“They aren’t trying to start trouble,” she said, looking at Kaiden. “Because they are rule-abiding students of this academy who understand the repercussions that inevitably occur should they cause problems on campus, particularly to a sponsor’s daughter.”
This caused the man and his friends to stiffen visibly. Their jaws clenched and fists balled, but finally, the apparent leader exhaled and shook his head.
“Fine, whatever, Chiyo. We’ll leave.” He grunted his displeasure as they started backing away. “You can’t act like this is normal, though. Others will be after you too, so you better start figuring out your explanation by then.”
With that, they departed, leaving Kaiden and Chiyo standing by the fountain.
“Ya mind me asking what the hell that was about?” Kaiden asked, earning a suspicious glare from her.
He raised his arms and backed up a step. “Look, I thought we were all supposed to be friendly with each other and such. If I’ve actually walked into a Lord of the Flies thing, I would like a heads up.”
She shook her head and sighed. “No, nothing like that. It was a…disagreement.”
“I thought those were more civil.”
“He passionately disagreed.” She finished this non-committal statement with a nonchalant wave of her hand.
“Well, whatever it was, glad it turned out alright for ya.” Kaiden reached out his hand. “Kind of an odd moment, but it would be impolite to not introduce myself. Kaiden Jericho.”
She looked down at his hand and then back up at him, raising an eyebrow. After a moment, she shook his hand quickly before turning away. “Chiyo Kana. I see you’re not in uniform.”
“Nah, haven’t been fitted,” Kaiden chirped, sliding his hands back into his jacket pockets.
“You’re an SC then?”
“Special case was what a lot of people called me, even before I got here.”
“Humph, you don’t seem capable of giving straight answers.”
“I can. I just have the willpower not too,” he quipped.
She stepped closer to him. Kaiden could see a familiar shimmer in her eyes—EI contacts. She tilted her head, and Kaiden saw her eyes looking toward him but not at him. She was reading something.
“Well, it seems you have been truthful. I wonder if you would have told me about your past affiliations had we continued.”
Kaiden was briefly taken aback before composing himself quickly. The teachers knowing about his past was one thing. Now this random girl, too? He started to get a little homesick. At least in Texas, your private life was pretty easy to keep private.
“Tell me, what are you here for?” she asked.
“The world-renowned pole dancing classes. I was told I got talent.” Kaiden smirked.
She sighed, looking back up at him but this time, clearly looked right at him. “What are you here for?”
Kaiden leaned back a bit, a little annoyed by her attitude. “Why does it matter to you? I thought I was gonna help someone not get their head caved in, and now I’m playing twenty questions with you.”
“So, you don’t know then?” she questioned.
“Look here, darlin’, you’re starting to act like one of those imps from folktales that steal a person’s soul for not answering their riddle properly. So please, back away to a safe non-soul-sucking distance or at least get out of my personal space.”
Chiyo closed her eyes and sighed as she turned and walked away without looking back.
Kaiden took the hint and decided to leave as well when he heard her say, “So, you don’t have a path then?”
“What are ya on about?” he snapped, looking back.
“If you have no path, then you have no future here,” she said, the words a definite challenge though she made no effort to look at him. While he searched for a response, she shrugged and added, “You seem interesting. You should find a path for yourself and stay awhile.” With that, she walked away.
Kaiden watched her disappear behind the buildings. His wit had failed him for once. He considered her words as he continued his own walk to the SC dorms. Distracted by her statement, he thought back to all the people he had met recently. They had all talked about the future in one way or another.
The idea of a future had not been something Kaiden paid much attention to at any point in his life. Maybe living to see the future, he could concede that much, but he’d never really considered some predetermined course. Should he? Would he lose out if he continued in his old patterns of behavior? On some level, he resented the idea that some unknown future could impose strictures on his natural inclination to live in the moment—no matter where that took him. Then again, that impulsiveness seemed to have brought him to a place where he was forced to consider at least the possibility that a defined future was important.
His destination materialized in the semi-darkness up ahead, maybe two hundred yards away, pulling him from his musings. Kaiden stopped once again and looked up into the night sky. He could see stars, which should have been impossible with all the lights around the building obscuring the sky. It was probably a projection from the dome, he decided.
He chuckled at the irony. Natural beauty was obscured by artificial lighting, so someone simply replicated that natural beauty artificially—a wonderful little circle. He did admire the thought behind it, however. Sure, things should have been one way, but they weren’t and so what, they simply made it seem like it was supposed to be the way it was.
Yeah, maybe that girl was right. He didn’t have a path, maybe he didn’t have a real future set for himself. But he did think he had it all planned out at one time, and those plans went to hell incredibly fast. Yet somehow, he made it through that and he was there now, still breathing, still moving, and soon, improving.
As he finally went to check-in, a thought occurred to him. He might not have had a set path, but he made it to the same destination as those who had. Not too bad for wingin’ it.
Those who questioned his path—or, rather, the lack thereof—should wait to see what happened when he applied himself.
Chapter Seven
A cacophony of electronic noises dragged Kaiden from sleep. He groaned as he twisted on his bed, glow strips around him bathing him in blue light.
