Jayden's Cybermountain

by Katrina Cope

“As you can see, the other students are practicing their kicks. They’re going to be doing more and more advanced kicks as the class progresses. However, I will have you learning only the basic kicks during the next few lessons. Now, the first basic kick is the front kick.” Avando demonstrated slowly with his good leg while describing the process of making the kick action. “You lift your knee up to waist height and flick the bottom half of your leg out quickly while leaning back a little. With flexed toes you push straight forward with the ball of your foot, which will connect to whatever you’re kicking.”

  Jayden tried to concentrate on doing the move correctly, just as Avando had shown him.

  “Good—very good.”

  Jayden wanted to get it right, so he did it over and over again. A loud thump startled him out of his deep concentration. He looked up. One of the students in the next line had fallen over on his side while trying to complete a jump turning roundhouse. The rest of the class burst into loud applause and cheered over the boy’s clumsy mistake. Once he managed to get back up again, he responded with a couple of little bows to the class for his clumsy performance.

  Avando chuckled as well. “Well done, James,” he said to the boy and then spoke to the rest of the class. “That’s the sign of someone who’s really trying. You don’t fall over doing these kicks unless you’re trying hard to get it right. Well done. Now—back to work, everyone.”

  It didn’t seem like much longer to Jayden before the class was over for the day. They all lined up and bowed to show their respect for the instructors.

  As the students moved off in different directions, Jayden stood watching everyone leave. He was waiting to ask Avando what came next. He saw the young instructor come toward him, smiling.

  “Hey, Jayden. How’s it going?” he asked. “I’m Aaron. You did really well for your first lesson.”

  Jayden didn’t know if Aaron was just being nice, or if he really meant it. He looked briefly down at his feet and then back to Aaron. Aaron’s brown eyes were kind. “Thanks, but you were awesome,” Jayden said. “If I could be half as good as you, I’d be doing well.”

  Aaron placed a hand on Jayden’s shoulder. “Don’t be hard on yourself. After a bit of practice, you’ll be nailing the moves. I’ve been doing it for a few years, and I’m totally addicted, so I practice more than the others,” he said. Instantly, Jayden liked Aaron.

  They started walking out of the room, heading toward the common room with Aaron leading the way.

  “We have a half-hour break to have a quick shower and get a snack,” Aaron said. “Do you know where the bathroom is?”

  Jayden nodded. “Yeah, We walked past it to get to my room.”

  “I’ll meet you there in a few minutes.”

  “Okay.” Jayden fetched his regular clothes and then went straight to the bathroom. He saw a hand scanner to the left of the door. This one wasn’t disguised as a rock. He placed his hand on the pad next to the boys’ bathroom to be scanned. The door opened, revealing an enormous bathroom, once again finished in pale marble. To the right were urinals and toilet cubicles and to the left were several shower stalls. It was all very impressive and of the same high quality as the rest of the building. Aaron was already in the center of the bathroom, waiting for him.

  “The towels are over here, in this cabinet.” He opened a huge, white cabinet to reveal large quantities of fresh bath towels, washcloths, soaps, and bottles of shampoo. “We can take a fresh one every time and when we’re finished with our clothes and dirty towels, we just drop them in this laundry chute.” He pointed out the chute.

  Once they had showered, they went down to the dining room that was already half filled with other residents of the Sanctum. The buffet again had an elaborate assortment of food—including muffins, biscuits, and scones, as well as fresh fruits for the health conscious—accompanied by hot chocolate, tea, soft drinks, and juices.

  In the middle of it all was a chubby boy who was stuffing his mouth directly from the serving platters of muffins and biscuits. The crumbs that didn’t quite make it into his mouth fell down his red T-shirt and back onto the serving platter.

  “Robert!” The voice screeched over the noise of the dining room. “How many times do I have to tell you not to do that? Your manners are disgusting, and everyone else is supposed to take food from those platters.” A slightly plump lady dusted her hands on her apron as she came out of the kitchen. Wisps of gray hair fell from her tight bun as she shook her head in disgust and disapproval. “By all means take some food, but put it on your own plate first.”

