Galileo (Battle of the Species)

by Meaghan Sinclair

  “Well, I get glimpses of walking down a cave with lit sconces…wait, let me show you,” Renn said and projected the image of standing in the room full of Eminites and Desh cutting off my head.

  “Oh my gawd, there’s no way to misinterpret that!” Leo said.

  “Seriously, man! Never go into another cave for the rest of your life!” Dylan said. “And if you find yourself in a cave, turn around a run!”

  “Yeah, okay,” Renn patronized, knowing full well it was never that easy. He looked at Leo and was rather touched that he really did look like he was coming close to tears. “It’ll be fine, Leo. I’ll run out, okay?” he said, forcing a tone of optimism in his voice.

  “Okay, good,” Leo said, before the trio fell into an awkward silence. “Maybe you could try getting to know Desh too. I mean, convince him to not kill you.”

  “Leo, if he can kill his own brother, it doesn’t matter how close friends we become,” Renn said.

  “Yeah, you’re right,” Leo conceded.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Renn could see a ship-bot approaching him. “Excuse me, sir,” the automaton said. It bent over Renn, lowering its volume. “You have a phone call coming from Earth.”

  “My dad! Thanks. I’ll see you guys later,” Renn said, jumping up. He ran to his dorm room, finding the screen on his bed blinking, “Incoming Call - Milky Way Galaxy, Earth, United States, Camden, Maine, Adam Andreas” until he clicked, “Accept Call.”

  Adam appeared on his screen. “Are you all right?” Adam asked in a panic.

  “Yeah, Dad. I'm fine,” Renn said, attempting to sound as relaxed as possible, but was out of breath from the long run across the ship.

  Adam held up a tablet, shaking it at the screen. “This isn't okay, Renn. You end up in the medical bay and I get nothing but a note stating that you were poisoned, treated, and released…” he scanned the tablet screen, trying not to yell, “two days ago!”

  “Dad, I'm okay, really. I'm sorry, I just didn't want to worry you,” Renn said, feeling guilty that he hadn't called him. He just knew how upset his dad would get.

  “Son, I need to know that if something happens to you…” Adam stopped talking, getting choked up, not being able to finish the sentence. “I need to know when you’re in trouble. And I need you to tell me, even if you know it’s going to upset me!”

  “I promise I'll call next time, okay?” Renn said. His eyes watered when he saw his dad so upset with him. “Did you get the package I sent?” he asked, trying to change the subject.

  “Package?” Adam thought about it. “Oh! The Helianthus seeds? Yeah. Thanks. Um…Renn…they're really bright!” Adam looked behind him and Renn could see the back porch flooded with light.

  “What'd you do, plant them all?” Renn asked, laughing through tears.

  “I didn't know! You gotta warn me about these things!” Adam couldn't help but laugh with him. “The directions just read, ‘Plant and water.’ Maybe I'll replant some along the road or something so drivers can see where they're going. I don't know, it might blind them though…”

  Dylan, Rudy, Ivan, and Leo walked into the door, talking, and then froze when they saw Renn’s red eyes.

  Renn looked away, sniffling and wiping his cheeks as fast as he could. “Dad, I gotta go, my roommates are here.”

  “No! Kids! Come here for a second,” Adam said.

  Dylan, Rudy, Ivan walked over and popped onto Adam's screen. Adam smiled until Leo’s semi-transparent head appeared, startling Adam, with a “Whoa, that’s new.”

  Leo looked down, embarrassed, and started to leave until Renn grabbed his sleeve.

  “Dad, this is Leo, Dylan, Rudy and Ivan,” Renn said.

  “Hi guys, I'm Adam. I want you boys to do me a favor. The next time Renn gets hurt, I want you to call me, okay?”

  “Okay,” replied Dylan, Rudy, and Ivan in unison.

  “Me too?” Leo asked with a shy smile.

  “Leo, I expect you to be the first to call me, okay?” Adam said, returning the smile. Adam looked closer at Leo. “By the way, is that…Prodlinhide you're wearing?”

