Chapter 9: Entering Oxford University

The next day, after school, Ava took Eddy in a different direction, taking Copse Lane instead of Eden Drive. A bit of research taught Ava that taking the bus would not make a cost-effective difference to get into Central Oxford, so they walked instead. In preparation, Ava had sent a message to her mother saying that due to a software bug, the school doors wouldn’t open, effectively locking them in, so they had to stay in overnight. Mom replied that this kind of problems would have never even been possible when she was young, then said good night and left it at that.

From Copse Lane, Ava and Eddy crossed the busy Headly Way at the traffic lights, then past shiploads of dull beige semi-detached houses at Marston Road and off to the much quieter red-bricked Croft Road. After spending some quality swing and slide time in the Croft road Playground, brother and sister skirted New Marston to pick up the Marston Cycle Path into the green meadows that lay between New Marston and the City Centre. At the crossing of the river Cherwell, they took a short break, overlooking one of the big sequoia trees, to watch the geese and eat some of the pre-packed sandwiches Ava secretly made in the morning.

Keeping geese and sandwiches separated took some effort. Ava checked her satchel to make sure she also packed the folder she compiled from the summons letter and sticky envelope articles, plus the old bread requested by the Supreme Justice. Further on, with Linacre College in sight they took a right branch to the Lucas Walk to avoid all the bicycles, before again heading into the motorised traffic of South Parks Road, all the while singing the Cheesy Poofs song. Dropping the South, they cut across the grounds between Trinity and Balliol College, preferring the quiet and the green over the streets. Luckily, the giant wrought-iron gates were not locked, so that they could squeeze onto Broad Street. While walking down George Street, Eddy enquired what a “CHICAGO” was (it took some time for him to read it at first), then wanted to know where the fire trucks of "The Old Fire Station" were, but Ava didn’t know either. So far, Eddy hadn’t ever really left the neighbourhood around Eden Drive, since Mom was somewhat overprotective, in Ava’s opinion. Getting Eddy to not talk about this experience was probably going to be an interesting quest for later. In the end, about two hours after leaving school, they finally arrived at Saint Judtmiss square, formerly known as the Worcester Street Car Park, the location of the infamous sinkhole that led to the establishing of Saint Judtmiss College.

Looking around furtively to check that dad’s car wasn’t still parked there, Ava crossed the square on tiptoe and tugged Eddy into the shadow of the protruding arches that held the College gates they needed to get past. A sleek black box with a big keyhole was haphazardly stuck to the sandstone arch with PUR foam. Wires were running down and disappeared under the artificially aged oak doors. Ava could just reach the box with her key. After some fiddling around with the key, the door slid up with artificial metallic groans from a small loudspeaker. Apparently, the electronic identification system ignored them completely because it didn’t see a chip in the key.

Once inside there was a narrow hallway with a small window on one side. A muscular guard was awkwardly bent over the SUDOKU of the day, sitting on a rickety wooden chair that barely took his weight.

The Guard looked down from his spartan checkpoint, right into two faces that were not exactly unfamiliar but definitely underage and offensively unimpressed by his uniform and build:

At a loss for words, the guard decided to keep his mouth shut... For now. Holding up his hand to signal that they had to wait right there, the guard stood up with a sigh, turned around, walked to a brushed steel cabinet behind him, took out a large binder and started leafing through it. Every now and then he licked his index finger to get a better grip on the thin sheets that tried to slide back every now and then, shaking his head and mumbling profanities that Ava tried to remember for later examination. Finally the guard came to a conclusion: This eventuality was not accounted for in his guidelines. They clearly had the key (check!), the system did not give any warnings to indicate they were terrorists (check!), or worse, auditors (doublecheck!). To help out the guard, Ava pointed out that he was not allowed to tell anything to anyone anyway due to his non-disclosure agreement, before she confidently walked on, dragging Eddy along in case the guard worked up to a different point of view in the near future.

Black marble featured heavily in the corridors extending from the central hall. Vaulted ceilings provided ample opportunities for eternal echoes. Eddy tried to outdo the noise that had already accumulated from his previous footsteps by stamping his feet and clapping his little hands ever more vigorously.

Following the discrete brass signs, they eventually stumbled into a shiny lab.

As expected, the lab looked shiny and entirely unused. Foam pellets that had been used to protect the expensive equipment still lingered in some of the corners. Even the smell was communicating profound newness.

There was a sticky note on one of the dark marble desks, indicating that now would be a good time to consume some of the obligatory bread as noted in the summons. (but please save some for the Supreme Justice). A second note mentioned that they should hit the big red button if they felt ready to start the court proceedings, but not later than five minutes after consuming the old bread.

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