by Paris Singer
“What do you know about Sphere?” he asked, watching me with a wary expression in his eyes.
“We used to play it a lot back where I’m from.”
“Back where you’re from? Aren’t you Simian?”
“Yeah, but I spent some time off planet where it’s still legal. Played it a lot.” I didn’t like having to lie to him, but it was like I had no choice after what the councilman had told me about national security.
“Off planet, huh?” said Sally, watching me as if scanning for deception. “You any good?” he smiled.
“Oh, I can hold my own,” I smiled back. “Why?”
Sally stared at me for a moment, then said, “Meet me in two nights’ time, at midnight, in the Dome. I’ll show you then.” With that, he walked back toward the entrance and said, “See you then, kid,” before stepping inside.
And he thinks I’m weird, I told myself, taking a bite from the soggy burger. Why was he being so secretive? The whole thing was a mystery. I felt a twinge of renewed excitement, however, at the thought that, whatever he wanted to show me, had something to do with Sphere.
I turned on the holographic device and tracked where to go for my next class.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Time to wake, Seven.”
*Groan*
“It is time to wake, Seven.”
“Go away.”
“You will be late for the trip.”
“What trip?” I mumbled.
“Every year, a class trip is arranged by your History teacher, Mr. Fernly. That day is today, Seven. The bus leaves at eight precisely. You will be late if you do not get up, Seven.”
“What time is it now?” I groaned, turning over on my back, yawning and scratching my head.
“Quarter to eight.”
“Quarter to—” I bounced out of bed. “Why didn’t you wake me before?” I cried, feeling panicked as I threw on my clothes.
“I tried, Seven, but you were unresponsive.”
“Where’s my other boot?”
“It is under your be—”
“Got it. Where do I have to go?”
“Your codex will have detailed—”
“Yeah, yeah, just put it around my head.”
“As you wish, Seven.”
“Cool, thanks. History class.” The holographic screen pinpointed a room on the second floor.
“See you later, Al,” I said, flying out the door. I went down the elevator and followed the tracker to the room it pointed me to and said, ‘end’ to turn off the device. I opened the door. The class was empty.
“What… Why…?” I tapped my forehead. “Al.”
“How may I be of assistance, Seven?”
“I thought you said I had to come to History class? Where is everyone?”
“That is incorrect, Seven. I stated you are going on a History class trip today. The meeting point is, however, not in the class.”
“Well, where is it, then?”
“The meeting point is in front of the academy, Seven.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that before?” I cried, running out the class.
“I tried, Seven, but you left your quarters.”
“What time is it?” I dashed down the walkway, trying to avoid colliding with other students.
“It is one minute to eight.”
“End.” I ran through the atrium and out the main doors of the academy.
***
Parked out in front was a large, yellow vehicle with black stripes and rounded edges, whose windows extended from the base to the top, and had two medium thrusters on the back. Standing next to it was a small crowd of students listening to the teacher. Mr. Fernly had a tiny, bald round head. He wore big, round glasses that sat on a button nose, under which was a fuzzy brown mustache that curled at the sides. His shape reminded me of a bowling pin. I couldn’t quite tell if he was Simian or not, as his smooth, pinkish skin was featureless.
“As I explained, we cannot go to Alsia.” The students groaned and complained in clear disappointment. “Settle down, settle down. The Council has clearly stated that due to the recent attacks no one is to go off-world. However, as a special treat, and after years of meticulous research, I have arranged for us all to go to the Hiropachao ruins, deep within the Uaine forest on the western continent. It was once inhabited by a mysterious ancient race. Many have tried to find the ruins but failed. I, however,” he exclaimed, pointing a finger upward in triumph, “believe I have finally found them.” The students seemed appeased and nodded at each other.
“Oh dear, we are late—everyone board the bus.” One by one the students lined up and walked inside the long vehicle.
“And who are you?” Mr. Fernly asked me as I was about to board.
“Oh, I’m Seven. I’m new.”
“Ah, yes, yes, I see. Pleased to meet you, Seven,” he said, adjusting his over-sized glasses. “You are very welcome aboard on what is sure to be a fascinating adventure you will never forget. Oh, dear, we are late. Please step inside. We are a minute late already.”
I did as the teacher asked, and walked up the two steep steps onto the bus. In the driver’s seat was Mial, his surly gaze fixed somewhere ahead. He looked even smaller in the chair and seemed to have added two cushions for some extra height.
“Okay, please all be seated,” said Mr. Fernly walking in behind me, “please be sure to strap yourselves in, and we’ll go.”
Most the other students had already sat down, chatting excitedly with each other, as I made my way through the wide isle looking for a spare seat.
“All full here, newbie,” said a mean-looking horned Gelorian. His glistening skin changed color in constant waves in all shades of his surroundings.
“You got a problem there? You want a problem?”
I shook my head. “Whatever.”
“What you say?” the Gelorian said, getting to his feet. He was much taller than he’d looked.
“There’s room up front with me,” said Mr. Fernly. I walked back to the front, to yet another volley of whispers and sneers.
