Bridgeworld

by Travis McBee

  The one thing that had excited him about the class was the fact that Abby was in it. She was sitting on the other side of the room with a group of girls and had flashed him a small smile of recognition when he had walked into the room but otherwise made no effort to indicate that she had met him before. Even when the bell rang to summon them to fourth period she had not bothered to even pause to talk to him as she walked past him and into the mass of chaos that was the third floor. Will sighed and gave up hope on that little frantic dream and went towards his next class.

  His next class proved to be the most frustrating of all. It was simply labeled “Language” on his Micro and he found out immediately why it was called that. The class was made up of the same fifteen people that Will had arrived with and he learned that it was a mandatory class for all students from Earth so they might learn Ligurian, the intergalactic standard language. For this to take place he was forced to take out his Lingus and listen to the nail bitingly sinister sounds that radiated from his teacher and had to try and repeat them. The noises soon gave him a cranium splitting headache and he wished away the time with reckless abandon.

  The only positive thing about this class was the teacher, his name was Roberto Guenella and he was quite possibly the funniest man Will had ever met. He spoke Italian perfectly, was fluent in Spanish and French, and knew enough English to say he didn’t know much English.

  “Dis school is how you say? Dumb! Day tink dat all Earth languages be da same so dey make me teacha the class,” He confided to Will, “Meesa really a history teacher but I no correct dem yes?”

  Will liked the man instantly even before he learned that Mr. Guenella had been born and raised on Earth in, surprise surprise, Rome, Italy. He was the first teacher Will had ever met that admitted his class was a joke and as such the class turned into a rather pleasant experience apart from the disgusting sounds that radiated around the small room, but none the less Will was thankful when it was time to put his Lingus back in and make his way back into the mayhem.

  He had disliked his language class but it was quite a bit more appealing than his next class, Intergalactic Relations. The class was the Bridgeworld equivalent of Political science, a class Will had taken and hated in the sixth grade. The class revolved around legislation and how manipulation could or could not be used on other worlds.

  The teacher was the perfect one for the class. Her name was Carroll Edwards and Will was fairly certain she would have made a fantastic wife for Coach Hinge. She was short with elderly gray hair and ice cold blue eyes that bore no mercy whether it was requested or not. The moment Will had laid eyes on her he disliked her. The instant she spoke he hated her, and halfway into her lecture he loathed her. It was not a feeling exclusive to Will, the entire class glared at her with a united gaze of distaste and Abby, who shared the class with him, looked positively sick at what she was hearing.

  What she was hearing was straightforward with little deception. Mrs. Edwards was many things but hard to read was not one of them. She preached about survival of the fittest to such a degree that Darwin himself would have grown tired of hearing it after a few minutes of her hate filled speeches. Mrs. Edwards, how she found a husband Will couldn’t begin to guess, preached that the strong should conquer the weak and almost brought Will out of his seat when she brought up Earth.

  “Take Earth for example,” She had said midway through the class, “It’s inhabited by a bunch of idiots who don’t have the foggiest clue about the resources they are sitting on.”

  Will blew air through his nostrils in angry bursts to try and control his anger and wouldn’t have been surprised if steam had been pumping out of his nose. Halfway across the room one face was looking delighted at the topic of conversation. The freckle laced pimple faced eyes of Brandon Crosby were alight with malice and Will saw them shoot in his direction more than once. Will ignored the glances and forced himself to stare at the sinister smile of a person he was absolutely sure was pure evil.

  The class didn’t end soon enough for Will and when the bell rang he didn’t even bother to make a frantic attempt to talk to Abby. He simply hurdled himself into the hallway and started to work his way towards his next class when a hand landed on his shoulder and spun him back around.

  “Did you enjoy that lesson Terry,” The snarling mouth of Brandon spat at him

  “Oh yes I found it fascinating,” Will lied trying to throw the smaller boy off guard

  Brandon simply smirked away this attempt at subterfuge and moved as close to Will as he could. The sight was quite comical to anyone who saw it including Will who was staring down at a boy that would probably have troubles fighting off an angry bunny. Will smiled at the pimply faced boy whose very freckles prevented him from being intimidating no matter how hard he tried. That smile set something off in Brandon and the smug sneer transformed itself into a scowl.

  “I don’t like you Terry,” He attempted to snarled at Will.

  “Oh well, “Will replied trying not to laugh at the small tough guy, “I suppose your mother said that to you once? It won’t work on me big guy, cause I don’t care”

  The scowl on Brandon’s face receded for a brief second as the words that Will had thrown at him settled into his brain, and when they had finally wormed his way into his consciousness his eyes alight in a fire of pure fury.

  “Don’t you dare talk about my mother Terry!” He yelled at Will.

  “Yeah whatever you say big guy.” Will said dismissively and turned to leave.

  Brandon spewed with anger and before Will could complete his turn the anger poured into his right fist which launched itself at Will’s face. Will’s eyes caught the movement instantly and with an almost inhuman display of reflexive speed he caught the hand in mid air stopping it dead in its tracks. Brandon stood gaping at his hand that was completely enveloped by Will’s. Will simply glared at the boy and pushed him away.

