by F Stephan
Brian didn’t want any favors, especially if it meant leaving his friends behind, but Alvam would have none of it. “Please, Taz, call Mistress Roul’al’Namer and let her know the situation—on my personal request.” Turning back toward the other students, he said firmly, “I will go see her directly if Taz cannot reach her.”
“That won’t be necessary, honored Pilot.” A minute later, the official smiled. “Sonter Namek and Brian Evans are cleared to move up with your group. Emergency credentials have been issued and are waiting with the welcome team at the reception." He bowed then to the two startled students. “Congratulations. The masters of the academy bid you welcome. We’re honored to have you.”
“And us?” Shanak grumbled behind them. The others in the group from Adheek nodded in agreement.
“My apologies, Pilot. I am sure this wait will soon be a long-gone memory. But until then, you’ve to wait in line like everyone else."
“Then, we shall wait,” Brian said.
“No, please. The mistress has asked to meet you as soon as we’ve shown you your room. You don’t want to keep her waiting. Please honor us by moving forward.”
Alvam took Brian by the arm while Poulem pushed Sonter forward. She murmured in his ears, and he brightened just slightly, though still frowning at the leader. “You’ll have to tell us all about your adventures.” Before Brian could answer, Alvam whisked him away toward reception.
Ten minutes later, they had had rooms allocated to them within the compound with access codes downloaded to their bracelet. Brian was rooming on the east wing while Sonter was on the south. They didn’t know yet where their friends would be, and Brian hoped, with a bit of anxiety, that they wouldn’t be too far. Since Alvam was in his wing, Brian would at least know someone. Alvam had even offered to show Brian his flat and then lead him to the mistress’s office. “Better a fellow pilot than a grounder like Noter here,” he had murmured in Brian’s ear, with clear contempt for the administrative clerk.
Brian
Alkath, 2140 AD, August
The hour that followed went by in a rush. First, Alvam led Brian to the east wing, using shortcuts to traverse the different buildings. It was a maze of corridors, stairs, and Ancient round double doors that opened in response to their bracelets. The academy was similar in construction to the one in Adheek, though it seemed better maintained.
When they reached Brian’s room, he had just a couple minutes to tour it and drop his bags before Alvam came back from his own room. “You don’t want to be late with the headmistress. Come, we need to hurry."
Brian followed the older student at a near jog. “Thanks for helping me. I’d be lost without you.”
“You’re welcome. I feel we’re much alike, you and I. We’d be better free flying than down there.” He’s got that right, thought Brian. Alvam brought them back to the inner circle’s main entrance. “You will feel at ease within a week. Don’t let your new surroundings disturb you. The first day, it’s a rush, and then the layout becomes logical.” He pointed at a large staircase. “On the first floor, you will find all the offices for the different teachers. The headmistress is in the first. I’ll leave you here."
“Will I see you later?” Brian thought it polite to ask.
“Oh, yes. Students in the same wing usually eat together. No pressure, but it’s easier that way. I’ll introduce you to the people I know. Some share the same aspirations. When you come back, knock on my door and we’ll go eat.” Alvam yawned, his mind already on his next task.
“Perfect, seems cool,” Brian acquiesced, a bit perturbed. He didn’t know where his friends from Adheek would be, and he didn’t want to lose them altogether. Yet, they had to adapt to this new place, and surely, one meal with new students would not be an issue. He could go looking for his friends right afterward. He walked down the quiet corridor, quickly finding the office he was looking for.
The door opened as soon as he reached it, and he heard “Come in” in a soprano voice. He entered the room, slightly afraid. The door closed silently behind him. The large sunny office boasted a huge wooden table in the middle and paintings on all the walls. At a desk on the side, facing the ocean, sat a huge and overweight Alkathian woman. She had green-white hairs and blue eyes, contrasting her golden, wrinkled skin. Visible wrinkles on this planet—how old can she be?
“Brian Evans? Please, sit down.” The headmistress’s voice held an unmistakable commanding tone. There were four chairs around her desk and Brian quickly grabbed one to sit on. “So, you’re the new star?”
“Sorry, Mistress. Why do you think that?”
“Because you found a series of ships even before obtaining your intrasystem license. You defeated pirates. And Alvam Lel’trom calls me on your behalf. Those are rare feats.” She was stating facts, he thought. But was there something else?
“Mistress, it was more luck and desire to stay alive than anything else. There’s a lot I still need to learn and I’m deeply aware of it. As for Pilot Lel’Trom, he did that on his own and I couldn’t stop him.”
“Good. At least you’re not too full of yourself. Who was your master on Adheek?”
“Master Heikert, Mistress."
“Oh. Then he warned you against the central academy, heh?” Her tone was sad, slightly bitter.
There was no sense in lying. “Yes, Mistress.” She seemed saddened by his acknowledgment of her words.
“He hated his time with us. It worsened and became personal for reasons you may discover one day. That doesn’t mean he’s wrong. Multiply his words by one hundred and you’re still not warned enough. The academy is a contradiction that many from the outer worlds find hard to face.”
