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The Cohen Loop Max and Carver 2 copyright comidacomida 2014

Once classes began anew the following week the changes started piling up. The Phins were a big disruption at school for the entire first class; despite their training and preparation there were still some adjustments needed. Other than a few exchange students forgetting that humans raised a hand rather than issuing out (what the teachers referred to as 'disruptive') clicks, there was also the most basic issue of note taking-- most teachers required it but, seemingly, few Phins felt the need.

The most embarrassing change, however, was the fact that Max had to be reseated at the back of the class; he had never PURPOSEFULLY chosen to sit at the back. Since Humans and their Phins were seated alongside one another, the fact that Carver was LITERALLY head and shoulders taller than the rest of the students it was deemed necessary. One side effect of being in the back of the room, unfortunately, was that Max ended up with all of the students that chose to be as far away from the teacher as possible... which meant he was grouped up with Andy and Gary for far too much time.

Andy, as it turned out, had paired up with a Longos named Coaster. When Max found out he mused on the humor that a human devoted to 'coasting' through classes was paired up with a Phin so named because he was particularly good at a skill the Phins called 'sea-gliding'. Gary, who sat on the other side of Andy and Coaster ended up with Hunter, an Album, just as he'd hoped. While Coaster was pleasant and laid back, Hunter was exactly the opposite. Abrasive and driven, the Album was obviously competitive, and it was easy to see how the two became a pair: Gary was nothing if not a follower.

Although Angie Mae was not part of Max's primary class, he later learned that she had partnered up with an outgoing Longos who was apparently among the top of his class when it came to human interaction, which was good because, as far as Max was concerned, Angie Mae was probably the best among them with Phins. During the short time he saw her at lunch it seemed like the two were already fast friends, and they were exchanging words in no less than three human languages-- one phrase Walker said in Phin was responded to in... was it Mandarin? Max wasn't sure.

The first month of having the Phins at the Unity Centre took some getting used to. Not only was their presence the obvious white elephant in the room, but the Centre itself underwent a dramatic change; the twelve deck ship originally had four and a half floors beneath sea level, but, with the addition of the Phins, the Centre actually took on additional sea water, leading to an even division of six above and six below.

All of the students and their surrogate families were moved to mid-ship decks so that the Phins would have easy access to water. The wet suits the visitors wore were good for at least six hours out of the sea but it seemed they were infinitely more comfortable if they could swim regularly. To be honest, Max wouldn't have been able to fault them; he probably would have gone out of his mind if he had to swim for six hours straight without being able to walk.

It had been been a mixed last month with not everyone doing well with their partner, but okay for most. Andy and Coaster seemed to mesh well enough, with Coaster encouraging Andy to do a little more while Andy managed to get Coaster to do a little less. With Hunter's very commanding direction Gary, despite always looking tired, really improved in classes. Every time Max saw Angie Mae she appeared beside herself with happiness; she and Walker really seemed to have hit it off and they were a true team.

And then there was Max. It wasn't that he was resistant to the idea of getting to know Carver; if anything, the Amplus was friendly, open, and easy to get along with... but, then again, that was everything Max didn't consider himself to be. Sure, he'd had a number of friends back home but he'd grown up with them-- friendships didn't happen over a matter of days or weeks. And so, they remained classmates and roommates.

Despite the logic behind his hesitance, Max still felt bad about it; Carver was nothing but relaxed and pleasant around him. By all rights there shouldn't have been a reason why they couldn't have gotten along as well as, say Angie Mae and Walker. At the very least Max was content with the knowledge that, when it came down to it, they hadn't done as poorly as the other Human-Amplus pairing.

Max hadn't ever learned the other Amplus' name, but he heard through the whispers and rumors that he was paired up with the last student available among the Humans... it was a matter of default, and, in that case, luck was apparently not on their side. The Amplus had been sent back to Other-Earth just two weeks into the quarter, and, apparently his human counterpart was kicked out of the Unity Centre; saying they did not get along was putting it mild-- apparently they got into a fight that took the surrogate parents and two security officers to break up.

