by Drew Seren
With a little trepidation, he grasped her fingers lightly.
“Welcome, Skylar.” Her voice rang in his head. “I’m Fiona Grissom, the head counselor. I think you’re going to fit in here just fine.” She looked at Phil. “You were right to bring him here. We’ll take good care of him. Are you going to be able to stay around for a bit? I think we have a few students who might enjoy talking to a level ten feeler.”
Skylar wanted to let go of her hand and run back to Phil’s ship, but he pushed the feelings down and continued her handshake, hoping his face didn’t betray the shock he felt at her voice in his mind.
Phil shook his head. “Sorry, but those raiders did a real number back on Hummassa. They need me there. I would’ve waited until the immediate problems were over, but Gina and I both felt Skylar should be in your care as soon as possible.”
Fiona frowned. “It’s a shame you can’t stay. But thank you for getting Skylar to us.” She glanced about. “Skylar, don’t you have any bags or anything of your own?”
“No, Ma’am.” No matter how uncomfortable talking to her was, he wasn’t going to be impolite. That was a bigger disservice to his mother’s memory than being in Fiona’s presence was. “I presume our house was destroyed in the raiders’ attack.”
“We have the coordinates of his home,” Phil said. “Once the recovery is complete, we’ll find what we can salvage. I’ll see that it’s sent to him here, or if any family has been found by then, we’ll send it there.”
“Then we’ll have to see what we can find for you here at the academy.” Fiona tisked. “There’s always a few extra of everything around here. Maybe I can see about getting you planet-side one of these days to see if we can find you a few personal items. I think every species understands the need to have a few things that are just yours.”
“Then I should be off.” Phil started to turn back to his ship. “Fiona, if you would be so kind to convey my greetings to my niece and let her know I’m sorry I couldn’t stay long enough to say hello. Also, ask her to keep an eye on our boy here. Skylar, hang in there. The folks here are awesome and I know Fiona will go out of her way to make you feel at home.”
“Thanks, Phil.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say. He’d been picked up and flown across the galaxy to a totally strange space station full of psychics he was terrified to be left with and the only person he’d felt comfortable with was leaving, probably for good. He’d never felt more alone in his life.
With a parting wave, Phil hurried into the airlock, and as the door closed with a soft hiss, he disappeared.
Ms. Grissom touched Skylar’s shoulder, breaking him out of the stare he was giving the closed airlock. “Skylar, let’s go to my office. We need to figure out where you’re going to stay for the time being and get you into the system so the station recognizes you.”
Skylar wanted to shout at her that he didn’t belong there, but the numb feeling that kept him calm around Phil continued. It made him wonder what was really going on. “I thought this was a school. You make it sound like a prison camp.”
She chuckled. “No, dear, I didn’t mean to make it sound like that at all. We just have a few security protocols in effect to make sure everyone is safe. We train psychics here. Psychics are highly sought after in the galaxy. It’s our job to make sure everyone, psychic and non-psychic, is safe.” She started walking in the direction she’d come from when Skylar first spotted her.
He didn’t see any choice but to follow her. “If this is a school, where are the other students?” he asked as they went through a door to the far side of the large room, and into a small office.
She walked over, sat behind a tidy desk and gestured for him to take one of the two chairs across from her. “Most of the other students are currently in class. Your arrival is actually timely, since the school day is nearly finished. I think we have just enough time to get what we need done, then I can show you where you’ll be staying and see about getting you some supplies.” She frowned. “From the looks of your shirt and pants, you’ve been wearing them for a while. Phil didn’t even bother to get you clean things to put on. Sometimes Pantherians don’t understand some of the basic needs that we humans have. Clothes, for instance. On their home-world, they are just as apt to go without garments. Luckily, off-world, they follow common protocol for modesty. I think our first stop will be by the MTU to get you a few outfits. We tend to be laid back around here as far as dress codes. Being open to all species makes that a necessity.” She paused to tap something on her tablet.
Skylar cocked an eyebrow. “MTU?”
Ms. Grissom looked confused for a moment, then smiled tightly. “Oh, right, I doubt you had any experience with them on Hummassa. MTU is short for Mass Transformation Unit. Since we’re on a space station, we try to reuse everything we can. Our non-organic waste goes into an MCU, Mass Conversion Unit, and when we need something non-organic, like clothes, equipment…whatever, we get it back, transformed by the MTUs. There are several on the station in various locations. You’ll have access to the one in your dormitory wing. Since it’s programmed for students, there are limits to what it will produce, but clothes and simple electronics are easy enough.”
The chair Skylar had settled into was not the most comfortable. He found it easier to perch on the edge of it than lean against the hard plastic back. “So, there are a lot of other species here?”
She looked at him with a thoughtful expression. “Right now, we have twenty different species in residence. We fluctuate as folks graduate and new students arrive. Not all species have psi gifts, and some species, like Tursiops, have a higher percentage than most.” She fastened a hard look on him. “You don’t have any species phobias, do you?” It felt like she was staring into his mind as she did.
Skylar pursed his lips, determined to be truthful. He had no idea if she would know if he lied, or if he would be punished for it if he did. Until he had other options, he had to be honest and play along. “Boarisks.”
