The Split (The Mayfly Series Book 1)

by Hannah Hopkins

  Emily had rolled her eyes as some of the older students started to drift over, catching wind of the story and shaking Will’s hand as they shared their admiration for what he had done. Some of them clapped a bemused Finley on the back as they walked past, but none of them stopped to say much to him, perhaps uncertain of what was appropriate given the situation.

  “How is it fair that I’m the one who nearly died but Will’s the one getting all the glory?” Finley laughed as yet another student they didn’t know came over to congratulate Will.

  “He’s getting all the glory because he’s milking it for all it’s worth!” Emily replied.

  “I am not!” Will insisted, before flashing them both a grin.

  The three of them enjoyed hot chocolates with whipped cream, mixed to perfection by the drinks machine. They chatted happily amongst each other, the seriousness of what could have come to pass overshadowed by the extraordinary way things had turned out. Halfway through their conversation, their Student Planners beeped to inform them that first-years would now have some free time before dinner to explore the school and do as they please. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity, the three of them leapt to their feet and headed off into the Academy.

  They rushed through the Reception Hall, passing the statue of the no-eyed man as they did so, and headed to the first floor via the lift. They traipsed around the identical looking corridors, not managing to discover anything of interest unless bathrooms, teacher’s offices and classrooms could be considered interesting. They were just about to give up, when they overheard a group of students discussing their intention to visit the library and decided to follow them. They kept a safe, calculated distance, walking just far enough behind so that they weren’t noticed by the gang they were stalking. Discussing how crowded the lifts were at the start of term, the older students opted to take the stairs, with Emily, Will and Finley close on their tail. After clambering up five staircases, Emily was ready to turn to the boys and demand through ragged breath that they find the nearest lift immediately, when a set of double doors labelled “Library” appeared just ahead of them.

  “The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!” Will huffed, his face rosy and glistening with sweat.

  “The what?” Emily asked, glancing over at Finley who looked back at her with an equally befuddled expression.

  “It’s just something my mum says. I think it’s some old Earth expression,” he explained.

  “I like it,” said Emily, despite having no idea what the saying meant. “To the pot of gold!” She cringed slightly at her own overenthusiasm but Will smiled at her with gratitude.

  When they entered the library, their hike to reach it was immediately made worthwhile. Of all the things Emily had seen at the school that day, this was by far the most impressive. Standing strikingly tall, at least twenty rows of silver shelf-units spanned the length of the room in pairs, their tops touching the high ceiling. Each individual unit featured thousands of cubby holes cradling small sticks of downloadable book files. Robotic machines were whizzing around the shelves, retrieving the sticks that were unreachable to the human hand and bringing them down to the ground. In the centre of the room were several round, white tables where groups of dedicated students were already beginning to gather to start their work for the year.

  The librarian’s desk was situated on the right-hand side of the room and was currently being manned by an older boy with dishevelled brown hair and thick, black glasses. Upon seeing the three of them standing motionless, he strode over, kindly asking if he could be of any assistance.

  “This place is huge,” Will informed him, as though he wasn’t aware. The librarian laughed.

  “Yes, we do have the biggest collection of titles anywhere since The Split,” he informed them.

  “It’s amazing,” Emily replied and he smiled brightly as though she had paid him a personal compliment.

  “I’m Martyn by the way,” he said, offering Emily his hand to shake. She took it and blushed, noticing both Will and Finley staring at her from the corner of her eye.

  “I’m Emily,” she told him.

  Will cleared his throat loudly.

  “And this is Will and Finley,” she added.

  “Good to meet you,” Martyn nodded.

  “What are those things?” Finley asked, pointing towards the data sticks.

  “They’re the sticks you use to download books,” Martyn replied, confused by the question. “They’re called I-Books? Have you not heard of them?”

  “Oh, we don’t have I-Books at home,” Finley explained. “We still use I-Readers.”