  “Grow up kid,” He said calmly and turned and walked towards his next class.

  Brandon watched him go but didn’t bother to move until a group of students who had witnessed the confrontation started laughing at him. He sneered at them and turned and walked down another corridor but not before muttering under his breath, “I’ll get you Terry I’ll get you.”

  * * *

  Will’s next class was his favorite by far and was the first one he had that wasn’t located on the third floor. After his encounter with Brandon he had made his way to the central stairway and spiraled himself upwards until he had gone all the way to the fifth floor where he walked into the only room available, the gym.

  The gym itself was a massive room of pure white. The ceilings were white, the floors were white, and the walls were, surprisingly, white. The only break in the pearly surfaces was a giant wall of glass that shown onto rows upon rows of bleachers. Even the door that had slid open to admit Will into the gym was white and blended perfectly with the wall in which it was set. The solid white room made Will feel a little dizzy and his depth perception was so addled that he found himself believing he was facing a room that went on into eternity.

  Will had been one of the first to arrive and he stood around in the center of the room with the slowly growing group of freshman boys waiting for the rest of their class. Unfortunately for Will the rest of the class was all of the freshman boys in the school, including Brandon who walked in, glared once at Will, and meandered off to the other side of the now large group of boys.

  After all fifty of the freshmen boys had arrived the door slid open to allow their teacher to walk in. He was a tall man with black hair and a slender yet genuine smile. He walked to the front of the assembly and greeted them in a not warm, but not unfriendly voice.

  “Hey guys. I’m Coach Bower and I’ll be the one making sure none of you get fat and lazy while you’re up here,” He let a low chuckle rumble from his chest and it was echoed by the class.

  Coach Bower turned out to be an incredibly decent man. He wasn’t overly kind to the point of being fake
like some teachers but he wasn’t a strict disciplinarian like Will had come to associate with coaches. The first day they didn’t do much of anything except discuss the purpose of the class, which was to stay physically active, and the class room procedures. Will learned that a door was hidden opposite of where he had entered and behind it was the most incredible locker room he had ever witnessed.

  The locker room did have lockers but they did not have the standard spin locks that he was used to. Instead a student would place his thumb on a narrow black strip positioned on the door and it would slide open with a hiss to allow the boy to deposit his possessions.

  The strangest part of the locker room was, by far, the showers. Will’s Lingus translated the term used by Coach as shower but in truth it was nothing like a shower except it got you clean. They were small cubicles like a normal shower but inside there was no shower head, in fact the only thing inside was a small green button.

  The boys that had grown up in space all recognized it but the seven boys that had flown from Earth with Will had stared in confusion at the buttons without a clue what it did. Coach had seen the sidelong glances and instructed all the boys from Earth into a separate cubicle to try them out.

  Will climbed into the small stall, suddenly aware that he hadn’t taken a shower for the better part of two days. He immediately became aware of the sticky oil that laced his hair and the faint odor that rose from his skin. He hung his monogarb on a small hook set into the door before looking at the glinting green button which had suddenly turned treacherous now that he had to press it, but press it he did and he received the strangest shower he had ever taken.

  A shower on Earth pours things down on you, a shower in space pours things up off of you. As soon as Will pressed the button he felt a sudden tingling sensation cross his body and half a second later he saw flecks of dirt and sweat worm their way off of his newly exposed skin and fly through the air and stuck itself firmly onto the metallic ceiling before forming into a small train of dirt and disappearing into a small hole in the corner of the ceiling that Will hadn’t noticed before.

  “Whoa,” Was the simple way Will chose to describe his experience.

  The shower lasted less than a minute and when Will emerged from it he found that he felt cleaner than he had ever felt after a shower. His hair was absent of the nasty oils which had lain it low and his skin was as dirt free as a hospital but he didn’t feel as relaxed as he did when he emerged from the steam of the showers he knew. Can’t have everything he mused to himself as he slid back into his monogarb.

  Coach dismissed the class early after showing them around the locker room. Will was grateful for the early release due to the fact that his next class was on the other side of the school. It was the class that Will was most excited about when it had beeped up on his Micro because it was a class that nothing he had ever taken on Earth could even pretend to compare with, Space Flight. The class was located in the hanger and Will ran fast and furiously down the five floors to get to the class on time even with the head start provided by Coach Bower.

  By the time he arrived in the hanger the sweat that had been siphoned off in the shower had been replaced with a fresh layer. The large room he had first arrived in was completely devoid of people and Will became incredibly nervous as he checked his Micro and saw that he had less than two minutes until the class started. He paced around the room in growing panic but didn’t see anyone lurking around the high tech space craft that filled the monolithic room. Just when he was about to give up and return to his dormitory the door slid open and Ryan walked in.

  “Oh, hey mate,” Ryan said as he came through the door and spotted Will, “Are you in the flight class as well?”

