by Travis McBee
“Well it was fortunate for us to meet Mr. Crosby here,” Arnold replied with his infuriating smile, “He has been indispensable in orchestrating this little, well I shouldn’t really call it a prank.”
“How could an imbecile like Brandon help you?” Will scoffed.
“Who do you think took down the retina scanners so Arnold could get around? ” Brandon screamed, “Me!”
“That was fortunate considering how complex these systems are. I’m terribly sorry about knocking out the alarms, It was an honest mistake.” Arnold interjected.
Brandon had paused in his verbal onslaught as Arnold spoke but seeing him stop started Brandon right where he had left off, “Who told him when that shuttle was leaving so that he could fly into the school when the hanger door opened? Me! Heck I even helped short out all the fuel cells in the pods and fried the nav systems in the shuttles so you couldn’t escape.”
“Well very good Brandon,” Will laughed, “But what can he do for you? You’re just a stupid Bridger to him. Heck he’ll probably leave you here with us when he goes.”
“Oh I don’t think so,” Brandon let out his silly laugh again, “I already have a place in Starview and they aren’t as tolerant about Terries as this dump is.”
“Um Brandon,” Will talked calmly and clearly, “You are a Terry you moron, and so is your little buddy there.”
Brandon sucked in a gasp of indignation at the accusation made against him but that turned to fear and regret as Will finished his sentence. He turned to stare at Arnold who looked back at him with a calm look of menace.
“I was going to do this anyway but I was at least going to let you out of the school first, but since you seem to adamantly hate my home world…”
Arnold moved so fast that Will could barely follow him. He snatched a club seemingly from thin air and struck Brandon hard against the side of the head. A loud smack resonated around the room followed by the crackled of electricity and Brandon crumpled to the ground in a heap.
“Stupid Bridger,” Arnold spat and kicked the motionless figure
“Why are you doing this?” Will asked confused where such hate could come from
“Why?” Arnold laughed, “Because my dear boy we have dealt with this school long enough. That little charade of a zegma game was the final straw for me.”
Will noticed the white suit bore the pads of a zegma suit and noted that the helmet to the suit lay carelessly on the flat surface of the console that controlled their fate.
“So you’re on the zegma team?” Will prodded, “Didn’t have a very good game did you?”
Arnold colored in anger as he replied, “Perhaps not, but the one responsible for the embarrassment will be dealt with accordingly. The rest of you are just for good measure.”
Will frowned. The one responsible? Who could that be? And then with a crash of realization Will remembered the absenteeism of his closest friend aboard the school.
“What have you done with Jon?” He asked angrily.
“Oh don’t worry about him.” Arnold laughed, “He is aboard your shuttle as we speak waiting to go for a little ride with us. I forgot to give Brandon here credit for pointing him out for us.” Arnold added giving the downed boy another sharp kick.
“How did he identify him for you? He’s not on the team.”
“Ah yes, but he did try out and was more than happy to identify your best player.” Arnold replied with a triumphant smile
“Ha-ha you idiot,” Will let loose a genuine laugh, “He is our best player, but that was me that scored all those points against you. Surely you must have noticed he wasn’t tall enough.”
Arnold scowled as he read the truth in Will’s face, “It doesn’t matter.” He said shortly, “And I’m done talking to you.”
He turned around and began to pound angrily on the control panel as he worked through the complex controls of the school. He obviously didn’t know entirely what he was doing. Will knew his time was running out none the less and surveyed his situation. His legs were free to move around but all he would be able to do is kick out and without much force at that. His classmates were all awake by now but none of them were talking as they lay on the floor in shock and pain.
He glanced back at Arnold who was working fruitlessly. His white zegma suit would absorb any physical assault with the dense pads that negated the hammering blows that landing on a wall could cause. Will wondered briefly if that was why the raiding party had been outfitted in them and decided to use that question to buy himself more time to think.
“What’s up with the zegma suits?” He asked with a snicker, “trying to remember how badly you got beat in them?”
“Not quite,” Arnold replied without turning around, “We needed them to board your shuttle since we could hardly land it in our hanger without one of our nosy administrators noticing.”
“So you stole our shuttle, flew it to Starview, and had your little cronies sneak out in stolen zegma suits?” Will asked considering how ridiculous the plan sounded
“That’s right and we used it to board this dump as well. We didn’t want to land the shuttle in the hanger in case some of you naughty Bridgers were out of bed. The rest of my merry band are already waiting in it for me as soon as I launch your silly school into the deep abyss of space.”
“Since when are zegma suits airtight?” Will asked genuinely curious about a suit he had worn many times before.
“Since always moron.” Arnold turned and looked at him as if he were something disgusting, “Zegma is often played in open space so they have to be. Now be quiet and stop trying to buy time, it doesn’t matter how much time you have you aren’t getting out of this one. We already took care of the rest of your little army.”
Will frowned at the news of his classmates defeat but he hadn’t even considered rescue while he was biding time. Instead the discussion over the attributes of the zegma suit had provided another solution to his problem as he remembered his own discovery.
