by Zac Harrison
“I want to congratulate you on making such a great effort in the time you’ve been with us,” the headmaster said as John caught up. “The computer, or Zepp, as it now likes to be called” – he flashed John a smile – “tells me that you have worked hard. Several teachers say you made good progress considering the subjects were completely new to you. You have a natural gift for mathematics and Sergeant Jegger thinks you could be a superb pilot.”
Blushing, John said, “Well, the classes are a lot more interesting than back on Earth. Some of them, anyway,” he added truthfully. Pausing for a moment, it dawned on him that Lorem had used the past tense. “Hey, hang on,” he blurted. “You said ‘in the time you’ve been with us’ but it’s weeks before we get to Earth. You’re not going to throw me out an airlock again, are you?”
“Goodness, no,” Lorem replied with a chuckle. Changing the subject abruptly, he continued. “Let me tell you about seeing the future, John Riley. Sometimes it is crystal clear. At other times, clouded. There are often a number of different possibilities, any one of which might or might not happen.”
“I see,” said John, wondering why Lorem was telling him this.
“You are wondering why I am telling you this.”
John’s eyes widened in surprise.
The headmaster chuckled. “A lucky guess, I’m not a mind reader.”
“Well, yes, I was thinking that,” John admitted.
“Something that I hoped would not happen has happened,” the headmaster sighed. “A star recently went supernova in the sector of the galaxy into which we were heading.” He waved his hand, as if answering a question that John hadn’t asked. “That’s not a big problem, it happens all the time, but it was in a heavy star cluster and set off a chain reaction. So far, more than a thousand stars have exploded and more will follow. There is now a possibility that a supermassive black hole will form.”
John had no idea what a supermassive black hole was, but it sounded bad. “Is anyone in any danger?” he asked.
“There are no populated planets in the region, and there’s no real danger to the ship, either. But to be on the safe side, I’ve ordered a change of course.”
“How does that affect me?”
“It means that we will be passing close to Earth much sooner than expected,” Lorem explained. “So we will be able to take you home the day after tomorrow.”
“Oh,” said John, taken aback. “That’s... uh... that’s great. Thank you for telling me, headmaster.” He blinked. The news should have made him happy, but for some reason it didn’t. He would miss Kaal and Emmie, he realized, and flying t-darts. It was unlikely that he would ever fly a spaceship again.
“What is it, John?” asked Lorem quietly, stopping and turning to look at him closely.
John frowned, “Everything will be back to normal again,” he said, frowning. “But I was just getting used to everything not being normal. That is, it’s been difficult finding my feet on Hyperspace High and I’ve missed home, but in the last week I’ve seen things and done things that no one from my planet could even imagine.” John looked down at his feet. “It will be hard to give that up. I’m afraid that after Hyperspace High, school on Earth is going to seem a bit boring.”
“In that case, John Riley,” Lorem said softly, “You will be pleased to know that Hyperspace High still has an adventure in store for you before we reach Earth.” He held up a hand as John began to question him. “It is very clouded,” he said firmly. “I honestly cannot tell exactly what will happen. And even if I knew, telling you might change the course of events in a way that would not end well for you.”
“So is this goodbye, headmaster?” said John sadly.
“It is goodbye... for now,” Lorem answered, as he twinkled into a ball of light. “Now, you have a class, I believe.” Leaving John standing in the corridor, the ball of light shot away and disappeared through a wall.
* * *
“Rantoo-styl-Agabo,” snapped Doctor Graal in her blubbery voice. “What name do we give to a forested world?”
John doodled on his ThinScreen. Graal, it seemed, liked quizzes. It gave her a chance to heap praise on her favourites and ridicule the students she didn’t like. So far she had avoided him, Emmie, and Kaal, so he didn’t much care. He would be going home in two days anyway. Whatever Doctor Graal thought of him, it didn’t matter now.
“An arboreal planet,” replied Rantoo quickly, her eyes weaving at the end of long stalks.
“Correct. Well done. Flar Hannick, which planet is home to the Shem Ice Caves?”
