by Drew Seren
“Look at that funky ear of his. You never know, he might’ve walked seconds after birth.” Pathal Santos plopped down at the workstation next to Skylar.
Solaria glared at him. “Well, if he did, he’s definitely far more evolved than you’ll ever be. Don’t you and your groupies have some silly little star-counting game to keep your tiny minds occupied? Or maybe you need to go play with the nav computer so we go sailing through the wrong stargate and into a black hole.”
Pathal grimaced at her. “You know, I think I saw a rat in the rear of the ship. Maybe you need to go chase it. That is why they let your kind into school, isn’t it? To keep the rodents under control?”
Solaria’s smile showed all her fangs. “Then why are there so many of you corp-brats around if we’re trying to get rid of the rodents?”
“Students!” Professor Corda’s voice blared over the ship’s intercom system. “We’re approaching the stargate. For those of you who like the view, I suggest getting near a window within the next two minutes.”
“Cool.” Ignoring Pathal’s presence, Skylar turned to look out the window as the ship approached the huge portal hanging in space just outside the star’s gravity well. The show was similar to the first one he’d seen going through the stargate with Phil, but Skylar stayed glued to the window until all the excitement was over and they had entered normal space again at their destination solar system. He didn’t think he’d ever get tired of going through stargates, or space travel in general. He understood the principles of it, and it was simple math and physics, but the wonder of it caught hold of him and held him tight.
When he looked away from the window, Pathal had left their table. “I guess he got bored?”
Solaria shrugged. “You know how most of these limited-intelligence types are. If you’re not paying attention to them, they wander off. Why do you find the stargates so interesting?”
“They’re cool.” Skylar didn’t attempt to hide his excitement. “If I thought I could get away with it, I’d be up in the flight deck with the pilot. Space flight is awesome. I’d love to get my own ship like Phil and spend time flying around the universe.”
“If you’re really as strong as some of the murmurings I’m catching from my grandfather, it’s possible,” Del said. “He’s really expecting you to grow in your abilities. The more powerful a psi is, the more in demand they are. The rest of us have to get by on our brains or who we know.”
Skylar cocked an eyebrow at his friend. “And psychics aren’t getting by on their brains?”
Solaria chuckled.
“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” Del mumbled. “Eventually your brain is just going to be another muscle for you, which brings us back to your focus exercises. You’ve got to get your brain used to getting quiet and centered. Just because you have the dampening bracelet on doesn’t mean you can’t work on quieting your mind. You might be surprised how relaxing and peaceful it feels.”
“We’ve got another few hours before we get to the museum,” Solaria said. “You might as well get some practice. I bet his grandfather put him up to this to keep you moving along. The sooner you’re under control, the sooner the Professor gets to work with someone else and you get your free time back. Unless you’re like Del and don’t like free time.”
“I like free time just fine,” Del sniped. “It’s just more interesting when it’s spent in a library or a museum. We can never get enough new knowledge.”
“My point exactly.” Solaria yawned and stretched. “Tell you what. You two sit here and work on Skylar’s mind muscles, and I’m going to go ruffle Mutanio’s fur a bit. He’s always good for a laugh, particularly since he knows I can wipe the floor with him.” She stood and strolled toward the back of the ship where her fellow Pantherian had disappeared shortly after they came on board.
Skylar waited until her broad shoulders disappeared through the doorway before turning to Del. “Can she really do that? I know she’s big and strong, but he’s a guy of the same species.”
Del chuckled and leaned back in his chair. “Yeah, she can. In fact, there was an incident last year, when she was a little”—he made a tiny motion with his thumb and forefinger—“smaller than she is now. I don’t know all the details, but they both ended up in Ms. Grissom’s office for anger counseling. Several of the holo-portraits in the entry hall had to be replaced, and after their meeting with Ms. Grissom, Mutanio spent a couple of hours in the med bay.”
Skylar’s eyes widened. “She put him in med bay?”