“Good morning, Initiate Jericho. It is 5:30 a.m.,” a monotone voice declared. “Your tasks for the day include completing your career evaluation test, then visiting the Academy Supply Depot, after which, the rest of the day is yours.”
“Yeah, yeah, got it,” he muttered groggily. “Open the capsule.”
“Understood. I recommend beginning the day with a hearty breakfast at the cafeteria. Carpe diem.” The computerized voiced seemed infuriatingly cheerful in a bored kind of way. Kaiden heard a ping and felt a whoosh of air as the door to his sleeping capsule opened. He slid out and stood in his quarters, stretching as he looked around the room.
A few dozen other SC initiates shared the hall with him, all of whom were either climbing or falling out of the capsules in various states of undress. Kaiden chuckled slightly at the scene in the dim artificial light. It almost looked like the living dead had invaded the Academy. Apparently, he wasn’t the only who still had to adapt to this new routine.
One initiate yawned as he rummaged around in a backpack for something. He finally pulled out a black box and then a tablet from within. “Jeeves, please bring up a map of the Academy. I forgot where the cafeteria is.”
Kaiden scowled as he remembered his new partner. Chief had been quiet so far, but he knew he would have to deal with him again sooner or later. As he stretched to bring life to his arms, he recalled Laurie’s words about the EI’s personality not interfering with its functions. The thing might give him lip, but it was still under his command…supposedly.
He sighed as he decided to bite the bullet and reactivate the snarky bastard. He would have to get used to him eventually or his time here would probably be pointless. Then he paused, realizing that overnight, the EI had somehow gone from
being an it to a him. For one short moment, he felt as if a line had been crossed. A device remained a device, didn’t it? Devoid of personality and therefore undeserving of a real pronoun. Then he remembered their previous brief conversations and shrugged. Chief was in his head—to some extent at least—so making it a him felt somewhat more comforting than a simple electronic presence he had no relationship with. Wait, relationship? With an EI? Was that even a thing? He scowled. There was only one way to find out.
Time for some bonding.
“Hey, Chief, you there?”
“Good morning, you wonderful bastard,” the synthetic southern voice chirped in his head.
“It’s Kaiden.”
“Cockbite,” he replied with something close to demented glee.
Kaiden let out a low growl as he leaned against the wall of his sleeping capsule. “Look here, you glow-in-the-dark floating testicle, I need directions. You can do that much, can’t you?”
He almost swore he could hear the EI snort. “Yes, of course, I can, but it would probably help you if you put on the optics unless you want me to try etching a map onto the back of your skull,” Chief advised. “Also, it will make you not look like an insane person to the rest of your bunkmates.”
Kaiden’s raised an eyebrow as he looked slowly over to see a trio of other initiates looking his way. They were in the middle of getting dressed, and while they all had optics of their own on, Kaiden could feel their suspicious gazes.
He tried to remain unperturbed as he looked away and raised his hand to his opposite ear—as if he were using a com-link—in an effort to play it off with a reasonable explanation. It seemed to work as they lost interest. He walked around to his capsule and opened a compartment in the side, revealing his clothes from yesterday along with a fresh uniform of Academy track pants and a long-sleeved shirt.
He dug around in the pockets of his jacket to find the case containing his optics. The display lit-up almost instantly when he put them on.
“There’s that lovely mug. Can I get a smile?” Chief asked as the orb bounced onscreen, turning a pinkish hue.
“You certainly seem a bit more chipper than yesterday.” Kaiden snorted as he pulled on the Academy-issued clothing.
“Eh, what can I say? I’d just woken up and was a bit cranky. More importantly, I saw your little stunt last night at the fountain. It gave me a new perspective on you.”
“How so?”
“Since I pretty much know your brain inside and out, I won’t get into the specifics too much. It would be wasted on you, no hard feelings,” Chief stated nonchalantly, earning another annoyed grunt from Kaiden. “But like the dandy professor said, our algorithms help us determine the best way to assist our hosts, both on and off the field. One of the ways we improve the algorithm is simply by observing the nature and personality of our hosts, gaining new insight along the way.”
“All right, but don’t you already have my personality profile installed? Also, you keep saying host. I prefer commander or master.”
“I prefer being hosted by someone who isn’t an impatient asshat and actually took the time to install me properly, but we all gotta live with the crappy cards life deals us sometimes, huh?” Chief growled, creating a rumbling buzz in Kaiden’s ears which elicited a wince. “Which, by the way, was one of the reasons I was so grumpy yesterday. As for the profile? Ha! That didn’t exactly give me a lot of hope.”
“Counselor Mya said I had great potential,” Kaiden retorted as he tied the laces on his boots.
“Counselor Mya is a counselor; her job is to make people feel good about themselves, nitwit. You think they’d keep her around if she couldn’t sell anyone on this?”
Kaiden stopped tying his boots for a moment, his eyes shifting left and right as he contemplated his response. “Doesn’t make her wrong, though.”
