Beta Planet: Rise

by Dayton Grey

  Stop thinking about CARE and focus on the important things, Geon. The time trials.

  After class, Helano approached Geon and put his hand on the side of Geon’s shoulder, his face in the usual position, lips puckered and eyebrows raised high.

  “Theñor Geon! It hath come to my attention that you might need thom help with Energy/Harneth clath. I am a good friend of your thithter Theñora Allea, and thuth, I am now a good friend of you. Pleathe allow me to offer my thervitheth to you! I can help you get caught up with all the materialth. How doeth that thound to you?”

  Geon was gracious for the help but also slightly humiliated that he needed the assistance.

  “Oh uhm, thank you… Señor… Helano. I really appreciate that, and, let me think about it. But yeah, I could use a bit of help.”

  Helano nodded and smiled, lips pursed tightly and his face looking very proud. “Thith is great newth, Theñor Geon. Let uth thync thoon!”

  They parted ways and Geon headed to his next period. The rest of the day dragged on as Geon counted down the hours and minutes to the trials. When the time finally came, Allea, Kumuki, Vaya, Bonsi, Vilu, Helano, and many other students came to watch and cheer them on. Just before Geon went in the changing room, Allea grabbed him and said with a concerned smile, “G, be careful out there. But don’t let yourself feel inferior to anyone out here. Ever since you were young you always were a star, and I want you to shine today!”

  “Okay, Ally. I’ll do my best.”

  They suited up and began their warm-up routines… swimming, diving, and basic maneuvers on their boards. Geon noticed that Sabien looked unusually focused and wasted no time with banter or wisecracks. When they were all ready to begin, the surfers all lined up at the start of the track behind a holographic start line. There were thirteen of them total. Geon felt his heart beating quickly and his stomach felt queasy and nauseous.

  “All right everyone! Three laps, time trial! Racers ready?” Coach Aquila squealed from the sides. Everyone nodded and suddenly a large numerical image popped up in front of them, counting down the seconds to the start of the race slowly and gradually changing colors from red to green with each second.

  Ten. Geon’s heart raced, and he felt nervous, anxious, breathing too fast.

  Nine. Breathe slower. He looked over to Sabien next to him, who looked back with a single nod down.

  Eight. He glanced left and saw Allea, hands covering her mouth and holding her breath. Breathe slower.

  Seven. Calm yourself. He closed his eyes and pictured the ocean, waves crashing against the shore.

  Six. Deep breaths in. Heartbeat slowing.

  Five. Eyes still closed, seeing family smiling.

  Four. Deep breath in, world around him frozen.

  Three. Eyes open, squat down, grit teeth, clench fists.

  Two. Breathe in, breathe out, focus, balance, speed, courage.

  One. This is your moment.

  With a loud BEEP, the line and numerical image in front of them shattered into tiny pixels and disappeared, and with a sudden jerk, the racers were off. The boards made a low hum as they accelerated away expelling water out of the bottom of them. Sabien and Shiv both jumped out in front and in his own haste and excitement, Geon immediately lurched to his left and into another surfer before stabilizing his board and centering his course. He was already behind the rest of the pack.

  C’mon, Geon. You have nothing to lose.

  Focusing on only the course ahead of him and carefully planning out each move, he was able to slowly gain on the rest of the surfers. They zoomed around the waterways, avoiding the jumps and tricks, trying only to get to the end the fastest. Geon kept his body low and close to the water, arms extended out from his sides for balance, and his head and body crouched down for aerodynamics. As each turn approached he talked himself through them.

  Left turn coming. Then right. Then right again. Then left.

  As he approached each turn he anticipated the movement of his board and leaned into the direction he wanted to go before even transitioning his feet to make the move. Coach Aquila would pop into his speakers every ten seconds or so, shrieking commands to the riders.

  “You guys look really sloppy out there! Give each other space! Make better turns! Lanae that was terrible execution! Quian get lower! Sabien… Shiv… not bad. Keep it up. You in the back! Geno! What are you doing? Stay out of the way!”

  Forget him. Just keep going.

  Trying to keep a balance between speed, weight distribution, and turns, Geon carved the water as close to the bank’s edge as he could, finally catching up to the three riders in the back just as they were approaching the end of the first lap. With a burst of speed, he shot past them and into the middle of the pack, where the bulk of the riders were.

