The Sky Drifter (16 page)

“Yeah, yeah. I’m awake,” I called out in my best sleepy tone.

“
Hurry up or we’ll be late
!” shouted Iris, sounding as aggravated as usual for that time of day.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” I replied as convincingly as possible.

During the course of the night, I’d decided to play it safe, and would keep my thoughts to myself until I knew what was going on, whenever that was. Once I thought I’d waited long enough, I opened the door just as Iris prepared to knock again. I seemed to have a knack for timing that just right.

“Finally.” She exhaled, rolling her eyes before turning and walking away, her bright blue floral dress whirling lightly around her as she did.

“How you doin’ today, bro?” Pi called out as he leaned casually against a tree on the other side of the path. His black lips stretched the length of his face, showing off a gleaming set of pearly-white teeth as his smiled.

Trying my best to appear aloof, I replied, “Much better, thanks.”

“
Well
,” interjected Iris, reaching the tree Pi leaned against, “that will change if we don’t get a move on.”

As we started down the path that led to the town, Iris and Pi chatted about the day ahead, teachers, new flavours at Shabli’s, Sphere—the usual—though, as much as I tried to follow and be involved in the conversation, I kept drifting out, replaying the meeting I’d had with the mysterious girl. Her words repeated without end in my mind, and with
them, a sense of guilt whispered in my ear at the mistrust I felt for my friends.

“Hey, Seven,” said Pi, snapping me out of my thoughts. “So, what do you want to do about the girl then? Any plans?”

Iris fixed her gaze on me but remained silent, as if in anticipation of my reply. At the very mention of the mysterious girl I felt my face redden and my brow dampen with beads of sweat. It made no sense, of course, but in that moment, it was as though Iris and Pi had both read my mind and had known I’d been thinking of her.

I feigned a quick smile, trying to regain my composure, and replied, “Not really. I’m getting bored of the whole thing, to be honest.”

Iris leaped to my side and interlocked her arm with mine. Through a bright, beaming smile, she said in a dismissive tone, “She was strange, anyway, Seven. Are you looking forward to Sphere practice later? There’s a rumor Mr. Hist has some exciting news.”

I felt a little embarrassed and frustrated that I hadn’t heard any news relating to Sphere, and instantly shifted my gaze from Iris to Pi and back to Iris. “What news?” I asked.

“Depends on who you ask,” replied Pi. “Some think he’s changing the team, others reckon Mr. Hist is retiring, but no one really knows.”

“Why would people think he’s retiring?” I asked puzzlingly, worried that for once a rumor might be true. Mr. Hist had been my coach ever since I’d started playing Sphere, and I just couldn’t imagine anyone else taking his place.

“It’s just a rumor, Seven,” answered Iris reassuringly. “It has no basis in reality. You know how rumors are.

“Yeah, Mr. Hist is pretty stubborn,” agreed Pi. “It’d take a small army to get him to retire.”

“I guess you’re right,” I said, feeling some relief. The coach adored the sport and would be very unlikely to retire from it.

We spent the rest of the journey to the academy chatting and bantering like always, and for a while it was as though nothing had ever happened, as any thoughts of the mysterious girl and her ominous warnings faded lightly away.

Having reached the academy, Iris and I waved goodbye to Pi and then headed to our Interplanetary Ecology class as he ambled off to his own. As the room slowly filled, we found our way to our seats.
Sitting next to Iris had its advantages. If there was something I hadn’t understood or heard, she’d explain or repeat it to me. The downside, of course, was that her help tended to come with a gratuitous slap to the back of the head.

As we all sat and then settled to a low chatter, Mr. Sylva announced his presence with the usual dusty
thump
, following his emergence from the mossy hole within the vertical protuberance on the wall. Dusting himself off, the teacher announced in his gruff monotone, “Good day, students. I would like to begin today’s class with some news.” A hush fell over the class as everyone sat straighter attentively. “As you know,” continued Mr. Sylva, “there was a slight incident on Brattea when recently we visited it on our excursion. Some were evidently rather perturbed by this experience,” he continued, turning his head and fixing his roving gaze on me, “so allow me to appease your minds.”