That was about the time the glances began. As the last Amplus in the program, Carver ended up getting more than his fair share of looks. More than once a classmate would whisper to Max, asking if his Phin partner was prone to violent outbursts or had been mistreating him in private. Eventually more and more eyes found their way to him-- concern and pity first and foremost. The entire situation made him even more uncomfortable. It all came to a head right at the end of the first month; it was a Saturday-- physical activity day.

Max's class was assisting an engineering team securing a titanium plate on one of the Unity Centre's upper decks. The fine precision work was left up to the trained professionals while the students were used in number for pure physical labor. Several lines were secured to the metal plate with four students to a line. While Max was not exactly out of shape, he and Carver had been awake well into the night studying for an upcoming mid-semester test on Oceanic Tectonics, and he ended up with far less sleep than he should have.

One-by-one, the students lowered their section of the plate until only two ropes remained taut; Max's team held one of them... and that's when everything went wrong. Although he wasn't really sure what happened, one moment Max was holding the rope, straining with every last ounce of strength he had and, the next moment Angie Mae may looking down at him where he lay with his back on the floor. It had taken nearly a minute for him to convince her that he was alright, and only then did he realize that the other members of his rope team were standing there looking down at them... none were holding the rope-- just Carver.

The Amplus stood with his feet planted firmly on the deck, the non-slip soles of his wet suit gripping it just as firmly as he was holding the rope. Finally, as the titanium plate was fitted down into place he let go of the rope, having held it up alone. Moments later Carver was by his side, excusing the two of them as he hefted Max up in his arms and left the assembly; he brought Max back to their apartment. Unfortunately, that only earned them more glances... and lots of whispers.

It turned out that Max had just been suffering from fatigue, and he recovered over the course of his day off. Carver had insisted that he sleep, even going so far as to remove all study material from the room. The Human remembered being mad at the Amplus for awhile or, at least, until he fell asleep and didn't wake up the entire day. He ate a simple meal with his surrogate family and went straight back to bed. He had recovered physically before school the next day but, apparently, he still had a ways to go socially.

After classes let out that day the rest of the students began making plans to go out and have some fun; apparently the recreation deck had gained a new simulator and everyone was eager to give it a try. Max had never really been into the loud arcades or any game that, as he put it, could cause whiplash-- maybe he was just making excuses so he'd be able to study, but he had already surrendered his full Sunday to resting and he really wasn't able to afford any more. He declined politely when he was invited; Carver returned to the apartment with him without offering an objection.

Max felt horrible immediately when he saw Carver glancing back toward everyone heading off to the rec center, "I'm sorry I'm not as social as everyone else."

The Amplus simply smiled. "We're a team, Max, and it's just a game. There'll be time for games later." He spoke through his resonance chamber without his mouth moving, leaving the expression unchanged.

A large portion of the night was spent studying. Max went back through several books on geological mapping and tectonic plate movements while Carver quizzed him on fault lines and how underwater earthquakes affected ocean tidal movements. The Phin even put down a game board of sorts, referring to it by the name of a 20th century human show, Jeopardy. They played through the board twice, trying to see how high a score Max could earn. Despite being surprised that Carver knew about Jeopardy, he was even more surprised that he almost doubled his score from one game to the next.

Max never really COULD figure out exactly how, but, at some point during their Monday night together, Carver managed to transition the human from brain-wracking study to silly useless trivia questions. Their Jeopardy game ended up having nothing to do with the study material but Max was having so much fun he didn't even realize it until he said aloud, "What is an Onomatopoiea?" and Carver nodded in acknowledgment that the Human's answer was correct. A moment later Max wondered aloud what, if anything that had to do with Oceanic Tectonic.

Carver's answer was simple, made with a combination of Phin vocals and resonance chamber, "Crash. Crunch. Ka-Boom." They both ended up laughing, Carver in his odd hiccuping-clicking-bark, and Max, with a full bellied guffaw the likes of which he could not ever before recalled hearing coming from himself. It was a good night and, for once, Max didn't mind that he wasn't exactly studying.

