The Window of Time

The Window Of Time

Nico Jao

Contents

Child

0. The Mansion In The Sunset

1. The Calling Of Duty

2. Know Your Enemies

3. Reminding Authority

4. See The Way Things Are

5. Forget Your Flaws

6. Punishment

7. Corruption 

8. The Uprising

9. Defeating The Dragon

Preteen 

10. Fate Decides Now

11. A Fallen Hero

12. The Identity Crisis

13. Home Sweet Home

14. The Sparkling Gemstone

Teenager

15. The Power Of Trust

16. Death Comes Before The Blow

17. Hidden Secrets

18. Law And Order

19. Revelations

20. Injustice

21. The End Of The World

The Meyvoid Fleet

22. The Voice Of The Namans 

23. The Final Decision

24. Redemption

25. The Beacon Of Hope

26. The Dark Side Of The Moon

27. Fate’s Long Answer

28. The Window Of The Universe 

Top Class of Sedolas Space Academy

Name	Codename	M/F
Seyden	Commander Red	M
Chalice	Lieutenant Blue	F
Evestor	Wolf	M
Terra	Star	F
Nye	Duno	M
Charity	Snow	F
Locke	Zeynin	M
Melody	Diamond	F
Calum	Snare	M
Amber	Ace	F
Sidian	Rex	M
Less	Repto	F
Will	Titan	M
Mady	Fate	F
Dellos	Stinger	M

0

The Mansion In 

The Sunset

Just a little bit more time, Seyden thought. He heard a knock on the door. Thump. Thump, thump. He would get it later, he decided. Just a little bit more time, before I go to the academy Father wants me to.

“Master Seyden? It’s me, Dawn. I’ve come to clean your room. I advise you let me in.”

Seyden turned to the door. Past all his stuffed animals and toys on the floor, he made it in time to open it. He didn’t mind the messiness in his room. Only his parents. And occasionally, Dawn, since she was the one who cleaned it all up. 

His father’s personal servant was there, in a maid’s uniform, holding a duster. She went in casually, beginning to dust the room. “What a mess, Seyden. Oh well, you’re seven. I shouldn’t expect much from you, I guess.”

Seyden watched her work. He liked the girl, barely having courage to talk to her every single time. He thought she was pretty. Although she was two years older than him, she usually played with him when he requested it, sometimes outside in the meadow. 

He didn’t want her to think he wasn’t mature. “I’m a big boy now. I don’t play with these toys much anymore. These are from, um, a year ago.”

She looked at him, smiling. “I’m sure they were, Master Seyden. You seem bored, staying in this room a lot. Why don’t you play with your other friends?”

Father always had visitors, and there was one who was usually always here. A politician of some sort. Seyden didn’t know the man well, but he always brought his children, which he did know well. His oldest was a mature teenaged boy, who barely spent his time with them. Then he had two girls, Chalice and Ruby, who were his playmates. Chalice was his age, and Ruby was two years younger than both of them. Sometimes the big mansion could get boring and lonely, and he found himself missing them a lot. He was relieved that Dawn stayed here all the time, since she worked here. 

Dawn had a cousin that stayed here, too. He was fifteen, and he had recently come out of the academy. He sometimes joined in Father’s war. He was a friend too. He always joined the group whenever they went to the meadows to play.

One time Seyden asked him about the academy, since he recently came out of there this year, and he refused to talk about it. He wasn’t sure what bothered him about it, but it didn’t matter. He was going there to find out anyway.

“I’ll just stay here,” Seyden decided. “Actually, I’ll walk around. Want to come?”

“Your father gave me many chores to do today, I’m sorry,” she said. 

“That’s okay,” Seyden said. It hurt him to see her sad. “I’ll come back, if you want me to.”

He wandered around the halls of the huge house. Every hall was decorated with long, red carpets, vases with plants, and fancy windows. There were intricate designs on the ceiling, the walls, and the floor. Seyden knew that his father was very rich, and that was why he could afford all this stuff. He was rich because he was a president of a powerful country. The most powerful one in the world, he had always said to him. 

Seyden liked to explore the halls he walked through for his entire life. He figured it would be nice to do it again since he would soon leave for the academy. Father told him it was in space, and not in Adilan, so he would be taking a spacecraft. Seyden had always liked the idea of outer space, so he was excited to finally got there. Mostly to feel the zero-gravity. It was his dream to be an astronaut. He wasn’t going there to be one, though. He was going to learn how to be a soldier, a word Father always used, but he didn’t know the full meaning of it. 

He looked in each room in the hallways. Most were empty, kept only for visitors. He looked in the bathrooms, too. He would miss them, when he would leave for the academy. He entered his personal bathroom. A stool was in a corner, for brushing his teeth, since he couldn’t reach the sink by himself. A pile of his clothes were on the floor in the area you would step out of the shower. It was because his mother was currently washing the rug that was usually there, and told Seyden to put his dirty clothes on the floor as a replacement until it was cleaned. She had called it a life hack. Seyden didn’t know what that meant, but he always followed whatever his mother said. What he didn’t get is how they didn’t have another rug to use while the other one is being washed, if they were really that rich and all.

He walked down the stairs to the main plaza, a huge room with a chandelier in the ceiling. Seyden was usually always scared whenever he walked under it. It didn’t seem possible how such a big thing could be held by a small chain. He always felt it would drop on him, any time. 

Don’t be silly, his mother had told him. This mansion was built by the best architects in the world. You’re always safe in here, my little snowflake. 

Seyden explored for a long time. When none of his friends were here, and Dawn was busy, this is usually what he did. Just walked around. Mother always told him it’s like a jungle. You can get lost really easily in it. 

When Seyden was satisfied in memorizing the hallways, he went back to his room. He had them all in his head now, so he wouldn’t forget when he went to the academy. He had told that once to Dawn’s cousin, and he said, Oh, trust me, you will. You’ll be there for such a long time, over twice your age, that you won’t remember anything from home.

Dawn was still cleaning his room. Dusting the shelves and corners.         “You’re still not done?” he complained. He wanted to play with her already. “When will you be done? I’m really bored. You don’t want me to be bored. I can get Father to chop your head off if you don’t play with me.”

She laughed. She always did when he said that. Of course, Seyden wasn’t serious, but he knew he actually had the power. “If I don’t do my work, that will get my head chopped off even more.”

“Why do you work for Father anyway?” he asked, curious. “Can’t you just play all the time?”

She had a confused look. “You have much to learn, Master Seyden.”

“Seyden.”

“Seyden, then. Anyway, you don’t understand. I’m an orphan. My cousin is too. That’s why we work here. We have no parents to take care of us, so we made a deal with your father that if we work for him, we get to live here with fresh food, clothes, and water.”

“Do you get…money?”

She shushed him, then looked around nervously. Seyden didn’t think he had said anything wrong. “Listen, there’re cameras all over this house, you know,” she whispered. “We could always be listened to. The secret is, I don’t. That’s because I’m a�"oh, I’m so going to get killed for this. That’s because I’m a slave. That’s the truth. Your father is evil, and corrupted, and his whole country is too. He’s a dictator, and I hate him, I hate his empire, I hate it all! Please promise you won’t tell anyone, okay? Not a single soul.”

Seyden nodded, proud to be trusted with a big secret. Especially Dawn’s. He’d keep any secret for her. He just hated it when she used such complicated words.

“Good,” she said. “When you’re older, you’ll under-stand.” 

“When I’m older Father told me I’m going to take his place as president. He said I can do anything I want, and that I should be proud of it.” Seyden smiled, imagining the day it would come. 

“Then listen to me,” Dawn said, grabbing his shoulders. “If you want to be good when you’re older, destroy your father’s government and nation when you become president. It’s all everybody wants. You may love him, but to others, he’s evil. I don’t want you to be evil like him when you grow up.”

Seyden was glad that Dawn cared for him like that. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

“Promise?”

“Promise!” Seyden said, nodding quickly. “By the way, how come you didn’t go to the academy?” 

She shook her head. “Too old. Your father found me when I was eight.”

“Eight is too old to start? That’s only one year older than what you start at.” 

“Trust me, it is. For everything you go through in that space station, it is.”

Seyden shrugged and just accepted it. He was used to being taught stuff. That’s just the way it was when you’re young, and he understood that. 

That evening, Seyden had trouble sleeping. He tossed and turned, feeling like he couldn’t get into a comfortable position in his bed. And when he finally did fall asleep, he had the nightmare he always feared of having, every single night. 

It started with him in a hospital, a building he’d learned about when he watched TV. He was always on a bed, and he couldn’t get up, no matter how hard he tried. Then, he would start aging. Quickly. Until he became a big kid, then a teenager, then an adult. It would all happen in seconds. His whole life would flash by, and he would be scared the whole time as it did. 

Sometimes Dawn was there, at his side, aging with him. Or his other friends, or his parents. It would always end with him aging until he became a very old man, and then until death. Then he would always wake up, screaming.

And every time Dawn or his mother would be there, to calm him back to sleep. But this time, nobody was there, and he screamed until his lungs burned. Then he started crying. His sobs echoed across the halls, and he hoped so badly that someone would come. 

When nobody came, he felt around under the covers until he found his best friend, Mr. Coyote. He was a stuffed coyote, and Seyden was glad he was always by his side, even if he couldn’t talk. He would keep him until he became an adult, he promised himself.

He hugged the stuffed animal tightly and calmed himself back to sleep. There was no way of telling if the nightmare would come back, but his mother always told him to just try to sleep again if he dreamt it. He’ll feel better in the morning. 

Seyden did eventually fall asleep, and in the morning he didn’t find Dawn anywhere. He looked all around the mansion, but there wasn’t a single trace. He didn’t know where her room was, too. He couldn’t look for her there. He decided to ask his mother when he found her in the business room. 

She was on the phone. Seyden waited and looked around the room. There were rows upon rows of shelves filled with books, all across the walls. A big, brown desk was in the centre of it all, with huge windows behind it, overlooking the meadows. The big chair behind the desk was made of a fancy material called leather, which Father always told him to never spill a drink on it, or there would be harsh consequences. He promised he wouldn’t bring any food here, ever, to help him remember not to ruin that fancy chair. 

Seyden waited as his mother was on the phone. He was always scared of the phone. What if he dialled the wrong number? What would happen? What would he say? It was just like how sometimes his mother used to take him to a friend’s house to visit, and she told him to go ahead and ring the doorbell. How embarrassing it would be if the door opened, revealing a stranger! What would he do in that situation? How could he make sure that an address somebody gave you was the correct one?

Seyden’s mother finished on the phone, finally hanging up. It was only then that she acknowledged that he was in the room. “Hello snowflake. What can I do for you?”

Seyden almost forgot why he was here. Then he remembered. “Where’s Dawn? I want to play with her.”

He couldn’t recognize the look on her face. “Why don’t you ask your father?”

Now Seyden had to go find him. He didn’t want to do that. “Do you know?” he asked. 

“You should spend more time packing. You’re leaving soon, remember? Stop wasting your time with maid servants. They work for your father and I, and us only.”

Seyden stomped his foot angrily. “I want to know where she is!”

“I’m busy right now,” she said, rushing around to grab things. “I have to go. I have a lot of work to do.”

When she left Seyden decided to look for his father. He wasn’t a very likeable man, Seyden knew that, but he still loved him. And he knew that his father, no matter how powerful he was, loved him back too. After all, he was his only son.

It actually didn’t take long to find him. He was talking with his bodyguards, in a hallway. Seyden went up to him, unnoticed, and tugged on his suit. “Father! Where’s Dawn? I want to play with her.”

He stopped talking with them for a minute, looking down at him. “You won’t see her again, Seyden. She moved to a better place. Now go, I have a meeting soon.”

Seyden didn’t know what that phrase meant, but he decided to question no further. One answer was all he got, and that was how it usually was with his father. 

Devastated, he sulked around the halls, wishing he had a playmate. He went to his room and got Mr. Coyote. 

“You’re the only one who understands me,” he told his stuffed animal. “My parents said they’re too old to play with me. Or, as they say it, they’re too old for such things.”

Mr. Coyote only stared back. 

“I’m going to start packing, then,” Seyden said, clearing his mind of all thoughts but the academy. “It’s the only thing I can do. And you’re going in my bag first.”

1

The Calling

Of Duty

Months had passed, and Seyden wasn’t sure if he had fit in or not. He was around kids his age, but something about the place didn’t feel right. 

He stared at a window overlooking the vast emptiness of space. He usually went here because he was lonely and hadn’t made any friends yet, but he told no one. He always just stood there, watching the stars, hands folded behind his back. It was a posture he’d gotten used to. They were supposed to go into it whenever an instructor yelled, “Attention cadets!”

But this time he went here to have a quiet space to talk with his father. The instructor of his class, Leva, told him he got a call from him. This sector of the station was usually deserted, so he chose this spot. He liked it, too. He liked to look outside and imagine the amazing things going on in other worlds.

Seyden brought out a disc from his pocket and pressed a button. This device always called the right number, so Seyden didn’t have to worry. 

A holographic projection of his father’s face appeared. “What’s going on? Tell me. Your instructor told me you’re not trying your best. Instead of trying to do good in classes and simulations you’re spending your time pranking people with your buddies.”

Seyden wondered what he meant. Those buddies? Sure he liked to have fun with them, but they weren’t really his friends. They didn’t invite him to sit with them at lunch. 

“I don’t really have any friends,” he told his father. “Leva said it’s because I’m too smart for them. They’re all a bunch of dum-dums. That’s why I’m always alone. There’s nobody here that thinks like me.”

“I know that. She also said you’re gifted, and you’re too smart for your class. You ace every test with no problem, and you’re always the top person in combat during simulations. But still, I know you can do better. Stop pranking people around. Your instructor doesn’t like it. She said it’s becoming a nuisance to have you around in the class.”

Seyden didn’t know anything about that. Nobody told him. “Well, what am I supposed to do?”

His father sighed. “I’m moving you to another class. A better one. Everybody there will be like you. It’s also in the sector with all the older kids.”

“But I’m still with kids my age, right?”

“Of course. That’s the best way you can learn. I’m sure this is the best decision I can make for you. You’re not going to your full potential if you’re in a class of people dumber than you.”

Seyden wasn’t sure if he’d like his decision. After all, he’d already gotten used to the kids here. He was used to all the routines and schedules, and where to go. Moving meant he had to start that all over again. Plus, did anyone in the other sector like pranking people? 

“You’ll be fine,” his father continued. “Trust me. Although I know for sure you won’t be the best in that class. Unless you can prove it to me. The kids in your new class will be better than you.”

“I’m gonna prove I’m better than them,” Seyden said. 

“Go for it. The sector is A-Five.”

Seyden remembered something very vague and familiar about that sector. Then it came to him. 

“That’s Chalice’s class!” he said, excitedly. 

“Yes. You’re going to have someone to be with you there. But remember, no fooling around.”

Seyden already imagined the amount of fun they would have together. He had a playmate! One that he knew from home! Now he really wanted to move classes.

Although, he still wasn’t sure. Were the kids bigger and meaner in that sector? Would they face them in battles? In this sector, he could beat anyone in a simulation, or in a real battle. Would it be different there?

What about the instructors? Were they as nice as Leva? Would they help him as much, or not because they already knew he was gifted and he required less help than others?

“Better get your things,” his father told him.

The thought of packing again reminded him of home. He decided to ask his father about that.

“Home?” he said, bewildered. “The last thing you should be thinking about is home! You’re up there so you can forget about the horrible things going on down here!”

“What’s going on?” 

“You know I have fought in many wars, Seyden. Lots of people out there want to get me. They think I’m a bad man. Don’t think like them, think otherwise. Do you think I’m a bad man, by sending you to a safe space station out of the wars going on here, and by training you to become a soldier so you can defend yourself?”

Seyden shook his head. He believed his father. Whatever Dawn said about him must’ve been a trick. Maybe she was just playing around. 

“It’s not as if I’m focusing on the real threat here,” he muttered under his breath. “I have two enemies.”

Seyden knew what he was talking about. Apparently there was another threat to Adilan, another alien race that were at war with Namans too. 

They were called humans. Seyden shivered thinking about them. He was always taught that they were disgusting, slimy creatures. Traitors to Namans. 

Every kid knew that going to the academy meant you were training to become a soldier to fight them. Adilan was at heavy war with their planet, Earth. But secretly, Seyden hoped he’d never encounter one. 

“Look at the humans,” his father said. “They’re banding together as a race to fight against us. Why can’t we do the same? Does the rest of the world not realize I’m in control of the number one nation that’s holding them back?”

Seyden just nodded, once again agreeing with his father. He thought he was such a smart man. How could anyone, especially Dawn, say such bad things about him? 

He decided to ask. “Father, Dawn said people hate you because you keep slaves. Is that true�"”

“Don’t you listen to that stupid girl!” he growled. Seyden flinched, never seeing his father this angry. Then again, he barely saw his father. He was always so busy.

“No matter what anyone says, I’m a good person,” he told Seyden, calming down. “Let nobody make you believe otherwise. I was the one who founded the space station you’re on, keeping you safe from harm on the surface. The space station you’re on is made by my nation, and mine only. I built it for the good of my people, so gifted kids like you can turn into soldiers to fight in our war to protect our country from other countries. Or to defend our planet from the humans. So forget everything that servant maid told you.”

Seyden didn’t know what was so bad about the things Dawn said, but he just nodded and accepted. There was no arguing with his father. It wasn’t only him, too. Everyone who visited him, politicians, military generals, celebrities, even his mother, always accepted that he was always right. After all, he was the president of the most powerful country in Adilan, wasn’t he?

Seyden’s father made a disgusted noise. “It grosses me out to even say such a word. They’re such disgusting creatures.”

“I agree,” Seyden said. “Leva told us they have weird tentacles, and they’re born without hair, and without teeth, and, and�"”

“Those are just myths, Seyden. Half of the things you said happens with us, too.”

He got confused. “Really?”

“You must focus, here. You’re going to learn how to be a soldier so you can fight them, you know.”

Seyden hoped that day would never come. He really didn’t want to fight such vile creatures. Maybe he could fight in one of Father’s battles in his war?

“I have to get going. Pack your things. Leva will help you get to the other sector. You’re going to spend the rest of your time at the station there. This may be the last time you will talk to me in years. Serious things are going on down here.”

“No, please,” Seyden said, hoping the moment would last longer. This was his last connection to home. 

“Seyden, you keep saying you’re a big boy now. You know that when I sent you up here, you wouldn’t be coming back, until you’re fourteen. Or, fifteen, to be exact. You’re going to stay here longer than your life here on Adilan.”

Seyden didn’t want that. Thinking about it now, while his father said it, maybe Dawn’s cousin was right. He would forget his old life on the surface and emerge only remembering his life on the station. 

Suddenly he didn’t want to be here anymore. He wanted to go home. 

“I have to go, now,” his father said. “Remember, no fooling around.”

The connection was severed. Seyden stood there for a couple of minutes, wishing he could go home. He didn’t realize how much he missed it until now, months after he left.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Leva, and then relaxed. 

“Come on, Seyden. You’re leaving this sector right now.”

“Will anyone miss me?” 

“I’m sure some will,” she said, although the look on her face said, I doubt it.

Chalice!” Seyden said, when he entered the bunk room, dragging his bags. 

“Seyden! You’re here!” She flung her arms around him. When she let go she helped carry his bags to an empty bed. “This is your bunk. It’s the only one left. You get the bottom bed. I think it’s better, so you can put your stuff underneath.”

Seyden looked around. Nobody else was here, only Chalice. 

“Everybody’s at class,” she said. “Instructor Nolan chose me to introduce you to everything since I already know you.”

He nodded. Then he spotted a bed on the other side of the room, that was also empty. “What do you mean my bunk is the only one left? There’s that one, too, over there. And look, it’s beside yours.” He saw Chalice’s stuff underneath the bed.

“You know the rules,” she said, smiling, “boys and girls stay on their side of the room.”

Seyden smiled back. It was just like his old class. He felt home already. “Well, how come it’s empty?” Chalice’s face darkened. “You don’t want to go near there. There was a cadet who…used to be there. She left. Now everybody says that bed is haunted. Even the girl who sleeps on the top bunk says she’s scared of it.”

Seyden continued to analyze the new room. Four bunk beds on each side. Eight boys and seven girls. “There’s only fifteen of us?”

“Yeah,” Chalice said. “We’re the only class in the entire academy with fifteen cadets. All the other kids think our class is strange that way.”

Seyden looked at his bunk. Closest to the door, furthest to the bathroom. He could deal with it. He felt bummed out that he didn’t get the top bunk, though. He was hoping he’d get it this time, since the last class he didn’t have it either. There were rumours that whoever was on the top meant that you were the king of the castle. 

He put his bags underneath. They were heavy, filled with mostly cadet uniforms, and belongings. Then he remem-bered something. He opened up one and brought out Mr. Coyote, and put him on his bed. Then he realized that’ll give the first impression to the other kids that he was weak and had brought a stuffed animal to comfort him, so he stuffed it back in his bag.

Chalice saw it though. “You brought Mr. Coyote?”

“You know I bring him everywhere.”

“My mom always makes fun of you with your stuffed animal, you know.”

Embarrassed, Seyden’s cheeks blushed. 

“It’s okay, she doesn’t understand we’re just kids. Adults are so boring, don’t you think?”

He nodded. He had always thought that. 

“We have to get to class,” she said. 

Seyden followed her through the halls. They were sometimes straight or curved. Sometimes Seyden wondered how the artificial gravity of the station worked, how you could always count on it pulling you down. 

Sometimes it would have a technical problem, and for a moment everyone would float. He would get sick, immediately losing his sense of up and down. Then it would come back, and an announcement system would say, sorry for the inconvenience. Minor disruptions in the artificial gravity field caused by asteroids bumping onto the side of the station. There’s no need for worry and panic, everything is under control.

Seyden always reminded himself that the ceiling was up, and the floor was down. He knew it was wrong, though, since there was no such thing as up or down in space. 

The only place where they turned off the artificial gravity field were during battles, sometimes simulations. In the simulations there would be a screen, and cadets could practice their shooting skills by aiming a rifle with a laser pointer at enemies. But the real skill test was during battles, where every time, the field and obstacles were changed, and gravity was turned off. Two classes, always the same age, would battle against each other. Points were scored by shooting other people, and winning was based on determining which class did a better job.

Seyden and Chalice continued walking. Suddenly, a door closed shut right in front of them, stopping them in their tracks. 

“Malfunctioning door,” Chalice muttered. “Only one in the entire station. You never know when it could drop on you. Don’t worry, it happens rarely.”

Seyden remembered the chandelier in his home, that he was always afraid would drop on them. It was just like that. Now he really felt like he was home.  

“That’s scary,” Seyden said. 

“The station is pretty old,” she said. “There were tons of waves of cadets before us.”

When they finally got to class, and before Chalice could bring him to his seat, the instructor took over. 

“It’s okay, I’ve got it from here,” he told her. “Go to your seat.”

Frowning, she followed. The instructor turned to Seyden and greeted him. “Nolan,” he said. “So you’re the son of the shmuck who owns this station, huh?”

Seyden nodded, not sure if that was supposed to be an insult to his father or not. Did people here insult him all the time, and were used to it? Did Father know?

“Don’t expect this class to be as bright and sunny as your old class, got that? Things aren’t so easy here. You’re going to wish you never moved.”

We’ll see about that, Seyden thought. 

He then turned to the class and introduced him to them. “This is Seyden, your new commander. You guys are in need of one. From now on you report to him as Commander Red. You will follow his orders, everywhere, not just in battles. In classes too. He’s the son of the infamous president of Sedolas, so you better respect him.”

A kid in the back row raised his hands. “Oh, come on! He just got here, and he’s already commander? What is this?”

“Hey!” Nolan yelled, with such ferocity Seyden never saw before. “Last I checked, nobody in here was at the top of their old class, you hear me!? Or a commander of it! So you follow this kid’s orders, whether you like it or not! We have specific orders from his father to make him commander, so shut your criking trap hole and put yourself together, you pathetic mess of a child!”

The kid just shrugged and fell back into his seat. “Whatever.”

Seyden’s father never told him anything about this. He was a commander? He was the commander of his old class, since he was the top cadet, but how was he instantly the leader of this one? 

Every class had a commander. They needed someone to report to and lead them into battles and simulations. But you had to earn respect and honour into being one. The kid was right, it was unfair that he just got here and he got to be the commander instead of anyone else here. 

Seyden wanted to ask Instructor Nolan who the lieutenant was, but he was too afraid he would go on a rampage again, so he closed his mouth. Every class had a lieutenant, a second in command, that was reported to in the emergency that the first in command couldn’t give orders, in any situation.

“Take a seat, Seyden,” Nolan said, seeming to calm down. Seyden took note that he could get angry easily. 

He looked around, and saw Chalice pointing to an empty seat next to her and smiling. He smiled back and took it. 

“In case you’re wondering, I’m the lieutenant,” she said, as the instructor continued the lecture. “I’ll be loyal to you in any given situation. Consider yourself lucky.”

Seyden relaxed. It wouldn’t be so bad after all. “I don’t believe in luck,” he told her. “I believe in fate.”

“Well give fate a bit of thanks, would ya?” she said, winking. “Don’t mind that dumb kid, Sidian, at the back of the class, by the way. He’s just a dumb, stinking brute. There’re rumours that he murdered a politician back from whatever country he came from.”

Seyden wasn’t sure if she was joking or not. It seemed hard to believe. He changed the subject. “What does criking mean?”

“Shh!” she said. “Good thing nobody heard you. It’s just a swear word. Crike is the root word. It’s slang for human.”

Seyden couldn’t believe how disgusting words could get around here in this sector. Calling someone a human? That’s the worst insult anyone could ever get! How disgusting! No wonder it was a swear word. 

“And if you hear the word, sluck, they’re referring to the instructors,” she said. “Whenever they’re around, we call them the usual, but when they’re not, we call them that.”

Seyden nodded, taking in all the new information. “So, what happened to the old commander? Why are you guys in need of a new one?”

She took a sharp breath. “Rena. The person that used to be here, the one who occupied the empty bed you saw back in the bunk room.”

“Oh.”

“I personally think she escaped in the pod.”

Seyden knew that there was only one escape pod in the entire space station. It was very expensive to make a chamber for every single kid and instructor in the station, so his father only afforded one to be installed. Just one. So in an emergency, only one could escape. Seyden thought it was stupid, but that was the way it was. The real escape vessels were in the hangar, where there were spacecrafts waiting for them. The same ones that brought them here. 

Sometimes he wondered how huge the station actually was. He was always told it was really, really big. Yet it only had one escape pod. It was so pathetic it almost made him laugh.

“Today’s lecture is about the duty of war,” Nolan said. “Can someone tell me what would happen if a country had no military?”

A girl raised her hand and said, “It would have no self-defence, so most likely another country would come in and take over the land.”

The instructor nodded happily. “Exactly! This tells us that being a soldier in a war isn’t a privilege or right, it’s a responsibility. All countries have to make sure enough people join their military to defend itself. Without anyone joining, who will? And then the nation will crumble and fall to its enemies! This shows us the importance of why each of you are here. To serve your country and make sure its people are protected. You are here not so you get the privilege and achievement to kill humans, but so you can get the duty and responsibility to protect us from them. Everybody, stand up and recite the Oath of Duty, Leadership, and Righteousness.”

Everybody, except Seyden, who didn’t know what to do, stood up and spoke in unison. “I will serve my country with honour and justice. I will not cheat or lie, or be unfair. I will not kill those who surrender. I will not harm the weak or defenceless, the sick and the injured, the poor and the innocent. I will cheer over victories, cry over defeats. I will stand and lead no matter what, in the most dire situations. I will never give up. I will answer the call of duty and responsibility, no matter what. I swear to do all things mentioned before to the best of my ability, every day of my life.”

Nolan nodded. “Good. Remember those words. Oh, I almost forgot one thing. Can somebody tell me if these rules apply to humans?”

Someone in the crowd said, “No, sir.”

“Exactly. When you see a human, kill it instantly. Even if they are weak or defenceless, sick or injured, kill them on sight, no matter what.”

2

Know Your

Enemies

Seyden, wake up!” Chalice said. “You can’t keep sleeping in like this. We have a battle!”

Seyden groggily woke up. “What time is it, Chalice?”

“Blue,” she said. “We’re in a battle, you call us by our codenames, now.”

“But I don’t know anybody’s codenames yet! Let alone even their names!” Seyden felt hopeless. What was he supposed to do? Instantly know everyone’s names?

“Reve said that in war, sometimes you aren’t prepared,” she said. “So you have to train yourself to always be ready.”

“Who’s Reve?”

“The lead instructor.” Seyden didn’t know at all how he would be a good commander in this battle, if he didn’t even know all of the kids yet, or even all the instructors! There were five for each class, and he only met one so far.

“Come on, you have a good sense of strategy,” Chalice said. “You can make us win. We’ve been on a losing streak lately, since we’re short of a first in command. I’ve been trying my best to win these battles for the class, but I’m not as good as you.”

“You have to help me with names and giving out orders,” Seyden said. “Nobody’s going to follow me.”

“I will, commander. Now, hurry! Battle uniform! Quick, quick, we’re late! Everybody’s already there!”

Seyden changed quickly and wasted no time in following Chalice to the battlefield. She was right, everyone was already accounted for in the armoury. They were all waiting there, watching as Seyden and Chalice found their own jetpacks, helmets, and rifles on the racks. 

As Seyden put on his armour pack, he felt a sense of comfort and relief. He was always the top in jetpack training, too, which wasn’t such a surprise. 

“Battle starts in five minutes, commander,” someone said, looking up at the timer above the door. “Game plan?”

They’d already lost five minutes, since Chalice and him were late. Seyden also realized that there was absolutely no time in getting to know everybody’s name. He’d have to do that on the go. During the battle, too. “What’s your name?” he asked him.

“Evestor,” he said. “In battle, Wolf.”

The class was getting impatient. “Come on, we need the plan already!”

“Are you going to lead us?”

“Who picked this dumb kid to be in charge?”

“Does he know what he’s doing?”

Seyden began to get angry. He wanted to prove that he was capable of leading them to victory.

He had to think. What was the first thing he always said during the game plan? He tried to remember…

“Map,” he said, glad that he did. 

“I thought you’d never ask,” a girl said, tapping keys on the table they were crowded around. It had a glass top, and lights underneath projected a holographic display of the field. 

“Name?” Seyden asked as he watched her. 

“Melody,” she said, holding out a hand for him to shake. “I mean, ugh. Diamond. I have to remember we’re in battle right now.”

“Hey, you can’t keep doing that right now,” a boy said, pushing his way through the crowd to get to him. He pointed a finger to his chest. “You’re wasting time, you know that? We need a game plan!” It was the same kid that talked back at the instructor during class. Sidian.

“Cut him some slack, Rex. He just got here.” A girl went between the two and pushed the boy. “You’re just jealous he’s commander, and he’s new!”

Seyden feared this would happen. The whole class would be in chaos because they weren’t used to following him. Well, he would make them used to it.

“Stop it!” he yelled, and everybody fell silent. “If you want a game plan, then shut your mouths and listen!” He looked at the map. He was known for coming up with strategies really quickly, and he just came up with one now. “Who’s the best at shooting and combat here?”

Everybody looked at two people in the room. A boy and a girl. The girl said, “What?”

“Everybody knows you two are the best,” Evestor said. “Plus, you’re the oldest girl in months here, and Dellos is the oldest boy in months.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine, I guess. You can trust Wolf. He knows what he’s doing.”

“Names?” Seyden asked them.

“Mady, codename Fate. This guy…” she put an arm around the boy playfully. “…he doesn’t talk. But he’s the best person in combat here, and the best shooter. Back home he could nail two birds with one stone from a field away. Unless you’re better than him, he’s the most reliable. His name’s Dellos, and his codename’s Stinger.”

Back home, Seyden thought. The two were childhood friends, then. It wasn’t uncommon to find two kids in the class from the same district back in Sedolas, or whatever country they came from. You could easily find a pair of twins, or kids who know each other before they came to the academy, in the class. After all, Chalice and him knew each other, and they were in the same class now. 

Also, Seyden liked that codename. Fate. 

“Okay, so you two then,” he said. He pointed to a section in the map. “You see this area right here? Use each other as a shield, and tank all the fire that comes at you from above, below, and at the sides. We know they’re going to be in that area because look at all the cover that’s there. No doubt they’re going to run for it as soon as the doors open.”

“What’s our job supposed to be?” Mady asked. 

“A distraction. We all know you can’t shoot for five seconds after you yourself has been shot, and the timer doesn’t restart once you’re shot again. So every five seconds, switch. The shield person goes to the back to fire after five seconds pass, and the back person becomes the new shield. This allows infinite invulnerability, while you can fire forever. And it’s just the two of you.”

Mady took a while to understand it, but then she did. “Crikes…that’s genius!”

“Then the rest of us, while all of them are distracted, sneak behind our own cover to this spot here. A perfect shot at the sides of their cover, so we can attack them all we want while they’re busy trying to figure out how to take down Fate and Stinger, since they’re using each other as a shield every five seconds and are firing non-stop. So basically, they spend all their time shooting them, while we spend all our time sniping at the sides at all of them. I call it farming.”

“Well we call it camping,” Sidian said, slamming a fist on the table and shaking the display for a moment. “That’s the oldest trick in the book. They’ll see it coming.”

Seyden hoped he was joking, because that was actually the best strategy he had. It never failed him.

“He’s lying,” Melody said, rolling her eyes. “Nobody’s going to see it coming. I think it’s brilliant. Let’s do this.”

Seyden nodded, glad to see some support. He looked at Chalice, and she smiled back. 

“Red,” Wolf said, “don’t forget backup plans.”

Plan B. Seyden almost forgot. Every strategy needed one. 

“We’ll do a simple one,” he said. He looked at Wolf. Mady said he can be trusted. “Wolf, I want you to take half the class to the other end. Fire back at anyone stupid enough to cross the line of fire to try and get to you, and if our squad fails then you take our place as the farmers. Fate and Stinger will be a tank for the whole fifteen minutes of the game.”

“Wait,” Sidian said, “we’re forgetting about copy tactics.”

Everybody groaned, including Seyden. Everybody knew about copy tactics. A tactic that basically meant: do what the other team is doing so you’ll have an equal chance of winning. Copy them.

“If we give away our best plan right now, we’re sure they’ll use it in the future,” he said. As annoying as Sidian was, he actually made a good point. 

“Just worry about the present,” Chalice said, speaking for the first time. “Everybody knows copy tactics is best used for the next game. It’s a total cheat and unfair way to do things, but yeah. I can’t believe it’s a real tactic cadets use.”

“Plus, the tank thing sounds hard to master,” Evestor said. He looked at the clock again. “Seconds until the doors open, Red. Any tips?”

This was the last part of the procedure that Seyden had always liked. Final words before the battle. 

“Hope that you shoot good, and hope that they don’t.”

A lot of kids laughed, which was the reaction Seyden expected. He always said it to his old class every battle, and it always got a good laugh. It was because the commander was usually supposed to say something inspirational or brave, but Seyden always liked stating the obvious.

