The Split

by Hannah Hopkins

  “Are you two love birds going to stay here forever?” he taunted, his eyes full of malice.

  “Give it a rest, Rudy,” Emily sighed, folding her arms.

  “Please,” he said sarcastically. “Go in front of me. I would hate to be the one responsible for delaying the beautiful journey you two are about to embark on.”

  Glowering at him, Emily took the place he had gestured to, dragging Will by the arm and causing Rudy to snort loudly. Together, they filtered down the middle of the compartment, listening to the gasps of the people ahead of them as they made their way outside. They reached the door, a wave of cool air washing over their faces, providing pleasant relief from the warmth of standing too close to so many bodies in a confined space. Disembarking the Shuttle, they exited the room they had landed in and headed into the school grounds, finding themselves at the foot of the Ivory Tower. So impressive was its size, that it had to have its own shuttle ship waiting at the base, ready to fly students to the classrooms high above.

  “This building is where Alien Studies is taught,” Miss Fortem explained when the last of the first years had joined in the gathering. “The height of the tower provides extra security should any of the aliens that are held there try to escape.”

  “Still think my brother was winding me up?” Emily smirked at Will, whose eyes had widened in bewilderment.

  “Okay, I take it back,” he conceded.

  Feeling satisfied, Emily tore her eyes away from the tower and began to scan the rest of the grounds, trying to take it all in. Even though it was technically daytime, there was no sunlight- fake or otherwise- to be found here. The grounds were mainly lit by lampposts, placed strategically alongside the interconnecting pathways that wove their way around the school.

  Miss Fortem led them all to the front entrance, which proved to be two colossal navy doors fitted into the front of a small dome that was attached to the main school building. They were without a doubt the biggest doors that Emily had ever seen. She glanced to the side and was saw the same look of amazement reflected in Will’s face.

  “What do you think that means?” he asked her, pointing to a golden sphere that was fixed above the doors, a small, model rocket positioned in mid-flight next to it.

  “It’s the school’s logo,” Emily explained, pleased to have superior knowledge to him on the subject. “I’ve seen it on the school uniform. I think the planet in the middle is meant to be Novum and the rocket represents the Mayfly.”

  “You seem to know a lot about this already,” Will replied. “I’ll have to stick around with you,”

  Emily felt a wave of happiness spreading across her body and tried hard to stifle it in case he could see how much his words had pleased her.

  "Welcome to The Space Academy, " Miss Fortem smiled, interrupting their conversation as she addressed them all. "These are the main doors as you can most probably see. Above them is a 3-D representation of our school logo. The sphere signifies the planet Novum, and the rocket, of course, stands for our journey towards it. You will become very familiar with this image during your time here."

  “Well done,” Will whispered to Emily. She smiled with pride and glanced up at the logo again, the figure of Novum looming over her head and casting her face into shadow.

  "Now, we are about to enter the school," Miss Fortem informed them. "Once we are inside I will take you straight into the Gathering Hall. You may sit beside whoever you want, as long as you sit in the first row."

  Before anybody had a chance to process this, Miss Fortem turned on her heel and began knocking on the front doors with efficiency. They swung open on her command, moving backwards at the same speed as though being pulled by synchronised strings. Following Miss Fortem, who had promptly made her way inside, the children passed through a set of security scanners and found themselves in the school’s Reception Hall.

  The floor was made entirely of white tile, polished to such a dazzling hue that the students could see their reflections shimmering across the surface. In the centre of the hall was a bronze statue of a man, at least three times of the size of any real human being, standing regally on a large platform, a tiny planet balancing in his outstretched palm. His pupil-less eyes stared forwards, seeing into a future that nobody else could view. Behind the statue, flanking each side of the hall, were two glass lifts in the shape of bullets. The walls were decorated in banners of navy and gold and were covered in framed photographs that documented the Academy’s proudest achievements thus far- including a victory against the Rocket Racing team for Weltraumschule, the German version of the school. A trophy case stood proudly on the left-hand side of the room, drawing immediate attention to itself upon entry. From where she stood, Emily was able to read the inscription for a prize given to the Academic Decathlon team who had won the competition in 2110, an accompanying video replaying the moment of victory from a small screen inside the case. To the right of this was a large collage containing photographs of all the members of staff at the school, each one beaming out from behind the frame. Overhead, a great, glass roof revealed a magnificently clear view of the stars above, a holographic projection of the current solar system they were travelling through spinning in mid-air underneath it.

  To the left of the Reception Hall was a door marked “Gathering Hall” in important gold lettering, with a second marked “Dining Hall” on the right. The smell of piping hot food began to waft from the latter, causing Emily’s stomach to growl as she suddenly realised how long it had been since breakfast. To her disappointment, Miss Fortem ushered the children towards the Gathering Hall and away from the delicious odour of the lunch she so yearned for.