  Stay focused, Geon. Four laps to go. Sharp right turn ahead. Long left turn next. Then left. Then right.

  The rest of the world slowly began to fade away, as the sounds from the stands, Coach Aquila, and the jetboards became background noise. Geon went into a state of hyper focus, thinking only of the track ahead and his speed and balance, talking himself through every motion. Halfway through the second lap, Geon could see on his display that he was in seventh place, and gaining slowly on the sixth and fifth place riders.

  Geon noticed there was a commotion in the three and four position riders ahead of him. They were board-to-board coming around a turn and it looked like one of the riders nudged the other one, or that the rider fell into the other one. As a result, both riders’ boards hit each other and were violently twisted around, sending one rider directly into the water on the side, and the other rider hurtling toward the water right in front of Geon. Riders five and six were on either side of Geon, and he could see that he was caught in the middle and right on a collision path. The two riders next to him each attempted to swerve outward to get out of the way.

  We’re moving too fast, Geon thought. It’s too late!

  CRACK! CRACK! Surfers five and six hit the twisting board with their own boards sending their contorted bodies face first into the water. There were only milliseconds before Geon would impact them as well.

  Remember your training, he told himself, slowing his heart rate and clenching his body. As onlookers gasped, Geon quickly and forcefully pushed down into the water with his legs, and just as he was about to run into the tangled collision of riders and boards, he pushed upward and out of the water, sailing right over them with the sounds of the bottom of his board scraping another board in the air just before he landed.

  Use the momentum, Geon. Land and go!

  With a soft landing, Geon stabilized himself and shot forward again, now in third place, not far behind Sabien and Shiv.

  “Geon, what in the world did you do back there?” Sabien asked in his speaker. “All I saw was that you shot from seventh to third in a nanosecond!”

  “Sabien, watch the replay later and just make sure you beat Shiv.” Geon could see Sabien was in first place by about ten meters. All he had to do now was hang on and finish the race in third place and watch Sabien take first.

  It would be nice to catch up to Shiv, though, now that half of the riders had been eliminated from the top positions. That would teach him to keep his mouth closed.

  As they made the turns and flew across the start line signaling their last lap, Geon began to gain on Shiv. He was still too far to catch up to him in time, but close enough that Shiv noticed that Geon was just behind him. Instead of focusing on his own course and trying to catch up to Sabien, Shiv suddenly slowed down, allowing Geon to pull up right next to him.

  Something’s not right, Geon thought. That was too easy. Sensing danger, Geon tried to distance himself away from Shiv, but Shiv saw this and slowly began to close in on Geon, forcing him closer and closer to the edge of the waterway. Geon struggled to stay upright, as his board bounced around the choppier water that rebounded off the bank of land next to the water.

  What’s going on? He’s trying to force me off
the track!

  Seeing his path become tighter and tighter in front of him, Geon began to panic. He had to make a quick decision to either slow down, or possibly be hurt by hitting the bank on the side of the waterway. He looked over at Shiv to the right who was looking right at Geon, a sinister smile on his face.

  Shiv shouted out so that only Geon could hear him, “Welcome to the big leagues, rookie!” Shiv put his left arm across his chest and released it, shoving Geon within inches of the side.

  “Back off, Shiv!” Geon yelled hopelessly, but it was to no avail. Shiv approached again putting his arm up once more. Just as he was about to hit Geon again, Sabien made a furious turn, slicing the water around him and flying toward Shiv.

  “Sabien, NO!” Geon yelled, but it was too late. Sabien launched himself in the path of Shiv, who didn’t see Sabien until the last moment. Geon could see Shiv’s eyes go wide with fear as he turned forward and saw Sabien coming at him. Sabien crouched down and hit Shiv with his shoulder, colliding from a perpendicular angle. Geon could hear the collision of bodies and boards hitting the water as he accelerated back to the middle of the course.

  “SABIEN, CAN YOU HEAR ME?” Geon yelled over his mic. “WHY DID YOU DO THAT?”

  “Geon, don’t worry, I have this handled,” Sabien said as he righted himself and headed toward Geon. “Shiv is behind me and it’s just you and the finish line, brother!”