“Stalica Six, Doctor Graal.”
“Incorrect,” the teacher belched. “It is Stalica Five. Study harder. One point deducted from your essay mark...”
As the doctor’s questions continued, John’s mind drifted. He was going home. That meant he would be going to Wortham Court first or his parents would find out that he had never been there. His stomach sank as he realized he would have to settle in to a new school all over again. Glancing at Kaal and Emmie on either side of him, he wondered if he would make such good friends again. Probably not.
“...Correct again! Excellent, Mordant. I wish other students would follow your example. Now, John Riley, what is the name of Hella Minor’s moon?”
With a start, John’s attention snapped back to the octopus-like teacher. “Er—” he said.
“Just as I thought,” sneered Graal. “If the question isn’t about your own backward little planet, you haven’t got a clue.”
John scowled. For a moment he thought about telling Doctor Graal where she could stick her stupid quiz. In two days he would never see her again. But that, he decided, would just make her even even more unbearable. Plus, he didn’t want to spend his last two days in detention. “Glaymus,” he remembered just in time. “Hella Minor’s moon is called Glaymus.”
The doctor spluttered, reeling back on her tentacles. “Y-yes. Glaymus. Correct. Perhaps you could tell the class what caused the triple planet of Alias-Kush-Mirian to form.”
John racked his brain. He had read about Alias-Kush-Mirian a few days earlier, but he had read so much it was difficult to remember every detail.
“The answer, John Riley?” Graal pressed.
“An enormous meteor strike split the planet into three smaller ones,” John blurted.
“Correct. Why is Kush such an important planet?” Graal asked.
Kaal’s hand shot up, his wings rustled angrily. “Can you ask the rest of us some questions, Doctor Graal?”
“Silence!” Graal roared in reply. “I am the teacher here. I will question whomever I like. I am waiting, Mister Riley.”
John stared at her in silence for a moment, thinking back to his study sessions with Zepp. Then he quietly said, “It has large deposits of the rare metal mallux, used in making spaceships.”
Graal slobbered venemously. Drool ran from her mouth. “Correct,” she muttered bitterly.
Another question followed. Then another. John sat straighter, arms on the desk before him as he answered each with growing confidence. The hours spent staring at a screen in the library were paying off.
“You seem to have picked up a few simple facts,” said Graal eventually. “No more than I would expect from a small child on any civilized planet, but quite impressive for your species, I suppose.”
John smiled thinly at her. “Thank you, Doctor Graal,” he said coldly. He refused to get angry.
“One final question,” continued the teacher. “A question more suited to a class at this level.” Drawing a noisy breath, she sneered, “If I remember correctly, you enjoy naming continents. Please tell us the names of the five continents on the new planet recently discovered by the Churl in the Delta Region.”
“That’s not fair!” shouted Emmie suddenly, already halfway out of her seat. “No one knows that. It was only discovered last month. It’s not
in any of the textbooks. I only heard about it because my father—”
“You will sit down, Tarz,” Graal howled. Turning back to John, she said, “Well, Mister Riley?” with triumph in her voice.
John’s remembered what Lorem had told him. Silently, he thanked the headmaster. For a moment, he stared at the teacher. Then he smiled. “The continents are called Klist, Andarus, Jax North, Jax South, and Korus, Doctor Graal,” he said politely.
“Yessss,” he heard Kaal and Emmie hiss together under their breath. John didn’t dare look at them in case he started laughing.
“That is the end of the quiz,” said Graal, without even bothering to tell the class that John had answered correctly.
“That was brilliant,” Kaal whispered across the desk. “How did you know that?”
“Tell you later,” John whispered back.
“Silence!” Graal shouted again, glaring at them. “Now, I have some important news,” she continued. “You may have heard that the ship has changed course. We are now headed in a direction that will take us close to the planet Zirion Beta. Mordant, perhaps you could tell us what is interesting about Zirion Beta.”
“Zirion Beta is completely covered with volcanoes, Doctor Graal,” answered Mordant with a smirk.
