Induction

College: I got bored and skipped the birthday.

Osiris looked around himself as the huge amphitheatre started to fill with students. Feeling the familiar vibration coming from his wrist, he unconsciously pulled the earpiece from its band and secured it in his ear. It wasn’t long until he heard the friendly automated voice addressing him.

“Creek, Osiris. Please make your way to Beta Quadrant, your seat number is seventy four.” The voice said before asking for acknowledgement. Osiris tapped a button on his wristband and started to make his way to one of the nearby staircases. Everybody seemed to think. Looking at all the screens illuminated above, he couldn’t see any signs indicating where his section was. Frowning momentarily, Osiris approached another student and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Excuse me?”The other student turned around and looked Osiris up and down before turning back to his friends. Osiris was a little taken aback and remained standing there in confusion for a few moments. “I just wanted to ask you a question.” Osiris attempted again. This time it was one of the other students that turned to him. “You’re not that bright are you? This is the Alpha quadrant and you’re not welcome here. Go to your designated area.”

Osiris stared back at him, “It might help if you told me where that designated area was?” The student snorted as he turned to his friends, “This one won’t last too long.” Osiris was becoming aggravated by the student’s attitude. “What’s your name?” he asked as he turned to leave. The obnoxious boy grinned, “You’ll find out soon enough.”

It was at that moment that an attendant arrived beside them, “Are you having any trouble finding your designated area?” The obnoxious boy smiled warmly, “No Sir, we’re just having a talk. I was just telling him where to go, can’t have the first years milling around in confusion, can we?”

The man smiled in return and readjusted the rounded glasses he wore, “Cut your bullshit Thornton and get back to your bench. Mr Creek, I’ll show you to your seat.”

Thornton whirled around to regard Osiris, completely ignoring the harsh statement by the attendant. “You’re Creek? Oh this just gets even more interesting.”

“I’m not going to tell you again, Thornton.” The attendant said over his shoulder as he started to walk away, ushering Osiris to follow him. Osiris paused for a moment as he noticed the man had a slight limp in his right leg before he started after him. The friendly man smiled warmly at him as he fell into step beside him. “Sorry that one of your first meetings here had to be with him, he’s a bit of an upstart, but he’s not something to worry about for now.”

Osiris frowned, “What do you mean by ‘for now’?” Glancing over his shoulder, Osiris saw that Thornton was smirking back at him and laughing with his friends. The attendant however caught his attention again as he spoke. “Well you’ll see that for yourself soon enough, I don’t mean to sound so ominous, but It’s probably best for you to get to your seat as soon as possible. The opening ceremony will be starting soon. I’m sure you’re interested to see what professors you’ll be having this year.”

Osiris grinned, “I have been curious to know what they’re like. I don’t suppose you have any advice on what classes not to take?” The attendant smiled lightly as he pointed toward Osiris’ seat. “The only class I wouldn’t suggest taking is Professor Lark’s Theoretic Class. He’s an opinionated and pompous a*s, not the type of person you’d want to get mixed up with.”

The young mechanic smiled, “Thank you for the advice, hopefully I’ll manage to avoid that class. I think I’ll be taking the more practical seminars this year. By the way, how did you know my name?”

The attendant readjusted his stance and leaned on his walking stick heavily, “Hard to forget that motor you made during the Thunderist Exam. Now, you can ask me questions later. I’m usually floating around the University here, they do employ me apparently.”

Osiris found himself smiling at the middle aged man as he walked away to help another student. Making his way to his seat, he found a blonde girl sitting down on the bench beside him. As he approached, she looked up nervously, “Hello, are you seventy four? I’m seventy three. It’s nice to meet you.”

Osiris smiled back at her and raised an eyebrow. “You can call me Osiris, what’s your real name?” The blonde girl blushed furiously as she realised how she had introduced herself, “Oh, I’m sorry. I was just so nervous about getting the seats mixed up. My name is Lesha, I’ll be doing sciences here I think. What about you?” Osiris looked around him and shrugged his shoulders, “I’ve no idea what I’ll be doing here to be honest. There are so many options floating around in my head. I think that I’m going to take the core induction test for a few weeks and see how that goes, and then I’ll transfer into whichever disciplines are the most to my liking.”

Lesha grinned, “You mean you’ll apply for transfer next year?” Osiris shook his head, “No, after a few weeks I’ll go into one of the other courses, I think I’ll know what I’m best suited for soon enough. I don’t think it would take me a year.” Lesha laughed nervously, “I don’t know how to say this to you, but it’s not that simple. You’ll have a lot of work to do in the core disciplines, especially if you go for the basic ones to begin with. But the problem is that you’re proposing to jump into courses that you’ll have missed the inductions for.”