  Geon saw that the finish line was only feet ahead of him and he couldn’t stop himself from hitting it even if he wanted to, but he yelled out regardless, “Sabien, come quick and take first! I’ll wait for you!”

  Sabien responded over the speaker with a laugh, “Geon, no. This one is all yours.”

  As Geon crossed the line he was filled with emotion and gratitude for what Sabien had done.

  I know how much this means to Sabien to be first, so to sacrifice himself for me is unbelievable. I’ve never felt so much compassion from others before.

  Sabien crossed the line only moments behind him and Shiv and the others soon behind Sabien. Geon could finally hear the roar of the students from the stands and smiled as Sabien rode up next to him and patted him on his head.

  “Welcome to JetSurfing, G. Just another day on the water, eh?”

  Geon shook his head from side to side in amazement and shock from the race. The other riders came to a slow stop near them and many congratulated him and Sabien for their performance. He and Sabien turned to look at Shiv who was quickly dismounting from his board and furiously scrambling out of the water, his face flushed with anger. Geon kept quiet but Sabien, never missing an opportunity to be heard, yelled out to him, “Hey, Shiv. Maybe it’s time to hang that board up for good, huh?”

  Shiv turned to look at him, his eyes bulging, breathing quickly and heavily, and his teeth gritted tightly. Throwing his board down on the ground, he yelled out to them, “IF YOU EVER TRY THAT AGAIN ON ME, I’LL… YOU’LL… YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO I AM. I’LL MAKE SURE YOU NEVER… MY FATHER WORKS FOR CARE!”

  A few of the students around him reacted with startled whispers. Geon, too, was taken aback from Shiv’s comment. He looked over to Sabien who hadn’t changed his expression, but suddenly seemed retracted and uneasy.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Sabien responded more quietly as Shiv turned and stomped away. “We’ve all heard that before.” He turned to look at Geon and said, quietly trailing off at the end, “Don’t worry about that, G. It’s all propaganda, I’m sure.”

  The two of them headed over to the side where Coach was standing and waiting for them, his arms crossed and a displeased look on his face.

  “Sabien, that was reckless driving out there,” he squeaked. “You should have finished in pole position, and your poor maneuvering got in the way of Shiv. I’m not happy.”

  Sabien became instantly enraged but tried to control his emotions. “I got in the way, of Shiv? Coach, didn’t you even see what happened out there? Shiv was trying to—”

  “ENOUGH, Sabien,” Coach Aquila screeched, throwing his arms into the air. “Just, ENOUGH! I saw you lose control and run into another rider, that’s what I saw!”

  Sabien, knowing he was unable to control himself, shook his head and mumbled “Oh my God.” As he took a few steps away from them and turned to walk away. Geon turned to follow but Coach Aquila called out to him.

  “Hey, Geno, you’ve got a lot to learn out there. And you only placed because the rest of the field took themselves out. I just want you to know that. But regardless, a half-decent performance for a rookie. Welcome to the team.”

  That’s quite a backhanded compliment. He didn’t care though. Hearing those words was reward enough for him. He gave coach a forced half-smile and a nod and turned to Sabien again.

  He couldn’t get over the act of kindness and courage that Sabien displayed on the waterways. Through all of his bravado and big-talk, Sabien is really just a good brother with a big heart. He smiled at Sabien and gave him a back-five as they began walking away.

  “Some day, huh, bro?” Geon remarked, now displaying a wider grin.

  “All right, Geon, I see that smile,” Sabien smirked. “Don’t get your ego inflated. Remember I’m still top dog around these waterways. And tomorrow at the competition, you’ll see and experience it firsthand!”

  Geon laughed quietly to himself. That’s the Sabien I know.

  “Oh, one more thing, Coach,” Sabien said, turning back once more to face Rin Aquila. “His name… is Geon.”

  Chapter 9

  The next morning was Saturday, the only break-day in the week, with no school until the day after. It was also the day of the first JetSurf competition. Geon woke up feeling sore but pleased with himself from the trials. He felt nervous about the competition later that day and hoped that he could make everyone proud of him. He also felt very grateful to Sabien for what he had done and hoped that he had a chance one day to repay him for the favor.