“Here we are,” said the teacher, pointing out the seat, “I’ll take the isle seat.”
I sat down in the deep beige seat and rested my head against the window.
“All ready, Mr. Mial,” said the teacher as he sat down next to me.
Mail raised his hand in acknowledgment. A moment later, the bus trembled as it rose from the ground and turned to the bridge. This was the first time since I’d arrived to the academy that I’d left it. I felt a sense of relief that, at least for that day, I wouldn’t have to be there. Above, the wide open sky was a clear blue, and I was ready to discover another part of the planet of my birth. In one explosive burst, the bus shot forward at incredible speeds. We were off.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The bus sped along smoothly through the city, somehow managing not to crash into anything. The streets and buildings were far more colorful than I had imagined. A sprawling maze of clock towers, spires, bricks, plaster, wood, glass, gold, silver, green, yellow buildings, all blurring into each other like a kaleidoscope, as the bus accelerated round tight corners, through wide and narrow streets, weaving through traffic, under bridges and arches, out suddenly into a vast, open floral plain.
As the bus blasted along a dirt road, I watched the scenery unfold. Rows of lilac trees dotted the land blanketed by yellow and white flowers. The plains turned to a green mountainous range where the suns shone brightly on distant white peaks. Before long, thick pearly forests gave way to a sandy red beach, where the bus shot into a clear tunnel on the shore, that ran along over the still blue sea.
“Wonderful views, aren’t they?” said Mr. Fernly.
“What? Oh, yeah.”
“Ah, yes,” he continued, adjusting his glasses, “it has been a while since I last enjoyed it. One never knows how long it will last these days. What with those blasted Morex ceaselessly trying to invade our beautiful Simia.”
I felt myself sitting up
straighter. “They’ll never win,” I said.
“No, quite so. Though perhaps creating havoc every time they attack could be regarded as a form of winning. We are all Simia-bound as it is too dangerous to leave. Not to mention the destruction they cause when they attack. The village in which I lived was utterly destroyed. Lucky for me, I was teaching at the academy at the time. But everyone else who lived there was not so lucky.”
Beads of sweat dotted my forehead as a feeling of guilt sat heavily on my shoulders.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s those Morex who need to be sorry,” said the teacher in a serious tone, fidgeting with his glasses as he looked somewhere in the distance. “The Council need to be more aggressive with those brutes if we are to fight them off for good.” Frowning, he turned and jerked his head as if snapping out of a train of thought. “Still, we must remain strong in the face of it, eh?” he said, faking a smile. “Onward and upward.”
I tried to smile at him, too, and turned away to look out the window. I thought of the poor people in Mr. Fernly’s village. If only I’d known what the Morex were making me do. A wave of anger surged inside me at how they had used and manipulated me.
“We will soon come into the western continent of Gullea,” the teacher said standing up to face the students. “Uaine forest is to the north-east of the coastal city of Ora, which you should soon be able to see.”
The bus darted along the tunnel like a bullet. Beyond, the sea seemed endless. In the distance, gigantic scaly sea creatures broke the water’s glassy surface before plunging back down into its depths. Soon, multiple structures became gradually taller as we neared the Gullean shoreline.
High-rise bronze and copper buildings glinted in the sunlight, as cogwheels of different sizes etched within turned at a steady rhythm. Instead of the ships I’d always been used to, airships powered by propellers glided along above the city as if in slow motion.
We came out of the tunnel onto the shore and sped past the beach into bushy terrain. The city was soon out of sight and replaced by lush, fertile countryside, where rolling, grassy hills were furnished with pink dagon fruit trees, purple and blue lica flowers and aromatic epine herbs.
Finally, the bus stopped in front of a vast, thick forest whose green tress had trunks wider than the length of the vehicle we were in, and almost as high as most buildings.
“Here we are. Please exit the bus in an orderly manner,” said Mr. Fernly leading the way out.
I stood up to follow him, but the other students were already filling the isle as they made their way to the front of the bus. I tried to step out, but was roughly thrown back into my seat.
“Turds go last,” said the Gelorian, smirking.
I was determined to fight him, but by the time I’d gotten to my feet, he was gone. When I stepped off the bus, everyone was standing in little groups, chatting excitedly facing Mr. Fernly.
“Settle down, settle down,” he said, holding his hands up above his head to get attention. “We will proceed into Uaine forest in single file. I have updated the tracker function to include a path to the Hiropachao ruins. Access it by saying ‘Hiropachao’. As always, you will all walk behind me. There are no known predators, but one never knows, so nobody is to speak or make a general nuisance of themselves.”
“If any predators try it on, I’ll pound them into dust,” said the Gelorian, hitting his open palm with his fist.
“Yes, very good, Mr. Winkle,” said the teacher adjusting his glasses, “bear in mind these ruins have seldom been visited. As such, we must be especially vigilant. So no funny business. Now, if everyone is ready, turn on your devices and set your trackers.” Everyone did as they were asked, and I followed suit.
