by ND Roberts
Sibil sat cross-legged on Gorrak’s bunk. “You have people, and they allowed you to be sent here?” Her face matched her tone of disbelief. “Why?”
“Our parents were the ones who sent us here,” Alexis clarified. “Why do you look so horrified? This is an excellent training program, staff personality issues aside.”
Sibil looked around the group, getting nods of confirmation from Gabriel, K’aia, and a slightly reluctant Trey. “What if you die?”
Trey remembered that for Sibil and the other NPCs, there was only one go-round. “We’re not going to die, and neither are you. We’ve got each other’s backs.”
Alexis nodded. “Yeah, Gabriel and I have been training our whole lives. This process is demanding, of course, but compared to some of the things we’ve done, it’s no different than an extended school trip.”
Gabriel snickered. “Yeah, remember when we free-climbed that volcano with Uncle John?”
Alexis and K’aia cracked up at the reminder of the day that had started out as a pleasant hike through the gameworld and ended with them running for their lives when the man met the mountain and decided to challenge it.
“Yeah. Who could forget the shock when we got to the caldera?” Alexis managed through her giggles. We only just made it out of there before the pyroclastic flow took us out.”
K’aia slapped her mattress, almost bouncing Alexis onto the floor. “Then those predators chased us all the way back to the ship. Remember them?” She made claws with her hands and snapped her mandibles like teeth.
Gabriel’s eyes crinkled as he recalled the thrill of racing to stay ahead of the pack. “Fun times.”
Sibil’s mouth worked for a moment before she managed to speak. “That sounds…terrifying. What hell are you four from? You have powers that look like magic, and a link to the outside. You could leave if you wanted, but you like it here?”
“Didn’t say I liked it,” K’aia replied. “But it’s not the worst.”
Gabriel nodded. “I’m learning, I’m good.”
“Don’t look at me,” Trey told her, grinning at Sibil’s confirmation of his initial perception of the breakneck pace humans lived at. “I’ve only been on the team for a short time.”
Alexis shrugged. “It’s really not so bad if you don’t count the food. That’s our world.”
“The world isn’t like that,” Sibil refuted. “It’s… It’s… Gorrak, tell them.” She leaned over her bunk to look around the room when he didn’t reply, her face dropping when there was no sign of him among the other recruits. “Where’s Gorrak?”
K’aia got to her feet when a translucent shimmer appeared in the space between the bunks, heralding their imminent call with Bethany Anne. “Wasn’t he behind you when we got in?”
Sibil climbed down from her bunk, stepping straight through the shimmering air without acknowledging its presence. “I thought he was with Tornos. I’m gonna go and check the shower block.”
Trey frowned at Sibil as she left, then turned to the others as the shimmer resolved into a vid-call window. “Can’t she see it?”
“No,” Gabriel told him. He broke into a wide grin at the welcome sight of his mother.
“Shhh,” Alexis hissed. “The audio is coming through. Hey, Mom!”
Bethany Anne waved a hand in front of her. “Can you see me? We’re pretty far from Devon.” She leaned in for a closer inspection. “Look at you already! How long has it been in your time?”
“Just over a year and a half,” Alexis replied before anyone else had a chance to speak.
“Why isn’t Mahi’ there with you?” Trey cut in. “Is she okay?”
Bethany Anne focused her dazzling smile on Trey. “Your mother is fine. Just caught up at the moment.” Her smile grew wider. “You’re filling out nicely, Tu’Reigd. I'll be sure to tell Mahi'. How’s it going in there?”
Gabriel gave Bethany Anne a rundown of events so far, with Alexis, K’aia, and Trey adding context where he skipped over the details.
Bethany Anne listened with her hands folded in her lap. “So,” she clarified once they had finished, “you’re finding your world challenging to navigate.”
All four nodded.
“We’re still trying to figure out the game’s objective,” Alexis grumbled. “Never mind the level-up requirements.”
Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow. “Sounds to me like you are having what is called a ‘life experience.’” She waved away the twins’ dour looks. “Take it or leave it. Life doesn’t come with an instruction manual.”
Gabriel inclined his head, taking the advice at face value.
Alexis narrowed her eyes. “That’s not true, Mom. There are instructions everywhere you go.”
Bethany Anne’s mouth tipped up at the corner. “Oh? Then you should keep following them. Or you could forge your own path.” She glanced away for a moment as someone entered the room. “I have to go. I would tell you not to leave it so long between calls, but I’m proud of your independence, even if I miss you.”
Trey dipped his head. “Bethany Anne, please tell my mother I’m thinking of her?”
“Of course,” Bethany Anne promised. “Goodbye, children.”
With that, the window disappeared, leaving them no clearer on how to get the game moving to the next level.
K’aia sat back down on her bunk. “That wasn’t much to go on.”
Alexis arched an eyebrow, looking eerily like her mother for a moment. “You’re kidding, right? That was practically a full briefing.” She gave the others an incredulous look. “Don’t any of you pay attention? With Mom, it’s all about what she doesn’t say.”
Gabriel made a face. “It’s always about the subtext with her, you mean. You two are just the same.”