Tapping her tablet again, Ms. Grissom nodded. “I can understand that. Luckily, they do not tend to have psychics occur naturally in their population, which is surprising considering how close to humans they really are. But, no, you won’t have to worry about running into any of them in the academy. Actually, if you do run into them, please send out a general distress call at once.”
He looked at her, trying to understand what she was talking about. Was he supposed to scream at the top of his lungs? “What do you mean, send out a general distress call? How do I do that?”
“We’ll be fitting you with a dermal communicator,” she replied without looking up from her tablet. “Once you learn to project your thoughts, all the readers in the academy will be able to hear you.”
“Are you saying that I’m a reader? Is that what everyone thinks I am?” Skylar had figured out Phil had projected some kind of calming field around him as they traveled. He was a little bit surprised that his feelings were still muted unless Ms. Grissom was also doing something to him. He could hear the fit his mother would be throwing at the very idea he might have psychic powers—then, an idea hit him. If he really had psi skills, it would make it easier for him when it came time for him to begin his campaign against the Boarisks.
There was a soft chime from her tablet.
“Oh, I was waiting for this.” She drew his attention back to her as she turned the tablet face up on the desk and tapped a button. A hologram of a gene sequence appeared above the tablet. “This is a display of your DNA. Notice the highlighted genes.” Several of the molecules were a brilliant yellow. “Now, I can tell you’re a very smart boy, even if you don’t like to show it. Compare your DNA to that of another psychic gifted in two talents, like myself. You’ll see that the highlighted areas are the same. Phil was able to get a sample of your mother’s DNA, and there were no psi codes in her genes. This means you got your genetic traits from your father. I daresay he’s a very powerful psi, but so far, we haven’t been able to match your gene
s with any of the men in our database. The fact you don’t show any non-human genes helps narrow down the search, but hasn’t helped us find your family.”
Skylar’s mind reeled. If his father was a powerful psi, was that why his mother was always terrified of them? Had she been afraid someone might tell his father’s family where he was? Did his father’s family even know about him? Had she been hiding from them his whole life?
He didn’t even realize Ms. Grissom had stopped talking until she cleared her throat. “I take it you might have thought of something?” When he didn’t answer right away, she frowned. “Skylar, you’re entering a new world here, vastly different from what you’re used to. The first thing you need to understand is that, living among psychics, you shouldn’t lie. The only ones you might be able to put one over on are the movers, and they aren’t always as easy to fool as you would think. Now, did you think of something that might be useful in finding your extended family?”
“Mom told me that my father died in a shuttle accident about the same time as she found out that she was pregnant. He never knew about me, so I bet his family didn’t either.” He kept his words short and to the point.
She nodded and jotted something down on another tablet. “That might be useful. We can try to find a passenger manifest of any shuttle accidents that occurred around that time. Did your mother ever say what world the accident occurred on?”
Skylar shook his head and shifted in his seat. He hated how little he knew about his family. Teir and the other natives on Hummassa usually had large families and they knew everything about each other. The only family he had was his mother, and he felt lost and adrift without her. “No. I always assumed it was Hummassa.”
“Well, it gives us a little more to get started with. Now, let’s see about getting you settled. I’ve got your DNA in our system so the academy systems will recognize you.” She stood and walked over to a panel on the wall, pulling out a small, thin, octagonal piece of metal that she gave to Skylar. “This is your dermal com chip. You can place this wherever it’s comfortable. Most people put them either on the back of the hand, wrist, or under the wrist. Pantherians and some of the other furry or feathered species either have to get creative with it or get sub-dermal implants like Phil has.”
Skylar took the chip, still warm from the MTU. He’d never actually seen a dermal chip before. Like the academy itself, it wasn’t quite modern tech, but it was further along than what they had used on Hummassa. He held it over the back of his hand. It looked like the silver of it would stand out against his flesh. Having it on the inside of his wrist sounded better.
When Skylar put the chip against his skin, it burned slightly as it melded to him. Wow! But he tried not to show a reaction in front of the counselor. A strange warmth flowed up his arm, and he realized that, even if it was an older tech, there was still a nano-component to it as something buzzed in his ear for a moment, as the com made a connection to his auditory nerve. He tugged at his earlobe, but the buzzing died away quickly.
Ms. Grissom looked at his wrist and nodded. “Your body seems to be accepting it okay. We haven’t had a human reject a com chip in many years. Now, let’s get you some clothes, find your room, and with luck, you’ll be in the common room in time for the other students to get there before dinner.” She started for the door before he could get out of his seat.
Skylar rushed to follow her. It was the first time he’d been on a space station. He wanted to make sure he didn’t miss anything important. It didn’t hurt that the idea of seeing more of the station gave him the opportunity to stop thinking about the fact he had psychic DNA and his father had probably been a powerful psychic.
