Galileo (Battle of the Species)

by Meaghan Sinclair

  Dylan followed his gaze and smiled. “Do you play BOTS?” Dylan asked.

  “BOTS?” Renn asked.

  “Battle of the Species.”

  “I’ve never even heard of it,” Renn replied. “Is it really a game? I thought it was just fighting.”

  “It’s a game only in that you can compete against other students. The longer you survive and the more clever your strategy is, the more points you win,” Dylan said.

  “Do you win anything?” Renn asked.

  “Yeah, bragging rights,” Dylan said with a grin. “In a school like this, you can’t ask for anything better.”

  “Do you guys play?” Renn asked.

  “No, they don’t have anything like that on Crystalline,” Leo said.

  “No, but I bet I’d be really good at it,” Rudy added.

  Renn grinned at Rudy’s optimism.

  “Yeah, I played it at my school on Temin,” Dylan said.

  “Does everyone have to play?” Renn asked.

  “No, the schools encourage everyone to participate as battle practice, but it’s not required,” Dylan explained. “If someone feels like playing, they can just sign up for the next battle and if they hate it, then they don’t sign up again. BOTS isn’t for everyone.”

  Unbeknownst to Renn, another Mindeerian walked quietly behind him, not only listening curiously to their conversation, but bewildered at Renn’s thoughts.

  Desh scrunched his brows, wondering why he could hear the blond’s thoughts at all, having sworn he saw the boy had vertical pupils. Renn’s thoughts floated in the air so freely that Desh wanted to stick a pin in the boy’s side just to see if his hands would spark. Mindeerians usually learned to block their own thoughts before they learned to speak. It didn’t make sense that a teenager wouldn’t be able to do it.

  “What opportunities did you have to practice fighting on Earth?” Dylan asked Renn.

  Opportunities? Renn thought. I’d hardly call a weekly ass-whooping by Jonah an opportunity…

  Desh rolled his eyes as he watched Renn’s memory of a husky human beating on him in the woods.

  “None,” Renn replied.

  If Renn was human, Desh would have been more forgiving, but if he was of the same species, as far as Desh was concerned, Renn was the Mindeerian version of the village idiot. It then occurred to him that the boy could be mentally stunted, and Desh felt like an ass for judging him. If they allowed Zorgres to attend the Galileo, then they would accept a Mindeerian with a defective intelligence. If he’s stupid, then he’s forgiven, Desh thought to himself.

  Desh and Kia had been waiting years to attend the Galileo and get the training they needed to become warriors. They had assumed that the other students would be like them, having spent their lives hunting and fighting. So far, the majority of First Years came across as adequate appetizers for the species they would be fighting.

  When they walked into the mess hall, Desh took off for Kia’s table, leaving the odd Mindeerian/Earthling to fend for himself with his human friends.

  Renn looked around the mess hall, finding it pretty full, despite how large it was. There were stairs leading to four different levels, for more seating. On the other side of the tables and chairs was a massive wall of windows overlooking the same view provided by every window on the ship: darkness with scattered specks of twinkling lights.

  Renn followed Dylan and the others through a labyrinth of oddly shaped tables, presumably to accommodate the different body forms of the various species. There were backless chairs for those with tails and wings, heavy metal structures to hold the weight of the more robust students, and small bucket seats for students the size of a Sensatus.

  The boys made their way to the windows on the bottom level, where a tiny cleaning-bot suctioned its last crumb atop an empty table and hopped off in search of another unoccupied mess.

  Renn looked out the windows. “I thought we were in the belly of the ship,” he said.

  “We are,” Dylan replied. “The windows are holograms.”

  When they sat down, the boys lightly tapped the table top with their fingers, prompting a menu of species to pop up, with a question above it displaying, “What species are you?”

  Renn wasn't sure whether to select “Human” or “Mindeerian,” until he realized he could choose both. At least Ava didn’t have a problem with crossbred species.