“Very good, Mordant. An extra mark for your essay.” Staring around at the rest of the class, she continued, “As Mordant says, Zirion Beta is a highly volcanic planet. Once every seven hundred and seventy-three years, all of its volcanoes erupt at exactly the same time – an event known as the Mega-Eruption. Luckily for us, the Mega-Eruption is due tomorrow, so I have arranged a field trip. You will all be joining me to watch one of the most spectacular sights in the universe from a shuttle orbiting Zirion Beta.”
As an excited murmur spread around the class, John groaned quietly. Tomorrow he would see one of the most spectacular sights in the universe. But after that, it would all be over. He would be back home. Emmie, Kaal, and Hyperspace High would be a distant memory – one he couldn’t tell anyone about. Ever.
Chapter 12
The next day, the shuttle hangar was already abuzz as John stepped out of the TravelTube with Emmie and Kaal. Students clustered around the shuttle, shouting, sharing jokes, and rummaging through the packed lunches that had been delivered with their breakfast tray.
“Ugh,” moaned Gobi-san-Art in his low, gravelly voice. ”I’ve got granite bars. I hate granite bars. Anyone want to swap?”
“Hey, Riley,” said Lishtig, slapping John on the back. “That’s twice you’ve made Doctor Slobber look like an idiot. Nice work. What’s next? Going to push her into a volcano?”
“Good idea, but I was planning to spend the trip hiding under a seat,” replied John with a grin.
“Excellent, you’ll be doing us all a favour,” drawled a voice behind him.
“Oh very witty, young Master Talliver,” droned another voice.
“Shut your big mouth, Mordant. And tell your pathetic droid to shut up, too,” snapped Emmie, whirling round.
“Gosh, that really put me in my place. You’re so clever, Tarz,” sneered the black-haired boy. “I heard the headmaster was lying about the supermassive black hole. The real reason he changed course was so that we could get your pet Earthling off the ship as soon as possible.”
“At least I won’t have to look at your face any more,” John snapped back. “Though I’ll probably have nightmares about it for years.”
“Maybe you should take your pals with you,” replied Mordant. “They’d fit in well among the lower life forms.”
“Oh bravo, Master. Your wit is as sharp as a Gargon battleblade today,” intoned G-Vez.
“Why don’t you just take Emmie’s advice and shut it for once, Talliver,” interrupted Kaal in a low growl. “Everyone was having a good time until you and your freaky droid showed up. It’s an adventure, you know.”
An adventure? John thought to himself. Was this what Lorem had meant when he said that Hyperspace High still had an adventure in store for him? As Mordant opened his mouth to reply, a wet-sounding voice bellowed, “Siii-lence!” from the TravelTube. The doctor had arrived. Slapping two tentacles together, she quickly ordered the class to form a neat line.
“Out of my way,” hissed Mordant, pushing students aside to get to the head of the queue.
“Watch where you’re going,” snapped Queelin Temerate, as she was shoved backward by a tentacle in the chest.
“I said silence, Temerate,” blubbered the teacher, as she slithered towards the shuttle’s door, “Ahh, Mordant, you’re first in line. It makes me very happy to see such a keen student.”
Once her students finished jostling for the best seats, the doctor engaged the shuttle’s autopilot and ordered her pupils to take out their ThinScreens. “In your message boxes,” she said, “you will find an excellent article on Zirion Beta I wrote for Intergalactic Geographic Journal. We have a long flight ahead of us, so even the slower students will have time to read it.” She gave Emmie Tarz a meaningful glance.
Quiet groans filled the shuttle as screens were switched on. John rolled his eyes as he read the first line of what looked like a very long essay: As many readers will know, I was recently awarded the prestigious Sarbola Prize for my groundbreaking work on volcanic planets...
“Loves blowing her own trumpet, doesn’t she?” whispered Kaal in the next seat.
“Still doesn’t know what the biggest continent on Earth is, though,” said Emmie, staring angrily at the back of Graal’s huge head. “Maybe John should get the Sarbola Prize.”
