Galileo (Battle of the Species) (20 page)

Desh felt his cheeks burning, and when the elevator finally reached his level, he rushed out, almost bumping into Etienne who had beaten him there by taking the next elevator.

“What took you so long?” Etienne said, while they walked into the defense class.

“The elevator kept stopping,” Desh said, irritated.

Did you feel her up?
Etienne asked. Desh whirled around, but realized Etienne’s lips weren't moving and he had only thought it.

“Not funny,” Desh said, trying to hide a smile.

“Oh come on, it was a little funny,” Etienne replied.

***

The next team of players in BOTS ran out to the arena floor as Ava announced that the first team was Lux Eirian and Joss Gabriel, two humans, and the second team was Carmen Thomas, an unpleasant human girl, and Menkar Xal, a quiet, but strong, Janiun.

Renn looked at the only non-human on the floor, trying to file it to memory, that that was what the odd looking species was called. Janiuns looked like tall lizards with humanoid faces, covered in yellow and white scales from head to toe, with long yellow hair. They had big blue eyes and stood upright with muscular tails, which swayed back and forth — ready to knock over any enemy who came up behind them. The only thing Renn knew about Janiuns was that they were considered to be strong fighters and loyal friends, with the occasional exception, of course.

Lux and Joss made one last check to the bionic braces on their arms and legs, making sure they were securely strapped in, while Carmen and Menkar looked around, waiting for Ava to begin the game.

Renn noticed Lux and Joss wore identical earpieces with a thin black wire running down the side of their cheeks to their mouths, enabling them to communicate with each other, even from long distances. It showed they had not only fought in battle simulations before, but that they had fought together as a team.

“The planet is Murrian,” Ava announced, prompting large stone mountains to rise from the ground, leaving the players at the base of a deep, pebbled ravine
.
Huts were carved into the sides of the mountains on either side of the gorge, creating massive steps up the mountains. Above them, two large moons hovered under a gloomy gray sky with swollen clouds, hinting at the planet’s predictable weather.

“Fighters, prepare,” Ava advised.

The players walked around, scaling the small huts, and looked behind them to make sure there weren’t any predators hiding in nooks and crevasses.

“The game will begin in five, four, three, two, one,” Ava announced, as Desh walked up to the edge of the fighter’s tank, with his eyes fixated on Lux.

On “one,” the fighters had only a moment before they were pummeled with a ferocious stream of rain, drenching their suits within a matter of seconds.

Lux glared at the sky, grumbling, “Thanks, Ava,” and continued to climb up the huts to get a better view of the area.

“I don’t get it,” Lux said into her earpiece while she looked around. “Don’t Respyn live in Murrian huts?”

“Yeah, so?” Joss replied.

“So, I’m surprised they’re not inviting us out of the rain. They’re usually so sweet.”

“Uh, Lux?”

“Yeah?”

“The Respyn are already dead,” Joss replied, looking inside one of the huts. “This place is crawling with Cynads! Run!”

Lux looked over in time to see a pack of large, saber-toothed creatures run out of one of the huts after Joss. Cynads poured out of the huts with fresh blood all over their teeth and muzzles from having recently ravaged the tiny Respyn.

The Cynads couldn’t get good traction with their wet paws, giving Joss the split second she needed to climb to another row of huts.

Lux jumped down three flights below, running towards Joss, and lay down on her stomach with her hand out.

Joss came running and jumped up fifteen feet into the air towards Lux’s hand, before the Cynads could overtake her. Lux used Joss’ momentum to swing her up four flights of huts before letting go. The Cynads raced up the steps after them, as Joss and Lux used flips and kicks to avoid the animals.

Joss ran around a corner and found Carmen there, holding onto a Cynad by the back of its neck.

An evil smirk spread across Carmen’s face as she threw the Cynad at Joss’ face.

Joss screamed as the creature dug its nails into her cheeks, and threw it into a pack running towards her.

“What’s happening?” Lux asked, too far away to see her.

“Carmen just threw a Cynad at my head!” Joss said, incensed.

“Bitch!” Lux replied through gritted teeth.

