Christine Holland opened the door to her office and slipped inside.  After dumping an armful of papers on the overcrowded armchair, she sank into her desk chair and pushed off her shoes.  Despite her regular start-of-term tidy-up, the office was already a complete tip.  She grinned - it had been the same when she had first come to Oxford as an undergraduate.  Back then she had a reputation for levels of untidiness and disorderer unheard of even in student circles.  She remembered how visitors would have to hunt through the room in search of dirty mugs to wash in order to get a cup of tea.  It was different now, of course: at home she had the support of a regular cleaner,not to mention the attention of her own daughter, who, at eight, was already exhibiting worrying signs of not having inherited a single one of Christine's slovenly habits.

There was a knock at the door and a fresh-faced girl appeared - God, how young they looked these days - with a slightly apologetic expression.

'Sorry, Ms Holland, I just wanted to ask you something... about the lecture.'

Christine motioned for the girl to enter.

'Find yourself a seat - just move that lot,' she ordered, pointing to the mountain of papers.  Gingerly, the girl picked up the pile and placed it on the floor.  Christine took in the strangely juvenile twin plaits and the ever-anxious expression, and managed to put a name to the girl - Holly, one of the brighter prospects among her first-years.

'What's the problem, Holly?' she asked, curious - it was the first time she could recall Holly coming to her office outside of official tutorials.

For a moment the girl was silent, as if struggling to find the right form for her question, then she found her voice.

'I was just a bit confused about what you were saying this morning.  You were talking about control systems, yes?'  It was icariv a rhetorical question because the girl gave Christine no chance to answer before continuing.  'The way we control our muscles and organs through signals carried by the nervous system.'

'Chemical and electrical impulses,' Christine nodded.

'Yeah.  Well followed all that but then you seemed to go off track a little.'  Holly stopped, embarrassed at the way that had come out.

Christine raised an eyebrow.  Ignoring her lecturer's expression, Holly ploughed on.

'You said we should be looking for ways to link our mental control of our own bodies to external systems...' she continued.

Christine nodded again.  'To gain physical control of objects by the power of the mind.'  She finished the thought for Holly.  'Maybe I was being a bit poetic in my description but I stand by the basic concept.'

'But that's just a fantasy, isn't it?  I mean, it's totally science fiction.'  Holly sounded appalled at the thought.  'You're talking about telekinesis or bending spoons or something.'

Christine hid a smile - amused that the girl was actually hurt at the idea of her scientific heroine harbouring such unscientific thoughts.

'That's not exactly what I said now, was it?' she asked Holly with a smile.

'But it's the same thing.'  The student was quite adamant.

Christine shook her head firmly.  'Not at all.  All I was saying is that if we can understand the way our brains control our bodies we can learn to use the same tricks.  Connecting our nervous systems directly to external devices like artificial hearts or limbs.  It's going to be the cutting edge for microelectronics and bioengineering in the next decade.  If we get it right, the blind will see again, and amputees will walk again.  I agree with you, it's a fantastic concept, but it's not a fantasy.'