Aetheran Child

by Antonin Januska

  The second day schedule took an interesting turn over the past month. Lexan stayed after hours with his electronics and programming teachers to get his new NCC up and running. He adjusted the personality, re-named the MPI to Joshua, after one of his old friends, and fitted it with applications to suit his needs. It was a morbid thing to rename the computer this way, since Joshua died a couple of years earlier, but Lexan was glad to have an old friend back. It made him feel more comfortable in this bizarre world.

  Joshua- the Main Personality Interface, even had the same voice, and parts of its memory. Lexan made up for some of the holes in his mind but everything turned out alright. He did not include the memory of Joshua dying but everything else he went through with that boy, the computer knew.

  Lexan actually excelled in those two subjects, having spent so much time with the teachers and messing with his computer system.

  The recess on the second schedule turned out to be much better than on the first day. Bloo spent many breaks with him even though sometimes she left to be with her friends. Lexan saw her and Charles, the octid from the Cardinal Regions, as the only friends he had. Charles and Lexan got along well enough, not too well though, the difference between Shuns and Octids seemed to be too great, and they could not communicate on the same level. And sometimes their conversations got lost in translation.

  Charles was a smart Octid though, he helped Lexan with his homework and taught him whatever he needed to function well in the new world. They worked together on independent projects too, Charles found it excruciatingly hard to find a partner that did not wish to throw all the work at him.

  Art and Meditation classes seemed to make no progress as the time passed.

  Meditation only shifted to a different spectrum of feelings, new feelings that needed to be dissected. The boy mostly ignored the class.

  Dimension Warping tries resulted only in spontaneous combustions and occasional rifts in space matter which led to an evacuation of the class. Lexan, try as he might, could not get a right dimension rift to open, some of the other students managed to do so, but he thought it was all in luck of the beginner.

  V

  Lexan laid on his bed, reminiscing about the past weeks, listening to the newest music hit from the DomeStem. The music protruded through his entire body, and vibrated not only his eardrums, but his mind as well.

  “Joshua?” He absent-mindedly asked.

  “Yes, Lexan?” The NCC answered.

  “Can you find some files on Master Raki?” Lexan answered as he saw Jacque, his only roommate, come in. He still thanked the disproportionate distribution of rooms to students. They could fit at least two others in this room, but luckily, no one new was assigned to room I623CI4. He waited a few seconds for Joshua, eyeing Jacque as he went to the closet and fetched his music mixing apparel that he so popularly used as the Music Master.

  “Lexan, access to these files is denied. As a student you cannot view files on others in the facility. The security imposed on the files is, however, very weak because of the open-mind policy at the school. do you want me to force my way in?” Joshua explained.

  “Yeah, sure..” Lexan said thoughtlessly as he saw Nivua, the beautiful diva, come in. She was still the most beautiful girl in the sector, and probably one of the top on the planet, Lexan thought. She winked at Lexan and turned to Jacque.

  “Jacque, are we going to have another party soon?” She said, whiningly and sat down on Jacque's bed, pouting.

  “I don't know, you want to?” Jacque replied teasingly and grinned back at her.

  “Of course I do! I learned so many new songs and school's a bore as always!” She stood up, waving her arms erradically, closing her eyes, chanting a song.

  I love it when you have your arms around me,

  and you whisper to me, I love you!

  inside my heart I'm burning, and burning.

  And you whisper to me, I love you!

  And as we dance out in the rain,

  and you whisper to me, I love you!

  I can't imagine living without you,

  and I whisper to you, I love you!

  She danced with her arms raised up, her luscious body swirling to invisible music. She began to sing even louder, Lexan was glad for the sound-proof walls. Not that she was a bad singer, he just didn't want others to come in and ruin this private showing.

  She danced and danced, soundlessly, revealing her a body as beautiful as the song she sang. Her black jeans complimented her dark long hair. The light blouse gave contrast to her slightly bronzed skin. She had a belt around her stomach, way above her waistline, that tightened the blouse and flattered her features.