Carmen jump across the ravine and Lux went after her, dodging the Cynads on the way, while they snapped at her heels. Lux backed up behind a stack of huts as Carmen came whipping around the corner.

“Oh no, oh no,” Dylan said, watching from the stands with Renn.

Lux took a running start and kicked Carmen in the stomach so hard with her bionic braces that it sent Carmen flying twenty feet into the air, slamming her into the side of the cliff.

“OH!” Renn said, standing up, along with everyone in the stands, then watched Carmen fall to the ground with a huge thud.

“Oh my gawd, did you see that?” Dylan asked, and then looked up to the scoreboard to see it blink.

“Remind me never to piss her off,” Renn said to Dylan, laughing. He followed Dylan’s gaze up to the scoreboard. “Hey, why’s it blinking?”

“Lux is about to be disqualified,” Dylan replied. “The rules are, you can only fight other players with simulations. Like the Cynad was a simulation, so Joss’ wounds will disappear when it’s over, but Lux kicked Carmen with her leg, which could cause permanent damage to the player. Lux could not only be disqualified for it, but if she keeps doing it, she could be expelled.”

They looked back to the simulation and saw Lux jump up more rows of huts to meet back up with Joss. The scoreboard stopped blinking, but points were deducted as a penalty for bad form.

“Nope, she’s good,” Dylan said, watching the scoreboard settle.

After the five minutes were up, the cliffs descended into the arena floor and Renn looked up to see that Lux and Joss had triple the points of the other team, even with Lux’s point loss.

Menkar died soon after level two had begun, when Carmen left her side, seeing an opportunity to score more points on her own. As far as species went, Menkar should have survived longer than all three of the other players, considering she was fighting with humans, but no species was strong enough to survive without a little help now and then.

Joss and Lux worked well as a team, defeating Carmen at the end of level two, and dying in level three, a respectable level to die in.

***

Renn had only used a portal twice in his life: the day he was born and the day he escaped to the Galileo. Portals were rarely, if ever, the topic of conversation on Earth, but in space, they popped up in myriad conversations. He knew they were used for travel, but that was the extent of his portal-knowledge.

“There were two species credited for discovering the portals,” Professor Zaneer said, as visual representations displayed behind her. “While researching on a lifeless planet, members of a Zeanup exploration crew fell into a pond of a shimmering silver substance we now refer to as ‘Xeero.’ When they came up for air, they were on another planet, twenty light years away. Now, the interesting thing about Xeero, and what makes it so unique, is that it has a memory and can be programmed.

 “It was the Sensati, however, who invented the technology to communicate with Xeero, making it possible to recall a destination at will. They developed a system that could transfer any creature from one planet to another, regardless of how many galaxies lay between. This system allows a traveler to place their hand on the scanner, the scanner to feed the data to the system, and the system to approve or deny passage. When approved, it communicates through the frames to the Xeero that the traveler may pass and what the destination is. This operating system is referred to as ‘Cybernex.’

“Once portals were opened on multiple planets, the Federation was born. Both the Zeanups and the Sensati claimed ownership of the portals and the two species went to war, killing each other by the billions in an attempt to control the portals. The newly formed Federation intervened, taking the leaders of both species into a room. When they came out, the Zeanup and Sensati leaders had handed over the portals to the Federation in order to bring peace to their citizens. The Federation then designated a third party, tasked with protecting the portals and those who used them.

“No one knows who the third party is, only that they are referred to as the De-An. Most assume the Zeanups are the guardians, others say the Sensati. It depends on who one asks, but all that’s known is that neither the Zeanups, nor the Sensati can claim ownership. Are there any questions?” Professor Zaneer asked.

Renn raised his hand.

“Yes, Renn?”

“How do portals without frames work, then?”

“There are no portals without frames,” Professor Zaneer replied.

“But I’ve seen them. They descended out of the air and….” He stopped when he noticed Desh, Kia, and Etienne staring at him from across the room as if they were seconds away from jumping over their table and pouncing on him.