Will pushed his right shoe to the end of his toe before doing the same with his left. With them balancing precariously he kicked them at Arnold with as much force as he could manage. The shoes soared haphazardly through the air. One of the shoes missed Arnold entirely colliding with the wall of instruments next to the boy, while the other struck him squarely in the back. The shoe bounced off of Arnold harmlessly and the older boy laughed without bothering to turn and look at Will.
“You have got to be kidding me kid.” He snorted as he poured over the panel.
Will knew the shoe wouldn’t have any affect but he wanted to draw away from the fact that he had taken off his shoes. He frantically began rubbing his socked feet together and felt the static electrify begin to tickle along his toes almost instantly. Now he just had to get Arnold closer
“Hey Arnold,” Will taunted, “Are you looking forward to jail?”
“I’m not going to jail, Bridger. Now shut up!” Will could see Arnold was beginning to grow frustrated at the complex control system.
“Oh yes you are. You didn’t get the micro out of my pocket you idiot. Our entire conversation has been broadcasted.”
“Doubtful, I disabled all of your micros,” Arnold replied but turned worriedly to stare at Will
“Well from what I’ve seen you’re computer skills leave much to be desired,” Will laughed, “How much time do you think you’ll get for all of this?”
Arnold took a step towards Will.
Come on big guy just a little closer.
Arnolds face creased in thought and Will saw the decision to be careful rather than sorry cross it and he knew he had his man. Arnold approached Will and reached out to search the boys pocket. Will smiled as the boy drew within range and then kicked the boy in the stomach.
The force of the kick rocked Will’s chair backwards onto two legs and barely affected Arnold at all. Arnold laughed at the seemingly vain resistance.
“What did you think…” Arnold cut his sentence short as the limbs of his sui
t grew rigid and with a bone crushing slam he was forced onto his back as the magnet held him securely to the cool metal of the gray floor.
“Static electricity,” will laughed at the boys shocked face, “It’s a fickle thing. Has a habit of activating zegma suits.”
“Let me up you stupid Bridger,” Arnold sneered
“Sorry, can’t help you. You locked our freer in his dormitory.” Will laughed
“Good job Will,” Corey called up from the floor, “Now get us out of here,”
Will’s triumphant smile faded. He hadn’t considered the problem of them still being tied up. He looked down at his arms which were tied securely to the chair with a strong band of rope that looked like the same material his monogarb was made of.
“Can you stand up Corey?” Will asked
“I think so?” Corey replied and staggered to his feet with ridiculous ease.
Only his arms had been tied behind his back. Obviously they hadn’t worried about them making an escape and only wanted to keep them from continuing to fight.
“See if you can untie my hand,” Will said nodding towards his right hand.
Corey walked towards Will and turned around so that his hands could work the ropes that held Will’s hands down. Corey’s hands fumbled on the knots but within a surprisingly short amount of time he managed to loosen it enough so that Will could slip his hand free of the loop.
“Thanks,” Will said as he freed his other hand before liberating Corey’s hands.
“Let’s get these guys untied,” Will said rubbing his wrists.
A few minutes later the five boys stood around the insolently angry face of Arnold who threw profanities at them at such an alarming rate that Will would have been willing to bet that Arnold had in fact written that infamous book that everyone alludes to.
“What are we going to do with him?” Corey asked and let loose a little frustration by delivering a sharp kick to the boys side.
Will was thinking of a reply when a muffled cry caught his attention. He turned around and realized that he had forgotten to untie Dean Norris who was livid with rage. Will hoped the rage wasn’t against him as he hurried across the room to untie her.
“Good job Haynes,” she said as he removed the strip of cloth over her mouth, “But you forgot your friend on the shuttle.”
Will turned in horror as he realized that he had forgotten about Jon. He ran to the door but turned around before he exited glancing uncertainly from the prone figure of Arnold to the newly untied Dean.
“Go! I’ll take care of this punk,” Dean Norris waved him on and a look of pure evil stole about her face that made Will feel grateful he wasn’t in Arnold’s shoes.
Will bolted out the door and ran down the hall where had had been ambushed at a dizzying speed. He barely slowed to open the door into the reception room where he slammed his fist into the button to open the door into the main hall way.
For the first time in his life he completely ignored the stunning views offered by the massive windows as he bolted towards the stairs at the far end. Behind him a group of four boys trailed him, unable to keep up with his breakneck speed.
He nearly fell in several places on the stairwell and by the time he clattered onto the third floor his companions were far behind. However the third floor snagged his mind away from the single minded desire to get to the hanger.
The remainder of the freshmen boys were climbing groggily to their feet as they held their heads, nursing what appeared to be intense headaches. Scattered about the knot of boys were nearly a dozen figures of white that were frozen to the ground. Will could see the Starview boys he had clubbed himself still lying where he had left them. So they couldn’t demagnetize their buddies huh? Good.
Will caught sight of a sandy mop of hair and made his way over to it before dropping to a knee by it. He turned over the slight figure and was glad to see deeply dimpled face of Sean smiling up at him.
