Galileo (Battle of the Species) (35 page)

“Fighters, choose your weapons,” Ava beaconed.

“Should we use the ants?” Renn asked. “That worked pretty well.”

“No, Tix fly, so ants are useless. Just follow my lead…and don't touch the oozing mounds. They're full of acid,” Desh said.

“Good to know,” Renn replied.

Renn’s anxiety increased, waiting for Desh to choose a weapon or accessory,
anything
, but Desh just stood there. Renn thought about asking again, but refrained, having already second-guessed him about the pain elimination.

Dylan, Lux, and Leo watched from the stands.

“Wow, that's brave,” Dylan said, looking up at the scoreboard to see what weapons the fighters had chosen. “They can choose up to three weapons apiece and they're choosing to fight with their hands on a Class Five planet.”

“That’s so hot,” Lux said, grinning.

“The game will begin in five, four, three, two, one.” On “one,” the lights went out and a strong wind rushed through the stands, ruffling the hair of the students as it made its way to the battlefield through the darkness. The only light sources were the blue-lit palms of the Mindeerians and the faint glow of the hives oozing an illuminated yellow slime.

I can’t see anything,
Renn projected.

           Desh fired lightning at some of the hives, igniting them to create a steady fire that was fueled by the sap. The large acidic insects inside the hives screamed while they burned.

Desh and Renn got back-to-back, leaving Ulrich alone.

Ulrich backed himself up against a cliff, holding a large laser machine gun in each hand, pointing them towards the sky.

Renn and Desh put up their hands while the sound of dozens of wings flapping neared. Desh fired lightning in the air, illuminating the sky, revealing dozens of black Tix heading straight for them. Renn fired over and over, igniting the Tix and dodging their bodies as they fell to the ground.

“Stay with me!” Desh yelled, when they became separated from dodging the dead Tix.

Renn and Desh continued firing, but the Tix kept coming.
They're getting too close,
Renn projected.

Push them back, then fire again,
Desh replied. He created a wall of energy, pushing the Tix back twenty feet, then released the wall and fired again.

Renn watched and then duplicated the process, over and over. Push them back, fire, push them back, fire; the wall of Tix getting thicker and thicker as they kept coming.

Ulrich continued firing a barrage of laser blasts into the air but was attacked by a Tix that had crawled down the side of the mountain above him. The creature bit off an arm and flew away before the swarm attacked. It had come so suddenly that he hadn’t had time to eliminate the pain and cried out in agony when the Tix ripped his body to pieces with their teeth and claws.

With Ulrich now gone, the Tix focused their numbers on Renn and Desh. The Tix would soon overwhelm them and Renn was grateful that Desh had already eliminated the pain. He glanced at the scoreboard through the smoke and saw that despite feeling like they had been there for hours, only three minutes had passed. He kept firing, not wanting to be torn apart, whether he could feel it or not. His heart raced and his skin felt warm, as fear took over.

He looked around frantically, then saw one of the Tix’s dead bodies had fallen into a hive of acid and burned.

Acid,
Renn projected.

What
?

Renn planted images in the Tix’s minds that fresh meat was hiding in the hives. They dove for the hives to get to the food, and burned from the acid in a cloud of smoke. More Tix came, pushing the dead bodies aside in an attempt to get to the fresh meat they were sure was there.

Desh watched Renn’s projections and laughed. “Good, Brother!” Desh shouted through the chaos. He followed Renn’s strategy and the number of Tix they had to fight dwindled as half were going for them and the other half for the hives.

The clock was almost up and the students counted down the remaining time, yelling, “Five, four, three, two, one!”

The Tix disappeared and the black sky melted away, letting the light back in. Renn and Desh stood there, trying to adjust to the light and let it sink in that they were back in the arena, safe aboard the Galileo.

“What happens next?” Leo asked, looking around.

“I don't know. I’ve never seen anyone get this far,” Dylan replied.

“Fighters have won the game,” Ava announced.

The crowd broke out into a frenzy, screaming and stamping their feet. 

Renn and Desh turned to each other, grinning. They shook hands, both excited at their win.