“I’m already liking our new commander,” Evestor said. Everyone agreed. 

“Now let’s go!” Seyden shouted. “Doors open in five seconds!”

When they opened, everybody moved to their positions. Seyden felt what he always felt when he entered the arena. The small wave of nausea of losing his sense of up and down. Looking around, he found out he was the only one who always got it. He just kept telling himself he just wasn’t used to it yet, and everyone else was. 

Using their jetpacks, half of the class followed Evestor and half followed Seyden. They split in two directions to different covers. 

Mady and Dellos flew to the middle and did the shield tactic Seyden told them to do. Everything was going according to plan. 

Something Seyden usually did as soon as he entered the field was look at the other team and see what they were doing. Right now, they did what Seyden expected. Go for the big pile of cover on their side of the field. 

They did everything perfectly. Seyden’s team racked up a whole lot of points, the other team not knowing what to do against two sides of fire. Three, since Evestor’s squad fired too, even though Seyden never told them to.

He thought that was okay. He liked cadets with initiative. That’s what he looked for in them.

He went back down to his cover and reloaded. He saw a girl down too, but she wasn’t reloading. She was tinkering with her com, using only a mini screwdriver. 

“What are you doing?” Seyden asked her, a bit angry. “You should be helping us get points!”

“Relax, Red,” she said, ignoring him. “We’re already winning.”

That was true. “What are you doing then?”

“I’m trying to hack their coms, pick up their radio signals, so we can listen to their plan. I do it every game, undetected. We can use it to benefit us, you know. Nobody has to know.”

Communication devices. Every cadet had them. Seyden wasn’t so sure if that was okay to do, but he was never much for following the rules anyway. 

He heard a crackle on the device. “I think I got it!” she said. Seyden flew next to her and listened. 

“We should try just all-outing on them,” someone said. “We’re so behind on points. If our whole team attacks them at once, they might not know what to do.” 

He heard a smacking sound. “That never works, Dex! Why would we trust you anyway, you fail every test that’s been given to you. You fail even when you copy answers.”

“That’s because I copy your answers, genius.”

“Shut up. I’m not the one who’s going to end up in a zoo when we’re older.”

“Crike you! I say we should do my idea. It could work.”

“The chance of it working is as high as your IQ, Dex.”

“Works every time, then.”

“No! Nobody can tell the difference between your IQ and your age.”

Seyden wasn’t sure what to think of it. He felt like trespassing, but he didn’t want to hurt the girl’s feelings. “That’s cool. Maybe we’ll use it in the future.”

She was giggling at the responses heard on the com. “Maybe. I find it so fun to do this.”

When the game ended, Seyden heard an eruption of cheers from his team. 

“That’s the first win in weeks!” someone yelled. More cheers from the crowd.

Back in the armoury, as everyone took off their gear, they praised their new commander. Seyden loved it. Everyone complimented on how that was the best strategy they’ve ever seen, and how he would be a great leader in battle when he’s older. They also said he’d make a great instructor, too.

“Instructor?” he asked Chalice. Why were they saying that?

“A lot of kids that go here become instructors here in the future,” she explained. “In fact, most of the ones here now used to be cadets here. Take Nolan for an example. He used to be one, and he always talks in class about how much he hated it.”

How could anyone hate this place? Seyden didn’t know. You could fit in really easily, and it was cool to think that they’d be spending a huge chunk of their lives very far from Adilan here. There was literally nothing to hate about this place.

That’s what he told Chalice, but she shook her head. “You don’t know anything yet. You had the easy class.”

He wasn’t sure what that meant, but he let the words go.

Seyden went back to his bunk after the battle. Only a few of his classmates went too, to maybe retrieve items or write something in their journals, whatever reasons he could think of. 

It was almost lunchtime. Seyden was here to quickly just check his belongings. He was completely surprised to find one of his bags open. It was the most important one, too. It held Mr. Coyote, his most precious item from home. 

He checked in the bag. His heart skipped a beat when he realized it was gone. 

He looked around. Who could’ve taken it? Chalice would never do it. She was the only one who knew about his stuffed animal, but it couldn’t be her. It had to be one of his classmates. There were barely any suspects to choose from in the room at the current time. Seyden studied each of their faces, trying to find guilt. But they genuinely seemed oblivious to the situation.

He looked across at a short, skinny kid rummaging through his own duffel bag, on the other side of the bed. Must’ve been his mate on the top bunk.

“Hey,” he said to him. “Have you seen anyone come in here and take something from my bag? I just got here.”

The boy didn’t answer, and it was only there Seyden saw the unmistakable look of guilt on his face, which he tried to hide. Seyden was an expert in determining facial expres-sions.

“Hey, I’m talking to you!” Seyden said louder this time, approaching him. 

“I saw Sidian take it!” he said. “I saw him steal it from your bag. He said he’s going to give it a bath. In doo-doo.”

Seyden instantly knew what he meant, and he raced for the public washroom.

He was walking fast until he suddenly slammed into a door that came down in front of him. He rubbed his head in fury, looking at the door. The broken one, he recognized. 

It came back up again after a minute, and he continued to storm his way to the washroom. Cadets walked by and saw him rubbing his head from the pain, looking angry, and just shrugged and went past him. 

In the washroom he heard kids laughing. “Get the ear! The ear!”

He felt tears coming but he wiped his eyes. How could anyone be so mean? What had he done to Sidian? Did he even stop to consider if Seyden deserved this?

He saw three boys from his class crowding around a stall, with Sidian ripping apart Mr. Coyote into pieces of stuffing and flushing it down the toilet, each time all of them laughing. 

“The eye! The eye! Get the eye!” one said, bursting into laughter as Sidian ripped it and put it in the toilet. 

“Hey!” Seyden yelled at them, and them suddenly realizing he was there. 

“Oh crike!” one of them said. He raised his hands up. “I didn’t do anything! Please! I just got here now! It was all Sidian’s idea, and he’s the one ripping him! I didn’t even know it was yours!”

Seyden hated kids like him. Instantly blaming it on somebody else. Why couldn’t the kid stop Sidian, then? He just had to lie and make an excuse that he didn’t know it belonged to him.

Again, he felt on the verge of crying but he instead filled his mind with vicious anger. “You’re going to regret this,” he said. “I’m going to tell everyone that you did this.”

“That little crike, Will!” Sidian said. “I made him promise not to tell anyone this! Big deal. Go ahead. Tell the slucks. Tell them all. Do you really think I care?”

“You will when I�"” Seyden stopped himself. When I get my father to chop your head off. This wasn’t home anymore. He couldn’t just say things like that. He wasn’t talking to Dawn anymore. This was the outside world, and he had to be careful on what to say. 

“When you what?” Sidian said. “What will you do?”

“Don’t tell on me!” the same boy who made the excuses earlier said. “I told you, I didn’t know it was yours! Sidian’s just jealous of you because you just got here and became commander, stealing all of his former glory and his training into getting to be one.” 

“Shut up, crike!” Sidian yelled, pushing him. 

“You can give the kid citum,” the third boy told Sidian, as if Seyden wasn’t even there. 

Sidian seemed to like that idea. “Tell you what, kid. I’ll give you a pack of citum if you don’t tell anyone. It was just a prank, I’m sorry. Crikey, I didn’t even know it was the commander’s until I found out right now.”

Seyden didn’t believe him, but he had no proof. These bullies were counting on that factor. 

“Thing is, the slucks won’t believe you anyway,” he said. “Or they won’t care. Might as well take the citum, kid.”

Seyden knew what he was up to. Of course they would care, the stupid kid was just trying to trick him. He didn’t even know what citum was, or if he would give it to him. Instead, his anger just boiled up inside of him. It sparked when he looked at his stuffed animal again, in the boy’s hand. His best friend, gone.

He was almost going to throw a punch. Almost. But he knew better. It wouldn’t change anything, or make him feel better. And he would never win a three to one. Not even a one on one, since Sidian was almost twice his size. But Seyden knew he was stupid. Just by sizing him up. He knew a lot of techniques he learned on the battlefield, maybe he could do this. But still, he only gripped his fists and never made the first move that would start it all. It would just make things worse. 

“No citum?” Sidian said. “Suit yourself, kid.”

“I’m sitting you out on the next mission,” Seyden said. “I now know why everyone hates you.”

“I couldn’t honestly care less.”

“You will in a few years, when you have no friends.”

He left the washroom without another word, hearing Sidian’s friends laugh at the bully, the sounds echoing through the walls. “You tell him, Red!” he heard one say. 

That didn’t make him any happier.

He told no one. Not even Chalice. He was too embarrassed that he cared this much about a stuffed animal, so he just let it go. He knew now to keep an eye out on Sidian. And his stuff, if anyone else planned on stealing.

He hadn’t shed any tears for the coyote, not knowing why. But he would miss him. His mother gave him that. How mad she would be when she finds out a stupid kid flushed him down the toilet! 

But that wouldn’t be until seven years later. Until he came home and told her. By that time, Mr. Coyote would be shot halfway across the solar system, since all waste the station had was sent out in a vacuum. By that time, Seyden would be older and would completely forget about him. He didn’t want that to happen. 

After lunch in the cafeteria, he went to class. He had spent it alone, again, since Chalice was with her other friends and didn’t invite him to sit anywhere. He didn’t mind. He liked being alone at times. There was no awkwardness, and no pressure of always needing to find something to talk about. 

He came in a bit late, and everyone was already there. His new schedule was different, and it would take some getting used to. 

He sat down and prepared for the lesson. Everyone was still talking, so he decided to use the time to ask Chalice more questions since he was still new here. First of all, there wasn’t an instructor with them during their battle. There usually was. Was it different in this sector?

When Chalice came in and sat down he asked her. 

“Oh, Beni was just away,” she said. “He’s our battle instructor. He had some kind of important meeting today.”

Still five instructors for each class, even in this sector. He’d learned them all from Chalice, even if he hadn’t met them yet. The lead one, Reve, which she already mentioned. Nolan, their teacher. Don, for simulations. Saph, for battle training. And Beni was their battles instructor. So it wasn’t different at all. He just wanted to make sure. 

He was about to ask another question before the instructor started talking. He decided to learn more later. He couldn’t learn everything all at once. 

First, they all stood and recited the Oath of Duty, Leadership, and Righteousness, which Seyden hadn’t memorized yet. Then they went into the lesson.

Today’s lesson was more of a story. Nolan titled it, “Why Punishment Is Important.” 

“Without punishment, we as Namans can’t learn from mistakes,” he said. “Therefore, we’d be making them all the time, instead of fixing them. Here’s an example. Once in a forest, two hikers were in the woods. They were unexperienced and new to hiking, so they didn’t know much. One time they encountered a bear, and they didn’t know what to do. They panicked, and then they got attacked by the bear. Each one got a huge slash on the chest before they ran away. Someone, tell me why this is a form of punishment and how you can learn from it the next time.”

A kid raised his hand. “They got a beating from the bear, so now they understand that the next time, they don’t go near it anymore, or panic and scare it.”

“Good!” Nolan said enthusiastically. 

That’s stupid, Seyden thought. It wasn’t their choice to run into the bear. 

“It’s the same concept with punishments to kids like you with a belt,” he said. “It is justified because you have done something bad and you deserve it. It may seem harsh and terrible, but that’s just the way of things. That’s the way of nature. Do you think it is unfair for the bear in the forest to attack the two hikers? No, you don’t because you think it’s its natural instinct to attack them. So it seems fair. It even gave them equal punishment. One slash for each.”

“I have another reason on how they can learn from it.” The boy’s voice was familiar. Seyden recognized him as the kid with tons of excuses, with Sidian in the washroom. 

“The next time they find a bear, the smarter hiker will know to wear good shoes so he can outrun the other, so the bear will eat his friend while he escapes.”

The class bursted into laughter at the ridiculous idea. 

Hilarious, Seyden thought sarcastically. This kid must’ve thought he was so funny.

“What’s his name?” Seyden asked Chalice. 

She took one glance. “That’s Calum. He’s the class clown. A prankster, too. Also the twin brother of Less.”

“Who’s Less?”

“You know. The hacker girl.”

Now Seyden found that absolutely interesting. The twin of that girl he met during the battle, and a fellow prankster? 

“That’s not funny,” Nolan said, frowning. “See class, this is a perfect example of punishment.”

“No!” the whole class said. “Don’t!”

Seyden found this outrageous and completely unfair. This kid was mean. He stood up and said, “Yes!”

He was the only one that did so. There was a moment of silence, as everyone stared at him.

It was broken when Sidian also stood up and yelled to him, “Who are you to say that, you crike! Just because you’re commander? Huh? Is that it? You think you can boss around even instructors?”

Seyden could see the envy in Sidian’s eyes. And why was he defending Calum? He was a bad friend. He tried to ditch him and leave him in the washroom, and he also laughed at him and that other kid when Seyden said something mean to Sidian.

The class also looked shocked when he spoke. Even the instructor. He guessed that you couldn’t just say crike anywhere you went.

“Stop being jealous,” Seyden told him. He didn’t want a fight, but he thought he might've made a mistake.

“Oh yeah?” Sidian said, this time louder and more angry. “I’m jealous? Well, I hate you! You know what you are? You’re a, a Homo sapient!” The entire class gasped, like Sidian had crossed the line. Nolan looked outraged. Seyden didn’t know what a Homo sapient was, but it must’ve been really bad for him to get this reaction from everybody.

“Sidian!” a girl said. “That’s offensive!”

“Yeah!” Sidian continued, as if the whole class and the instructor wasn’t even there. “And you know what? You belong in quarantine!”

Now that, Seyden knew. The quarantine zone was a process every kid went through before they went to space. They were locked up in a tight room for about a week, so they wouldn’t catch any diseases or sicknesses when they launched. To some it wasn’t a big deal, but to most, including Seyden, it was the stuff of nightmares. It gets claustrophobic inside once you realize you have to stay there for seven days without any contact with any people. 

It was an insult, too. Saying you belonged in quarantine meant that you were diseased, and something was wrong with you. Seyden couldn’t believe how mean he was to say such things.

“That’s it,” Nolan said, furious. “This is a great way to deserve punishment. Class, look at this example.”

Suddenly Sidian’s face paled, as if he understood what the instructor meant. “Uh, no! I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean it! I take it back!”

It was too late. Nolan had a dark side Seyden never knew. He went to Sidian and grabbed his uniform collar, lifting him up. 

“You don’t say that to anyone in this class, you hear me!” he yelled. “Namans will frown upon you if you keep this up!” Sidian screamed and apologized as he was dragged across the floor, outside. “Class dismissed,” Nolan hissed, and they left the room with Sidian’s screams echoing through the halls. 

The whole class was silent. 

Then everyone flared up in conversations. Seyden barely had enough courage to sit down and whisper to Chalice, “What’s a…” he didn’t want to say it this time. “What he said?”

She shook her head. “It’s just bad. It’s the scientific name for human.” She spat like even saying the word left a bad taste in her mouth. “It’s the deadliest insult anyone can say. If you knew what it was from the start, you’d be crying right now.”

He called me a…Seyden felt sick. He was called that? How disgusting!

Chalice talked with the other person beside her for a bit and then went back to Seyden. “Rumours say he’s going to get beaten up. Bad.”

Seyden wasn’t sure if that was true. Why would they get beaten up? Was the insult really that bad? 

That night, when everyone went into their bunks, Seyden went to his after saying good night to Chalice. An instructor came in to make sure everyone was accounted for, for the night curfew. He counted everyone except Sidian, who wasn’t here, but he seemed to know about it since he pretended like he didn’t notice.

It was Reve, the lead one. He shook hands with Seyden, finally meeting him. The lead instructor had to know the commander of the class, that was important.

“I heard you made us win a battle today,” he said.

Seyden nodded. 

“Be proud, soldier. In war, sometimes a good leader is all it takes to win a battle. If this was war right now, you’d get a medal for that amazing battle. First win in weeks.”

Seyden nodded again. 

“Other classes see ours as just another one to easily be beaten, even with two of the best soldiers here, Fate and Stinger. That’s our advantage. They won’t see us coming with our new weapon: you. We may have the best commander in the academy now. We can rise as underdogs. Keep up the good work, soldier. I think with you, we can live up to our real potential.” 

Seyden liked how Reve called everyone soldier instead of cadet. It made him feel more like this was an academy and not a school. Of course, kids had to be educated, but the real purpose of this place was to train them for war.

He went into his bed. He was right about who was on his top bunk. It was the same boy who told him about Sidian and his friends flushing his stuffed animal down the toilet. He was about to climb up onto the top before Seyden said, “Hey.”

He stopped. 

“Thank you for telling me what they were doing with my stuffed toy.”

“Oh. I thought you would be mad at me.”

“Mad? Not really. You’re Will, right?”

He nodded. 

“You broke your promise to Sidian about not telling me. If someone would be mad at you, it would be him.”

He silently agreed. “I’m sorry for what happened to him. And for what Sidian said to you. He can be mean sometimes, you know? Really mean. It’s just a part of him, and nothing can change it.”

“Do you know him well?”

“Yes, very well. We grew up in the same area together back home until we got recruited for this station. We’re not from Sedolas, either. Another country. We might be the only ones in this station not from Sedolas, you know. Well, us and Nye, who’s in this class. Most countries think this station is illegal, but some don’t and they send kids up here, too.”

Seyden thought that the station being illegal was funny. How could it be? How could sending little children to space and punishing them with beatings so they could become soldiers for the war be a bad thing? 

“We’re best friends,” Will continued. “But then Sidian got all angry and stuff and he’s not like what he once was. We’ve drifted apart, since he’s found new buddies. We’re not really much friends anymore. Also since he…”

“Murdered a politician?” Seyden said. “I’ve heard.”

“Those stories are true, but most don’t think so,” he said. “He’s crazy, and he’s only our age. That’s what got him recruited up here. And he begged for me to come with him, too. So that’s why I’m here.”

Seyden took in all this information as Will said good night and went up onto the top bunk. He rested in silence for a long time as everyone fell asleep. 

Instead, he found himself thinking about Mr. Coyote. He didn’t shed any tears for him before, but now they came. He silently cried for his best pal, missing his soft fur. Would he be able to sleep without him? He was gone, forever.

He also knew what it was like to lose a good friend.

3

Reminding

Authority 

Sweet dreams were not present in Seyden’s sleep.

He had the same nightmare he’d always had back on Adilan. This was the first time he had it on the space station. 

It was the same. He kept aging until he became very old. But something unexpected happened at the end. He stopped aging when he was an old man, and then he started getting younger. Younger and younger until he was back to his real age. 

He got off the bed and looked around. It was a medical room in the mansion. Sunlight streamed through the huge glass windows and into the room, filling him with warmth. 

Was this a sign? That something has changed? It was strange to see a difference in the dream.

As he walked around the mansion he found nobody. Not a single servant, or his father or mother. Nobody to play with. 

That was his biggest fear. Being alone. He wasn’t very social, as in his first class he had made no real friends. But at least they were there. Filled with life, all around him.

In the mansion, he never felt lonely. There was usually always someone to play with, or servants walking in the halls. Cleaning, washing, cooking. No matter how big the mansion was, you would find a person everywhere you went. 

But this time there was no one. Throughout the whole day he had explored the whole mansion. He had taken a horse to go around the meadows, around the estate to find anyone. He didn’t. 

He brought the horse back to the stable. They were for exploring the forest around them, Father always said. Horses for the forest, cars for the roads. Take them no further than the fences of the estate. 

When he went back inside still no one was there. He was scared, but also bored. Where was everyone? Did something happen?

It got worse when it turned night. Wolves howled in the full moon in the forest, and crickets chirped. The mansion’s hallways turned dark and sinister. Hope deserted him, and he wished the isolation would end. He was trapped here, nowhere to go, with nobody, for the rest of his life. 

He waited for hours. Suddenly he heard noises in the hallway that gave him the creeps. Slithering tentacles, scuttling critters, growling creatures. He knew what they were. Humans. He closed his eyes. He didn’t want to see what they looked like. He didn’t know for sure, so he was a bit curious, but there was no way he would risk it. 

He closed his eyes. One second passed. Two.

Then he felt a hand grab his shoulder behind him.

He woke up screaming. He calmed down when he looked around the room and realized he was still in the space station. He was safe. And here, nobody could leave him, since they were all confined to the space of the station.

Slowly, everyone woke up dazed and confused. He felt embarrassed. At home, he sometimes screamed after a nightmare. He didn’t realize how problematic it would be for everyone here. 

“What happened?” a girl was the first one to him. “Oh. It’s the commander. Red, it sounds like you were just sentenced to another week in quarantine.”

“Please don’t say that,” Seyden said. More cadets came off their beds to crowd around him. He realized then he didn’t want his reputation to be like this.

“Name, soldier,” he asked like a commander would, rubbing his head. 

“I’m Amber,” she said. “I know I may not have the rank to say this, but Red, may I ask for a status report?”

“Nightmare,” Seyden muttered. He heard a few groans. 

“It’s okay, back home my sister got them all the time,” she said. “You have nothing to be ashamed about. In fact…” she checked her watch. Seyden knew she must be dedicated to sleep with it on. “You woke us all up in time for battle training. Perfect.”

“Uh, yeah, I planned that,” Seyden said, smiling. A lot of them laughed. “Well then, everyone suit up. You have ten minutes. Then we’re in the training gym. Move, move, move!”

The crowd dispersed around them. 

“Thank you,” Seyden said as he got up. “You made me look like less of a mess.”

“Dada back home says I’m too nice sometimes,” she said. “Says that I won’t be much for this program, since you have to be tough to be a soldier. By the way, I kinda lied, we’re thirty minutes early.”

“Early breakfast, then. Dress up.” She left and Seyden got off his bed to dress up too.

He saw Chalice come to him, and was surprised to see Evestor come, too. “What happened?” she asked. “I just heard a scream, that’s all I know.”

“I had a nightmare, it’s nothing,” Seyden said. 

“That sucks,” Evestor said. “Don’t worry, no one’s looking down on you. You’re still the best commander. But man, if Sidian was here, he wouldn’t stop making fun of you for ages. You’re lucky he spent the night in solitary confinement.”

“I don’t believe in luck,” Seyden said, looking at Chalice for a moment then back at Evestor. “Also, what’s solitary confinement?”

“A bad place, my friend. Trapped the whole night in a space no bigger than a closet. Only for punishing.”

They were down one soldier? “I thought he’d be back by now. We need Sidian for battles, you know. As much as I hate him.”

“He’ll be back during training,” he said. “Also, it’s Rex. The slucks will kill us if we don’t use codenames during training or a battle. You know that.”

“Understood, Wolf. Now get back to getting ready for breakfast. It could be your turn for the sink.”

He looked at the bathroom. “Oh crike, it is!” he said, rushing off.

The three sinks in the bathroom were on a rotating cycle for everyone. They were always being used, and if you missed your turn, well then you were going to have a bad day.

“Red,” Chalice said, “training partner for combat lessons?” 

“Of course. There’s no one better.”

She blushed and nodded, leaving Seyden room to dress up too.

In under thirty minutes they were ready, waiting at the door for the instructor. Seyden liked how this class moved faster than his old one. They were harder working, and less lazy. He was glad he transferred here. He already knew a lot of them, too. Things were better here. 

The door opened. Reve was there, along with Sidian. 

Everyone went into murmurs and gasps when they saw his condition. He had a black eye, and he looked tired and fatigued. Like his entire body ached. Slouching like he didn’t get much sleep. He walked past everyone, heading for his bunk, not looking anyone in the eye. 

Reve acted like he wasn’t even there. “Soldiers! Your room this time is the one closest to the battlefield in this sector. Saph will be there. You know the drill. Meet her there in five minutes. No delays!”

A boy raised his hand. Seyden recognized him. He was one of the guys in the washroom, helping his enemy drown Mr. Coyote. “What about Sidian?” 

“Yeah!” Amber said. “Why does he look like that?” Seyden didn’t like how she was supporting the guy. Or protecting Sidian. How could anyone protect that kid? He was a crike. A pure Homo sapient. Of course, he didn’t say any of that out loud. 

“Rex!” Reve yelled so loudly that it hurt Seyden’s ears. “You two need discipline, to not ask any questions and to use your codenames. In war, during reconnaissance or espionage, it’s a risk to let the enemy find out your real names if they ever pick up your radio signals from your comms. And they’re there so you can receive less cumulative errors when you speak to each other in comms. You all know the game broken telephone. We don’t want that to happen during very important missions. So tell me again, who were you referring to?”

Amber looked mildly annoyed, and the boy rolled his eyes. “Rex,” they both said, sighing.

“Good! Now both of you, drop and give me twenty!”

They didn’t argue. They just did it. Twenty push-ups, with both of them counting. Everyone watched, feeling bad for them, as they strained on the floor. 

After a long, excruciating moment, they finished. 

“Do more! Only when you’re told to stop!”

They both looked like they wanted to complain, but it also looked like they were used to obeying Reve. They dropped and continued to do more push-ups. 

“Red,” the instructor said. Seyden suddenly turned when he heard his name, a bit fearful. 

“You tell them when to stop. You’re their commander. You decide how much is enough to discipline them for today.”

Seyden felt all the pressure on him. He wanted to release them immediately, but he knew for sure Reve wouldn’t approve. The boy definitely deserved it, but he didn’t like seeing Amber get tired from all the push-ups. She was innocent, and she had been nice to him. 

He counted thirty seconds. Thirty long, gruelling seconds. “Stop,” he finally said. 

They immediately dropped and rested on the ground. Seyden knew Reve wouldn’t approve of them doing that. “Get up, cadets. Now,” he told them.

They sat up tiredly, but didn’t stand. 

“Good,” Reve said, nodding. “Take this as a lesson, cadets. You all wasted time because of these two.”

No, because of you, Seyden thought angrily at the instructor. The two did nothing wrong.

“Nolan’s been teaching you punishment is necessary in the shaping of a true soldier. Let this be another example.”

He left, and suddenly the tension in the air was gone. Calum, being a good friend this time, helped the boy on the floor up.

Reve expected the whole class to be mad at the two for making them late, but it was the opposite.

“Man, that was so mean.”

“Why would Reve do this?”

“They didn’t even do anything wrong!”

Seyden took charge in helping Amber up. “I’m sorry. But why would you try to defend Si�"Rex?”

She just shook her head, frowning, ignoring his question and leaving him. She looked on the verge of tears, too.

What did I do? he thought. Was thirty seconds too long? Did she think he missed a chance to return a favour?

Seyden glanced at Chalice. She shrugged and followed everyone walking out the door and to the training gym.

When Seyden asked Evestor, he shook his head. “She didn’t do it for Sidian, Red. She did it for Locke, the boy on the floor. Everyone knows she likes him. She does anything for him, you know. Just don’t talk to her for a while, because she’s embarrassed. But yeah, you didn’t do anything wrong. You and everyone else knew that if you told them to stop literally one second after they started, Reve would criking whip you. You did the right thing; make him satisfied. He’s a jerk, you know. A criking jerk.”

Seyden didn’t know any of that. It was good that he was learning more information. He needed to know everything to be a good commander. Weaknesses, strengths, abilities and disabilities, and motivations of his fellow cadets.

“How do you know this?” Seyden wanted to know. 

“I’m her friend,” he said. “Well, I feel like I’m everyone’s friend. Everyone seems to like me and share their secrets with me. It’s because they say I’m good at protecting things, like secrets, but whatever. Also, have you seen Less bully her yet?”

“No. She does?”

“Yeah, man. All the time! All the criking time! It’s because she also likes Locke, and they’re kinda rivals. I hate it, man. Sidian, Calum, Locke, and Less, they’re all evil! They’re bullies. I wish I can do something to stop them from being so mean all the time, especially stop Less from picking on Amber. It’s not fair.”

“Reve would be so mad at you right now, Wolf.” Seyden emphasized the last word. He laughed. “Shut up, man. But crikey, you’re right! I better start using codenames, or I’m going to stay in quarantine for the rest of my life for how much I haven’t been using them!”

“And if you had a nickel for every time you swear without the instructors hearing…”

“Crike! I’d be filthy rich, bathing in gold!”

Cadets! Listen up!” Instructor Saph said, after she made everyone run five laps around the big training gym for being late. “Your task today is to develop your best method of tripping someone. Use any part of your body that you want. After, you get free time on practicing any other moves you want to do.”

“I know a method that we can use,” Chalice said when everybody went into their partners. “You’ll be the victim, though.”

Seyden shrugged, not caring. He only did when he was on the ground a second after, and his back hurt. 

“You start at their side, put a foot behind them and push them with all your strength,” she said. 

Seyden groaned in pain. “Where did you learn this, Blue?”

“My older brother,” she said with distaste. “He went here before. He was so mean! He always did this technique on me, and I hated it!”

Seyden wished he knew a technique, too. Then he realized he did. When he wasn’t playing with someone in the mansion, he was watching TV. Sometimes they played a spy movie where the hero pressed a point somewhere near the enemy’s shoulder to instantly make them fall to the ground. They always seemed exaggerated, but he really wanted to find out. 

“I’ll try something,” Seyden said, putting a hand on Chalice’s shoulder and a thumb beneath it, pressing down on the thumb. 

“Ow!” she said, but she didn’t fall. 

Just then Instructor Saph came. “What are you doing?” she scolded Seyden. “You only do that to enemies! That’s dangerous! You could kill someone like that!”

“Sorry,” Seyden said. “I thought you could use it to make them fall with just your hand.”

“You can,” she said, “but you’re hitting the wrong spot. Just don’t try that anymore. You’re doing it all wrong.” She put a hand to her forehead. “Nolan told me you guys are in the age of reason, you guys would know what’s right and wrong.”

“Um, I don’t think that’s what he meant by that,” Chalice said. 

“Whatever. Just practice another move than that.”

When she left, Seyden and Chalice couldn’t hold back a laugh.

“I don’t think she’s that smart,” Chalice said. “Nolan meant in decisions. But we almost got busted there.”

Seyden took a mental note that the first enemy he would find in his life, he’d try to use the pressure point. 

“One time she made Terra do push-ups because she put on her jetpack straps wrong,” she said. “It was our first jetpack class, too. Sometimes she can be clueless, you know?”

“Terra?” “My friend. She sits next to me on the other side in class. She’s a really good thief, you know. She can steal anything from anyone. A lot of times she gets caught and gets in trouble, but most times she pranks people with it. You two should really meet. I heard you like pranking back in your old class.”

That wasn’t something Seyden was proud of, but he did like doing it. It was just fun to see the victim’s reactions when they realize something was wrong. 

“Use codenames, Blue,” he told her. 

“Oh, right. She’d be Star, then.”

Seyden looked around the training gym, watching other cadets create their own methods of tripping. Everyone was in skintight training suits, two partners for each mat on the floor. He saw Mady and Dellos perform some complicated moves on each other in one corner of the room. He didn’t know where they learned to fight, but they were definitely the best at combat here. 

Evestor and Calum, Sidian and Locke, everybody had a partner. But there were fifteen of them. He looked around for the single one. He found Will sitting alone on a bench, watching others since he didn’t have a partner.

“Poor kid,” Chalice said, following his eyesight. “If Blade was still here, she’d surely pick him as her partner.”

Seyden guessed Blade was Rena, the class’s old commander. He felt bad for Will too, but he was too scared to do anything about it. In his old class, he would be the one sitting in the corner, so in this one it only felt right that he wasn’t the one this time. He was safe. That’s what he felt like. Relieved.

He kept looking around. Then he spotted commotion going on at a far end of the room. Less was saying some insults at Amber, pushing her too, sometimes. She looked scared and didn’t know what to do about it. When Seyden first met Less, in the battlefield, seconds before the game ended, he didn’t know she could be this mean. 

But he should’ve known. She was hacking into the other team’s conversations. That wasn’t right. That was a violation of privacy. He was ashamed that he hadn’t scolded her at that moment, since he was her commander. Instead he had called it cool. And that maybe they would use it as a tactic in the future. He decided that they’d never, and that he’d never mention it again, during a battle. Even ignore Less if she asked him about it. 

“Wolf told me she’s mean to, uh�"”

“Ace. Amber’s codename. It’s because she’s the best pilot here, during piloting simulations.”

“Ace, then. Well yeah, she’s mean to Ace because she likes Locke, and Less does too.”

“Makes sense. He’s probably the best-looking one here. By the way, Locke is Zeynin and Less is Repto.”

“You can’t blame me,” he said. “I still don’t know everyone’s name.” Cool names. The most fiercest land and sea animal predators in Adilan.

“Well yeah, Zeynin is handsome, and likeable to basically everyone. But he’s too addicted to citum. It gets him in trouble, sometimes.”

“What’s citum?” Seyden had heard it before, from Sidian, but he still didn’t know what it was.

“A very addictive gum that the slucks keep for themselves. Star steals it for everyone, since she’s the best at it. Everyone likes it, and they keep using it to stay happy. No one likes this place. It’s their ticket out of this world.”

“Sounds like a bad substance.”

“It is! I keep telling everyone that. I’m like the only one in this sector that doesn’t use it, and you too. It’s for adults, you know. You shouldn’t try it too, you might become addicted. I keep telling Star to stop stealing it from the slucks for everyone, but she doesn’t want to. She said she likes being a thief, and it gives her benefits like popularity, returned favours, more friends. And the most important one: guarantees her protection from Rex, Zeynin, and Snare. Snare is Calum, by the way.”

Seyden didn’t think that seemed fair at all. How evil were they, really? “So they keep forcing her to get it for them, and if she doesn’t they’ll beat her up.”

Chalice nodded. “I tell her that the friends she has because she smuggles the citum aren’t her real friends, since their friendship is only based on the citum. Meanwhile I’m her real friend, since I don’t depend on her for the gum. If you look around you’ll see some cadets chewing it. Look right now.”

Seyden looked around and indeed did see some kids chewing. Something he’d never noticed before. Whenever Saph came around to check on them, they stopped chewing, to hide it. 

“Too much can make you vomit,” Chalice said. 

“Rex offered it to me once,” he told her. “Didn’t know it was such a bad thing.”

“Don’t do it, it’s bad for you.”

Seyden once again looked at Will sitting alone in a corner of the training gym. He saw him take out a pack secretly from his pocket, popping something in his mouth.

A ticket out of this world, he thought. Makes you happy.

It was class time. This was where Seyden excelled. He aced every test and project thrown at him, and he was usually considered the smartest in the class. This was his best and favourite part of the academy, along with strategizing for missions. 

Today Nolan taught them about the different types of missions they could have in battles or simulations. Their most recent one, their first victory in weeks, was a regular army battle. Whoever got the most points wins. Sometimes they could have different game modes, like capture the flag to train them for reconnaissance. Scouting and spying for espionage. Or an escorting mission, like bringing someone to a location without the cadet getting shot once, meant to train them for saving hostages in a mission. Attack and defend, a game where one side has a base and one side tries to attack it, meant to train them for protecting a military base in a war. Assassination missions, where one team tries to defend one of their members while the other team targets the same cadet to be shot. 

