Iron Prince: A Progression Sci-Fi Epic (Warformed: Stormweaver Book 1)

by Bryce O'Connor

  “Eyes up,” the man said when they came to stand before him. Rei and Viv met his gaze one after the other, his bilateral NOED blazing for a moment as it obviously scanned their own for identification.

  “Cadet Arada and Cadet… Ward. Good. You came together. You’re quartered on the third floor of the Kanes, the first year dorm. Suite 304. Do you need a map of the campus?”

  By his side, Viv looked surprised, but Rei answered before she could ask any questions. “No, sir. Got one here.” He reached up to tap under his eye.

  “Good. Thinking ahead. You’re making my job easier already.” The sergeant frowned down at his pad. “Arada, your NOED meets specifications for course use, but you’re going to need an upgrade, Ward. Quartermaster will want to handle it before classes start tomorrow.” He looked the pair of them up and down again, doing a good job of covering up his uncertainty at Rei’s height and weight by respectively eyeing the visible skin and socks around his CAD bands and military-issued boots instead. “He’ll want to address your uniform measurements as well. Sorry about that. We use the specs from your CAD-Assignment Exams, but genetic correction occasionally makes those obsolete.”

  “No problem, sir,” Rei assured the man. “I’ll make sure it’s all taken care of.”

  After telling them where they could find the Quartermaster’s stock depot and explaining they were at leisure to explore the Institute until Commencement began at 1400 in the Arena, the sergeant dismissed them. Together they started for the massive opening that was the entrance to the grounds, noting as they did the steel teeth on either side of them that looked like foot-thick metal doors retracted into the wall. Viv followed Ray’s lead as he pulled up the map of the Institute he’d indeed downloaded earlier, requesting the first year dorm be highlighted.

  “Are we rooming together?” she asked him once they were definitely out of earshot of the sergeant.

  “Sounds like it,” Rei answered, finding Kanes outlined in the top north-east corner of the grounds and shifting their course slightly.

  “That doesn’t surprise you?”

  Rei shrugged. They passed a small group of other first years clearly already walking the campus, and he ignored them when they slowed down to watch him and Viv pass with confusion printed clearly on their faces. “Not really. Should it? I can’t imagine we’ll be the only ones in the room, so Galens is probably trying to make sure it can maintain what few relationships incoming students are arriving with. Good friends can be hard to find.”

  Major Connelly’s words to him during the exam slipped out without meaning to, surprising Rei so much he stopped paying attention as he took a corner in the path and almost slammed into the chest of a uniformed figure so tall, it probably wouldn’t have been unlike running face-first into the Institute wall.

  “Sorry!” Rei exclaimed stepping back quickly and craning his head up to look the cadet in the face. “That’s my bad. I didn’t see you.”

  The boy frowned down at him. His eyes were so dark they were almost black, designed with a distinct hint of red in them, and the long, straight hair spilling out from under his military cap was similarly jet. He looked first at Rei, then at Arada, studying her a good bit longer before turning his attention back to Rei.

  “You lost, kid? I didn’t realize they allowed twelve-year-olds on tour here.”

  Rei’s felt his cheeks flush a bit.

  “Judging by your sense of humor, I’d say they obviously do.”

  The boy’s dark eyebrows twitched up in what was the barest hint of surprise, clearly not having expected the quick response. He had a handsome face, but it was made ugly by the curl of a sneer that looked to be almost permanently holding over his upper lip. Around his left arm the grey-and-red band of a new cadet was tight over what must have been well-formed muscle, and the white-and-red rings of his CAD hung from his wrists.

  Before either of them could say another word, however, Viv had taken Rei by the elbow and was pulling him around the towering figure.

  “Come on,” she told him, though she took the time to glare at the boy as they passed. Rei tried to protest, attempting to wrench his arm free from hers, but Viv’s Strength spec was several times greater than his own, so it felt like trying to pull his elbow from of an iron manacle.

  In the end, all he could do to satisfy his irritation was lean into profanity, as he thought was duly appropriate.