  She pranced around, grabbing Jacque, trying to get him up and dance with her.

  “No. I'm tired.” Jacque laughed and to demonstrate his point, he fell back on his bed, still peeking up to watch that beautiful body move. He noticed Lexan staring, “Why don't you dance with her? I mean, you've been staring at her the whole time she danced, oh I think I see a bit of drool.” He said teasingly and laughed. Nivua laughed a bit too. Lexan blushed.

  “Yeah, come on!” She beckoned him, smiling like an angel. Jacque, meanwhile, found the song Nivua has been singing and played it on his music mixer.

  “Really, I don't know how to dance.” Lexan answered, knew that it was too late to get out of the situation, and if he did get out now, he would regret it later on.

  Jacque turned to Lexan once again and grinned, “You didn't have any trouble dancing with Bloo.” Lexan blushed even more.

  “Oh? That blue Shun? Yeah, wow, she's beautiful,” She laughed and looked at Lexan more seriously now, “Is that it, am I not beautiful enough to be worthy of your dance?” She winked at him while he stared directly into her vivid brown eyes and the small, almost invisible dark freckles on her nose. And perhaps, her dark hair that touched his body as she closed in to inspect him.

  “I...you. Well, no..i mean, yes. I-” He stammered as she grabbed his arms and pushed him on his feet.

  “I don't think that's the problem Nivua.” Jacque smiled again as Lexan stood in front of the other, helplessly frozen.

  “So do you like her?” Nivua asked Lexan, already swerving her hips to the music, once again, luckily, only heard in the room.

  “Yeah, I like you.” Lexan said absent-mindedly. He could not tear away from her piercing gaze. Seconds later, he realized what he said and finally thought of telling Joshua to ignore the blushing when projecting his avatar.

  “I meant, Bloo?” Nivua laughed again, turning only slightly red. She finally got Lexan to loosen up and they danced.

  “Well, I think – yeah—well-..she's cool.” Lexan couldn't concentrate.

  She turned to Jacque and remarked, “Boys at his age are really hopeless.” Lexan did not even notice it.

  “Well, I have to go Lexan.” She said as she grabbed Jacuqe, leaving Lexan standing in the middle of the room.

  “It's partially your fault, too,” Jacque answered the previous accusation.

  “Me? How?” Nivua said innocently.

  “You, going around, talking to a younger guy like that. Wearing what you do, looking like you do.”

  “Me? I'm innocent!” Nivua said with the sweetest voice she could manage and laughed it off.

  Lexan sat down after a few minutes, still trying to comprehend what just happened. He cringed his eyes brow and thought of how his teenage life will be ridden with situations just like this one.

  He laid back and called up Joshua, “What did you find out?”

  “Nothing. His name and profile are classified even to the teachers, and most of the staff. I cannot get in any way,” He answered, “You've got a call by the way.”

  “Let it through.” Lexan expected Bloo but noticed the unfamiliar icon pop up in his view.

  “Hello Lexan, my sister and I have noticed that you tried to hack into the system.” A boy said.

  “No, I was trying to find s
ome information about one of my teachers and when my access was denied, I left.” Lexan lied, carelessly and a bit annoyed that someone interrupted him.

  “We know what you tried and failed to do. We will help you if you help us,” he answered, “My name is Romul and my sister's name is Remu.”

  “Good to know.” Lexan answered acidly.

  “We know your name already. Let us meet on the tenth day.” The connection hissed closed.

  “Mark my schedule,” Lexan said, got up from his bed and left to combat class, slightly annoyed.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  I

  “Tickets for the dance are being distributed. Get your tickets for the Mid-Year dance. On sale now, only fifteen credits,” The advertisement ran across the hallway walls. Lexan walked by, staring at the thin band of displays. He had just walked out of Sports class and headed for the showers in his sector, luckily, it was located right by his dormitory. All the flashing signs and screaming white letters started appearing about a week earlier when the dorm leaders announced the theme for this year's Mid-Year dance, only about three months away. Three long months, Lexan thought, when he converted to Earth months, approximately nine months.