  The noise that usually fills a room of tweens and young teens fell silent, and all eyes turned toward Robert. He looked at the lady from the kitchen and his hazel eyes then gazed at all the other students staring at him. Shrugging his shoulders with an indifferent look, he began looking around for the nearest plate. He found a used one not far away. Undeterred that someone else had dirtied it, he picked it up and started grabbing food off the platters again. With his plate overflowing, he walked through the crowd and sat down at a table while continuing to stuff food into his mouth. Some of the people standing nearby ignored his lack of manners, while others looked repulsed—especially the girls.

  Jayden, of course, had seen far worse on the street, but Aaron turned to him and said, “It takes some people longer to put the street life behind them and learn manners than others. Aside from this piggish behavior, he’s a whiz at the computers and technology and has built some pretty awesome robots.”

  “What, by himself?” Jayden looked at Robert with new interest.

  “Yup. All students here start off the same. We’re expected to do well at everything, but you’ll find that each person has one particular subject that they excel in. Mine is Tae Kwon Do, and Robert’s is technology. He’s actually a nice kid, but he just hasn’t got acceptable table manners—yet.”

  They both took a plate and started filling it with food and poured themselves a mug of hot chocolate.

  “Let’s go and sit with Robert,” Aaron suggested.

  “Okay,” Jayden said with a shrug.

  They walked over and sat opposite Robert. He was finally starting to slow the rate of his eating when they arrived and was taking a gulp of cola.

  “Hey, Robert. This is a new student, Jayden,” Aaron said, introducing him.

  Robert turned his head to the side and let out a bellowing burp. “Oh,” he said. “That one almost came up.” He gave a little chuckle.

  Jayden had trouble hiding his disgust.

  “Hey,” Robert said, turning back to them. “Welcome to the picture-perfect sanctuary, where the building and views are magnificent, and the food is pretty much endless.” He smiled while saying this and extended his full arms out to his side as if to say, “Here it is!”

  Jayden didn’t have the chance to say hello before they were interrupted by the sound of a chair being pulled out from under their table. They turned in unison toward the noise.

  “Impressing the new kid with how streetwise you are, Robert? You’ve been here for three years now, and you still haven’t learned any manners,” chided the young lady as she sat down at the table.

  “Ah, dear Eva. As always, you have the sweet softness of a porcupine,” Robert responded.

  She ignored his witty comment and looked at Jayden. “Well, now you know my name. What’s yours?”

  Her eyes still looked sharp after reprimanding Robert, which made Jayden feel intimidated. He responded timidly, “Jayden.”

  “Welcome to the Sanctum. So, what do you think?” Her words were crisp.

  Her brisk manner wasn’t helping him relax. “Thanks,” he said, still somewhat unnerved by the direct interrogation of this unfamiliar girl. “It’s a lot different from what I’d expected when I decided to come here. I would’ve been happy with just comfortable surroundings, but this is mind-blowing—with all the comforts a homeless person would never expect.”

  Eva let out a laugh, which helped Jayden relax.


  “Isn’t it?” she agreed. “Now, you need to hurry and eat your food since the break is nearly over, and we all go to the ever-so-wonderful subject of math.” She seemed like she was being serious, and smiled as she said the word math as the others groaned. She sighed. “Oh, I love math—especially problem-solving. Chop, chop!” She tapped the table twice as she spoke the words, emphasizing her words.

  - Chapter Eight -

  The Task Ahead

  Eva, Robert, and Aaron walked with Jayden to their next class. They entered a room opposite the martial arts room, and this room was how Jayden remembered schoolrooms to be. Paper pictures, illustrations of math formulas, and diagrams were posted all around the room on the whitewashed walls. The room was large, with several individual desks lined up in rows and separated enough for an aisle between them. All the desks had plastic chairs and were faced toward the front. At the front of the room was a large board that could be used either as a whiteboard or a computer screen.

