The Cosmos, The Arrivals, Book 1, Chapter 3, Babs Anticipates Tiffany, Robyn & Steph: Roommates, Day 1, Section 4, Babs Considers Steph & Robyn: Threat Potentials. ¶ Babs closes the door of her private bathroom and again sits herself in the chair behind the desk, so she faces the door and can see into the hallway and the top of the stairs. No one lurking. ¶ BB straightens up, props one elbow on the desk, swishes her hand on the surface before her, and the surface of the desk, the Desktop, glimmers to life with feeds from the two door Cams. No one calling. ¶ {Steph knows how to run this last Term when she was the Monitor. Except I never quite knew what Steph did, and I never saw Desktop from this side.} ¶ BB mulls over the implication of her own Pledge out-knowing her, but toughens. {If Steph can operate the Desktop, so can I!} Boss Babe passes her hand through her hair and mulls over the prospect of being out-maneuvered during the Term ahead. She looks at the top bunk again and considers her Game. {Yes, there is a Steph on the Manifest. And yes, it is the same Steph. Yes, all through last Term she was the Monitor Boss of this very Cosmos House, and yes, last Term I was one of her Pledge! Newbie Babs I was.} ¶ BB clenches her teeth together and then talks to the empty upper bunk, “And then one day Steph vanishes. Poof! Gone!” ¶ {Last seen wearing a minidress. A cutout minidress buttonholeless.} Babs remembers. {Over panties. Two pieces.} BB smiles. ¶ Boss Babe checks to make sure that the back of her nombril hasn’t slid down so that she cracks rugage. It hasn’t, not that there is anyone here in the Bedroom to look. She wipes a finger under a nostril and considers the bottom bunk alcove. ¶ During the short time from Steph’s disappearance until the end of last Term, Steph’s Roommate presumed to be in charge, so it was Pledge Robyn who oversaw the final Mudwrestling Contest. ¶ {It was Robyn who said that Steph had suffered a reversal of fortunes; she lost her panties, tore her dress, and would Opt Down and Pledge this Term.} ¶ BB recalls the Manifest, “Steph, one piece.” And projects, {Minidress, no panties.} BB purses her lips. {Just what I need: a role-reversed Pledge sure to have an attitude problem. This is my reward for promoting?} ¶ Apparently so. ¶ “Robyn, one piece,” also bespeaks the Manifest, but Babs resists jumping to conclusions. {Could this be the same Robyn? On one hand, it makes sense, Robyn being Steph’s Roommate last Term,} Babs weighs. {On the other hand, it makes no sense at all. Because Pledge are required to either Opt Up or Opt Down, Opt Monitor or Opt Strip. Nothing else. No repeating, no pledging again, no do-overs. Just Up or Down.} ¶ BB digs deeper. {So for this to be the same Robyn—last Term and this Term—it means spirit forc.es enchant the outcome. Maybe Robyn has Charm after all.} ¶ Babs dredges. {The last time I saw Robyn she was wearing a one piece maillot cutout swimsuit; she had gone to great lengths to get her navelage reduced to a small hole around her belly button, but….} ¶ Babs scratches her hair back. She scratches harder. It feels good. ¶ {But,} BB regains control over her thoughts, {one piece is one piece. And one piece should have Opted Robyn Down to the Strip, and not here to the Cosmos House.} ¶ Babs looks around Bedroom again. At her bunk and the alcove below; at the desk drawer holding Dice and the Makeup Case; at the Desktop and Screen; at the lockers and door to the private bathroom. ¶ BB glances down at her body. Bikini Babe. Babs takes a big breath. {Okay. I’m on the Manifest too, two pieces. But why am I here?} BB must think about that answer. But she knows part of the answer, and raises her forefinger into the air, “I’m here to learn about love and power exchange. And discover the forc.e of Kundalini.”