“Yeah.” Del nodded, then leaned forward and put his elbows on the table. “Like I said, I don’t know much, but he normally gives her a wide berth around school. I’ve heard that female Pantherians are a lot more dangerous than males and I can believe it. I’m actually glad she’s on our side. Most of the girls tend to avoid her too. I think she scares them. She might just be lonely, and it’s safe for her to hang around us.”
“I really don’t care why she’s hanging around. She’s nice and it’s good to have her with us from time to time.” When Del’s face darkened for a moment, Skylar hastily added. “Hey, don’t worry. You were my first friend here and you’re my best friend.” As he said it, he remembered Teir back on Hummassa. Teir had been his best friend for years. But he was slowly coming to terms with his past being gone. All he had was his present and his future.
12
Walking With The Past
SINCE THE school ship they rode in wasn’t atmosphere worthy, it took two tightly loaded shuttle trips to move all the students from the ship to the museum entrance. A series of Romanesque columns formed the front of the massive building that looked like it might actually be larger than Stars’ End Academy.
Skylar watched the whole thing come into view as the second shuttle descended. The planet housing the museum appeared well developed. Much of the continent they headed toward was occupied by huge buildings that had very little to differentiate them. There wasn’t much in the way of green that could be spotted out of the shuttle window. It was mostly white, gray, black, and silver. Skylar shuddered slightly, remembering the jungle of Hummassa where he used to hike, explore, and play. He missed the massive trees and the peace and quiet they brought. This planet didn’t appear to have any of that.
He turned to Del for a moment. “What planet did you say this was?”
Del sighed. “The Museum of Space and Time is located on the planet Nesbit. We’re closer to the center of the Galactic Council than I’ve ever been before. All of the worlds around here have been colonized for at least a thousand years. The amount of knowledge they all possess is staggering. There’s little in the way of science or art that hasn’t found its way here at one time or another. People can go an entire lifetime and not experience everything that’s here.”
“Even if their lack of open spaces is somewhat disturbing,” Solaria added with a visible quiver. “I still don’t get why so many races think a planet is civilized only if they conquer all the wild out of it. One of these days we’ll get you to Pantheria, and you’ll understand how a civilized race can still manage to embrace a wild world.”
Skylar smiled and turned back to the window as the shuttle came in for its landing. The planet was so sterile there wasn’t even any dust kicked up as the thrusters fired and the ship settled on the shining steel landing pad. “I’d like to see that. Hummassa still had a lot of wild left to it. It was nice. But this is good too, just a different kind of good.”
A couple minutes later, they stood on the vast marble steps that led up to the huge doors—large enough that any of the races belonging to the Galactic Council could enter easily. A teacher Skylar didn’t know instructed them to follow her into the building. As they entered the hall, Professor Corda’s droning voice drifted back to them in the wake of the group from the first shuttle making their way out of the entrance hall.
The Professor’s stand-in, Mrs. Tyler, was a human and proceeded to give them the overview of the official tour, which would t
ake them nearly twelve hours to complete. There would be a couple of rests, along the way with a meal in the middle of the tour.
“Twelve hours in a museum?” Skylar asked. Suddenly the excitement of the outing turned to a fear of utter boredom. He hoped there were going to be a lot of interactive displays.
“The biggest, most intense museum in the entire galaxy!” Del grinned. “And that’s only the stuff on display. I wish we could get a behind-the-scenes tour, but I heard those cost thousands of credits and are planned years in advance. It’s enough that they had to clear out the museum for us.”
Skylar looked at his friend in disbelief. “What? They cleared out the place for us? Why?”
“When the Stars’ End Academy wants to bring their students on a field trip, most places set it up so we get the best private tours available,” Del explained. “Most of our parents pay big credits for us to attend, even if it is on a sliding scale based on our psi talent levels. I hear some of the corp-brats who don’t have any powers pay a lot more, but they think the education is worth it.”