  The screen changed to planets, inquiring what planet he wanted his food to come from, only listing the food which could be digested easily by a Human/Mindeerian body, yet there were still too many selections to choose from. He could order fried tempney from Linrovia, crockis omelets from Tenesh, althot pancakes from Parnote; the list went on and on. In the end, Renn chose a cheeseburger and fries from Earth. Having dinner food for breakfast seemed as wild and crazy as he felt like getting that morning.

  “What are you ordering?” Rudy asked Dylan.

  “A Vinian steak from Porth,” Dylan replied.

  “I thought intelligent species were illegal to eat,” Leo said.

  “Intelligent? Vinians eat their own poop,” Rudy said.

  They began a debate about whether or not the species Dylan ordered was dumb enough to eat, but Dylan had already ordered something else the moment “poop” was mentioned.

  Renn looked around, curious about where his food was going to come from, ruling out lunch ladies and waiters. At the table next to him, a compartment rose from the middle of the table and the students pulled a tray of food out, before the compartment lowered back into the table. Renn looked at his own table and saw the thin line where his own compartment was, barely distinguishable in the frosted glass.

  Rudy was in mid-sentence, rambling something about tater tots, when he stopped, staring at an entrance with his mouth open. He looked down at the table, leaning into the guys in a whisper. “Hot girls, ten o'clock,” he said.

  Dylan, Leo, and Renn looked in three different directions, since the ten o'clock on Temin, Crystalline, and Earth were located in different positions on each planet’s dial.

  “The door on the port side,” Rudy said.

  “Port’s right, isn’t it?” Leo asked.

  “No, starboard’s the right side of the ship, like at sea,” Renn replied.

  Rudy rolled his eyes. “Over there, guys,” he said, pointing to his left.

  They turned, watching three human First Year girls standing there, scanning the room for an empty table. All three girls could easily be described as beautiful, but it was the petite brunette who caught Renn's attention. Her hair was made up in a loose bun and she stood with her toes pointing out, as if ready to break out into a pirouette. Her big brown eyes were warm and sweet, giving Renn a welcome sense of calmness he hadn’t felt since he left Camden the day before.

  Her friends looked nothing like her, other than being human. One had long blonde hair, soft pink lips, and blue eyes the color of a robin’s egg. The third friend had black skin and was tall and lean, giving her a statuesque appearance. Her hair was worn in long thin braids and then pulled up into one big ponytail. She looked athletic, tough even, despite being such a pretty girl.

  All of the female students wore their class colors, but the girls, especially humans and Lucians, wore short dresses made of soft material, draping and flowing, heightening their femininity. With some species, it was the only way Renn could tell whether they were male or female.

  The brunette dropped something, tried to pick it up, but bumped the door behind her with her butt, causing her to lose her balance. Her friends stopped her from falling on her face, as if anticipating her klutzy behavior.

  Not the most graceful, Renn thought smiling, but incredibly cute, klutz or not.

  The brunette went back to scanning the room for a table and made eye contact with Renn.

  He tried to focus on the voices when she leaned over to her friends and whispered, “Do either of you know who that blond is by the window?”

  The girls looked over at Renn and shook their
heads. “No,” they said.

  “School hasn’t even started and you’re already scoping for guys?” the blonde girl teased.

  “I am not!” the brunette replied, smiling. “It's just that he’s staring!”

  Renn looked down at his food, but tried to listen only to her voice.

  The brunette looked over to Renn’s left at Dylan. “Hey, I know one of those guys!” she said, walking over.

  The other two girls looked at each other for a moment, then followed.

  They walked up to the boys’ table, with the brunette getting shyer by the second. “Hi, I'm Meta,” she said when she reached the table, throwing unconscious glances at Renn.

  Renn focused on her thoughts, while he took a sip of water, trying to play it cool.

  He's so cute! she thought.

  Renn inhaled a bit of water when he heard it and coughed. His face turned beet red when everyone turned to look at him.

  Oh my gawd, he's Mindeerian. He probably heard that. Stop thinking, Meta, she said to herself. She looked at Dylan. “You're from Temin, right?” she asked.