  “What the shit was his baggage?!” he demanded furiously, looking over his shoulder to where the tall cadet had turned to watch them go, following them with his black-red eyes.

  “Don’t know, don’t care.” Viv said, face now set resolutely forward under the brim of her cap, hitching her bags higher over her other shoulder as she continued to pull him along. “All I know is that I’m not about to let some pretty-boy dickwad mess with our first day on campus. Come on.” She tugged on him a little more firmly, and Rei finally stopped fighting, letting himself be dragged along the path into an alley between two identical four-story buildings with walls of solid glass. Inside, several older cadets who had to be third years were practicing unarmed grappling on rubbered flooring, all of them in matching, skin-tight red-on-blue combat uniforms that left only their heads, arms, and from the knees down bare. Watching the sparring through the windows as they moved by, Rei managed to shake a little of his anger at the encounter in favor of taking in their surroundings again.

  Whereas Grandcrest Preparatory had been built with a mind to imitate an ancient history of stone, slate, and diamond-paned windows, Galens had left the nod to the past to its perimeter wall. Inside the grounds, every building was sheer glass and clean construction steel, not unlike the towering skyscrapers of Castalon that still rose up to the heavens in a staggered ring on all sides of them. The Institute’s structures were smaller, of course, and far less imposing, with none extending higher than a dozen floors, and most not even half of that. Since they’d be cutting through the center of campus later to get to the Arena for Commencement, Rei and Viv decided to take a round-about route, him reading off his neuro-optic as they walked while she listened in rapt excitement. Rei hadn’t forgotten the asshat with black hair, but taking in the grounds did a lot to alleviate his irritation.

  “That’s the Device Evolution Department over there.” He pointed to a long, squat building whose flat walls leaned inward, giving it the shape of an elongated pyramid that had had its upper half removed. “I think we’ll have classes there on adapting to our CAD changes? And that—” he indicated a series of three tall, narrow structures interconnected by skyways “—is the Combat Theory Department. Most of our lectures are probably going to be in there, at least initially.”

  They kept moving, Rei prattling on, pointing out Vellus, the third year dormitory—the second years’, Elberts, was on the other side of campus—the Institute Security Center, the school mess hall, and one of two 24-hour combat training facilities which housed dozens of Dueling-sized fields for sparring and small-scale tactics practice any time of the day. After a good 15 minutes of walking, a simple, boxy structure appeared around a bend in the path, and Rei let Viv know they’d arrived. Making for the building, the name “KANES” flashed into projection over a pair of long clear doors that slid open for them as they stepped inside.

  “Whoa,” Rei muttered, stopping short.

  The inside of the first year dorms reminded him of pictures Viv had brought back of the resorts from some of her family vacations. The open lobby was spacious, with strip lights illuminating a crimson carpet over which a large number of varied seats, couches, and tables were artfully assorted. The building, it turned out, was also not half as plain as it might have seemed from its exterior, because the inside wall of the space was absent, leading out into an open-air courtyard centered around a massive, gnarled tree whose leaves were a pretty red-orange color.

  It felt like the lobby of the system’s grandest hotel, and had Rei gaping around in wonder for longer than he realized.

&nb
sp; “Rei.”

  Viv—clearly more accustomed to this sort of sight—nudged him, indicating a figure waiting patiently near the inside of the doors when he looked around. Another sergeant, the officer stood watching them expectantly, a knowing smile on her face.

  “Pretty great, isn’t it?” the woman asked as they approached. “You guys have it good. The staff quarters aren’t close to this well put together.”

  “We’ll do our best to not drool then, ma’am,” Viv responded humorously before indicating herself, then Rei. “Cadets Arada and Ward. The sergeant at the south gate told us we’re in 304?”

