by DuBoff, Amy
“Our best regards to the bride and groom.” The Priest ended the transmission.
CHAPTER 20
Saera stood in the center testing chamber for her Course Rank exam, her chest tight with anticipation. Wil had assured her the test would be easy, but it was too important an event for her to not feel the pressure.
She gazed up at the window to the observation room and saw Wil watching alongside Banks. “I’m ready,” she told them.
Banks nodded, and a buzzer sounded—starting a one-minute timer for the first phase of the exam. Saera would need to dispatch as many simulated enemies as possible within the time allotted.
Geometric holograms representing enemies appeared around her. She knocked aside the first wave of ten opponents with a series of airborne kicks.
Landing lightly on her feet, she centered her mind to generate a spatial distortion while the second wave of twenty materialized. Hovering on the edge of subspace, time appeared to halt. She lunged forward toward the next wave of opponents, kicking and punching them aside. Each opponent fractured as it was dealt a blow. When the last opponent vanished, she pulled back into a normal state.
Six seconds had elapsed on the exam clock. Saera was about to reinitiate a spatial distortion, but the third wave of opponents materialized more quickly than she anticipated. Damn it. She had no choice but to punch and kick her way through the third wave while the seconds on the clock ticked down.
The moment she vanquished the final opponent, she hurriedly reestablished the spatial distortion. The next wave was already forming—ready to engage her in a melee assault. However, within the spatial distortion, Saera was far faster than the enemy. They didn’t stand a chance.
She returned to a normal state to trigger the fifth wave. But, she misjudged the timing—there was no way for her to establish a spatial distortion between every wave. With the new wave of fifty enemies closing in, she oriented to take on an opponent to her left. As she turned, something struck her from behind.
Almost losing her footing, Saera spun to attack the opponent behind her. She leaped into the air, simultaneously kicking both opponents. With a surge of energy, she flipped down the line of opponents surrounding her. The holographs shattered with each blow, precise hits taking out multiple opponents at the same time. But, the clock was against her. Three holograms remained when a harsh buzzer sounded. The remaining opponents dissolved and the lights restored to full illumination. Her minute was up.
“One-hundred-forty-seven,” Banks announced over the intercom.
Saera nodded. It was a respectable showing—at least twice what a soon-to-be-Agent would be able to achieve without “stopping time.” If only she could achieve the state as quickly as she’d like. Even still, being able to do it at all was a rarity. At least I know where I can improve.
“The next stage will begin momentarily,” Banks stated over the speaker.
A low tone sounded as the lights dimmed again. Red holographic boxes—representing enemy targets—appeared around the room at varying heights, with some alone and others in groups. Blue boxes—representing friendly units—were interspersed among the red. Saera smiled to herself. Wil had been over similar training exercises with her countless times.
She quickly conjured a telekinetic spire and shot it toward the first dozen red boxes. The holograms exploded and vanished as each was hit. When the first set was eliminated, new boxes appeared and began to shift around the room, overlapping and changing heights as they swirled around Saera. She honed in on the red boxes, weaving her telekinetic spires around the blue obstacles.
The test picked up speed, and she threw out the spires two at a time to keep up. For each, she waited until she had a clear line of sight before sending the attack—taking advantage of the minute moments where she had an open shot. She adjusted her aim, turning and throwing spires. Soon, the blue boxes greatly outnumbered the red. Without breaking concentration, she dispatched the remaining red cubes. All one-hundred targets were eliminated.
A wave of excitement washed over Saera when the last red box exploded. She looked up at the timer and saw that just under two minutes had passed. By no means a record, but well within expected parameters.
“Good,” Banks said over the intercom. “Are you ready for the next stage?”
“Yes,” Saera affirmed. I think. Her stomach knotted. The next stage was the only part that had given Wil difficulty in his exam. He never said it outright, but she knew he was disappointed that he wasn’t able to complete the maze without any missteps.
There was no time to dwell. The lights extinguished completely, leaving Saera in blackness. She closed her eyes, taking a slow breath to settle her heart rate.
An energy pulse called her attention to her right side—the starting point to an invisible maze. She sensed her way to the precise location through the darkness. A warm energy glow enveloped her as she reached the destination. She stretched out her arms straight forward. Tendrils curled around her forearms, fusing artificial wings up to her elbows. She tested the movement of the lightweight material, finding it easy to maneuver. However, she knew manipulating the wings wasn’t enough on its own. She needed to sense their presence in space—make them a true extension of herself.
A wave of energy rippled through the room as the invisible maze activated in the darkness. Saera’s skin tingled, sending a shiver down her back. She stood still, trying to sense the exact position of the maze walls. There would be just enough clearance for her to traverse the maze with her artificial wings stretched out to either side, keeping the wings perfectly level to travel through a channel that granted only three centimeters of variance in the vertical position. Her telekinetic senses would be pushed to their limits.
She stepped to the start of the maze, focusing on what she felt around herself. An electrical hum emanating from the walls filled her mind and she constructed a mental map of the maze. With her arms outstretched, she stepped forward and carefully kept the wings within the narrow channel along the walls at her shoulder height. The vertical clearance in the channel shrank with every bend in the maze, until soon the space for the wings to pass through was barely a centimeter in height.