There were many different game modes, and each one required unique and special tactics. That’s what they were studying this lesson. This information was most crucial and important to Seyden, since he was the commander. He had to pay attention here. 

“In war, a strategy is very important,” Nolan said. “Whoever has the better strategy wins. It’s all about which side makes the smarter plays. Back then, it used to be everyone just running in and killing as many as they can, but in today’s wars that won’t do you any good.”

Why not? Seyden asked himself. It could work.

“Simulations with Don and training with Saph is what gives you the skills you need to actually use them in battles with other classes. The battles are the real games. Everything you learn in your other classes are used for there.”

As Nolan talked, Seyden noticed something strange about Will, who sat in front of him. He was doubling over, clutching his stomach, and his face was a bit pale. 

“So it doesn’t matter if you’re failing in any of the other classes but there. All we need are good soldiers, not cadets with good grades. All you need to focus on is to succeed in your battles.”

Will was getting worse. His face was green now, and he was holding his mouth, about to puke.

Seyden was about to tell the instructor, but it was too late. Will threw up right in the middle of the class. Everybody jumped back in surprise and shock, getting out of the way. 

Sidian was laughing hard. He was the only one who was. Even his buddies, Calum and Locke, were slightly shaking their heads at him. They seemed genuinely sorry for the kid. 

That’s when it hit Seyden. This was enough evidence to tell him that Sidian planned this, somehow.

“You think this is funny?” Seyden said, loudly, and the bully fell silent. In fact, the whole room seemed to stay still, with no sound at all. Everybody was frozen for a moment.

“Clean it up,” Seyden growled at him. He found a rag in the cabinet and grabbed it, throwing it at Sidian. He found a bucket, too, also throwing it at him. “I’m your commander, and you have to follow me. This is your punishment. Clean it up.”

Nolan realized what was happening, and smiled. “Yes, he’s right. Reve would be proud of you, Seyden. Do what he says, cadet.”

But Seyden wasn’t doing this for Reve. Not even Will. He was going to humiliate Sidian in front of the whole class, so that he wouldn’t harm anyone or their feelings again. He was doing it for himself.

Sidian didn’t look scared. “I’m not going to do that. If you want me to, make me.”

Seyden kept his cold glare. “I’m the president of Sedolas’s son. Disobeying me, since I’m also your commander, would anger him. You don’t want that, do you?”

Suddenly Sidian looked scared. It was the unspoken truth of Seyden. He had power in this academy. Authority. He knew his father was a scary man, to basically everyone. They didn’t want to anger him. Therefore, you didn’t want to anger Seyden.

Nolan backed him up, too. He seemed to love the idea, a smile forming on his lips. “Do it, cadet.”

Sidian looked like he felt trapped in a hopeless situation, like he realized all this now and knew he was done for. He obeyed, slowly cleaning up the vomit with the rag and squeezing it into the bucket. Some of the other cadets made comments, too, in whispers.

“Ew, that’s disgusting.”

“That’s humiliating.”

“He even sounds like the president himself.”

He didn’t care what they said. When Sidian was done, Seyden still didn’t feel satisfied. Not at all. He slapped the bucket out of Sidian’s hand, the contents spilling again.

“Now do it again,” he told him.

Gulping, Sidian obeyed. Nolan seemed to love what he was seeing. That momentarily broke Seyden out of his revenge trance. Was this too much? Was this really the right thing to do? 

Yes, it’s punishment, he thought. Sidian definitely deserved this.

He heard a voice from the crowd. It was Melody. “Red, you don’t even know if he did this.”

“He did,” Seyden said, hoping he was right. He decided to make a prediction based on what happened. “You gave Will an overdose of citum, didn’t you, cadet?”

Sidian didn’t answer. 

“I asked you a question, cadet!”

Sidian slowly nodded his head. His eyes said, I’m sorry, it was just a prank.

Seyden found satisfaction in finding out he was right. But not enough when Sidian was done cleaning it up for the second time. 

“Now drink it,” he told him, dead serious. The class groaned, grossed out already. 

Sidian looked like he wanted to complain, but he didn’t. He slowly raised the bucket to drink.

“Commander, I think that’s enough punishment.” It was Melody again, more force in her voice now. 

He felt someone tug his sleeve behind him. It was Evestor. “Seyden, you’re going too far.”

Seyden felt like crying. He was going too far, and he didn’t like it. He just wanted revenge so badly; wanted to get back at Sidian. “Stop,” he said, less command in his voice now. 

He realized then he was hurting his reputation. He didn’t want to be like the instructors, picking on kids and giving them harsh punishments, even if Sidian was a bad kid. Nobody deserved really harsh punishments. Already his friends were telling him not to do this, giving him a clue that this was the wrong thing to do. But this was what the instructors wanted, because Nolan seemed happy from the situation. It was a lose-lose, since he couldn’t please both his friends and the instructors at once. 

He looked around at everyone. Mady was shaking her head. Dellos was looking at the ground. Amber looked disappointed, even though Seyden knew that she hated Sidian as much as him. Locke was glaring at him, obviously angry for doing this to Sidian, his friend. 

All of this formed tears in his eyes, and he went to leave the room quickly. He pushed through the door without looking at anyone, heading for the bunk feeling guilty and ashamed. 

4

See The Way

Things Are

Mornings and evenings don’t exist at Sedolas Space Academy. All cadets see about sixteen sunrises and fifteen sunsets every Adilan day. 

So when Seyden woke up, he didn’t know how much time had passed. It could’ve been a few hours or a few years. 

Classes and days came and went. They passed like a quick breeze. A month had passed, so the class seating arrangement would be changed. They were always told that’s how they did it in regular schools in Adilan.

Chalice said goodbye to Seyden for sitting beside each other and Seyden got two new people beside him. On the left was a girl he didn’t know, but was apparently Chalice’s friend. On his right was�"ugh�"Calum, so he readied himself to be annoyed a whole lot this month. 

Evestor told him that he just had to get to know Calum to figure out he wasn’t as bad as the others, and the guy was always partnered up with him, so Seyden decided to give him a chance. 

“Hey,” Calum said to him, “you wanna see something cool?”

Seyden just shrugged, hoping he wouldn’t be the victim. 

He slingshotted a rubber band across the classroom, hitting Nolan right in the back of the head as he was writing on the board. The whole class bursted in laughter as he whispered to Seyden, “Headshot!”

Seyden laughed too. Nolan was the only one fuming. “If I find out who keeps shooting rubber bands in my classroom…” 

Of course, everyone knew it was Calum who shot it, but they all protected him by not saying a single word. Everybody hated Nolan, and so nobody told on anyone when he was being pranked. 

That’s what Seyden liked about Calum’s pranks. They were never serious, always harmless, unlike Sidian giving an overdose of citum to Will. 

One time during jet packing lessons with Saph, he had a controller in his pocket.

“Watch this,” he told Seyden. A kid that Seyden assumed was Nye because everyone called him that was going up next, going to fly an obstacle course. At the part where he had to go super high, Calum pressed a button on his controller. Suddenly, Nye’s thrusters stopped, and he fell towards the floor, screaming.

This was when Seyden though he had gone too far. Nye could get seriously hurt! He sucked air through his teeth.

But Calum just laughed and pressed the same button on his controller. Nye’s thrusters began to work again, but he still lowered himself down. The class gathered around as Saph checked his jetpack for a malfunction error. But everyone knew it was just Calum doing a prank again.

“How did you do that?” Seyden asked him, amazed. 

He was still chuckling when he said, “Less. It’s fun to have a twin sister that can hack. Right sis?” he called to her in the crowd. She had an annoyed face but she still smiled. “Nye’s face when he began to drop, man! Hilarious!”

Seyden had to admit that it was pretty funny. These were the types of pranks he could never do in his old class. 

As everybody was dismissed at the end of class, Amber was shaking her head when she got to Seyden. 

“Sometimes I forget Calum can be so mean!” she told him. 

Next class was piloting simulations. “Hey, I heard you’re the best pilot in the class.” Chalice had told him that.

Her eyes lit up when he mentioned it. “Yeah! I’m better than anyone here! Want to be my partner for this next class?”

“Okay,” Seyden said, glad that he wouldn’t be the loner out of fifteen this time, like Will. He never had been, but he  feared he would be next since his two best friends, Chalice and Evestor, always found a partner for classes. Sometimes it was him, but lately it wasn’t. He was afraid he’d become repulsive ever since he’d been mean to Sidian just because his father was rich and powerful. Instructor Don gave instructions for the simulation, then everyone went into their pods, in partners. Amber picked one and Seyden sat on the right. 

“This is where I feel most at home,” she said, rubbing her hands. 

“So first we turn it on, right?” Seyden was about to flip the switch before Amber told him not to. 

“There are actually things we have to do before we turn it on,” she explained. “Like turn on the thermal protection system. It can get cold in space, you know. Also, you have to put on your headset.”

In a few minutes Seyden found out why she was called Ace. Amber was absurdly good at flying spacecraft. Simulations, and real ones. They were already scoring thousands of points before anyone could get past the pre-flight protocol. It’s what got her into the academy. 

Seyden felt like everyone had a special talent or gift that got them here. Sidian, at almost seven years old, murdered a politician, which was unbelievably scary. Less was a good hacker, Terra was a good thief. Mady and Dellos were good at combat. Even Melody was heavily talented at all sorts of things, which Seyden didn’t find out himself but just heard other cadets telling him that. 

He felt like he was the odd one out. He was only here because he was the son of Sedolas’s space station, the apparent shmuck who owned the entire station. Well, that actually wasn’t true. He moved to this class because he was academically and strategically gifted. While others achieved high in other classes, he excelled at battles, which was supposedly the most important one. When he’s in the armoury, and everyone crowded around him, depending on a plan, he felt right at home. That was his talent: being a good commander. Analyzing strengths and weaknesses of his troop squad and his opponents. Ever since the class got him, they’d never lost a battle. It was something Seyden was proud of. 

“Easy,” Amber said as she quickly dodged an asteroid field in ten seconds, something Seyden wouldn’t be able to learn how to do in ten years. He was mostly just a co-pilot, sitting there and flipping the switches Amber told him to, not really doing much of anything.

“You know, I hate how the class always laughs at Calum when he does something funny,” she said. “Most times, it’s not, it’s actually pretty serious. Like last class. Does he even know the things Nye went through as a child?”

“Why?” Seyden asked, thinking that Amber had forgotten he was still new here. “What happened to him?”

“You don’t know?” She seemed surprised. “Everybody knows!”

“We’re in a simulation, by the way.” 

Amber instantly knew what he meant. “Oh, sorry. Duno, then. That’s his codename. Anyway, he was born in the country right beside Sedolas, the one that’s at heavy war with it. When he was young, his parents died from the war, and he escaped north to Sedolas because he thought it would be much safer there. He had a tough, long journey. Hiding from enemy soldiers, surviving with minimal food, all when he was just a little kid. He made it to the border, only when he was spotted by the enemy. It was only then he was a goner…until, guess who saved him.”

“I don’t know,” Seyden said.

“Reve! He was there at the time, and he protected the little boy from the soldiers. He was shocked at how far he traveled as a lone orphan, and adopted him. He thought he would be great as a cadet in this academy, so he brought him here, too. Now Nye thinks he owes everything to Reve. Even his life. I don’t think he should. You’ve seen how much of a jerk Reve can be. You even saw him be mean to me, too!”

“If you don’t like mean people, how come you like Locke?” It was something that he had always wondered. “Him and Less are always mean to you. I see it all the time.”

She blushed. “Can we please not talk about that?”

“Sure,” Seyden said, sorry he’d asked. Instead he thought about Nye’s codename. 

Duno. Native Adilan animal that burrows deep in the desert. For long distances, too. And they’re left as a lone child when they’re young, left to fend for themselves in the cruel harshness of the sands of the desert. 

During class, Nolan talked about the history of the humans. 

“A long time ago, Adilan had many wars,” he said. “There was a huge battle in this kingdom. This kingdom was the land of what is now called Sedolas, today. As you all know, Sedolas is a democracy. Back then, it also was, and the kingdom had elected a new leader for the lands. does anyone know who this is?”

“King Hedaeus the Third,” the girl next to him said. She seemed to always know the answers to Nolan’s questions. She was smart. “Correct, Charity,” Nolan said, “but raise your hand next time. Anyway, a lot of people didn’t like their new leader. Some thought he was corrupt. As a result, two sides were formed. The Separatists, and the Loyalists. The Separatists believed that since they disliked their new leader, they wanted to gain independence and become a separate country than them. The Loyalists believed that democracy was democracy, and they had to stick with who they had. The kingdom fell into heavy civil war. The Separatists indeed did split from the rest of the kingdom, only because King Hedaeus won the war and banished them. Banished them from the planet. Does anyone know what happened next?”

Charity raised her hand this time. “Oh, I know! The king sent all of them on spacecrafts to a faraway planet. The planet was called Earth, and it has similar geographical features and temperatures as Adilan.”

Nolan nodded his head. “Very good! They became known as humans, and have spent so much time on Earth, hundreds of thousands of years in fact, that they have evolved into an entirely different species! They’re animals now, and have become disgusting creatures. The natives of the planet. They are slimy traitors, and now they have returned to us to have war to take back Adilan as their truly rightful home. Therefore, King Hedaeus is our hero, and he has won our first war against the Separatists. And we must honour him by winning the second, happening right now. Any questions?”

Evestor raised his hand. “I have one. How come the animals on their planet are mostly all the ones from here, too?” “Good question. That’s because they all came from here. It’s a long story. Let’s simplify it: the Separatists requested from the king that they should get some animals from here to bring along with them, as livestock. But spending so much time on Earth changed them, along with the wildlife already there. The humans call it domestication. For example, does anyone know what a dog or cat is?”

No one did. “Believe it or not, they came from wolves, and wild, feral wildcats. Also, they have weird, extreme wildlife already there, too. Who knows what an elephant is? Or a jellyfish?”

No one did, again. They were all new and interesting words Seyden had never heard before. 

“Or a monkey?” he continued. “And humans used to think they came from them. It makes me laugh at how such stupid and primitive beings they are. Also, the humans don’t know half of the animals we have here, in Adilan. Like a Zeynin, a Duno, or many others. Some of them are your codenames, correct? Now, does anyone have any more questions from the lesson?”

Seyden did have a question. Wasn’t the banishment to another planet for the Separatists a bit too extreme? Too unfair? They were just asking for independence. Surely that wasn’t enough reason to rid them off the planet. 

When he asked this, everyone seemed shocked. 

“Did you�"” Nolan’s eye twitched. “Did you really just ask that?”

“What did I do wrong?” Seyden asked, confused. Nolan seemed even more shocked when he said that.

“You do not disrespect King Hedaeus!” he yelled with such rage. “Didn’t you learn this in school?” “No,” Seyden said. “I didn’t go to school back home. Father told me it’s a waste of time, and it’s useless in life. I just stayed in the estate mostly my whole life.”

“Ah, I see,” Nolan said, seemingly more relaxed now, but still having an evil glint in his eyes. “You think you’re so high above us, don’t you? You think just because you have rich blood, you’re on the same level as King Hedaeus, huh?”

“Well, no,” Seyden said, trying to stay calm. “I just think that banishment seems a bit too harsh, you know.”

Some cadets gasped. What? Seyden thought. What am I doing wrong? Is it some sort of capital crime to say these things?

“For everything the humans have done, banishment is a luxury to them. They kill, roast, and eat each other! They deserve way worse! It was merciful for the king to let them live. And I just recently taught you about punishments! Class, let’s see if he learns from this experience, to show you I’m right in punishments being necessary to shape a true soldier. Seyden, stand up and face the wall.”

Seyden tried to keep the fear out of his mind. He didn’t know what Nolan was going to do. Beat him? He knew that a lot of kids sometimes got beaten up in this sector. No, not just the sector, the entire academy, too. 

He could see fear in his classmates’ eyes when he got up to do what Nolan said. It didn’t help in his case at all.

Seyden did as he was asked. “You didn’t have the guts to give Sidian his full punishment,” Nolan said as he searched through a drawer in his desk for something. “But you have the guts to say those things? Sidian’s a good kid, you crike!” He yelled it so loud it jolted Seyden. “He’s a favourite of the instructors! You don’t tell him what to do, we tell you what to do! You have to understand that your imaginary power in this station doesn’t exist here, just because you have a rich daddy! He won’t protect you here. Let the class decide your fate. Class, whip or baton?” 

He turned his head to look back at the class. They seemed scared, like they’ve done this many times before, and have had bad memories of it. They saw Seyden’s face and understood that he made a genuine, sorry mistake. 

“Whip, whip, whip!” they chanted. Seyden felt a bit relieved. It would hurt much less. A baton would definitely break his bones.

Nolan took out a belt from the drawer, smiling maliciously. Suddenly Seyden knew what was about to happen. He’d saw this on TV, back at home. Abusive fathers beating their little children for punishment for the bad things they’ve done. 

He looked back at the wall and braced for the impact of pain. He waited until Nolan would strike. 

One second. Two seconds. Three.

Then he felt it. It was painful, a slash from his neck all the way to his legs. He wished that he wouldn’t get another, and another, but he did. 

It was the most terrifying and painful experience he’d ever had. He wished it wound end, until it did. A long, loud beep went off in the announcement system, signalling either switch classes or lunchtime. In this case, lunchtime. 

Nolan growled, finally stopping. “You’re lucky this time, crike. Class dismissed.”

The moment he left the room, everybody got up and crowded around Seyden, who was in excruciating pain on the floor.

“Crikes!”

“What’s that guy’s problem!?”

“Look what the sluck did to him!”

It made him feel insecure and bad, but he was also glad that so many people cared for him. In his last class, nobody would feel bad for him if this happened.

Evestor helped him up. “You took a risk there, bud.”

“What did…What did I even do wrong?” Seyden asked, drowsy in pain. 

“You made Nolan think you were being sympathetic to the crikes!” he said. “He completely misunderstood you! You know how being a human-sympathizer is very serious in Adilan. It also is, here in this station.”

Now that was something Seyden did know. Even saying the words, I like the humans, could get you killed in Adilan, no matter what age, as long as the cops heard you. He remembered Chalice’s sister back home, Ruby, had always been a human-sympathizer. Chalice and him kept her secret from everyone they knew, because she was too young to understand that it was a very serious crime.

He looked at Chalice and her eyes told him she was thinking the same thing. 

“Nolan thought you were defending the humans, Red,” Melody said. Seyden liked how she always called him Red and commander instead of Seyden, unlike everyone else. “But you were just saying you didn’t think banishment was the right punishment for them. A bit too harsh. Not because it was wrong to punish them, right, Red?”

Actually, Seyden did think that the punishment they got was wrong, but he didn’t want to get into any more trouble so he just nodded his head. 

Will was shaking his head. “She’s right, but you still shouldn’t say things like that. They threaten Nolan, you know. His home was taken from him from the humans as a child.”

“Yeah!” Mady said. “He always talks about that!”

“Okay everyone, Seyden needs time alone now,” Chalice said, gently pushing the circle of cadets back away from him. Evestor helped him, or more like carried him out of the class. Chalice followed.

They walked through the hallways to the bunk room. Older kids from the same sector walked by and didn’t even glance their way. 

Did this happen regularly? The thought made Seyden scared. 

When they got to the bunk room he was gently placed down on his bed, still in pain.

“What should we do? What should we do?” Chalice said, panicking. “He must be in so much pain. He’ll have to miss lunch, for sure.”

“It’ll be just like Sidian,” Evestor said. “He wasn’t here the whole night, remember? Don’t worry though, Seyden’s a strong guy. If Sidian can survive a beating like this, he can.”

“Sidian wasn’t whipped like fifteen times, Evestor,” Chalice said. “Plus, he’s like about twice his size. Oh, poor commander. Nolan is so mean!”

“I’m fine,” Seyden told her, groaning. “Once I talk to my father again, I’ll tell him about this.”

“Ha! Good luck with that,” Evestor said. 

“What? Why?” “I don’t think they’re going to stop,” he said. “They always do this. Beat kids up in this place. It’s just the way things are here. You’ve got to understand that. And accept it. Everybody’s used to it.”

“You can’t be serious.” Suddenly Seyden felt sick. He remembered how Dawn’s cousin refused to speak about the academy whenever he asked him about it. He was beginning to realize the truth. This was a bad, bad place. With evil people. Now he didn’t feel like at home at all. He felt like he was in a prison. 

He felt like throwing up. “Crikey!” Evestor said when he saw his pale face. “Get this guy in quarantine already!”

“That’s only for diseased creatures,” Chalice said. “So it would make more sense to put you in there, Evestor.”

“What’s Nolan’s problem?” Seyden decided to ask them. “Why is he like that?”

“You’re joking, right?” Evestor said. “Every instructor is like that! You’re only noticing that now?”

“He used to go to this academy,” Chalice said, actually addressing his question. “I told you before, this is a pretty old place. Most instructors here used to go to this place as a child. They hated it. Nolan is always angry because of his bad childhood. You can guess why.”

“Gee, I wonder,” Evestor said, sarcastically. “Anyway, get some rest. We’re going to eat lunch.”

They left Seyden alone. He knew exactly what Chalice meant. Little kids got beaten up badly in this place. 

It’s just the way things are here, Evestor had said. 

5

Forget Your 

Flaws

Just a little bit more time, Seyden thought. He heard asteroids hit the side of the station, making light sounds. Thump. Thump, thump. They made slight disturbances in the station’s shield system. Just a little bit more time, until it’s over and I can come back home. 

He was staring at the window again. He’d found a new one since he transferred classes. This one was the same as the last. A big frame of high-temperature quartz glass, covering like a wall. Even though there were layers of it, and even an energy shield for the entire station covering it, it was still transparently clear. Invisible. He watched the still stars through the glass, hands folded behind his back. He visited this place at least once a week. To think, mostly, and to relax. Like the last place, it was a quiet and peaceful area, where barely any cadets walked by. 

Months had passed. A few cadet’s birthdays, including his, had gone by. Everyone was turning eight. Mady and Dellos, of course, turned first. The oldest in months, everybody called them.

Seyden was proud of himself so far. He’d been a great commander. Still never lost a battle yet. The instructors thought of how good of an idea it was to make them face older classes. Even though they were bigger, faster, and stronger than their class they still always won. Seyden’s strategies never failed. 

But now he saw the true side of the instructors. What really went on in the academy. Every single time he made a disagreement with one of them, he got beaten up. His body had so many scars and bruises now, but he still wouldn’t succumb to them. There was no way he would surrender to enemies. A good commander never did. 

Sometimes he wished he could create some kind of revolution with all the kids in the academy. He talked about it with Chalice once. 

“There’re about two hundred fifty kids on this station,” she said. “About eighty slucks. I’m sure it would work, Seyden, but everyone is used to obeying around here. Look at Will, he always tells you to stop talking back at the instructors so you could stop getting hurt. Listen to him.”

“They’ll punish me even if I don’t do anything wrong,” he told her. “You see it with other cadets. They get punishments like push-ups if they don’t use codenames, a whole bunch of chores for getting caught chewing citum, beatings if they say something wrong.”

She shook her head. “Grow up, Seyden. It would never work. Everyone hates them, but they know they have no power to stop them. They’re too scared. If you just follow more, complain less, you’ll have a much better time.”

“No, I won’t. The instructors hate me. Because they hate my father. Everyone hates my father. You said cadets are too scared to do anything. They’re scared to do anything because of my father.”

He remembered what Dawn had told him a long time ago. Your father is evil, and corrupted, and his whole country is too. He had trouble believing that back then, but that was back then. He understood how bad his father’s country was now. People wished they could escape, but the borders were guarded. Nobody’s allowed to leave. 

Seyden liked to think that he was almost old enough to leave this place, whenever he looked at the window. Of course, he wasn’t. Not by a long shot. 

So he did the next thing he always did when he came here. Look at the stars and look for Earth. Once he did, look at the other stars and imagine the kinds of things going in the planets orbiting them. What kinds of life? Were there intelligent life? Were they kids, trapped in an academy in space, like him?

Right now he wished he could talk to his father, but he knew that wouldn’t happen. Communications with people back down in Adilan were cut off. Serious things were going on down there, enough for Seyden’s father to shut all radio signals going from the station to the planet off. 

Seyden liked to think that maybe the other countries had gotten through his father’s defences and are invading his country. Or maybe human forces, he didn’t know.

For months now he’d been getting dreams of home. The lush, green meadows of the estate, the sweet-smelling flowers in the gardens, the long and decorated hallways of the mansion. He was missing it already, and he wouldn’t return in a while. 

Sometimes he would imagine wondering around the halls of the mansion, looking in dusty rooms. The memory of them was so potent that he sometimes would actually throw a coughing fit in real life. He had a mild allergy to house dust, and somehow just imagining a real image of the dusty rooms in the mansion made him cough. And sometimes they were really bad, and he was glad that nobody was there to hear him. It was absurdly rare to get sick in space, but it was possible. 

He was scared that he’d cough in public, showing that he was in fact, sick. The truth was he didn’t know. He wasn’t sure, but he sure hoped he wasn’t. He was afraid they’d put him back in quarantine. That was a nightmarish place. 

On the other hand, they might send him home to get better. A sickness on a space station was severely problematic. It was a confined space, with everyone sharing the oxygen, so if one person gets sick with a contagious illness, everyone did. It’s just like how a fire is ten times more dangerous in space than on Adilan. A fire would suck out all the oxygen from the station, and there wasn’t a lot of expendable water they could use to put it out. Every piece of commodity they had was valuable here. Seyden had gotten into trouble because he’d wasted food intentionally sometimes. 

He definitely liked either option. If he was sick, he could go home. If he wasn’t, then a less chance of quarantine.

He checked his watch. It was almost time for a battle. Everyone would be getting ready. He had to too, in order to be a good commander. 

He left the spot and went to the bunk room. Cadets were already switching to their battle suits. 

“There you are, commander,” Evestor said when he came in. “Come on, hurry. We have to keep our winning streak. I heard we’re the top class in the station right now. Wouldn’t want to break that, huh?”

“You can depend on me,” Seyden said. 

In ten minutes everyone was ready. They all waited in a line at the door. Seyden as the commander at the front, Chalice as the second in command right behind him, and then the cadets.

The door slid open and Reve stepped in. “Attention, cadets!”

Everyone stiffened and stood tall. “At ease. As you know, you have a mission right now, in battlefield three. Get there in five minutes, no delays! I’m proud to see that you all have been working hard lately. Us five instructors are proud to see that our and only our class has been excelling beyond all others. Keep it up, it will get harder.”

“What kind of battle is it?” Will asked. 

“No questions!” Reve looked like he was about to make him do push-ups but thought against it. “Beni will tell you. Now off you go!”

They made it to the armoury in time. Everyone filed in and quickly put on their armour packs. 

Beni was waiting for them there. “Cadets, listen up! As usual, you have ten minutes to get ready and make a plan. Today’s battle is a mix between two game modes: attack and defend and regular. You have a base in the middle, and the enemy has doorways that will enter both sides, at two entry points in your base. All in the meanwhile, the team that scores most points by hitting each other wins. You have only one way to win: successfully defend your base and win in points. They have two: they can either win by getting a cadet into your base or win in points. Good luck.”

“What?” Melody said. “That’s outrageously unfair! We’ve never done this before!”

“In my knowledge of the history of this place I don’t think it’s ever been done before, Diamond,” Beni said. “But Nolan requested it! No arguments!”

Seyden understood. Nolan hated him. He despised him. This was something completely under his behaviour. Stacking the odds against them. 

Everyone gathered around the control table, including Seyden. He placed his hands on the edge, something that always helped him to think. He had to plan extremely carefully in this one. 

“Map,” he ordered.

Less put it on the screen. Everyone analyzed the battlefield, and they all were disappointed. 

“Now this is completely unfair!” Locke said, gesturing to the map. “Look at it! Our base doesn’t have a single wall! All we have are a few sandbags covering each side and that’s it!”

“Stay calm, Zeynin,” Seyden said. “The most important thing right now is to not waste time panicking.”

“But he’s right. It’s hopeless, Red,” Terra said. Seyden remembered her as Chalice’s friend. “Think about it. If we use each other for cover�"a tactic that other classes have been using lately because of us by the way�"we’ll lose in the points department. If we choose to not do that, we’ll win in points but they’ll surely get inside our base if we don’t use ourselves for cover. They rigged it. There’s no winning.”

Seyden calculated it all in his head. “But there is, Star. There’s no real logical way to win, but it’s possible. It’ll take a lot of risks and chances, and close calls, but we can do it. Quick, someone, tell me one way we can stop their fire without a wall or a Naman shield.”

“A distraction, Red.” Charity was the only one smart enough to understand. That’s why Seyden admired her. In many ways they though alike, and he could always count on her for answers. “But you’re not saying�"”

“Yes, I am,” Seyden said. “Two people. Fate and Stinger. I want you to go on both sides and fly everywhere with your jetpacks. Don’t let them shoot you. Minimal shots on you are fine. Keep moving and keep distracting all of them. If you are to get shot, get shot in the shoulders, hips, or legs. They get the least points that way.”

“That seems a bit impossible,” Mady said, and Dellos nodded, agreeing with her. “Even if we pull that off, they can just ignore us and go for winning by getting inside the base. One shooter on them won’t boost our points by a lot, won’t it? They’ll surely realize that. And what if they have really good shots on their team?”

“Yeah,” Sidian said. “Commander, lay it easy on us for once. We don’t have to win every single game. I mean, Mady is good, but she’s not that good.”

That earned him a punch in the gut from the girl herself, and he laughed. 

This was what he feared. Everyone was losing hope and were getting lazy. The things was, on any other day he’d be fine to just let this one be a defeat. But this was requested by Nolan, and he couldn’t lose to that bully. He wanted to show that he’d beat anything thrown at him by that instructor. 

“No!” he said, fiercely. “We’re winning this, no matter what.”

“Yeah, listen to him!” Chalice told Sidian. “We can do this! We’re the best class in this academy right now. Even better than the older kids.”

“You guys have to try,” Seyden told Mady and Dellos. They nodded. “Okay, the rest of us defend the base.”

“We need a backup plan,” Melody reminded him. Good, strong, follower of Seyden. It was hard to see her mess up because she was just too talented at everything. She can throw cards across the classroom, do cool flips during jetpack class, even play many instruments and speak two different languages.

“This time, we won’t have one,” Seyden revealed to everyone. “There’s no way we can have one in this situation. Listen, what’s the one thing that makes this mission so hard?”

“The battlefield,” Locke said, as it was him who stated it earlier. 

“Exactly! The way we win this is by making them feel like we surround them in the field. Not them. Once those doors open, we all jetpack to our base. They’ll be choosing either one or both doors to enter in, because they’re equally the same distance to the base. We get to our positions as fast as possible. Use the little cover we have the most we can.”

“Yes, and aim for their heads all the time, so we can get the most points that we can,” Chalice said. “Every single one counts.”

“We’re going to win by close calls,” Seyden continued. “We’re going to distract them just enough so that they can’t get in our base, and we’re going to win in points by never getting hit and hitting their weak spots consistently.”

“But there are still a lot of things we don’t know,” Nye said. “You once told us to think like our enemy to win. We don’t know what their plan is here. It’s too hard to predict. They have two doors to pick to send more of their troops there than the other, and we don’t know which. We’re equalling our forces on each side for defence. If they have a good commander, he or she will know to choose one side to attack a bit more heavily. And if we choose one side to guard more as well, we have to be lucky to pick the side more of them are coming in on.”

“Luck doesn’t exist,” Seyden said, slamming his fist on the table. “I’m tired of everyone’s whining. If you believe you can do this, then you can. Everybody give the best they can out there, no matter what.”

“Listen to him!” Amber said. “He has a good point. We also don’t know which method they’re going to pick to win: either by points or getting inside the base. Either one is just as easy, and a good commander will pick one to win, not both, since it’s harder to control both. Which is what we’re doing. If they’re winning by points, they’re going to farm us at our base and all our defences would be practically useless. If they’re storming the base, our distractions would be useless. We’d need to know the enemy’s mind to figure all of this out!”

She had said the words. The words that told Seyden that Less was thinking the same thing as him. For a moment, their eyes locked. 

“Excuse me,” she said, “I’m going to speak with the commander for a minute. Talk with the lieutenant.”

She pulled him aside while Chalice went over the plan once more with them. 

“I can hack their comms, right now,” she whispered. She looked at Beni, who had been leaning against the wall, watching them the whole time. Supervising. She had to speak low in order for him not to hear. “I can do it right now, I just need you to cover me from him. We can win this by intercepting their radio communications. I can figure out what they’re up to easily, and you can respond to it. It won’t cost you a thing. No citum. I just need cover and a few minutes.”

He didn’t have citum with him anyway. Terra always offered it to him, but he never took it. Same with Chalice. As far as they knew, they were the only ones that didn’t chew the stuff. 

Also, he had promised himself he wouldn’t use this tactic. Never in his life. He shook his head at her. 

“No, it’s cheating,” he said. “Look, I understand that you want to help, but we can win this without it. I believe so.”

“It isn’t unfair,” she persuaded. “Nolan treats us like crikes all the time. We have to stay on his level, because this is his game. He cheats, so why can’t we?”

“That’s the problem. I think we can win without cheating.” He wasn’t sure at all, but he hoped they could. The odds weren’t looking so good right now. “You really are incorruptible, huh.” She smirked. “Cool, but also not cool. Whatever Red, suit yourself. When we lose, it’ll be your fault.”

“We won’t lose,” Seyden said, sure of himself. Sure in his team. “Plus, I have nothing to blame, nothing to be ashamed of if we do. In the future the slucks will find out what we did if we cheat. They’ll come back for us. I’d rather keep my integrity.”

She shook her head, but said nothing. They went back to the table. 

“What did she want?” Evestor whispered to him. “I don’t trust her. She’s suspicious.”

“Nothing,” Seyden said. “Just…wanted some citum. To bribe Locke or something. Of course, I don’t have any.” He didn’t like lying to his friend, but he didn’t want to reveal that he was talking about cheating either. He had a reputation of a good commander to uphold. 

Also, he wasn’t so sure if he trusted Less too. He trusted everyone in this class a lot, even Sidian�"believe it or not�"because he was a good soldier most of the time on the field and he always obeyed Seyden during a battle. But Less had to be the most devious one out of her friend group. 

Why was she wanting to help so badly anyway? She had never shown interest in winning before. Maybe Seyden just didn’t know her well enough. Maybe it was so she could cope with the guilt of picking on Amber all the time. After all, it was her that last stated the problem of having no way of knowing what the other team was up to. Maybe helping her would make her feel less like a bully. 

Seyden shook the thought out of his mind. Unlikely. Plus, it didn’t matter right now. He had to focus. He always got lost in his thoughts at times, and it had to stop.

His plan in this school was to beat all odds and all challenges, excel where no one has gone before. He wanted to just forget all his flaws and focus only on all the positives. To do that, he had to believe he could win this battle.

