Interstellar Academy, Kennedy Harkins [epub e ink reader TXT] 📗

though, shaking his head vigorously. I wasn’t in the business of following orders, but he had helped me save my life. Maybe he deserved a reward.

Professor Talib sat back, looking at us now. “So. What do you think about detention for the rest of the year on cleaning detail?”

_____

February 20th:

“It sucks. That’s what I think about it,” I answered Kavi’s similar question four months later. “How am I supposed to get my grades up--which are in the crapper--if I have to spend three days a week cleaning up after these commoners. They’re disgusting. All of them. Like Earhart needs any more excuses to kick me out of here; I’m starting to lag even in my best classes!”

I peeled a stray wad of gum from my gloves throwing it into the waste basket in our apartment. Lying face down on his bunk, Dru didn’t make any move to join in my lamenting, but that was to be expected. God forbid, he talk for a change. After months of silence for hours on up--except for the sound of scrubbing-- my own voice was beginning to lose its appeal. I never thought I’d see the day on that one.

I pulled off the soiled suit and changed into a fresh one. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time for a shower or even a decontamination spray. Flying class was in ten minutes, and Professor Accia was just looking for an excuse--apart from the one she already had: my ineptitude-- to stick it to me.

“Well, Greenies,” the professor said, pacing around a ship parked in the middle of the battle field. “I’m sure this is will be an important day in your otherwise miserable and insignificant lives.”

I froze upon closer inspection of the ship. Not fully believing my eyes, I stepped closer, so close I could almost trace the star emblem on the “bumper”. It was the most beautiful thing in the room--not including myself, of course.

Professor Accia stepped in front of the class. “This is a Cruiser with off-world capabilities. It’s a sophisticated machine, and it’s an honor to fly it.” The whole group was hanging on her every word, salivating at the mouth while they kept their hungry eyes on the ship. “None of you are going to have that honor for a couple more years.”

The balloon in the room burst, and instead of air, the student’s hopes and dreams flooded out into the atmosphere, dissipating as fast as they’d formed.

She wasn’t going to let us fly it. She’d brought it under our noses, like sharks to blood, and she wasn’t going to let us operate it. My head felt like a million angry bees were swarming around, my face heating and my blood rushing.

“Still,” she continued. “That doesn’t mean you can’t look--at the outside.” Professor Accia laughed. “Don’t you all look so down trodden. Before you know it you’ll be juniors, and you’ll be the ones studying it.”

If I lasted that long.

Her face sobered. “The ship won’t be here long, just while the juniors map the controls. And while it is, it’ll be under strict twenty-four hour surveillance.” I didn’t turn to look at her, my gaze still on the ship, but I could feel her eyes burning into the side of my face. “So nobody get any ideas.”

But I had ideas. And telling me to lose them was like fanning a fire--or pouring gasoline on it. It was a bad idea, worse than stealing that cruiser from under the AI guard’s nose. Professor Accia would no doubt be expecting me, but I couldn’t stop myself from creeping out of the apartment that night after all the lights had gone out and my roommates were snoring.

I met no resistance in the alleys and shadows, but that was to be expected. They were probably consolidating their forces around the actual ship. That would make it harder to get in. Smiling, my stomach clenched in anticipation.

The outer ring of AIs--only three--was easily penetrated. They weren’t quite as sophisticated as the guard that night a few months back, only relying on sight. And I could go unnoticed when I wanted to.

The next obstacle came when I noticed the force field generators, little cubes set up in an oval around the ship. My revelation had almost come a moment too late, as I had been about to breach the barrier.

My palms were damp as I examined one of the cubes. I couldn’t tell just by looking at it if it would’ve set off some kind of alarm, propelled me away, or left me overdone like my grandma’s turkey at Thanksgiving. Choose any option, though, and I would’ve been exposed.

I pulled one of Dru’s stun sticks from the holster around my calf. He carried enough of them to supply a small army, so I didn’t think he’d miss this one. Besides, I’d developing a liking to it during our time on Parvu. And what I wanted, I got.

I flicked my wrist and pressed the tip of the stun stick to the cube. Letting out an invisible flair, it overloaded the cube’s circuits. The block started steaming and then went dark.

I didn’t need to hit the other ones. With the circle broken, they couldn’t keep up a force field anyway, and it’d look less suspicious this way, like one of the cubes just went out.

Pushing a concealed button on the outside of the craft, I glanced behind me to make sure the AIs were still content roaming in a circular motion. Luckily, their eyes were outwards, not towards me, because the next moment the hatch sprung open and landed at me feet with a vocal thud.