  They entered a large, rectangular room, congregating at the front under Miss Fortem’s instruction. Emily craned her neck to look at the seating behind them, which rose up in staggered levels to the back of the hall, giving her an impression of the large number of students at the school. Directly in front of them was a huge stage set in front of a glass wall, which boasted an impressive view of the school grounds. Whilst gazing through it, Emily noticed an artificial lake she hadn't yet seen, its surface glinting and glistening in the starlight. She was just imagining how it would feel to take a dip in its cool, clear waters, when a booming voice shook her from her thoughts.

  "Good afternoon new students!".

  Emily turned to see a tall and broad looking man striding across the stage, his arms outstretched in welcome. He wore a deep blue suit that seemed to accentuate the silvery-grey hue of his hair and eyes. His thick, bushy eyebrows were drawn together and his slanted mouth set in what resembled a permanent frown, despite the fact he was trying his utmost to attempt a smile. His footsteps crashed across the smooth stage, reverberating all around the room as though a stampede of wild aliens were heading towards them.

  "Miss Fortem," he grunted as he addressed the gaggle of students. "You have brought us a fine, young bunch of children yet again. How lovely."

  He regarded them all with a strained look of delight.

  "My name is Admiral Allance," he nodded curtly, his hands folded neatly behind his back. “Welcome to The Space Academy."

  5.

  Alderin Class

  Standing shoulder to shoulder amongst the crowd of anxious first-years, Will waited with baited breath for the Admiral speak, certain that he had never laid eyes on a man who could command so much attention simply by being present. His mannerisms and general stature gave the distinct impression that he was someone to be taken seriously, and Will made a mental note to himself never to fall into the Admiral’s bad books if he could help it.

  “Now as you may be aware,” Allance continued, “I am your Headmaster here at the school.”

  There was a brief silence as he allowed for this information to sink in. Will wondered if he expected some sort of applause or congratulations for the announcement.

  "It is with great warmth that I welcome you all here. It’s our pleasure to receive such bright and wonderful students every year, all finely s
elected from the most suitable of backgrounds."

  He paused to stare at the ragged boy, who looked as though he wanted to jump through the glass wall and run away as fast as he could.

  "I will now ask you to take your seats," Allance requested, not taking his eyes off the boy. "In your first year, you must always sit in the front row. Our start of year assembly will be commencing shortly, in which further information will be given to you about the school. Please, be seated."

  Obediently, the first years trumped over to the midnight blue seats, shuffling around on the soft, spongey material as they got into a comfortable position. Will tried very hard to keep his expression neutral as Emily came to sit beside him and stared forwards with determination so as not reveal his pleasure. His efforts proved to be in vain, however, when Rudy wolf-whistled from further down the row as soon as Emily’s body made contact with the chair.

  Once everyone had settled, the older students began pouring into the Gathering Hall from opposite sides, flowing smoothly into the rows behind Will and the other first years. All the students were wearing the same uniform; a navy jumper emblazoned with a yellow emblem of the school logo and a pair of plain black trousers. Will drew his legs under his chair sharply as the fifth years passed him, making their way to their seats without giving the first-years a single cursory glance. He felt very small compared to some of them and his mind was abruptly filled with worrying visions of being trampled to death during the panicked rush between classes.

  “Hey sis,” came a cheerful voice from behind them. Will and Emily both turned to see an older boy with messy, brown hair grinning jubilantly at the pair of them. His cheeks were rosy with happiness and his familiar blue eyes glinted with mischief. He had a smattering of freckles across his nose which protruded slightly against his otherwise delicate features. Will recognised him immediately as Emily’s older brother, the resemblance between them unmistakeable.

  “Hello Charlie,” she beamed at him. “This is my friend Will.”

  She pointed towards Will, who grinned, pleased to have been introduced as a friend.

  “Nice to meet you, Will,” Charlie said with genuine enthusiasm. “You two better brace yourselves. The first day here is a bit mind blowing.”

  “Will thought you were winding me up about the aliens.” Emily laughed, then added uncertainly, “it was all true, what you told me, wasn’t it?”

  “Yeah,” Charlie replied ecstatically, “and there’s so much more than I can even explain. Just you wait!”

  He rubbed his hands together with glee, unable to control himself. Will was distracted by a procession of stern looking teachers entering the hall, but was soon forced to turn his attention back to Admiral Allance, who had raised his hand in the air pointedly. Slowly, the students began to copy his action and the excited racket of chatter died down from a buzz into a hum before falling silent.

  “Welcome, welcome all!” the Admiral bellowed. “I do hope you have all enjoyed your holidays and are now fully prepared to put your thinking caps on and study hard for another year.”

  Every word he spoke was enunciated with expert care, his voice travelling around the hall with ease. He walked across the stage as he spoke, looking students directly in the eye to capture their attention, his overwhelming presence spreading to every corner of the room.

  “Now, tradition dictates I must begin the welcome Assembly by addressing our wonderful new first-years. Let me start by saying that we hope you will be very happy and well looked after here. The Academy strives to provide each and every student with the best academic experience we can muster, but in order for you to properly thrive, I must explain a few things about our school that will help you to understand both what our aims are and what we have achieved thus far.