Alexis sniffed. “Then it’s a good thing I’m here. She was clearly saying that we should do whatever we think is right, regardless of the rules.”
Gabriel shrugged. “So, keep on as we were? What about everything we built on Belv'th? We’ll be here until we’re older than Dad if we get put on punishment duty every time we act on our dislike of something.”
K’aia jerked a thumb at the clock. “I’d say we have a more immediate concern. Sibil hasn’t come back yet, and it’s almost lights out. What are we going to do?”
“We should go look for her.” Trey was resolute. He headed out of the barracks without waiting for the others to offer an opinion.
K’aia glanced at the twins.
Alexis sighed and set off after Trey. “Come on. We’d better make sure he makes it back.”
Trey met them halfway between the barracks and the shower block. He came to a stop, panting slightly. “They’re not in there.”
K’aia turned her head to stare across the parade ground at the valley mouth. “They’ve gone for the perimeter.”
Gabriel groaned. “That’s two more out of the program.”
Trey frowned. “That’s a bit heartless, Gabriel.”
Gabriel shook his head, turning to go back to the barracks. “No, it’s life. Like Mom said…” He paused, “Actually, I don’t know how that’s relevant here, but I’m not going to get killed and live through the last few weeks again over a couple of NPCs, even if they were entertaining.”
Trey opened his arms to appeal to Alexis and K’aia.
K’aia lifted a shoulder. “You win some, you lose some,” she told him resignedly, following Gabriel.
“We need to stick to the plan. We have to complete the training to get off this planet,” Alexis rationalized. “I don’t like it any better than you, but Gabriel is right. We’ll be here forever if we don’t get through the scenario.”
Trey hesitated, but his instinct to stay with the group won out. He set off after Alexis, his shoulders drooping as he walked.
10
The next morning, Trey was subdued.
He felt like a wedge had been pushed between himself and the twins last night, and his silent preparation for the day wasn’t going unnoticed.
Trey wasn’t sure he could. He trailed behind the others as they made their way to the mess tent, thinking about the likelihood of Gorrak risking his life on an unproven plan. It wasn’t that unlikely. Gorrak was a typical hot-headed Shrillexian male with authority issues.
Sibil, however, was a clear thinker, the brains of their act. What would cause Gorrak to dismiss her decision, and why did he feel like they’d missed something?
Trey pushed his spoon around his mush, which was an insipid green today and tasted very much like it looked. He kept turning the problem over in his mind.
Alexis was about to remark on Trey’s brooding when she caught Gabriel’s minute headshake, and then the call for morning parade sounded, ending the conversation before it had begun.
The team made their way out to the parade ground and fell in with the other recruits. The remaining staff instructors walked the lines under the watchful eyes of General Kispin, who sat taking breakfast at a table under a tree set back from the dust of the parade ground.
Alexis stood at ease between K’aia and a hulking recruit she hadn’t ever spoken to, holding herself carefully to retain her outward appearance of composure despite her rising inner tension.
Trey was having less success containing his jitters than Alexis and the others. I can’t take this.
Trey, keep still! K’aia hissed.
Trey glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. How can I keep still when any moment the SIs are going to discover the unit is two bodies short?
That’s inevitable, Gabriel reasoned. Stressing over things beyond your control is pointless. You might as well wave your arms and shout, “It was me!”
The moment, however, did not come as expected.
The SIs completed their headcount and reported to the staff sergeant, same as every morning parade. The staff sergeant entered the final SIs’ number in her datapad, as usual.
Every recruit on parade winced when she got to her feet and walked over to the general’s breakfast table, but none dared speak.
They didn’t need to. It was clear to them all that someone had absconded, and it was of no consequence which unit the deserters had been a part of. The general would punish all the recruits just the same.
The general dropped his napkin onto his plate and took the datapad. He examined the screen, then passed it back to the staff sergeant without a word.
Every eye on the parade ground was trained on General Kispin, waiting for his reaction.
The general twitched his head and the SIs assumed their resting positions around the perimeter of the ranks.
Then the general left without giving a single order.
Gabriel groaned, the involuntary noise causing the nearest SI to look around menacingly.
For once, Alexis did not chastise her brother. Instead, she spoke directly into his mind to keep the conversation private. You thinking what I’m thinking?
That today was a bad day to ignore the crease in my sock? Gabriel replied, skimming over his dismay at what they were about to endure.
Yeah, that, Alexis murmured. How long do you figure they’ll have us standing out here?
Could be days. It was Gabriel’s turn to lift his sister’s spirits. But don’t sweat it. Just imagine you’re first in line at the grand opening of some shiny new shoe palace.
Alexis sniffed. You’re such a male sometimes, Gabriel. How about you pretend you’re sitting in a hide somewhere with Dad?
Gabriel felt his cheeks flush. Um…
You ass, Alexis teased. That’s exactly what you’re planning on as your dissociation technique, isn’t it? You know, the general does remind me a little of that dinosaur Dad was so obsessed with. Same air of slightly confused indignation. I can see why you would go with that.