  “Yeah, Placsworth,” Dylan replied. “I thought you looked familiar. You used to take ballet with my sister, Heather, right?”

  “Heather, yeah.” I have no idea who Heather is, she thought.

  Renn grinned at her.

  Stop thinking, Meta, she thought to herself. She then looked over at her friends and the blonde responded to Meta’s pleading look.

  “Hi, I'm Lux, this is Joss,” the blonde said, pointing to her friend.

  “How's it going?” Joss said.

  The boys introduced themselves, while Rudy sat there drooling. After a few minutes, Lux's stomach growled and the girls left to find an empty table.

  Renn noticed that the First Years seemed to be mostly grouped by species, creating cliques with others similar to themselves in appearance. The older students, however, were mixing species, creating their cliques with like personalities rather than like body forms.

  Renn couldn’t help but look around the room for other Mindeerians, hoping there would be some his age, maybe even in his classes. He saw a group of Fourth Years in the far corner. He initially assumed they were human, until he saw one of them smile, revealing a distinct pair of fangs.

  One of the boys at the table looked over and Renn heard, “Hey there,” in his own head. He jumped for a second, still unused to other Mindeerians projecting their voice into his mind.

  Renn walked over to their table and introduced himself. There were two guys and one girl. The guy who spoke to Renn was named Tabit. Tabit was tall and athletic, with sandy blond hair and a chiseled jaw line. The guy sitting next to him introduced himself as Pyxis. He had chestnut brown hair and a very average face. Everything about him seemed average, like the kind of guy you forget about the second he walks away. The girl was Vela. She had black hair and olive skin with a turned up nose. She looked stuck-up until she smiled. She had a beautiful smile.

  Tabit was talking about the upcoming Battle of the Species game, when Renn couldn’t help but think, He’s cool, and then realized they were staring at him as if he had just sprouted another eye.

  “What?” Renn asked.

  “Are you choosing not to block your thoughts or do you not know how?” Pyxis asked.

  “Um…I…,” Renn stuttered, feeling his cheeks burning.

  “How’s that possible?” Vela asked.

  “I guess my human father forgot to give me that memo,” Renn said, trying to make a joke out of it, but then awkwardly excused himself and walked back to his roommates’ table. A feeling of dread began to take hold, wondering whether he was going to have to deal with the same prejudices he had to deal with in Camden. He had always assumed being a half-breed would be more accepted outside of Earth.

  A bell chimed and the majority of the students cleared their tables. When Renn reached his friends, he put his tray back in the table’s compartment after watching the others do it. The compartments receded as a tiny bot jumped onto the table top, beginning its suctioning, wiping, and polishing.

  “Where's Leo?” Renn asked, looking around while they walked down the hallway.

  “He went back to the dorms to get something,” Dylan said. “He said he'd just meet us in the library.”

  Renn looked further down the hall and saw three First Years walking towards them. The large one in the middle caught his eye because of the massive ebony wings folded behind his human body. He looked like a young version of the guy Renn had seen walking behind his mom in the photograph, and actually thought it was the same guy for a second. If he was human, Renn would have thought the Toran-doppelganger was from Puerto Rico, but Puerto Ricans didn't have wings, last time he checked.

  Renn opened his mouth to say something to him while they passed, but was bumped by another guy in the group.

  “Hey, what the hell?” Renn asked, turning around. The guy kept walking, but turned his head long enough for Renn to see the diamond pupils in his eyes, causing Renn to become speechless.

  “What's up?” Dylan asked, looking at Renn. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”

  “Who were those guys?” Renn asked.

  “The one who bumped you is Desh,” Dylan replied, taking a moment to glance back. “I don’t know much about him, just that there are a few Third and Fourth Years waiting to see him play BOTS. The guy with the wings is Kia Eber, Toran obviously, but some say he’s Desh’s bodyguard.”

  “Bodyguard?” Rudy snickered. “What kind of fourteen year old needs a bodyguard?”

  “Maybe he’s a prince or something,” Dylan surmised. “I heard another Mindeerian refer to him as ‘the heir’.”

