Here are 21 of the most influential science fiction and fantasy books . So there ' s room for four more then . <| sep |> Unfortunately they couldn ' t actually vote until Johnson ' s Voting Rights Act . <| sep |> Hi Cal . Jakayla . She sat beside him and pulled out her book , the numerous notes sticking out from between the pages . No doubt there was an order to the cacophony of colours . The others from the class passed them by , back to the dorms or wherever it was youngsters went these days once college was over for the day . I saw you leave , she said . I hope you ' re feeling okay . I ' m fine . She smiled at him and he had to look away . Thanks . It ' s okay . I know Professor Betteridge can drone on sometimes . I ' ve brought my notes in case you needed them . Thanks , he said again . Jakayla ' s handwriting followed the trend he ' d seen with the youngest generations . Gone was the flowing cursive he ' d spent the last several hundred years learning . Now it was the perfunctory small caps in neat lines . He smiled and looked over the symbols . The typewriter and it ' s digital counterpart had brought these people closer to his native vulgar Latin than all the quills and pens before it . What ' s so funny ? she asked , leaning close to his shoulder to see the page . Nothing . Tell me . Your handwriting . It reminds me of my father . And that ' s a good thing ? He carefully stacked the sheets of paper she had offered him . No doubt the words written down on them were just as wrong as the man who had spoken them . I don ' t remember much about him . He died a long time ago . But he always made me practice with the wax until I got the letters right . Wax ? Cal cursed himself . He grabbed his backpack and stood , holding out the papers in a fist . Jakayla gently took them , smoothing out the creases and looking at him with concern as he walked off . He had gone maybe a dozen feet when she caught up to him . He said nothing , keeping his gaze fixed ahead . Cal , I know I ' m nothing special but if you ever wanted someone to . I mean , I know you value your privacy . And I don ' t want you to get the wrong idea about me . But if you need someone to talk to , I can listen . His silence continued , growing with each footstep . When he reached the bus stop and the waiting line of people boarding one that had just arrived , he couldn ' t help himself . What do you want Jakayla ? Jakayla turned away but any hurt she might have felt disappeared . Stuffing her notes into her bag she set her arms across her chest . Cal almost laughed . She was like a Spartan woman and the comparison caused equal measures of delight and fear drawn from old memories . I want to talk , she said . There are plenty of others your age you can talk to . She held out an arm , barring his entry to the bus and he watched with a sigh as the driver closed the doors and left . No , something ' s off with you . Her voice was getting louder . Students around them were looking over at what they assumed was another lovers quarrel . Cal guided Jakayla away from the nearest crowds and towards the small green that ran through the campus . Jakayla . he began . Nero played the fiddle while Rome burnt . No he didn ' t . Swords weighed thirty pounds . You ' d never wield it . Every time Betteridge said those things you ' d grip your desk . I could see you . I thought you were sick or something . But you disagreed with him . Because he ' s wrong ! What little privacy they had , sheltered against the trees , was quickly invaded by the eyes of everyone around them . Cal dropped to the low stone wall and put his head in his hands as he sat . They ' re all wrong , he moaned . Cal . You don ' t have to tell me . Jakayla sat beside him . But I think I know . You know nothing . Everything you ' ve seen , it ' s . it ' s a flash ! A single blink of the eye . And tomorrow you ' ll be gone and there ' ll be more lies about the days that came before . Not everything is so easily forgotten . How can you possibly say that ? When I was a little girl , I saw a brilliant light in the sky . We followed it for several nights , me and my family . And on the last night , when it was fading away , I made a promise that I would see it again . She smiled and took Cal ' s hand in her own . He didn ' t fight her . He didn ' t even look at her . And I did . The light came back , many years later . And again and again . Each time I looked on it , I wished more than anything I had someone to share it with . She turned to him and put a hand to his chin . She didn ' t kiss him , only studied his face . The mind of a man in the body of a boy . I didn ' t find out until much later it was called Halley ' s Comet , she said , letting him go . You ' re mistaken . Halley ' s comet only returns every 75 years . I know . Thirty times I have seen it since that first night in my home in Oricum . Cal stared at her . She smiled and let him . It had been far too long since she ' d shared her lifetimes with another . That ' s a very long time to wait for someone , he said quietly . I don ' t know . It depends on who you meet . rhfywikiauthorsdachande 663