He looked at her inquiringly, wondering at her words. “You’ll be asked to work in groups and progress all together. And, at the same time, you’ll compete with one another for the best ranks. The best of you picks his job once he graduates. The last in line doesn’t have a choice. This is quite simple. Trust no one. Always be ready for a trick. Be the best in all you do, and you may eventually get what you desire.” Her eyes were cold, so cold as she watched him. “Unless you want to pilot an ore collector in a remote system.”
Brian had had trouble finding his skills as a pilot on Adheek. And now, he would have to use them to the best of his abilities while still uncertain about how they worked and still facing issues with his nanites. He gulped and paled.
“That’s the spirit, boy. You’re a threat to many simply by bringing your own ship, and I thought it fair to warn you. Master Heikert was a threat as well during his stay. That is why he warned you.” The mistress seemed sad, her eyes lost in the past. “The young Poulem Lel’san may decide to help you for reasons of her own.”
The family ship, she had said to Sonter. Does Master Heikert own a ship also? Is that the real issue here? “I’ve also met Alvam Lel’trom.”
“He’s a power in this school. His family is old and has many ties everywhere. He may help you. If he chooses to, few will dare oppose him.” Distrust was plain in her careful words.
Brian chose to move on. “What are the next steps, Mistress? What should I expect?”
“You’ll begin tomorrow one month of induction training like everyone else. Then, you’ll join a group on the Day of the Choosing. As soon as this is over, we truly begin your training. Two-thirds theory on the ground here and one-third in space. I hope you liked the elevator because you are going to ride it up and down quite a few times over the next year. That’s it. All other rules are like what you had in Adheek. Don’t hit each other, at least obviously, etcetera . . . You’ve had a long day?” He nodded. “Then you are dismissed to your room. First class tomorrow morning at sunrise. Orientation will be held in the main amphitheater, in the outer circle, across from here. Mark it on your bracelet and set up a wake-up call. Don’t be late."
Brian walked slowly back to his room. He felt despair weighing on him as he nearly lost himself in the maze of corridors. Later that day, Alvam brought him
to his table with his friends.
“What happened last year? We want all the details!”
They seemed eager to hear, so Brian recounted his adventure briefly and as modestly as he could. “On our run to Pelor, we found an unusual signal two jumps away in an asteroid belt. Captain Derantor became suspicious.”
Alvam interjected: “She’s from Filb. My father cruised with her when he was young.” Once again, the same question sprang into Brian’s mind. How old do you live when you’re a pilot? The others nodded around them.
“She sent a drone out to shadow us.”
“She was a captain on a warship? Was she flying under your father?” Poulem asked Alvam. He nodded silently, motioning to Brian to continue.
“Two assailants appeared to intercept us. The drone took one of them out, the other shot at us, but we reached the jump area and we escaped through the jump point. They didn’t follow us to Pelor, and we escaped.” He was playing all that had happened down, without mentioning that he had jumped where there were no jump points, following Master Heikert’s suggestion.
Suddenly, a discussion arose about piracy in the Federation, and his mood improved. He forgot his trouble, listening to old stories about the revolts on Filb or many other planets that had engaged in piracy before, and discussing these things late into the night with his new acquaintances. We felt alive, sharing his worries on the predictable trade runs, learning more about the few remaining warships that enforced the Federation rule.
Later that night, a small communication dish was raised outside one of the administrative buildings to send a quick message out into the stars. Then, it disappeared back inside the house.
Leandra
Alkath, 2140 AD, August
As her protégés left the harbor, Azal’am led Leandra quickly to the other end, the crowd parting in front of them. The place was bustling, and Leandra was relieved to see a small jet-black craft waiting for them. She wasn’t used to large gatherings anymore. A dwarf in the same azure garb as her guide sat at the stern of the vessel.
“We have a few hours of sailing ahed of us. Please, come and have a seat.”
As soon as they jumped aboad, the ship embarked and quickly sped away.
“Azal’am?” Leandra tracked the other ship, bearing students, moving away in a different direction.
“Yes, Madam Ambassador?” The guide had returned to her quiet posture.
“What’s awaiting them now?” Leandra was slightly worried.
“This week, they’ll be introduced to the different masters and to their new teammates. Then, they’ll take a series of courses designed to confirm their skills. Nothing serious will happen until the Choosing."
“That’s the day where their future teams will be created, is that right?”
“Yes. At local academies, they had to fend for themselves. An intrasystem pilot is often alone and isolated. Now, we want them to work as units. They will meet doctors, engineers, environmental specialists, and for some of them, arms masters. Their next challenge will be both to master new skills and to build crews for themselves.”
“And for me, what is awaiting?” Her guide seemed quite free with her answers. Why not grab a bit more information?
“Madam, it would be presumptuous of me to answer.” Her guide’s voice remained calm and neutral.
“But, you are working directly for one of the attachés to the council—in internal security, if I’m right. Any hindsight?”
“You’ll be heard by the council, Madam. My mistress will make sure of it. The Adheeken representative will most certainly invite you for a Myirt pie and maybe a glass of Zalam. Some other ambassador may be interested in talk to you, too.”