“I think we can do it,” Melody said, raising her rifle. “No, we can do it. It starts in like two minutes, guys. Get ready.”
Seyden wished he had her courage. Chalice had told him before that Melody’s codename, Diamond, was given to her for a reason. A diamond represented perfection. Beauty in flawlessness. People admired them, the way they do to people with many talents, and little flaws. Melody was a perfect example of what Seyden looked for in his cadets. 

“Can we have one last mission recap?” Sidian asked. 

“No!” everyone said, annoyed. They’d gone over it like ten times.

“So are we going to pick a side to defend a bit more heavily on?” he asked another question. It seemed like a fair one, so Seyden answered. 

“Yes, we’ll have to be lucky. We’ll split it like this: Fate and Stinger on distraction duty. That leaves thirteen of us. I’ll take the seven cadets weaker at combat than the other side with me, and Blue will take the six stronger at combat with her. That way, whichever side they pick to attack, we’ll be ready with either more troops but less fighting skill, or less troops but more fighting skill. That gives both our sides an advantage.”

Evestor seemed to like the idea. “Red, that’s genius! Although you should be on the stronger side. You’re better at combat than most here.”

“I am?”

“I agree, it’s true,” Chalice said. “You, Wolf, Diamond, Rex, Zeynin, and Repto. The next best six when Fate and Stinger are out of the count. I’ll take the rest.”

“Wait, but you’re part of the next best six too,” Terra told her. 

“But we need a second-in-command to go with the other side. So I have to be with them.”

“Correct,” Seyden said, glad to see she understood why he made her go on the other side. “Okay, we’re all set. My squad will be A and Blue’s will be B.”

Beni looked at the clock above the gates. “Good work, cadets. Doors open in ten seconds. Good luck!”

Don’t need it, Seyden thought. I just need Fate to be a little good to me for once.

“Don’t forget tips!” Will said. 

“Hope that you shoot good, and hope that they don’t.” He must’ve said that for the hundredth time now.

When the doors opened, everyone rushed in. He felt nauseous, as he always did when he lost his sense of up and down. He felt like it was getting a bit better every time, lasting a bit shorter. That was good. 

Already Seyden’s carefully laid plan went into action perfectly. Everyone raced for their positions. Mady and Dellos split to go for each side. 

“Squad A, move forward into positions,” he said. “Rex, Zeynin, Repto, take the sandbag covers over there. We’ll take the ones here.”

He hoped that no one noticed he had split them up into his friends and not his friends. Even if they did, they wouldn’t have cared enough to ask him.

From the moment the enemy attacked he could already tell their side was picked to be attacked more heavily. They enemy’s bolts rained heavily on their cover. 

During battles cadets didn’t use bullets or light beams. Too dangerous for either. Instead their rifles shot bolts, which weren’t either. They were tiny discs that gave electrical shocks to whatever contact they come to. When they hit a cadet, they sent electrical signals into whatever armour pad they hit to add points to the other team, and disable the cadet it hit for five seconds. 

There were different types, too. Game bolts, used in battles. Tracking bolts, used for tracking the thing it latches onto. Can also give it a painful electrical shock when needed, to freeze the prey. Then there were shock bolts, a very painful bolt that was sometimes used in real battles, which only the instructors had. They can switch to lethal or non-lethal. The lethal mode for any dangers, the non-lethal for restraining self-harming or insane cadets, which happened more at the station than Seyden thought it usually did. It always surprised him how many rumours there were of insane kids needing the shock bolts in the academy. 

He wondered if that was the same thing that happened to Rena, the class’s old beloved commander. He also wondered how and why that many kids went insane here. Oh wait, I already know the answer. It’s kinda obvious.

Everyone fought hard and bravely. Seyden did his best to fight good, but he always got hit in the shoulder or head once in a while, out of his cover, which he wished he hadn’t. It wasted time that could be spent shooting someone else, and gave them more points. Also, it was a bit painful. A tiny prick, that’s all. 

“Yes!” Sidian yelled from the other end of their cover. “I think we’re winning!”

It wasn’t wrong to think that at all. The whole game, it seemed like they had the upper hand in points. And nobody got anywhere close to getting into their base. They had it for sure!

But he remembered the other side. How much good were they doing?

The end of their fifteen minutes arrived quickly. Seyden was sure they had won. He was ready to cheer, excited. Congratulate all his team members.

But when the buzzer went, the other side cheered wildly. Bumping into each other, flying in circles. Trying to rub it in their enemy’s faces. 

“What!?” Sidian said, outrageous. 

Seyden turned on his com. “Blue, come in. Status report. I repeat, status report. Did you let any one of them in?”

“No, commander. Look at the mission report screen.”

Seyden looked. The big holographic screen that always appeared with all the stats at the end of the battle. He couldn’t believe his eyes. 

I told you so, He could already hear Less’s voice mock. He was at a loss for words.

They had lost by one point. 

6

Punishment

He could still hear their loud, obnoxious voices in his head. No wonder they had cheered so loudly.

Everyone felt awful after that. It was the first time in a long, long time that they had felt the feeling of losing. Some cadets claimed that they don’t even remember the feeling. 

Most blamed it on the other squad, even though after Seyden had heard from both sides, he officially confirmed that it wasn’t either of the squad’s fault. Everyone fought to the best of their ability. It was everyone’s fault. 

He remembered what Terra had told him during the mission planning. There’s no winning. A while had passed since the incident, and ever since then Seyden just couldn’t find the way to win again. Battle after battle, they lost. The class had seen this before, but not him. He didn’t know what it felt like to have one. A losing streak. 

Class morale went downhill after that. Everyone got angry way more easily. Including him. One time a cadet behind him, Mady, whispered, “Seyden…Seyden. Seyden!”

He chose to ignore her. But she didn’t stop, so he turned around and slammed a fist on her desk. “What do you want!?”

Will, who sat next to her, yelped. Charity, on the other side of her, glared at him. Meanwhile Mady didn’t flinch at all, her expression the same. 

She frowned. “I just wanted to borrow a pen.”

Her eyes showed genuine sadness and hurt, so Seyden sighed and gave her one to keep. She knew he felt terrible for leading them to a losing streak, and she felt sorry for him. She looked like she wanted to help.

She wasn’t scared by Seyden, either. Which he found that most cadets were now, since he became very angry all the time. That was one characteristic she had�"she was fearless. Absolutely nothing scared her, whatsoever. She wasn’t afraid of spiders, or humans, or death itself. It’s like something turned the fear factor part of her brain off forever.

He felt sorry that he was angry all the time. but he couldn’t help it. Inside, he was embarrassed that they didn’t look up to him anymore. Before, other teams would dream of beating their class. Even all the kids older than them. But now, it was nothing to beat them. You could do it easily. He occasionally found himself blaming it on the other cadets, too. Once he blamed Nye for not trying hard enough, or he told Melody to go back to fighting class and actually learn real skills. He kind of lost her as a friend as a result. She hadn’t forgiven him for that yet. The insult had hurt her too much for her to believe it had come from him.

He secretly knew it was him who was failing, and he was too proud to admit that to anyone. That was his problem.

Beatings got worse, too. He had the usual disagreements with Nolan still. One time he claimed that the instructor was teaching them the wrong things, and he got beaten so hard with a whip that his back started to bleed. 

It wasn’t just him. Other cadets got scars and scabs too when they did something small and the instructors beat him or her up for it. But it was only him who chose to stand up and fight back, talk back to the instructors because he knew they were evil. Nobody supported him or his idea. Well, everyone did, but they were too afraid to help him, or they might get another beating too. 

There were countless times. One time he took a little bit longer in the shower than he was supposed to. Reve rammed him with his fists so hard that he couldn’t feel pain anymore when he stopped. He got whacked across the face by Don when he snuck out of the bunk room after the nightly curfew. In class, he disagreed with the phrase, only the strong should survive, and Nolan pounded him, putting him in a headlock and threatened him, saying he could literally kill him at that moment if he wanted to, and he couldn’t do a single thing about it. 

He was hated now. By almost everyone. It bothered him, because he never asked for this. He never did anything to deserve this. Why would his father send him here?

Then he remembered. He sent him here because he didn’t know this would happen to him. He and his mother must be worrying for him right now, wondering if he was doing okay. Then he’d tell them everything. That this place was evil. This place was full of crikes. 

On the bright side, he had friends to cope with his stress. Chalice and Evestor stayed loyal to him. Many more. He even made a new buddy, Calum, who shared a common talent with him. Pranking. Seyden thought doing what he loved the most might lift his spirits up, so he and Calum sparked a rivalry to see who can do the better pranks. 

Calum, was after all, called Snare as his codename for a reason. He was a trap, always open to catch any unfortunate victim. 

Right now, during class, he had one planned. He was holding his water bottle, and the cap was off.

“Watch this,” he told Seyden. “You’re gonna love it.”

When Nolan left the class to talk with an instructor that had appeared in the doorway for a few minutes, he chose that as the perfect time. He poured the water over Amber’s head, who sat in front of them.

She yelped, standing up, and Seyden and Calum bursted into laughter, barely containing themselves. The water dripped all over her hair and clothes and to the floor. 

“Seyden!” she said, bursting into tears. “I thought you were my friend!”

“Boys,” Mady said, rolling her eyes. “So obnoxious.”

“Stop being such crikes, you two,” Melody said angrily. “You’re so mean! And Red, why would you do this to Amber, you of all people?” Seyden knew he should’ve felt guilty, but he was still laughing. Who cares? It was funny. He didn’t care what they thought of him. Besides, why were they so angry at him? Calum was the one who did it!

“What’s going on here?” Nolan seemed to suddenly burst in at the right moment. He saw Amber dripping wet and Seyden and Calum trying to hold in their laughter so that they wouldn’t get caught. “Who did this? Water is a valuable commodity on this station that we can’t afford to waste! Someone, tell me who did this!”

“Calum and Seyden did, sir,” Will said, a hint of sadness in his voice.

Seyden felt betrayed by his own friend. Was it not him who partnered up with him sometimes so he wouldn’t be alone? Was it not him who stopped Locke and Less from picking on him? Was it not him who befriended him, when Sidian left him with no friends?

“That’s not true!” he yelled, standing up. His father had told him that raising yourself higher than everybody else gave them the idea that you were above them, and it tells them that you have more authority than them. “He’s lying! I didn’t do anything!” 

For a moment he caught Chalice’s eyes at the front of the class. She didn’t say a word, just shook her head sadly. Don’t do this, they said. Don’t let a legendary hero fall.

“Evestor,” he said, and the boy got alarmed when he heard his name. “Tell them the truth. Tell Nolan who did it. Me, or Calum?”

Melody seemed to understand what he was doing. “Evestor, don’t let him use you like this. He didn’t stop him when he had the chance, and he laughed along, too. He is just as much to blame as Calum.”

“Tell them the truth,” Seyden repeated, glaring at Melody. She glared back, sticking out her tongue.        Evestor seemed torn between two sides. Finally, he looked down at the ground guiltily. “Calum did it. Just Calum.”

Seyden felt satisfaction when he heard the words. That’s right. You’re loyal to me, aren’t you? He sat back down and saw Calum looking crestfallen. 

“That’s the truth,” Evestor confirmed, even though by looking at his expression you could tell he had trouble saying the words.

“Calum, then,” Nolan said. “Class, whip or baton?”

“Stop, no!” Amber said quickly, surprising everyone. “I, um, spilled it on myself. Calum didn’t do it. Please, don’t believe them.”

Seyden couldn’t believe what was happening. Why was she defending her enemy? Again, too! Calum was the one who spilled it on her. And along with Sidian, Locke, and Less, they never wasted a moment humiliating her.

Dada back home says I’m too nice sometimes, she had said. It was true. No matter how many chances she could get revenge, she never took it. 

It was so unfair. What reason did Locke have to not like this girl? Why did he prefer the cheating, back-stabbing, evil Less?

“So Seyden and Evestor lied to me then. They set it up, huh?” Nolan stared at the two, eyes gleaming with malice.

“No! That’s not the case, sir,” Evestor said. 

Amber was looking at Seyden. Her pleading eyes tried to tell him something, but he didn’t know what. He didn’t know what she wanted from him. 

It seemed like he was too late to do something, because she sighed and said, “No, sir. You can trust him. You can always trust Evestor, he’s never done anything bad in his life. I wasted the water on myself, sir. If anyone should be punished, it should be me. Only me.”

Nolan didn’t seem to believe her. After all, Amber was a sweet soul who never chose to do anything bad in her life, too. There was no need for her to be punished. 

“Clearly you’re not the one who did it,” he said. “Nobody gets punished here. At least, not until I find out who really wasted that water. And then they’ll wish they were never born. Our lesson’s almost over anyway. We’ll continue next class. Everyone’s dismissed.

As soon as Nolan left, the tension in the air was released. Amber started to cry again, and she left the room first, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. Maybe to take a shower because she knew the water was Calum’s, or because she was too embarrassed, Seyden didn’t know. 

He didn’t know why either, but he felt a bit guilty. No, he felt a lot of guilt, actually. But he didn’t do anything wrong. What gives?

“You jerk,” Evestor said to him. “That was such a crike move, Red. You don’t deserve Nolan’s mercy.”

It’s just the loss of our battles that’s getting to them, he thought. That was his way of explaining why everyone was angry all the time. 

“Yeah,” Charity said. “I know Amber well. Don’t you even know what she was doing there? When she was looking at you before she told Nolan that Evestor was innocent? C’mon, you know her well too.”

“No,” Seyden said, being honest.

Charity made a frustrated noise. “I can’t believe you! When Sidian called you a�"a you know what, he’s right! And we were all wrong!”

It was only then Seyden started to feel a little bit hurt. That wasn’t true, was it?

“I’m going to check on her,” Chalice said, getting up. She didn’t even look at Seyden. She didn’t want to.

“Me too!” Terra said, following her. 

“C’mon guys, let’s all go,” Mady said, and everyone got up to leave the class. Most of them shook their heads at him as they passed by him, some, like his good friend Evestor, glared at him. 

“Not cool, commander,” Sidian said when he walked by. It angered him. Like he’d done worse things than Sidian ever did before! Like murder an important person! It must’ve been a miracle for the guy for his father to fetch him out of juvie�"since he’s powerful enough to do that�"and send him to this academy!

You can’t argue with fate, he thought, and he accepted it. But what bothered him even more was that he was expecting Sidian to smile or laugh at him as he walked by, because he was mean that way. He expected him to make fun of his misery and guilt.

But all that was shown on his face was genuine, pure, and real sorriness. 

Then he left. Seyden was left alone, with not a single person on his side. He felt so cheated, and thought it was so unfair. Why did everyone go with Calum instead of him, when it was him who wasted the water? 

He felt like curling up into a ball and waiting there until he died. 

It was only later then that he realized what Amber was trying to tell him.

He realized it only after Instructor Beni came in, a few minutes later after everyone left. He was tasked with a special job by him.

“I need you to bring this box of supplies and documents to the sector beside us,” he said as he grabbed it from a cabinet. It was big, with red stripes on the edges. “Do not even think about looking inside. There are cameras all over the station that are watching you. I have to go somewhere else, so I need you to do this. It’s very important, and I trust that you can bring it to the destination without supervision.”

He nodded. That was a pretty easy task. Plus, he’d always like Beni. He had never hurt Seyden once. 

“Can I ask you a question?” Seyden said. 

“You already did.”

Ha ha. “Why do you guys punish me for taking a shower a bit too late? I switched my spot on the schedule with the last person so that I’m the last, because I kind of take long. I also do it a bit too late, sometimes even after the night curfew, and I get severely punished for it. But I don’t get it. I always take a shower, every night, consistently. I never miss it, I just do it a bit too late. But that’s why I let everyone go before me, because I do it late. It’s like how I sleep a lot later than others, and I get punished for that too. It doesn’t make sense. I can’t think of a reason why it’s bad to do. I sleep late, but I still get up in the morning and I keep making it to classes in time, all the time.”

He exhaled. “I have no say in what the others teach you. I can guess it has something to do with affecting others.” “But I don’t affect others,” Seyden said. “I’m always last, so nobody’s waiting for me.”

“Maybe you do something before you take your shower, and that’s why you do it too late. Also why you sleep too late. You’re occupied in something so you don’t prioritize your real tasks. Maybe that’s what they’re punishing you for.”

“Even if I did, it still wouldn’t make sense. I consistently take a shower every night, never miss one, and I wake up the same time as everyone else. I don’t see anything wrong with what I’m doing.”

“I don’t know,” he said. “Why don’t you ask whoever’s punishing you? I’ve got to go. Get that box to the other sector.”

He left, and Seyden grabbed the box on the table. He was too afraid to ask the other instructors, that’s why. For sure he’d never ask something like this to Nolan, because he’d never understand. He’d just think, you little rat, you’re just making criking excuses. And then he’d get whipped. 

His classmates had advised to him that he should get the scars on his back checked with the station’s doctor. Or at least try to plan a future appointment, since the station’s doctor was usually busy since he was only one person. He had the most scars out of anyone else, maybe even out of anyone else in the entire academy. He always disagreed with instructors. All the time. He has gotten such a bad reputation for them that most of the times they made excuses just to punish him, like how he gets beaten to a bloody pulp by them when he takes a shower a bit too late. 

When he grabbed the box and started walking to his destination, he thought about what happened earlier.

He wondered what Amber meant when she looked at him pleadingly while Nolan was waiting for an answer. A moment that seemed to stretch on forever, with him trying to figure out what she was trying to say. Had he done anything wrong to her?

And then it came to him.

She was giving him a chance of redemption. Everyone knew that he was angry all the time for being part of a losing streak. He became kind of rude to people, like when Mady was just asking for a pen and he’d outright disrespected her and scared a few people. Or the time when he insulted some of his friends for not doing enough during battles. Or the time when…

He realized that he had done many wrong things that he didn’t realize. Including the one that happened recently in the class. He may have not been part of Calum’s prank, but he was a bystander. He laughed, and he could’ve stopped it instead. Or at least side with her. 

In that moment, she was giving him a chance to take the blame. She was waiting for him to tell Nolan, I did it sir, I did it all. Punish me. And then everyone would forgive him again. Instead, he was blind to see that. If only he knew, he might’ve decided to do it. She wanted him to gain redemption for himself. It was the perfect chance to forget all his mistakes. To be himself again.

Why didn’t he know? Why didn’t he take that chance? More than ever, Seyden wanted to reverse time. But there was no way. Once something is done in the short window of time that you have, it can never be reversed. His mother had always told him that. Whenever he did something bad. He felt like crying. His eyes were stinging and he was not looking where he was going, so he bumped into someone. 

“Hey, what was that for?” It was Sidian.

“Look where you’re going, kid,” Locke said, beside him.

“I think we should teach him a lesson,” Sidian said. “For what he did in class. He hasn’t said sorry yet. Are you going to, bud?”

If Seyden was going to apologize to anyone, it wasn’t going to be Sidian. He stayed silent. 

“You ditched my friend!” Sidian yelled, talking about Calum. “You probably just wanted to see him get in trouble, that’s all. Huh? Is that it?”

He shoved him hard, and he fell to the floor. This wasn’t the time. He had something to do. 

“Doing work for the slucks, huh?” Locke said, looking at the box. “Turning into one of them too, I see. What kind of crike of a commander do we have, huh, Sid?”

“Calum is angry at you,” the bully told Seyden. “You were planning to leave him with no punishment.”

How unfair is that? Seyden thought. Does this kid not remember that Calum tried to do the same thing to him, a long time ago, in the washroom? No, he’s too dumb to remember that. 

“Break the things inside the box,” Locke suggested. He kicked them, and Seyden cringed, silently pleading them to not do it. Something could be delicate in there. 

“Yeah,” Sidian said, as he picked it up. “Let’s see how you feel when I get you in trouble, like what you tried to do with Calum.”

He threw it to the ground with so much force that the contents inside, whatever they were, broke, with no doubt.

“There,” he said, satisfied. “That’s punishment. C’mon Locke, let’s leave before they see us.”

Seyden didn’t know what to do. He began crying, and he didn’t want to get up. He wished that his mother was here, or Dawn, or even his father, if it came down to it. He was unloved here.

He knew for sure that the slucks wouldn’t believe him when he tried to explain. It was confirmed when Nolan came around the corner, seeing the mess. 

“Beni told me you were supposed to bring that to the other sector,” he said, angry. “What are you doing?”

“Please! Sidian did it!”

“Yeah, and I’m a criking rich filth who showers in diamonds. You pitiful, mess of a child. Stop making excuses. You just want to blame it on other people. I guess you’d want me to believe you survived a thirteen thousand foot drop without a parachute too, don’t you?”

This was so unfair! He just wanted to blame it on other people? Would Nolan believe him if he said he’d tripped by himself instead? No! It was just because Sidian was a favourite of the instructor’s. The teacher’s pet. And meanwhile Seyden was infamous among them. 

“Please,” he pleaded, “please don’t hurt me.”

Nolan seemed to consider it. “Fine. But you’re getting solitary confinement for the night, for everything you’ve done. I’m not stupid, you know. I know you were the one who poured water on Amber’s head.”

Nolan had gotten to the wrong conclusion, but Seyden knew there was no chance of trying to explain. 

“You’re lucky I’m being merciful to you. One night in solitary confinement is barely enough for what you did.”

In the night, he was thrown into the cell. Not even a word with any of his friends. They’d be wondering where he would be, or maybe not, since they hate him now. This was his punishment. 

The room was as dreadful and cold as Evestor explained it to him. A super tight space, one where you can’t even lie down, and not even a window on the door to see light. This for the whole night? He didn’t think he would survive. He’d never been in solitary confinement. This was worse than quarantine!

He spent the night lonely and shivering. But that wasn’t even the thing that bothered him. The thing that bothered him the most was that he’d been cheated so many times today.

Obviously they didn’t have cameras watching him, because if they did they would have known Sidian was actually the one who broke the box’s contents, whatever they were.

He wished he had Mr. Coyote. The room�"or, box�"was dark and scary, and he could really use the coyote’s company. Fate had gave him this. She had also decided to send Sidian and Nolan, his two worst enemies, at him in the hallway. It wasn’t luck that did this, it was Fate. Fate knew that he deserved this, and he had this coming. 

He couldn’t admit that Fate was right to do this to him. Fate was always right, and you can never argue with her.

7

Corruption

Commander’s back!” Evestor said when Seyden was released from his punishment. 

Everyone watched him, and he felt a little guilty. Do they still remember what happened yesterday? Of course they do. Wait, no, they wouldn’t know why he went to solitary confinement. Only Sidian and Locke did. 

“Where were you?” Chalice asked him, worried. “You left us without an explanation.”

“Solitary confinement,” he said, and he heard a couple of groans. “Don’t bother me, please.”

Nobody disobeyed. He was left alone to his bunk, except for Chalice and Evestor. And Will, because he was on the top bunk.

“We have a couple of minutes before we have to get to our first class,” Chalice said. “Also, aren’t you going to apologize to Amber?”

“What?” Seyden said. “For laughing? A good com-mander never shows sympathy. Relationships with cadets affect the commander’s ability to lead.”

“Have you been brainwashed or something?” Evestor asked. “You’re acting like a crike right now. A very stupid one, too.” 

“Shut up, Evestor,” Chalice said. “You’re the type of guy to prank call the fire department, and then purposely set your house on fire to not get in trouble.”

“You’re the type of person to climb over a glass wall to see on the other side. Or starve inside a grocery store.”

“Well yesterday you said sometimes you can’t see when you close your eyes.”

“Stop acting like five-year olds, guys,” Seyden said. The truth was, he was too afraid to apologize to Amber. He couldn’t accurately describe the feeling. Fear? Guilt? He knew that Evestor was right and he was just being stupid. “Maybe I will apologize, okay?”

Chalice seemed to have forgotten the subject, a usual thing with her. “Hey, did you guys hear the good news?”

Seyden wasn’t sure if good news existed at this place. “What?”

“My father has insisted that he’s not going to send Ruby here. I’m so happy. She was supposed to come when your father wanted it, Seyden.”

“That’s awesome,” Evestor said. 

Suddenly, Seyden went into a coughing fit. The noise was muffled when he covered his mouth with his sleeve.

“Are you okay?” Evestor asked. 

He didn’t know. That was the first time he went into a fit in public. It happened so rarely that he didn’t even worry about it ever happening. 

“Good thing nobody saw you,” Chalice said. “Or else quarantine is gonna be where you’re going for the next few days. You should check it with the doctor.”

Evestor nodded. “That’s your best bet. Before everyone sees you sick.”

“I’m not sick,” Seyden said, refusing the idea. “Chalice, you know I have a mild allergy to house dust.”

“There’s no house dust on a space station, Seyden. You should really go check. It’s okay, we’ll tell Nolan you’re late because you went to see the doctor.”

“He’s going to beat me up for it. Plus, that will tell everyone I’m sick.” It was everyone’s nightmare to be sick on a space station. The stigma around it hung like a cloud. 

“What can we do?” Evestor said. “We can’t lie. If we do, Nolan will find out.”

Seyden nodded. “Okay, fine. I’m going to go.”

“We’ll tell you the homework,” Evestor said. 

Seyden would’ve reached the doctor’s office in no time. It only took a little while longer because the malfunctioning door almost slammed on his foot, and he had to wait a bit for it to open again. He thought it was dangerous for cadets, and it should really be fixed, or at least checked, by the instructors.

A few cadets came around the corner, Nye and Dellos, disappointed to see the door closed. 

“Crike, door’s down again,” Nye said, and they waited against the wall for it to open, like Seyden. “It’s gonna take like five minutes to open up. Eh, Dellos?”

He only nodded. Seyden remembered Mady telling him he never talked. He wanted to ask why, but thought it would be rude to. 

“How long has it been down, commander?” Nye asked him.

“It just closed,” Seyden said. 

“Reminds me of the elevators back home. Took forever to open. Floors were crowded and there was usually just one or maybe two elevators for the entire building. It was faster to take the stairs.”

“Back home?” Seyden asked. “You’re speaking about a third-world country because Sedolas doesn’t have elevators like that.”

“Yeah, I’m talking about my country. Everyone knows I’m an illegal escapee. A rotten world it was, where I came from. Oy, I’ve even been hearing from the slucks that there’s some sort of disease epidemic going on down there. Reve told me mop business were going out of sale because of all the vomiting that’s been happening there.”

That made Seyden sick in the stomach, adding more reason to go to the doctor. He forgot that part about Nye. Amber had told him this. The guy sure spoke differently. 

“Reve saved you, right?” Seyden asked. 

“Yup. Border patrols are heavy, commander. You should see em’. Reve was the hero of the day, I guess.”

“You don’t always have to think of him like that,” Seyden said. “Don’t you see where he brought you? What he’s done to you? All the unfairness?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Nye said. 

It was useless to try to make him understand. If Seyden was to start some sort of revolution to stop this place, would Nye take part in it? Most likely not since he thought he owed Reve everything. 

He saw Nye take out a piece of citum from a pack and pop one into his mouth. He offered it to Seyden and Dellos but they refused.

“What about Dellos?” Seyden asked, risking the question. “Why…can’t he speak?”

“It’s better not to ask, right bud?” Nye said, and Dellos nodded his head. “Never smiles too. I thought you’d notice that yourself. If you want, ask Mady. She’s the only one that knows even a tiny pinprick of what’s going on in this guy’s brain.” He pointed a thumb at him. “If there’s any left.”

That earned him a rough punch on the shoulder from Dellos himself. “Ow! C’mon, man. I know you wanted to smile at that! I saw it!” He laughed. Dellos didn’t laugh, but it seemed that he was at ease whenever he was with Nye. Seyden wondered if they were friends. Well, it wasn’t really an if. No one could pull a joke off like that and not get beaten up by him, with the serious look he always had.

The malfunctioning door finally opened, and they weren’t surprised to see a few cadets on the other side too. All from other classes. 

Everyone carried on with their business. Nye said, “See ya, Red,” to Seyden before he left a different path to the doctor’s office. 

The doctor seemed like a nice, easygoing man.

“I’m Doctor Weslie. You’re lucky you got this exact time slot. I had a recent patient who was seriously injured.” “I’m Seyden,” Seyden said. 

“Ah! The son of Sedolas’s president, of course! I was told you’d be somewhere here on this station. What’s been bothering you, child?”

Seyden told him everything that’s been troubling him. Initially he was just going to mention the coughing fit, but he was here anyway, so he might as well tell him about his nightmares, his memories, even him getting nausea when he entered the battlefield, while no one else did. 

“I am a psychiatrist as well,” he said. “So I can deal with all your problems. I’m also a psychologist, a medicine specialist, a surgeon, a physiologist, an immunologist, and well�"you get the idea. Your father wanted a very skilled man to take charge in all of the health problems of the kids in this station, so he chose me. Of course he chose me. Anyway, so you’ve been getting memories of home?”

Seyden nodded. 

“That’s not so uncommon here with cadets. They always seem to be missing their homes. But you apparently got sick from them, too.”

“What do you mean? How do you get sick from memories?”

“Well, you’re a special case. The way you’re telling me about this, your memories are so powerful when you sleep at night that the things in them are real to you. For example, you told me you imagined your house with house dust, which you have an allergy to, and in reality you went into a coughing fit as if you were really there. How long has this been going on?” “Months, now,” Seyden said. He’d been getting dreams of home for a long time. He also remembered the moment the doctor was talking about. He’d had that memory�"of walking through dusty rooms in the mansion�"when he was looking out at that window in that corridor that he always went to. 

“This could be something new,” Doctor Weslie said, shrugging. “I don’t really know. It seems like you’re homesick, which practically every cadet here is, but for you, you’re actually sick.”

“How is that possible?”

“I have no idea.”

“Does this explain the nausea whenever I enter the battlefield, too? Nobody else seems to get it.”

He could’ve mistaken it, but he though he saw the doctor’s face go pale. 

“Don’t worry about that,” he said. “And don’t mention it to anyone. Just forget it. Can I take a blood sample?”

Seyden was a bit worried that he’d left the subject unfinished, but he took his advice and chose to not worry about it. “Sure,” he said. 

The doctor put a device on his arm. He felt a tiny but painful sting on his skin. A drop of blood came out from his arm, and the doctor mopped it up with a tissue, then put a small adhesive bandage on it. 

“This is one of the very few inventions we got from the humans, if you didn’t know,” he said as he placed it on his cut like a sticker. “Most of them call it the band-aid. Very useful, so we decided to use it too.”

After, he put the tissue with Seyden’s blood under a microscope. Seyden watched as he adjusted knobs, studying it carefully. He saw his mouth form into a frown slowly as the time passed. It only made him more worried. What was wrong with him? Why was he different from the other cadets?

“Everything seems fine,” he said, but Seyden could obviously tell he was lying. “No citum signs, I see. I’ve been hearing a rumour from the instructors that cadets are stealing it from the storages for everyone.”

“That’s just a rumour,” Seyden said, intent on protecting his friends.

“You’re free to go.”

“No medication?” Seyden asked. “Therapy? Next appointment? Not even quarantine?”

“None of that,” he told him. “Allergies aren’t contagious. Just make sure to get plenty of rest, or at least enough of what you need. When the dreams come, ignore them. Sleep with a light on for the nightmares if you have to.”

Seyden knew he wasn’t being serious, because Reve would never allow that. He would tell him a speech about how he should think of others and be respectful to them, and having a light that might bother them at night might disobey that rule.

He left the office disappointed.

To get his mind off other things, Seyden decided to get to class. He entered when it was already half-way done, and everyone was doing worksheets. The class seemed silent, more than usual, and a bad feeling hung in the air. Seyden sensed it. 

Nolan didn’t even seem to notice him coming in, and he didn’t even ask if he was late, so Seyden took that as a sign that he knew he had went to the doctor. He took his seat.

“Where’d you go?” Charity asked, next to him. “A good commander is never late.”

“I’m not late,” he told her. “I had to go somewhere.”

“A good commander also makes sure everyone is accounted for, at all times.” Seyden had a special way of talking with Charity, since they were considered the two smartest in the class. Whenever she tried to tell him something obvious, she said it in a way that he’d have to figure it out himself. 

She was telling him to count everyone. “Where’s Evestor?” he said worriedly. He was nowhere to be seen. “And why is there a bad mood hanging around the class?”

“Something serious happened,” she said. “Evestor fell asleep during the lesson, and when he woke up Nolan seriously punished him. Believe it or not�"Sidian must’ve planned it to get back at you�"over half the class told him to use the baton.”

Seyden was horrified. “That couldn’t have been Evestor’s fault! With the strict and early routines the slucks give us, it’s a miracle everyone’s still awake!”

“That’s what I said!” Charity exclaimed. “Me, Chalice, Melody, Amber, and even Calum, said whip. I wonder what Sidian did to make everyone on his side. How did he get Mady on his side? Anyway you, Nye, and Dellos weren’t here. That made eleven people to vote, since Evestor was the victim. Us five stayed loyal, but everyone else didn’t.”

“What?” Seyden couldn’t believe his ears. How could everyone betray them? How could they all do this? Suddenly, he knew what it felt like to be Amber in that moment yesterday, when he hadn’t taken the blame. Something he felt now. Betrayal.

“Where’s Evestor now?” Seyden demanded. 

“The infirmary. He’s badly hurt. Maybe a broken leg, I dunno. Nolan hits hard with a baton, I assure you.”

Then it all added up. Seyden figured it all out in an instant. 

I had a recent patient who was seriously injured, the doctor had said, when Seyden had came in. The malfunctioning door had stalled him, along with Nye and Dellos, while Evestor was taken to the doctor through another route, probably.

Calum, beside them, heard what they were talking about. “I know, right? Evestor always follows the rules. Well, not always. But still, how could Nolan hurt such a guy?”

Seyden was glad that he wasn’t actually mad at him for what happened yesterday. Sidian must’ve lied. To be sure, he brought it up.

“What?” he said. “Of course I’m not mad at you. You’re my buddy, too. Sidian was just making excuses.”

“Well I still apologize for blaming it all on you yesterday,” Seyden said. “My fault. I’m sorry.”

“Ooh, a romantic scene!” Charity said, smiling. “But seriously. I’m not sure if you noticed guys, but now’s not the time for one.”

Calum laughed. “Shut up, Charity. I bet you wish you were in one. Anyway, I know what happened. Why everyone voted baton on Evestor.”

“What?” Seyden asked him. 

He looked around to make sure no one was listening, then leaned in close and whispered to him and Charity. “It was supposed to be a secret. Sidian’s plan. He threatened to expose everyone using citum to the slucks, if they didn’t vote baton the next time you got in trouble, Seyden. Instead, Evestor did, and he chose to use that as the perfect time instead of you. He laid a trap for you, but Evestor fell into it. Poor guy. He’s beaten up badly.”

Of course! Everyone was heavily addicted to citum. Now he understood why everyone did it. Sidian could get the whole class punished easily by blackmailing them. That even included him and Chalice. Even though they didn’t take the stuff, they could get in trouble for not telling the slucks everyone else was using it.

“The slucks are going way too far now,” Seyden said. “They’re corrupted. We have to do something about this.”

“We could visit Evestor at lunch,” Calum suggested. 