  “This will be the thirteenth year that The Space Academy has been up and running and we hope that it will be our best and most successful year to date. Our school was built at the same time as the Mayfly and was sent into Space a few days after The Split, latching on to the Mayfly’s gravitational field and orbiting from a safe distance. I won’t bore you too much with the physics though, as I must say I don’t really understand it myself!”

  He laughed a booming laugh. There were a few titters of courtesy from across the Hall.

  “What will we find when we reach Novum?” the Admiral asked rhetorically. Some of the students looked at each other in confusion, unsure whether they were expected to raise their hands and answer.

  “We cannot answer that question,” the Admiral clarified, “because nobody knows. What we do know, however, is that we will need to rebuild a civilisation from scratch. Here at the school, we intend to give you the skills you will need to help us rebirth humanity from the ashes. Of course, we also wish to share our knowledge with you about the many exciting things we discovered during our last years on Earth. From the most mind-blowing technologies to the in-depth study of aliens, we provide a curriculum that is as thrilling as it is comprehensive.

  “We offer many exciting extra-curricular activities here as well. Although we do not study literature, we have a large selection of downloadable I-Books in our library. We also have a virtual reality club, a camping club - which takes place in the Resources Biodome- an Earth Appreciation Society and a Rocket Racing team that students can try out for once they have their personal licence.”

  William’s whole body reverberated with excitement as he pictured himself as the next Pablo Pianthus, telling interviewers with delight that his successful career began when he joined the Rocket Racing team at The Space Academy.

  “Now onto the boring part,” Admiral Allance continued. “Of course, it goes without saying that there are rules here. These rules have been put into place not for our benefit, but for your protection. Therefore, I must ask that you listen carefully and heed what I am about to tell you. Firstly, no student must ever leave the school grounds without a chaperone. I must remind you of this, older students, for as you may recall we have had some rather grizzly incidents involving rocket hijacking,”

  “Two boys stole rockets and flew to the nearest moon,” Charlie whispered, sticking his head between Emily and Will. “They caught some weird Space sickness and turned purple. They’ve been in the Medic Ward on the Mayfly ever since.”

  “Secondly- “Admiral Allance boomed. “Students must not leave their bedrooms after curfew. The reason for this being that our Alien Studies teacher, Mr. Krecher,” he gestured to a shabby, stout man who was dressed head to toe in tweed, “takes some of the creatures out of the Alienary at night for exercise and hunting purposes. Though I can assure you that none of these aliens hunt students, it would be very unwise and foolish to cross paths with them during their one daily glimpse of freedom.”

  “The third and final most important rule is that no student enters the Resources Biodome without a teacher unless they are part of an authorised event. This rule has been created due to a very nasty situation in which a student entered the Biodome without proper guidance and has been lost in one of its unlimited settings ever since. “

  “There’s all these different settings,” Charlie explained in a hushed voice. “Rainforest, desert, tundra, etc, etc. There’s literally millions. They keep shuffling through them, hoping they’ll find him in one of the terrains, but no luck so far.”

  “That’s awful,” William whispered back.

  “Yeah,” Charlie agreed. “I mean there’ll be enough food and stuff for him to survive but could you imagine the boredom? There’s no technology in there. It’d be just him and … nature.” He shuddered.

  “Now that the serious part is out of the way, I am pleased that to announce that it is finally time for the long-awaited “back to school” lunch,” Admiral Allance projected.

  A few of the older students cheered.

  “Yes, yes,” he continued. “Our cooks have gone out of their way to once again produce a delicious meal to welcome you all back. I believe the menu is traditional shepherd’s pie with sticky toffee p
udding for desert.”

  An excited chorus of “yes!” echoed around the hall.

  “I must add that there will, of course, be vegetarian and vegan options for those that need them, although whether they will be as spectacular I personally could not say.”

  “Typical,” Emily rolled her eyes. “I’m a vegetarian. We always get left out.”

  “That said, I will not delay you from your taste-bud Heaven any longer,” Admiral Allance proclaimed. “First-years if you would like to stand up and make your way towards the Dining Hall,” he gestured towards the door.

  Will leapt to his feet with avid enthusiasm and followed the trail of first-years out of the Gathering Hall and back into the Reception Hall. They bounded past the eye-less statue with haste, the prospect of food bringing a new spring to their step as they rushed to sample the much-anticipated meal.

  They entered the Dining Hall, which was laid out like any normal canteen, with gleaming, silver picnic tables lined up in rows across the wide space. There was a serving station that spanned the length of the entire front wall, manned by shiny, white robots that whirred into life upon their entry and began rapidly producing plates full of sumptuous food from shutters behind them. When Will and Emily reached the station, the robots provided them with two steaming hot plates of shepherd’s pie and vegetables, the delightful aroma of the food causing Will’s stomach to gargle as he suddenly realised how hungry he was.

  “Please, enjoy your meal,” the robots said in unison.

  "Hmm," Emily said under her breath. "How do I get it to give me the vegetarian option?"