Space Dragon Allepexxis

by C. K. Pershing

  “So what can be done?” Paress asked. “Go to another planet?”

  “Maybe, but we’d have to destroy any trace of what we’ve done here. The planet, the moons, anything that can be left behind that would give a lead. Then we’d have to start all over again, find a new planet, not to mention what a crime it would be to destroy such a beautiful world. There’s also the fact that Elise Empyreah has special features about it that can’t be found anywhere else in the galaxy. So there’s talk of maybe just transporting the planet and everything else out of here and just plop it down into a new safe place.”

  Paress blinked. “You mean you can make an entire planet go into space jump? Is that possible?”

  “Theoretically,” Behlen answered. “It’ll be a while before we know for sure, but a lot of people are working on it. I mean…a lot.” He winked.

  “I can see why,” Paress said. “Jumping a whole planet and its moons…whoah.”

  “By the way,” Behlen said growing serious, “All this information I’m telling you is super secret. I hope it shows how much I trust you that I feel comfortable telling you these things even though you’re not a full Space Knight yet…”

  “Oh!” Paress’ eyes widened. “Y-Yes sir!”

  “Good. We have to all stick together to protect the Academy. And protecting the Academy is what helps to protect the Empire as a whole.”

  “Yes sir!” Paress repeated and was glad when Behlen smiled.

  Their ship was passing the planet’s station ring so Paress could better see all of the ships coming and going. He wondered why there was so much activity and if it ever slowed down; he came to the conclusion it likely didn’t.

  “Why are there some civilian ships?” Casten asked. “Why are they allowed here?”

  “Well, the Academy needs partners. Even something so banal as the soda you’re drinking has to come from somewhere,” Behlen said. “We’ve got better things to worry about making, so we let somebody else handle that stuff. And of course we have partnerships with various tech companies and the like. So companies with the highest levels of trust and discretion are allowed to send ships here after certain criteria are met, such as having an Academy pilot and navigator and an Academy nav-computer with our security override. It’s actually no exaggeration to say that although we have partner companies that own these ships, most of the crew are actually our own people.”

  The Frosche passed by the ring and continued toward the planet. Paress was a little disappointed that they didn’t have to stop at the ring and go planetside using a shuttle from there. He suddenly realized there was something else missing.

  “Where are the Hyper Battle Machines?” he and Casten both looked around but didn’t see any of the giant super robots.

  “Well, most are out of system on missions, and that usually keeps them away for a long time,” Behlen said. “They only really come back here when it’s time for an overhaul, but that can be years. And as for the ones that are here, they’re based at one of the polar stations or one of the moons. Depending on what kind of training they’re doing— testing, what have you, will determine which location. But for security reasons, no Hyper Battle Machine or Carrier docks at the ring— only the stations at the poles.”

  Paress nodded and went back to looking out the window as the Frosche began its descent to the surface of Elise Empyreah. The little ship passed through a few soft white clouds and soared over a vast green field before coming up on what looked like a giant campus that reminded Paress of a classically styled college with towers made from dark brickwork. He found himself surprised about the choice of architecture, figuring the home of some of the most advanced tech in the galaxy would have been more smooth and futuristic-looking.

  The Frosche circled over the campus before beginning a gentle vertical descent on its repulsor drives. It came to rest in a small field where a large group of people in fancy uniforms with musical instruments waited. Paress turned to look at Behlen, who raised his eyebrows with a knowing smile. He then looked at Casten, who could only shrug.

  “I guess we’re important enough to get a welcome band,” Paress said. “Or maybe they’re here for you, doctor?”

  “Oh, no, they’re definitely here for you,” Behlen said with a chuckle. “It’s the tradition to welcome all new students this way.”

  “There are enough of the Blessed to make a marching band?” Paress asked.