“No, I mean actually do something to get back at them. They’re being unfair. I don’t think my father knows about this. About how badly we’re being treated up here.”

“You’re talking about starting a revolution,” Charity said. “I like it. I’ll join instantly, if that’s what you’re asking. I hate the slucks, I hate the academy, I hate Sedolas and its dictator. I hate it all!”

Then she realized who she was speaking in front of. “Oh, sorry. Him being your father and all.”

“That’s okay,” Seyden said. 

“It’s so true, honestly,” she said. “I mean, people call him the president? Yeah right. More like a dictator.”

“I’ll be in, too,” Calum said. “There’s no way I’d miss an opportunity to get back at them. You want us to spread the word?”

Seyden thought about it. Chalice had told him it would never work. But that was because he needed to give them motivation. He wondered what could motivate them.

“But I’m not sure if it would work,” Charity said. “Sorry to say, commander. Unless you’re thinking of including everyone?”

She meant the whole academy. He nodded. “Two-fifty cadets? They have nothing against us.”

“Are we forgetting they have shock bolt rifles?” Calum said. 

“There’s still too many of us for them to handle, think about it,” Charity said. “Plus, we need to think of how our class will agree to do it, too.”

Suddenly the perfect motivation idea came to Seyden. “Rena,” he said. “You can tell them it will get revenge for her.”

Charity’s eyes widened. “You’re right! After what the slucks did to her!”

“What did happen to her, anyway?” Seyden asked. “I heard from Chalice that she escaped in the station’s only pod.”

“That’s a rumour planted by the slucks,” Charity told him. “That’s also what we’re supposed to tell you, whenever you ask. Which is why Chalice told you that. But everyone knows the real reason why she’s dead. Just like you, she was a rebel against the slucks. But one night they got so angry they beat her to death. She was a good commander, just like you. Proud and fierce, with a big ego…”

“Hey!” Seyden said, playfully. 

“…but wasn’t as good at strategy as you,” she added quickly. “The thing was, when she rebelled, she was alone. The difference with you is that you’re not.” That made Seyden feel better in the idea of revolution. He didn’t want to end up like Rena. He couldn’t, right? He was too valuable, since he was the son of Sedolas’s president. The slucks wouldn’t even bother thinking about killing him.

But that seemed hard to believe, since he was also beaten up like everyone else. Even Nolan once told him that he wasn’t some sort of high prince here, just a regular cadet like everyone else, treated the same way. 

“We’ll spread it,” Calum said. “Things are getting serious here, you’re right. We have to act in some way.”

“Red, you’ll be our commander,” Charity said. “You’re the best one to lead.”

He nodded. The slucks were being unfair to him? They had to be unfair to them back.

He intended to make them pay.

8

The 

Uprising

Stop visiting me,” Evestor said. “You guys make me think I need special care, which of course�"I do, but I’d like to think otherwise.”

Seyden and Amber watched him, on the bed, barely able to move, feeling sad for him. The two of them were the ones that frequently visited the most. Chalice did too, but she seemed to always be busy, since she was the lieutenant. Seyden knew that he should be the most busy, since he was the commander, but he liked to let Chalice be in charge time to time to visit Evestor. She always told him she didn’t mind. He would always say thank you, and then she would blush, and he would have no idea why. “Stella says I have to be here at least one more week,” he said. Stella was Doctor Weslie’s helper, a nurse. She was in charge of the infirmary. “Or less. I’m a strong person. At the least, I beat Sidian in an arm-wrestling competition once. But I can never beat Amber. Right, Ace? You’re too strong for me.”

She rolled her eyes. “Same old Wolf,” she said. 

“Commander, isn’t there something you want to say to Amber?” Evestor told him.

Well, he should’ve saw this coming. His friend had trapped him.

“Oh yeah, right,” he said, laughing. “He wanted me to apologize to you for him because he’s too scared to do it himself. He took your turn at the sink last night.”

“Wait, what?” Evestor said, as Seyden and Amber bursted into laughter. “Okay, maybe I did do that, but Seyden’s just saying that because he’s too scared to say sorry to you for being such a crike.”

“Is that true?” Amber asked him.

“Maybe,” Seyden said. 

Amber smiled. “I forgive you. I can hug you right now, you know.”

“No, please,” Evestor warned. “Don’t do it!”

Seyden and Amber laughed. He was glad that they had restored their friendship. And that Evestor was still happy even when he could barely move his body.

“How about we talk about your plans of revolution instead,” Amber said. “So far, everyone’s in. Locke knows a friend from his old class that’s actually the commander of our Rival Class currently. Do you know Commander Cosmo?” Seyden had forgotten that some of the cadets in his class were just like him. Transferred to a better class since they were too good for their old one. That must’ve been what Locke went through.

“No,” he said. 

“Well you should, you’re the commander,” she said. “Anyway, Locke talked to him. He’s not sure, but he said he likes the idea of ganging up on the slucks.”

Seyden knew she was right. Usually the commanders of Rival Classes knew each other, but he hadn’t bothered to meet Cosmo yet. Maybe next battle he’d meet him. 

The academy had about two hundred fifty cadets, split up into sixteen classes. There were two classes for each age from seven to fourteen. Any two classes with the same age of cadets in them were called Rival Classes. They were the usual class you were against during battles. With five instructors for every class, there were about eighty of them on the station. 

“The thing is,” Evestor said, “what are we even planning to do?”

“Are you kidding?” Seyden said. “The first thing I thought of was to lock up Nolan in a storage closet and tell him to live off the mop water in the corner and the cardboard for the rest of his life.”

They laughed. “Let’s do it,” Evestor said. “I’d be glad to.”

“No, we need something more permanent,” Amber said.

“Draw on their faces with permanent marker?” Seyden suggested.

“No! You’re having your pranking personality take over yourself again. I mean, like, steal their shock bolt rifles and shoot them with the non-lethal mode or something.”

“Then we’ll tell them, that’s the pain we’ve been getting all these years, you crikes!” Evestor said. “I like it. Let’s get Terra to steal the keys to the sluck’s armoury before the night curfew. Then we take them and shoot the slucks while they’re sleeping!”

“How are we going to escape?” Seyden said. “Doing something like that will guarantee us dead.”

“Steal a spacecraft,” Amber said. “There’s tons at the hangar. You know how big this station is?”

Seyden nodded. “Maybe like a cargo one. One that can hold all of us.”

“Okay, but can we please put Nolan on the escape pod and send him to space before we leave?” Evestor begged. “I’m here because of that crike.”

“Sure,” Amber said. 

“I’ll get Terra to steal the keys,” Seyden said. “She can do it no prob. After all, she’s been stealing citum for the class from them for years.”

“We can’t lose,” Amber told him. “We have to plan this perfectly. If they catch us, they’re going to make sure we’re never going home.”

We’re going to do some extra training today, cadets,” Saph said. “Beni requested it, since you guys have been losing all your battles lately.”

“What if it’s not our fault?” Less said. “What if it’s just Red’s?” A lot of cadets laughed, but Seyden didn’t feel ashamed at all.

“Well a good commander needs good followers, too,” Saph said. “So I can see why he’s failing.”

Then everyone burst into laughter, all the embarrassment directed at Less now. She stomped her foot, fuming, but also couldn’t contain herself blushing from all the cadets laughing at her. 

“Shut up! That goes for all of you too,” Saph said. “Now, a team needs a good strategy and good members. The strategy needs to be better than the enemy’s, and the members need to be good, strong fighters. Sometimes, in war, there can be exceptions. The soldiers can be so good at fighting that a strategy might not be needed. The strategy can be so good that non-skilled fighters could win against skilled ones. It all depends. There is a third element in a battle, one that is a huge variable that can affect everything. Can someone tell me what that is?”

Charity instantly raised her hand. “The field.”

“Yes!” Saph said. “You’ve all heard that in a battle, you want the higher ground. It doesn’t always have to be that way. Your field can be anything. It could be your army defending a castle, with trenches acting like a moat, with tar and a hail of arrows aimed at it for anyone close enough. It can be a steep mountain where you roll giant boulders and logs at incoming enemy forces trying to get up the mountain to you. In any of these scenarios, you can find yourself winning even when the ratio of troops is one to a thousand. One soldier, with enough weapons and tactics, can decimate entire armies. Tell me, who will win in this scenario? A single pilot on a jet, holding a nuclear warhead, or an army of thousands, below on the surface?”

“The pilot!” the class said. 

Seyden took this into consideration. Was she giving them a clue? A hint on how to win? Maybe a new tactic they could try during a battle that would guarantee them a win? It could certainly work. Everything she said made sense. 

But then he realized that he already knew this. The plan Evestor had made for the revolution�"it involved attacking the slucks at night. He realized why it would work, and why it was such a good idea. 

The slucks would never see it coming. They had the field advantage. Your field can be anything.

How would he apply this to a battle? Gravity wasn’t a thing during them, and so would be higher ground, too. And how could you control the field advantages if you weren’t the one picking them yourself? The obstacles were arranged to a different way every time by the slucks. 

When the lesson was over, she let everyone do whatever they want to try fighting techniques.

“Maybe that’s our problem,” Chalice told Seyden. “We’ve depended on our commander for too long. We need to depend on ourselves. Our wins rely on your strategies�"which surprisingly, is enough�"but it needs to rely on a team. A team of good cadets that can perfectly execute your strategies.”

“How do we get that?”

“Better fighters. Saph is right in us needing to train more. Either with shooting, flying, or hand-to-hand combat, we just need to be better.”

Seyden then remembered something he’d always wanted to ask her. “You said Ruby wasn’t going here, right? How did you get communications with your father? I thought no one was allowed to talk with their family or friends at home.” She shushed him. “That’s my secret. Please don’t tell anyone, or else I’m going to get in such big trouble. Keep your mouth shut. Promise?”

Seyden nodded. He was allowed one communication message with his father too, a few months after he had came to the academy, but that was because his father owned the station and had the power too. 

Chalice’s father was really powerful too. He wondered if he had enough authority to allow one message to his eldest daughter. And if he did, Seyden understood why he would tell Chalice that piece of information about Ruby not coming here. 

“I’m so glad,” Chalice said. Seyden understood she was talking about Ruby. He was glad too.

“Is she still back at home? I mean, at my father’s mansion?”

“Yeah. She’s mostly alone, too. My father is too busy to spend time with her, and our older brother tries his best to come visit her. But as you know, he’s busy in your father’s battles, and second battle school.”

That lessened Seyden’s hope of freedom. Everyone knew that after the space academy, you had a two year break until you had to go to the second battle school, which was essentially like military high school, and was on Adilan. The only difference is that after you finish the academy, you’re in danger of being called upon during a battle whenever you were needed, and if you weren’t in one, you continued second battle school. Until you were twenty. 

Seyden’s father and his country were in desperate need for soldiers. They couldn’t afford time for training them, they needed them quick. The academy produced them. About thirty-two super soldier spies every year were born.

They would be used as special assets. To raid, to spy, to break in. The value of the soldiers the academy produced was so great that Seyden’s father put the program in space, guarded by his own space fleet to make sure no country could ever get near it. 

Already in battles, Seyden’s father used them as his secret weapons. Some that went to the academy long ago aided him in taking down his enemies, as elite units. They were trained so well that you could send one right in the heart of a huge, enemy military base, and they were reliable to find a way to take it down, all by themselves. 

They were that good. Super soldiers. The best of the best. But to get to that level, it took years of hard work and achievement. Years of pain, stress, beatings, and tears. Tears that Ruby wouldn’t have to experience now. She was safe from the harm�"safe from it all. Not going to the academy basically guaranteed you a life. 

“We’ll give her company when we all escape back home,” Seyden said. “Amber will drive us. I’ll tell her to take us to Father’s mansion.”

“You father is not going to take in two hundred fifty kids,” Chalice said, but Seyden chose to ignore that fact. At least, right now he would.

Battle starts in a minute, everyone,” Melody said, looking up at the clock. 

“We all know the plan?” Seyden asked, and everyone said yes. They had faked themselves making up a strategy for the fight, since Beni was watching them, but everyone knew what they were supposed to do. 

Everyone in the other class did, too. Seyden’s team moved down to an easier opponent once they started losing battles, so now they were against their old enemy, their Rival Class. Each class had planned not to fight each other this battle, and instead use the time as a meeting to discuss plans for the revolution. It was basically protesting�"not doing what they were supposed to. 

“This is so gonna get all of our criking rear’s whipped,” Sidian whispered. “But I’m sure the other class, and ours, already knows that consequence. I’d rather take it for the team.”

Seyden nodded. Sidian made sure Beni hadn’t heard. That was good. The last thing they needed was for the slucks to find out what they were up to. 

This was also a perfect chance to meet the other class’s commander, Cosmo. Seyden didn’t know his real name, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was that they were not going to fight each other this battle.

He had asked Beni earlier if there had ever been a tie during a battle, ever in the history of the academy. The answer was no. This was going to be the first, then. 

“Thirty seconds,” Melody informed everyone, mostly Seyden.

“Hope that you shoot good, and hope that they don’t,” Seyden said. “It’ll be a bit harder for us to win this one. We’re short of a person�"Wolf.”

There were a couple of snickers from the cadets. Seyden knew why. He was just acting his part: that this was going to be a regular battle that they wanted to win. But it wasn’t.

“Here we go!” Will said, as the doors opened.   “Titan, you’re not the spokesperson, I am!” Melody said, and everyone laughed. Seyden loved how close everyone had gotten as a class. They trusted each other, even if some were mean, and acted as one, under his command. 

It was so easy to get everyone to hide a secret from Beni. Plus, that wasn’t the only case where he was amazed at how much of a team they had become. In class, they got him to join the trash-line, only possible when their seating arrangement was a line of half a rectangle. If anyone had trash, you could pass it to you’re right and the person would pass it on his or her right, continuing down a chain until the last person�"which everyone called the garbage man�"would throw it out since he seated right next to the trash. It was a great system for everyone, so nobody would have to get up to throw something out. It was an invention for laziness, but still, you couldn’t deny the amount of teamwork that happened in it. 

The doors opened, and they all rushed in. Again, Seyden saw that everyone else was fine, and only him got the slight wave of nausea. The doctor told him to ignore it, so he did. 

“Seyden!” he heard a guy yell from the other side of the field. It was Cosmo, their commander, waving a rifle above his head to get his attention. 

He held up a hand to signal a stop to his cadets. Both classes stood in a line, facing each other.

“You’re missing two,” Cosmo said, as he flew up to the front. Seyden did too.

“We don’t have much time,” Seyden urged. It didn’t matter that Evestor wasn’t here right now. They’d get him to the spacecraft before they would leave. 

“Still, I need a status report,” Cosmo said. So Cosmo liked taking care of his cadets, even ones that weren’t his own. “Infirmary. Hard beating. Plus, you know what happened to the other one. Everyone knows.”

He nodded. “Listen, you know every moment the slucks are watching us with cameras. When they find out we’re not doing anything, they’ll beat us to death. Everyone’s not worried though. We all want to take one for the team.”

“What team?” Seyden asked. 

“Well, you know. The entire station! Your idea has spread like a disease to everyone on this station! I’m sure you know that. Anyway, we all want to help. I can tell them what we’re up to. They’ll listen to me.”

“One of my cadets can steal keys to the armoury from Reve. Well, at least, I hope she can. The slucks have tons of shock bolt rifles. We’ll use them, after curfew, to hold them into a room, and lock them up while they’re sleeping. And we all escape in a spacecraft we can steal from the hangar, which we’ll use to go home.”

“Risky!” Cosmo said. “I like it. How are you going to take care of the night watcher?” The confused look on Seyden’s face instantly told Cosmo he didn’t know what he was talking about. “Everybody calls him that nowadays. He’s the poor sluck that watches the hallways with cameras after night curfew. He’ll see us sneaking into the sluck’s armoury.”

“Red,” Less whispered behind him. He turned around, looking into her eyes. Now’s the time, they said. You can use me. Please, just this once. It’s not cheating, I promise. 

He turned back to Cosmo. “We’ll take care of that.”

“What will we do then?” Then he snapped his fingers. “I know! We’ll be in charge of knocking out the pilots! They’re in charge of the hangar, and when they see a spacecraft leaving without a permit, they’ll come after us. We can take care of knocking them out.”

“How?” Seyden asked. 

“Citum, of course! Pilots can’t be addicted to it, since they need all their focus on flying. The slucks have bottles of it too, not just the gum. We’ll take those, give them a huge overdose in their drinks, and before you know it, they’re knocked out.”

“Seems hard to do,” Seyden said. “But I trust that you know what you’re doing.”

Seyden never knew the gum would ever come in handy in his life. Or even Less’s hacking skills. The things that he saw as cheating were the things he used now. Less was right�"to be a match against the instructors, you had to be unfair. Just like them.

Suddenly, the announcement system went on. “This is Reve speaking. I can see what you’re doing, and I know what you’re up to. Stop this madness. Everyone clear the battlefield, and expect harsh punishments for this.”

“This is a protest!” Cosmo shouted at him. Then he turned back to Seyden. “Okay, we’ve got it. Remember, the entire academy is in this. We’re not going to lose. The slucks have nothing against us. We’re out of time now, but I’ll see you at night curfew. Well, everyone will. Good luck with the keys. Reve sleeps like a bear, dude.”

Both classes went back to the doors, the game over. Seyden smiled at Cosmo’s comment. They weren’t going to steal it while he was sleeping. 

Surprisingly, there were no hard beatings. Only a harsh punishment of no meals for the next day, for both classes. That didn’t bother anyone at all. They were going to leave tonight. 

“Let’s hope all the other classes do their jobs,” Chalice said. “The tension is real. Everyone is nervous.”

“Nervous to go home?” Seyden said. “Also, I hope Will and Nye do their job. They’re supposed to get Evestor from the infirmary, and bring him to the ship.”

“Are you sure you can trust them?”

“Will is a good guy. And Nye is�"well, obedient, I guess. I trust them. It’s almost night curfew, Chalice. When the lights go out, you’re in charge. Terra and I will snatch the keys from Reve, right now. We come here and sleep until past midnight. Then we strike.”

“Won’t Reve notice his keys to the armoury are missing?”

“The last time he used them must’ve been a week ago. No, Terra assured me he wouldn’t. She’s been monitoring Reve’s movement and patrol patterns lately.”

Then Terra came up to them, hearing Seyden. “That’s right. Tonight’s his watch, so it’s perfect. He’s the one with the keys.” She checked the digital clock above the door. “Seyden, we gotta go. Ten minutes until curfew. And four hours until the strike.”

“Tell me why again we need to do it in the middle of the night?” Chalice asked. “If you’re stealing the keys now, we can strike right now.”

“We need the rest,” Seyden said. “Also, Terra said all patrol activity dies down at that hour. Especially the night watcher. Terra thinks either he’s going to bed at that hour, or he’s switching with someone else.”

“Yup,” Terra said. “Most likely go to bed. Why would he switch with another person? They’re not that paranoid at us, are they?”

Chalice laughed. “They should be. We’re planning a huge revolt right under their noses.”

“Even if they get another night watcher to take place at that hour for the old one, it doesn’t matter. Less will hack the entire network of cameras so that the entire academy is a blind battlefield to the slucks, I assure you,” Terra said.

“That’s one talented girl,” Chalice muttered. 

“We’re going to escape tonight, okay?” Seyden said. “Why don’t you get your hopes up for that? Also, Chalice, tell everyone during the strike we’re going to use our codenames. It makes things a lot easier.”

“Yes sir, Red,” she said. 

“Let’s go,” Terra told Seyden, pulling his sleeve. 

They left the room, walking in the hallways. There were no signs of any slucks yet, so they had an easy time. 

“Where did you learn to steal?” Seyden asked Terra, curious.

“You don’t want to ask that. Wait here.” She put an arm in front of Seyden, blocking him from turning a corner. She peeked over the side, then went back. “Reve’s there. Can you distract him? Run past him. That’ll get his attention.”

Seyden nodded. That would definitely earn him some push-ups, or a beating, but it was worth it if it meant freedom tonight. Terra gave him the signal on the count of three, then he sprinted. 

“Hey!” Reve said, instantly spotting him. As Seyden ran past him, he turned around. “No running in the halls!” Terra snuck up behind him and purposely bumped into him, hard. “Oops, sorry sir,” she said, acting genuinely sorry. “My mistake.”

“Your curfew is in five minutes,” Reve growled. “Get out of my sight.”

“Yes sir,” she replied. “Seyden, come on! No running.”

Seyden stopped at the end of the hall. “This place has no fun.”

“I’ll let it go this time,” Reve told him. “Just get back to your bunks.”

Seyden nodded and went to Terra, while Reve left. “What was that?” he said, breaking out of his acting trance. “Did you get it?”

“Of course, dummy,” she said, holding up the gleaming collection of keys.

“That’s all his keys,” Seyden said. “He’ll notice that, for sure! He needs his keys to lock our bunk room at night.”

“I’m not done yet.” She took out the key to the armoury and pocketed it. Then she called, “Hey, sir! You dropped your keys!”

Reve, turning around, saw it. He came up to her and snatched it.

“You’re welcome!” she said, when he didn’t say a word as he left. 

Seyden suddenly saw how genius Terra was. Reve thought that he had dropped his keys when Terra had bumped into him, even though she had snatched it. Then she gave it back, while taking the key that they needed, so that Reve wouldn’t have any reason to suspect them. 

“Smart, right?” she said as she held the key to Seyden’s face, like she read his thoughts. 

“Good. Now keep it and let’s go back.”

They returned to the bunk room. Nobody asked questions, because that would arouse suspicion if the instructors heard. They all knew Seyden and Terra had gotten the key anyway. Terra never failed to steal something. 

Reve came, as usual, to shut off the lights, tell everyone to have sweet dreams, and to lock the door. He just thought this was a regular night. An ordinary one. It made Seyden happy to think that for once he was in control. He would make Reve pay, for all that he’s done to everyone.

“Good night, Red,” Will said, climbing on to his top bunk. Something he always did every night.

“Night. Make sure you get Wolf out of the infirmary. We’re counting on you.”

“I will, commander,” he said. Hearing Will say the words himself made him feel better. If they would accidentally leave without Evestor, he’d make sure to turn the ship right back. Everyone would be mead at him, for coming back for just one guy, but he didn’t care. 

“You know, Duno isn’t feeling so good about this,” Will said. Seyden understood what he meant. 

“Well why don’t you tell him to be a man and stop licking Reve’s wounds all the time.”

Will ignored him. “That’s why he offered to take care of Wolf with me. No violence for him. It’ll make him feel better about being forced to go against Reve.”

“Forced? What do you mean?”

“Well, nobody really actually forced him, but he says he’s under peer pressure. He’s just making excuses.”

“I guess,” Seyden said. It kind of made him feel guilty, but there was no way he would back down now. 

“I tell him this is for his own good,” Will said. “Freedom. Escape. Peace. He doesn’t believe it. Poor guy is too caught up in licking Reve’s wounds. You’re right.”

As Will climbed up onto his bunk, Seyden thought about it. The instructors were people too, right? Loyal, faithful Namans to their leader. Did they deserve to be attacked, locked up, and stranded?

Of course, Seyden thought. Now stop ridiculing yourself. Get some sleep.

It took a moment for him to finally fall asleep. When he did, he had another dream of home. 

“Sit up straight,” Dawn said. She was teaching him how to ride a bike. She had already learned, from her cousin, and now she was teaching Seyden.

Seyden couldn’t keep his balance, and he fell down. “I can’t do it,” he wailed. “I’ll never learn!”

“Relax,” she said, getting to her knees. “Riding a bike is like a defeating a dragon. Imbalance is the dragon, and you are the hero. You need more training to beat your enemy. So, you must keep trying if you want to learn, or else you’ll never. Understand?”

Seyden nodded. “Good,” she said. “Again.”

Seyden tried again, but still, he lost his balance. He fell to the ground once more. “I can’t!”

“Yes you can,” Dawn said. “Believe in yourself. You have to defeat your dragon.”

“I don’t know how.”
“You will. You have to. Now defeat it. Are you ready?”

Seyden looked up to see her warm smile. He relaxed, thinking he could do this. He nodded, took her hand, and got up once more. 

9

Defeating The

Dragon

Ten minutes and counting,” Seyden said. “Until the insurgency. Repto has shut down the cameras. I repeat, Repto has shut down the cameras. She’ll meet us in the armoury. Rescue team, Titan and Duno, move out. The academy’s camera network is blind, and the slucks don’t know it yet. The rest of us, wait for Star’s signal.”

It was past midnight. Everyone had depended on Melody to wake them all up, since the girl had a strict body clock. You could rely on her to wake you up at any time. In ways, she was more effective than an alarm clock. For instance, in this case they had to be quiet. Alarm clocks were loud. Well, being loud wouldn’t really blow their cover, since the instructors barely cared if the cadets made noises in their bunks, even after the curfew. The bunk room was a safe haven, practically free time. After curfew, you were expected to sleep, but if you wanted to play cards with a buddy, no one stopped you. It would be dark, but you could. They’d just tell you in the morning that it would be on you if you were sleepy throughout the whole day, since you didn’t choose to sleep. 

When Will and Nye left to retrieve Evestor, Seyden recounted. There were ten of them. Ten soldiers in their first war. Well, currently at least, since they were split up.

He heard a crackle on his com. “Red, armoury is wide open and path is clear.”

“Roger, Star. We’ll be there, coming in right now. You can go check the other classes in the other sector if they’re awake and ready to go. Bring them to the armoury.”

He turned to everyone else, already dressed up and ready to go. Ready to go home. 

“All right,” he said, doing one last check, for everything. “Let’s go.”

Through the still-bright hallways, Seyden’s class followed their leader to the instructor armoury. They entered when they arrived, seeing all the weapons on all of the walls. The room was huge, enough to supply all the instructors, with no doubt. 

“Whoa!” Calum said when he entered. “These are all shock bolt rifles! And there’re so many of them!”

“We’re in the shock bolt armoury,” Seyden explained. “So only shock bolts. And yes, I think there’s at least one rifle per sluck in this room here.”

“Crikes! There’s definitely a lot,” Melody said. “But I don’t think it’ll be enough for every cadet on this station.” “That’s because we outnumber them by a lot, dummy,” Sidian said. “Crikey, we should put her in quarantine, she doesn’t belong here.”

“Shut up,” Melody said, laughing. 

“I agree with that,” Locke said. “Also, where’s Repto?”

“She’s coming,” Seyden said. And as soon as he said it, she showed up at the doorway. 

“Whoa,” she said, looking at all the weapons. “Red, please give the order already. I can’t wait to tear these slucks apart.”

Seyden sighed. So eager for revenge. “Okay, fine. Everyone grab one.”

There were comments of, “Sweet,” and “Awesome,” from the cadets as they grabbed a rifle each.

“Well I’m against tearing the slucks apart,” Amber said, making sure the safety on her rifle was on. “Turn it to non-lethal.”

“Of course you say that, Ace,” Less said. “And I guess you want to tell me to not aim for their eyes, too? Oh, and to make sure you get them to the infirmary when they get hurt?”

Sidian and Locke snickered. “Knock it off,” Seyden told her. “Ace is right. Your weapons should be set to non-lethal. If you disobey a direct order, I’ll be the one to make sure you don’t get a seat on the spacecraft home.”

Less frowned but stayed quiet. Seyden looked at Amber and she smiled. 

“Okay,” he said. “Regulations check, everyone.” There was a wave of, “Check,” from everyone. Seyden turned on his com. “Star, what’s taking so long? We’re all set.”

“Everyone’s coming, relax!” she said, annoyed. “I’m like a criking slave to you.”

“Well, I was raised with them around,” Seyden said. Everyone knew that part about him. He switched channels. “Titan, Duno. Status report.”

He was surprised to hear Evestor speak. “I’m here, commander!”

“Great,” Seyden said. “Get to the ship bay. Titan, is Cosmo there?”

“We’re not even there yet,” he said. “Well, at least he said his cadets are. They’ve already knocked them out with citum, when they put it in their night drinks.”

“Get there quickly. Stay there and guard the ship.”

“Yes sir. What about you? Have you restrained the slucks yet?”

“If the others weren’t so slow, then we would be done right now. Anyway, we’ll see you later.” He turned off the com.

They waited there for five minutes until Terra came in, breathless. 

“Phew, we had to run to catch up,” she said. “Strike insurgency starts in like ten seconds, doesn’t it, com-mander?” 

Seyden nodded. “I hate it when people are late. Where’s Cosmo?”

“Here,” he said, coming in behind her. “All approximate two hundred forty of us, outside this door. Not including your class, of course. Whoa, there’s so many weapons in here.”

Seyden went past him and looked outside. There they were, crowded in the hallway. About two hundred-forty cadets ready to follow him and Cosmo. Most of them even older than him. He smiled. This was going be easy. He had gotten quite a reputation since his class was deemed good enough to face higher age classes. Some of the kids he saw in the hallway were ones he knew, since he met them during battles. 

He was amazed at how quiet they were. Even the younger ones didn’t make a single sound. They were trained to be soldiers, so they had to be prepared for times when it called to be one. Each and every cadet here was trained to act along as one with an army. You had to work together to win wars. 

Along with Cosmo’s popular reputation, they both had the power to create this big army to overthrow the academy.

He went back inside the armoury. Everyone was watching, waiting for the command. 

“All right, guys,” he said. He didn’t know how he felt. Excited? Nervous? He was going home. This was it.

“Cosmo, make sure the best people with a rifle get one. When we’re all ready, we’ll strike the instructors.” He looked around one last time. 

“Let the revolution begin!”

In less than an hour it was chaos. 

The academy was being torn apart. Cadets went to every instructor’s bunk and surrounded them before they would even understand what’s happening. 

Seyden lead his own class and a bunch of other cadets to restrain as many instructors as they could. Seyden was having the time of his life. Giving pain to the people that tortured him his whole life at the academy was so fun to him. He enjoyed every second of it. 

“Red!” Mady called to him, over the screams and noises of firing bolts that could be heard all throughout the station. “This is our instructors’ bunks. Let’s take care of them ourselves.”

Seyden nodded. “To the side of the door, Fate. Open on my mark. Everyone, in positions.”

“Can I be the rammer?” Sidian asked. 

“No, I will,” Seyden said, backing up. 

“Stealing all the glory eh, you crike?” Sidian said, lifting his rifle to point at the door. He shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

Seyden ran straight at the door. At the last second, Mady opened it with her hand and he rolled in, aiming his rifle at…

No one. The room was empty. The instructor’s bunks didn’t have anyone in them. 

“Move in,” Seyden said. “It’s safe. I don’t know where they are. Don, Reve�"”

Before he knew it, he felt an arm go under his neck. Someone had put him in a headlock. He or she had came from behind him, so that meant the enemy had stayed flat against the wall so that first intruders wouldn’t see him or her. A simple but obvious tactic. Genius.

The cadets moved in, pointing their rifles at the enemy holding Seyden.

“Drop him!” Chalice said, her voice deadly. 

“You don’t have the guts to shoot.” It was the voice of Beni. “You’re afraid you’ll hit your commander, huh? How about you stop everything that’s going on or I’ll end him, right here and right now.”

Seyden felt a sharp point jab at his forehead. He was choking, not able to think clearly, but he processed the obvious. Beni had a knife to his head, and he was actually threatening to kill him. There was no doubt about it. 

The behaviour was so much like Nolan’s that Seyden could actually believe it was him who had the knife to his head. How could it be Beni? Beni had never beaten him, ever.

Well, trust was both ways. If Beni couldn’t trust him to bring a box of important contents to the other sector, then Seyden had no reason to trust him that he was unlike all the other instructors. Personalities could be perceived wrong. 

Chalice seemed to hesitate, as if Beni had made a good point. She lowered her rifle a bit.

“That’s right,” Beni said. “You protect your leader at all costs�"”

Seyden used that moment to strike. He jabbed his elbow with all his force into Beni’s stomach, slightly releasing his grip on his neck and making him yell in pain. Then he looked for his shoulder with his hand, found it, then pressed it with his thumb.

Beni screamed in even more pain as he stumbled back, releasing him. “Where’d you learn that?”

“Saph,” Seyden lied. He grabbed Beni’s shoulders, put a foot behind his legs, and pushed him. He fell to the ground. 

“All yours,” he told his cadets, and they all fired at him, on the ground. 

“Yes!” Mady said. “Now that’s our commander!”

He smiled, but he felt a little guilty. After all, Beni still hadn’t struck him once, ever in his life. He had liked to believe that not all instructors were bad. 

But Beni had threatened to kill him. With a knife. Even Nolan hadn’t done that. 

“Stop,” Seyden ordered, and everyone stopped firing. Beni was groaning and whimpering on the ground. 

Seyden knelt down to him. “Now you’re going to give us some answers or we’re going to continue firing. Where’re the others?”

It was really easy to make a bluff with shock bolts. They were so painful, even on non-lethal, it put torture methods to shame. 

“I’ll tell!” Beni said. “Reve, Nolan, Saph, Don, and all the others�"they all left without me to the hangar.”

“What?” Seyden said. “Why?”

“Because of your criking revolt you started at the academy, you stupid Homo sapient!”

Seyden was taken aback at such the disgusting word, but he restrained himself. “What are they doing?”

“You made everyone unite to follow your command. You armed them all and gave them an opportunity to strike back at us. This is the first and only time this has ever happened before…but don’t you think we thought of that? Don’t you think we have something planned if this ever happened? Don’t you think your father thought of this? You, of all people, should’ve known that.”

Seyden’s face paled. Oh no. Oh please, no. 

He got up. “Get to the hangar. Move, move, move!”

“Commander, at least tell us what he means,” Chalice said.

“My father told me he used a war tactic where he would store caches of weapons in a secret storage component in the hulls of his spacecraft. Made so that whenever it got searched, they wouldn’t find them. Right now, their going for those caches. And those spacecrafts. This must be their backup plan if a revolution ever started here. My father’s backup plan.”

Suddenly the entire station shook, and the lights dimmed for a second. Seyden became nauseous for a moment, floating in the air, until it ended and they all fell back to the ground. 

“Oh, what now?” Charity said, sounding really annoyed. 

Seyden didn’t hear a statement about a momentary artificial gravity disfunction announcement. They weren't asteroids. 

“Hangar, now!” Seyden said, helping people up and urging them to get there. 

The station shook again. Everyone ran, carrying their rifles, to the way to the hangar. Cadets done tying up their instructors and throwing them in the same room followed his class, since they had nothing else to do.

“Red, we’re all done,” Cosmo said on his com. “Make it for the ship bay?”

“Yes!” Seyden said. “Now!”

“You sound excited to go home.”

Seyden didn’t have time to explain. Everyone was running for the hangar. He connected with Will, fearing the worst. “Titan, status report.” 

“The slucks came!” he said. “They took Duno, when he went out the ship! Evestor and I are safe in the ship, though. Along with a fourteen-year-old cadet who came claiming Cosmo sent him as our quick escape pilot. Do you want me to tell him to get ready for one?”

“No,” Seyden said. “I need you to stay put. We’re coming. The slucks have prepared for this moment. I don’t know where they are, but we need more time to gather every cadet on this station and make sure no one is left behind. I’m not leaving a single one.”