  “Sabe,” Geon said in the bathroom, his mouth full of oralgel. “About yesterday… I just wanted to say—”

  “SAY NO MORE, G!” Sabien shouted from inside the steamjet. “YOU’RE MY LITTLE BROTHER AND I, SABIEN JABARI, TAKE CARE OF MY OWN!”

  “Well, either way. Sabe, thanks.”

  “WHAT’S THAT?”

  “I said thanks, Sabe.”

  “SPEAK UP, G, I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”

  “I SAID THANKS! THANKS, SABE!”

  “HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME, G! JUST WANTED TO HEAR IT AGAIN!”

  Geon laughed and soon after they were joined by Kumuki, who sleepily and slowly made his way around the bathroom.

  “Morning, Kumuki! How’d you sleep?”

  “Hey, G. Still tired,” Kumuki mumbled as he walked to one section of the bathroom and stopped and stared as if he forgot what he came there for and then walked to another section and did the same thing all over again.

  “Well I’m sure after your steamjet you’ll feel a bit better.”

  Kumuki nodded and proceeded to pour oralgel into his mouth and close his eyes for a quick standing-nap.

  At breakfast, Mama V sat down with the four of them and they recapped the JetSurf time trials for her. Allea pulled up holographic video footage of the race that she had recorded on her LifeCuff, showing them exactly what Shiv tried to do and how Sabien saved him. Seeing the events again enraged both Sabien and Mama V and soon they both became worked up into an incomprehensible, dueling frenzy.

  “DIS IS AN OUTRAGE! I HAVE HALF A MIND TO GO AND SPEAK VIT YOUR HEADMAN MISTER ULIE! THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! Geon baby, are you okay? Do you need something? Mama V here for you okay? I AM SO ANGRY! THEY TRY TO HURT MY BABY BOY! MAMA V GONNA HURT DEM!”

  She slammed her large fist down on the table with a boom, shaking all the plates and containers around.

  “You tell them, Mama V,” Sabien jumped in, his own fists clenched as he paced around in a small circle. “Seeing this again brings all the memories back! That Shiv, he… he… I’m gonna, ohhh, I’m gonna—”

&nb
sp; “NOW YOU NOT GONNA DO NOTHING, SABIEN DEAR,” Mama V yelled, grabbing Sabien by the shirt and pulling him back down to his chair. “THIS IS MAMA V’S JOB NOW! Kumuki dear, please bring Mama V some vater, okay? Now where does this boy Shiv live? Perhaps I have to go down and pay this little boy a little visit?”

  “No, Mama V!” Kumuki cried out. “You can’t go there! Shiv’s dad is a member of CARE!”

  The room went quiet. Mama V stopped yelling and moving and became eerily serious. She looked directly at Kumuki and spoke very softly, her eyes unblinking.

  “Excuse me, Kumuki Qvinn? You vant to say dat again? Mama V’s hearing not so good like it used to be. Speak up now, so Mama V can hear you.”

  She leaned in a little and turned her head slightly to the side, pointing her ear at Kumuki, who looked suddenly terrified as he sank down in his chair and quietly mumbled. “Ummm, Shiv. His… d-d-dad… is a, uhm, a CARE member… I think.”

  Mama V responded even more softly this time, now with a strange, crazed look in her eyes and a slight smile on her face. “His dad, you say… is a member, of CARE? A member… of CARE? OF CARE YOU SAY? CARE!”

  Mama V was now screaming uncontrollably and breathlessly, her eyes bulging from her face.

  Geon leaned in toward Allea and softly whispered, “Is every morning like this in this house?”

  She smirked and responded, looking up from her LifeCuff, “Yep. Pretty much. Though the addition of you in our home has certainly been a catalyst here, raising the insanity level from ridiculous to preposterous.”

  “CARE? CARE! HOW DARE THEY SEND DIS BOY… DIS SHIV, TO HURT MY SVEET GEON! THIS IS SOME KIND OF CONSPIRACY I THINK! MAMA V GONNA PUT THE HURT ON SOMEONE! SABIEN VAT YOU THINK?”

  “Mama V this is definitely the work of some unearthly beings. Probably aliens! Maybe dinosaurs! Wait, no, I meant… probably some kind of—”