  Behlen’s chuckle grew into a laugh. “If only! While there are a couple of Blessed in the band, it’s mostly made up of normal students. Remember that although this is the Space Knight Academy, we do more than simply train Space Knights. We also educate the best and brightest the galaxy has to offer in the sciences. After all, somebody has to go on to actually design and build those wonderful Hyper Battle Machines and Companions that the Space Knights couldn’t do without. There’s also the training of those who perform the day-to-day operations of the Academy itself, its starship pilots, and so on.”

  Paress figured that made sense. Dr. Behlen himself was probably an alumnus of the Academy. “I gotta say, I thought this whole place was going to just be me, Casten and maybe like, fifty other people,” Paress said. “But yeah, that’s kinda stupid…”

  “For what it’s worth, including the two of you, the actual student body of Space Knight cadets with their Companions stands at fifty-nine,” Behlen said. “So from that perspective, you’re not far off. It just so happens that there are also approximately five hundred students who aren’t Blessed, but are still very valuable to the Empire in other ways.”

  “Fifty-nine?” Casten asked. “Shouldn’t it be an even number since it’s a bunch of pairs of Space Knights and Companions?”

  “There’s a candidate set of twins with a Companion,” Behlen said, “So they make three.”

  “I’m sorry, what?” Paress asked. “I mean, that’s possible?”

  As they were talking, a small screen was showing the progress of the Frosche normalizing itself with Elise Empyreah’s gravity and atmosphere. Paress could feel his weight changing slightly as it did so. An all-clear screen came on and Behlen stood up.

  “This is the first time we’ve seen twins get the Blessing,” Behlen said. “But aside from that rarity, there’s nothing about it that makes such a thing impossible— obviously not, since the twins we’re talking about do exist. At any rate, it’s two Driinen.”

  Behlen gestured for Paress and Casten to also stand up. “If anybody needs the bathroom, do it now because you’re going to get whisked into a big tour and maybe a speech, among other things.” As he talked, he straightened Paress' collar and pulled a couple cookie crumbs from Casten’s shirt. Paress found this kind of funny considering Behlen’s own relatively disheveled look, but then again, Behlen wasn’t a student making a first impression.

  When neither boy made a move to go to the bathroom, Behlen said, “Okay then, follow me.”

  As he turned to go, Paress and Casten fell in line behind him. “Hey what are Driinen?” Casten asked Paress.

  “They’re like great faeries,” Paress said. “They look a lot like like elves, but more, uh tough, I guess. There were some at my school but they usually got into fights all the time even though they had really good grades.”

  “Driinen are one of the feral tribes of faeries,” Behlen said. “No matter how civilized they try to be, they’ll always be warriors of the hunt in their hearts.”

  “Are they pretty like faeries?” Casten asked.

  “Yeah, but like I said, really tough. So, kinda scary,” Paress said.

  “Alright, guys, you’ll be meeting them eventually,” Behlen said with a laugh as they came to the ship’s hatch. “Look sharp, you’re on.”

  “Yes sir!” Paress and Casten stood straight as Behlen stepped behind them and nodded to the steward standing next to the hatch. The steward hit a button and with a hiss, the hatch opened. Sunlight streamed in followed by a warm breeze that smelled like freshly cut grass.

  Paress steppe
d out and the band began playing a jaunty tune that he wasn’t quite expecting. He figured it would have been the national anthem or something similarly patriotic, but tried not to dwell on it too much as he walked down the small gantry and on to the field. Casten dutifully followed along with Behlen bringing up the rear. The band finished their playing a moment later.

  Paress, unsure what to do, was about to clap when an older man with red hair and wearing a brown tweed suit emerged from the nearby crowd and briskly walked over to shake Paress’ hand. “Welcome! “Welcome, Cadet Handrel,” he said with a genuine smile. He next shook Casten’s hand. “And welcome to you too, Companion Casten.”

  When the man got to Behlen, Paress could hear the warmth drain from the man’s voice to be replaced by barely-disguised anger, “And Dr. Behlen…excellent work bringing these very fine candidates to our campus. Excellent work indeed, considering that the task should have fallen to someone in Instruction.”