* * * * * *

Classes had improved for Max dramatically by the time the first semester was coming to a close. With only two weeks left to go, the Human finally felt that he was getting a grasp of things since his arrival at the University Centre. With the aid of Carver, he found it easier to get his studying done, and it seemed that he was obsessing over less and less-- of course, that didn't mean he wasn't still studying, it just wasn't quite as much of a compulsion. Even though, by his count he studied twice as much as the other students it was still only half as much as he'd done during his previous semester.

With only a little more than a dozen days until winter break, Max's mind normally would have been in constant study mode, but something was, for once, different. With Carver around it gave him a little bit of a distraction, and that wasn't completely unpleasant. It had been a long time since Max had spent any great amount of time around anyone other than his family and, even though Carver was technically part of his surrogate household there was more of a connection than just that-- had me made a friend?

The two sat in the apartment's study room... or, rather, that's what Max called it; Carver referred to it as the Communal Room. The large, open floor plan was designed specifically for the comfort of both Humans and Phins with half of the square footage taken up by an Olympic sized swimming pool that had sea water constantly circulated by high pressured jets. The other half of the room was a solid concrete floor with some kind of water-resistant reed matting overlay. Further away from the pool were a series of sofas and chairs.

There were twenty five circular groupings of inset lighting in the ten foot ceiling spaced evenly throughout the room, providing ample illumination. Max considered the lighting perfect for study and the fact that Carver could swim at the same time made it ideal for the two of them and they'd spent more and more of their time together in the half-and-half chamber. The human had pulled one of the hard wood chairs to the edge of the pool and balanced an atlas for Land-Earth on his lap while Carver tread water nearby holding a water-resistant tablet that contained the text for Water-Earth Geography.

Max paused, flipping through the pages of his Atlas, "Um... New Los Angeles?"

Carver smiled, "Are you sure?"

The Human delayed his answer as he turned the page again; it was futile since his book had locations of Human cities on Land-Earth rather than Water-Earth, but the movement helped him settle his thoughts, "Yea. The Eastern Sands on Water-Earth are where California is here... and I know the coastal outposts we've set up there all correspond with locations here... so that means the Human outpost at the Eastern Sands has to be New Los Angeles... right?"

The Amplus nodded, "Very good, Max."

Max clenched his fist in the air, "Victory!"

The Phin laughed in response, "And only twelve left to go!"

The Human was fast to respond, counting them off on his fingers, "New Anchorage, New Buenos Aires, New San Juan, New Boston, New London, New Athens, New Cape Town, New Sydney, New Shanghai, New Seoul... um.... darn it..."

Carver smiled, "You ran out of fingers."

Max rolled his eyes, "What's the one in Japan?... oh! New Yokohama!"

"One more."

The Human grit his teeth, flexing three fingers as he thought about the final of the thirteen human colonies on Water Earth, "Oh.. I know this one... it's in India..."

Carver was quick to clarify, "It is off of the coast of what would be called Bangladesh here, Max."

The Amplus had corrected him enough times on that one that it suddenly came to mind, "New Chittagong."

"Very good. Now how about the closest Phin cities to each of those locations?"

Max drew a blank, but quickly flipped to where Los Angeles was on his book and began thinking of the different ways he memorized to remind himself. He looked up at Carver, who was waiting patiently, "I can use the translated names for them, right?"

The Amplus let out a series of clicks and huffs, the equivalent of a chuckle, "Unless you've managed to figure out the right way to speak Phin?"

The Human licked his lips and shut them tightly together, pulling air in through his teeth to create a fait chirp, followed by clicking his tongue twice and he finished it up with a grunt, then smirked at the surprised expression on Carver's face, "Maybe not the whole language, but there are a few words we can mimic."

The Amplus laughed, "Except insulting someone's parents isn't really useful in polite conversation."

Max felt his face flush brightly, "Well... you DID ask about me learning Phin. At least I can mostly understand it now."

That was one thing that the Human really did attribute entirely to Carver. Although Max had performed only marginally at learning Phin during his first year at the Unity Centre he had accomplished far more in the short time he had known the Amplus, and continued to learn more every day. Carver's face reserved emotion as he stated plainly, "Well I'm sure you didn't learn THOSE words from me."