  “And he had it right.” The officer’s NOED flicked as she checked the info. “Third floor, northeast corner. Elevators are behind me,” she threw a thumb over her shoulder. “Stairs on the other side of the building. I have you two as the last of your suitemates to arrive. Make sure to get along.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Rei and Viv said together, waiting until the woman dismissed them with a jerk of her head. They made for the elevators as indicated, finding them near the entrance to a hall-space labeled “101-105”. The car reached them shortly, the clear door to the circular pod opening in silence to welcome them in. Rei gazed out the back window, letting Viv punch in their destination, and within seconds they were moving down the third-floor hall. They found 304 easily enough, and with a knock and an announcement that they were coming in Viv opened the door and stepped inside.

  This time, Rei stopped himself from voicing his awe. Basically a miniature version of the downstairs lobby, the entrance to the living quarters opened up from a short hallway into a decently sized common space with the same reddish carpet. It was even complete with two matching couches centered around a handsome cement coffee table, the seating set at an angle to the transparent rear wall of the room. Beyond it, the Institute’s perimeter “defenses” rose up in the distance, but a hedging of trees could be made out over the stone, with the facade of Castalon’s northern skyscrapers towering several thousand feet over that. There was a kitchen space, too, on their left as they walked in, but before either of them could explore further a boy with short-cropped blond hair poked his head out from one of the six doors that led off the common area.

  “Oh! Hey!” He stepped out of what must have been his room, approaching them genially. He wore his Institute regulars, but his cap was nowhere to be seen. “You guys Arada and Ward?”

  “Arada,” Viv confirmed for him, dropping one bag to stick her hand out to shake. “Call me Viv. And the munchkin behind me is Rei.”

  Rei rolled his eyes, but took the boy’s hand without complaint when it was offered to him next.

  “Nice. Layton Catchwick, but everyone calls me Catcher. Need help with the luggage?”

  “Nah.” Rei shook his head, stepping around the other two to take a closer look about the suite. “We packed light. At least after I nixed Viv’s collection of stiletto heels and nail extension.”

  Viv gave a strangled choke of denial, but Catcher laughed, looking between them. “Gonna guess you guys already knew each other? Seem pretty chummy for a pair who just happened to share a flyer…”

  “We graduated from the same prep school,” Viv said, and Rei could practically feel her glaring at his back as he moved to examine the clear rear wall. As he’d suspected, it was smart-glass, meaning they’d be able to pull feeds, draw up schematics, and work out problems on it just like a pad. “Although right now I’m thinking I should have booted his ass off the tram station when I had the chance…”

  “The same school…” Catcher repeated, sounding impressed, and Rei turned away from the glass to find the blond boy sizing them up one after the other. He had yellowish eyes that had obviously been designed to match his hair, and they were sparklingly with interest. “That’s gotta be pretty rare.”

  “Probably,” Rei dodged the subtle query, taking in the other doors around the space and noting they were assigned with engraved metal plaques that had their names on them. “Chancery Cashe… Jack Benaly. Are they here?”

  Catcher’s expression darkened a little, and he nodded before answering in a lowered tone of voice. “Yeah, but they don’t seem much of the social types. Cashe shut herself in the room the moment she got here, saying she wanted to prep for Commencement, and Benaly’s apparently been at Galens the entire summer already. Some special training course.”

  That piqued Rei’s curiosity. He’d heard that the Institute had an exclusive camp for its top recruits, and if that was true it meant their suitemate was likely one of the highest Ranking intakes among the new cadets.

  “Nice,” he said under his breath, his hands twitching a little as his excitement started to boil over. Between that, the circumstance of their housing, and just the base fact that he was standing inside the grounds of the Galens Institute, Rei could feel himself starting to get jittery.

  “So what Type are you guys?” Catcher asked enthusiastically, watching as Viv found her room and peeked in with interest. “I’m a Saber. D5.” He said it proudly, clearly aware of the fact that his Rank had him seeded above the average first year ability.

  “Duelist,” Viv answered over her shoulder as she entered her quarters, raising her voice so that she could be heard from inside. “D7. Oh, nice! I got a window!”

  “It’s a corner suite. I think we all got windows,” Rei called to her with a snort, moving to open the door labeled with his own plaque. Within, he was pleased to find what looked like a strip of more smart-glass horizontally bisecting the left wall to look out over the grounds, complimented by a work desk, and double-wide bed, and a sizable closet. It was spartan, but it would more than do the trick.