“Fought like a true Mindeerian,” Desh said, making Renn beam with pride.

All of Renn and Desh’s friends ran down to the holding tank and Lux ran up to Renn and hugged him.

Desh looked away like he had just been punched in the stomach and walked towards the exit.

Renn watched him, frowning, and looked over at Lux, who had noticed too.

“I got it,” Lux said to Renn, running after Desh. “Hey,” she said, turning him around by a pull of his uniform.

“What?”  Desh snapped.

Lux lifted herself up onto her tiptoes and threw her arms around his neck, whispering in his ear, “You were great.”

Her warm breath in his ear made his hands illuminate through the clear cloth of the Mindeerian gloves and Desh clenched his fingers, hoping she wouldn’t notice.

When Lux released him, Desh stepped back, blushing. “Thanks,” he said, trying to hide a smile.

She tugged on his battle suit. “Come on, you're going to celebrate with us.”

“Uh…well…I…” Desh stuttered.

“That wasn't a question,” Lux said, with a puckish grin. “Come on.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the group. Desh surrendered, following her to join the others.

They all walked to the observation deck, finding it empty that night, while the other students had ignored the room for the lack of scenery.

Leo shuffled and fidgeted, unable to start a conversation as easily as the others and wandered over to Joss and Kia as the two sparred.

“It’s called Paugo Krav Maga,” Joss said, as her foot rose into the air, blocked and countered by Kia.

“I thought Temian soldiers fought with Krav Maga. What’s Paugo?” Kia asked.

“Paugo compensates for the braces. Like, if you’re just fighting by hand, a human can’t exactly pick up a hovercraft and throw it at you.”

“Good point,” Kia replied.

“Hey, maybe we could team up some time in a BOTS game,” Kia said.

“Yeah, that sounds cool,” Joss replied, attempting to hide a smile.

As Leo had zero interest in practicing how to kill, he walked over to Dylan and Etienne, who were already deep in conversation.

 “First day we got here, I found out I was supposed to be rooming with a couple Janiuns, Sargus 29, and the Zorgre brothers,” Etienne said.

“Wait, I thought you were rooming with Desh and Kia,” Dylan said.

“I am.”

“Did you ask Tom to reassign you or something?” Dylan asked.

“No…I kind of changed the rooming assignments myself,” Etienne replied with a sly grin.

“Oh my gawd, you hacked Ava!” Dylan said.

“Shhhh,” Etienne said looking around. “I’m not proud of it, but I didn’t want to spend the next four years with a couple of Zorgres, who constantly fart in their sleep by the way, instead of rooming with my friends…”

Leo got up, trying to distance himself from the admission of a felony as quickly as he could and walked over to sit next to Desh, who hung on Lux’s every word.

“I didn’t tell my dad I applied to the Galileo,” Lux told Desh. “So, one day, I got home from school and he’s just sitting there on the couch, holding the acceptance letter.”

“What did he say?” Desh asked.

“Nothing,” she replied. “It was horrible. I tried to explain why I didn’t want to go to school on Temin, but he just sat there, staring at me with this look on his face like I had just ripped out his heart or something. Then he got up and walked out.”

“How long until he started talking to you again?” Desh asked.

“I’m still waiting,” Lux replied.

Leo got up to avoid crying and walked over to Renn and Meta, but stopped short when he saw them whispering and holding hands. He looked around, feeling a little lost, and stared out the window until Joss called him back over to join in on a discussion about the BOTS game they had just played.

Leo smiled, grateful that she and Kia had stopped sparring and were now discussing a topic he could be included in. He walked back over and sat down next to them, enjoying being part of the conversation.

As time when on, however, Desh appeared more and more distracted. He continued glancing at Meta and Renn, who were now inching closer and closer to each other.

           They all talked until their sleep regulators chirped, giving each other hugs and handshakes before leaving for their dorm rooms.

CHAPTER 16

Burlia

“Meta, you’re up,” Professor Nicita said, motioning Meta to the front of the class to give her English speech.

