by Zac Harrison
The little droid spun around, lights flashing. “Ah,” it said, “if you put it that way, I have been meaning to change my batteries and tidy up my hard drive.”
“G-VEZ!” Mordant sounded outraged.
For the first time since the headmaster had appeared in the classroom, John found himself smiling.
“I am terribly sorry, young Master Talliver,” the little machine said, “But rules are rules.” It floated away to bob around the headmaster’s shoulders.
Lorem nodded towards the pyramid. “Your assessment begins now. Starting with tests of Space Flight and your problem-solving abilities.”
“You mean we’ve got to fly the pyramid on our own?” Emmie blurted out.
“Precisely. And pilot it to the Kerallin.”
The last traces of Emmie’s nerves vanished. “I didn’t realize there would be a flight test,” she said happily. “Space flight I can do.”
“Well, now is your chance to show the scholars of Kerallin, ” Lorem replied. Addressing the whole class, he continued, “Once you are all on board, we will release the docking clamps. The ship will be moved away from Hyperspace High using our force fields. After that, you are on your own. Whatever happens, I’m trusting all of you will make me proud. Good luck, everyone.”
As the class filed through exit port kappa, a finger tapped John on the shoulder. He stopped and looked up into the headmaster’s twinkling purple eyes.
“John Riley,” Lorem said, “you look less than happy about this adventure. I thought you enjoyed a challenge. What is troubling you?”
John tried to force a smile onto his face. He failed and looked down at his feet. “It’s just that everyone else belongs here, sir,” he said miserably. “They were chosen. I’m just an accident.”
“Are you sorry that you were invited to stay on at Hyperspace High?”
“No, no. It’s not that,” John babbled. “It’s just I’m afraid the scholars will tell me to leave. That’s what’s bothering me. This is the best school ever.”
“I’m glad you think so,” Lorem said. “Accidents often have unexpected consequences. In fact, many people believe the existence of the universe itself is a vast cosmic accident. There is no need to worry about your presence here. I am very happy to have you at Hyperspace High, and I know I am not the only one. You belong at this school as much as anyone else.”
“Thank you, sir. But... well... I’m not the best student.” John lifted up his eyes and looked into the headmaster’s face. “Will there be lots of difficult tests?”
An enigmatic smile crossed Lorem’s face. “What is life other than a series of tests, John?” the headmaster said. “Tests we must face with courage.”
Chapter 4
The headmaster’s words had an immediate effect. Feeling much more cheerful, John rushed headlong through the docking port after his classmates. Lorem was right, he decided. The inspection was a challenge, and he wasn’t going to pass any tests by moaning and being gloomy. Besides, he thought to himself, the first test is Space Flight and Sergeant Jegger says I’m almost as good as Emmie.
A whistle escaped his lips as he entered the Kerallin spaceship. Inside, the pyramid was a vast single room. Its triangular walls stretched far above John’s head and appeared to be made of clear glass, shimmering with a faint purple glimmer.
“Wowsers,” he whispered softly to himself. Through the clear walls and floor of the pyramid, stars blazed in every direction. In the distance, a huge nebula hung in the darkness, a wispy cloud of gases studded with newborn stars. Beneath his feet a comet flashed past, a tail of ice and rock particles flaring behind.
“John, John, stop gawping. Come and look at this.”
Dropping his gaze from the glories of space, John looked around. Across the ship, Kaal was waving him over. Surrounded by a ring of MorphSeats, he and the rest of the students were huddled around something at the centre of the pyramid.
“Coming!” John walked towards them. Whatever the ship was made of, John knew it must be stronger than any metal found on Earth, but a small part of his brain couldn’t help but think that there was only a thin sheet of glass between him and the freezing vacuum. Behind, a grinding sound followed by a loud clank told him that Hyperspace High’s docking system had been retracted. He glanced back nervously. The wall was now a flat, unmarked surface with no sign of any docking machinery.