Engine humming, the shuttle lifted off the deck and out through the hangar bay doors. Picking up speed, it swooped once around Hyperspace High and out into space. John tore his eyes away from the star-strewn view outside the window and tried to concentrate on Graal’s article. The “adventure” wasn’t starting too well, but he had to admit that the idea of seeing a whole planet of volcanoes erupting was pretty exciting. It would be another sight no other human would ever witness. Maybe Lorem was right, John thought to himself, pulling his knees up and resting the screen against them, This could still be an amazing adventure.
The shuttle cruised through space, silent apart from the rustling of packed lunch bags, muffled snorts of laughter, and whispered conversations that Graal quickly silenced with a red-eyed glare. For four hours, John struggled through the article. A small part of him wondered why he was bothering when he would soon be back on Earth, trillions of miles away from Doctor Graal. She’ll probably give a quiz later, he reminded himself.
“Approaching planet Zirion Beta. Orbit in two minutes,” the shuttle’s computer broke in eventually.
“At last,” breathed Kaal, switching off his ThinScreen and tucking it in a bag at his feet. “I was about to actually die of boredom.”
“I understood the first sentence. After that it might as well have been written in ancient Helvian,” complained Emmie.
Doctor Graal squirmed her way to the front of the shuttle and pointed a tentacle to a small brown and orange ball ahead. “Zirion Beta,” she said with a burp. “By my calculations, there should be just over two hours before the Mega-Eruption begins. Once we have entered orbit, we will pass the time with a quiz on my article before lunch.”
Again, several students groaned.
“Establishing low orbit one hunderd and thirty kilometres above the surface of planet Zirion Beta,” announced the shuttle’s computer.
John looked out the viewing window, realizing he’d been lucky to get a seat on the left side of the craft. The planet’s surface filled the window like a huge model of the alien world. He would be one of the few to have a completely clear view. The windows across the aisle showed only space.
A second later, John wasn’t quite so certain of his luck. Students from the other side of the aisle crammed over for a better view. “Hey! Back off, Werril,” he grunted, as
one of the Klopian’s horns jabbed him in the side of the head.
“Sorry, John,” murmured Werril, pulling his head away a little.
John returned his gaze to the viewing window. Below, the planet spun slowly. It was a brown, craggy, threatening place, with no suggestion that life might exist on its surface. Great cracks ran across a rough landscape; vast volcanoes belched smoke that quickly whipped away on high winds. Molten lava was already running down the slopes of many peaks, forming lakes of fire.
“Return to your seats!” shouted Graal. “There will be plenty of time—”
She never finished the sentence. An enormous crash sent the shuttle spinning. Screams and shouts filled the air. Squealing, Doctor Graal tumbled around the craft, along with the students who had released their safety harnesses.
“Whaaaa!” shrieked the teacher, as another thud set the shuttle whirling in the opposite direction.
“Warning: Asteroid strike. Warning: Asteroid strike,” the computer droned loudly, its alarm blaring.
Eyes wide, John glanced out the window. Outside, space whirled crazily. One second the planet’s surface filled the screen, the next, stars. From the corner of his eye, John caught sight of a football-sized rock spinning towards the craft. Fresh screams filled the shuttle as the asteroid hit with a dull thud, followed by the shriek of breaking metal.
“Autopilot error. Orbit failing. Emergency stabilizers online,” warned the computer. “Abandon shuttle. Abandon shuttle.”
As the jets suddenly stopped roaring, the craft stopped spinning. A hatch hissed opened at the rear. Shooting a quick look out the window while he unfastened his harness, John saw more rocks tumbling towards them. His face paled. Another rock might hit the craft at any moment, and if one of the viewing windows was smashed, everyone inside would be sucked out into space instantly.
“Let me through! Let me through!”
John’s head whirled at the sound of the croaking shriek. Doctor Graal was fighting her way along the central aisle, tentacles curling around crying students and thrusting them out of her path. “The escape pod!” she screamed. “We must get to the escape pod! Everyone form a queue behind Mordant.”