“As tempting as it is to keep grinding down that ego, I’ll give you this—from what was available to me, I figured you would at least make for a good raider or bounty hunter, so it wasn’t a complete waste. Sure, I would be stuck with nothing better than a gun jockey, but there are certainly worse options.
“So, what made you come around?”
“I haven’t made a one-eighty here, but watching you confront those haughty brats last night showed me that you are willing to take action, at the very least. Then you didn’t immediately plow into a potential four-on-one brawl, which means you do consider your actions…or, perhaps, aren’t a hothead.”
Kaiden recalled the fight back at the bar that led him to the Academy in the first place. He decided to not bring that up.
“So yeah, you earned a bit more of my respect, but you still got some ways to go. You have successfully earned the slight promotion from dumbass to meathead. Congrats.”
“Much obliged,” Kaiden muttered. The concession didn’t seem like much, but if it meant a little less headbutting, he’d take it.
He locked his fingers together and stretched his arms to the ceiling. Looking around, he saw most of the others leaving the room.
“You got that map for me, Chief?”
“Onscreen.”
Kaiden saw a small overhead map appear on the lens. It zoomed in to reveal the immediate area around him.
“Give me the directions to the cafeteria, would you?”
“Can I get a please?”
“Can I get a cooperative EI?”
“Ohhh, what a skillful retort. If only you showed such cleverness yesterday, we would probably both be better off.”
An arrow appeared onscreen, pointing toward the door.
“That’ll lead you to the cafeteria. Sorry I can’t hold your hand on the way.”
“That’s all right, buddy, I got another way you can be helpful.” Kaiden chuckled.
“How’s that?”
“Audio off,” Kaiden commanded.
“You sorry sack of—” Chief began before the sound cut out. Kaiden grinned as the orb’s pink hue became a blazing red. The little bastard might not call him Commander, but he was definitely in control.
Kaiden walked out onto the pavilion outside the cafeteria with a tray in hand. He’d piled it with a fruit bowl, oatmeal, pancakes, breakfast sausage, boiled eggs, orange juice, and tea. He had to admit, the Academy fed them pretty damn well.
The sun had begun to peek over the horizon, and Kaiden winced when the rays of light seemed to spear right into his eyes.
“Chief, turn on the shades,” Kaiden ordered, watching the orb turn to the side, its eye looking up into the corner, acting as if it didn’t hear him.
“Come on now. If you’re a good boy, I’ll get you a treat.” He chuckled and the eye rolled around, but Kaiden could see his view darken. It continued the process until his vision was completely obscured.”
“Ha ha, jackass.”
Chief once again returned to its delighted pink hue. The lenses brightened a little until he could see again, but sufficient filter remained to dampen the sunlight.
“Thanks.”
Kaiden walked around, looking for a place to sit and enjoy his breakfast. As he passed a patch of trees and grass, he spotted a familiar figure sitting at a picnic table beneath the shade of a tree. It was the girl from the night before. Chiyo Kana.
He wondered for a moment whether he should go and talk to her again. She seemed nice enough when she didn’t go into that cryptic speech that made her sound like someone trying to invite him into their new-age religion.
He considered his options, but he could feel his stomach rumbling. More to the point, he could do with a bit more info on what was going on. He sighed as he decided to walk over, admitting to himself, at least, that he could always use more friends.
It could also piss her off, which seemed more likely, but he’d roll the dice and see what happened.
“Mind if I join you?” he asked politely.
She turned to look at him, seemingly disinterested until he noticed a brief flash of recognition in her eyes. Her EI contacts shimmered,
which made him a little uncomfortable.
“Well, hello again,” she said, waving a hand in front of her. Kaiden took this as permission to sit, and he placed his tray on the table and sat across from her.
“Howdy.” He opened a pack of utensils and began to dig in. “Gotta admit up front that I ain’t one for pleasantries and small talk. I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me.”
She crossed her arms on the table and leaned in. “A nice change of pace. What do you want to know?”
“Look, without going back into the whole ‘what is your future thing,’ I gotta be honest. I don’t really work that way. I’m more of a wing-it-and-we’ll-see sort of guy, myself,” he admitted as he began cutting into his pancakes. If she noticed the slightly defensive edge to his confession—even a little defiant—she didn’t comment. “I was actually recommended to come here only two days ago.”
She raised an eyebrow curiously, then chuckled. “I see. Continue.”
“Well, I still don’t have an answer to your little riddle, but I suppose I could ask what you think of everything. I guess you’ve got a future you’re planning?”
“Of a sort…” she began, her voice lowering slightly. “I must admit that how we came to be here isn’t too different, technically.”
“You beat up some slummers in a bar?”
She looked at him incredulously, blinking a couple times. “I…no, I meant that neither of us originally had the intention of coming here.”
“Ah, so a bit more tangential, then.”
“Moving past that, my point is that if you’re asking what I recommend you do, it all begins with what you want to accomplish.”
“Yeah, yeah, I figured that, but isn’t that the whole point of this place?” He pointed around the area with his fork. “They’re supposed to lead you down some path or something, find out what you’re good at.”
“You don’t seem like the type of person to be led around on a leash,” she remarked.
Animus series Boxed Set Page 7