  Renn and Leo looked at each other, laughing.

  “Yeah,” Leo said.

  “Bye, Dad. I love you,” Renn said.

  “Love you too, Renn,” Adam replied before ending the transmission.

  ***

  Renn walked into the simulation room in his combat suit when it came time for his Mindeerian studies. He was prepared to practice on his own, but found Desh there, talking with a human. The human was in his mid-thirties, tall with shaggy brown hair, and introduced himself as Micah.

  “I’ve seen your picture,” Renn said. “You fight alongside my…our mother and Schepp.”

  “That I do,” Micah said. “I’ve been an agent on the Quintessence almost half my life. I’m sorry to hear about Paro, we all were.”

  Renn nodded, feeling a pang of misery, remembering his late uncle’s passing. He glanced at Desh and back to Micah, not wanting the conversation to remain on such a somber subject. “So…are we gonna fight or…” Renn asked. He was rather confused that a human would be his new Mindeerian instructor and why Desh was there.

  “I’ve been ordered to finish teaching you Mindeerian fighting for the rest of the year. I’ve fought next to your mother for over half my life, so I’m acutely aware of how Mindeerians fight. Desh, I’ve been told you haven’t been taught Mindeerian swords either. Is that true?” Micah asked.

  “On Torres? Are you kidding?” Desh scoffed.

  “Yeah, I guess that wasn’t Tig’s weapon of choice,” Micah said. “I’m sure he would have agreed that you learn at some point though. Ava, give me two Mindeerian swords.”

  The hair stood up on the back of Renn’s neck when two Mindeerian swords materialized in Micah’s hands. Renn’s face scrunched when a collision of thoughts flooded his mind. Oh, gawd. Desh is going to learn to use the sword. If I stop him from learning, will it stop him from using one in the future? Renn’s dreams were increasing in frequency and he knew the time was nearing. If I just delay him learning till after I go into a cave…

  “I’d rather learn to fight with something else,” Renn spat out, a little louder and faster than he had planned.

  Desh and Micah looked at Renn, a little taken aback.

  “Why?” Desh asked. “All Mindeerians learn them at some point.”

  “Um…” Renn stammered. “It’s just that…” I don’t want you to chop off my head. “…there are so many other weapons we could choose from.”

  Desh pierced his lips. “We’re Mindeerian. Why do you have such a problem with acting like a Mindeerian?”

  “I don’t!” Renn replied. “Desh, that’s not what I meant.” I should just tell him, Renn thought to himself. He’s been so nice lately. Maybe it’s just a big misunderstanding…but if it’s not, I would be planting the idea into his head…ughhhhh! “Never mind.”

  “Great,” Desh said, turning back to Micah. “Please continue.”

  It then occurred to Renn that if the prophecy were fulfilled in the simulation room, he would actually survive. “Okay,” Renn said, “but do you mind if I choose the location we practice in?”

  Micah shrugged. “Go for it.”

  Renn then instructed Ava to build them a cave resembling a temple that had been carved out of a stone mountain. He filled it in with as much detail as he could, remembering the black stone tiles lying in disarray, the damp walls, lit sconces, and fallen pillars.

  “Seriously?” Desh said, after a few minutes. “Come on, Renn. You’re wasting time.”

  “Fine. I’m done,” Renn replied.

  “Great,” Desh said with a sigh.

  “Just one more thing,” Renn said. “Ava, change our clothes to our uniforms.” Renn looked anywhere but at his brother when their black, padded combat suits changed to white uniforms.

  “Okay, now you’re just pissing me off,” Desh said, looking down at his uniform.

  Renn gave a shrug and aw
kward smile, but could feel his muscles relaxing with every second, believing more and more that this could work.

  “All right. Let’s get on with it then,” Micah said. “Now, I personally prefer to fight with a Mindeerian sword over a straight sword because you don’t need telekinesis to get them spinning. It’s the spinning that shortens the time it takes for a second strike, and that extra second could be the difference between life and death. You just need to practice,” Micah said as he flicked his wrist, spinning one of the swords around. “Though other species may use them, they were designed to complement Mindeerian fire and telekinesis. Ava, give me Mindeerian powers and give the boys one sword apiece.” Micah’s human palms illuminated with a bright blue light, snapping electricity around the metal swords, while two swords materialized in the boys’ hands.

