Xaviers!

Tosh had been paged to the headmasters office, where the headmaster and a different man, in a suit, awaited.

When Tosh arrived, he regarded the stranger with curiosity before turning his eyes on Lippincott expectantly.

"And he is?" he asked, only minimally betraying his disapproval of the new administration.

"And good afternoon to you, too, Mr. Narumi. A pleasure, as always," Lippencott said, dryly.

"Allow me to introduce you to Gerry Axe, OBE; design director for the Land Rover/Jaguar marques and a member of the Land Rover board of management."

Remembering his manners, Tosh turned back to the other man and said more politely, "Nice to meet you, Mister Axe."

"And you too, Mr. Narumi. I've seen some of the schematics of your work; you have a truly inventive mind."

"Thanks," he smiled, unsure how much he should value the compliment without knowing more about the man.

"Tell me, Toshiro," Lippencott said, simultaneously trying to sound more friendly by using Tosh's first name and more out of touch by using the full version no one ever had called him. "Have you given much though to what you want to do after university? To how you want to use your skills going forward?"

"Probably a lot less thought than I should have. I know it's super generic, and a bit cliché, but I want to develop technology that helps people. Not just stuff that makes life more comfortable, but makes it... more. Something new and exciting for the world."

"Well, we're all about giving opportunities for our students to fulfill their potential, and we think you would have a wonderful opportunity here."

"Jaguar will, as usual, be at the London Motor Show. We want to show we're on the cutting edge, blazing trails and setting the bar for what motoring will be like five, ten, fifteen years for now.

We would like you to help us construct a concept car, using some of your designs. You have a brilliant mind."

Tosh was speechless for a moment. It wasn't exactly improving the world, but it was still a great opportunity.

"Really? You want me to help..."

Dude! He wants to build the Sharkmobile!
I don't think that's what's happening here.

"... design a car? For a major car show? Wh-which designs do you mean?"

"Well, that would be, to a certain extent, up to you. While we'll obviously be supervising the project, and helping supply the chassis and drivetrain and whatnot, we want to see your creative spin on the project.

We're calling it Britain Carrying On. We're having a number of young minds around the country, experts in different fields, take a crack at this. And at Jaguar Land Rover, we do believe that mutants such as yourself play an important role moving this country forward. We wanted to have someone like you as part of our vision," Axe explained.

"So I'd be helping with what parts exactly?" he asked with growing interest.

"Oh, you wouldn't be helping. Quite the reverse, actually.

We want to see what sort of designs you can come up with for the car of the future. Your levitation tech as a drive system, for example, would be an exciting addition. You've worked on robotic tech before, and you have an entire campus of people to help you out, if you so desire. Any technical advances, any safety advances, accessibility, design -- we want to let you have creative control on a prototype.

We would decide later if any of your ideas would be feasible in a production model, of course. A concept car is more a proof of concept than anything else."

He was getting excited but had reservations about sharing the levitation tec. At least, not without making sure his ideas stayed in his hands. It was a good thing his uncle insisted he patent anything truly original. It wasn't as if the tech didn't already exist but his approach was entirely his own.

"Consider me interested," he grinned, "Very interested."

"And, of course, you'll receive course credit for this.

My vision is for everyone here to contribute something to the community as part of their educational process, and this is a fantastic opportunity for you."

Tosh wasn't sure helping a corporation counted as contributing to the community, but it definitely was a great opportunity to gain experience and get his name out there. It was enough to make him feel guilty for being so hard on the headmaster.

"Thank you for this, Mister Lippincott."

"Of course. I have faith in you, son. You'll do a fantastic job."