Osiris smiled, “I’m bright enough, and I think I’ll survive.” Lesha smiled back. “It’s not about intelligence, I don’t know how a class would react to someone just jumping into their ranks, it would be very hard to make friends you know… and most likely all teams would have already been picked for group projects.”
The young mechanic shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t really have too many friends, so I don’t suspect that it will bother me too much.”

Lesha’s response caught in her throat as she regarded the young man sitting beside her, “You can’t mean that, I’m sure you’ve loads of friends. You seem really nice.” Osiris smiled warmly at her, “You seem very nice too.”

Lesha felt her face go red, but the lights around them saved her from having to respond as they completely cut out, enveloping the crowd in darkness.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, you’re all sitting in front of me here for one and one reason only. You are gifted, with the thirst for knowledge that few amongst us possess. You have enrolled at the top institution of your sector, the only university to be endorsed fully by the Thunderist Academy. You’ve decided to join us here and boost your standing in society. With us, you will unlock a brighter future… be it as a Doctor, Lawyer, Scientist or even as an Engineer. With us, your potential will be unlocked and you will flourish under our watchful gaze. All we ask of you is for your diligence and commitment to excel. We welcome you all to the Gammatech Institute of Further Education.”

Lights illuminated the stage, showing a small and lean man standing in front of a group of people. Touching his collar he smiled reassuringly to the crowd. “Before we begin with the formal induction process, I felt that it would be beneficial for you all to meet some of the Department Heads. Personally, I oversee the engineering department here at Gammatech.”

An audible cough was heard across the amphitheatre, causing Marc to pause during his introduction. Looking behind him, he noticed one of the professors leaning on his cane and staring at him intently. Feeling the warm smile leaving his face, Marc turned back to the audience and continued. Osiris looked to the stage and was surprised to see the attendant from before. The head of engineering raised his voice once more and said in an almost strained tone. “I apologise for my mishap, I failed to mention that I co-direct the engineering department with Professor Lark. However, my other colleagues are as follows…”

Osiris however couldn’t drag his eyes from the man he thought was an attendant. “He’s a professor?” he mumbled aloud, causing Lesha to jump slightly. “Oh, Grammaton? I know, I was surprised too… I had thought that he retired from his professional career ages ago. It was a surprise to see him here; it almost makes me want to transfer to engineering. Osiris turned to look at her, “The man with the cane?”

Lesha smiled, “No, that’s professor Lark. He’s also quite amazing, but it’s Grammaton that’s talking at the moment. You should know better than anyone, he’s a former racer.” The young mechanic leaned back in his seat and smiled, “This whole college thing might actually be fun.” A shush from behind Osiris caused him to duck his head and start to listen more intently. As his eyes focused on the stage, Marc had regained his composure and had resumed his speech.

“Many of you are probably wondering why there are students from past years attending this assembly. The reason for this is that we are all a part of something bigger here. Education does not simply end when you get a diploma or a degree; it is something that continues to live on within the minds and souls of us all. We will be working together, all of us to achieve what may seem impossible.”

A murmur broke through the crowd, all students wondering what Grammaton was talking about, but it was a different voice that called out to the crowd. “My name is Oscar Devine; I am the Head of the Bio-Science facility here at Gammatech. It may not be common knowledge to you, but do any of you know who created the Medi-patch? The little salve wipes that reduce bruising to almost nothing in seconds? The Thunderists? No, it was me. I led my class through all the research and we created it. It took us less than four months. We at Gammatech make a difference to all mankind. We settle for nothing but the best.”

Professor Lark smiled as he took a step forward, “The endeavours that we take are not always for the betterment of society, and we are one of the only institutions that are self-sustainable. You all may not be aware, but we sell many designs from our engineers, many of our research papers are commissioned by corporations worldwide.”

Grammaton grinned, “Enough about the lecturers and what we do, we’ll now show you our most important asset here, you, the students.” Osiris felt the familiar tingle emanate from his wrist. Looking around he saw all the students around him accept the transmission. Shrugging his shoulders, she smiled ruefully at Lesha before he too accepted the file.

Oscar waited patiently until each student was ready before he clapped his hands together once which caused the entire amphitheatre to plunge into darkness. Before Osiris could wonder what was happening, there was a burst of light in front of him. Images flashed directly into his brain. It was a young man standing beside a gigantic mechanised suit. It looked as though it was designed for war, the man however looked familiar. Only when the narrator started to speak did it make sense.