  Renn held his sword, finding it too heavy for his muscles to hold for a long period of time, and projected more and more energy to hold it as time went on.

  “Now, Mindeerian sword fighting is with two swords, spinning them around with energy,” Micah explained, spinning the swords around like propellers a foot in front of him. “They're good for deflecting laser fire if you have them illuminated. You can even learn to ricochet the blast back to the guy who fired it. But there comes a point in battle when everyone is too close to each other and neither side is willing to risk killing one of their own by a rogue laser blast. So, most close combats will still be done by sword. Bombs far away, guns at closer range, and swords when you’re right on top of each other.”

  Renn spun his sword, noticing that loosening his grip made the sword spin faster. “Cool,” Renn said to himself. “When do we get our own swords?” he asked a millisecond before slicing his chest open with one of the blades. Blood gushed out, soaking his suit.

  “Ava, clear the wound!” Desh said before the pain hit. The wound disappeared.

  “You'll each get two when the swords become more of a threat to your enemies than to yourselves,” Micah replied.

  “Gotcha,” Renn said, holding the sword with more caution.

  Desh bit his tongue and looked away to hide the smile creeping up on him.

  “Ava, eliminate pain for the rest of the session,” Micah said. “Now let's start with balance.”

  Micah went over drills, while Renn and Desh stood behind him, mirroring each step.

  When the bell chimed, Renn’s stomach tugged, realizing Desh hadn’t even once attempted to cut off Renn’s head during their lesson. The lesson had been nothing but a series of drills and Renn walked out of the simulation room with Desh, feeling defeated.

  When the brothers walked into their physics class, they were both a little disturbed to find that Kia was less than pleased when he was told that Micah was now instructing them. Kia not only knew Micah, but had also fought beside him, as Kia was already fighting alongside his father when he wasn’t in school.

  Kia said that Micah was great at strategy and the two could learn a lot about fighting from him, but made it clear that he didn’t respect him as a leader.

  In some ways, he was the opposite of Hollen, Kia said. Hollen was the type of leader who was the first into the battle and the last one to leave, didn’t eat until all the soldiers had eaten, wouldn’t take off her boots until the others were at rest, and always protected the soldiers who protected her. All the soldiers would die for Hollen, because she would die for them. It was the kind of leader Kia would follow and the kind of leader Kia wanted to be; a leader like Hollen and like his father. Micah viewed soldiers as disposable weapons and never appeared to feel the loss of a man. If one didn’t feel the loss of someone’s life, then they tended to get careless with it and Kia didn’t want Micah getting careless with the people he loved, just to win the battle.

  CHAPTER 17

  Class Field Trip

  Renn slid his feet into the thick snow boots his mother had sent him, again colored white to abide by school rules. He was really getting sick of white, waiting till the day when he could wear the Second Year’s blue, and wondered if he would eventually get as tired of the color as he did with white.

  He buttoned up his winter coat, but could already feel his forehead begin to perspire and took it back off, deciding to wait till the last minute to wear it.

  He had been looking forward to the class trip for weeks. He loved space, but the few minutes he had during BOTS was the only time he had on land (or so it seemed) and he was feeling claustrophobic. He wanted to see a sky, any sky, hoping it would be blue. As Professor Zaneer promised, the destination had remained a secret and he couldn’t wait to get there to see where it was.

  Leo was already packed and sat on his bed, grinning while his warm-blooded roommates tried to prepare themselves for the coldness that only he was accustomed to. They all walked down the corridors together, following the rest of the First Years, and met up with the First Year females in the ship’s large concourse.

  Renn looked around, trying to find Meta, but there were over a hundred students there, all wearing large white jackets, and he was having a hard time finding the tiny human girl among them.

  He thought about calling out her name telepathically, but if he didn’t have a direction to push it to, he would push it to everyone in the room by default, and so refrained.

