Battle On The Marathon

by John Thornton

  Mister Fisher ignored the groans and just stated, “Sleep well tonight, for tomorrow everything will begin happening.”

  “Mister Fisher?” Bartlet asked. “Does this mean our unit is now complete? I know the Junior Class and the Senior Class each have twelve in their groups.”

  “Yes, Bartlet. The Sophomore Class is also now full. Until graduation, Raven Academy is closed to new inductees.” He smiled at her. “How could we ever deal with more than thirty-six of you at one time?”

  No one seemed to answer, or even know for sure if he was expecting an answer. I would later learn more of his rhetorical and Socratic styles, but right then, I thought he wanted an answer, but I did not speak up. To tell the truth, I was still baffled about machine-made clothing and what sounded like machine-made food. That was just so foreign to what we had at home, right Ryan?

  A tall and rolling metal door opened on a side wall, and the others all walked over to that. A beautiful, buffet-style, meal was sitting behind that door on the counter, attended to by a silver automacube. That automacube was setting out the foods with precision and care. No people were in that kitchen. It was machine-made food. So, just that day, I had seen a red, a white, and a silver automacube. None were like our old Greenie. These were sleek and efficient. For some reason, I was reminded of the difference between old man Punana’s wagon, and Mister Fisher’s vehicle.

  “Is your name Kalju?” Brett asked. “I want to make sure I get it right. I have never heard that name before.”

  “It is a family name, one of my grandfathers was named that. I am the oldest,” I relied while we walked through the line. I was not sure if I should tell him more about it or not. My lips just started working on their own. “I mean, oldest in my family. Well, not as old as my parents or grandparents, but oldest of the children.” I was jabbering from anxiety.

  “I am the youngest, but the only son,” Brett replied. “We get trays here. The food comes out on the counter there, but as Mister Fisher said, tomorrow things will be changing. I will show you the roster which is posted after supper, out by the bedrooms. You and I will be sharing, I had the only empty bunk, as everyone else already has a roommate. You get dishes under here, and the utensils are…” He explained how it all worked as we walked though. There was sliced ham, steaming vegetables, breads, pasta, milk, and lots of fresh fruit. Every time I think of my first meal there at Raven Academy, I can still taste, smell, and savor that food. I took a little sample of everything that was offered. I remembered how mom and dad always said to never waste food, but I still had to try everything.

  Sitting down at the table, there were three of us on each side. I was not sure where to sit, but the others all took seats like they had been doing it for a while. I sat in the last, the empty seat, which was between Kulm and Everett. I was not sure what was expected, but all the others were talking, eating, and drinking, so I joined in. The food was great. As I was eating, I did wish I could have some of mom’s chocolate cake with coconut pecan frosting. I did not tell anyone it was my birthday.

  I listened to what the others were saying, but it was hard to follow any single chat in all those streams of conversation. I got distracted by Jane telling about her father and how he was a policeman, but then Matkaja said something about raising dogs, and I tried to follow that. I got lost in the conversations.

  The dog, Marie, was underfoot almost all the time, going from one student to the next. Each one gave her a bit of food, but only a small token.

  When we were finished, we carried our utensils and dishes to the kitchen and cleaned them up ourselves. My hand still felt sort-of numb, but I washed and dried my own dishes. Then I followed Brett back to his room. As Mister Fisher had said, there was a package waiting for me on the lower bunk.

  Wow, I am rambling. Sorry. I better explain about the room, since you never got to see Raven Academy. Or did you? Each room was home to two inductees. Our window looked out toward the road, or I should say path, which led to the big plank sign. Each dormitory room had its own window. There was a bunkbed against one wall, and two study desks with comfortable chairs. We each had a small closet. A small lavatory was connected to each room with toilet, sink, and shower. Two cabinets were in that lavatory.

  “I have my stuff put away, so you can tell what is mine and what is yours,” Brett said with a good-natured smile. “Except for the lower bunk, if you need to trade the other places, I will do that with you.”

  “No, what you chose is fine. How long have you been here?”

  “This is my third night. Timofei and Radha have been here five nights, and they were the first to come. You were the last one,” Brett replied.

  The package was easy to open. It had a hard-shell case on the outside, with instructions telling me to remove everything inside and put the case out in the hallway. There were three sets of clothing, all machine-made. They were just like what the others were wearing and fit me perfectly. There was a lighter colored set of loose pants and shirt which I figured was for sleeping. Two belts, six sets of underwear, six pairs of socks, a pair of shoes like the others were wearing, two towels, two washcloths, and last of all was a funny feeling garment I did not recognize.

  “That is a swimming suit,” Brett told me. He must have seen the look of confusion on my face. “We all have them.”

  I rubbed the swimming suit’s material between my fingers, and even dragged it across my numb hand. It felt smooth and firm at the same time, yet was very lightweight. Its deep blue color was entrancing.