“Or, you could just say they’re afraid of us.” Solaria graced them with her toothiest smile. “After all, who really wants a group of partially-trained psychics mixed with a bunch of rich corp-brats running loose with the general populace? It might not end well. But at least this way, we don’t have a bunch of people staring at us while we stare at the stuff in here.” She looked up at one of the huge statues in the first gallery. “You know, Skylar, this guy kinda looks like you.”
Del shook his head and put his hands on his hips as he stared up at the thirty-foot-tall statue. “I don’t know. I mean, that’s Caffar O’Byrne, founder of O’Byrne Corporation. He’s one of the main people responsible for humans expanding out through the galaxy. Or are you trying to say that because he’s human, he looks like Skylar?”
Solaria turned and glared at Del. “You should know I’m not a species-ist. I would never say that just because they’re both humans, they look alike. How insensitive do you think I am?”
Del’s gray skin paled to almost white. “I’m sorry. So why do you think they look alike?”
“Yeah. I mean, he’s got a beard and long hair.” Skylar stared up at the statue, then backed up a few steps to get a better view. He didn’t see a resemblance.
Solaria started her explanation with a bit of hand waving and gesturing. “Now, you’ve got to remember that I’m a predator by nature. As a predator, I naturally observe everything and everyone around me for weakness. You didn’t realize I did that, did you?”
They both shook their heads. Skylar had never stopped to think that Solaria was always commenting on the least little thing that was out of place due to her being a predator, looking for flaws that could be detrimental to those around her. He wondered if she was always just waiting for an excuse to pounce on someone.
“Well, I do,” she continued. “So, since I know what Skylar looks like, right down to his scarred ear, when I saw this statue I immediately noticed the similarities in nose, eyes, and mouth.”
Skylar studied the statue’s face and tried to compare it to how his own face looked in the mirror. He shook his head. “I don’t know.” He wondered if she was saying something about him starting to look more mature.
The teacher called for the group to follow her out of the gallery. Skylar paused for a parting glance at Caffar O’Byrne. He stood as one of the greats in the creation of the Galactic Council. He was right there with the Floxian who had built the first pair of stargates, making it easier to move across the galaxy. Both families were among the richest in the universe. It was rumored that the O’Byrne family actually owned their own solar system.
“Come on Skylar,” Del urged. “We don’t want to miss anything important.”
Skylar realized all the other students had disappeared and Del and Solaria stood in the entrance to the next galley waiting for him. “Okay, I’m coming. I still don’t see the resemblance.” He felt stupid for staring at the statue and making his friends fall behind the group. Quickening his step, he rushed so they could catch up with everyone else.
Solaria laughed. “Maybe you will when you get old enough to grow a beard.”
Skylar couldn’t help but mirror her laugh. “Maybe. I just hope I can see the universe the same way he saw the galaxy. That would be awesome.” As they followed their group, Skylar thought back to what Phil said about getting to explore, and the vast amount of the universe that was still out there waiting to be properly discovered. Entire star clusters and systems bore the names of the brave men and women who’d discovered them. Would there one day be a Skylar Mars system or star? He thought that would be awesome.
13
Solaria Gets Protective
AFTER TWELVE hours in the museum, Skylar wasn’t the only student to fall asleep fairly quickly after they returned to the school ship and got into their seats. The joy of exploring the undiscovered universe filled his dreams. There were stars and planets out there that no one had ever heard of, comets that had only shown up as fuzzy streaks on distant telescopic images, and he was finding them all. He had a ship that looked a lot like Phil’s, but Del, Solaria, and Teir were there with him. Every time they touched down on a new world, there was a new adventure. There was a tropical world with another planet so close it was like they were touching.
The inhuman screaming started for the first time since he put on the dampening bracelet.
“Give me that!” Solaria shouted, shattering Skylar’s sleep, ripping him from his dream. He opened his eyes as Solaria jerked something round out of Pathal’s hands.
“Give that back, we found it and it’s ours!” the dark haired corp-brat replied.
