Chapter 19: Inspectors

Morning came far too soon, with Victoria shaking her awake.

"You've got to cut back those nights of debauchery. At least on school nights." she snickered. "You slept right through the bell."

"I'm up. I'm up." she replied, blatantly fibbing.

"Don't make me get the ice water!" the redhead threatened.

Mumbling imprecations under her breath, she got up, made her bed, and laid out her clothes. Joining the others, she staggered out the door and into line. As they made their way toward the pool, she heard quiet humming from parts of the line. It stopped every time they approached one of the watching teachers, then continued once the performers thought they were far enough away. While the teachers looked disapproving as they scanned the lines and tried to catch the hummers, several of them looked distinctly uncomfortable or even a bit afraid as they spotted her.

The long lines of naked girls moved as slowly as they had the morning before. Linda wondered uncomfortably whether the monitor was watching her. Or even worse, recording her. Even though the video streams were no longer going out, the thought of being watched while she was naked made her uncomfortable. It was one thing when everyone was pretending to pay no attention. But deliberate watching... that was just wrong.

Other than the uncomfortable thoughts, the morning ritual started pretty much as it had the day before. Nobody made any move toward her things while she rinsed off in the shower. Some people looked at her a bit strangely when she went to get in line. As she approached Victoria, she realized that she was carrying her towel much the same way as the cartoon had her holding Blue Boy. She shifted her hold uncomfortably.

As before, she excused herself to hand her things to a nearby teacher. As she approached, the cell rang. She saw that it was her watchers, and quickly answered it. After her initial greeting, she didn't say anything until she ended the short call. She turned to the teacher.

"Get everyone out. Now! There is a ministry car on the way with two men in it." She turned and looked at the place where she knew one of the cameras was. She held up the cell as though talking on it and continued, a bit more loudly. "Emergency! Have Miss James call me at once! A car is on its way in!"

The teacher blew her whistle three times. "Everybody out! Men are coming! You girls!" she pointed to the group still waiting for the pool. "Upstairs and get dressed! Now! The rest of you, get to the dorm showers, and rinse off and dress as quickly as you can! Go, go, go!" She caught the attention of one of the other teachers, and motioned her toward the changing room. The other nodded, and rushed off in that direction.

As Linda joined the rush to the door, the cell rang again. It was the headmistress. Linda told her that a Ministry car containing two men and a woman was coming in through the woods. She went on to assure her that none of them were affiliated with her group, and that all of the girls were on their way to the dorms. She also suggested some mops be sent to take care of the trail the wet girls were leaving enroute to the dorms. She ended the call, and concentrated on not getting trampled. As she turned the last corner, she heard the three bell signal.

Unlike the orderly lines of the morning march to the pool or the trickle of bodies as the girls individually returned from that swim, this was a moving crowd. Feeling parts of her body rub up against the naked bodies of the other girls made her much more aware of her own lack of clothes. It also reminded her of the bra incident, embarrassing her even more.

She thought to stop by the shower room and grab a handful of powder, but by the time she got there it was too crowded. She got to her room, dressed, grabbed her brush and comb, and made for her office. She tried brushing her hair on the run, but quickly gave up.

Once she reached her office, she quickly neatened her hair as she stood just inside her open door. She heard The three approach, walking with the headmistress. In front of the latter's office, the woman directed the men to go inspect the pool area while she spoke with the headmistress. Linda closed her door, grabbed the cell, and called the watchers. She had them patch the bug in the headmistress' office through to her. As they did so, they relayed the name of the woman, and what they had already heard. As she waited for the feed, she went through school records. She found the one for that woman, an expelled student of the school, just as she started hearing the relayed conversation.

The woman was bitter, and saw the current situation as a way to get back at the people who had abused her so badly when she was there. She named the teacher Linda had punished as one of those at the top of her list. Hearing that, Linda used the desk telephone to call the monitor room. She told the monitor to make her a dvd of the punishment, and to rush it down to her.

In the meantime, the former student was demanding various records and the headmistress assured her they would be provided. Then she demanded that she be allowed to interview Linda. The headmistress allowed as how she had the right to make that demand, and reached for her phone. Linda couldn't tell who she called, but she asked whoever it was about Linda's own location. She ended the call and told the woman that she was most likely on her way to her office. She then went on to explain that Linda was given the office in order to be able to meet with the expected people without unnecessarily disrupting the school. She then picked up her phone, and called Linda's office number.

Linda answered the call, as she cut the connection on the cell. She acknowledged the request of her presence, saying she would be right there. She set the cell to vibrate and slipped it in her pocket. She stepped out of her office and over to the door of the headmistress' office. She knocked and, greeted with an invitation, stepped in.

The woman was a few inched taller than Linda. She was dressed in the severe style of Ministry agents, no matter what Ministry they are from. Her dark blonde hair was styled in the short, neat style favoured by female bureaucrats and the like. Other than that, she had changed little in the five years since the picture in her file had been taken.