  Emily glanced at Will who looked back at her with the same expression of surprise. Her family had donated all their I-Readers to charity several years ago when they had been made obsolete by the flurry of new technology that was constantly being developed on the Mayfly.

  “Yes, well the I-Books are a new invention, created, of course, by the Interactive-Tech company. It’s taken them long enough to develop. The technology of books and reading has always taken a backseat to the production of new gadgets,” Martyn sighed, momentarily lost in anguish.

  “Allow me to explain how the library works,” he said, snapping back to reality. He walked them to the nearest storage unit and demonstrated how to browse through all the different titles it offered by using a touch screen fixed into its side. Once a title had been selected, it was retrieved by one of the robots and passed carefully to its new temporary owner.

  “The I-Books can be used with any device, you simply point and click the button in the middle and the data will be transferred across. It works with Student Planners, tablets, any T.V screen or even laptops,” Martyn informed them with passion.

  “Laptops?” Will repeated with confusion. “Does anyone still use them?”

  “They have proven to be quite popular here at the Academy. Students seem to find something satisfying in typing on a real keyboard. It’s quite therapeutic, actually” Martyn replied, adjusting the buttons on the light brown blazer he had donned over his school uniform.

  “Retro,” Will nodded. “You’ll feel right at home then Finley!”

  Their conversation with Martyn was cut short by a loud, beeping sound that Will and Finley discovered was coming from their Student Planners.

  “Uh-oh,” said Will after checking the screen.

  “What is it?” Emily asked, attempting to peer over his shoulder.

  “A video message from Miss Fortem,” Will swallowed, pressing play.

  “William James, please report to the Admiral’s office immediately,” Miss Fortem said in the recording, her facial expression and tone of voice giving no indication as to what the nature of the meeting would be.

  Finley played his message to find that he had received the same summons. The two boys exchanged a look of mutual fear and panic.

  “Do you think we’re in trouble?” Finley asked Will, his eyes wide with worry.

  “You can’t be. You didn’t do anything wrong,” Emily assured him.

  “Well, I did nearly fly a rocket into Space without a licence and without permission from a teacher,” Will pointed out.

  “You were saving Finley, if you hadn’t have done that who knows what would have happened,” Emily argued.

  “We don’t even know where the Admiral’s office is,” Finley fretted.

  “I was just about to finish my shift here so I can show you if you like,” Martyn offered. The two boys accepted and headed out of the Library alongside their new guide. Emily stood still for a moment after they left. It was the first time since she’d entered the Academy that she had been alone and she was unsure what to do with herself. After a moment of deliberating, she decided to make her way back down to the Dining Hall, hoping that the boys would soon return there after their meeting. To ensure she didn’t get lost, she adopted the tactic of climbing down every staircase she came across until eventually she reached a lift and was able to descend into the Reception Hall.

  Vee
ring right, she was surprised to find the Dining Hall packed to almost full capacity with a hungry pack of students already swarming on the serving station. She scanned the tables, seeking out any first-years she recognised. To her relief, she caught sight of Cara and Matina, the two girls she had spoken to briefly before Rocket Control. They were sitting with a boy she hadn’t met yet, but she made her way over anyway, sitting down confidently and hoping they wouldn’t object to her intrusion. She needn’t have worried, however, as the three of them seemed all too keen to discuss the details of Finley’s earlier ordeal

  “Alasdair doesn’t believe us about what happened,” Cara told Emily with indignation after she had seated herself midway through their discussion of the event.

  “Weren’t you there?” Emily asked him.

  “I’m not in Alderin class,” he told her with a hint of disgust. “I’m in Gagarin with all of the other Floor One pupils.”

  “Except Will and the Captain’s daughter,” Emily reminded him. “They’re in Alderin class too.”

  “Yes well, Lois is very displeased with her class placement. As for Will, he seems to have forgotten where he comes from entirely,” Alasdair replied. Emily raised her eyebrows.