  “Yeah,” Will replied, “But I can’t find it,”

  “Oh, well it’s not in the main hanger you know that right?” Ryan asked looking at him

  “But my Micro told me it was here,” Will said in confusion while he pulled his micro from his pocket to corporate his claim.

  As soon as he pulled the schedule up he realized his mistake, instead of saying only Hanger as he had first read at a quick glance it said Hanger Annex. He glanced up embarrassed at Ryan who was looking at him with a smile but it was a kind smile.

  “So where’s the annex?” He asked Ryan

  “Over here,” Ryan replied walking towards a door set in a wall on the far side of the hanger.

  William walked along next to him and after a moment tried to initiate a conversation.

  “So where do you live on Earth?” He asked as they passed the large flying saucer that had delivered them to Bridgeworld

  “London, me dad works in the ministry but truthfully he reports back to the IGC on what’s going on on Earth,” he replied casually

  “What’s the IGC?” Will asked with his usual feeling of helpless ignorance setting in

  “It’s the intergalactic Council,” Ryan replied without mockery, “They govern all the planets that are a member of the Union. Earth is the only inhabited one that’s not a member, fairly odd to be honest I’m not sure why it isn't.”

  “Yeah, pretty odd.” Will answered musing to himself.

  The conversation came to an end as they passed through the door and into a smaller yet still large room with a square of desks in the middle that held about twenty students who all appeared to be freshman. Will worked his way towards the back of the square of desks and chose one of the few remaining vacant seats. When he had taken his seat he pulled out his Micro and powered it up with a touch of his thumb. The display lit up green as it accepted his fingerprint and the screen pulled his schedule back up since he hadn’t cleared it the last time he had used it to double check the class location. He swiped the schedule away with an agile flick of his finger and pulled up his file for the class, a file that was currently empty. Another casual flick of a finger and his Micro pulled up a new note page.

  The appearance of the note page had not astounded Will when he had done it for the first time that morning in his math class. What did amaze him was the holographic keyboard that emerged from beneath the small screen. That keyboard now emerged in a blaze of blue light and sat idly a millimeter over his desk waiting for him to type. His keyboard was a standard qwerty keyboard like you might find on a computer on Earth but when he had looked around his various classrooms he had seen the luminescent blue keyboards appear that seemed to be filled with characters he was quite sure didn’t exist on Earth.

  The door to the room slid open and their teacher sidled into the room. The man was about six feet tall with a well groomed crop of brown hair, which was just beginning to recede, resting on his head. His eyes were a dull brown but not unkind and his young face bore a faint smile which hinted at friendliness. He appeared to be in his early thirties to Will with the only hint of age the slight wrinkles that sat idly at the corners of his eyes. His age did not show on his slender frame which bore no fat but also showed no evidence of enough muscle to make the man the least bit intimidating.

  “Hello class,” He greeted them in a voice that was far too deep for the slim man, “My name is Mr. Boyd and I will be your flight teacher. Now how many of you have ever flown a Pod before?”

  He paused to look around the room and Will did the same. What is a pod? Will wondered to himself as he saw five hands or so flutter uncertainly into the air. Will felt the feeling of helpless ignorance that had partially abated on his journey into the hanger annex begin to return.

  “Not many I see. Not to worry not to worry,” Mr. Boyd spoke again in his too deep voice, “Now for the confused faces out there, raise your hand if you don’t know what a Pod is, and don’t be ashamed.”

  It was probably the first time in his life that Will had raised his hand because he didn’t know the answer and he did not enjoy the feeling. He would have kept his hand resting firmly on his desk if it hadn’t been for the final three words that too deep, but reassuring, voice had spoken. Will’s hand was not alone in the journey towards the ceiling he was re
lieved to see as he noticed many of the faces that had arrived with him were also in the class.

  “Ah, I was told we had a few Terries here,” Mr. Boyd said warmly as he glanced over the class, “Well let me welcome all of you to Bridgeworld, and to the Terries, welcome to the rest of the universe.”

  The class laughed at this and Will found himself laughing along with them. He found that the word that was so offensive coming out of Brandon’s mouth was nothing more than a word when it came out in a friendly tone. The laughter that had followed it was also good natured and Will was more grateful for that than he had expected.

  “Well to those who don’t know,” Mr. Boyd continued, “Pods are the personal spacecraft that we will be learning how to fly in this class.”

  Will perked up at the mention of flying and a sudden image of flying around space in one of the small flying saucers flitted into his head. This thought gave birth to another and before Will could help it he was day dreaming about flying down to Earth and playing a joke on Mike and perhaps scare Jessica just a little.

  “…so most of our class will be spent in the simulator and the final few weeks we will be practicing on the school Pod’s” Mr. Boyd was saying when Will came back to reality, “Now I know we just got here but I imagine all of your brains are fried on the first day of class and we can more than afford to wait until tomorrow to begin lessons in earnest. So I will see you all tomorrow. Take care!”