Galileo (Battle of the Species) (19 page)

           Desh jumped up and put up his hands towards it, but had to spin around to face the third Styr running towards him. He threw it off with a wall of energy and blasted the Styr with electricity, then stood there for a moment, as more dark figures raced in and out of skeletons.

Kia rolled on the ground with the Styr, until he was able to get a firm grasp on its head and snap its thick neck. He flew up onto the top of one of the skeletons, pulled an arrow out of his quiver, and then spread his wings to keep his balance, while the skeleton shook beneath him. The fourth Styr raced down the skeletal spine and sank its teeth into one of Kia’s wings before either had fully gained their balance.

Kia cried out in pain when the Styr slipped, breaking Kia’s wing in the process. He reached behind him, ramming the arrow into the Styr’s side. He could feel the Styr’s grasp stiffen, before it fell to the ground with a mouth full of feathers.

I can’t fly, Brother,
Kia thought, then jumped off the skeleton. He took out another arrow and dropped his bow, holding the arrow like a knife.

Desh ran around a skeleton’s skull, almost running into another Styr. Desh bared his fangs and hissed, then put up his hands in defense.

The beast swatted them away and once again knocked the Mindeerian into the mud.

Desh used his arms to keep the beast’s mouth from biting, unable to aim long enough to fire.

Kia ran for Desh, until tackled by the last Styr. They crashed into the mud, skidding a few feet. Kia grabbed for the arrow he had in his hand only moments before, but clung to nothing but handfuls of mud. He reached up with both hands, pushing the creature’s head away as it opened its mouth and lunged for his neck.

Both fighters struggled, breathless from exhaustion, but too defiant to quit. They looked up at the scoreboard in the air as the audience once again tried to reach their voices to them, yelling in unison, “Five, four, three, two, one!” On “one,” the Styr disappeared and Desh and Kia fell limp, while the planet, Bynart, descended into the floor.

Their faces were dripping with sweat. They lay on the white floor, unmoving, trying to catch their breath. Kia’s wing had instantly healed and the mud vanished from their suits once the simulation had disappeared, but their exhaustion was real and therefore remained. They tried to conserve their energy as the time clock on the scoreboard counted down in silence.

Desh turned his head and looked at Kia who was lying on his stomach with his eyes closed, both of them with their cheeks against the cold floor, cooling them down.

“I’m gonna eat the biggest steak after this,” Desh said, making his mouth water. “I don’t care what species it is.”

Kia didn’t open his eyes, but a grin spread across his face. “I’ll be right there with you, Brother.”

Desh looked up at the clock, displaying twenty seconds, nineteen, eighteen…“We’re so going to die in the next level. I’m so tired.”

“Whatever. Even one second in, and we’re still the first team of First Years to make it to level four this year. That’s something at least.”

“Yeah…” Desh said.

The buzzer rang to signal the break was over and Ava wasted no time in announcing, “The planet is Elright.”

Desh and Kia couldn’t help but laugh at their misfortune, having reached a point where their exhaustion made everything seem funny.

“Oh, nooooooooooo,” Desh said, grinning.

“Ava, eliminate the pain,” Kia said, making them both laugh harder while the planet rose around them. A cloudy lilac sky finished forming above hills of dark brown mud as far as the eye could see.

“Pain eliminated,” Ava complied, deducting the points. “Fighters, choose your weapons.”

They both slowly got up and stood there with grins on their faces while Ava’s clock counted down.

“Aren’t you going to choose a weapon?” Desh asked.

“Nah, I’m going to fight them with my fists like a real man,” Kia said, evoking laughter from Desh.

“The game will begin in five, four, three, two, one.” On “one,” all of the hills of mud rose from the ground, revealing grimy beasts so large, that Desh and Kia only came to their ankles.

They both looked up.

“Sick ‘em, Kia!” Desh said, before they were both picked up and swallowed whole.

***

Renn sat in robotics class, casting occasional glances at Meta. He listened to her thoughts, hoping they would be about him, but she seemed more focused on the professor and the class.