Perspiration formed on Saera’s brow, her arms aching from being outstretch for so long. She blocked out the pain and focused on the path ahead, unwilling to give up. The maze was clear in her mind—her course to the target at the edge of her consciousness.
The maze took a sharp turn to the right, and she quickly adjusted her stance to keep her arms outstretched in the right position.
She went around three more bends before she felt a new energy presence in the distance, drawing her in. She made her way toward it, careful to keep her arms outstretched despite the burn. The energy surrounded her in a warm glow.
A high chime sounded and the lights restored. Without warning, the artificial wings vanished into holographic dust around her arms. Did I do it?
The intercom clicked on. “You completed the maze.”
Saera’s heart leaped. Based on everything she’d heard, there was an extremely low completion rate—less than two percent. Even Wil hadn’t succeeded. “Really?”
Wil crossed his arms, looking a little miffed next to Banks. Saera gave him a bashful grin and he softened.
“We’ll proceed to the fourth stage whenever you’re ready,” the High Commander said.
“Okay.” Saera shook out her arms and stretched her fingers. The burn began to subside. After a couple minutes, she returned her attention to the observation window. Time for the Command test. “I’m ready.”
The lights in the testing chamber dimmed as a holographic starscape appeared. At the center of the starscape was a large planet, nearly touching the floor and ceiling. Two moons circled the planet, and a sun floated in the distance on the other side of the room. After five seconds, ships appeared in orbit of the central planet, each surrounded by a blue glow. Two seconds later, red dots appeared on the surface of the planet and in orbit, representing enemy
assets of various sorts. Almost out of view around the curvature of the planet, a particularly large red dot glowed on the surface.
“Capture the enemy base,” Banks said over the intercom.
Saera studied the planet. Where—
Missiles launched from the surface toward Saera’s ships. Without a clear plan, she jumped into action, running to activate her units orbiting the planet. To buy time while she got her bearings, she raised the shields and initiated intermittent return fire that would provide cover without draining the weapon charges.
She took a step back to evaluate the planet. Rotating the view with her hands, she tried to get a better vantage of the large red spot in the southern hemisphere. Multiple units were clustered together in one menacing mass. At its center was a deep space cannon and a fortified compound filled with ground troops.
Saera ordered her carrier to wait behind the second moon, out sight from the deep space cannon and away from the immediate danger of close combat. She then turned her attention to configuring an attack force to take on the enemy cluster. The tight spacing was to her advantage, but all of the units were shielded. It would take a good portion of her firepower just to break through the outer shield, let alone the interior fortifications. Guess I don’t have a choice.
Taking manual control of her ships in orbit, Saera redirected her fleet to the back side of the planet and opened fire with all vessels. The shields on the base below didn’t budge. I need more power. There has to be a trick.
As she started to review her fleet manifest, Saera suddenly noticed a tiny red spot on the first moon. She returned her main fleet to an automated barrage and ran over to investigate.
The small dot seemed like nothing at first, but Saera zoomed in on the image. It was a small surface port with several shuttles docked along a concourse, connected to a domed shelter. Her brow furrowed, trying to make sense of the structure. It seemed familiar.
Five agonizing seconds passed as her ships in orbit of the planet were bombarded by enemy defensive fire.
Wait, that other compound on the planet isn’t the base! The shelter on the moon was so familiar because it was a miniature version of the spaceport for TSS Headquarters, containing the elevator down into the moon. Almost defenseless aside from one central elevator shaft. One way in, one way out.
In an instant, Saera refocused her attack on the real target behind the moon. The units on the planet weren’t able to mobilize as quickly as her ships already in orbit, giving her a narrow window of advantage for her attack.
The first blows to the moon base stunned the few enemy units guarding the exterior of the base, but the shields held. While in transit, one of Saera’s ships exploded under the fire of the deep space cannon on the planet, but she was able to fan out her other ships to avoid damage from the resulting fireball that was quickly extinguished in the simulated vacuum.
Slowly, the shields on the moon base began to weaken. The enemy units from the planet were launching. She didn’t have much time left before her forces would be pinned between two enemy fronts.
Saera directed the ships in for the final assault—bombarding the remaining shields. Five percent… Three percent… With an explosion, the shield collapsed.
All that remained was capturing the facility. Saera tapped on her carrier to deploy ground troops at the base. Zooming in on the ground unit controls, she activated a specialist to crack the security code on the elevator. A progress bar appeared while the crack was in progress, proceeding agonizingly slow. Troops from the planet were closing in. If they didn’t get into the elevator in time—
The progress bar flashed “complete.” Without hesitation, Saera directed her ground units into the elevator. The red glow on the base extinguished, replaced by blue.
Lights in the chamber returned to full brightness as the holograph dissolved. Saera breathed a sigh of relief. Success!
The intercom clicked on. “Well done,” Banks said. “You had a fifteen percent casualty rating, only marginally above the fourteen percent estimated minimum for this scenario.”