Mr. Sylva paused for a moment as his eyes darted every which way again as he mumbled, “What was it?” before he triumphantly exclaimed, “Oh yes!” and carried on. “Our dedicated and highly competent staff has since been able to discover that a virus has broken out among the Brattean race, which causes them to dramatically alter their appearance and size and lose control, making them quite, quite violent. Oh dear,” muttered the teacher again, “that sounds rather awful. Hmm, yes, indeed.”

Mr. Sylva drifted off in distant thought as he continued whispering and mumbling words I could no longer hear until Iris, as politely as she could, called out, “Sorry, sir, what were you saying? About the virus on Brattea?” to which the whole class sighed a collective breath of relief.

“What, what? Virus? Oh, yes, of course, yes, the virus. It appears as though it causes affected Bratteans to physically alter their shape and appearance and become really very violent. What we experienced as a class was the start of this outbreak, which I am told, has now spread over the majority of the Brattean population. I have been assured, however, that official steps have been taken to contain and eradicate the dreadful outbreak.  Moreover, this virus is only spread within the Brattean species, so all of you are quite safe from its effects. All Bratteans aboard have been placed safely in
quarantine within the medical center, and have already begun their treatment. So, you see,” concluded Mr. Sylva, his gaze locking on me again, “there is nothing to fear, as the situation is now well and truly under control.”

A crescendo of whispers rose from the classroom as students discussed the news, either expressing their relief or cursing they wouldn’t have the chance to become great monsters that terrorized the academy. Despite the news, however, one matter still played on my mind, and before really thinking about what I was doing, I stood.

Addressing Mr. Sylva, I said, “What about how you all just stood there as the Brattean became that monster, sir? I mean, none of you seemed to know or even care what was happening. You all just looked on as if
nothing
was happening.”

An instant silence fell in the room as all eyes turned to face me. “I’m glad you brought that up…student, as it had quite slipped my mind. You see, temporary sensory inhibition tends to occur among those unfortunate enough to be within range of an affected Brattean. It is due to a toxic gas secreted by the Brattean as its morphology changes so that, when ingested, it causes the—well, the victim, I suppose—to be utterly unaware of what is happening, therefore allowing the infected Brattean to attack with greater ease and comfort. Luckily for all of us, it had no effect on that one student who, effectively, awoke us all.”

“That was me, sir,” I confirmed flatly.

“Oh, was it, indeed?” replied Mr. Sylva curiously, though I thought I detected a hint of sarcasm hidden somewhere in the somewhat muffled voice behind the long tangle of mossy gray roots that dangled down his face.

Mr. Sylva’s explanation was very convincing, and it did make me feel much better about it all, but there was still something that bothered me as the mysterious girl’s warnings not to trust anyone resounded in my mind.

“Further,” continued Mr. Sylva, “the effects of the toxic gas, I’m told, lingers for a while afterward, which I suspect, would explain our collective delayed reactions aboard the vessel. Don’t you agree, student?” he asked, looking at me now with his left telescopic eye.

There was something unnerving about Mr. Sylva’s eye, which along with the other one, normally roved around without apparent control, but was now so unblinkingly fixed on me that I felt uneasy. However, what he’d said made sense—and made far more sense than words spouted at me by some strange girl, telling me not to trust anyone.

I sat feeling lighter than I had when I’d stood, and looked at Iris, who was gently smiling at me as the occasional glint of light on her skin sparkled like diamonds.

***

Later on, I met up with Iris and Pi outside by the front entrance to the academy, and we started toward the stadium, chatting about the day we’d had. Everything already seemed to be back to normal.

The repair units had done such an immaculate job of fixing the gaping hole caused by the explosion the previous day, you’d never have known it had ever happened. It’d seemed slightly odd that I hadn’t heard anyone discussing it that day at the academy, but I suppose given the fact that no one had been hurt and there was no mystery behind it, there had been no cause for gossip.

Neither Iris nor Pi had once mentioned the mysterious girl. My suspicions about the strange trip to Brattea had been pacified by Mr. Sylva’s explanation, so the mysterious girl’s warnings seemed unwarranted. To be honest, I didn’t especially want to think about her, either.