  Eva pointed to a large white cupboard on the far side of the room. “We need to go over there and get our books.”

  They grabbed the oversized textbooks and the math exercise books that they would need.

  Eva handed Jayden a new exercise book. “Here, this will be yours until it’s completed. We all use the same book, so put your name on it.”

  Once they divvied up all the books, the students went to the studying desks. They sat wherever they wanted and talked among themselves while they waited for the teacher to arrive.

  Eva sat next to Jayden. “So, where are you from?” she asked.

  “Bowdon.”

  “Wow. That’s far from here.” Her eyes scanned the room. “I don’t see any other new people. Did you come alone?”

  Jayden carefully studied Eva. Her manner was harsh and bossy, but something about her made him think that might not be her true nature. “No,” he said. “There were five of us, but the others had to detox first.”

  A strange expression flicked across her face. “Oh,” she said and briefly looked down. When she looked up again, her eyes seemed softer. “That’s nasty. I talked to a few of the other students who had to do that first. They said it was a nightmare to go through, but they said life is so much better now that they’re clean. Are you close to them?” Her voice had softened. Without an answer, she continued, “Probably not, or else you would’ve been in detox, too.”

  “Seriously Eva, you and your 101 questions,” Robert said, scolding her. “Leave the poor guy alone.” He was sitting on the chair in front of Jayden.

  Eva features hardened again as she gave Robert a disapproving look. “Just making him feel welcome and getting to know him,” she snapped.

  “I don’t mind, really,” Jayden told them both. “It’s a little strange, but it’s nice to have someone to talk to after so long.”

  He thought he saw Eva’s face soften again.

  The teacher entered the room, although it would’ve been easy to miss him. He was very short and wore a fitted, beige suit with a bowtie. He had a balding head and small, rectangular glasses perched on the end of his nose. Gazing over the glasses, he assessed everyone. “Good morning, students.”

  When he spoke, he had an extremely nasal voice that made Jayden want to laugh. While hiding his mouth with his hand, Jayden chuckled as he thought to himself, With a voice like that, a student wouldn’t run the slightest risk of falling asleep in his class. That’s probably why he’s such a good teacher.

  The teacher continued, “I hear that we have a new student joining us today. Jayden, where are you?”

  Jayden hesitantly raised his hand.

  “Ah, There you are.” He strolled toward Jayden while observing him over his glasses. “Welcome to the Sanctum. My name is Professor Bernard Kurze. If you have problems understanding anything let me know, and we’ll work closely together until you catch up.”

  Professor Kurze gazed at Eva. “I see that you’re sitting next to one of our best math students in history. Eva is more than capable of helping you, also. Isn’t that right, Eva?”

  “Of course, Professor Kurze,” Eva agreed while sitting up straight.

  Jayden endured a mind-bogglingly difficult math lesson for the next forty-five minutes. “I’m glad that’s over,” he said at the end with a sigh.

  Aaron accompanied him as they all stood and returned their books to the cupboard.

  “My head is spinning,” Jayden moaned. “I hope I can get to the level required to stay. This place is more than I’ve ever wished for, but needing to get top grades is scary, seeing that I haven’t been to school for about a year.”

  “Yeah,” Aaron agreed. “Math is definitely not my favorite subject, either. I find it so hard to concentrate, but we do get plenty of support so that we always get ninety or above. You should find it easier once you’re back into the groove of school and learning again.”

  They turned away from the cupboard and made their way through the groups of other students.

  “Where do we find out what lessons are next?”

  Eva had caught up with them and answered, “There’s a noticeboard outside the lab in the common room, but we’re together for each lesson, anyway. Our age group does a little of all the subjects, so we get a taste of what extras we want to do when we get older.”

  “So what’s next?” Jayden asked as they walked to the door.

  “Graphics!” Robert yelled, making Jayden jump.

  Jayden placed a hand on his chest in a gesture of trying to calm himself while peering over his shoulder at Robert. “Really? What’s that?”

