with both hands.  Grabbing his shirt, she pulled him up to standing, turned him to face the door and pushed lightly.  “Now, it’s time to go!”

Gracie laughed again and got to her feet.  “Grab your bag first, Rayn, with your notebook.” She walked to the closet to get her own.  “You know you’ll want it once we get there.”  She turned back to face them both.  “And you,” she stated firmly, pointing at Jerome, “need to get out of your workout clothes.”

Raylin sighed, she hated waiting when there was something fun coming.  “Yeah, I know.”  She followed Jerome to the door, pausing only long enough to grab her notebook off the floor where it had fallen and tossed it into her backpack that awaited her in the closet. “She’s right.  I don’t think I want to be with you that long while you reek of sweat.” Jerome made a face at her as he passed her out the door, she returned it. She took one quick look around the room, touched the light pad which turned all the power off to the place and closed the door behind her.

The walk to Jerome’s room was uneventful.  The halls were all the same, white with pictures of nature displaced on the viewing panels.  The women’s and men’s dorms were all part of the same building, just in opposite wings.  Both the girls and his were along the inner corridors so there were no windows during their walk.  Raylin was too busy thinking about all they were to see to talk and the other two were silent as well as they too were thinking about all that would be there waiting for them at the Eartheon Exhibit.

 “It all started that day… ”

Rayn just sat there, staring at the page, as if it would start filling itself without her.  Those five words were the only ones on the page and this assignment was due in a week! She sighed loudly and the page offered a list of optional words that were similar to the sound.  “Oops,” she said and removed the headset as she closed the list.  “Why won’t this just flow!?”  Rayn laid back on the sofa and stared up at the dorm room’s ceiling, allowing her hands to close the electronic notebook sitting in her lap.

The flecked white of the ceiling sometimes reminded her of snowstorms, but not now. Right now, it was more just an ugly mess, just as her thoughts were.  She allowed her eyes to wonder the room, taking in the comfortable but sparse furnishings.  Besides the sofa on which she sat, there was a small dark wood-stained end table with a red reading lamp sitting on it at just the right angle to allow one to read from the sofa.  Opposite both these and separated by the oblong coffee table, were their computer desks.

 Gracie’s was a reflection of her, the lovely whitewashed molded desk which even had flower embedded handles on the drawers.  Her books, files, notebooks, pens and Info Hub all arranged neatly and completely dust free.

 Rayn’s, however, was not so organized.  The books normally were spread all over the wooden surface of her antique wooden desk, along with her pens and notebooks. Not even the top of her Hub was free from the clutter of notes for stories or character backgrounds.  The two screens that were part of the wall were currently off so they looked no different from the rest of the wall.

The door to her room was slightly ajar, but her light was off. The small kitchen area was darkened as well as there was no one currently in that part of room, but she could make out the small sink, fridge and mini-oven that formed that corner just inside their door.  On the other side of the front door was the laundry and front closet, which along with the room were painted white.  Gracie’s door formed the remaining view before she got back to her lap and notebook. 

She frowned down at it.  Her writing professor had given them this assignment just this morning, though it was only the first day of the new term.  Rayn had been attending the University of Whellwright for the past 4 months and was in her third term, this was what the professor had deemed “long enough to understand how the system should work” and plow right in.  True in some respects but to expect a decent short story in a week’s time?  Just what is he thinking and to say it should start with ‘It all started that day…?’ Rayn wasn’t in a “short story” mood.  She’d wanted more time to work on her novel, not try to think out yet another story, or off shot of one of her many other story ideas.  She made a face at the notebook just as the door opened to allow her roommate admittance.

“Now really, what did the notebook ever do to you?” Gracie asked playfully, setting her bag in the closet as she walked over to sit next her best friend. Rayn just looked at her, defeat written clearly on her face.  She gazed over Rayn’s normal attire, a soft blue t shirt and jeans, both disheveled from her sitting cross-legged and lounging back at slight angle.  She brought her eyes back to her best friend’s face and continued, “That bad, huh?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Rayn replied with another sigh. She straightened up as Gracie sat down then turned a little to rest her head on her friend’s shoulder. “I just can’t seem to get anywhere!”   Today she noticed that Gracie had a hint of vanilla smell to her. Her white blouse and pink stripped skirt set off her womanly features well and her red  hair was neatly set up in a bun at the nap of her neck.

Gracie put her arm around her and squeezed gently.  Smiling encouragingly she said, “I’m sure you’ll think of something soon. You always do. I’ve not seen you run out of ideas yet.”

Rayn lifted her head to meet Gracie’s deep blue eyes.  In a dead serious tone, she stated flatly, “Well, now you have.  I can’t think of ANYTHING.” The “give me a break” look that she received as a reply broke her fake seriousness and made her laugh.

Gracie’s smile widened as she said, “There! Now there’s less storm in those eyes, Rayn. Still, it is surprising for you to have work already.  I mean, it’s only the first day and with half classes to boot.”

“I knoooow,” Rayn replied dejectedly, drawing the word out.  “Part of the ‘real’ world, he said.” She sat up and mimicked, “Doesn’t matter the time you have in classes or not, just the due date is all that matters. Onery old man,” she complained, letting herself fall back against the cushions. The notebook and headset resting in her lap slid sideways off her legs.  To avoid breaking either, she tried to set them on the coffee table but dropped them halfway there when the doorbell rang startling her. “It’s not locked,” she called while scooping them up and placing them in the center of the table.

Gracie stood and made her way to the door. “No one can hear you when you’re talking to the floor,” she giggled.

Pressing the now lit red button on the door, it swung open to reveal their mutual friend, Jerome.  His tall athlete frame outlined in the light from the hall gave him a momentary glow as he stepped into the room. “Howdy ladies, and how are we doing today?”  What he got back was a jumble of “fine” from Gracie and “terrible” from Rayn. “Well, in either case, I’ve come to make your day even better! Wait till you hear this.”