  “Tell Alasdair what happened,” Cara encouraged her.

  Emily paused for a moment, choosing her words carefully.

  “A horrible girl in our class took a disliking to Finley for no reason whatsoever and decided to try and launch him into Space without any oxygen. If Will hadn’t have gone after him, he could have died,” she explained.

  “Will was so brave,” said Matina dreamily, resting her face in her hands and staring towards the ceiling. For a moment, Emily felt extremely resentful of her pretty features, noting with envy her big, round doe-eyes, her jet-black hair and small, pink mouth. She quickly dismissed the thought from her mind and turned her attention back to Alasdair, who unfortunately had decided to speak again.

  “You’ve got to feel sorry for Finley,” he sighed, though Emily was unable to detect any real sympathy in his voice. “It was such a mistake for him to come here. You know his mother is one of our family maids? It’s just embarrassing. Cruel to let him into the Academy if you ask me.”

  “Except I don’t think anybody did ask you, did they Alasdair?” Emily shot back at him, unable to control the fire that was building inside her with his every word.

  “I can see my opinions aren’t welcome here,” he said coolly. “Perhaps I should find somebody from Gagarin to sit with.”

  Emily said nothing, her glare informing him of how strongly she agreed with the idea of him leaving. Affronted, he got to his feet, his chair scraping noisily against the floor. With a scathing look in Emily’s direction, he turned on his heels and sauntered off to find the rest of the Floor One.

  “Sorry about him,” said Cara, once he was out of earshot. “We didn’t know who he was, he just started talking to us.”

  “It’s okay,” said Emily. “It isn’t your fault. He was obviously just being nosey about Finley.”

  “What’s he like anyway?” Cara asked. “Finley I mean?”

  “He’s just a normal boy,” Emily replied, confused by the question. She couldn’t understand why there was so much intrigue surrounding Finley’s enrolment at the school. After all, he had passed the entrance exams, the same as everybody else. There was no rule that said that only children from the higher floors could attend The Space Academy. In her mind, he had more of a right to be there than pupils like Alasdair and his smug friends, whose parents had no doubt used their influence and credits to get their children a place at the school.

  Cara and Matina seemed to sense Emily’s reluctance to discuss the topic any further and changed the subject to what had they learnt so far at the Academy. Following that, they launched into an in-depth conversation about how handsome they found Mr. Zeppler. They were just in the middle of arguing over whether “Cara Zeppler” or “Matina Zeppler” sounded better, when Will and Finley came to join them at the table, full of energy and exuberance.

  “How did it go?” Emily asked them the moment they arrived. Finley glanced towards the other two girls at the table, hesitant to answer in their company.

  “It’s okay,” Emily re-assured him. “This is Cara and Matina. They’re nice.”

  The girls looked at her with gratitude and leaned in, readily waiting to hear the private conversation they were being let in on.

  “It went well,” Finley grinned. “The girl has been expelled. Her name was Josie Jones. Apparently, she kept insisting that it was only a prank and that she just wanted to scare me, but Allance said there could be no excuses and sent her home.”

  “Yeah,” Will chimed in, impatient to tell his part of the story. “I got told off for flying a rocket without a licence but I was also commended for my bravery.” He puffed his chest out with pride.

  “The only bad thing is that the school had to tell our parents,” Finley frowned.

  “My mum’s going to be beside herself,” Will sighed.

  “I’ve already spoken to my mum and dad,” Finley said. “They wanted me to come home but I said no. I’m not going to let anything spoil my chance to be here.”

  “So that’s it then? It’s all over?” Emily asked with relief.

  “It’s all over,” Will confirmed.

  “We were offered follow up care with Miss Fortem in case the event had traumatised us but we turned it down,” Finley added.

  “I’d be more traumatised spending one-on-one time with her than I would being blasted into Space!” Will exclaimed. “She’s terrifying!”.

