by Paris Singer
I walked deeper into the brightly lit corridor, along which were six doors—three on either side—each of which led to the second thing the teachers liked to do—research. I’d never had the fortune of glimpsing behind any of the doors, so the only indication of what was beyond came from Ms. Photuris, who’d told me they were laboratories dedicated to the research and exploration of matters too technically advanced for me to comprehend, and, therefore, think about. Knowing better than to probe any further, I’d begrudgingly accepted her answer.
I walked to the door at the end of the corridor, opened it by pressing the blue pad on the left side of the wall and stepped inside.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE ROOM WAS VERY simple. Its walls, floor and ceiling were a blinding white with a console in the middle of the room, its podium extending up just past my waist. Ahead, an enormous display screen, spanning most of the length and width of the back wall, waited in darkness for power to surge through it.
Standing rigidly beside the console, her hands behind her back, Ms. Photuris’ greeting resounded in my mind. Hello, Seven. The teacher tended to call me by my nickname during these classes, which I didn’t really mind, guessing she did so to be friendly.
I trust you have recovered from whatever episode caused you to lose the battle simulation earlier?
Her voice was as cold and sharp as a blade, slicing through my brain with her every word. This tone being the only she seemed to have, and her face being as straight and emotionless as that of any statue, it was next to impossible to tell what her mood was. During normal academy hours, we or, at least, Iris, Pi and I, always just presumed she meant business, just in case. She could just as easily have been wearing a perpetual smile behind her frozen features, jovially giggling along to the daily mischievousness of most students, restraining herself just enough to teach. Yeah, right.
Without waiting for my answer, she asked, Are you ready?
Sensing her possible frustration at my loss earlier, I was glad she wasn’t chatty. She took a couple of steps to the side, away from the console, and I stepped forward until I took my place behind it. As soon as I did, the display screen turned to a bright, shimmering gold, just as the light—the source of which couldn’t be seen—faded and died.
You may begin, came Ms. Photuris’ voice.
As soon as I’d heard those words, I immediately changed the formation of my units, re-positioning the right central one just ahead of the central left, forming a triangle shape. The enemy, on the other hand, placed its central left unit behind its far-end right one, and made its central left unit retreat slightly so it was levelled with the re-positioned unit at the back.
Fuelled by the thrill of competition, I mobilized my three infantry units with the central one being closely followed by the reserves behind them. Just before we were in range, I split my central infantry into three sections—the far right joined the right flanking unit. The far left joined the left flanking unit, and the center continued advancing forward, still backed by the reserves behind it.
Meanwhile, the enemy split its central infantry unit in two, making its right half quickly file behind the other two right-flanking units. As soon as it had accomplished that, it deployed its newly positioned infantry to arch around and ahead of the two that were ahead. When it had over-taken the second, it too arched around and ahead of the first unit, which followed behind it soon after. This placed them all on the left flank of my charging infantry.
Taking heavy fire, I immediately sent my reserves charging toward them, splitting my central infantry in half to join with the left to engage them. My far left and central units continued forward to engage the enemy’s own. Positioned on the far right and center, my two other units and reserves merged with the former, creating one bigger unit.
The enemy had taken a huge risk, but it had paid off—its surprise flank attack caused a lot more damage than I would have liked. Luckily, I’d been able to quickly respond. Otherwise, it most likely would have wrapped around me and won.
As the battle progressed and my excitement turned to focused determination, its left and middle units merged to form a single one, as did my own. On the battlefield now stood four bigger units—two facing each other directly north ahead and two vertically east.
I saw an opportunity. Despite the brief success of the enemy’s attack, it had to separate its units, which were now split by a considerable distance. I instantly mobilized my two units to join each other, creating one much larger single unit. Meanwhile, the enemy continued to attack from the south and east, using its now smaller units. Knowing its only option of survival was to regroup, I seized my opportunity to exploit the enemy’s current weakness. I diagonally detached the back left portion of the large unit, sending it to flank its south unit, and the other up and around to flank its east one. I attacked both the enemy’s smaller units from two angles, causing it to rapidly lose vessels. Knowing it had no other choice, the enemy fired wildly as its units broke and disbanded, desperate for survival. It wasn’t long before I completely enveloped and annihilated every one of them.
Once the simulation had ended, the scene faded quickly and was replaced again by the shimmering gold screen.
Very impressive, Seven, Ms. Photuris’ voice suddenly came. That was one of the most complex strategies yet. You just keep improving.
Feeling slightly pleased with myself, I simply replied with a thank you.
Advanced Strategy class normally lasted for as long as it took me to beat the simulations, and more often than not, the consequent explanations as to how I’d done so. That particular time had taken longer than usual, not due to the battle itself (which had taken slightly longer than average), but because I’d had to explain every single decision and action I’d made to Ms. Photuris. Sometimes, it felt more like a Quantum Physics class, where you had to show your calculations, than a Strategy class.
My other bugbear was that despite the fact that the advanced class offered more complex battle scenarios to solve and beat, there never really seemed to be very much teaching happening. If anything, I was the one doing the teaching with all the explanations I had to give. I enjoyed the classes nonetheless. I appreciated the increased complexity of the simulations I was given.