           Meta gave a nervous jolt and looked over at Renn, who smiled and winked at her. She walked to the front of the class and began reading aloud. “When I was seven, there was an area near where I live, called Green Rapid Falls. The last war had ended fifty years before and the land had begun to regrow with thick green grass. When the city re-opened the area up to the public, my family and I went to have a picnic near the waterfall.

            “There were a lot of people there that day, but it was the family of Talelle that I will always remember. They had moved to our village the week before and came by the waterfall to have a picnic of their own. No one had ever heard of their species and didn't know whether they were friendly or not, so when they tried to sit down near the other families, the humans tried to shoo them away.

“The Talelle kids wanted to play with the human kids, but the human kids threw rocks at them out of fear. The Talelle family moved their picnic further away from the humans, trying to enjoy the waterfall and their time together as a family.

“We heard the drones before we saw them, like a thunder rumbling over the trees. When they came over the mountain, they started firing large blasts into the picnic area, exploding trees and ground all around us. People were screaming and running for shelter until a rotund energy shield suddenly covered the area.

“We turned to the source of the shield and saw the Talelle family with their hands up, releasing the energy from their bodies. After a few minutes, our own drones came, shooting down the enemy. It became so quiet once everything had settled. Out of all the explosions, no one had been hurt and no one understood why. Then everyone began talking, piecing together what had happened. ‘I was pushed to the side by someone…but I didn’t see anyone,’ one said. ‘I could have sworn the blast was coming right for me, but then it veered to the left at the last second.’ After a while everyone understood that it had been the Talelle protecting us the entire time. Even the children had defended us, despite how we had treated them.

“My parents and I looked over and saw the Talelle packing their things up to leave. My mom pleaded with my father to do something, so my father went over and asked if they’d like to join our family and find another place to enjoy the rest of the picnic together.

“They have been close friends with our family for many years now and are the reason I came to the Galileo. There are incredible species in the Federation we will never know unless we take a chance and invite them to our picnic.”

Meta looked up, indicating she was done and the students knocked on their desks as she sat down. She looked over at Renn to hear him project,
You were great
. She mouthed the words, “Thank you” and couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the class.

***

Renn, Dylan, and Rudy finished their dinner and were headed back to the dorms to study when they passed Tabit, Pyxis and Vela in the corridor.

Tabit looked at Renn and said, “Hey, great job yesterday,” as he passed by.

“Thanks,” Renn grinned and continued walking down the hall.

“Wait a second,” Tabit said.

Renn stopped when the three Mindeerians looked at each other and walked up to Renn.

“Do you guys hear something?” Pyxis asked.

“What, like thoughts?” Vela replied, playing along.

“Yeah.”

“You know what, I don’t hear anything,” Tabit said laughing.

Renn laughed back. “Yeah, all right. I learned how to block.”

The three Mindeerians cheered.

“Finally!”

“It’s about time!”

“Man, that was starting to get a little embarrassing,” Tabit teased.

“Okay, okay,” Renn said.

The Mindeerians said goodbye and headed into the mess hall.

Renn, Dylan, and Rudy walked down one of the outer halls on the ship to take the scenic route with windows. They stopped, staring out the window at a large planet in the distance, seeing tiny sparks of light crackle intermittently all over the planet.

“What is that?” Renn asked, confused at what he was looking at.

“War,” Dylan said.

“What planet is that?” Renn asked, shocked he could see the explosions from space.

“Temin,” Rudy replied.

“Who’s Temin at war with?” Renn asked, not remembering seeing anything on the news.

“It’s another world war,” Dylan said.

“Going back to Earth was meant to bring peace,” Rudy said in an accusatory tone.

“Man, humans will always be at war with each other,” Dylan said. “Going back to Earth wouldn’t have changed anything. The Earthlings were right; we would have destroyed it again.”

Renn opened his mouth to reply, when an alarm blared throughout the halls and Ava’s voice resonated throughout the ship.

“All students are to return to their dorm rooms immediately. Please proceed in an orderly fashion.” The alarm blared again and Ava repeated her command once more in a calm, crystal clear voice.

“What's going on?” Rudy asked, but the question went unanswered, since everyone for once was as clueless as he was.