Gabriel rolled his eyes and adjusted his stance to bear his weight easily for the foreseeable future. He began to feel pressure from the crease in his sock after the first hour.
Over the next three, the pressure became a burning line across the sole of his foot. Conversation across the group link dried out, and Gabriel’s world was whittled down to the sound of the other recruits’ breathing and the tidal pain in his foot
You okay? Alexis asked, feeling the ghost of his pain.
Mmhmm, he replied. I can use it. No big deal.
By the fifth hour, he was praying he didn’t have to separate his healed flesh from the sock when they were finally freed from their punishment.
The SIs moved from their posts just as Gabriel’s internal clock informed him that they were entering the sixth hour. He limped after the others, hoping to be sent to the medic.
Sadly, nobody on the staff appeared to care about the wounded recruits.
Gabriel forced himself to keep walking, thinking to take care of the injury himself. The barracks was the most welcome sight he’d seen in what felt like forever. His relief was short-lived when they were ordered to the bathrooms, then to the mess tent, then straight back to the parade ground with no opportunity to tend to his raw foot.
Alexis and K’aia bookended the boys as they resumed their positions. The recruits baked in the afternoon heat, adding sunburned necks to their growing list of aches and pains.
The heat took out a few recruits as the sun dipped toward the horizon. They were the ones not designed for long periods in the heat, the physically weaker ones who had been carried so far by their units.
Alexis bore the incessant strain on her back and legs by retreating into Kurtherian math problems she had memorized for occasions such as this as part of her endurance training.
K’aia appeared unaffected by the whole thing. She hummed a short tune in her mind every now and again, the mournful melody her only mental contact with the others.
Trey had pointedly ignored the others the whole time, stewing in his anger as a way to avoid the reality of twelve hours of standing in the same place.
Every so often, Alexis made an attempt to talk him out of his sulk, without success. She was thinking of trying again when the SIs came to attention.
Trey cut in on the group link, his mood forgotten in a heartbeat now that something was happening. What’s going on?
Don’t get too excited, K’aia grumbled. Probably just another break.
A fleet of open-topped vehicles arrived, pulling up at the side of the parade ground.
The SI acting as drill sergeant ordered the recruits to attention as General Kispin and his retinue exited the vehicles and made their way to the front of the parade at a brisk walk.
Silence so complete not even a bug could be heard blanketed the valley as the recruits waited on tenterhooks for the general to speak.
However, the general simply stood facing the ranks with his hands clasped behind his back.
Trey gave a low rumble in reaction to a low moan from another Baka, forgetting the NPCs weren’t actually alive to need his comfort. Why isn’t he yelling at us?
I think we’re beyond yelling, K’aia deduced gloomily. Just don’t do anything to draw attention to yourself. Like talking.
Or breathing too loudly? Trey snarked, the reason for his anger returning in an instant at K’aia’s teasing. How about, you all should have listened to me in the first place and we wouldn’t be in this mess? I can’t move without hearing how I’m going to mess things up because you’re all so experienced.
Alexis reined in the urge to bite him. I’ve been nothing but nice to you.
Trey’s jaw twitched.
Gabriel intervened before it got out of hand. Hey, now’s not the time. There’s something going on over there.
They strained to see what Gabriel had spotted. A circle of SIs blocked their view of the vehicles, but there was clearly a disturbance of some kind.
Trey’s heart dropped when he realized that the commotion was Gorrak resisting being moved. Oh, no…
&
nbsp; The SIs overpowered Gorrak, forcing him to comply by means of repeated shocks from their arc rods. He stumbled onto the parade ground, blinded by the hood over his head and weighed down by chains.
Next came Sibil, half-carried by the arms between two SIs, followed by a few more recruits from other units in similar states.
The general stood aside as the seven recruits were lined up to face the ranks and forced to their knees.
Alexis and Gabriel risked glances at each other.
K’aia shuffled on the spot. Just give the word.
We’ll have to do the level all over again, Alexis protested, sounding unconvincing even to herself.
Does it matter? Gabriel asked. They’re part of our unit. We don’t leave anyone behind, and we definitely can’t allow General Kissbutt to have them executed.
Your mother is right. Trey bared his teeth and stepped out of line as the general gave the order for the SIs behind the deserters to draw their weapons. We have to forge our own path.
The parade ground echoed with the general’s screamed outrage as the four broke ranks and dashed to save Sibil and Gorrak.
It was all the catalyst that was needed.
The parade ground broke into pandemonium as the recruits turned on the staff. The SIs plowed into them, laying about in wild abandon with their arc rods as the general screeched orders from his position of relative safety.
Gorrak broke free and killed the SIs who had shocked him with their batons before going down to the guns of the ones who had Sibil.
Trey dived to push Sibil out of the way, noting as he hit the gravel that the bullets didn’t hurt anywhere near as much as he had expected.
Attempt #2
Cool, sweet air swept in periodically through a gap in the seam of the catering tent. The unpredictable, all-too-brief reprieves from the thick heat coming from the huge pans somehow made it even worse to be stuck in the tent.
Especially when the rest of the recruits were enjoying the relative freedom of being in the outdoor training areas.