After I’d finally finished explaining in detail exactly how I’d won the battle, Ms. Photuris and I said our brief goodbyes and then I left, feeling slightly drained.
I imagined Iris and Pi at Shabli’s and felt a sudden bite of envy as I sighed. As fun as Advanced Strategy class could be, I also really enjoyed being with my friends—despite their odd behaviour last time. Stepping through the main doors to the academy, I looked up to see the inky, diamond-strewn canopy above looking back down at me. It was already night-time. I guessed the class must have lasted even longer than I’d thought. I took in the enormity of the astral garden above and decided I was ready to go home.
Walking to the academy gates, white gravel crackling and grinding underfoot, I saw the comfortable yellow and orange lights of the town as the humming sound of chatter and laughter grew increasingly louder with my every step. I took a deep breath, inhaling the drifting scents of the floral bushes and trees that lined the path to the gates.
It’s hard, if not impossible, to describe exactly how the resulting mix smelled inside my nose. I guess the easiest way for you to understand would be if I compared them to a concoction of honeysuckle, strawberries, grass, old books, rosemary, and pepper. Although close, it was nothing like that, but close enough.
As I walked along the path to the town in partial darkness, I reveled in the stillness my mind was in just then. I felt like a shadow. I was there but I wasn’t. I felt outside of things as they surrounded me; not a part of the whole, but quietly lining it. In that moment, perfect in its solitude, I felt no pressure. No one expected anything from me. I didn’t have to beat anyone or anything. I just was—swallowed in dimming darkness, diluted in nothingness. The closer I came to the town, the more I slipped out of the floral
scent’s gentle grip and into the bustling grasp of civilization once again.
The narrow streets were as bright and crowded as ever. Busy, attractive window displays entranced the eyes of those who passed, while bars and restaurants spilled their customers out of their doors and onto tables and chairs outside, making it difficult to squeeze past.
I’d always thought the town’s construction odd, looking as it did, like nowhere else on the Sky Drifter’s pristine, functional architecture. The square and rectangular hardened clay structures, in no way symmetrical to one another, rose as if from the dusty ground below. Doors and shutters to upstairs windows were wooden, and the outer edge of the display windows on the ground floor were encrusted with caked brown dust. Randomly placed cobble-stones, and gray and terracotta paving slabs ran along each narrow, winding street, making it easy to trip if you didn’t look where you were going. It was strange, but despite how out of place the town’s design was, it felt comfortable. It felt right somehow.
The fragrance of the trees and bushes gave way to the dozens of smells of boiled, fried, steamed, and grilled foods that permeated the air, mixing and re-mixing as if on a great culinary palette. Smoke billowed up out of narrow pipes that stuck out of the sides of restaurants and bars, fading into the yellow and orange luminous roof above created by the town’s many lights. The clinking of glasses and plates, the sizzling of food cooking, the buzz of conversation, all added to the general hum that made up the lively atmosphere of the town.
I walked through the crowd, ducking elbows, chins, spikes, clusters of eyeballs, and heads, slowly heading through the busiest part of town until it began to thin out.
Through the dwindling crowd ahead, I thought I saw someone I recognized, though it was still difficult to discern what was what, until I craned my neck as far to the right as balance would allow. The first thing I saw was the short, jet-black bob. Then, as bodies gradually parted, the cherry-red coat with buttons as dark as her hair, until the entirety of the mysterious girl was revealed. She didn’t seem the least bit concerned I’d seen her. She stared right at me with her pale blue eyes.
“You,” I exhaled, more to myself than to her.
As I headed to where she stood, the mysterious girl, her face as expressionless as that of an alabaster service MOO, bolted to her right and down a winding street. I instinctively ran after her. My mind was ablaze with questions I wanted to ask, and I wasn’t about to lose this chance to confront her. I turned the corner just in time to see her disappearing around a bend, leaving a dusty orange veil in her wake. Gaining speed, I rounded it to see the mysterious girl swiftly snaking through, ducking under, and jumping over passers-by, who seemed utterly oblivious of her presence. I followed her as quickly as I could, trying to mimic the movements she used to get around the moving obstacles. Where she’d so easily passed them, I failed miserably, bumping into and tripping over most to the sounds of various complaints, ranging from the shrill to the monotone groan. I was losing her. So swift and agile was she, shadows could have taken pointers from her. Without looking back, she turned into a narrow alleyway.
Picking myself up off the dusty ground after having tripped over the enormous foot of a disgruntled Bellua, I panted into the alleyway. The darkened, narrow space ended on a high wall equal to the buildings on either side of it. Between the mouth and its end, only a couple of refuse units stood side by side to the left. They were only slightly shorter than me, and were more than capable of providing almost anyone with shelter behind them.
Carefully and as silently as I could, I approached the rectangular, rusted metal units, not wanting to alert the mysterious girl of my presence. When I stood parallel to the farthest one at a crouch, I jumped and turned to face the space where I thought she hid. You’ll probably have guessed by now that she wasn’t there, but she’d definitely turned into that alleyway. Unless she possessed agility far beyond that of her body type, there was no way she could have climbed that wall.