Suddenly, boosters fired, moving the pyramid into space. John stopped, watching for a moment as the elegant white bulk of Hyperspace High disappeared into space in the blink of an eye. The class was now truly on its own, drifting through space in a ship that none of the students had ever flown before with no idea of where they were supposed to go. John couldn’t help smiling when he remembered that at his last school the pupils weren’t even allowed out of the school gates on their own.
“Hurry up, John.”
“What are you looking at?” John asked as he got closer.
Kaal pointed.
John’s gaze dropped to the floor. Set in a square, four symbols glowed white on the transparent floor. “What are they?” he asked.
“We’re not sure,” said Kaal. “Hoped you might have some idea.”
“Don’t look at me.”
“They’re obviously the ship’s controls, you morons,” said Mordant Talliver. The half-Gargon boy pushed other students aside with his tentacles. “Here, let me show you.”
He jumped on one of the glowing symbols and looked up expectantly.
Nothing happened. Outside the view of the stars remained unchanged.
Mordant waved his arms and tentacles.
He jumped onto another symbol. And then another.
The ship remained motionless.
“Must be broken,” he snapped. “This ship’s a heap of junk.” Turning away, he threw himself into a MorphSeat, which immediately shaped itself around his body.
Ignoring Mordant’s outburst, Emmie stepped forward onto one of the symbols. “There must be a way to getting this thing to move,” she said thoughtfully. “You can’t have a ship without a way to fly it, and Lorem said this is a test of our problem-solving abilities.”
“How about we split up and see if we can find anything that might help?” John suggested.
“That is an excellent idea,” said Raytanna, a girl with smooth white skin, a tiny mouth, and six large, black eyes. “Emmie is correct – all spacecraft must have some type of propulsion system as well as controls. Our task is to identify how this ship is configured and adapt our knowledge to operate it.” With a sideways glance at Mordant, she added, “As its purpose is to test us, its unlikely to be as easy as jumping up and down and waving our tentacles about.”
Pretending he hadn’t heard, Mordant leaned back in his MorphSeat. He closed his eyes and put his hands behind his head.
Emmie nodded. “Exactly, Raytanna,” she said. “Small groups. Let’s take a wall each while one group checks over the floor.”
“Hey, what’s this?” John shouted a while later. He was halfway along the pyramid wall that he, Emmie, and Kaal had chosen to investigate. Etched into the glass were flowing lines, so fine they could barely be seen. Reminding John of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, they seemed to be half-words, half-pictures. Apart from the symbols on the floor, they were the only useful things that anyone had found. Within moments, John was surrounded.
Raytanna leaned over, studying the markings with her six eyes. “It appears that these are words. I must confess, however, that I am ignorant as to which language they are written in.” She sounded almost ashamed.
“Hey, it’s OK, Raytanna. You can’t know everything,” said John, hiding his disappointment. Raytanna was constantly studying. While he and Emmie were always at the bottom of the class, she and Mordant were always at the top. With Mordant refusing to help, it was unlikely that anyone else would be able to translate the word
s.
At Hyperspace High, the ship’s computer translated every word into each student’s native tongue, and students wore mobile devices to do the same when they were away from the school. With such advanced technology, John could never see the point of studying Cosmic Languages. But now, he was beginning to understand; these markings were clearly an obsolete language, too ancient to be translated by the computer.
At the back of the small crowd, Emmie cleared her throat. “I’ve been doing a lot of extra work on Cosmic Languages,” she said. “Maybe I could have a look.”
“You could give it a go, I suppose,” said Lishtig doubtfully, as Emmie knelt and ran her fingers across the faint lines. “But if Raytanna can’t read it, I don’t fancy your chances much.”
Emmie shot him a sharp look.
“Do you recognize it, Emmie?” asked Raytanna. “It looks a little like ancient Kartoxian.”
Emmie shook her head. “No, I think it’s Lurscript. It looks similar, but is different from Kartoxian. I learned a few words last week. It’s still used in parts of the Omega Sector.”