Max shook his head, "No... but Hunter says them often enough, and the human equivalent."

The Amplus nodded, then glanced at the clock on the wall, "This is a good place to stop for now... it's almost time for dinner anyway."

The Human surprised himself by closing his book without argument. One thing DID catch his attention though, "Its funny how fast you took to three meals a day... don't you have four back on Water-Earth?"

Carver climbed out of the pool, brushing the majority of the water off of his wet suit before the rest was absorbed by the sponge-like material, "We came to Land-Earth to learn your ways... if you eat three meals then I eat three meals."

It was something so simple to talk about, but it had never really been brought up in conversation. Carver was so easy-going it was hard to believe that he had lived life any other way than how he was doing at the Centre, but it also called to mind several other things that Max hadn't really thought about when he was around the Amplus. "So... how weird is our food compared to what you eat at home?"

Carver thought about the question for a moment as the two walked down the hall to the kitchen. "We have a lot more meat... seafood, as you call it."

Max nodded, grabbing some of the ready-made chicken his surrogate parents had left for them; they were both working on night shift, which meant no real 'family meals'. "Well... I guess that makes sense... Phins probably didn't really have much of a desire to develop land for ranching or farming, right?"

The Amplus shrugged, "Developed sea farming... a variety of floating plants, algae, kelp, and a kind of aquatic mushroom called--" he identified it with a whistling-pop-click in Phin, "that has no equivalent here on Land-Earth."

Despite the trepidation he used to feel when looking into the future at visiting Water-Earth, Max felt a strange sense of impatient excitement mixed with it, "I love mushrooms... I look forward to trying them... and maybe giving them a name Humans can say."

Carver nodded, pulling some smoked salmon with lemon wedges out of the refrigerator and set the platter on the counter after a quick inhaling whuff through his open mouth-- the equivalent to a sniff, "Mmm... I have really come to enjoy what Humans have come up with by combining land and sea. It is a very good experience."

The two sat down and divided up the food, both eating chicken, salmon, and lemon. Max was used to having dinner rolls with every evening meal but had since given it up when he discovered that Phins were unable to digest grain, and settled for sharing a bowl of potato salad, a dish which Carver had, on multiple occasions said he particularly enjoyed.

The evening continued wonderfully, sharing a discussion regarding the old human adage of everything tasting like chicken, and then Carver comparing the meat to a fish the humans on Water-Earth started calling 'Deep Tuna'. Max hadn't ever laughed so hard when he heard that, and had to explain to Carver that tuna on Land-Earth was nicknamed 'Chicken of the Sea'. The Amplus made him laugh all the more when he shrugged and admitted that chicken did taste a lot like Deep Tuna.

They spent the rest of the evening not studying, for once. The next several hours were spent standing at the railing on the apartment's balcony overlooking the sea as the sun set. Carver talked softly about how beautiful the sunset was on Land-Earth; although the sky was bluer on Water-Earth, nothing he had ever seen was able to compare to the red and yellows and oranges of a Human-Earth sunset. He fell quiet as he murmured how amazing it would be to see the sunset over land some day.

The two spent the next few minutes without a word as the sun continued dipping out of view behind what Max guessed was the eastern Mexican coastline. He surprised himself at the next words out of his mouth, "If you want, maybe there'll be some time to go ashore during break... I mean... if you want?"

The happy whistle that emerged from the large Phin next to him almost made Max feel giddy. "I'd like that."

The silence continued, but when Carver slid his arm around Max's shoulder the Human did not actually feel uncomfortable. He knew that Phins had no problem with physical interaction, but the same could not normally be said of the young man. Regardless, he couldn't bring himself to object; it was actually kind of... nice. "So would I."

* * * * * *

It was storming outside the Unity Centre; Max had honestly forgotten how the early winter storms could be out on the ocean, but within the Comparative Biology class room they couldn't hear, see, or feel any of it. Professor Griffith was apparently not a fan of the sea, and so her class room was almost exactly mid-ship and, with the gyroscopic stabilization of the Centre, it could easily have been on land.