“So? Are you looking forward to it?” asked Iris eagerly.

“Sorry?” I asked, lost in my thoughts again.

“The news! If the rumors are anything to go by, today is when Mr. Hist gives you the news during practice! You have to be excited about
that
.” She smiled contentedly.

“Oh yeah, that, right, of course,” I muttered, trying to match Iris’ enthusiasm, but failing miserably.

The fact was I’d never paid much thought to rumors that circulated through the academy. When you considered the last one claimed the true purpose of the
Sky Drifter
was to gather and train soldiers with the ultimate purpose of conquering the galaxy, you tend not to put too much stock in such things.

Outside the stadium students were already gathering in small groups as they waited around for Sphere practice to begin. There seemed to be more of a crowd than usual, but I suspected that was the result of the rumor Iris had spoken about.

“Hi, Seven!” A Banra girl giggled from where she sat with a small group on the grass to my right. As soon as I looked, she quickly turned her head from me to her friends as they tittered in unison. I smiled with embarrassment and looked down at my feet in anticipation for what would come next.

“Looks like your fan club is here,” said Iris sarcastically.

A while ago, a group of girls from Banra had started coming to every practice game there was, giggling as they dared each other to call out my name. To me, it was annoying and embarrassing, but Iris had quite a different reaction to it.

“Why don’t you go spend some time with them before practice starts? Or better yet, take them right in with you now. Don’t worry about us, we’ll just wait here on the grass and for the doors to open like the other
regular
fans.”

I felt my cheeks flush and replied with the only words that came to mind. “No, that’s okay, maybe next time.”

Like the calm before the storm, everything seemed to quiet around me as I felt Iris’ gaze bore into my skull. From my periphery, I saw her open her mouth, ready with an assault of words that would be as devastating as an all-destroying hurricane.

Just before she could speak, however, Pi suddenly said, “Hey, look. No Face is going into the stadium. Huh, I thought he was banned.”

The heavy atmosphere instantly changed as Iris and I looked up. There, ahead of us, One stood beside the side entrance to the stadium as he waited for one of his Morex goons to open the door for him before walking in and out of sight. The two Morex closely followed, slamming the door behind them.

“I wonder what’s happening,” Iris said rhetorically, more to herself than to anyone.

“Maybe he’s sneaking in,” I offered, not putting something like that past One. “Could be he heard about the rumor and couldn’t resist finding out what it’s about for himself.”

“Yes,” replied Iris dreamily, “maybe.”

“Who cares, guys,” contributed Pi. “It’s not like it matters, is it?”

“No,” I replied, agreeing with Pi. “I suppose not.”

Still looking ahead pensively, Iris simply stated, “Come on, let’s go.” She walked quickly toward the side door to the stadium as Pi and I tried to keep up.

Once inside, they went ahead to sit in the stands as I headed to the locker room to put my gear on. After I stepped inside the arena, I found other players already practicing alone or in pairs. I spotted Iris and Pi to my left, sitting toward the middle, with the group of annoying Banra girls directly below them in the first row, giggling and waving incessantly. Farther to the right, sitting in the second row from the bottom, sat One with both Morex sitting stone-faced on either side of him.

I asked myself what he—what they—might be doing in the arena if they weren’t there to practice. Mr. Hist had banned One from practice and the stadium for seven solar days, so I wondered whether this was a show of defiance toward the coach. One was capable of many things, but he enjoyed Sphere as much as I did, so to openly defy Mr. Hist and risk his position on the team seemed more like an act of stupidity than aggression. 

I practiced some moves with 103 for a while, keeping a suspicions eye on One. If his aim really was to defy Mr. Hist’s ban, then the coach appeared to pay no mind to his presence.

After practice, when all the spectators had left, Mr. Hist instructed us all to stand side by side in a line by the large metallic Sphere. Standing proudly in front of us, he turned to face One and his two goons.

“Come on,” he commanded loudly. “That means you, too.”

One and one of the two Morex headed over to us, One’s long black coat swishing with his every step as he walked next to the mossy stone giant beside him. After finally taking their places at the end of the line, the coach perused us with his steady glare, twisting and stroking his bushy moustache.