“You can read it?” Lishtig sounded astonished. This time, the whole class turned to glare. “Sorry, shutting up now.”
“I only learned the basics,” said Emmie. She pointed at the first word-picture. “This means something like ‘make sure’.” Her finger moved along the line. “To make... no... to use or put on.” She sat back on her heels, flummoxed. “I think the last word says ‘coat’.”
“Make sure to put on a coat?” said Lishtig. “Why? Is it cold on Kerallin?”
“Lishtig!” Kaal and John said together.
Emmie sighed. “Sorry, that doesn’t help much, does it?” she said, getting to her feet. “I should have forced myself to study harder.”
“Force!” yelped John suddenly. “That’s it!”
Chapter 5
It was John’s turn to become the centre of attention. Every student looked at him curiously.
“Thrust. Lift. Gravity. Drag,” John babbled. “The four forces.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Kaal, staring at John as if he’d gone mad.
John was already running back towards the symbols on the floor. Over his shoulder, he shouted, “It’s just like Jegger always says!”
A few moments later, he was standing breathless on a symbol that looked like a balloon. “This is lift,” he said, as the rest of the class made their way over, still confused.
“Still not sure what you’re jabbering on about,” said Kaal.
John took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. “Sergeant Jegger says that space flight is about balancing four forces – lift, thrust, gravity, and drag.” Pointing at his feet, he said, “Lift.” John moved his finger to point at the next symbol, a barbell. “That must be drag. Emmie stand there.”
Understanding was beginning to dawn in Emmie’s eyes. She stepped forward and stood on the symbol next to John. “That means...” she trailed off, seeing John pointing his finger at the third symbol.
“Fountain... water... a jet of water. Thrust! Kaal, that’s thrust. You stand there. Lishtig, the last one must be gravity. You take that one.”
As Lishtig stepped onto the last symbol, a loud chime sounded. Beneath the four students’ feet the symbols glowed brightly, rising to float above the floor, and lifting the students with them. Crackles of purple light crawled across the glass pyramid. Waving his arms and wobbling, John only just managed to keep from falling. “Whoa!” he said. “It really is all about balance.”
“Initiating flight systems,” interrupted a light, friendly voice. The ship’s computer, John guessed.
“Nice one, John,” Queelin said.
“Not bad for bottom of the class, ” Kaal added.
“I don’t want to be a killjoy, but we’re still not actually moving,” Emmie chipped in.
“Computer: any chance you can tell us how to fly this thing?” asked John.
Silence.
“Worth a try,” he shrugged. “OK, then. If it’s about balance, then maybe if I make myself shorter than the rest of you by doing this...” He crouched. Instantly, the symbol he was standing on sank towards the floor, while, opposite, Lishig’s rose higher. Stars streamed past outside as the pyramid shot upward.
“Brilliant,” said Werril admiringly, as John stood up again, bringing the pyramid to a stop. Werril shook his head, with its rhinoceros-like horn growing out of his dark-green face. “So basically, you’re balancing out the forces between the four of you to fly the craft.”
John nodded. “I think so. We’ll need to experiment, though.” Looking over his shoulder, he said, “Why don’t the rest of you take a seat. This could be a bumpy ride.”
Within seconds, the remaining students were strapped into MorphSeats. While they prepared for the flight, Mordant opened his eyes. “Took you long enough to work it out,” he drawled, as if all along he had known how to fly the pyramid but couldn’t be bothered to tell everyone else. “It’s a ridiculously low-tech system,” he added. before pretending to doze off again.
The rest of the students were too excited to take any notice.
“Ready?” John asked. Seeing them all nod, he continued. “Kaal, you’re thrust. Get us moving.”
Kaal bobbed down quickly. Too quickly. There were screams as the pyramid shot forward, throwing students back in their seats. On the opposite side, Emmie’s symbol threw her into the air. “Watch it, Kaal!” she yelled, only just managing to keep her footing.