“Especially Duno,” Will said. Then the connection went.

Seyden rounded a corner and froze. There they were. At the other end, an army of the rest of the unbound instructors, heavily equipped with armour and their own shock bolt rifles. Reve was at the front, holding a body. Nolan was beside him, holding Nye, putting his rifle against his head.

Seyden gave the command to stop and they all gathered behind him, steadying their rifles at the enemy. Seyden studied the field. It was the same hallway he always went to when he wanted some peace, where no activity happened. On the left, there was the window he always looked at.

Their final battle had to be here. Of course it did.

Reve didn’t even look mad. His expression showed sadness, and Seyden didn’t realize why until he processed who he was holding�"Leva. Dead. 

“You…” Reve said, trying to find the words. “Look what you’ve done. You crikes killed her.” Then he looked up, straight at Seyden, yelling in rage. “Which one of you criking Homo sapients did this!?”

“I’m wondering the same,” Seyden admitted. “I never gave the order to kill.”

“Don’t believe him, Reve,” Nolan said, still holding a rifle’s point to Nye’s head. The kid was whimpering. “Look at all this. What they’ve started. You can’t let them get out of this. Whether it’s true or not this was an accident, they’ve already done enough to get some serious punishments.”

Reve nodded. Seyden looked at his former instructor in his arms, feeling sad too. Whoever did this, he was going to make that cadet pay. He didn’t care if this was an accident. He gave clear orders to everyone to keep their rifles set to non-lethal.

Leva was a sweet instructor that never harmed a single cadet, other than mild chastising. She was kind and helpful.

He saw Nye still whimpering softly in front of Nolan. “Look, please, before we do or say anything, can you at least let him go. Please.”

“You’ve caused so much trouble ever since you came to this place,” Nolan said to him, fiercely. “You’ll never go back from this. You killed one of us. What have we ever done to you?”

“Hey!” Charity yelled, outraged at the comment, with her rebelling attitude. “You killed Rena! Have you forgotten? This is a small price to pay for all you’ve done to us! For years you’ve been sending kids here, not giving them a choice, and torturing and beating them up at this place until they’re crippled for life. This is a prison to us. A place of bad childhood memories. And you wonder where we got the idea of revolution?”

“Your punishments are equal to the transgressions you’ve done,” Nolan said. “And Rena left on her own. We ended that argument long ago.”

“You’re lying!” Charity screamed, with tears. “She’s dead! She was my friend, and you killed her! You’re the Homo sapients!”

She tried to attack them but two cadets held her back, restraining her. 

Seyden could feel the unfairness too. This academy was evil. No one deserved to be here. It was a graveyard. “You will pay for the crimes you all have committed against Sedolas,” Reve said, pointing at the window, still clutching onto Leva’s dead body. “Look outside. You’re trapped. There’s nowhere to run, and you’ve already lost. We are not as weak as you predicted.”

Seyden looked outside. Spacecrafts had appeared, levelled with the window. Their cannons were aimed at them.

“If you try anything, if you have any tricks left,” Reve warned, “then we’re all dead. No escape this time. I will give the order. All of us are ready to die in the name of Adilan. We made an oath long ago to serve our country, an oath that you all have broken. Not stopping you here will give you passage to Adilan, releasing a whole bunch of criminals to the world. I will not let that happen.”

“That’s not all,” Nolan said. “If you do anything, I’ll make sure this little crike’s brain over here blows its guts out.”

Nye looked at Seyden, still looking scared, but this time trying to tell him something. He was nodding his head. He was telling Seyden that it’d be okay if they left without him, and if he died. To not let him be a liability. It would be an honour to die in glory, serving his commander. 

An honour that Seyden wouldn’t approve. “Reve, think for a second. Make Nolan let go of Nye, and we’ll surrender. You have my word. You don’t know how much of a hero you are to Nye. You saved him from death, and he knows that he owes you. You were once a good man, but now you beat kids up.”

Seyden looked straight at Reve’s eyes, holding his gaze. “Nye never wanted to take part in this. You have to see that. He never shot a single instructor.”

“Stop trying to get out of this,” Reve said. “You can’t, don’t you see? You’re all dead to us. You can’t win. As a last resort, if somehow you take care of those spacecraft outside right now about to blow down this entire sector of the station, we have another backup. The Particle Accelerator is pointing at this spot, right now. Charged and manned. You know that one blast from it can destroy the entire station.”

Seyden looked outside once again and saw it. The station was big enough to curve out of the window and back in at a distance, and in that distance he saw it. A tiny speck, but up close a huge beam cannon.

Every cadet knew about the Particle Accelerator. It was a massive laser cannon that the station had mounted on a base on top. It carried a blast that was powerful it could rip apart enemy fleets. It could destroy a huge chunk of a mothership, so of course without a doubt it could destroy the entire station. The cannon could turn at an angle to shoot the station it was attached on, because the station was so big it curved around until it was in the cannon’s firing range.

“You can’t scare me,” Seyden said. “You’ve been scaring us for years. You teach us to give punishment to those who deserve it. And to serve our country by ridding it of its enemies. This revolution does both.”

“An act of murder has been added to the charges against you on your crimes,” Reve said. “Even if you escape, you have nowhere to go. Not even on Adilan. Down there, they’ll be hunting you.”

“I told you,” Seyden said looking again at Leva’s dead body, feeling pain in doing so. “I didn’t order this.”

“We do, sir!” 

Two instructors, on the instructor army’s side, dragged a beaten and bloody cadet to the front. He was a younger one. Seyden didn’t recognize who it was. He heard murmurs from his own army behind him.

“We saw him kill Leva,” one of them said. “Then he tried to run. I don’t know where he tried to go. There’s no place safe for him on this station, and there’s no escape except the hangar, which we have protected.”

“You!” Reve growled, gently setting down Leva on the ground to hit him across the face. 

“It was an accident!” he whimpered, blood all over his face. “I swear!”

Seyden actually wanted the instructors to kill him, at this moment. This was the guy who did it all. He felt a huge surge of hatred for him, which he didn’t expect.

The cadet then looked at Seyden and smiled. His mouth was bloody, but he mouthed something at Seyden. Run.

He brought out a bolt grenade. 

“No!” Seyden yelled, and the last thing he saw was the explosion, with bolt frags blasting in all directions, and everybody trying to hit the ground.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, was the first thing Seyden thought when he awoke from the darkness. His mind was fuzzy, and his head hurt. 

Someone was helping him up. He realized it was Chalice. He was muttering things, while she was trying to tell him something, but he couldn’t hear. Then his ears adjusted. “You were closest to the bang,” she said. “Come on. We have to go. I’m going to get you to safety.”

Seyden took a moment to look around, while Chalice put one of his arms around her and lifted him. There were a mixture of noises. Everyone was fighting, screaming, with bolts flying everywhere. 

“What happened?” Seyden asked. “Event report, lieutenant.”

“There’s no time to explain,” she said as they slowly walked past all the cadets running past them, the other direction.

“I said event report, cadet. Do not disobey a direct order. Why are we going the wrong way everyone else is?”

“Because they’re all dumb,” she said. “All chaos broke loose when the bang happened, it was like a signal to start the fight. Slucks and cadets are all battling right now, but I’m getting you to safety. There’s no way we’re winning. You have to hide, or else the slucks will kill you as soon as they find you.”

“Where’s our class?” Seyden asked. “Did the blast kill anyone?”

“Listen, it’s over,” she said. “The strike, I mean. It’s just you and me right now, and we’re escaping because we have the chance. We’re using the fight as cover to escape. And no, the closest instructors all had enough armour to repel the frags. Reve, Nolan, they’re all still alive, but they also went out like you. The kid who had it is dead.”

“I’m not leaving�"” then Seyden coughed, then he tried again. “I’m not leaving everyone behind. That’s a coward’s move. A good commander never leaves his soldiers. I want to fight alongside them, until the end, until we all die�"”

“Shut up with your good commander phrases, you fool! I’m trying to save your life!”

Seyden stopped talking and let her half-carry him to who knew where. He couldn’t really see where they were going, everything was still fuzzy. 

They kept going. Then, after a long time, they finally stopped.

Seyden took a moment to look around. “These are the solitary confinement chambers.”

“Yes,” Chalice said, opening one and putting him gently inside. “You’re staying here. I’ll bring you news, food, and water. You’re going to hide until things get better, and everything settles down. The slucks are going to capture all of us again, and beat us up, and I don’t want them to do that to you. They’ll be looking for you after all this ends, and they’re going to kill you.”

“Why here?” Seyden asked. “Of all places. You brought me here. Kids have nightmares of this chamber.”

“It’s the place they’d least expect to find you in,” she said. “I’m sorry. Just hang on.”

“What’s going to happen to me? Where can I go?” 

“The hangar was taken over too, so you can’t escape in a spacecraft. Think, Seyden. You’ve always been smart. Where did the kid that killed Leva tried to run to when he felt guilty for doing it?”

The only escape pod in the station. That’s where he was going. “Why…why are you doing this for me?”

She had a sad look on her face, pretending to not hear the question. “Goodbye, Seyden. I’ll try to get back as soon as possible.” She closed the heavy metal door, the creaking sound marking the end of the light Seyden would ever see in a long time. He realized then that Chalice was right. The instructors would never in a million years expect to find him in a place where they would put him in once they caught him. 

He sat in the darkness and shivered. I failed, he thought. I failed everyone. 

No matter how much he wanted to win, he couldn’t, not anymore. He always failed his cadets, and the instructors always won. Always.

He finally understood the real enemy. It weren’t his nightmares, or the humans, or Father’s enemies. It was the academy, all the evil instructors, and his father himself. That’s who the real enemy was. He swore that in his lifetime, he would get his revenge.

But he knew he wouldn’t, because that’s the way it was, and he had to accept it. He had to accept that the adults always won, and always got what they wanted, while he never did. He had to accept that the slucks always won, and he never would. He would never beat his dragon, just like how he never completed learning how to ride a bike, since he had to leave for the academy. 

Dawn is wrong, he thought. She said I can defeat my enemy. But I never will.

 

 

10

Fate Decides

Now

The first light he saw in a long time was when Chalice opened the door. 

“Incident report,” he said. 

She threw a wrapped sandwich to him, and a couple of disposable plastic water bottles. “We lost. No surprise there. Everything has settled, and we’re mostly back to normal. Except for the super hard punishments they give us.”

“Can I come out now?” Seyden asked. 

“No, too dangerous. Every sluck is looking for you right now. The path to the escape pod isn’t clear. I’ll find the right time to get you there.”

“Why me? Why am I the one that gets to escape? I’ve done nothing but cause trouble to this academy.” “Everyone voted on you,” she said. “That’s why nobody has taken it yet. It’s also usually guarded. And that’s not true�"you know it. You gave everyone hope, even if it was only for a short time. You’re a leader.”

Seyden didn’t agree with those words at all, but he decided there was no arguing. If everyone gave him the chance to escape, there was no way he wasn’t going to take it. He wanted to go home.

“I’ll come back, I promise,” she said. “Even if it takes a few hours or a week to get you to that pod, I’m going to get you there.”

When the door closed once more, Seyden felt trapped again. The silence of the room was eerie, and the space was too tight. He was glad that it was dark, so that he could clear his mind and think.

He hid for a long, long time. Days, even. Occasionally he heard instructors or cadets talking outside, and he tuned in to their conversations, even if he couldn’t hear them clearly. He shifted uncomfortably all the time, but there wasn’t even any space to move to a new position. In a while, every part of his body ached to move to a new spot. His back hurt so much he thought it would never go away, even if he left the place.

The sandwich and water he had drank was long gone, and he was starving. Chalice hadn’t come back yet, and he wanted food so badly. He was also diminishing his water quick, with the heat of the room constantly bothering him. 

The only things he did to kill his boredom were count his breaths, play with the sandwich wrapper or empty water bottles in the dark, or think. Just think.

Sometimes he just thought for long periods of time. Usually just random thoughts, or sometimes his friends and his life in the academy. He had been locked up for so long that he felt like he had begun a new life. A new life of infinite darkness, aching pain, and boredom. He started to believe he would never get out of the place alive. He would die of starvation, and the instructors would find his body here, if they ever cleaned this place.

He thought about past events, that happened long ago. Did anyone get beaten to death yet? What happened to Evestor, still injured in a ship in the hangar? Why did that stupid kid drop the grenade and start it all?

That one was not so hard to answer. Seyden already knew that kids usually went insane here. He must’ve been one of those. Whether killing Leva was an accident or not, the grenade was already a crime. Poor, poor Leva. Seyden liked her as an instructor. Why did it have to be her to get killed? Why couldn’t it have been Nolan, or Reve, or Don? The mean ones. The evil ones. 

And what happened to his class? Were they all thinking about him? Did they miss him? Do they want him back as their commander, so that they have someone to lead them? Maybe. Some of them, maybe not. For sure Sidian would be thinking about taking his place as commander, something he’d always wanted, if the instructors never find him.

Sometimes he wished that he would be found by them. Escaping wasn’t really a reality. There was no escape of this place. His father had made it and planned it so that nobody could, since it was in space, and the people he hired were ruthless. 

He sometimes thought that the door would open randomly, blinding him with light, and he would see instructors on the other side, yelling, “I’ve found him!”

He was the most wanted person at the academy now. The one that almost overthrew it. The one that had the idea, started it, and led it. If he was found, he didn’t know what would become of him. Would they barely care anymore, and send him back to his regular classes and routines, and continue to beat him up? Or would they kill him, because they didn’t see him as any worth to be left alive. 

Of course I’m worth alive, he thought. He was the best commander in the academy. He had shown that during the revolution. There was no way he would be killed for his value of strategizing, for future wars that his father could be part of. 

That was another thing, too. His father would never allow his death. He was his son. With his gift of strategy and his status as the son of Sedolas’s president, he would never be killed, as long as his father protected him.

People call him the president? Charity had said. Yeah right. More like a dictator.

More time passed. He got hungrier and thirstier, and his back ached more. He wished so badly, more than anything in the world, to just change his sitting position. It was unbearable. 

I have to imagine I’m not here, he thought. To make me feel better. 

If he had citum at that moment, he would take it, no matter what Chalice told him about it. Anything to get away from the place he was in. He wondered what it tasted like, and what it felt like. Did it actually take you somewhere else? Even for just a moment?

Sometimes he didn’t even need it. His mind just wandered off, with a strong imagination, with his memories. They were powerful, and he really felt close to home. He explored the never-ending halls of the mansion. He rode a horse around the estate, something he’d learned at six from Dawn, too. He seemed to learn everything from her.

He walked under the branches and leaves of the trees in the forest surrounding the estate, seeing the sunlight come through the natural ceiling. He jumped over streams and swatted away bugs. He played with Chalice, Ruby, Dawn and her cousin at times, the five of them playing tag in the forest.

They felt so real. Whenever he looked up at the sun in his imaginations, he sneezed, in real life. Something he always did when he tried to look at the bright sun. Whenever he walked through the hallways of the mansion, he coughed from the house dust, in real life. He felt sick, and he wondered if the doctor really was right about him getting it from his memories. But how could that be possible? The home he had was so far away. An entire atmosphere split them apart.

But yet he coughed and coughed. He really couldn’t stop. He was glad that he was still hidden and safe, and that he wasn’t in any contact with any people. Even still he wasn’t sure if he was contagious, he would rather not take the risk. 

Once in a while he made so much noise coughing that people heard him outside. 

“Hey, do you hear that?” they’d say. It would either be instructors or cadets. He’d force himself to cough into his sleeve, try to stay as silent as possible, so that he wouldn’t be spotted. He doubted that he’d get in trouble if cadets found him. They’d just agree to keep his secret and not tell the instructors. He wondered if Chalice had told anyone that she knew where Seyden was hiding, or if she even told them where. Perhaps her best friends, or Evestor, since he must be worrying about him. 

But it wasn’t a valid thing she would do. She was a loyal person, a great follower to her commander. At the moment, everyone probably thought that no one knew where he was. And the instructors must’ve spent a bit of time every day to try and find him. They would be wondering where in the world he was. Well, where in space he was. 

They would know that he couldn’t have escaped, and that he’s still on the station. The one and only escape pod hasn’t been used yet, and all spacecraft in the bay and the hangar were still there. They would have probably searched every ship there, every room and hallway in the station, maybe even take a spacesuit and search for him on the outside surfaces of the station. But yet they would be missing the one place where he actually was: his own prison.

It was like a fugitive hiding in a prison cell from the cops. That was the least expected place they would go to, since that’s the place they planned to put the fugitive in when he was captured. A genius and neat trick. 

He seemed to lost track of counting the hours that passed when the door finally opened, revealing light. He seemed to be somewhere at two hundred. About eight days. Eight days trapped in a cold, dark room smaller than an outhouse. He had to pee in the empty water bottles he had because he had no space. He was listening to his stomach grumble on the eight day until the door opened. Chalice appeared, holding more food and water.

When she gave them to Seyden he opened it quickly and ate ravenously. He was starving. He didn’t think his stomach had ever shrunk this small in his entire life.

“Sorry,” Chalice said. “I couldn’t find the time to get back faster. But you eat like an animal.”

Seyden wanted to say, What do you expect? I haven’t eaten in days, but his mouth was full. He decided against it. 

“Listen, I think I can get you to the pod at this moment,” she said, and Seyden got excited. “You can go home. Just, not right now. Give me like five minutes to clear the area and do some things to make sure the path is clear. I’ll be back, promise!”

Seyden didn’t get mad this time. He allowed her to close the door, and he waited. She had said five minutes. He counted the time. 

After one minute he got an unexpected pain his right leg. He clutched it and clenched his teeth. He wanted to yell out, but he figured someone would hear him. He had to stay quiet.

But the pain was powerful. Had he cut himself? He felt around to check. No, the throbbing was inside. It must’ve been a leg cramp. He’d never gotten one before, but he has heard stories of others getting it. 

It had gotten by the time Chalice opened the door again, but it still hadn’t went away. 

“Path is clear,” she said. “C’mon, get up.”

Seyden tried to, but the pain in his leg didn’t allow him. He fell back down. The impact brought back all the aching in his tense muscles in sitting in that position for days. 

“Don’t make me have to pick you up too,” Chalice said.

“I…” Seyden tried to find his voice, clearing his throat. The memories he’d had in there had made him cough so much his that hurt too. He had a lot of physical conditions for the week spent in the cell, but he tried again. 

“I don’t know what it is,” he said. “My leg hurts too much. I can’t walk.”

“Well, this is the perfect opportunity,” she said. “We’re not going to get another chance of empty hallways like this. I’ll help you up, then. Follow and do whatever I say. No mistakes or clumsy errors. We have to hide whenever they’re coming. Got it?”

Seyden nodded. Chalice helped him up and they strolled through the hallways, Seyden relying on her for support. 

“The good thing is that you’re light from not eating much,” she said. 

“That’s not a good thing,” Seyden said. 

“Slucks, twelve o’clock,” she said, hearing voices ahead. “Hide your face low, behind me. They shouldn’t be able to tell who you are if they can’t see your face. We’re in a different sector, too.”

“That’s good. Reve or Nolan will immediately recognize me even if they don’t see my face.”
“I agree. But most slucks here probably don’t even know what you look like. If they see you we have to depend on that fact to save us.”

The voices ahead got louder. “Almost there. They might wonder why you’ve got your arm around me for support even with no injury. Pretend like we’re sharing a funny joke, and we’re old buddies.”

“I don’t have to pretend that hard, then.”

The two instructors came around the corner, and Seyden hid his face from them. He looked the other way.

“That’s a good one, Evestor!” Chalice said. 

“Ha, ha, I know. Hilarious,” Seyden said. The instructors paid them no attention, and when they were out of earshot, Seyden told Chalice, “Evestor?”

“I had to think of something,” she said. “You know, this makes me feel like we’re already on our first espionage mission. This way.” 

“I need a break,” Seyden said, and he crashed to the ground, against the wall. His leg still felt like a knife had stabbed through it, and he tried to massage it to amen it feel better. It didn’t really help.

“We need to go,” Chalice said, a hint of worry in her voice. “You can’t relax. You’re almost home. Don’t you realize that?” 

“I can wait,” Seyden said. “Especially since my leg feels like a plane crashed on it. It hurts so bad.”

“Just fill your mind with thoughts of home. Just a little bit more walking and you’ll get all that you want. The lush meadows that we always used to play in as little children. The horses we rode in the stables, the trees we chased each other around. The big hallways of the huge mansion your father owns.”

“We used to play tag there too,” Seyden said. “Until we had to stop. I accidentally broke something and Mother got very mad. You covered for me and said that you did it. Father forbid us to play that game in the mansion again.”

“Yes! I remember that too. But we didn’t stop. We just played whenever they weren’t around. Also, I think Dada got mad at me for that, too. You father told him: teach your daughter to behave constantly or our deals are off and you’re not invited here again! Ha, Dada got mad at your father, too. He said that he was very important and that he shouldn’t be treated like that, no matter how powerful your father is.”

“And the time that Ruby stepped on a snail by the pond,” Seyden said. “She cried so hard. You and Dawn tried to shut her up. She’s too sympathetic for anything that she sees. I won’t be surprised if she cried over all the rocks we skipped at that pond over the years.”

She laughed. “Oh yeah! She’d cry non-stop if she saw how many rocks are drowning in that pond right now. I think the only way she stopped was when I smacked her in the head. You can’t blame me, Dawn’s cousin allowed me to. He’s in charge when we have no supervisor.”

“She’s too sweet,” Seyden said. “That’s just why she loves everything. Like, you know…”

“Shh,” Chalice said. She knew that he meant the humans. Not even Dawn or her cousin knew Ruby’s secret. 

“I know it’s not allowed, but I’d rather not see my little sister killed,” she said. 

“They can’t,” Seyden said, “they don’t know that she just doesn’t know what she’s saying. She’s too young to understand.”

“Seyden, she’s ten years old now. She’s old enough to know that feeling sorry for the humans is bad. But she still hasn’t changed her opinion.”

Suddenly she froze, realizing something. Seyden realized the same thing. 

“Crike, I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I said your name. I could’ve gotten you killed.”

“It’s alright, nobody’s around to hear. You could’ve exposed Ruby, too. If anyone heard.”

“Right. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I should be more careful. Are you ready to go yet?”

Seyden shook his head. He wanted to rest a little bit more. There was no one around. Where else would they get a chance like this to just relax and talk? The place was emptier than the window he had come to go to every week. It was silent.

“Did you tell anyone about me?” Seyden asked, in a lower voice. “Where I was hiding?”

“Would it make you angry to tell you that I have?”

“Maybe. Who did you tell?”

“Terra. Just her. She’s my friend, okay? I just had to. She knew that I knew where you were hiding, and she begged me to tell her. In fact, she’s scheduled to come find us any moment, to help you get to that pod.”

“Why?” Seyden asked. “I mean, extra help isn’t such a bad thing. But is there a reason?”

She hesitated.

“I command you to tell me what’s bothering you, Blue.”

She succumbed. Disobeying a direct order from a commander promised severed punishments. She was such a good cadet to follow that rule even when no instructors were around. “They’ve amped up the escape pod security. Reve is getting smarter. His logical decision was that if you were still on the station, he had to block off all the exits so you were trapped. That’s one of the reasons I decided to tell Terra where you were. I needed her help to distract the guards so that you can get in the pod, and I can do the program sequence to send it to Adilan, which you know I have to do on the outside. The controls are on the outside wall.”

So that’s why she hesitated to tell him. There was a change of plans. More security was added, but she didn’t want to let Seyden down by telling him there was no escaping chance anymore, so she got more help to deal with the problem. And she didn’t want to tell him to get his hopes down that he might not make it at all anymore.

They both knew that could be true.

“Reve is good at playing these games,” Seyden said. “There’s no way we’re going to make it to that pod if he’s added more security. Even if we have Terra to help us. This is a mistake. It’s hopeless. I have to escape another way.”

“We can still do it. Can we at least try?”

Seyden thought about it, then nodded. “Only if you tell me the minimum and maximum amount of guards that could be there at this time.”

“Terra and I have been observing. The minimum is two. Well, technically it’s one when one of them has to go to the washroom. So that makes one the least amount of guards we’ve ever seen in the hallway. But that’s the thing�"there’s always one of them there. Before at most times there wouldn’t be anyone. But Reve made sure now that everybody got a shift at watching the doors.”

“The maximum?”

“Eight. I know it’s crazy, but you have to have hope. The most common amount of guards Terra and I see are six and four. We’ll be lucky if there’s two.”

Seyden was shocked at how many guards Reve posted at the hallway to the only pod in the station. Eight? How badly did the slucks want him?

“Please have hope,” Chalice told him. “You know there’s no other way. The hangar is busy, and there’s no way you’ll secretly hitch a ride on one leaving to Adilan without anyone seeing you.”

“Okay,” Seyden said. “Fine. Let’s be lucky then. Help me up.”

She smiled, doing so. “You give commands the same way your father does.”

Seyden sure felt like a fugitive when they continued on their way to the pod. The instructors were cops, and the bounty on his head was incredibly high. Eight guards. Eight for one hallway. This was proof that Reve wanted him found dead or alive, at all costs, and that he was putting his belief in Seyden going for the escape pod. 

And of course, he was right.

Seyden felt like walking into a death trap. But he continued on. The pain in his leg had slowly faded away, without him noticing, so he didn’t need Chalice for support anymore. This allowed the two of them to cover more distance faster. Just another sector, and they were there. 

They arrived in no time. Terra was waiting for them there. 

“What took you so long?” she said. “Oh, where are my manners?” She hugged Seyden, surprising him. “Oh, crikes. It’s so good to see you again. Our beloved commander. Everyone misses you. Don’t tell anyone, but I heard Sidian does too.”

Seyden laughed, pulling way. “That’s great Terra, but we don’t have much time.”

“Of course,” she said. “You’re like the most wanted person on this station, and Sedolas.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“Even your father wants to know where you are. Reve reported to him that you were missing.”

“He’s coming back down there to greet his father himself anyway,” Chalice said, looking around a corner to the hallway to the escape pod chamber. “And can you keep it down? They might hear us.” 

“Well?” Terra asked.

She looked at Seyden. “Two slucks. We’re lucky.”

“Our beloved commander doesn’t believe in luck,” Terra said. Then, along with Chalice, “He believes in fate!”

“Hilarious,” he said sarcastically as they snickered. “Very funny. Mocking your apparent, beloved commander. Terra, can you just get along with it? Distract them, Star.”

“Okay, calm down,” she said. “I’m still a criking slave to you, huh?”

“Yes,” Seyden said as she looked around the corner to see the guards. Then she looked back at Seyden and Chalice. “Don’t worry, guys. I’ve got this. I’ve always wanted to become an actor when I would grow up, if I wasn’t a full time thief yet.”

Seyden and Chalice laughed. “Full time thief?” Seyden asked.

“Oh, shut up,” she said. “Stealing’s fun. Anyway, I guess this is goodbye, Commander Red.”

“Don’t make this cheesy,” he said. “Just get along with it, Star.”

“Right. Got it. Sir yes sir, Red.”

She went around the corner and approached the guards. Seyden and Chalice listened to her. “Mister! Mister!” Seyden could almost believe she was actually panic-stricken. He could agree she had some sort of talent around that area.

“That’s sir,” one of the instructors said. “And what are you doing out of class? I reckon you’re not from this sector too, since I have never seen you around here.”

“Sorry, sir. But it’s my friend! He’s badly hurt! Some mean kid, Sidian, I think, beat him up in the hallway! You two were the closest instructors I could find! Can you please bring him to the infirmary? Please?”

One of them sighed. “Sed, you take care of the lad.”

No, Seyden thought. Only one of them is going to leave. 

But Terra thought of something quick. “Oh, sorry sir, but I failed to mention why the two of us were out of class. You asked, right? Well, we were supposed to tell you that our instructor, Nolan, sent us to tell you�"Sed, is it?�"that your shift is over. It’s because he said that he needs you to go to Reve. He has something for you to do.”

“An instructor sent two of you to tell me that?” Sed sounded kind of unsure. “Seems sketchy, lass.”

“Well, he just came along to walk with me, since he actually has something else to do for Nolan, too. Please, hurry. He’s badly beaten. He’s just around the hall.”

The other one sighed. “I’ll take care of it, Sed. You go to Reve, whatever he wants you for.”

“Aye, the lass sure seems terrified. Is it okay for both of us to leave the post just for a minute?”

“Please,” Terra said, pulling on the other instructor’s arm.

“Yeah, I don’t think Reve will mind. I’ll just take him to the infirmary quick and I’ll be back. You can go, Sed.”

“Terra actually did it,” Chalice whispered to Seyden. 

“He’s coming!” Seyden said. “We have to hide!”

It was too late. The instructor called Sed came around the corner, seeing them both. 

“Aye, so many kids out of class these days,” he said, walking past them. He had locked eyes with Seyden before he went. 

“You’re right, they don’t recognize me,” Seyden told Chalice. 

When the second one came, along with Terra telling him to hurry up, Seyden looked the other way. But the the instructor didn’t even notice them since he was so focused on Terra urging him to go faster. He wondered what she would do when he found out she was lying. Run and hide, and hope that he loses her? She would sure get a beating for that. 

He liked having friends that helped and supported him, no matter the cost. They knew that if it came down to him helping them to escape this place, then he would do too. That’s what made them do it for him. 

“Go!” Chalice said. They ran past them, entering the long hallway. 

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the alarms sounded, and they both froze. Seyden knew that all throughout the station it would be blaring. 

There was an announcement. It was Reve speaking. “All units in sector B-Seven, to the escape pod chamber. I repeat, all units in sector B-Seven, to the escape pod chamber. The fugitive is there. Get him, alive. Get there as fast as possible. I repeat, get there as fast as possible.” “How did they know?” Seyden said, dumbfounded. Their plan was perfect. What gave them away?

“Sector B-Seven,” Chalice muttered, her eyes widening. “Sed. He’s coming back. Quick, get to the pod! I have to distract him! I’ll be back to program your pod to get to Adilan after I deal with him, but I need to stall him right now to buy us time. Go, go, go!” She left and Seyden ran for the pod chamber at the end of the hallway. He kept running, until suddenly he felt the same pain he had earlier in his right leg again. He crumpled to the ground. 

No, he thought, over the blaring noise of the station’s emergency alarm system. Not this time. I’m so close to home. Please. 

He forced himself to crawl across the little distance he needed cover to get to his only escape to this dreadful place. He was so close! Why would Fate do this to him? Had he not been a good person? Was his destiny to stay in this treacherous place forever? If only he didn’t get this leg pain from out of nowhere, he could cover the distance much quicker. He didn’t deserve this! 

He listened to the alarm noise as he crawled. He had to hurry. Instructors, all the ones in this sector at the time, would be coming for him. 

It took a long time, but he finally made it to the chamber. He forced himself to stand, even with all the pain in his leg, and pushed a button on the control panel to open the glass chamber doors. He climbed in the pod himself, and started to strap himself in. The atmosphere reentry would be exhilarating and bumpy, the craziest roller coaster anyone could experience. He needed to be secure inside, and if he wasn’t he could die from the impact. The feeling of falling without any straps, even if you were in a safe, protective shield to absorb the impact of falling at terminal velocity, was also something Seyden didn’t want to experience. It was dangerous, so he made sure his straps were on tight. Now he needed Chalice. She was distracting Sed right now, who heard the announcement and was heading back to his abandoned post. What would she do? Hurt him? Terra would be distracting the other one as well. He needed someone to program the pod. 

Reaching out with his arm, he grabbed the pod’s door and closed it. The sounds of the alarm went out. In fact, it was utterly silent inside. He didn’t expect the inside to be soundproof. 

He waited, looking through the pod’s window to see if Chalice had come back yet. But he didn’t see her. Instead he saw Sed appear in the hallway, coming towards him. Angry, too. 

No, he thought. Where was Chalice?

But then she came, trailing behind Sed. She must’ve sneaked behind him. Without him seeing, she went behind him and whacked his leg, making him crumple. Then she pressed a point on his neck, and he fell to the ground, clutching the spot she pressed with her thumb.

She had used a pressure point! Seyden was proud of her. She had to hurry, though. More slucks were coming. 

She ran to the end of the hallway, getting to him. She tapped buttons on the control panel, smiling at him when he looked at her, bewildered. 

Saph, she mouthed, and Seyden understood. Saph had taught everyone the trick. It seems like now they were old enough to learn it. And he had missed the lesson!

You're the best, Seyden mouthed back, and she blushed. 

She finished programming the pod, and he heard a computer voice speak inside. “Set to Adilan,” it said. 

Chalice, on the other side of the glass doors of the chamber, smiled and waved at him. Goodbye.

Seyden waved back. Then unexpectedly, something hit her from behind, and her expression was full of pain. She fell. Seyden slammed his hand against the glass. 

Then he saw. She cleared the view when she had fell. Behind her, walking in the red, flashing lights, was Nolan, holding a shock bolt rifle he had fired at Chalice. A little squad of instructors was behind him. 

“No!” Seyden yelled, slamming the glass. But he couldn’t open them. He was already set to blasting off, and the launch sequence was already done. All that needed to be done was for Chalice to press the button to launch him. But shock bolts were painful. Seyden watched as she tried to get up to press the button�"and she got close�"but Nolan shot her again, and she crumpled again. 

It was hopeless. He realized that when Nolan and the the other instructors got to him in time. One of them was Don, and he grabbed Chalice by the collar, who was hurt from the bolts, and helpless.

“No, no, no!” he cried, banging on the glass doors, hoping they would open. Nolan, on the other side, pointed up at the ceiling. He was smiling. 

Seyden was too smart to not understand. Of course! That’s how they found out! The cameras of the station! How could he forget? Was he still used to them being turned off by Less? Of course they would have fixed it by now! He stopped banging on the glass doors. It was useless. The instructors had won again. There was nothing he could do. Nolan was on the other side, typing in the control panel. Opening the doors to get him out, obviously. 

But the computer voice that spoke again proved him wrong. “Destination reset. Set to random location in outer space.” 

His eyes widened. He banged the glass doors once more to get Nolan’s attention. The sluck was still smiling. 

“Reve told you to get me alive!” he yelled, as loud as he could. “You’re disobeying a direct order!”

Either he didn’t understand, or he didn’t care. Nolan mouthed, this is what you get for the trouble you’ve caused, you criking Homo sapient.

He pressed the button. The launch sequence took place. He heard mechanical machinery and steam noises as it prepared to launch. Nolan was actually going to kill him. This time he was serious. He wanted him dead, no matter what anyone else wanted. He would be in trouble when Reve finds this out.

“Three,” it said, and Seyden felt the whole pod rotate as it aimed towards its destination. 

“Two.” He saw Nolan turn around and give an order to Don, still holding Chalice’s collar. He nodded and dragged her away, while she tried to fight back to escape his grasp. He was holding a rifle. Set on lethal. Seyden tried once more to yell and hit the glass, but it was no use.