  “Do Mindeerians have royalty?” Rudy asked Renn.

  “No, not that I’m aware of,” Renn replied. “What about the third guy? There was a mousy human with them.”

  “That’s Etienne,” Dylan explained. “Rumor has it that he’s some kind of genius. Like Sensati-level genius.”

  “Wait, that’s not possible,” Rudy interjected. “No way a human could be as smart as a Sensatus.”

  “Look, I don’t know any of them; I’m just going by what I heard,” Dylan replied. He looked back at Renn. “Why do you ask?”

  “That guy who bumped me…” Renn replied. “I had a dream about him cutting my head off!”

  “Really?” Dylan asked. “You had a dream about getting killed by some pretty-boy you’ve never seen before?”

  “’Pretty-boy’?” Renn repeated, trying not to laugh.

  “Do you think he's pretty, Dylan?” Rudy chimed in.

  “No, I don't think he's pretty. I think all Mindeerian guys look like a bunch of pretty-boys. I'm sorry, but you do,” Dylan said indignantly. “You all got these faces like you're about to pose for a picture or something…you know what, never mind,” Dylan said walking away in a huff.

  Rudy and Renn were still laughing when they walked into the library. At least, it was called a “library,” but books printed on paper only existed on Temin. Everywhere else in the Federation, all forms of media were electronic, thereby sparing vital resources like trees.

  They walked down rows and rows of computer tables, separated by dividers, where holograms projected the information pictorially for better retention.

  Renn found an empty computer next to Dylan and tapped on the table, illuminating Ava, the hologram hostess, who was a beautiful Mindeerian female with blonde hair and blue eyes. Renn grinned and looked around, finding the Zorgre behind him talking to a Zorgre-Ava, and the Janiun talking to a Janiun-Ava.

  “Hello, Renn. How can I help you today?” Ava asked.

  “I need to sign up for classes,” he replied, trying to suppress the eerie feeling he got when Ava said his name. Always watching, he thought with a shiver.

  Dylan leaned around the divider and looked at Renn. “Are you there yet?” he asked.

  “Almost,” Renn replied, watching Ava display a list of classes he would be studying that year: Engl
ish, philosophy, topography, robotics, quantum physics, self-defense, species, and botany. They all sounded great to him.

  Dylan began rattling off class times so he, Renn, and Rudy would get into the same classes. They occasionally glanced at the door, waiting for Leo, but Leo never showed. “Ava, can you send this to Leo and ask for approval to duplicate it so he’s in our classes?” Dylan asked.

  “Yes, Dylan,” a black-human-Ava said to Dylan.

  “Your class schedule is complete. Would you like me to download the study material to your tablet?” Ava asked Renn.

  “Yeah, thanks.”

  “You’re welcome, Renn.”

  “Would you mind not saying my name so often? It’s kinda creepy.”

  “I don’t mind at all,” she replied in a sweet voice.

  “Um...I thought I was going to be able to choose an elective,” Renn said.

  “Your elective has been eliminated. You are to study the Mindeerian language and culture, marked “Mandatory” by Professor Paro.”

  “Oh, I see,” Renn said, finding it utterly humiliating that he was enrolled in a class to learn about his own species, until he realized he didn’t seemed bothered to be in English class.

  “Would you like me to go over the syllabi with you?” Ava asked.

  “Um...” Renn said, then realized he had Dylan and Rudy standing next to him, clearly ready to go. “No, thanks,” Renn replied. “Am I done then?”

  “Yes,” Ava replied. “Your first class will begin tomorrow at ten-hundred hours.”

  “Okay, thanks,” Renn said, getting up.

  “Good-bye,” she replied, before the hologram disappeared.

  When they got back to their room, they found the room empty. Renn looked at Dylan and shrugged. “Where is he?” Renn asked.

  “Maybe he went back to the mess hall,” Dylan replied.

  Just then, they heard a faint commotion in the restroom. The door slid open and Leo walked out, hiding something rather large and clumsy behind his back while he walked slowly towards the bed.