  He heard, “Renn!” called out behind him and recognized the soft voice before he turned around.

  “Hey,” Renn said, smiling, watching Meta walk up.

  “Hey, yourself,” Meta replied.

  He looked down at her, not sure what to say, then tried to overhear her thoughts for some guidance, but only heard her think, Say something, Meta!

  “So, you’re all packed?” Renn asked, and then kicked himself for asking such an unimaginative question.

  “Yeah, you?” Meta asked. He’s so hot.

  He heard the observation and his smile spread from ear to ear. But he couldn’t help but hug her when she thought, Stop thinking, Meta!

  “I’ve really got to get thought blockers!” she said, blushing.

  “Oh, please don’t,” Renn laughed.

  “All right class, listen up!” they heard a deep voice boom in the large room. Everyone stopped to look over to see Professor Hevia standing next to Professor Zaneer.

  “We are about to go through the portals in a few minutes and you will first be vaccinated for that planet,” Professor Zaneer began. “Since this will take a while, when you get to the other side, you are expected to stay in the vicinity of the portal until the entire First Year class is through.

  “You will find a large edifice outside the portal cover, which is where we will all meet, so please go straight there. Once we have all arrived, please use your flexible tablet to display information regarding the locale. It will show you everything you need to know about the planet, though we will go over a lot of the material together.

  “Now please divide yourselves: males to the left and females to the right. There is to be no shoving!”

  The students segregated and began shoving to get closer towards the front of the lines. They all walked down the long corridor to the portal room in rows of two, though Renn had lost Meta, unsure of how far back in line she was pushed, without Joss and Lux by her side to push back.

  Two ship-bots stood near the portals with a disinfectant laser in one hand and a vaccination gun in the other. The students placed a hand on the screen to identify them, and the vaccinations were distributed accordingly. After the vaccination, each student was handed a small earpiece that would translate anything they heard on the planet. A disturbing device for some, since the translator didn’t discriminate and not everyone wanted to hear the pleadings of a fly before a spider ate it.

  When Leo placed his hand on the screen, he was told that no vaccination would be necessary and he grinned at his good luck, excited to see the planet. He walked through the portal, anticipating the welcoming cool air.

  Dylan put his hand on the scanner next and was identified as Dylan Heisner, a human from
Temin. He took off his thick jacket and lifted his sleeve. The robot placed the disinfectant gun over his arm and blinked a red light, killing any bacteria on the skin. Dylan looked away, flinching at the vaccination gun, which made Renn laugh. Dylan was a fighter in BOTS, getting beaten up and murdered on a monthly basis, but needles still scared him.

  “See you in a second,” Dylan said as he walked through the silver sheet of Xeero.

  Renn took his time to identify, waiting till Dylan finished going through the portal. He looked behind him, not wanting everyone to see the screen flash all of his baby pictures.

  He pushed a sound of a huge crash coming from the concourse into everyone’s head and both lines of students turned around to look back. That is, everyone except for Desh. Renn noticed, but put his hand on the screen anyway. His jaw dropped when he saw that Cybernex had deleted the information and only four words remained: “Renn Andreas, access granted.”

  Renn wondered where all the information had gone. It was scary enough that it had been there in the first place, but even scarier that it had been changed. Cybernex was autonomous, a self-reliant computer system, tracking countless species inside the Federation and out. Why would it break protocol on his file? I’m nobody, he thought.

  “You have already been vaccinated, sir,” the ship-bot said.

  “Oh,” Renn said, wondering how that could possibly be.

  The kids behind him grew rowdy and began complaining about Renn taking so long. He apologized and walked towards the portal, becoming nervous about the trip. He wondered if he should turn around and stay, but it wasn’t like the ship had been able to keep him as safe and protected as promised.

  When Renn got to the other side of the silver sheet, he looked around, but saw nothing inside the small portal room other than the two silver portals and two large openings leading to the outside. He shivered at the sudden chill and buttoned up his jacket, then saw Leo standing just outside the doorway with Dylan.