With only a handful of days until winter break, Max normally would have been a complete wreck of nerves in preparation for the final exams but, for whatever reason, things weren't the same as 'usual'... and it had just as much to do with his recent successes in his classes as it did the large Amplus seated across from him at the small study table at the back of the class. Or, perhaps he realized, the success in class and Carver were not exactly the two separate topics he had convinced himself that they were.

For the last class session before finals, Professor Griffith had her class divide up into groups of four: two humans and two Phins. Since there were thirty students in the class it left one group of students working as a pair. Max was quick to take that opportunity, volunteering himself and Carver for the task. The Amplus smiled and nodded when the Professor asked if he was alright with that, and, with the Phin's approval, Professor Griffith made it so.

It wasn't that Max was anti-social precisely, but when it came to studying there was something comforting and reassuring about being near Carver that he feared would be changed or corrupted with the addition of more students... especially since the other Phins had yet to stop giving the large Amplus 'the eye'. All in all, it didn't sit well with the Human.

Situated at the back of the class, the pair were going over general organ placement and the differences among the individual viscera, and that was when it finally happened: Carver actually had a question for Max, "I don't understand why human lungs are so small. You have more access to air-- wouldn't your stamina and endurance be better if your lungs were larger?"

The Human was eager to present his opinion, backing up his answer with the education they'd received that semester, "Human lungs are smaller than Phin lungs BECAUSE of our access to air. It's true can't hold our breath under water as long as Phins, but the fact that human lungs are smaller gives us more room for other organs. Besides, if our lungs were larger we'd have to have a larger heart to accommodate the blood flow to make them worthwhile."

Carver nodded in thought, "That makes sense... and also explains why Humans have smaller hearts. I guess you also don't need the extra heat boost in metabolism since body heat diffuses slower in air than water."

It took a moment before Max realized that the Amplus was testing him, "Your body regulates metabolism... when you're diving down deeper into the water your metabolism slows down to conserve oxygen, it doesn't ramp up."

The Phin chuckled out a series of clicks, "Long dives-- another reason big lungs come in so handy."

Max still wasn't buying it, "Your high red blood cell density-- all that hemoglobin helps just as much, I'm sure... that, and the high concentration of Myoglobin."

Carver's grin was unmistakable, "I think you'll do just fine on the finals, Max." he turned off his tablet, then reached across the shared table to turn off the Human's. "That is... if you can tell me why Phins don't suffer from decompression sickness like human divers do if they surface too quickly."

The Human wasn't about to winter for a trick question, "Phins do, just like humans... you just have increased tolerance for the nitrogen release into your bodies and have more experience in the water to avoid the stupid mistakes that us land mammals do."

The two shared a laugh, but Max quickly quieted down when they received a nasty glare from the closest study group. After that, they kept their voices subdued and went through a final review of the differences in fatty tissue deposits between Humans and Phins, and how each species' body mass index reflected their respective lifestyles.

As class comes to an end, Andy and Gary came by to check on Max. While it was abnormal for anyone in his class to actually approach him at the beginning of the year, both of them had seemingly taken an increased interest in his welfare since he'd passed out during the work day a few months prior. Andy was the first to speak up, "Hey, Max."

Max handed his tablet to Carver and stood up to face the other Human. "Hi."

Gary spoke up from his place behind Andy, "We're gonna take a break from studying tonight... hitting up the arcade, and we thought you might wanna come with... you know... blow off a little steam."

Glancing back at Carver, Max very nearly considered it; the Amplus had all but become a hermit shut in with him since coming to Land-Earth, and he figured he'd be able to survive a night of being surrounded by loud noises in exchange for all for the Phin's help, "Sure... I mean... yea. I guess so."

Andy gave Gary a high five, "Awesome. It'll be good for you to get out from behind a book and live a little."

Max smiled amicably despite not really looking forward to it, "Carver and I'll just put our tablets away and we'll meet you--"

Hunter joined the discussion, folding his arms over his chest as he looked past Max, gazing up to meet Carver's eyes, "It's just a Human night out."