“Thank you, sir,” Saera replied. Achieving the absolute minimum would have been ideal, but that was calculated based on efficiency gained through countless computer models. She knew the result was far better than usual under the circumstances.
Up in the window, Wil gave her a proud nod. She smiled up at him, filled with relief and pride. The main examination was over—she was about to become an Agent. Just one more measurement remained to determine her rank.
“Are you ready for the final test?” Banks asked.
Saera took a deep breath. Facing the testing sphere was daunting, though curiosity was keeping her nerves at bay. What’s my limit? “Yes.”
A tile in the floor slid to the side, revealing a golden sphere atop a pedestal that rose to waist height. Standing so close to it, anxiety set in. Wil broke the sphere in his test.
“Begin when you’re ready,” Banks said over the intercom.
Saera placed a hand on either side of the sphere. A cool static charge leaped between her fingertips and the shiny surface. She concentrated on the presence of the sphere, closing her eyes.
As she started to focus energy into the object, the sphere warmed between her hands, glowing with golden light. She reached, pushing herself further than she thought she could go. Somewhere ahead, there was a limit, but it wasn’t yet in sight.
She extended herself further, gathering the energy within her grasp and funneling it into the sphere. Never before had she felt so free and exhilarated—no requirements of control, just an open conduit on the edge of a new level of existence.
And then, she felt it. A wall closing in on her. She wanted to push further—to continue exploring the unseen world that was just beyond her grasp. Yet, she couldn’t get through. She was at her limit.
Sadness filled her. There was so much she would never know—everything that laid beyond the unseen barrier holding her back. The only way to go was down.
* * *
Wil watched Saera release her hold on the sphere, an aura of energy still around her. She dropped to her knees, tears rolling down her cheeks.
He took a step toward the door, wanting to go to her and offer comfort.
Banks held up his hand to stop him. “She’ll be fine. It’s normal to be drained after this part of the exam.”
She’s crying… He bit back a protest. “How did she score?”
Banks evaluated the final data from the testing sphere on the touchscreen monitor. “9.4,” he read off. “That’s more than half a point above her estimated potential.”
And her estimate of 8.8 would have been impressive as it was. She’s definitely going to stand out even more now. “I wonder how much her bond with me contributed to the higher rating,” Wil pondered.
“A significant factor, no doubt,” Banks replied. “Either way, it confirms her Command placement.”
“Yes, it does.”
Banks smiled. “Well, I’ll let you two go celebrate.”
“What about graduation?” Wil asked.
“We’re mid-year. She can walk in four months with the others, if she wants to.”
Wil nodded. “Let’s file the results now and make it official. I’ll put in the request for her new uniform.”
“It should all be final by tomorrow. Let’s hope your men have similarly impressive results.”
“Hopefully.” Wil left the observation room and jogged down the stairs to retrieve Saera from the testing chamber. She was still on her knees when he opened the door.
She glanced over her shoulder at him and started to rise.
“Are you okay?” he asked, rushing over to her.
“Yeah. I just feel kind of… empty now.” She straightened, taking a wide, stable stance.
“I know what that’s like. To taste the power and then need to turn away.”
“It was so strange to hit a wall like that. I wanted to go further but just couldn’t,” Saera said.
Wil p
ulled her in for a hug. “Well, all things considered, your limit is well above the ceiling for most.”
Saera looked up at him. “How’d I do?”
“9.4.”
Her eyes widened. “That high?”
“It’s the third-highest CR on record.”
“Wow.” Saera let out a slow breath.
“And you got top marks on all the other stages. Three and Four were especially impressive.”
Saera grinned. “Thanks.”
Wil took her hand, a swell of pride in his chest to have her as his partner. “Congratulations. You’re an Agent now.”
CHAPTER 21
“Do you prefer ‘Effervescent Bloom’ or ‘Alatrician Violet’?” Saera asked Wil, looking up from the wedding catalog. Frankly, she couldn’t identify a difference between the two hues.
“Whatever you prefer,” Wil replied in the same way as he had for her barrage of previous questions.
Saera examined the color swatches again. “The Alatrician Violet, I guess.”
“Great.”
“Did you even look?” Saera asked.
Wil glanced up from his desk on the other side of the room. “They’re practically the same shade. If that’s what you had it narrowed down to, go with whichever.”
“The accent color will set the tone for everything. I don’t want it to clash.”
“It’s a garden. It’ll be fine.”
“But—”
“Saera, I really don’t care. Pick whichever you want.”
“What do you mean you ‘don’t care’? You have to have some opinion on the matter.”
“I like the Alatrician Violet more, too.”
Saera evaluated him. “Are you just saying that now to please me?”
“If I was, it doesn’t seem to be working.”
“Ah, okay. I see how it is.”
Wil raised an eyebrow. “Are we seriously bickering over this?”
“Well, I can’t read your mind.” Saera caught herself. “Okay, I could, but—”
“Deep breath.” Wil rose from his chair and came over to Saera. “I think you’re obsessing over this a little too much.”