6
Explosion In The Restroom
BY THE time they returned to the common room, Skylar’s head was abuzz with all the things Ms. Grissom had shown him. She assigned him a bunk in one of the dorm rooms that, she assured him, had people he would be able to get along with. She let him select several changes of clothes from the MTU in the hall near his room, and after he had the clothes stashed, she gave him a whirlwind tour of what she referred to as the ‘human living areas.’ There were no airlocks or warnings like there were on two halls off the entry room. On the walls just outside those hazardous areas, there were life support suits in the rare case he might need to go in there. The classrooms were in the human zone with an oxygen-rich atmosphere, and she explained the non-oxygen breathers had to use their species-specific life-support there too, as well as in the farm and green areas, which were in the large open place he and Phil had flown over. It looked even larger and greener inside. The air smelled almost like Hummassa and gave him a pang of homesickness. After too quick a tour, she brought him back to the entry room.
Ms. Grissom’s tablet beeped. She took a quick look at it. “Oh, dear. Skylar, you’ll need to excuse me for a while. I completely forgot an important meeting in the principal’s office. I’m sure you can handle things from here on out. I’ve given you the same schedule as your dorm mates, so just go with them tomorrow as they attend their classes. Your com can help you find your way around.” Her tablet beeped again.
“I think I’ll be fine,” Skylar reassured her. He wanted her to leave so he could sort out his thoughts. Everything was happening fast and he hadn’t had time to digest it. “If not, I know where your office is.” He really hoped he didn’t need to go into her office very often.
She nodded. “Check in with me tomorrow before dinner and let me know how your first day goes.”
As she disappeared into a door not far from her office, Skylar took a long, deep breath. Alone. He glanced around. There still weren’t students in the common room.
He walked over to one of the large displays that showed a real-time image of the massive orange gas giant, that appeared to be the planet between the station and the sun. The bright clouds swirled erratically. One of the planet’s moons appeared from behind its bulk and slowly started its way across the brilliant spectacle.
Skylar’s life had changed so much in such a short time. He wondered where Teir was. The last Phil checked, he was still among the missing. At least, not knowing, he could imagine Teir was still alive somewhere, unlike his mother. For a moment, a sadness welled up in him, then vanished, like it had never been there. It didn’t make any sense how his emotions would start to react to something, then just fade away.
“Hey, out of my way!” a boy shouted from behind Skylar. “I’ve got to go before dinner, and I’m not going to be late. They’re serving Regilian enchiladas tonight.”
Skylar turned as students swarmed out of the classroom area. True to Ms. Grissom’s word, there was a wide variety of species represented. He spotted several Pantherians, along with a couple of Tursiops, their smooth gray skin evolved from an aquatic environment. They were lucky they were also mammalian-based and oxygen breathers. There was a huge mollusk of a race he remembered seeing pictures of, but the name eluded him. An avian ran past, then an amoeboid, encased in a life chamber that floated about and allowed it to exist outside of the non-oxygen atmosphere that normally sustained it. Skylar tried not to stare, but the mix was so different from what he was used to on Hummassa. Even though corp-brats could come from any planet, all the ones he was used to being ignored by were the humanoid type.
Joining the rush of people heading toward the cafeteria, Skylar’s bladder pressure reminded him he hadn’t been to the bathroom since he’d woken up on Phil’s ship. He glanced for the boy who’d shouted, but couldn’t see him in the people streaming through the room.
Several kids broke off from the flow and disappeared through a door with a toilet-shaped graphic indicating bathroom. Inside, the midsized room was packed with kids of various ages, most of them already disappeared into stalls. A few were already at sinks.
One human boy with long black hair looked at Skylar as he held his hands in the stream of air emanating from a jet next to the door. “Hey, if you’ve really got to go, use that blue door at the end. It’s a m
ultispecies stall. It’ll be okay.”
Skylar looked at the boy. An odd feeling of mischief from the kid hit him, but he really needed to go. “Thanks.” He hurried down to the blue door. When he closed it, it sealed like an air lock. There was a thick sulfur smell, and the stool at the far end extended out further than normal and was pointed at the end. He glanced at it. It was still brightly polished metal with a series of holes in it.
Shifting from foot to foot, he couldn’t deny his urgency and longer. It didn’t matter if the thing was a little odd shaped.
A minute later, as he zipped up his pants, smoke began to issue from the stool. “What in the world?” Skylar pushed against the door, but it wouldn’t open. The smoke got thicker. He turned the handle. It turned and there was a hiss of an opening seal, but the door still wouldn’t open. It felt like there was someone holding it shut. The smoke intensified and started burning his nose.
Skylar slammed his shoulder against the door. It jumped slightly but didn’t open. A series of laughs came from the other side.
“Let me out of here, you jerks!”
“That’s enough!” someone shouted on the other side of the door. “Let him out!”
“Or what, fish brain? You going to make us?” threatened the kid who’d told him to use the blue door in the first place.
The toilet creaked and a loud gurgling started. It sounded like it was about to erupt. Skylar hit the door with all his might. The door flew open and he sprawled across the threshold, just as the urinal exploded off the wall and hurled over him.
The kid with the long black hair stood there laughing, as did two others. “I think that’s the furthest that thing has ever flown before. You must’ve really had to go.” He turned and gestured to his friends. “Come on, I don’t want to miss dinner.”