Coaster sat on a desk beside Andy and let out a dejected sigh through his blow hole, "I wanted to go try out the new air flight game Andy was talking about."

The Album shot a glance at the Longos and snapped at him with the screech-click-whistle of the Phin language, "We'll meet them later... we just don't need HIM with us."

Max's friendly smile was gone in an instant, "I've been learning Phin, you know."

Gary, despite not having moved, somehow managed to stumble, "It-- uh... it's not what it sounds like, y'know, Max? We're just... worried about you."

Hunter held up a webbed hand, "Alright, Gary.... calm down."

Gary continued nevertheless, "It'd just be good to get you out socializing... you know... with your own kind and stuff."

Hunter placed his hand on the side of his face and lowered his head, shaking it back and forth slowly, "Gary, Gary, Gary..." and, with nothing else to say, the Album turned, and walked away. Gary followed along in hot pursuit.

Andy stayed just a little longer, giving Max a concerned look, "You'd tell us if there was something wrong, wouldn't you?"

Max had had enough, "There's NOTHING WRONG!" and he fell silent immediately when almost every eye in the classroom turned to him. Lowering his voice, he leveled his gaze at Andy, "I'm fine. Honest."

The other teen shrugged, "Alright... well if there IS a problem--"

Max managed to keep his voice quiet, but kept the conviction, "There ISN'T."

Sighing, Andy shrugged, "Alright. Catch ya later then." He turned and followed after Hunter and Gary. Coaster offered a casual elbow-to-wrist wave, and left with the rest of their group and, frankly, Max was happy to see them go.

Carver rested a hand on the human's shoulder, "You could have gone. I don't mind."

Max shook his head, "Well I do. Between spending time in a loud arcade with a bunch of guys celebrating a test they haven't passed yet I'd rather spend time with you."

"Studying?"

The human shrugged, "Doing whatever."

Carver let out a faint triple-click of inquiry, but didn't bother voicing the question. The large Amplus followed Max out of the room once everyone was dismissed and the two made their way down tothe lower decks. It had been three days since Max had turned 18, which meant that he was finally entitled to his own dorm room and, since Carver was also of age they didn't have to have any guidance from surrogate parents.

Carver had a surprise waiting for Max when they got there; placed on the small table just inside the doorway was a small drift wood carving, very similar to the stone figurine the Phin had given him on the day of their meeting, "Happy Birthday, Max."

The small sculpture was a little larger, and much more intricately shaped than the first one he had received, an obvious testiment to the Amplus' attention to detail and his increased understanding of the human form. Max picked it up, slowly turning it around in his hands, "It's... amazing."

The Phin shrugged, closing the door behind him with a quick push from his tail, "It's mostly done... I just didn't have a chance to get the ears right... or the nose. Human hands and feet are a little tricky too."

Max ran his finger across the sculpture's head, fingernail tracing the slightly uneven hair part and trailing down to a pair of slightly brooding eyes; it didn't take much to see the resemblance, "It's me."

Carver nodded silently, and motioned down at it, "I was hoping I would get a chance to finish it before your birthday, but that's as far as I got... I didn't have a chance to give it to you until now."

The Human didn't have to feign his smile, "I like it."

The Phin's next words came out with a little hesitance, "Maybe... you'll... let me finish it one day?"

Max turned to glance at the Amplus, noticing the faint rosiness around his eyes; he was blushing? "Sure. I mean, of course! Any time you want."

The redness grew a little, "I was hoping you'd let me use you for a model."

The young man really didn't know how to respond, so he did so in as simple an honest a manner as possible, "Uh... okay."

The Phin's smile revealed an even redder tongue; that was definitely a blush. "Then... what about tonight?"

Max had a dozen different answers he could provide, no less than six reasonable excuses that would allow him to focus on his studies and keep the Amplus at a safe distance and probably at least four gentle dismissals that would keep him from letting things go any farther. The answer he selected however, was none of those, "Sure... if you like."

Carver's answer was just as succinct, "I would."