  Cara and Matina burst into high-pitched, exaggerated laughter at his joke. At this, Emily stood up sharply and ushered the boys over to the serving station, insisting that she was suddenly ravenous. The three of them collected their dinners from the helpful robots and moved around the hall until they found an empty table to sit at so they could speak in private. They ate with enthusiasm, returning to collect second helpings and stuffing themselves until they were sleepy and satisfied. Their conversation was light and full of laughter, with all of them basking in the knowledge that the day’s drama was over and they could now continue their academic lives as normal students, united in their conviction that nothing bad would ever happen to them again for the entirety of the five years they would spend at the Academy.

  After they had finished their meals, the first-years were gathered together in the Reception Hall by Miss Fortem where it was announced that their belongings had been sorted through and that they could now be shown to their new rooms. The excitement was uncontainable and the students spent the whole march across the school grounds buzzing with anticipation. They were led to a mini-complex of buildings, each one varying in size and shape but all of them coated in the same light grey material. Miss Fortem stopped outside the closest of the small cluster and touched the sensor pad beside the door to allow the first-years and their Prefect escorts inside.

  They entered a small foyer, carpeted in the same shade of navy blue as the material used for the school jumpers. The room was dimly lit by rectangular lights that buzzed and flickered with the effort of staying on. Four tall plants in wide terracotta vases flanked the corners of the foyer, wilting with neglect and lack of UV light. The walls were decorated with paintings of cats, birds and enough other species of animals from Earth to make up an entire menagerie. An old, wooden desk stood in the corner, its surfaces worn and stained with age. Behind the desk stood a dowdy woman, her grey hair pulled into a scraggy bun, strands of hair escaping around her face and tangling around her thick horn-rimmed glasses. She was wearing a long, blue dress embellished with the images of yellow flowers, their green stalks weaving and intertwining to form a swirling pattern across the fabric that was somewhat harsh upon the eyes. Upon their entrance, she shuffled towards them, the slight stoop of her posture dwarfing her in contrast to Miss Fortem.

  “Boys and girls, allow me to introduce Ms. Everly,” Miss Fortem began. “She is
in charge of running your rooms and making sure that our service bots keep them clean and tidy. She also patrols the corridors at night to make sure that nobody is out of bed past the ten o’clock curfew. If you need Ms. Everly’s assistance during school hours, you will find her in the foyer which she decorated herself- “

  There was a silent moment of understanding among the first-years as they compared Ms. Everly to the decor.

  “She’ll be here for most of the day so if you have any questions feel free to ask her,” Miss Fortem continued.

  “I have a question,” called Rudy from the back of the group.

  “Yes, what is it?” snapped Miss Fortem.

  “Did Ms. Everly design all of our rooms too?” he asked, attempting for the question to sound innocent, though its true meaning was thinly veiled.

  “Oh no, dear,” laughed Ms. Everly. “All the student’s rooms were designed by a proper architect. Something Hullington I think his name was.”

  “Spencer’s dad,” Will said under his breath with disdain. Emily was wholly relieved that their bedrooms would not be following the decorative theme of the foyer and wondered if Ms. Everly needed stronger glasses so that she could see the proper outcome of her work.

  “Thank you, Rudy for that interesting yet highly unnecessary question” said Miss. Fortem, turning her attention back to the task at hand.

  “Now,” she continued, “as you may have seen, behind me there are three lifts which can be used by students at any time of the day. Of course, I will remind you again that nobody should be out of bed after curfew, which is ten p.m sharp. If there is an emergency after this hour you must use your Student Planner’s to contact a member of staff. In the event of a fire, you will hear an alarm ring out, after which you may use the lift if necessary,” Miss Fortem explained.

  “‘If necessary’,” muttered Will in disbelief.

  “There are three floors of rooms above us. We are currently on the ground floor. I will now ask Ms. Everly to send your room numbers through to your Student Planners. Once you have received these, one of our Prefects will show you the way,” Miss Fortem concluded.