‘True, but I plan on making it up tonight, evening lectures deserve the afternoon off,’ justified Rachel, ‘You gonna come Lex?’

‘Where?’ asked Alexa.

Rachel rolled her eyes.  ‘I told you about this, those researchers are coming over from America, apparently it’s a real coop for the uni to get them here.’

‘A night of research that’s way over my head; Tempting!  You know I think I’ll just stay here and watch TV.’

‘Oh c’mon,’ coaxed Rachel, ‘there’s a free drinks reception afterwards and it could be interesting, everyone is going.’

Alexa considered it stubbornly.  ‘How long does it last?’

‘I don’t know, a couple of hours or something.’

‘Alright, alright I’m in, but if it’s boring and we get half a glass of cheap wine between us I am so never listening to you again.’

To Alexa’s surprise it reRachel was a large turnout for this lecture, even Louisa and Jayne had been roped into it but as they filed into the row Alexa was still to be convinced it was worth giving up an evening for.

The first lecturer introduced the topic of genetic advances in the 21^st century but as suspected 15 minutes in and they were all largely lost, the middle-aged man’s monotone voice didn’t help matters much.  At the end of the lecture and seeing the programme stated another hour to go Alexa suggested they cut and run.

‘That’s rude Alexa, it would look so obvious and all the faculty would notice.’

‘Jayne you’re such a priss’ Alexa huffed but she knew Jayne was right, she could stick it out.

Dr Pax, undergraduate Dean and King of Sleaze stood up to introduce the second lecturer and emphasise how honoured they were.  ‘Oh just start already’ thought Alexa, wondering if she would still have time to catch her friend on msn when she got home.

‘Hi’ said the new lecturer.  ‘My name is Helena Peabody of Peabody Corp and I want to take you through as simply as I can the advances our research wing has made in genetic engineering.  Now if like me, you wish this could be over so you can get to the free champagne just listen for a few minutes anyway.  You might find a few of our discoveries surprisingly interesting.’