  “Well.” Robert paused, clearly fighting to contain his enthusiasm. “At the moment,” he said as droplets of spit sprayed out of his mouth with obvious excitement, “we’re drafting the model that we’re about to put into action through a mixture of design technology, computer tech, and science.”

  Anxiety gripped Jayden. “That sounds really difficult.”

  “Oh, don’t sweat it. It’s not my favorite subject or specialty, either,” Eva said. She tilted her head toward Robert. “But with Mr. Excitable over here, it’s made so much easier. He may be a little unrefined, so to speak, but he’s a genius in this area. He has designed a spying, robotic, flying ladybug.”

  A flash of pride crossed Robert’s face despite the fact that she was also talking about his lack of manners.

  “Really?” Jayden asked, impressed. “What does it do?”

  “It’s the same idea as a ‘fly on a wall.” Robert’s gaze got distant as he described his invention. “You guide it by remote control to a particular area and it has video and audio transmitting devices.”

  “We actively use it now,” Eva said.

  “Awesome.” Jayden stared at Robert, adjusting his opinion about him.

  They left the math room and headed along the corridor to the graphics room. It was similar to the math room, but the tables were larger and taller, with high stools. This time they went to a similar cupboard to retrieve their sketching books and equipment, to enable them to draw a sketch of their future inventions. Once again, they all sat close to each other and Jayden looked as much as possible at what the others had already drawn—or drafted, to use the technical term he had recently learned.

  Eva had drafted a rose operated by remote control that could spray incense into the air from the center of the flower, giving the room a floral aroma. Aaron had drafted an automated dart thrower. When the button was pressed on the remote control, a dart would shoot out in a forward direction. However, this was all child’s play compared to what Robert was designing. He was drafting what looked like a small human being. It had an innocent-looking face, complete with eyes, a nose, and a mouth. It also had most of the other external features of a human, such as arms and hands with fingers and thumbs and feet with toes.

  When he saw the design, Jayden nearly fell off his chair. “Is that seriously what you’re planning to make?”

  “Yeah, of course. What else am I supposed to make?” asked R
obert, frowning at him.

  “Um, something a little easier, maybe?” responded Jayden while not taking his eyes off the drawing.

  Robert shrugged. “It may take me a little while, but this won’t be that hard.”

  “Really? I wish I could do something like that. It almost looks human,” Jayden said, eyeing it with envy. “I’ll be lucky to make anything that moves.”

  Aaron was listening to the conversation and added, “I wouldn’t put it past him to actually make it. He may have a few hits and misses, but he’ll get it to work eventually. Robert is really that good with robotics and technology. That’s why he got so excited before—he’s a madman when it comes to this stuff.”

  All the chatter in the classroom fell silent as a thin lady walked into the room. If it weren’t for her extraordinary height, Jayden would’ve taken her for a mouse, with her thin, pointy nose, thin cheeks, and protruding, dark eyes. The color of her hair didn’t help either—it was mousy brown.

  “Good morning, class,” she greeted them as she walked in. She looked around the class until her eyes fell upon Jayden. “There you are, Jayden. I heard you’d be joining us today. I’m Professor Schnell. I see that you already have the best student of the class sitting next to you, so between Robert and myself you should be able to get the best instruction.” She smiled at him briefly and turned to the class without waiting for him to respond. “Right, class—proceed with drafting your inventions.”

  The class put their heads down and started to work on their designs.

  Professor Schnell asked, “Do you have any idea what you’d like to invent, Jayden?”

  “Right now, I’d be happy if I could invent a dot using a pencil, let alone inventing something that’d have a purpose or a function,” he said, chortling nervously.

  She smiled. “Don’t worry about it. Just think about something simple but effective that might make the world a better place. For example, Eva’s rose that sprays a fragrance isn’t complex, but it’s still a handy invention, which will improve things like, say…the odor in a bathroom. I don’t expect miracles from you on your first day. Just sit and do some thinking. You ’re welcome also to walk around the room and look at what other students are drafting.”