  “D7?” Catcher asked, clearly taken aback. “Damn… Between you and Benaly’s D8, the rest of our Rankings are gonna be small fry.”

  “Wouldn’t worry about that, man.” Rei said, dropping his bags down on the inside of the door before shutting it again. As little as he’d brought with him, he’d sort them out later. “In terms of Ranking, I’ve definitely got you beat in the ‘small fry’ department.” He smirked at Catcher. “Not to mention I’m an A-Type.”

  “Ooooh no shit?” Catcher’s yellow eyes suddenly fixed him with genuine fascination. “So you’re either gonna sweep the floor with us, or flunk out fast, huh?”

  Had most people asked the same question, Rei might have bit his tongue to keep from snapping back. Their enthusiastic suitemate, though, had managed to come off as nothing more than captivated by the predicament of his CAD-Type, so Rei just nodded as he answered.

  “Hopefully the former, but the latter’s definitely not out of the realm of possibility.”

  “Oh shut up, you’ll be fine.” Viv had apparently dropped off her own things and was closing the door to her room to join them again. “Some of the best SCT Users out there are A-Type.”

  Rei was about to explain, but was pleasantly surprised when Catcher beat him to it.

  “That’s kind of the nature of it.” The boy plopped down on the nearest couch as he watched Viv move to explore the kitchen. “Atypicals generally have really decent versatility compared to the more streamlined Types, but that also makes them a real pain to master.” He looked back to Rei, who’d returned to the smart-glass wall, intending to start messing around with it. “Are you hoping to develop Arsenal Shift, or going for an abnormal manifestation? What’s your Device presenting as right now?”

  Rei froze, momentarily taken aback.

  Then he whirled.

  “You know about Arsenal Shift?” he demanded excitedly, hurrying over to sit across from Catcher.

  “Hell yeah!” their suitemate exclaimed, feeding off Rei’s sudden eagerness. “The Red Tank and Valkyria each used it for their ISSCT Championship runs!”

  “Rigo Voss and Lenora James-May,” Rei affirmed, leaning over the coffee table earnestly, feeling his giddiness rising again. “The 2398 and 2425 circuits. You know your stuff, man!”

  “I would hope so
!” Catcher scooted forward on his couch, obviously sharing in Rei’s excitement. “My mom was a Luhman System champ. Back in the 2453 circuit. She’s been grilling me on this stuff since I was old enough to talk. Not that I minded.” His eyes gleamed. “Who’s your favorite current fighter? Have you been to any of the championship matches recently?!”

  “No,” Rei groaned, hanging his head and almost losing his cap in the process. “I’ve never had the chance, actually. But—” he looked up again “—I did catch the Intersystem Championship match on the feeds last year. The Heaven’s Blade versus Kalvanos. Epic fight. I’d say Cassandra Adams is probably my favorite current User. She trounced Kalvanos pretty handily, so I’m hoping she has another decent run this season.”

  “Ooooh that was so good!” Catcher almost squealed in agreement. “The Blade’s one of my favorites too, especially after I got assigned a Saber-Type like her.” He pulled the sleeve of his uniform back to reveal a yellow-and-white CAD accented in purple on his wrist. “My summer instructor actually had me watch some of her last year’s matches as part of our training. I might try to style my fighting a little after—”

  “Great,” Viv interrupted with a teasing huff, dropping down to sit beside Rei, a glass of water in one hand. “Another dork. I’m as much an enthusiast of the tournaments as any User, but listening to you two makes me feel like I’d have to sit my ass in front of the SCT feeds for a decade straight before I caught up with you fanboys.”

  “You could have asked if we wanted something to drink.” Rei eyed her water hopefully.

  Without looking at him, Viv pointed over his shoulder. “Kitchen’s over there. More importantly… What’s ‘Arsenal Shift’?”

  With a grunt Rei got up, letting Catcher take over the explanation.