I looked around for doors or passages through which she could have entered, but there were none. This girl was becoming more and more mysterious every time I saw her, and I decided then I’d find her. I’d get to the bottom of who she was and what she wanted with me.
CHAPTER TWELVE
AFTER EVERY FIVE consecutive day-and-night rotations, the academy allowed students one full rotation to spend as they wished. Technically, it was a reward for the hard work we’d produced, but I think it was to give the teachers time to relax and focus as they continued whatever research they were into.
I decided to spend the very next free day in search of information about the mysterious girl. I thought the best place to start was the academy. Even if I’d never seen her there, she looked to be of a similar age to me, so it seemed like a reasonable place to begin.
“Good morning, Seven. You are awake early again. Is anything the matter?”
“Hi, Ava. Not really, just want to look into something today.” I wanted to spend as much time as possible finding out who the mysterious girl was, so had opted for a painfully early start. So busy had my mind been that night, however, the choice would have been out of my hands, anyway, as I’d awoken before the day rotation had even begun.
“Is it anything I can help you with, Seven?”
Despite her utter failure to successfully function as the Automated Voice Assistant she was supposed to be, I liked Ava, and had grown to think of her as an annoying older sister. So, to my mind, it was no surprise when I decided not to tell her of my plans to seek out the mysterious girl, as I would have been exposing myself to tireless, never-ceasing ridicule and embarrassment.
“No, thanks. Just need to do some research, that’s all.”
“Okay, Seven, if you are certain.”
“Oh, I am, Ava. I am.”
I stumbled through the room, getting changed into the first pair of trousers and top I saw (in this case a pair of cream-colored combat shorts and a plain, red t-shirt) and then slipped my boots on. The display screen turned itself on and battle music resounded instantly around the quarters as Ava played a game.
“Would you like to play, Seven?”
Exhaling slightly louder than I’d intended to, I replied, “No, Ava, I told you. I have things to do today.”
“I need another player, Seven.”
I felt briefly tempted to nag her into doing some cleaning, but thought better of it, replying simply, “Maybe when I get back, okay?”
“Okay, Seven. You are very kind.”
Noting her sarcasm, I quickly stepped up to the reflection screen inlaid inside the right side corridor wall, ran my fingers through my bed hair, trying to tame it to little avail, and shouted a goodbye to Ava as I stepped out the door, closing it behind me.
I walked hurriedly to the academy. Despite being a free day, its gates remained open, as always. The front doors, however, were locked, and remained unresponsive when I pressed the large blue pad beside it. Above it was a small blank screen with a finger-sized blue pad beside it. I pressed my thumb to the latter and waited.
After a short pause, a sharp female voice came from the blank screen. “Yes?”
“Oh, hello. I’m Student Number 7. I wondered if I could come in, please.”
I stood in silence for what seemed an eternity when suddenly the large front doors swooshed apart. Unaware of whether there was anyone still there, I sputtered, “Um, th-thank you,” and walked inside.
It was a little strange to see the academy so deserted. It was wonderful. I contained the urge to run, jump, and swing my arms around up and down the silent, empty corridors, and headed to the secretary’s office, which was down toward the end of the long corridor adjacent to the main doors.
As I walked, I couldn’t help but smile to myself. What would normally have been a frustrating amble was now a lively strut. In the time it’d take you to say “No Face is as blank as his mask,” I reached the secretary’s office.
The plain, white door—like any other at the academy—had the w
ord “Secretary” embedded in the upper half of it in black letters. Beside it was a small, square screen, below which an even smaller blue pad protruded. I pressed that with my index finger and waited.
After a brief pause, the same sharp voice spoke. “Yes?”
It seemed strange to me that she wouldn’t remember I’d asked her to come in mere moments ago. “Hello,” I said with more confidence than the first time. “I’d like to speak with the secretary, please.” This time the door slid instantly open, and I walked through it.
Inside, the room was so brilliantly white I found myself squinting. As soon as my eyes had adjusted to their new surroundings, I took in what was ahead of me. The pristine, clinical sheen of the four walls, floor and ceiling of the large room were immaculate and resplendent, appearing as though they were completely new. Filing cabinets lined the entirety of the back wall, and reached up just below the ceiling. In the middle, four rectangular desks, as white as the rest of the room, stood, forming a square. They seemed to be moulded out of the floor itself, as if they were part of it.
Standing behind three of the desks were three beings with another standing by the filing cabinets.
Besides never having seen them around the academy—which was strange enough—it struck me as interesting that they all looked exactly the same.
The diversity aboard the Sky Drifter was broad and the largest of any known institution, so I was used to seeing different species, which made it difficult to surprise me any-more. Therefore, it was a refreshing change when the four beings standing in the office caused me to do a double-take. Their black, shoulder-length bobs were as straight and rigid as helmets. Where a forehead was usually to be found, pointed bright orange beak-like mouths protruded as far as the length of my hand. Their faces were covered in silky black, scaly feathers, which parted at the lower area of them. There, instead of a mouth, one large yellow eye dominated the space.