  “Have you gone swimming?” I was again thinking of the rude neighbor Dale and my experiences in his lake, with its slimy green moss and junk in murky water. No thank you, I did not care for swimming in his lake.

  “Swimming? Nope. None of our class has, yet,” Brett answered. “I did see the juniors and the seniors at the wharf. They go swimming every single day.” He said it with authority, and I wondered how he could know that when he had only been a Raven Academy such a short time.

  “What else do you know about them?” I asked as I was putting my newly acquired things away in my closet.

  “They have been here a year, for the juniors, and two years for the seniors. The seniors are on the top floor, and the juniors are right above us on the second floor. But their doors are weird,” Brett answered. “So, they are older than us. I will be thirteen in a couple months. How about you?”

  I did not want to tell him it was my twelfth birthday, so I fudged a bit and said, “I am about the same as you.” Well, we were both twelve, right? “So, who watches over us all?”

  “You saw Mister Fisher. There is an instructor for the juniors and another for the seniors,” Brett replied. “And everything we do is being recorded.”

  “What?”

  “How else do you think they know what is happening? No school is going to just let us be unsupervised. I know for sure that the techie school in Colby has an artificial intelligence which watches everything. My brother tried to pull a prank when he was there, and before he even got half way through it, automacubes, and the school counselor were already stopping it. They watch everything. You think this place would be less secure than that?”

  I wanted to argue, but Brett made sense. The display on Mister Fisher’s wall had looked just like regular permalloy before he had activated it. There could be tiny cameras anywhere and I would never know it. I felt watched, and creeped-out at the same time, but also, I did feel a bit better about having someone to help me. It was all too weird.

  Several bells sounded, but I did not catch how many. I learned pretty fast that the number of bells indicated what kind of thing we were supposed to do.

  “The new roster is up.” Brett got up and walked to the hallway. I followed.

  The girls had already emerged from their rooms which were across the hall. A large display screen had appeared in what previously had been bare permalloy. I looked at the walls and realized that permalloy was more prominent than I had at first thought. Yes, cameras and dis
plays could be anywhere.

  Bartlet was standing before the illuminated display and she was reading off the roster. “Breakfast, and then morning duties. Followed by lessons, physical training, lunch, afternoon lessons, afternoon duties, and then aquatic dynamics. After that is supper, and then reading. Last is final physical training.”

  “What does all that mean?” one of the boys asked.

  “A busy day,” Bartlet replied.

  Timofei pushed through. “Food preparation? I will be working with Jane.” He glanced over at her.

  The others went through the individual duties and found who they were partnered with for that specific task. Everyone got two duties a day, but was paired with a different person for each duty. Most of them then wandered away and back to their rooms.

  I was left in the hallway. Brett had mumbled something about his duty, but I did not catch what he said. I was looking at my name spelled out beside some duty called, “Food acquisition.” Next to my name was Tudeng’s. I looked around, and she was standing there next to me.

  She said to me, “Have you ever gone hunting?” Tudeng’s brown eyes were nearly too big for her face. They were wide open, and her mouth held just a touch of a grin. She had darker complexion than me, and with her thin, very dark brown—nearly black—hair hanging on either side of her face, she just looked remarkable. It was like seeing a young version of my mom. As I looked at her, I failed to respond so she said, “You do know what hunting is, right?”

  I stammered some response, but really just missed my mom. All I thought about was the chocolate cake with coconut pecan frosting I was not getting on my birthday.

  “Kalju, I will see you in the morning. If you need to learn about hunting I can show you,” Tudeng said.

  I was standing alone in the hallway. Everyone else had gone back to their respective rooms. At the end of the hall was the stairway to the upper levels, blocked by a clear permalloy door. I had not even noticed it before. I was still thinking about how much Tudeng looked like mom. As I walked back to Brett’s room, I had trouble thinking of it as mine. I wished I had responded better to Tudeng. Of course, I know what hunting is.

  As I walked into the room, Brett was at his desk. He had a device strapped around his wrist. “Yours is on your bed.”

  I walked over and picked it up. It was a technological machine which fit smoothly over my own wrist. It had several straps, but they self-adjusted as I put it on. My name was written on it, just beneath the long display. As soon as it touched by skin, the display lit up.

  “A pretty fancy watch, if I do say so myself,” Brett stated. “But that is an old term. This is not as good as a conservation slate, but sweet anyway. It has a medical monitor, a chronograph, a habitat locator, and probably a lot more. Links into our implants, and has some user functions which are blocked off.”

  “How did it get into our room?” I asked as I felt the watch on my wrist. It fit perfectly. I wondered what powered it and how it was constructed. “Who brought them here, and how?”

  “Hey, that is a good question. We were all pretty busy with the new roster, and I suppose Mister Fisher sneaked in and put them in our rooms.” Brett was still intensely studying his new watch.