  “Dr. Severn,” Behlen replied, almost breezily, “I’m glad to have helped. Enriching the Academy’s student body is something of utmost importance to me that transcends departmental differences.”

  Severn’s face had a smile that was precariously close to a scowl, “And if #25 happens to find its pilot thanks to that enrichment all the better for you, eh?”

  Behlen’s smile grew almost wolfish. “Exactly so.”

  Paress wasn’t sure if he should be watching the exchange or staring straight ahead, standing at attention. Luckily, Behlen turned away from whatever was going on between him and Severn to say, “Paress, Casten, it’s my special privilege to introduce the head of the Instruction Division of the Academy, Dr. Arthur Severn.” Severn nearly rolled his eyes at the introduction.

  The two boys bowed and Paress said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”

  “Ah, the pleasure is mine,” Severn said, obviously trying his best to be warm to the boys. “I’ve been told so much about you and I’ve watched the news stories of what the two of you did to save that space liner. Great stuff!” He swept his hand to indicate the crowd watching, including the band, “We’re all very impressed. Your actions are just the sort of thing we like to see in our Space Knights.”

  Paress’ eyes followed the line of Severn’s gesture and he saw smiling and approving glances on the faces of the assembled. He hoped he wasn’t blushing when he noticed quite a few pretty girls smiling at him. Severn led Paress over to a small group of people and introduced each in turn as a professor of the various classes Paress would attend during his training to be a Space Knight.

  For his part, Paress felt the whole thing kind of odd. There were no chairs, no platforms or podiums, just a bunch of people standing out in a field with a marching band. Considering how much the Space Knight Academy buildings themselves looked like a class college campus, he thought there would be more pomp and formality. Maybe a speech given by someone wearing a mortar board. But this seemed more like a hastily thrown garden party that he’d just crashed.

  “Of course, your training will be a bit more…non-standard,” Severn said after introducing the various professors. “On Dr. Behlen’s…advice, we’re fast-tracking you into Hyper Battle Machine training to see if this obsession of his can get some manner of movement in a positive direction.” Severn made a show of glancing sideways at Behlen and the other man shrugged.

  “For better or worse, I can’t fault his logic,” Severn continued, “So we’ll see how you do with that and go from there.” He turned back to Paress, “I know coming here wasn’t your first choice, but I’m glad that destiny intervened to bring you to us. I have a very good feeling about you and I think you’ll do wonderfully. You’ll have a little time to get oriented and comfortable and then Dr. Behlen will start you on your training.”

  “Yes sir,” Paress said. “I look forward to it.”

  “Very good,” Severn said and then turning to the crowd and raising his voice, “Let’s all welcome the new cadets to the family and make them comfortable in our home.”

  “Yes, sir!” everyone assembled, teacher and student, shouted cheerfully.

  “Dismissed!” Severn said, and the crowd began to dissipate as everyone started walking back to the campus buildings.

  Severn patted Paress’s shoulder before walking over to Behlen. The two men immediately launched into an intense conversation in lowered voices that Paress could tell wasn’t a chat between friends.

  He looked around and then at Casten, “Uhhh…”

  “What do we do?” Casten asked.

  “Huh. I don’t know. Like, do we just follow everybody else?”

  “I guess so…?”

  Paress looked over at Behlen, who seemed to be smirking at a particularly heated tirade whispered from Severn. Eventually Behlen glanced up and his eyes met Paress’. “You guys go on ahead to the campus. Somebody will get you set up when you get there.” As Behlen spoke, Severn looked up and put on a smile, waving for the two boys to go ahead.

  “Uh, yes sir!” Paress called and he and Casten bowed before walking away following the rest of the crowd from a distance.

  “Wow, Dr. Severn sure seems mad at Dr. Behlen,” Casten said. “Dr. Behlen made it like we’d maybe get a big speech or something, but instead we got two guys ready to beat each other up.”