“Thornton Valve, child prodigy with a flair for robotics standing aside his first year project which was originally inspired by the armoured suits commissioned by the Steel Work Union. This project placed highest in his respective year.”

Osiris found a smile appearing on his face, “He’s a prodigy too...” he murmured to himself as he continued to watch the display. Another one started to form in front of his eyes.

“Thaddeus Stern, star pupil within the Chemistry division stands aside his final year project. Matter crystal technology. Using fragments of power crystals to create renewable energy, Stern hopes to continue the project and reduce power requirements worldwide.”

Lesha leaned back in her chair and frowned, “How the hell are we expected to compete with this type of students?” Osiris smiled at her, “We’ll be taught by the best, I guess we just throw in a little bit of our own imagination.” Lesha however wasn’t convinced, “You make it sound easy, these projects are colossal.”

Before Osiris could answer, the images switched again. This time however he was speechless.

“Osiris Creek, child prodigy with a flair for turbo mechanics stands on stage during the last Thunderist Exam. Creek is one of our first years and we expect to see some great things from him in the future.”

Osiris just stared forward; he couldn’t believe that he had been introduced to the entire crowd. He could practically feel Lesha’s stare against him, but he didn’t care, he continued to watch the video. “This is insane, they’re all gifted, they all have talents and they’re popular? This place is amazing!”

After about a dozen other students were introduced on the video, each from varying faculties, the video cut off. Every student rubbed their eyes and tried to focus on the stage in front. A grinning Professor Larkin beamed down on them. “Well I do hope that you enjoyed the footage. We have varying skill levels at this institution and each of you has been handpicked to study here. We have great hopes for all of you and we do hope that you will enjoy your time here with us. Unless any of the other lecturers have something to add, I think that concludes our presentation.”

Grammaton took a step forward and raised his hand to signal he had something to say. Lark conceded and let him take the stage. Clearing his throat, Marc smiled at the students once more. “I just had a question for once of the students if that was okay?”

Oscar and the other lecturers nodded their consent and Marc turned again to look at the crowd. “Osiris Creek, could you raise your hand please?”

A lone hand reached up into the air, causing every student to turn and stare at the green eyed young man. Osiris was surprised to see that no student sneered or made a joke, all were smiling at him warmly and some were just awaiting what Grammaton had to say. It wasn’t long before he spoke, “Osiris, I’ve heard in a recent report that the Byrne Speedway is to be reopened. I hate to put the pressure on you here, but I have a request.”

Osiris smiled awkwardly in return before he nodded. Grammaton smiled, “Gammatech’s engineering department would like to sponsor a few cars to compete in the races, think we could do it?”

Osiris was lost for words, his father had been complaining about recruiting skilled drivers for the races. Aware of all the eyes on him, Osiris spoke. “It’s completely your decision, but I’ll have to warn you... you’ll be going up against one of my engines and one of my drivers. Think you can take us?”

Larks laugh sounded out immediately and Marc whirled around on him, “Want to race again, Lark?”

The entire amphitheatre took on a new atmosphere; every student was hanging on the words of the two lecturers. Lark smiled and shrugged, “On the condition that I get to make my own car, yes. What about you Oscar, want to throw in a car too? How long has it been since you were behind a wheel?”

“Too long I think... I’ll leave it to the students. I will throw a bit of sponsorship towards a team of students that make a worthy car though. Will that be enough for your challenge?” Devine said with a calculated grace.

Lark just laughed and raised his hands, “Sorry everyone, this is wildly off topic, the induction will resume out in the main hall. If any of you have any questions, the lecturers and assistants will be around to answer all of them.”

Osiris started to stand when he heard Marc’s voice tear across the crowd. “Oh no, Mr. Valve, we’d like to talk to you for a moment, you too Mr. Creek. We’ve a lot to talk about...”

Looking toward Thornton, Osiris saw that he was as confused as himself. The only thing that Osiris knew was that he would enrol within any class that was headed by either Grammaton or Lark.

 

 

 

Author's Note

It's horrible, I know... but I had to write something? She'd kill me if i didnt.

Reviews

[trish420]

Oh! I see, skipped the b-day LOL I'm observant ;-)

[trish420]

I liked it, it seemed to jump forward a bit and I was confused abotu WHEN it was but overall good chapter! Can;t wait to see what happens next :-)

[Sssss]

an interesting turn of events have happened...looking forward to the next chapter