  Seeing a few familiar faces as he ewalflew off into his home sphere, he waved at some new friends he made in class. He finally got the courage to talk to others, those less active in socializing with him.

  The boy stepped into the white light and as he walked out, he found himself in his home sphere. He saw a few familiar faces and greeted those people. He finally started coming out of his shell.

  “Tickets for the Mid-Year dance available now,” He read the sign flash across the walls again. It was raining slightly outside. The rain droplets swirled and plastered against the spheres.

  Lexan walked off into the hot shower. The water, he now knew, contained electrolytes, minerals, and nutrients that seeped through his suit. The pores in his suit adjusted and let the water in and the dirt out, but only in the shower. The atmosphere shield was on, just in case. The dirty water exited through the porous floor, directed through the spheres and pipes down into the ground where all synthetic chemical traces would be destroyed. The liquid would then support the wildlife.

  “Lexan, you have an incoming call from miss Bloo,” Joshua announced through the thundering sound of the shower. Lexan didn't want to be disturbed, he really enjoyed the showers. So, instead, he told Joshua to inform Bloo that he's currently busy and will call back as soon as possible.

  Seeing as the shield was on, Lexan took a deep breath and took off his helmet. As he pressed down on the side buttons, the wires extracted from his head and he lost all connection to the world. All the open channels to the DomeStem closed off as well as his open mass multiplayer game. The DomeStem became very addicting to Lexan especially during boring times in class.

  Lexan washed his longer hair. It almost dropped down to his shoulders, he would have to cut it soon. He knew his hair would tangle up sooner or later but for now, he just enjoyed the steady stream of water running down through it.

  Once finished, Lexan turned off the shower and put on his helmet.

  “Call back Bloo, please.” He said and immediately heard Bloo's voice.

  “Hey Lexan, I'm bored, let's go do something.”

  “Sure, where do you want to go?”

  “I'm thinking of watching a movie, this new drama comedy just came out.”

  “I'm not too big on those. You know that.” Lexan said a bit annoyed, however advanced this civilization was, it still relied on cheap romance comedies for entertainment.

  “Oh, but this one is supposed to be really good. It's about two human men flying through the universe and attending various celebration to pick up other Shun men, but never humans! They do so until they realize they want something new and different. It’s the usual but it’s supposed to be funny!”

  “Well, alright. But I swear, if it'll be as bad as the last time, I won't go to another one. Oh and next time, it's my pick.”

  “Ha, right. Your pick will be just the newest bloodshed movie.” She hung up a few seconds later. Lexan called upon Joshua and planned out a route to her dormitory. She was lucky enough to live in a two bedroom dorm with only her there, a kind of an apartment. Apparently, she got special treatment as an immigrant from Cardinal Regions. Lexan wondered why he never got that, but still felt lucky at having to share his room with only other person. Bloo suggested Lexan move in with her, but he never trusted the school would let him do that and felt a bit claustrophobic at the idea.

  Bloo was great and all but Lexan could not imagine living in the same dorm every day, he liked his privacy too much. They have been “together” for the past two months, since they've met. It was not official but neither of them cared for the social scene nor having a clear title. Two months, Lexan thought to himself again, that's just about six Earth months, maybe more. The time seemed to pass differently here. No one wasted time on sleep, and tight school schedules kept everyone going. Despite the numerous projects and endless tests to study for, Lexan found himself with more free time than he's ever had. Yet, there was no boredom either.

  If Lexan found nothing to do, which seldom happened, he could log onto DomeStem and play online games, read stories and books, or even watch movies or interesting shows. Since he was new to the culture, there were endless subjects to read about and endless movies to watch. Otherwise, he had spent more time with Bloo than with anyone. They randomly traveled across the planet and saw the strangest attractions.