“That can’t be,” the professor said. “There would need to be something to initiate it; a way to communicate. Besides that, a frameless portal would still be extremely dangerous. It would be an open doorway, allowing anything and everything through without Cybernex available to regulate it. All that would need to happen is for an insect flying through, carrying a virus that could wipe out an entire species. There would be an uproar amongst citizens if they found out anyone was doing this.”

“Maybe Renn’s just seeing things,” Desh said.

“Whoa,” Dylan said. “If he said he saw something, then he saw something.”

“All right, all right. Keep the battles in the arena, boys,” Zaneer said before Desh could counter.

Renn wasn’t sure what was happening, but wondered how many Mindeerians had been rescued via nonexistent portals. The news was still listing more counts of Mindeerian survivors, with each survivor crediting the Quintessence for saving them. One of the survivors must have been Desh, and Renn was dying to know what he knew about them.

“What if someone breaks into Cybernex and takes over the system?” Katie asked, looking rather troubled. “They would have access to every planet in the Federation.”

“Anywhere in the universe,” Dylan corrected.

“Yes, but where is Cybernex?” the Professor asked.

The students looked around, waiting for an answer no student seemed to have.

“No one knows its location or who runs it,” the Professor continued.

“The Sensati probably do,” Remi said. “If they invented it, then they probably run it too.”

“The portals don’t belong to the Sensati,” Sargus 29 said, rather heated, defending his own Zeanup species.

“Just because no one knows where the location is, doesn’t mean it couldn’t be corrupted,” Katie pressed.

“Katie,” the Professor said, patiently. “They would have to defeat Cybernex, the De-An, and the entire Federation to take over the portals. Believe me, that’s an impossible feat and in the 7,200 years since its creation, it’s never been accomplished. You’re all perfectly safe.”

***

Self-defense class was held in a classroom for once, as Professor Paro discussed a planet called Hethroen. The dominant species on Hethroen was technically advanced, and became rich selling invisibility suits all over the Federation when the portals first opened. Many species thought they would win every war wearing them, until a news report surfaced on the Federation News stating that both sides of the Chelonia war had worn them, and the suits were so effective that both sides kept accidentally shooting their own fighters.

The suits were equipped with fine antennas that could keep anything bouncing around them, from any radar. Too effective and they became more deadly to themselves than to the other side. Most species kept the suits, mainly because of Hethroen’s no return policy, but they found use for them by giving them to their lone assassins. On one’s own, an enemy could win a war by severing the right head.

At the end of class, as everyone was packing up, Jonah walked up to Renn, putting both hands on his desk and leaned forward so he could intimidate Renn by hovering over him. It was inevitable, Renn thought, but he had been preparing himself for it since the moment he discovered that Jonah had boarded the Galileo.

“Well, if it isn’t the mutt from Camden,” Jonah said. “And here I was hoping the rumors about you getting torn apart by Aranea were true. I guess I’m just going to have to do that myself.”

“Get lost, Jonah,” Renn said.

“What did you say to me?” Jonah asked.

“We’re not on Earth anymore. No one’s going to kick me out just for defending myself against chemwaste like you.”

“Chemwaste?” Jonah said, turning red. He took a step to lunge, then looked back to see the professor was only a few desks away. He turned back to Renn and whispered, “When I get my hands on you…”

Renn interrupted by emitting energy beneath Jonah’s jaw, clapping it shut.

Jonah grabbed at his chin and swiped at air, as he tried to spit out insults through a clenched jaw.

“Goodbye, Jonah,” Renn said, as he grabbed his tablet and walked away.

Renn walked out of the room and felt a liberation he had never felt before. For the first time, feeling comfortable in his own skin.

***

It was another day off for the First Years, and Renn and Dylan decided to head to the girls’ dorms to see Lux, Joss, and Meta. After taking a couple steps in the door to the dorm rooms, they were stopped in the common area by the housemother, Sally. Sally was an android with the appearance of a human woman in her sixties, short and plump, with curly silver hair, and looked very no-nonsense.

“What are you boys doing in here?” Sally asked gruffly, with her hands on her hips.

“Uh...we...I...” Renn and Dylan stammered, a little taken aback.