  “He snuck into the rooms, each room, dropped off the watches, and then left and none of us noticed? All while we looked at the roster?” I asked and wondered aloud.

  “Mister Fisher must be a man of many talents.”

  I wondered about that for a long time.

  The ceiling lights flashed a few times as the bells sounded. Brett had insisted on leaving the door to the hallway open. That night, as I lay in my bed, I know I heard some of the other kids crying. I hope none of them heard me.

  Morning came, and the light from the sky tube shined into our window through the slats in the blinds. Brett was sleeping soundly, but I awoke easily and quickly. It had been a restless night. The bells sounded not too long after I used the toilet and washed up. My new machine-made clothes and shoes felt really nicely. I strapped on my new watch and in the sky tube’s light it was more of a dull olive color. I thought it was gray the night before. Later, I would learn about chameleon enhanced equipment, but at that time I just thought my recollections were wrong. I had seen so much that first day.

  “You do not want to dawdle,” one of the boys said as he rushed by the doorway. I think it was Everett. I looked at Brett who was still sleeping, and I did not think he would want to be late. I could not remember what his duty was, but I knew I was hungry. So, I stepped over and just as I was about to touch his shoulder, he opened his eyes. He jumped up in a fright.

  “The others are all up and going,” I said. “You sure sleep hard.”

  He smiled and just replied, “One of the many joys of being the youngest. All my brothers and sisters are always noisy.”

  I left him to get ready and ran out of the room. The others were lined up by where the rolling door near the counter was located. That metal door was shut, and I remembered what Mister Fisher had said about machine-made food. So, I walked over to a different door, which had a pull handle on it. I went in and the kitchen lights came on. There was no food out on the counter, but there were a lot of cabinets and various other storage compartments. I opened several and found boxes of food supplies. One container was marked ‘Oats’ and so I pulled that down. Soon I found some pots and pans, filled one with water, and set it on the cooktop. It was not too different from what we had at home, but there were about ten sections which could be used for cooking. Soon it was boiling.

  Before too long, a couple of the other students came in the kitchen. They also started to open the cabinets and found supplies. In addition to the ten cooktops, there was a refrigeration unit, a freezing unit, and a large number of food supplies which were in sealed boxes. Those sealed boxes had labels with full meals described, but no one opened any of those.

  My oatmeal was done. I had made enough for our family, the seven of us, but that was only about enough for each student to have half a serving of oatmeal. I had badly misjudged how much to make. But some of the others had made other items. So, we had cooked eggs, some fruits, and the oatmeal. It was not nearly as good as the supper the night before, but we all ate our fill. Just as we were finishing, the bells rang. Also, each of our watches lit up and instructions scrolled across each one’s small display.

  “Morning duty time,” Bartlet said. “Finish putting the cooking gear away, and head out to your assignments.”

  A couple of us looked at Bartlet with surprise as she was telling us what to do, but she was correct. We did need to keep the kitchen clean, and no one else was going to do it for us.

  Tudeng came up to me as we finished drying the bowls and stacking them away. “Food acquisition meets in front of the building. At least that is what my watch tells me.”

  I looked at mine, and it was displaying those same instructions. “I do know how to hunt. I did it with my mom or my dad.”

  She smiled at me, and nodded. “I am glad. I am not sure what all this means, but I doubt being late would do us any good.”

  “Right.” She still reminded me of mom, but not nearly as much as that first night.

  We walked out of the main room, and down the front steps. The dog Marie was there nosing about the grounds. She looked up and me and gave a brief happy woof. I called her name back to her and she returned to nosing about. The day was brisk, and there was a slight breeze. As we reached the bare ground area in front of the building, I tried to see where that ramp to the garage would open, but I could see no seams or spaces or other indicators of anything. The ground just all looked the same. A few dried leaves rustled across the bare area.

  “Good morning,” Mister Fisher said as he stepped out from the side of the building. “I hope you had a nutritious and delicious breakfast.”

  “Yes, sir,” Tudeng replied.

  “Excellent. Please accompany me. I will give you the tools for food acquisition.” As he turned I noted he now was wearing
a holster with some kind of weapon in it. It was somewhat like the pistol the sheriff carried, but Mister Fisher’s holster had a top flap that was nearly completely covering the weapon. All I could see was the butt of the weapon.

  We followed him as he walked along. I thought maybe he would open up the garage, but then I recalled he had said I would not be seeing it for a while, so I quit trying to guess where we were walking.

  “At this end of the lodge is an armory,” Mister Fisher stated. We were on the opposite end from where the wharf jutted out over the river. “This morning, you will be using spears to acquire food.” He pressed a series of buttons on a control pad which had nine different colored sections on it. I did not catch the sequence he entered, and when he pressed the last color, a side of the building, which he had called the lodge, opened up. The door was not completely hidden, but the exterior wooden materials did mask that door somewhat. He stepped inside, and returned nearly instantly.