“Yee-hah!” Kaal shouted in delight. “More speed.” He crouched even lower, chuckling as the pyramid flashed through the stars. Emmie wobbled again, a grin spreading across her face.
Steadying himself, John let his knees bend a little. The pyramid’s course curved upward. Ready this time, Lishtig spread his arms to balance.
“Emmie!”
Smoothly, Emmie went into a crouch. Students groaned as the pyramid slowed down. As Kaal stood up, Emmie dipped lower and it began to go backward.
“I always said you’re a real drag, Emmie ,” Lishtig cracked, making the class groan.
“Stop making stupid jokes and help us fly this thing!” Emmie shot back. As she stood, Kaal’s symbol dipped again, causing the spaceship to leap forward.
Lishtig crouched and stood, crouched and stood, making the pyramid swerve crazily, to the delight of its passengers.
“This is serious, Lishtig!” shouted Emmie, laughing. “We’re being tested, remember?”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry, forgot about that bit.” Lishtig stood smoothly, grinning.
Before long the four of them had learned to move together, making the pyramid fly where they wanted it to go. “OK, we seem to have got the hang of it now,” John said. The four pilots stood up at the same time. The pyramid cruised to a complete stop.
“So far, so good,” agreed Kaal. “But how on Derril do we find Kerallin?”
As the words left his mouth, light blazed a metre above his head. Students gasped as they looked upward. A holographic cube hung in the air; a cube that looked like a 3-D maze made of white neon light. In one corner blinked a purple pyramid.
John ducked instinctively, afraid that the huge puzzle was going to fall on his head. The pyramid shot upward again. As it did so, the small flashing pyramid in the maze moved, too.
“I believe it is a map, showing us the way to Kerallin,” said Raytanna. “If we pilot the ship to the centre of the maze, we will arrive at our destination. The small pyramid tracks our progress.”
“Sounds sensible,” said John, staring up at the shining cube. “But I’m already getting a pain in the neck from staring up at it. Everyone sitting down will have to direct us.”
“That will also be part of the test,” Raytanna replied. “It seems the scholars have created these trials to make us work as a team. Ingenious.”
; “Let’s go to Kerallin, then,” said John with a grin. “Which way first?”
“Straight ahead!” a few of the students yelled back.
Laughing, Kaal went into a crouch while Emmie stood straight. The strange purple spaceship rushed through space.
“Straight ahead for three light years.”
“Ninety-degree right turn.”
Soon the students were all shouting at once. Unable to stop laughing, John, Emmie, Kaal, and Lishtig did their best to follow the directions. The flight proved so much fun that even Mordant eventually joined in. “You’re going the wrong way!” he would shout occasionally, or “Stand up, Tarz, you idiot, you’re making the ship as slow as you are.” Everyone was having too good a time to care about the occasional snide remark. John caught himself wondering what sort of test could be so much fun.
However, in spite of the jokes, the pyramid was making progress. Every time John craned his neck to look up, the tracker had moved deeper into the 3-D maze.
“Is it much further?” he moaned. “My knees—”
“It may be that the scholars of Kerallin are testing your physical fitness, John,” interrupted Raytanna.
“Hey, where’s the tracker gone?” Queelin shouted behind him suddenly. “It just blinked and vanished.”
“Is this another test?” Lishtig asked.
“What’s happening?” John looked over his shoulder to where his classmates were staring up at the cube in confusion.
“Umm... I think we’re here,” said Kaal quietly.
A hush descended.
John turned back and followed his friend’s pointing finger. Dead ahead was a planet, as green as an emerald and draped with clouds. Three small moons spun around it.
“Autopilot engaged,” said the ship’s computer. “Prepare for landing on Kerallin.”
The pyramid landed in what looked like a wide meadow with barely a bump. Instantly, a section of the wall began to flow and change. Ripples spread across the glass, as a small circular hole appeared. The hole rapidly widened until it was a became a doorway large enough for the students to walk through two abreast.