  The school, it turns out, is so enormous, they could spend the rest of their studies traveling every day and still they would not have seen all of it.

  Lexan walked into the bright shining light in the transport level. He admired the transportation, because however long it took, it seemed like nothing to him. And the transport would always arrive on time and leave on time.

  He checked how much time he had before the next class, History: two more hours. He was glad Sports class ended early because of an unfortunate accident where one of the less athletic students broke his leg. It turns out, it is too easy to recalculate the anti-gravity generator. The kid put the gravity on full blast. Because he was raised on a moon, his body could not take it. Lexan quickly looked down on his NCC and password locked down his anti-gravity generator. He was currently experiencing one sixteenth of the planet's gravitational pull, which was surprisingly twice that of Earth's.

  The idea was to increase the gravity pull on the body with time so that the body grows stronger and healthier. Lexan was scheduled to increase to pull on his body by fifteen percent in the next month.

  He finally walked into Bloo's sector, even the right Sphere, and headed for her room. As he opened the door, she flung herself into his arms, “What took you so long?” She eyed him strangely and then kissed him. Lexan could never get used to how cold her lips felt, if she were a human, he would have been very concerned for her health.

  “I'm here now.” Lexan said and kissed her back. They walked into her little apartment and laid down on her bed. The whole place looked very cozy. The boring grey walls of all the other dormitories transformed into bright yellow with a half cylinder pattern.. A clear, frosted plastic door separated the two identical bedrooms. Bloo kept the apartment at a very low temperature with a high level of oxygen, but not too high. Lexan got used to it and even stopped having headaches after a couple of weeks of daily exposure.

  Lexan laid down next to Bloo and both of them stared at the monitor-covered ceiling. Bloo extended her hand and started playing the movie as she wrapped herself around Lexan. The credits came up, and both of them switched their vision type to the 2nd Degree. Slowly, the room dissolved into darkness and the opening credits started. A figure came out of the ceiling and greeted them. He started narrating the beginning, explaining the current situation of the characters at hand.

  “...and so we travel and watch these two men as they wreck havoc in the universe.” Th
e man disappeared into the darkness and the movie started. Lexan closed his eyes and put his arm around Bloo. Her bed was large enough for both of them and more. When Lexan opened his eyes, he watched the fully simulated, three dimensional figures in front of him. The whole room transfigured into a city, he sat up and Bloo did too. They were laying down on a floating bed. A bed that followed the characters automatically. Lexan motioned for the bed to float a bit farther away, close enough to hear them but far enough so that he would not have to deal with their idiotic AI.

  The couple of characters looked back and waved at the both of them, as if recognizing old friends. The two men walked in front of Lexan and Bloo for some time, discussing the particulars of their newest adventure. One of the men turned back and asked Lexan if he wanted to join in his quest to pick up Shuns at a local planetary celebration. Lexan respectfully denied and kissed Bloo to show that he already had one. Bloo laughed out loud.

  Neither of them particularly cared for the interactive parts of the movie but sometimes, it made a person feel like they were actually there with the characters.

  The city hummed, the tall metal buildings stood as pillars to the sky. People talked amongst themselves, Lexan heard a few people explaining what the celebration was about. Bloo turned their mode to invisible so that they could watch the movie and not be a part of it. The two men noticed and waved Bloo and Lexan goodbye.

  The bed floated on as the movie progressed.

  Lexan held Bloo closer to him and she put her hands around his torso. They felt a bit awkward because both of them still had their helmets on, and no matter the complicated software that simulated that the helmet did not exist, they both knew their helmets and suits hindered their intimacy.

  Lexan took off his helmet slowly and as he did, the whole scene of the movie disappeared only to show holographic men in the middle of the room, talking amongst themselves. He breathed in deep and felt the rush of oxygen explode in his lungs. His ears popped slightly at the elevated pressure. He looked down at Bloo, only to find a silver-dressed figure hold him. She reached up and took off her helmet too.