“One.” At least he had learned his lesson. Rebelling was useless at the academy. The instructors were too good. 

“Zero.” He braced for the launch. He asked Fate a quick question: Will I survive? Will I be okay?

Then he blasted off into space. 

11

A Fallen

Hero

Fear gripped Seyden as his pod sped through the empty, never-ending, soul-sucking, darkness of outer space. He was with no doubt securely held tight in the strong straps around him, but he still felt as if they would come loose and he would tumble in the small space of the pod. 

There were handles on the sides for the user to hold to feel safer. Seyden gripped those handles and held on for his life. He plunged deeper and deeper into the expanse of space, wishing he would slow down or stop. He was getting further away from the station. If they didn’t get a spacecraft to retrieve him soon, he’d end up aimlessly moving through nothingness, and his existence would drift away slowly. He didn’t want that to happen. He didn’t want to say goodbye to everyone just yet. He was too young to die, and he wasn’t ready. 

The ride remained exhilarating. He saw nothing but the stars in the window in front of him. They never stopped slowing down. He would know he was slowing down if they did too. There are myths that something pushed in space will never stop moving. Seyden knew that eventually he would go into orbit of something with gravity, or collide with an asteroid, or tiny bits of dust and gas particles would slow him down. But any of those things would take an extremely long time, and time wasn’t something that he needed if he wanted to survive.

Time was something that didn’t matter in space. If he entered a zone with a black hole’s gravity affecting him, years would pass by much slower than on his home, Adilan. That’s what made time precious. For the universe, there would be an infinite amount of it, but for a person, not so much. 

Seyden knew every second longer moving through space guaranteed a bit more that he wouldn’t be coming back. He wasn’t going to survive. There was no way.

Unless…unless he found a way to propel himself the other direction, and come back. Colliding with something wouldn’t work. He needed something that would push him in the exact direction he wanted. The only way was to activate the pod’s jet-propel projection system. The same type of technology cadets used with their armour pack to move during the zero-gravity of a battle. 

In a moment, all his fear left him and he began to think in his soldier mode. He loosened his arms in the straps, then used them to tap buttons that were everywhere on the walls of the pod. He tried to find the jet-propel system. 

Even if Reve did come back for him�"which was unlikely since he also hated him as much as Nolan�"it would be too late. He had to act himself. Nolan set him to a random destination, he didn’t put in random coordinates. So if Reve asked him where he had sent Seyden, he wouldn’t know. And Reve could spend years trying to search for him in the outer reaches of the area around Adilan with a spacecraft.

On the bright side, it wouldn’t be his fault. He’d tell that to Seyden’s father, and Nolan could actually have his head chopped off. The thought made Seyden smile. That was an event he would definitely attend. Maybe he’d mock Nolan when he’d be there, if he survived. 

The pod was designed for returning to Adilan. Being launched in space wasn’t its purpose, and because of that, its computer voice told Seyden that it predicted about twenty minutes of oxygen left. 

He tried to ease his breathing, and tried to do it slower. That was something he’d learned during a class at the academy. In an airtight room, panicking would make you breathe faster and reduce your oxygen faster. 

It wasn’t the oxygen that would kill you, too. The overdose of carbon dioxide levels from your own breathing became poisonous if it was sealed in an airtight room. Soon he’d have too much carbon dioxide intake and not enough oxygen. Passing out would happen in twenty minutes, so he had to act fast. He had to do something. 

Size was a key factor too. Seyden had always been the average Naman height and weight, even in his class. But now he wasn’t so sure. Recently he’d noticed that he’d become one of the shortest in the class. Everyone, except him, had become taller and broader at a faster rate. He’d once asked an instructor about this. The instructor told him that everyone’s just growing up, and that we all have individual rates at doing it. Everyone’s different.

Evestor had sometimes made fun of that about him. What’s Seyden’s favourite food? 

Shortbread! he’d yell, and everyone would laugh. 

He was assured by everyone he’d grow too, though. Possibly taller than the rest of them. He wasn’t short at all. He was still the average Naman height, but compared to everyone in his class he was one of the shortest. 

That was a good thing in this moment. There benefits of being small. You took up less space in a room, so there was more room for oxygen. And you breathed in less oxygen.

Thinking of the jokes Evestor made about him brought back his thoughts of the academy. Could there actually be things to live for in that horrible place? His friends? 

He realized the only reason he wanted to survive was so he could get back to his friends. If not, he wouldn’t care if he drifted away into nothingness. His life consisted of his infamous father and his wealth and power in his country, enemies and beatings at the academy, and a gigantic war between two planets, with the humans being Adilan’s enemy. There was even some sort of global disease epidemic going on down there, something Nye had mentioned to him once. 

With all that was wrong in the world, why would he want to come back? His friends. They needed a commander. Most of all, they needed him. He was their friend too. What would be happening there? Was Chalice actually going to get executed? Did everyone know what had happened to him? 

That further fuelled his urge to go back. He searched frantically, but without panic, for the jet-propel system. How long had he been drifting? Five, ten minutes? 

The computer voice confirmed it. “Warning! Ten minutes of pressurized oxygen left.” 

He held his breath for long periods of time, and let them out slower. He tried to find it faster. He pushed buttons, hoping they would do something. 

Fate was good to him this time. There was in fact a way to control where he went. It was an emergency backup system if the pod ever got launched in space. You wouldn’t need a jet-propel system to control where you went if it was designed to just fall back down to the atmosphere of Adilan. 

He fiddled around with it, until he found the right sequence he wanted. It turned out there were two other specific destinations the pod could go to if he wanted it: Sedolas Space Academy. 

And Adilan. Home. 

He was forced to make a decision. Getting him home was what Chalice and Terra worked hard for. It’s what everyone would want. But then they would never know that he’d actually made it. They would think he was dead. What should he do?

He couldn’t be selfish. What would he do on Adilan, anyway? His father would just send him back to the academy, if he went to him. No matter how harsh the academy was, and how much he never wanted to go back, he couldn’t leave his friends, too. 

It was a tough but one-sided decision. He made an oath long ago that he would answer the call of duty and responsibility, no matter what. And that he would never give up. He still wanted revenge for the instructors. Even if he knew he couldn’t win against them, he wouldn’t stop trying. 

It’s impossible to defeat a Naman who never gives up, Nolan had told everyone once. That’s our secret to winning this war against the humans. Not the technology, not the tactics. It’s because they are dependent on those, while we depend on ourselves to win. That’s what differentiates us from the disgusting creatures. 

He had never agreed so much with his enemy ever before. 

Well, would you look at this,” Nolan said. “The little crike never gives up. Somehow, he survives.”

Seyden had went back to the station, and passed out from the lack of oxygen in his pod. Fortunately, instructors saw him and the pod outside and got a spacecraft to retrieve him. They had brought him back to his class, two of them helping to carry him under his shoulders. 

As soon as he came in, with everyone seeing him, they cheered and crowded around him.

“Seyden? Seyden!”

“Guys, come! Commander’s back!”

“Crikes! It’s Red!”

“Oh my crike!”

“You’ve got a criking unacceptable tendency to survive anything thrown at you,” Nolan told him, seething with anger. “A good quality in a cadet, but something I don’t want to see when you deserve to be dead.”

“Shut up, Nolan.” Seyden was surprised to hear it came from Sidian. “You could’ve had yourself executed if his father found out about this. You even lied to Reve that he blasted himself off to space.”

“Shut up, Homo sapient!” Nolan roared with such ferocity. Seyden was even more surprised to see the cadet flinch back, surprised, along with everyone else. How could he be taken aback? Did he not remember that he had called Seyden that once, too?

“You’re lucky you won’t get a beating for that,” Charity told Sidian. “Because you’re the teacher’s pet. They all like you.”

“But you, on the other hand, can get killed, so I suggest you shut your criking trap hole,” Nolan told her.

Seyden had never realized that, gradually, the insult of calling someone a Homo sapient became almost a casual thing. Cadets used it more often now, getting away with it most of the time. It was expected of them, since they all were older now. Nobody was surprised when you said it now, only a bit shocked. 

“He needs some rest,” Nolan said, and left without much else to say. “Class is almost over anyway. Dismissed.”

He left the room, along with the two instructors that had dragged Seyden here. They propped him on a chair before they went. When they did, everyone relaxed. 

“That’s awesome!” Will said, with the tension in the air gone now. “You survived!”

“How did you do it?” Mady asked, curious.    “He’s our freaking commander!” Calum said. “You do not question criking Commander Red! He was just a boss, and that’s how he survived.”

“Guys, guys,” Chalice intervened. He was glad to find out that she did, in fact, survive. Maybe Don chose to spare her after he pleading. He was sure that rifle he had held was on lethal. “He just came back after a coma. Let him relax.”

“It’s…okay,” Seyden told her, waving a dismissive hand. “I’ll take the attention. Leave my fans alone.” They laughed. 

“Sorry to tell you that all strike commotion has died down,” Mady said. “Everybody has given up in the idea of revolution. Well, we’re still loyal to you.”

“Yeah,” Melody said. “You’re like a fallen hero to everyone at the academy. Not to us, though. We still think you’re a hero.”

“He looks so shrunken,” Locke said. “Before anyone says I’m stupid, yes, I know he hasn’t eaten much in the past week while in hiding.”

“Shrunken?” Evestor said. “I don’t see much of a difference.”

Another joke about his size. Everyone laughed. Again. Seyden rolled his eyes.
“Sorry, buddy, I had to,” Evestor said, laughing, slapping him in the back. “It’s just good to have you back. Don’t worry, I bet on your birthday you’ll grow.”

“I don’t mind waiting,” Seyden said. 

“He didn’t even remember my birthday,” Chalice muttered. “It was today. I know for a fact he knows it.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Seyden said. “I forgot. I just came back from a coma, what do you expect? Hopefully I don’t have to get you a gift, because I’m your gift, right?”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Red, you’re too funny,” Less said. He nudged Dellos, who was beside her, who wasn’t smiling. “Isn’t he, Dellos? Why don’t you give him a sign you’re happy that he’s back?”

“Don’t bother him,” Mady said, defensive. “Anyway, next class is Saph’s, at the training gym. Reve told us all five of them have something very special planned for us. Something extra…scary. I dunno. That’s what he said.”

“He’s just trying to scare us,” Sidian said boastfully. “Literally. Well, Mady over here doesn’t have anything to worry about, then.”

“Oh, shut up Sidian. Anyway, I’m still wondering what it is. We’ve never had some special class with all five of them before.”

“Well, why don’t we find out,” Terra said. “It’s our next class. Red, are you fine to continue on our regular schedule? Do you need rest?”

“No,” Seyden said. “I’m fine. Let’s go see what things the slucks have planned for us.”

Cadets, listen up!” Reve said. All five of them were lined up in the gym, with the class in a line too, ready to listen. “As you all know, the Meyvoid Fleet is the key trans-portation the humans rely on to get to Adilan.”

Every kid knew about the Meyvoid Fleet. It was like the human space navy. A big and dangerous spacecraft fleet that sent giant ships full of humans to Adilan during a battle. 

“The Meyvoid Fleet is massive,” Reve continued. “A gigantic armada consisting of six hundred ships, thousands of tiny spacecraft fighter pilots, and fifteen motherships. The biggest and baddest fleet ever built in their history, and sadly, ours too. We don’t have an official fleet anywhere near as big as theirs. Sedolas is powerful enough to build one, but it does not have the support from the rest of the world. Earth, and the humans, are known to band together to fight us as a united planet. We need to learn how to do that ourselves, by trusting each other and learning how to become a good battalion of soldiers.”

“You are reaching the age when your training gets harder,” Saph said. “And more serious. From now on, with human attacks coming more frequent and immense, your training will be up a notch. This is no more fun and games. On your pervious years, you have learned the basics�"how to fly a spacecraft, how to disarm an enemy, how to win a battle. Now, you will be learning how to master those techniques, so that you will be able to beat any human soldier you come across to.”

“Yes,” Reve said. “The war with the humans has gotten worse. We’ve been able to strike back, but their technology has exponentially grown over the past few years. They’re striking back harder. Cities are getting destroyed on Adilan.”

As if to prove this point, a holographic projection appeared from the ceiling, showing a video of Adilan, one an instructor must have taken from the station. 

Their beautiful planet, bound with swirling clouds, green forests, and huge oceans, had big eruptions that could be seen from space. Maybe nuclear warheads, Seyden didn’t know. It hurt him to see his home planet being destroyed. “They’ve been designing better weapons to keep up with us,” Reve said. “The disgusting creatures are fighting back with the same force we had over them. We have to step up our game. The President of Sedolas has been trying to come to terms and agreements with the rest of the world, trying to ask for support from them over the Naman-human war. Some have listened to his pleas for help and have decided that we have to unite together to win the war against the humans. Most still hold grudges against Sedolas and its corrupt ways and continue to attack it.”

“More than ever, we need soldiers,” Don said. “And we need them fast. We need reliable troops that can infiltrate bases, lead raids, and kill as many humans as they can.”

The video showed Meyvoid spacecraft entering the atmosphere. Three of them. Carriers. Seyden watched as a powerful blast from behind, a concentrated beam of pure energy that could only be from the Particle Accelerator of the station, blasted one of them to pieces. There was no sound, as there can’t be any noises in space, as it exploded with however many human troops were onboard. But the other two escaped, going into Adilan’s atmosphere. The video ended there.

“They keep coming,” Reve said. “And they won’t stop. Our station, the biggest one in all of Adilan, is the only defence barrier that can stop them, with our one and only Particle Accelerator cannon. This footage was taken two days ago, by an instructor. You all know that the vile animals are getting smarter.”

Seyden was in hiding two days ago, so he wouldn’t have known. Was it really getting this serious? Were the humans getting better? “That’s why we’re going to train you harder,” Reve said. “Your first lesson in this new training: learning to overcome your worst fear. We’ve been studying each and every one of you. We all know your worst fear. The fear that you would rather die than experience.”

Nye gulped. “Sir, does every class do this?”

“They will now,” Saph answered for him. 

“First up,” Nolan said, smiling mischievously while he read a list. “Terra. Being covered by bugs. We know that you’d rather die than be covered by them.”

Terra looked deathly scared. “Wh�"what? I’ve never told anyone but my closest friend that! How did you know? You must have eavesdropped on me!”

Chalice grabbed her arm. “It’s okay,” she whispered, so that the instructors couldn’t hear. “There’s no way out of it. You know that. Just do what they say. And they have cameras, remember?” 

Terra nodded, still afraid, and stepped up.

“Lots of kids at this station have this special fear,” Nolan said, as if that comforted her. “You’re not alone. We got a recent shipment in the hangar of a crate full of live ones. Come, follow me.”

A few cadets wished her luck as she followed Nolan into a room on the side of the training gym. The gym had lots of them, all along the walls, meant for individual training. 

Next up, Evestor with his fear of heights. Then Charity and her fear of becoming an instructor. Amber and her fear of being held upside down for a long period of time. Locke with getting choked. Nye with getting drowned. Will and…well, the instructors chose not to reveal his.

One by one, all the cadets gulped and got led into their own room, ready to try and face their fears. 

“Locke would rather die than be choked,” Mady said. “Huh. I thought it would be getting his citum taken away. Being that he loves it so much. He even said once, I’d rather die than have my citum taken away.”

“He was joking, then,” Seyden said. “Everyone has their own secret worst fear.”

“What’s yours?” she asked him.

“I actually don’t know,” he said. “We’ll find out, I guess. I know you’re never getting into one of those rooms.”

“You got that right,” she said. 

Their group got smaller as they continued. Melody and her fear of failure. A big, incredible failure. Especially if she failed at something really easy. Dellos and his fear of being buried alive. Calum and his fear of intense and extreme pain. 

“Ha, good luck with me,” Sidian said, as he was up next. 

“Sidian, with the fear of being human,” Nolan read.

Suddenly Sidian’s face darkened. “Crike. I didn’t even realize it, but it’s true. I’d rather die than be one of those creatures.”

“How are you going to do that?” Seyden challenged. “Relax. We have ways you wouldn’t expect,” Nolan said. “Next: Less and her fear of…”

Less stomped her foot angrily, making a frustrated noise. “Ghosts. Just get it over with.”

Mady laughed. “You’re afraid of ghosts?”

“Shut up! I’ve had bad memories with them!”

“Come on,” Beni said, holding the door open in an empty room. Seyden still remembered it was only a week ago he had threatened to kill him. On the outside, he was nice. But deep inside he was just as evil as Nolan. He wondered if all instructors were like that. Was Leva secretly evil, too? 

Why would his father hire these people? Did he not know they beat them up? The first thing he would do when he went home after his time here would be to tell his father about this. He’d surely have all of them flogged. 

It would only work if he told him. Because he was his son. Maybe other cadets complained about it after they came out of the academy, but nobody did anything to support their case. The government of Sedolas was corrupted, and that’s why other countries hated it. They wanted to come in and give the children at the academy the rights they deserve, instead of forcing them to go here.

“Chalice,” Nolan said, and she sucked air through her teeth.

“Please, please, please don’t know my fear,” she hoped. 

“Being blind and deaf,” Nolan said, smiling. 

“No!” she screamed. “For how long!?”

“Why don’t you find out?” he said, pointing to a room with Saph waiting at the front. 

“I might as well be going to Earth,” she told Seyden and Mady. “I’ll see you later, hopefully.”

“You won’t be, seeing them later. Just being with them,” Nolan said, laughing at his joke, as she went over to Saph. “Now, the last two. Seyden and Mady. I have to say, you two were the hardest to figure out. But there’s no way out of this. You’re going to have to do this one way or another.”

“Not for me,” Mady said, turning around. “Bye. You know I fear nothing.” “That’s not true,” Reve said with a commanding voice, and she froze. “It’s pretty simple to figure you out. Your fear is having a fear. You always want to be known to everyone as the one soldier without one. Well, what else would there be to scare you more than to prove it wrong?”

“Well, crikes,” she told Seyden. “They know.”

“How about we’ll make you watch all your friends suffer, and then we’ll see if you have a specific fear by then,” Reve said. “Follow me. Nolan, you take care of Seyden.”

“I’m gonna regret this,” she said as she followed. 

Seyden was the only one left. Nolan studied him carefully, trying to figure him out. It never even occurred to him that he didn’t have a fear. He’d even outlasted Mady, which surprised him.

“You’re not afraid of death,” Nolan said. “I tried sending you away from Adilan as far as possible, and you just stayed calm and figured out how to come back. Alive. You never learn to die. I’m a bit impressed, Seyden.”

“I’m academically gifted,” he said.

Seyden wasn’t going to fall for this flattery. Nolan continued to think, and the two stayed there as they listened to the screams of agony and pain in all the rooms the cadets were in.

Like Nolan, he also wondered what his fear was. Nightmares? Maybe he had to be more specific. What did he hate in the nightmares? He had always been scared from that same dream he got of aging rapidly. He also had some where humans invaded his mansion, or they claimed Adilan. His fear could be humans. 

“I’ve got it,” Nolan said, and Seyden braced for the announcement. “Everyone has a fear. Even me, for example. My two are tough decisions and heights. But yours�"yours is unfairness. It’s not a specific fear, since it could have many different scenarios.”

“You’re wrong,” Seyden said. “If that was my fear, I’d have gone suicidal by now from all the unfairness you’ve given me.”

“But we haven’t given enough,” he said. “You see, you’ve always been a strong believer in fairness over righteousness. When Evestor fell asleep during class, you knew it was wrong, but still you supported him because you know it was because of our strict morning schedules that made him fall asleep, so it wasn’t his fault. When we punished you for taking a shower late. You had said that it was unfair, because you had still taken a shower. You just did it late. Even if you know it is wrong, you still don’t think you deserve your punishment, because you still did it. You think you should only be punished if you didn’t do it.”

Seyden held his breath.

“Your fear is something unfair being permanent.” Somehow, Seyden knew exactly what he was thinking. It was the Nolan kind of thing to do. His blood ran cold, fearing the answer. 

“You’re going to stay here, on this station, for the rest of your life. Living with instructors and cadets, forever. You’re never going home.”

12

The Identity

Crisis

Everyone came out disheveled and distraught. Mostly every one of them had taken a few days to overcome their fears. Seyden was lonely in those few days. He was allowed to spend all his time in the bunk room while he waited. He was lonely at lunch. Until finally they started coming in. 

They weren’t the same. Experiencing their worst fears had seriously damaged them, not just internally. There was a lot of unexplainable behaviour. Calum kept rubbing his arm, complaining, “I still feel it, whatever they did to me!” Sidian kept waking up at night screaming. “I got it again! The dream that they gave me! Stop it! I’m not a crike!” Even Mady, known for being scared of nothing, had been broken by the instructors. She slept every night fretfully, muttering, I don’t want a fear. I don’t want a fear. She was one of those rare, extreme, and weird cases. Her sole fear was based on not having one. It was ironic and almost funny to Seyden, though he wished it wasn’t. 

He saw Evestor shivering as if he had the worst memory of his entire life. Seyden tried to talk to him, but he just told him to go away. He just wanted to be left alone for some time. 

Meanwhile Charity was the opposite of quiet. She kept talking about her experience. 

“They made me one of them!” she kept complaining. “They dressed me up, made me do their stupid routines, and they forced me to hit a cadet! He was so young! Why did they have to make me do that? It was so disturbing!”

Amber was very anxious to go into a battle. “Please,” she told Seyden, when he checked on her. “I just need to feel that zero-gravity again. Please. You do not want to know how long they held me upside down. I feel horrible!”

He saw Locke always holding his throat. During mealtimes, he refused to eat. 

“Come on,” Seyden told him, bringing his plate closer. He felt as if he was the only sane person in his class left. “Eat. You’re going to go hungry.”

“I’d rather starve to death,” he whimpered. “Than to ever feel that experience again!”

When Seyden watched Nye, he couldn’t stop flailing his arms. He decided not to ask. Melody complained about her time in the room. “They made me…” she shivered. “I don’t know why I couldn’t do it! They showed me this game that crikes play back on Earth. I was supposed to bring an egg on a spoon to the other side as fast as I could. It seemed easy enough at first, but I couldn’t do it! The egg kept falling off! It was so easy, and I can’t do it! How many crikes do you think on Earth can play that game so easily!?”

Poor Dellos refused to sleep with a blanket at night, after being buried alive for days, passing out from the lack of oxygen, and then waking up again to realize he was still trapped. He shivered at night, being so cold, but still he refused to be under something ever again. 

Less couldn’t sleep at night. Much like what Seyden used to do when he had nightmares when he was younger, she woke up suddenly in the night and just sat there and screamed. She wouldn’t stop unless someone comforted her. And she didn’t want to go back to sleep. She was just so haunted. She even became scared of her own shadow sometimes. If it were a regular day her friends would make fun of her, but they didn’t anymore, after seeing her pain and suffering. 

Terra kept scratching everywhere around her, still living the nightmare of being covered by bugs. She constantly shivered, as if the tried to get them off, even though they weren’t real. It took over her most during battles, when Seyden really needed her to do something for the team but she was just too busy feeling bugs crawl all over her in her imagination. She, like others, had become useless during them. 

Especially Chalice. The worst of all, because the instructors did something to her�"surgery, Seyden expected�"that made her go deaf and blind. They didn’t tell her how long she would have to suffer from it, so that just made her scared even more. She was the only one that wanted to give up during the test, and the only one who hasn’t passed yet. They told her if she overcame her fear, maybe they would think of giving her eyesight and hearing back. She couldn’t hear her own screams during the night. Her friends were the ones that took care of her during the day, helping her do the easy, daily things she once could do by herself. 

Everyone was affected during battles. Seyden even noticed that his class weren’t the only ones disturbed. The other classes couldn’t work properly either. Their formations were messed up, and they didn’t follow orders. This allowed Seyden’s class to win sometimes, which he hated a lot. He wanted to be known for winning with his skills, not because the other team was more defective than his. He felt alone, because he was the only one that wasn’t traumatized. His fear was scary to him, but he could already overcome it, because in the past he had already imagined tons of times being trapped on the station forever, for all the things he’s done. At least he would never have to meet a human in person during a war. 

One night, he had talked to Reve about this. 

“They can’t live like this forever,” he said. “This is unfair. How do you expect us to grow up into good soldiers with bad childhoods?”

“Nolan told me you were going to say this,” he said. “There you are again with being fair instead of right. Don’t you think this is right, after you killed one of us, and tried to overrun the station? This is your punishment! Now shut the crike up, and crike yourself you criking Homo sapient!” Seyden mustered enough of his will to not attack him. This was unbelievable! How could they expect this to be right? How could the instructors be so evil? Did they not remember that they killed Rena, too? How corrupt were they, really?

“It’s up to you to solve this problem,” he said as he began to leave. “You’re their commander. Their your responsibility. Now go to bed.”

He went over to his bed, smoothing out the sheets and pillows. He felt something in one of his pillows, that he hadn’t felt before. He took it out, and saw that it was a note from Will. He had placed it a while ago, but he only found it now. A lot of cadets in his class wondered sometimes where Will was, but nobody knew. He hadn’t come back yet after the fear tests. His fear wasn’t revealed either. It could just be a serious one enough to take a long time to overcome, which would explain why he hasn’t come back yet. He read it in his head. 

Seyden, don’t tell anyone about this. I trust you to keep a secret. The instructors, who say I can’t tell you what they’re doing to me, are forcing me to be away for a while. I wrote this when they allowed me one trip to the bunk room to gather my stuff, and they don’t know about it. They’re going to kill me if they find out. Don’t worry, I’ll be back, but just a little different since I have just overcame my fear. You know how everyone knows that I always obey the slucks, because it just makes things easier. I even helped Nye with carrying Evestor because just like him, I didn’t want to be part of an attack on the slucks. Obeying them just makes life easier and less painful. So I have to be away for a while, because they want me to. You know I always obey, it ended. It made Seyden feel better, for some reason, and a little calmer. Maybe it was just because he knew Will was fine, and he had one less person to worry about. 

One day, when he was lonely, he set out for a walk he’d always done alone in the mansion. Since he had no one to really be with because they were all hurt and disturbed from the inside, he explored the station during the free lunch period, imagining himself like he was still exploring the halls of the mansion back home. 

He went to the hangar, and it reminded him of his father’s garage full of hover-carriers. Instead the carriers were sleek, intricate spacecrafts. 

Technically, he didn’t have the authority access level to enter as he pleased, and to also check around. But no one there cared. There were busy workers moving around, repairing while they made sparks with their tools, or talking with each other about business things. The lowest authority access title you could have to enter the hangar was if you were an instructor-in-training, which Seyden wasn’t quite old enough to be yet. Still, there wasn’t any serious security for managing cadets entering the hangar, and he had snuck right in. He hoped he looked older than his age. Nobody bothered him, so he must’ve been okay.

There was something interesting happening today. He watched as a giant crane outside the station picked up pieces from outside in space, carrying them inside through an airlock process. A giant window showed it all, and he could see it pick up the spacecraft pieces clearly. He recognized the pieces, too. They were leftover space debris from the human spacecraft the Particle Accelerator of the station had blown up. He didn’t know why they were bringing them into the station, though. Cleanup? Space debris had always been a minor problem to spacecrafts leaving the planet, but never to the station.

He overheard two people talking about it, and he listened closely.  

“Some major save-the-environment organization down there in Sedolas wants us to cleanup the wreckage of the crike ship,” one of them said.

“So I’ve heard. It was all over the news, and the moment they saw it, they forced us to clean it up.”

“Yeah. It’s not like we’re just going to video ourselves cleaning it up to satisfy them, and then just blast it all out back into space after.”

They both laughed, and Seyden didn’t approve. That wasn’t funny. Space debris from defective satellites or spacecrafts could kill pilots in an accident, if they crashed into some. The organization was right to clean it up. It could save lives.

He shook his head and wandered around a bit more. There was a huge pile of the human spacecraft wreckage in the centre of the hangar, where the crane dropped off its pieces after it picked them up outside. He looked around. There were seats, beams, wires, devices, and all other sorts of things found on a spacecraft. 

He caught something glinting in the light. It was a holo-communicator. Something you put in your eye like an eye contact, to see holographic projections that no one else can. You could use it to talk with a person, and he or she would be on your view, but no one else would see it. In fact, there were tons of them. Everywhere. Seyden looked around and saw a giant amount of glinting pieces in the mass of wreckage. 

Maybe the pilot was delivering a supply of them to stationed human bases on Adilan? There were a lots of them in the planet. Humans invaded by the thousands to set them up, and they were heavily protected by them. But the Namans also had bases on Earth, used for an outpost during the full-scale war if needed.

Seyden studied it. There was writing on it, which he could barely make out. For John, it read, but he wasn’t sure if he had read right. What was a John? No, it said for, so it must be a name. That was a very unusual name, not common at all. Seyden didn’t know anyone named that. It came from a human spacecraft, so it must’ve been a human name, by logical deduction. 

He was about to throw it back before he realized he shouldn’t. Maybe he should show it to Reve. 

But he was also curious to find out what lay inside. He can keep one of them, right? There were so many, and it was impossible someone hadn’t noticed that yet. They wouldn’t notice if one went missing too. 

He stored it in his pocket and left the hangar, making the decision. He had a class to get to, and his exploring time was over. 

At the evening call, after a rough day with everyone once again, the class went to their bunks to say good night. Seyden was about to fall asleep in his bed, until he remembered he had put something in his bag earlier. He went to find it in his bag under the bed. It had stayed intact, and the same. He went under his covers and played with it a bit. He knew he should be sleeping, but he always wanted something new in his life to do. The days passed by with the same routines, the same schedules, the same patterns. It was boring. 

He found out that to open it he needed a fingerprint. Well, he had no hope in opening it, then. There was no way it would be for him. He tried anyway. 

It worked! It opened, and a holographic display opened up. He quickly hid it under the covers, trying not to reveal it to anyone, but then realized he had enough privacy. Everyone was sleeping, and their bunk was already locked. He brought it out again and put it on his left eye. He’d learned in class that a holo-communicator would almost be invisible to everyone when it was in your eye. Only if people got close and saw the little light things in your eye, they’d find out. 

As soon as he put it on his eye, he saw a projection of light in his view in front of him, and he knew that no one else would see it. It was a person. An old man, wearing an admiral uniform. With the Meyvoid Fleet’s insignia. 

His heart skipped a beat. He realized he was looking at a human. He gulped, and hoped the human wasn’t looking back. Maybe was just a message. Sometimes it could just be.

But it wasn’t. The man cleared his throat. “So you’ve found it, John. I never thought you would.”

Seyden spoke in a whisper, to not wake everyone up. “Who are you? I’m not John.”   “Yes you are,” he said. “You opened it with your fingerprint. The fingerprint of a human.”

What? Seyden didn’t understand a thing. 

“Let me explain,” he said. “My name is James Brandson, the vice-admiral of the Meyvoid Fleet. You, your real name John, has been planted in Adilan as a baby to act as a parasite in their planet, or their base. It’s called the Parasite Operation. You were to act as a spy in the Naman planet to do tasks for us when you would grow up, because humans are almost alike with Namans in every way. That is the truth. You are human, and you act, talk, and look exactly like a Naman.”

No…Seyden thought. It can’t be. 

“I think you got the wrong person, sir,” he said. “I’m not a human. I’m a Naman.”

“You opened this communicator with your fingerprint, did you not? That makes me certain that you are the baby we planted years ago. We took your fingerprint at birth. Tell me, do you still have your stuffed coyote?”

He knew! How could he know about that? Slowly, Seyden was beginning to connect it all. Everything the man said made perfect sense, and it scared him.

“I did, sir,” he said, carefully. “But a bully flushed it down a toilet.”

“That explains it,” Brandson said. “We planted you on Adilan with it. We hid a com inside it to talk wth you when you would grow up, to the age you are right now. We lost all insight on what happened to you after it got destroyed. It was our only way to connect with you. Now we found out that you had been taken to the station you’re on, right now, without us knowing. We never expected the president of Sedolas to do that to you, his only son. He was the man we left you with. He’s your father, right?”

Seyden nodded. He had so many questions! If this was all true, then he wanted to know why.  

“How did my father not find this out?”

“Kid, the Parasite Operation took a whole years worth of planning, and the utmost specially trained units to go on a mission to get you into Adilan. I don’t want to go into a lot of detail, but let’s just say that we traded you for their real son and they didn’t notice the difference.”

He took a breath. “When we found out you were sent to the station, that was not at all that we planned. We decided to abort the mission. But first, we attempted sending three spacecrafts with pilots to the station to try and make contact with you, which, obviously worked. We loaded all three of them up with crates of holo-coms, made it look like they were trying to enter the planet, and hoped that the station would blast one of them to pieces, collect the debris, and somehow you would find one. And it worked.”

“You killed three of your own?” Seyden asked in disbelief. “Just to do that?”

“We are at war, kid! Don’t you understand? These are desperate times, and that makes us desperate too! It was an extreme idea, one that would be one in a million to work. You were extremely lucky to find one of those holo-coms, and we’re extremely lucky to finally have contact with you after years.”

Seyden was at a loss for words. He hated to admit it, but that was genius. The humans really were getting smarter, not just with their weapons and technology, but their intelligence, too. 

“As I was saying,” Brandson continued. “You are supposed to be on Adilan to do your mission. But you’re on a space station. The plan failed, and we aborted. We’re going to rescue you. Earth and Adilan are pretty far away, so it will take about two years to get to you, to rescue you. You’re going to return to your rightful home, Earth.”

“No!” Seyden said. He really badly wanted to leave this place, and hearing this should’ve delighted him. In just two years he would escape. It was better than being stuck forever. But for some reason, he would rather stay.

“I knew this was coming,” Brandson said, putting a palm to his face. Seyden wasn’t sure why he was doing that, but he didn’t want to ask. “The denial, or, refusal of the truth. You have to accept that you are a human all this time, John. I know you were raised to think and be a Naman all your life, but the truth is, this is not your real life.”

“You abandoned me, then!” Seyden began to get angry. “Why was I the one out of billions chosen to play this role? You sent me here without my choice, at birth! I want to be a Naman! My instructors are right; humans are just slimy, disgusting creatures!”

“You were chosen because of genetics and abilities we predicted you would have in the future!” he said back. “Plus, we had to choose one! Anyone else we chose would be thinking the same as you right now! ”

That part was true. But it didn’t make him feel any better. He felt like crying. How could they do this to him? How could he only find out now? Did they not realize that this project wouldn’t work? That if you raised a kid in another planet their whole life, they would support that planet no matter what even if they learn the truth?

“Stop calling me John. I’m not John.” “Let’s just start over,” Brandson said. “What did they name you, then? Your foster parents, I mean. They must have given you one.”

“They named me Seyden.”

His face turned pale for an instant, and when Seyden asked why, he just shook his head to forget about it. 

“Nothing,” he said. “It’s just…you wouldn’t know. When you say it out loud, it just sounds like a bad character in my religion.”

Seyden didn’t know what he meant by the word at all, and he chose to ignore it. Humans were so weird. 

“Who are my real parents?” He wanted to know. His father and mother weren’t his real ones, then. 