Professor Tamar advised the students that they were now ready to begin assembling robots. They were each allowed to choose from a series of basic designs, depending on what their previous experience had been. If they had none, they could build a small robot with wheels, passing the lesson if they could make it move in any direction. If they had some to a lot of experience, they could choose from a variety of robots that could perform multiple functions ― anywhere from walking to war combat.

          Renn scrolled through his tablet, choosing a basic mobile surveillance-bot as his first project. Seemed simple enough, he thought, looking over the design. He walked back to the work tables, where Dylan had already blocked off a large section of a work table and was running around getting large parts for who-knows-what. Whatever it was, Dylan couldn’t wait to put it together, since this was the moment he had been waiting for since he boarded the ship.

          Renn, however, had been waiting for a different moment — a moment when he could talk to Meta. She seemed to be sharing every class with Remi though, making it difficult to get a moment alone with her. If gossip was to be believed, they weren’t a couple, but Remi persisted in his attempt to remedy that.

If Renn was going to do it, this was going to be the time, since robotics was the only class Meta and Remi weren’t sharing. He just wasn’t sure how to go about it. He didn’t want it to seem like he was trying to pick her up…yet. They had been glancing at each other for a couple weeks, however, and it was starting to get awkward.

          He finished mounting a tilt servo onto the back of a pivot plate and then came up with what to say. He put his tools down, ran his fingers through his hair, hoping it was all pointing in an attractive direction, and walked over to her table. The second he got there, she looked up at him with her big brown eyes, and he forgot what he had come up with…he was pretty sure it began with “Hi” though.

          “Hi…uh, do you have a…” He looked in front of her and said the first thing he saw, “shim?”

“A shim?  What’s that?” Meta asked, looking perplexed.

Renn smiled, thinking she looked adorable when she got confused. It made her eyes bigger and her lips pucker slightly. He looked to her left and picked up a wedge, holding it up. “A shim.”

“It’s a wedge…why not just call it a wedge?” Meta asked amused.

Renn couldn’t help but laugh. “Because it’s a shim.” 

An image of Renn throwing the wedge at her, popped into Meta’s mind and she stepped back, looking frightened.

Renn saw the image as it happened in her head and looked at her in disbelief. “Why did you think that?” he asked, hurt.

“I didn’t…I…” Meta stuttered, looking down, embarrassed. “I mean, I thought it…but I…I’m sorry.”

People around them looked over, curious about what was going on.

Renn turned around to walk back to his worktable, until he saw Desh watching them from across the room. Renn’s hands illuminated when he realized Desh had projected the image into her head, ruining the moment with Meta he had been waiting for. He didn’t know what he had done to Desh, but as far as Renn was concerned, it was on now.

Back off,
Renn projected, glaring at Desh.

Desh glared back, until Renn walked away.

***

Dylan and Renn walked into the empty dorm room, putting their tablets on their desks, and lay down on their beds, falling into a familiar routine. The door opened and a ship-bot walked in, carrying clean towels for the bathroom. Tom followed the bot through the doorway, finding the open door as good as an invitation.

He looked over at Renn with a good-natured smile. “How was your day, Sport?” Tom asked.

Renn laughed at the android's enthusiasm. “Pretty good, thanks,” he replied, watching the android shuffle about the room.

Tom didn't seem to have anything to do; rather he was just looking for an excuse to interact with the students.

“Hey Tom, what's your purpose?” Renn asked.

Tom paused to think about it.

Very convincing
, Renn thought, imagining the robot maker deciding how long to make a pause to a question, so the android would appear more human.

“To oversee the emotional transition of the students from parental dependents to independent adults, and support their general well being.” Tom said.

“So you're a baby sitter?” Renn asked.

“I prefer compassion surrogate,” Tom replied with a wink.

Renn grinned. “Nice touch, Tom.”

“Thank you, Renn,” Tom said.

Rudy walked in the dorm and flopped onto his bed.

“Hey Rudy, what's your purpose?” Renn asked.

“To make it through physics class without flunking and to get laid,” Rudy replied.

“Way to reach for the stars, man,” Dylan said, not bothering to look up.

Renn continued watching Tom for a while, until Dylan looked over. “What?” Dylan asked.