  “Ha, that would’ve been cool,” Paress said with a laugh. “Well, Dr. Behlen even said it’s usually somebody from Instruction who brings in cadets. It sounds like Dr. Severn is mad because Dr. Behlen got us even though he’s from Hyper Battle Machine Design.”

  “It sounds like Dr. Severn is really angry about that and something else too.”

  “Yeah, who knows. Maybe they get a big bonus or something for bringing in new cadets? Like, maybe Dr. Severn thinks Dr. Behlen stole his bonus.”

  “Ah, maybe. That’s probably it.”

  They walked on for a while and Paress kept expecting someone to come and give them some kind of guidance on what to do. “The movies always make it like somebody from the student council, or something will give us a tour,” he said.

  “Yeah, the person doing the tour is all nice and happy and fits in and then everything gets bad when the new student meets the cool kids,” Casten agreed.

  “And that usually turns into a fight with a bully or something,” Paress said. “Great.”

  “At least the main character gets the girl in the end and becomes the hero of the school or college or whatever,” Casten offered.

  “I’d rather just skip to that part.”

  “Well, at least you’re not alone. I’m with you. And we aren’t such pushovers you know?”

  Paress laughed. “Maybe. Except in our case, the bully’s gonna be some kind of crazy monster guy that will take one look at us and laugh before totally destroying us.”

  “Geez!” Casten said. “You make it hard to be optimistic.”

  “Sorry,” Paress said. “I don’t think it’ll be like the stories. I’m the golden boy!”

  “Oh no,” Casten groaned. “Stories with golden boys usually end up with the golden boy getting it harder than if he was just some nobody.”

  “Nah, it’ll be fine!”

  They reached the doors to the main entrance of the Space Knight Academy, a giant dome capped the central part of the building. On the doors, under the insignia of the Academy was a line that read “THROUGH THESE DOORS PASS THE CHAMPIONS OF THE FRANCESCAN STAR EMPIRE”.

  Paress grinned at Casten. “That’s gonna be us!”

  Casten smiled and rolled his eyes as the doors swung open and they went inside.

  A huge lobby with a fountain in the middle greeted them. Paress looked up and saw the dome from the outside was covered in stained glass on the inside. The glass depicted various scenes of the Empire’s past, from the very beginning when King Gustav I invented gunpowder and managed to use it to make weapons to defeat the demon hoards to more recent times with the first Hyper Battle Machine fighting a space monster. The theme seemed to be that Francescan te
chnology would always triumph.

  People sat on the edge of the fountain reading or chatting quietly with friends. Some were eating. As Paress looked around, he could see statues and models in display cases ringing the edges. Framed paintings, photos and awards were hanging up higher.

  Some of the people from before were still milling around in the lobby talking amongst themselves. Nobody gave Paress and Casten a second glance.

  “Okay, waiting for that student council member to give us a tour…” Paress muttered.

  Casten leaned in front of a passing bkilo carrying some books. “Er, excuse me, we’ve just arrived and were wondering…”

  “Someone will be along to help you,” the insectoid being said, its clicking language translated into a Standard by a translation pendant it wore. “Excuse me.” The bkilo gently shouldered past Casten and went on its way.

  “That’s the same thing Dr. Behlen told us,” Paress said. “But how long’s it gonna be before that person shows up?”

  He started walking toward the fountain and saw that on farther inspection there were multicolored fish swimming in the waters at the fountain’s base. The fountain itself was interesting in that the water emerged from a small vase that hovered in mid air over a series of platforms that were also hovering. The vase and platforms were all made of white marble with detailed scenes carved in.

  “Where’s the water coming from?” Paress wondered. “It’s probably mini repulsors holding all those things up like that. But there’s no pipe or anything for the water…”

  “Maybe some kind of water spell placed inside the vase?” Casten said.

  “There’s a mini water replicator in there,” a light voice said from behind them and they both jumped.