“Not anymore.” Solaria turned and protectively cradled the thing in her arm. “Can’t you feel it’s alive? You’re scaring it.” She glared at Pathal and two of his cronies. “Now, I don’t care where you found it. I’m not letting you scare this poor little one, whatever it is.” She dropped her voice and flashed a claw with the hand that wasn’t cradling the thing. “Back down human, or find out why my planet was quarantined for three hundred years.”
Pathal gulped and retreated to his seat, muttering about how the pig at the museum wasn’t supposed to be there and the egg was theirs by right. But he didn’t try and force Solaria to give it back to him. He was dumb, but he wasn’t that stupid.
Solaria ran a hand over the object in the crook of her arm and walked back to the seat next to Skylar, where she’d been when he’d dropped off to sleep.
All thoughts of sleep were gone as he peered at her to see what she’d rescued from the bully. “What is it?” Skylar kept his voice low.
“An egg of some kind.” Solaria continued to stroke it and started to purr softly. It was something he’d never heard her do.
“So, you’re feeling a life inside it?” Del rubbed at his eyes. “You know, you’re lucky that you and Pathal didn’t wake the whole ship, shouting like that.”
She pursed her lips and continued to purr. “I wasn’t going to let him torture this poor little life like that, tossing it around like a ball. I could feel its distress, even in the egg. It has to be close to hatching. Every life deserves a chance, particularly one that hasn’t even seen the light of day yet.”
Skylar stared at the egg. It was about twice the size of his fist, bright orange with a few red splotches on it. “Any idea what kind of egg it is?”
Solaria shook her head. “No, but it is kinda pretty.”
Del pulled out his school tablet. “Luckily, we’ve got a connection on the ship. So let’s see what I can find.” He danced his webbed fingers across the screen. “Based on color, there are over four thousand species, either avian or reptilian, in the known universe that could’ve laid it. Using the size as a criteria”—he frowned—“it would help if we had a scale and could weigh it.”
“It weighs about 400 grams,” Solaria said.
Skylar looked at her questioningly. He didn’t understand how s
he could possibly know that.
She shrugged. “What? I’m a predator. Predators know these things.”
“Details?” Skylar asked.
“Details.”
Del sighed. “Even with that information, it only narrows it down to ten options.” He frowned. “And unfortunately, the options can be kinda messy depending on what pops out of that thing.”
“Like what?” Skylar glanced out the window. They were approaching the stargate. He wanted to watch the transition across the galaxy, but he doubted his friends would pause in their discussion to let him. He hoped they wouldn’t see his distraction as being rude. He did want to know what Solaria had taken from Pathal, but he wanted to see their jaunt through the stargate more.
“Well.” Del sighed again, this time a bit more dramatically. “Here are the options, in alphabetical order. An Anterian Alligator—they require three times their weight in raw meat within an hour of hatching or they die. The Carpathian Bat Bird is fairly helpless but has been known to bleed a handler dry if they aren’t handled properly. They also have a nasty high-pitched scream. Now the Formisian Cow Bird is fairly harmless. All they do in the wild is push their siblings out of the nest so they can get all the food their parents bring in. With a…I can’t pronounce this one.” He flipped his tablet around so Skylar and Solaria could see a two-legged red lizard with large eyes and larger teeth. “That one also requires a lot of raw meat quickly.”
Skylar turned to look at the picture, then looked back out the window as quickly as possible. He didn’t bother saying that he really hoped that one was wrong. All the teeth bothered him.
“They look like they might be kinda fun to have around.” Solaria looked down at the egg and continued to stroke it.
“The Marispian Cronozard interrupts the flow of time around it, but otherwise is fairly harmless. I really don’t want it to be a Michellian Gluttenpeal. When they hatch, they consume everything they can get in their mouths until they burst. Once they burst, up to a dozen eggs are left behind.” Del shuddered. “Yeah, don’t want it to be one of those.”