I winced, but continued onto the ship without any further ado. The AIs might be deaf, but they could feel sound waves on their feet just as well as anyone else. Slowing down only to activate hatch closing, I ran into the cockpit.

There were more controls--the understatement of the century-- in there than on all the simulation ship I’d crashed combined. The whole little oval room was lit up with reds, green, blue, and yellows from the myriad of glowing buttons and readouts.

The stabilizers and altitude controls were, thankfully, the same, just a slightly different color. I breathed a sigh of relief, activating the stabilizers before turning it on and then pressing the altitude. I rose through the air, leaving my stomach behind but gaining a wealth of excitement and the feeling of utter rightness as I took to the air.

The AIs were scrambling below, like chickens with their heads cut off. I chuckled, but turned on the opaque windows so as not to be seen. It’d been a miracle Kavi and I hadn’t been caught, just luck really; we were sloppy. I didn’t intend to be lucky this time. I intending to be skilled.

I took a deep breath, looking for the acceleration. “You can do this. You’ve read all the books, practiced this in a million simulations. You can do this.” The chant got faster when I couldn’t find the acceleration lever.

It off to the side. Thank god, it was off to the side. I allowed myself a brief victory dance, and then I was off into the night.

The off-world ship didn’t feel any different from the other Cruiser I’d piloted. It still wobbled and bobbed while I tried to keep it in the sky. The only notable difference came when I exited the ship’s gravity field, and it didn’t shudder like someone was trying to knock it out of the sky. The bobbing became more prominent, but I attributed that to my shaking hands.

I was about to let off a giddy laugh, when the monitor spotted something a couple miles in front of us. I brought up a screen with scouter cameras, extreme zoom technology. The craft looked exactly like mine--except maybe it was being piloted better. My angles must have been off, because I didn’t see anyone in the cockpit.

Curious, I pulled up the life force sensor, and it came up negative. There were no heart beats on that ship. I pursued my lips, but was about to shrug it off when I noticed something. On the side of the ship, like on mine, was a minimalist emblem of an eagle flying right off the page. The Academy’s insignia.

I adjusted my course with great difficulty and quite a bit of jolting and followed the ship all the way to a colony in the middle of nowhere.

I docked a few minutes after them, keeping a smart distance from it so they wouldn’t recognize the emblem on my ship like I had theirs. Even though my ship was telling me no one was on board. But ships didn’t fly themselves--without someone on board to activate autopilot. I hopped out of the hatch, hat and jacket covering me up, thinking that I loved a conundrum.

I started over towards the other ship, but ducked behind an ancient carrier when I saw a man exit it. He was swathed in a lot of clothes--too many even for the bitter temperatures. The piles of clothes hung off him, and it was impossible to make out his shape or any distinguishing features.

I bit my lip for a moment, watching him going until he was almost completely obscured by a crowd of Tundrians. I hadn’t meant to make any pit stops and nothing could really be gained from following this man. Nothing good, anyway.

Shrugging, I tried to blend in with the crowd as I tracked the stranger. It was a difficult feat when everyone around you had wings. In fact, I hadn’t seen one Earthling, Animarian, Syreni, or Parvulian since setting foot on this tiny, farming community. I was hoping they were just off in the fields or something, and I wasn’t the only human here, the sore toe sticking out.

The man slipped into a bar--which seemed to be the place to go when you wanted to lose me--about twenty feet in front of me. I waited for a moment outside, trying to find a window to peer in, so I wouldn’t be going in blind. Coming up empty, I charged in, optical disadvantage or no.

The area around the bar was surprisingly well lit, but the light end there, causing me to stumble through the rest of the establishment after a man dressed in black. I saw him finally, nothing more than a shape in the darkness, sitting next to a man with large, translucent wings.

I slipped quietly into the booth next to them. The seats were high enough to ensure I wasn’t seen, but I hunched over anyway. Pressing my ear against the cushion, I strained to hear their conversation.

“...would be beneficial to both of us if this were seen to completion...no evidence....” That was the companion. He had a proud sort of voice that reminded me of my father’s. I instantly disliked him.

The man in all the clothes was more clear. I could almost hear everything he said. “My people are eager to do business with you, provided you....”

I bit down on my fist to keep from gasping in surprise. Those words had been said in monotone. Something that shouldn’t have sounded specifically familiar, but I knew that voice.

It was the AI who had tried to kill Dru and I.

The Scala said, “Earhart is a fool...security measures....”

I couldn’t even take a moment to revel in the fact that someone shared my opinion of Professor Earhart, because they were talking about the school and security and performing a service for one another. This deal reeked so bad it was almost an actual stench in my nose.

“Then we understand each other,” the Scala companion said, suddenly standing just in