“Earth doesn’t have a voice in the assembly. What could they be interested in?” The council of three ran the Federation with their attaché. They were the emanation of the assembly, regrouping all worlds with active interstellar starpilots working for the Federation. Earth, with starpilots in training, would be present at the meetings without being able to speak for themselves.
“You have limited bargaining power. Few ships, limited technology, limited wealth. But you’ve got students here in the academy. Everyone will want to prepare you for their potential graduation. You know it already, don’t you?”
Leandra nodded. She had to secure the resources Earth desperately needed but she had nothing to buy them with. With their first pilots, they had bought a first batch of radiation cleaning nanostations, but they needed many more to repair all the damaged areas on the planet. Then, she also had to find power stations, gene-engineering facilities, scientists and engineers to run them for Earth—without even mentioning the need to fix global warming and bring back some ice on the poles.
She focused back on her work. First and foremost, she was here to understand the rules of the games and prepare the path for a future ambassador. She watched the waves quietly, enjoying the sea and the feeling of the wood ship beneath her after the travel in space and the cold metal of the different spaceships.
They passed many wooden circular structures anchored one to another in the channels between the islands. “Sea farms,” commented her guide. “Most of our food comes from the sea."
“Don’t you risk overfishing? Or pollution? With such a dense setup? Did you modify the genes of your fishes?”
“No. This is closely monitored.”
Leandra felt a bit of anger at her guide’s superior tone. But hard-learned lessons came back in a split second, and her face remained calm. She could easily misread these people, and until she knew better, she should not answer. “And we’re using very few chemicals. Even fewer gene-engineered creatures.”
“I had heard Alkath was a leader in these technologies?”
“Yes, we were. And, like our neighbor Ullem, in order to gain this expertise, we first made a lot of mistakes. You may even see some. Now, we've got a stable ecology, and we’ve stopped fooling around. Gene engineering is tightly controlled now."
Leandra observed the different farms closely, trying to understand the extent of what she had heard. Alkath was the best provider of gene-tailored species; yet, they seemed to have stopped that research. She focused on the large wooden rings around her. People walked along them, dressed in old-fashioned linens, manually checking their fiber nets. It gave Leandra a sense of peace she had left behind many years before in her small village in the Adriatic. Where’s the technology? We’re on the most advanced planet on the Federation.
They were now traveling toward a remarkably high peak that rose straight up from the sea. With the sun setting, Leandra saw flocks of gigantic birds converging above them.
Alvam was at her side, also looking at them. “Gulzaris, the seafarers. They’re one of the largest species of birds, and our emblems. Four-meter-long wings on the average.”
“They have . . . ?” Leandra squinted to see in the distance.
“Two sets of separate wings. Front and back. Like most birds on this planet. This evolution allows them to travel farther with less effort.”
“Where’re they going?” One crossed above the boat, cruising silently in the air.
“To their nests. You’ll understand when you see them.” Azal’am maintained the condescending tone that grated again on Leandra’s nerves.
The island grew in the distance. Multiple waterfalls ran straight from the top of the cliff to the sea, a good two clicks below. She could hear the cascades crashing into the sea. The birds were reaching their nests, which were alongside human habitats, all set into the strange mountain. Thousands of windows lit on all cliffs with the coming evening.
“What an impressive sight!” Leandra exclaimed.
“This is Netrash’an’rim. The head of the star elevator. Most just call it Netrash. You can see the crown on top.” Leandra quickly found the lights that surrounded the upper part of the peak. “The council is located there, at the top of the cliff. All other administrations from the Federation are spread from top to bottom. Ambassadors and
diplomatic personnel have apartments and offices there whenever is possible."
“I suppose I will start on the lower part?”
“No, most probably in the middle. The lower part is close to the harbor and the sea. Those areas are very valued as well,” Azal’am said apologetically.
“So, the middle is the least desirable location?”
“I wouldn’t hide that, Lady Ambassador. Newcomers don’t receive the first choice. Some families here have worked for generations to obtain better places, upward if you go into administration, downward for trade.”
Leandra was puzzled. “How can you sustain such a building? Ecologically, I mean?”
Azal’am gave a very brief, sad smile at that. “Every planet has its own pride . . . and weakness. This is ours."
Leandra nodded.
“We couldn’t keep it nowadays. But the Ancients tapped into the plasma mantle for energy when they built this. You’ll see.”
As the boat neared the island, Leandra could see that the area at the foot of the mountain was entirely given to quays and harbors, houses upon houses. Some wharves were designed for smaller passengers vessels, other featured large industrial platforms. The buildings were all made of wood, contrasting the rocky peak behind them.
Leandra asked, “You said you have no fossil energy remaining. No metal either?”
“Very little was left by the Ancients. Then, we used most of what remained in our initial development. Now, we’ve to get all of it from the asteroids. So, we’re very careful with what’s left. We face a lot of corrosion from the sea. You will see more on the islands."
Hundreds of crafts, small and large, were coming back for the night. Shouts echoed over the water, competing for access. Amid all of this, their captain shouted himself hoarse to reach a small wharf on the side, where a tall woman awaited them.
“No priority for us?” Leandra expected they would have had diplomatic precedence.