“Sean, what happened?” he asked the boy who was shaking his head to shake away the pain
“We were trying to get the doors open when about twenty viewers came out of nowhere,” Sean told him, “We tried to fight them but they had clubs and we didn’t. They got us all I guess.”
“Well we stopped them, but they have Jon on the shuttle. We have got to get down to the hanger. Can you stand?”
“No way,” Sean pointed towards his leg, “Remember?”
“Oh yeah, sorry,” Will replied quickly before looking around, “Anyone that can run come with me, they have Jon on the shuttle we have to rescue him,” he called out to the group
Without looking at who was following he turned and began to run down the stairs without regard for his safety. Behind him a clatter of feet told him that he was not alone although he didn’t much care either way in his simple state of mind.
He launched himself from the third step onto the slick metal floor and thanked his lucky stars that he had remembered to slip his shoes back on before pelting from the Dean’s office. The sneakers held firmly to the floor as Will landed and released cleanly as he made his final sprint across the atrium and towards the hanger door. The door had been slid open and Will tried to peer into the hanger as he ran but all he could see was a bouncing square of black that grew larger as he approached.
The door grew closer and he passed through without hesitation. When he passed through he let out a breath of joy as he saw the gleaming hulk of the school shuttle sitting snugly on the hanger floor. The Starview boys had disregarded their leaders instructions and had decided to forgo the risky space diving that he had called for and had landed the ship safely in the hanger.
Will paused as he surveyed the shuttle which gleamed silver at him. At the base of the ramp were several Starviewers who were milling around in impatience. They weren’t looking in the direction at the moment and Will ducked back outside of the door to wait on reinforcements.
A clatter of feet announced their arrival seconds later and Will stood smiling in front of fifteen boys who looked anxiously at him for instructions.
“We have to get on the shuttle,” He whispered loudly, “So take out the guards quickly and get on!”
He turned around without waiting for assurance that his orders had been received and jogged quietly through the door as quietly as a hidden whisper. Even with his stealth the sentries spotted him before he had made it ten feet into the hanger.
Will cursed under his breath and sprinted towards the group of boys who were alarmed into chaos by his arrival. Will had nearly made it to the group when the first of the boys made up his mind, buzzed up his club with a threatening crackle and advanced towards Will. The rest of the Starview intruders were not quite as bold and most of them fled into the interior of the shuttle as Will approached.
The bold boy swung the club at Will’s head when he came into range of the painful instrument. Will ducked cleanly and shouldered his body into the stomach of the boy and was rewarded with a whoosh of breath leaving the boy’s body and was infinitely grateful for the echoing clatter that announced that he had dropped the club.
Will finished driving the boy into the ground as his peers rushed past him and into the interior of the shuttle as they had been instructed. Will stood up and as he was readying himself for his own sprint into the shuttle he saw Ryan stoop to pick up the dropped club and gave a thumbs up in appreciation as Ryan clubbed the down Starview student who became rigid as he was glued to the floor.
A rumble of sound emanated from behind him and Will wheeled about in alarm. The shuttle’s engines had been activated and the ramp which his classmates were disappearing into was beginning to retract upwards.
Will ran for the retreating ramp and dove forward catching the lip by the tips of his fingers. It began to pull him up and with a force of will he hardly suspected he possessed he yanked himself aboard the flat surface of the ramp and walked up its shortening length and into the interior of the shuttle itself.
The shuttle lurched and through a window Will s
aw that it had begun to move towards the thin membrane of energy that separated Bridgeworld from space. Behind him a knot of freshman boys watched as the large craft drifted away and Will saw a few of the head towards the flying saucer that had first borne him to Bridgeworld.
“Glad you made it Will,” Corey said clapping him on the back.
Will looked about the small section of the shuttle he stood in and saw a group of ten of his school mates smiling at him. Strung about the seats were the immobilized figures of four Starview students who were accompanied by two of the silver suited Bridgeworlders.
“What now?” Corey asked smiling as if they had succeeded completely
“We have to get whoever is flying this thing,” Will replied simply and strode up the isle towards the front of the ship.
Will had never boarded the shuttle from the rear and he found the walk forward disconcerting. He expected an ambush from every seat he passed and by the time he reached the closed door of the cockpit his nerves had been reduced to a jittering pile of nervousness.
Will tried the door and to no one’s astonishment it was unresponsive to his touch. He glanced out of the window nervously and saw that they had exited the hanger and were now floating over the surface of Broglio.
“How do we get in?” Will asked blankly
“The air duct again?” Corey suggested lamely pointing towards the small vent that sat next to the door.
“Surely it can’t be that easy,” Will mumbled as he bent down to examine the small vent
To his intense displeasure it was, in fact, not that easy. The vent was welded into place securely and even if Will could break through its bonds the vent turned downward instead of plunging straight ahead into the cockpit.
“Well it was worth a try,” Corey shrugged as Will shook his head and regained his feet, “What now?”
“I don’t know man,” Will said glancing around for anything they could use to batter the door down.
Will was looking over the front row of seats when a hiss of sound echoed from behind him. He turned around to see the door to the cockpit open wide and a figure standing in the frame smiling like a clown.