“Right. Mr. Mial,” said Mr. Fernly, pointing at the caretaker who was laying cross-legged on the hood of the bus, trying to nap, “mind the fort.” Mial gave a lazy wave, and the teacher turned to face the forest. “Everyone follow me,” he said, pointing forward, and marched, with me trailing at the back.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
As we entered the forest, the trees looked much larger than they first had, like ancient megalithic structures. No sooner had we stepped inside than light turned darker with every step we took. Above, the thick leaves on the many branches blocked the sky like an eclipse.
Just in front of me, a Balandor said to another, “Ooh,” in a spooky voice, wiggling her tentacled fingers at her friend, “I hope we don’t get eaten.”
“Stop it,” whispered her companion, shooing her fingers away. When they heard me laughing to myself, they turned and scrunched up their long green faces like they’d smelled something, bad rolling their oval eyes and tutting before turning back around.
A thick carpet of mulched leaves and moss that had built up over hundreds of years covered the ground. We progressed inside along a narrow maze of paths that wound around the many gigantic trees and bushes. The only sources of light came from occasional blades of sunlight that somehow pierced through the dense foliage above, and small groups of glowing blue fireflies that helped illuminate the way. The deeper we walked, the lower we seemed to go, down steep rocks and hollows, crossing deep chasms and ravines inside great fallen trunks.
I could hear occasional rustling above, prompting students to look up. Glinting yellow orbs stood out in the shadows as if watchful eyes watched our every step. The shrill, cackles of jittery olba flowers echoed all around, warning of our trespass in their territories. They weren’t dangerous, but if you got too close to them, they were likely to spit black tar all over you, the odor of which was near impossible to wash off.
On we walked until the echoing sounds of the flowers faded into silence. Everything was dark and still. Only the fireflies lit the way.
“We have almost reached our destination,” said Mr. Fernly, panting somewhere ahead. “Mind where you step, the slope ahead is steep.”
We continued on down to the heart of the ancient forest until some light appeared in the near distance.
“Here it is,” exclaimed the teacher. “After all this time, I’ve finally found the fabled Hiropachao ruins.”
The other students groaned and sighed with relief.
“Finally.”
“About time.”
“Thought we’d never get there.”
As everyone moved along, a rough stone path led to a ledge between two trees. The forest opened below us to a great circular depression in the land. While the steep dip was still covered in tall, shadowed trees, the bottom formed a wide clearing, illuminated from above by a round gap in the forest, the size of the clearing itself. It was here we found the ruins of Hiropachao.
***
Thick cut stones that served as steps marked the way down into the clearing. A rusted orange and jade metal wall with large inset oval opals encircled the settlement. The dimensions of the ruins resembled those of the academy. Off white, weather-beaten domes, each inlaid with glinting copper and opal trims stood in concentric circles. In the center, a spiraling gold and white stone spire with inset opals reached up almost as far as the tallest trees. All the way up were strange symbols I’d never seen, the biggest of which was a circle with a smaller one overlapping the top part. Large white stone blocks and oval copper chunks lay strewn around the flat area. Small, wild furry qarids hopped around with their long legs. I wondered if they’d been the ones who had watched us from the trees earlier.
“Think of it,” began Mr. Fernly, bounding around, as the other students ambled in groups looking bored and disillusioned, “we are most likely the first people to step inside these ruins in kiloyears.” He buzzed around with an air of excitement, touching and looking at everything.
I wandered off from the group and stepped inside one of the smaller domes. None of them seemed to have any doors and had triangular entrances. Inside were two rooms separated by a wall in the middle, and another triangular entrance that led into the third at the back. Unlike outside, the walls and ceiling were made of triangular gold and
white patterns throughout. They showed depictions of white simianoid beings, with thick, long white hair flowing upward, gathered around the central spire which itself seemed to emit a stream of light up to the sky. In other depictions around the first room, the white simianoids looked to be holding weapons and chasing or hunting bulky green creatures with muscular arms and legs, and long thick tails.
Along the circular wall was a shelf that ran the length of the first room and was molded from the dome itself. It was hard to tell what they’d been, but various intricate-looking gadgets laid smashed to pieces on the shelf and all across the dust-covered floor. There was only one thing in the second room. An artificial cocoon hung from the ceiling to about three quarters of the way down. It was molded from the dome, too, but unlike the rest of it, it was white. The clear panel that must have been its door lay smashed and bent on the floor beside it.
I stepped back outside to see the Gelorian leaning against a white block. He’d been waiting for me.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“It isn’t safe to go wandering off by yourself, turd. That’s how you get hurt.”
I wasn’t in the mood to be abused by that guy.
“What do you want now, Winkle?”
“Watch your mouth, turd, or you’ll get it broken.”
“I don’t have the energy for you.”
“Too bad, ‘cos I’m in your face, and you’ve got no choice but to deal with me,” he said, walking toward me with his arms stretched out to his sides.
“What is your problem?”
“What’s my problem? I don’t like new kids that think they own the place.”
“What? What are you talking about? I don’t think I own the place. I don’t even want to be here.”
“You calling me a liar?” The Gelorian spat as he stood close enough that the horn on his nose pressed against my forehead.
“What? Are we even in the same conversation? How am I calling you a liar?”