“How can you even tell if someone's an android?” Renn asked. “I mean, you can ask them, but they could outright lie about it, or if their consciousness was transferred, they may not even know they’re an android.”

“The trick is to ask for their manufacture date,” Dylan said. “Most android makers won't erase that, just because if the android gets sent back to them for repairs, and there are parts missing, they need to know which replacement parts to get,” Dylan looked over at Tom. “Tom, what's your manufacture date?”

“02.12.6129,” Tom replied.

Renn noticed he didn’t even pause.

CHAPTER 9

Portals

Professor Nicita looked down at her call sheet towards the end of English class, no longer in the mood to wait for volunteers. “Leothin Antalia Epsin, please come up and give us your speech,” she announced.

         Leo walked up to the front of the class, avoiding eye contact with everyone, and instead continued staring at his tablet. “Leo,” he corrected, sheepishly. “Just call me Leo.”

         “Okay, Leo,” the professor replied. “What did you write about?”

         “I wrote about the day I came to the Galileo,” Leo said, looking up at the professor for reassurance.

         “Very good,” she said, encouraging him to continue.

         Leo took a deep breath and began. “I kissed and hugged my mom goodbye outside the portal station on Crystalline. She couldn't stop crying and said, ‘Space isn't made for Crystallians. Crystallians rarely leave Crystalline and when we do, we either die or come back sick.’

“I wanted to make something of myself and go on adventures and knew I wouldn’t if I stayed. My parents forbade me to go, but I appealed to the council to override their decision. They agreed, saying that it promoted the advancement of our species and would be worth the risk.

“My dad told me I would fail; that this was suicide and I was going to die. I so much wanted to prove him wrong, and walked through the portal, exhilarated about what was to come. When I stepped into the port junction, I was instantly overwhelmed by the heat. I felt so sick. My head ached and I felt nauseated and weak.

“Other species were walking around me like mobile furnaces and I wondered whether I had made a fatal mistake. I turned around, ready to walk back through the portal where the cool breeze on Crystalline awaited, but then thought of my dad on the other side of the portal, and I stood there, not wanting to give up.

“A human boy walked passed me with his family, then looked at me and asked if I was going to the Galileo. When I said “Yes,” he introduced himself as Dylan and talked to me all the way to the ship. At that moment, I didn’t care how sick I felt; even meeting him had been an adventure.

“By the time we got to the Galileo, I felt like I was going to pass out, getting sicker by the minute. Principal Lockrin came up and introduced himself with a smile. But his smile went away and he asked if I was feeling all right. When I said “No,” he took me to the dorm room where he had a special bed waiting for me. I lay down on the bed of ice and started to feel better.

“I so much want to be around others my age and to hang out with the friends that I’ve made, but their heat makes me sick. All I can do is wait for the coolness of the bed at night and hope I can make it through one more day.”

Leo looked up, looking vulnerable after revealing so much. The students knocked on the desks to express praise, when Leo sat down next to Renn and Dylan, avoiding their stare. He hadn’t told them that their heat was making him ill, out of fear that they would stop hanging out with him. Leo wanted to be near them, enjoying their company, but he was right, they didn’t want to make him sick; a conundrum that would bother all three of them, every time they hung out.

The bell chimed and the students shuffled out, heading to their next class.

Desh and Etienne walked to the elevators, not paying attention to those around them, until they realized they were standing alone in an elevator with Lux.

Etienne looked at Desh and smirked. “I think I forgot something, I'll meet you there,” he said and rushed out of the elevator, right before it closed, leaving Desh alone with the beautiful blonde.

The elevator stopped at each floor with more and more students climbing in. Lux stood closer to Desh, making room for the others.

He wished she wasn't wearing thought blockers so he could tell, if she could tell, that he was getting nervous. She was standing close enough for him to smell oavish blossoms in her hair. He took a deep breath and tried to pass it off as a lazy sigh.

“Something wrong?” she whispered, almost inches from his face.

“No…you just…smell like oavish blossoms,” he said, causing everyone in the elevator to turn around and look at the boy talking about flowers.