“I’ll try to get them available to be able to talk to you, soon. In the meanwhile, keep your secret, and stay frosty. We’re coming to get you home.”

“Maybe I can help. You said I was meant to be a spy in their base. I’m still with them. Maybe I can do things for you on this station.”

“Ah. So you finally understand.” He waited a moment, thinking. “I’ll fill you in when we need you to do something. It’s not me who decides, it’s the Fleet Admiral. I report to him. I have to tell everyone that you’re okay. We’re all coming to get you. Over half our fleet is coming in about two years. For now, wait, and live your life.”

The connection was lost. Seyden didn’t know what to think. 

All his life he’d felt a little bit different than everyone else, internally. To finally find out the truth was astonishing. He was a human. And he had never been more disgusted. He was one of them, and had always been, and always will.

13

Home Sweet

Home

Nobody slept well, except for Seyden that night. As usual. He felt like a caretaker to everyone, since he was the only one that hadn’t went insane. 

Everyone was still mentally distressed. Less screamed at night once again, bothering everyone. As if anyone even wanted to sleep. 

This morning, Sidian lost his temper really easily when someone misplaced his toothbrush. He threw a tantrum, with everyone fearing they’d be the one he would pick on. 

Chalice had complained to him the entire morning. “It’s so hard to brush my teeth,” she said. “Are you listening? I can’t tell. Am I even talking? I can’t hear me. Seyden, are you there? Please! Someone help me! I’m scared! How much longer do I have to be like this?”

Seyden kept assuring he was by her side by touching her on the hand. She seemed to relax when he did so, so he kept doing it. He held her hand to lead her to classes. As if she could learn anything at them.

“Thank you,” she would say. It made Seyden sad to see her like this. Everyday he asked Nolan when she would be changed back to normal, and he never answered. Sometimes he would say, “How are you so sure she will get normal again?” And it would deepen his fear.

The instructors really were being unfair to him. He no longer had the worry of staying at the station forever, but they called him out specially to do things no one else had to. Like maybe write five extra essays, instead of the one everyone else did. Or give him weights on his armour pack so he couldn’t move freely during a battle. It affected his ability to do good, and he absolutely hated it. 

Meanwhile, he had to deal with the fact that he was actually a human. A crike. He was torn apart by the very fact, and he didn’t know if he could actually live with it. It was like being told he was an animal. The fact being true was impossible, wasn’t it? 

Sometimes he just wanted to end himself. But he wanted to kill his instructors before him, so he thought about starting a fire. But that would kill everyone on the station, and there were hundreds of innocent cadets in it. How would he start one, anyway? The Particle Accelerator could fire, at an angle, at the station it sat upon, which would cause a fire that could endanger the station. But there was no way he would get past the security by himself to it.

Plus, he still had a lot of things he wanted to do before he would die. He had made a promise to Dawn long ago to take down his father’s empire. He had heard rumours from his friends that he had slave workers in his country, and other countries part of his empire. Seyden’s father went away every winter, and he wondered if that’s where he went. 

Some things got better, though. Evestor used to be incredibly scared to go into a battle. He always complained that the zero-gravity made him feel like he was falling again, a reminder of what happened to him in the room. But now he was getting better, as if he was finally overcoming his fear, and he no longer feared falling. 

“I think the instructors actually did something good to me,” he told Seyden. “They showed me that heights is nothing to be scared of.”

It happened with a few other people, and Seyden was beginning to hope everyone would turn normal again. He understood it now�"if they fully overcame their fear, they would pass the test. Since Chalice hadn’t yet, they wouldn’t fix her blindness and deafness yet. He was certain they would if she would finally control herself to stay calm, but he had no way of telling her that. 

A while had passed, and he had talked to Brandson more and more. Privately, mostly at the window he still visited once a week. 

Once the fact that he was actually a human instead of a Naman bothered him, but now he accepted the truth. He figured out that Brandson was right, and there really was no difference to the two races. Children are taught that humans are disgusting creatures, and insult to dignity, but really they were practically the same as Namans. He had lived his whole life as one, in a Naman world. The truth was, you couldn’t tell the difference. 

He had told Brandon that he was ready to do what he was born to do and finally help them. The vice-admiral kept telling him that they didn’t have anything for him to do yet. 

“Maybe just find out anything they do on that station,” he told him. “Just to start, I don’t know. An easy recon warm-up.”

“Sir yes sir,” Seyden said. “Sir, my real parents…are they�"?”

“Yes, we’re trying to get them,” he said. “Just a little bit more time. Maybe even months. Our connection to you is only on this ship, so we have to bring them here. And we’re already so far, so they’ll have to catch up. You’ll see them, don’t worry.”

Seyden still couldn’t believe all this time he was one of them. Being a parasite in the Naman’s base, with no decision at birth? It was unfair. It wasn’t right, too. 

But Brandson had been right. They had to choose someone. Fate just chose him. He wasn’t lucky, or unlucky, he was just chosen by Fate. He had no decision, because Fate decided everything. 

Sometimes he wondered if Brandson had lied to him. That really, this whole time he was a Naman and he was being tricked. But there was strong evidence that he was a human and not a Naman. The fingerprint needed to open the holo-com was his. He tried to tinker with it, imagining if maybe it was just broken and had opened by itself. But it wasn’t, and even if it was, Brandson had known about Mr. Coyote. 

He was a human, and that was the final truth. He couldn’t change it. No matter how much he wanted to be a Naman, he wasn’t. He could think that he was all he wanted, but it still wouldn’t change a thing. He was born a human, but raised a Naman. 

He found himself learning more about humans whenever he talked to Brandson. He always mentioned things from earth that he didn’t know about, like ice cream, and board games. He even talked about how they had cars in their world…with wheels! Seyden never knew such things existed. They had things called, roads, that they drove on. He had once asked Nolan about that.

“Learning about the humans isn’t interesting,” he had said. 

“I just want to know. Those long concrete things we have running around some remote areas. Are those roads?”

He looked annoyed, as if he didn’t want to talk about it. “Yes, they are. They were used a long, long, long time ago. Now we ignore them, and you should too. We’re too advanced to use such things anymore.”

The more he learned about humans, the more sensitive he became about the topic. He only realized how much he was when he found himself sometimes defending them, when he talked with cadets. It didn’t happen often, but it was still more than usual.

“Is Less acting like a crike again?” Melody asked Amber one day.

“Yeah. She looks like one, too,” she said, laughing.

“They’re not as ugly as you think,” Seyden said, and then instantly regretting he did. “That’s like the millionth time now,” Melody told him. “Are you turning into a sympathizer? I’m not going to judge you, and if you tell us we’ll promise to keep it a secret.”

“You can get killed by that,” Amber told him. “Please Seyden, don’t pity them. They’re creatures.”

They understand so little, he thought. 

He badly wanted to tell someone, at least one person, his identity. But that was the path into getting exposed, and he didn’t want to disobey Brandson’s order. It was a logical one, too. His identity could get him in danger. 

But still, if Chalice wasn’t blind and deaf right now, he was afraid he wouldn’t force himself not to tell her. She was the person he trusted more than anyone in the entire world. She was probably the closest one to him, too. Sometimes cadets would pester her with questions whenever they wanted insight on him. This was something she had told him that always happened to her, but she never told them. Seyden knew a lot of things about her that he promised not tell anyone, too. It made others jealous, especially their friends, for the amount of trust they both shared. Seyden liked to think that they were just jealous that Chalice didn’t trust them enough to keep secrets. 

Another person he trusted was Chalice’s sister, Ruby. And she trusted him, too. Him and Chalice were the only two in the world that knew her secret. Nobody else did, and they were determined to keep it that way. They would also do everything they could to protect her if people found out. 

Today, the instructors did their next special challenge for everyone. The fear tests were their first, which wasn’t a great experience for anybody, so they weren’t excited at all for the second. 

“Your second special task,” Reve said, “is to kill.”

A lot of cadets looked scared. The silence after from the deathly statement annoyed Seyden. Why was everyone afraid of it? Killing wasn’t something that disturbed him much. He knew if he were to become a soldier he would have to do it a lot. 

“To see if you will become a true soldier, you must pass the test of learning how to kill,” Reve said. 

“Who are we going to kill?” Charity asked. “Other cadets?”

“You will not know. Their heads will be covered. They could be your friends, a random cadet, a random instructor, or a random person. You will have no choice. If you do not accomplish it, you will become one of the subjects for other cadets to kill.”

There were a lot of murmurs and complaints about it. “Quiet!” Reve yelled. “If you are to truly become fearless, this is the way to go. You cannot become a true soldier without your first kill. Now pipe down, just imagine they’re crikes, and do it. Seyden, up first. You’re the commander.”

He could feel all the eyes staring at him, with fear and sorriness. He didn’t mind. He would show him how easy he could do it. 

“Come on,” Don said, at one of the doors to a test room. “Don’t be afraid.”

Did he look like it? He didn’t know. He followed him into the room. He hadn’t been in one before, since it wasn’t necessary for his first test, so it was his first time in one. It was dark, mostly empty, with nothing but a chair in the middle. A cadet was sitting on it, bound with a rope, with a sack covering the face. It was a girl, Seyden could assume from the voice of her screaming. She was thrashing around, trying to escape. Seyden instantly knew that this was his target. The victim. 

Being in the moment right now, it finally troubled Seyden. It was only disturbing once he realized that the victim wasn’t just a target�"it was a person. A person that maybe had a family, and a life. He wasn’t so sure about doing it now. 

“Who is it?” he asked Don.

“That would ruin the surprise, wouldn’t it?” he said with a mischievous smile.

Seyden thought the screams sounded a bit like Chalice. He had gotten used to her doing it all the time ever since she became blind and deaf. Suddenly, terror filled him. What if this could be Chalice, right in front of him? Was she with the class in the morning? Seyden didn’t remember seeing her. Was she with them when Reve explained the task?

“Do it,” Don said, handing him a shock bolt rifle, set on lethal. 

His blood ran cold, but he closed his eyes and followed. He had no choice. He would rather get it over quickly and not waste time, or create drama. The worst thing he could do right now was complain, and then Don would get angry.

He had to. But he didn’t want to. He could be shooting Chalice! Her voice sounded extremely similar. Instead of thinking of that, he thought of how sick the instructors were to make him do this. He fired the rifle, and the girl stopped screaming. He opened his eyes. 

“Good job,” Don said. “Faster than I expected. You’ll make a great soldier, and�"” All of a sudden, Seyden got nauseated as they were both lifted off their feet. He let go of his rifle. The artificial gravity generator had been hit again, by a large asteroid. 

That was the only possible explanation. For a moment, with both of them suspended in the air, Seyden saw the girl on the chair not move at all. 

The usual announcement telling them they were just minor asteroid casualties, and to not worry or panic, happened a few seconds later. They both fell to the floor, and Seyden heard the rifle clatter where it had drifted. 

It was a very brief moment, however Seyden had enough time to register what was actually going on.

He looked at the girl on the chair. He understood it now. She was the person he had killed, but really didn’t. “She’s not real. If she was she would have floated, like us.”

“Crikes,” Don said. “Criking gravity field disruption!”

Seyden walked up to her, touching her. As he expected, his hand went through, because she was just light. “This was a simulation,” he said, boiling in anger. “You tricked me!”

Don stayed calm, trying to explain to him. “Listen kid, there’s no need to�"”

“I should have known! You’re a genius when it comes to making simulations!”

“If you tell anyone, I swear I’ll kill you,” he said in a commanding voice. “Where else would we get people for you cadets to kill? Plus, we’re not that sick.”

“You’re telling me everyone has the simulation, too?” Seyden asked, with interest.

He nodded. “It was just a test, that’s all. And you passed. You did it quick, so I know for sure nobody else has entered a room yet, and found out, just like you. Don’t tell anyone, it’s supposed to be a secret. We were supposed to just test your knowledge and skills.”

“Was the last test a trick too?” Seyden asked. “For the fear tests. Were they all simulations?”

“For the hard ones we had to do,” he said. “Most of them were real, and we had to get shipments of whatever they were for the cadets. Seyden, if you tell anyone, I’m actually going to kill you. You weren’t supposed to find out.”

“Fine,” Seyden said. He was actually secretly glad that it was a simulation. The instructors had a little bit of heart. It made the experience less disturbing, that he hadn’t actually killed someone. A someone that could’ve been a girl cadet at this academy. It could’ve also been Chalice. 

In the state she was in, she wouldn’t need a bag to cover her vision over her head anyway.

Days passed, and his sickness pain came back. In fact, it never went away. For a while now, he had been getting the same coughing fits and leg pains he had never fixed. And when he slept at night, the dreams and nightmares of home never stopped. 

His urge to go home was incredibly strong. He so badly wanted to smell fresh air again. He missed the feeling of it. At this time of the year, it would be summer down there. Another summer he had to miss. 

But maybe not. His sickness was unusual and still considered non-contagious, but that was proved wrong when Terra got sick, too. She had the same symptoms, with the coughing fits and the leg pains. 

“Stupid disease commander gave to me,” she would say.

The instructors reported to Doctor Weslie. Seyden was given appointments over weeks to find out what was really going on.

“It seems as if you are contagious,” he told Seyden. “Well, there’s no other choice. You have to be sent home. I’ve been arguing with Reve about this. Apparently they don’t want you to go home?”

“They won’t allow me,” he said, thinking of the fear test. He wasn’t allowed to ever leave the station in his life. “Don’t ask.”

“You’ve proven to be able to spread whatever you have,” the doctor said. “You have to go home. I’ll talk to Reve. Terra doesn’t have to, though. In the past few weeks she has gotten better. But we’re taking no chances. You know how diseases are one of the two most dangerous things on a space station. Fire is the first.”

“Yes, I know,” Seyden said. A disease would spread to everyone inevitably, without much air exchange and space to run away on the station. 

Inside he was bursting with happiness. He was going home!

“You’re going home only until you get better,” Doctor Weslie continued. “When you do, you’re coming back.”

“Could this be related to the epidemic happening down there?” Seyden asked, wondering.

“No. Your symptoms are completely different. I will make sure the first thing that happens to you once you get down there is get a vaccination for it, though. It’s running rampant mostly all over the world. It’s heavy in Sedolas. I’ll tell the doctors your father has to protect you from it. He has the finest doctors in the world, you know.”

Later, Seyden was given time to get his things and say goodbye. 

“We’ll miss you, commander,” Melody said. “Get well soon.”

“Send us postcards!” Calum said, and everybody laughed. Everyone knew communications were forbidden from Adilan to the station for cadets. The only time Seyden had done it was when he talked to his father, which was years ago.

But now he had the chance to talk to his father again. The first thing he would show him were the scars on his back, and then he’d be angry. 

He said goodbye to everyone one last time. The next day he boarded the spacecraft returning to Adilan.

“Seyden?” the pilot asked when he entered, with the engines started and all ready to go. 

“Yes,” he confirmed, and the pilot nodded. “Take me home.”

The pilot chuckled. “Adilan, to the capital of Sedolas. Your father’s mansion. Here we go!”

Seyden had never been more excited in his life to hear the words. Nolan was wrong with him never returning to Adilan. When the spacecraft launched, he could already see the blue atmosphere of his planet. It may not be where he was born, but it would always be his.

He was going home. Maybe for the last time.

14

The Sparkling

Gemstone

The first thing they did to Seyden when he landed on the surface was vaccinate him. The doctor had kept his promise, and a whole lot of them came up to him as soon as the bay doors of the craft had opened. 

They injected something into him, and he winced at the slight pain. 

“Where’s my father?” he asked them. “I want to see my father.”

“You will,” one of them said. “He’s very busy. There’s the epidemic going on, all that political stuff with all the countries being against him, and the war against the humans on top of all of that.”

Seyden was a little miffed about his father not wanting to see him as his first priority, but he let it go. He had also asked them why his mother wasn’t there. He was told that she was off somewhere else, on a very important assignment. 

Seyden had spent a whole day relaxing in the mansion’s swimming pool before he finally got to talk to his father.

He was in his business room, with paperwork all over his desk. He had his glasses on, and a surgical mask. Seyden had seen mostly everyone having one, so the epidemic must be really serious. His father was very intensely into his work, and barely noticed when Seyden came in. 

“Ah, good to see you again, Seyden,” he said, looking up. “You are to stay here until you get better, correct?”

“Yes,” he said. “Father, there has been something I’ve been wanting to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“Are you aware that the instructors on the station give beatings to the cadets if they don’t obey?”

He stood up. “What? That’s outrageous! Tell me more.”

“They either use a whip or baton. I want you to request them to stop. Isn’t it illegal?”

“That’s a very terrible thing for them to do,” he said. “I did not know about this. It will be stopped at once. I will see to it that these instructors are punished. And yes, it is illegal. It’s an unspoken international law. Even the crikes don’t do it. They call it child abuse. This is my country, and I get to decide the rules, and I think this should not happen. My apologies, Seyden. What have they done to you?”

“A lot,” he said, hesitant. Wasn’t Sedolas a democracy? Why did he say that only he got to make all the rules?

“Okay, I will tell them to stop. Now, you must leave me alone. It’s almost the end of the weekend, and you know every week I got to the big department where I make all the decisions for the country.” When Seyden hesitated to leave, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s just…” Seyden tried to explain. “I thought you would be more happy to see me, Father. You haven’t seen me in about five years.”

“I am happy to see you, Seyden. I am just very busy right now. I have a lot of work to do. You know I am stuck between two different wars, plus a disease epidemic that came from the neighbouring country to handle. The whole world only has the humans to worry about. I plan to let them take care of the little crikes, while I deal with my other problems. And�"”

“Father, you’re getting off topic again.”

“Right. Yes Seyden, I am happy to see you. You’ve grown bigger, taller, and smarter since I’ve last seen you. I am proud of you. Also, I have been keeping track of you from the start. Your attempt at hiding from your instructors, remember? They told me about that.”

Seyden hung his head at that.

“Behave, Seyden. Anyway, when I have time, I will try to spend time with you. If you want someone to be with, Ruby and her father are coming in a couple of days. Now move along.”

Seyden wasn’t truly satisfied with the comment, but he was satisfied enough. He left, and chose to swim again. 

Over the last few days, he had been swimming a lot. It wasn’t something he did a lot, but he was used to the feeling of zero-gravity now, and this was the closest way to experience it. Over years he had participated in countless battles, and the memory of experiencing zero-gravity was still just as thrilling and fresh. He was used to it now. Plus, the pool didn’t give him nausea, and he didn’t have to wear his bulky armour pack. 

Days got boring as they passed. He was still showing no signs of getting better. He didn’t stop coughing. His leg pains became frequent. He slept with panic every night with the fear of nightmares, and when he would wake he would have servants come by to his side. He felt embarrassed about it, so he ordered them to not come even if he screamed in the middle of the night. Before, he would only allow Dawn to come comfort him. That’s the way he wanted to keep it. 

He hadn’t been able to find her anywhere in the mansion lately, and he remembered that his father had told him that he would never see her again. He was sure that wasn’t true. But he doubted himself because she still hadn’t shown up anywhere. 

He had been swimming in the pool once again when something new and exciting finally came into his life. Ruby and her father did in fact come. The first thing she did was look for Seyden in the mansion, ever since she was told before she arrived that he was there. 

He heard the sound of her squeaky voice when she found him in the pool room. “Seyden!”

He was surprised. “Ruby! I didn’t know you were here.”

“I didn’t know you were here either,” she said. “The pool room? Really? You’ve never shown any interest in swimming before.”

“I’m used to zero-gravity,” he said. 

“Of course, you’ve been in space for a while.” She paused, thinking. “I’m so glad to see you. I’ve been bored out of my mind lately.”

“Chalice told me that your father insisted for you not to go to the academy.”

“Yes,” she said. “He’s great that way. Do you want to do something?”

“Sure,” he said. 

She paused, thinking. “I know what we can do. Let’s go for a walk.”

How’s the academy?” she asked. They had taken a hike in the forest, and now they were sitting on a hill to rest. “Horrible?”

“Yes. Abuse, bad substances, bullies, a lot more. It’s not such a good place to be in.”

“So I’ve heard. Hmm, bad substances? Addictive, too?” Seyden nodded. “I know the humans have a word for that, but I don’t know it.” She rubbed her arm. Seyden noticed that she had done it multiple times already, and he asked her why.

“They vaccinated me,” she said. “It still hurts.”

“Me too!” Seyden said. “There’s some kind of huge epidemic going on.”

She sighed. “A lot of things are wrong in the world. Why can’t we all be happy? Why can’t we make peace with the humans, too? They teach us that they’re creatures that have no respect for their planet, and they enjoy destroying it. I think it’s all wrong!” “Stop it,” Seyden warned her. “Stop making comments like those. You can get killed for it if someone hears you. You don’t want to get killed, do you?”

She shook her head, shrinking back. “My, Seyden. You’ve changed a lot. You’re a lot, well, older.”

“Like Dawn’s cousin?” he asked. “And your brother?”

“Yes, you’re becoming more like them. I mean physically, of course. You’re a lot bigger than I remembered.

“And you were a lot smaller from what I remember. You’ve grown too.”

She giggled. “I suppose.”

Seyden had noticed that over the past few weeks, his body had dramatically changed. He didn’t know if it was normal, and it made him feel weird in everything he did. He had grown, and he wasn’t used to his new height. He wasn’t sure if it was a bad thing or not. One thing was for sure, he had matched the height of his classmates, and Evestor couldn’t make fun of him now. 

“How is my sister?” Ruby asked, watching herself move her shoes so that the toes touched each other every so often. They were lying on the grass on a soft hill. The sun was high, the trees were swaying, and the fresh air overwhelmed Seyden. This is perfect, he thought. I miss all this. 

“I wish I could say she’s well. The instructors have done something to her. They made her blind and deaf.”

She gasped. “Why? That’s her biggest fear!”

“Yes, I’ve always known that too.” Seyden explained how the instructors had a fear test for everyone, and how their second one involved killing in a simulation. “They say our training naturally gets harder as we advance through the program, but this has never been done before. I think it’s just punishment for what we all tried to do. You know about the revolution up there. Everyone does. My father must’ve told you.”

“That’s horrible. Even if it’s a simulation, the thought is disturbing. I mean, I know you’re going to have to kill tons of humans in the future when you graduate. And yes, I’ve been told you were missing up there for a while. It worried me.”

“I tried to escape in a pod, but they caught me,” he said. “Anyway, me killing humans. Does that thought disturb you?”

“You know it does.”

She laid back on the grass, looking up at the sky, putting her hands beneath her head. Seyden relaxed too, kicking back and enjoying the view. He had never been so happy to be back on Adilan. It was almost too good to be true. He once again remembered the smell of flowers, and morning dew, and fresh rain. He once again remembered how the sun looked in the vibrant blue sky, not in a black sea of other stars. He once again remembered that the world was actually colourful and appealing, something he had forgotten during the time in the dull, white walls of the space station. 

“I find summer so beautiful,” Ruby said. “Birds are out chirping, the sky is full of clouds, and the temperature is desirable.”

“Yes,” Seyden agreed. “Imagine, we could be out here in coats during the winter, watching the bare, snow-covered trees, lifeless of birds.”

“Don’t be so negative, Seyden. Winter is beautiful too.” She closed her eyes. He thought she looked so peaceful.

After a moment, she started singing. She did all the time, whenever she could. It had become something she liked doing, since her voice was very pleasant, and everyone thought it was sweet and enjoyable. 

A while had passed, and Seyden relaxed to the delightful rhythm and the meaningful lyrics. Until he interrupted by having a coughing fit, not able to control himself. 

Ruby abruptly stopped. “I’m sorry. What did I do?”

“Nothing,” he said, getting it out of his system. “Go on,” he wheezed. “You’re very good.”

“It’s okay, I’d rather just stop for now.” She looked at him funnily. “It’s weird. I can’t help but notice your voice is so…different. Much deeper, I think.”

Seyden remembered that he wasn’t a Naman. He could be different in a lot of ways. Maybe that was why he had so many weird changes in his body. But he knew that wasn’t it, because many of his classmates, both boys and girls, had the same changes as him. 

Sidian was the first one to have something happen to him. During class, while talking to the instructor, his voice suddenly went high-pitched. It was completely unexpected. It was a funny and embarrassing experience, and cadets had laughed. Nolan didn’t expand much on it except for saying, “Ah, you’re finally growing up,” and then returning to the lesson. So it must’ve been something that happened to everyone. Everyone grew up, didn’t they?

“I heard the humans on Earth make a career out of singing,” she said. “That’s strange, don’t you think? Singing for money? I heard it’s really popular on Earth.”

Seyden still didn’t know where she got all this information. “I think you’d make lots of money if you made a career out of your singing. It’s very sweet, and very satisfying.”

She smiled. “Thank you. It’s lovely of you to say that. I think my mother enjoys it the most. Mama always calls me her sparkling gemstone. My brother, sister, and I are her little treasures. That’s why all three of us are named after precious things. She always tells us she would be broke without us.”

Seyden thought that was an interesting concept. “Where’s Dawn?” he decided to ask her. “I haven’t seen her around lately. Father told me she moved somewhere. Where did she go?”

“Dawn?” she said, surprised. “What are you talking about? Wait, tell me his exact words.”

It was a long time ago, but Seyden had no trouble remembering. They had stuck with him ever since. “He said, You won’t see her again, Seyden. She moved to a better place.”

She gasped. “That’s a popular human phrase, Seyden. It means she’s dead! Dawn is dead!”

“No…” he muttered, suddenly filled with dread. All hope of him seeing her again left. That wasn’t true. It couldn’t be true! It just couldn’t! He felt awful.

“She’s been dead a long time, Seyden. I’m sorry to tell you. It angers me, too, but there’s nothing we can do about it. I cried when I found out.”

“How?” Seyden asked, his eyes filling with tears. How many more things were to be robbed from him with unfairness? Did Fate hate him? If so, why?

“Your father executed her for committing acts of treason. It was a painless death, I can assure you. Poison.”

He remembered his father’s rage when he had learned about all the things Dawn kept telling him. Slaves, corrupt legislations, evil government people and all that kind of stuff. He curled up in a ball and put his face in his knees, rocking back and forth.

“It’s sad, I know,” Ruby said, patting his back. “I wish she could at least have another chance. She has served your father for so many years. She may not have been the most loyal, with all the things she said, but still, I think she was innocent.”

He flinched when she had touched him. “What’s wrong?” she asked. 

He relaxed, exhaling. “Battle reflexes,” he explained. “I’m used to non-friendly people always around.”

“Something about that place has definitely changed you,” she said. “For the better, or worse. You’re always alert, now. When we were walking in the woods, you told me you were keeping your eyes and ears up for bears. You know this place is clear of them, but you wanted to be sure. Even my touch scares you. I mean, it’s just me, Ruby.”

“I’m sorry. I guess they take it really seriously in the academy. I’m glad you didn’t go. They train you really hard, because they want you to become a great soldier. I think it’s just a place that creates fear and trauma.”

She exhaled. “Please, don’t tell me any more things about that place.”

After a moment had passed, she got curious. “Okay fine, tell me more. Just not a lot of the bad things.”

Seyden told her everything. From the beginning of his trip there, then everything that had happened in between, leading up to this moment. He talked about the instructors, their harsh punishments and questionable ways. He talked about the riot he had started on the station with all the cadets, and how he got sent off in a pod to outer space because of it, for punishment.

“I said not a lot of the bad things,” Ruby said, frowning. Seyden changed the topic, then.

He talked about how many good friends he had made, and all their characteristics. Calum, a funny person that liked to prank people. Dellos, a serious person that didn’t talk, or even smiled. But he could hit any bullseye you wanted him to, with perfect accuracy. Mady, a fearless�"well, somewhat fearless�"person that was really good at combat. 

Evestor, who everyone called would be the president’s bodyguard one day because he was so good at protecting things. Sidian, a big and mean guy, but when it came down to a battle, maybe in real war�"Seyden would trust him more than any other to accomplish a task he needed him to do. 

Amber, a star pilot. Sweet just like Ruby. Ruby had giggled when he had said that. Terra, a cocky person, but always followed commands. Melody, a head-strong risk-taker, with many talents. Nye, a friendly guy that had no enemies because he was just too innocent. Will, a good friend of his. Seyden explained him as the kid who always got picked on for being different, but he knew that in the end, when it came down to it, everyone would protect him with their lives. He was just too innocent and good, a person that always obeyed the rules, and tried to enforce it. 

There was Less, who thought rules had no restriction on her. Locke, a heavily citum-addicted guy, but you could always count on him as a good soldier. Charity, who hated the academy more than anyone else, and was the second smartest person in the class.

“Who’s the smartest person?” Ruby asked him.

“That would be me,” Seyden said. “Of course.”

She laughed. “You’re too funny, Seyden.”

“That’s what they also tell me back on the station. The fact is true, though. That’s why I’m their commander.”

“You told me your father made you commander, because he had the power to.”

Seyden wasn’t proud of that. Not at all. He knew that becoming a commander took skill and hard work, and you couldn’t just get it for free. Sidian was right, it was kind of unfair that he instantly got the title, when Sidian had been wanting it forever. “Forget that,” he told her. “I’ve proven myself in class and in battle that I’m fully capable of staying with the title. Your sister is the second in command, did you know?”

She shook her head. “You know communications are forbidden for cadets. That would’ve been the first thing she told me if it wasn’t.”

After a pause, she said, “Can I tell you something about my sister?”

“I already know everything about her, don’t I?” 

“No,” she said. “Did you know she likes you? Before you even went on the station?”

“I didn’t know that,” Seyden said, surprised. It had never occurred to him. “Please don’t tell her I told you this. She’ll get really mad at me. Well, as if you can, from the state she’s in right now from what you told me.”

“I’ll see to it that the slucks get her fixed, I promise.”

“Slucks?” She got confused by the word, sitting up. Seyden forgot that he was at home, not on the station anymore, and things were different.

“It’s just a word we use for the instructors. Back on the station, I mean.”

“How many more things did that place change about you?” she asked, shaking her head, not expecting an answer. She laid back down on the soft grass, blowing in the breeze. “It certainly sounds like a, well…”

“Strange place?”

“Different,” she corrected. “No need to hurt your feelings. You’ve made so many friends there, so not all the things there are bad.”

Seyden had thought of the same thing too, when he had to make the decision of returning to Adilan or the station in the escape pod. He couldn’t leave his friends, and that overpowering urge was what made him go back.

He glanced over at Ruby, looking so peaceful and innocent, relaxing on the grass. She looked like nothing could disturb her. Seyden knew that, at that moment, she was the most honest and trustworthy person he knew. 

“Ruby, can I also tell you a secret?” 

She nodded her head, smiling. 

“I might regret this later, but…I received a message from the humans while on the station.”

“Really?” she sat up again, interested.

“Not just to chat, Ruby. They told me something about me. I’m actually one of them.”

She had no trouble believing, since Seyden never lied to her, but she wanted to make sure. “Do you have proof?”

“They knew about my stuffed coyote. You know him, right? Mr. Coyote? And I used my fingerprint to open one of their holo-coms, which confirms�"”

“You mean the thing on your eye?”

Seyden was surprised. “You knew?”

“I’m very observant,” she said, smiling proudly. “I knew there was something in your eye ever since you came.” She leaned her head forward to look at it more closely. “Like, little bits of blue light. I just didn’t know it was a human holo-com.”

“I got it from the wreckage of one of the spacecrafts trying to enter Adilan. It was blown by the cannon of the station.”

“Yes, I know about that. It was all over the news.” She twirled her hair. “So did they explain why you’re a human but on the wrong planet?”

Seyden sighed. “I’m the subject of this project…this idea. They planted me here secretly as a baby, so when I grew up I’d work for them. In here. I was supposed to sabotage their plans as a spy, in their home planet.”

“Because both races are almost exactly the same,” Ruby said, understanding. “But you don’t want to do that to us, do you?”

“I’m glad you understand, Ruby. I’ve been wanting to tell someone this whole time. I can count on you the most to keep a secret. I think you’re the safest person to tell.”

She nodded, agreeing. They both knew that she would never expose him to the authorities and get him killed. Seyden felt that if he had chosen to tell someone at the station, they would tell the instructors immediately. “I’ll keep your secret safe,” she promised. “Just like how you do with mine. I won’t tell a single person. Just to be sure, I’m the only person that knows, right?”

Seyden nodded. “Unless you count me as one.”

“It’s hard to believe, but I know you don’t lie,” she said. 

I just don’t lie to you, Ruby, he thought. But I lie to the instructors to not get in trouble. Even to myself, all the time. When I tell myself it’s going to be alright. 

The days passed by uneventfully. Seyden spent more time at the swimming pool, or talking with Ruby. But only whenever he was relaxed. Some days Ruby would enter his quarters and see him in a ball position on his bed, shivering.

“Just leave me alone today,” he said, rocking back and forth. The memories of his nightmares were too painful, and the best thing he wanted was to be left alone. Ruby would look sad, but then follow his demand. Sometimes Seyden wished that she wouldn’t follow, and she would try to comfort him, but she was too good of a person. Disobeying a direct order from the president’s son was something you didn’t want to do. Most of the time Seyden hated that rule�"it made him feel like he had power over others, and he didn’t like that.

A lot of time had passed before he started showing first signs of getting better. Doctors analyzed him, and found out that he was going to be okay, and back to normal soon. The thought didn’t really make him feel any better when he still got the nightmares and still felt the pain. 

He felt physical pain, as well. His leg. The doctors told him it was probably just some sort of growing pain, or leg cramp, but something told him it wasn’t. They felt like something searing on his skin, while it being under the pressure of a large weight. He couldn’t get up during meals, and he needed servants to bring food to him. He wished he was on the space station, during a battle, so he could move even with an injury. That was an advantage during them that he always used. 

He had went to the rifle range sometimes to practice shooting because he missed the feeling of it. As always, his aim was impeccable, always precise and accurate. That, along with over-average fighting ability, commanding, and strategy knowledge, are what got him the title as one of the best in the class at combat.

Of course, he was only one of the best cadets, since Dellos’s aim was far beyond comparison to his, Sidian’s size and strength was superior to anyone else’s, and Mady’s techniques and moves always got the best of any cadet.

It was weird. On the station, Seyden found himself daydreaming about home. But now, as he was home, he found himself thinking of the academy. Ruby criticized him for it. 

“You’re at home, you don’t need to practice your shooting,” she said one day, when she found him at the rifle range.”

Seyden could tell with obvious reason Ruby had become annoyed at his tendency to be a soldier. She tried to hide it, though, and allowed him to often practice his soldier skills. But he knew. 

“It’s just a part of me, now,” he said. “If you went to the academy, you’d understand too.”

She made an exasperated noise. “Sick, sick, sick! All you talk and think about is that sick place!”

Then she calmed down. “I apologize for that. I know the place is important to you, even if it’s bad to you.”

“I understand your feeling. You think they’ve inculcated me to their ways of violence.”

“I guess,” she said. “Well, that’s actually a great way to explain it. Also, I see you haven’t lost your sense of formal speaking.”

Seyden could tell Ruby was glad that he had kept that quality from home. It was something that had stuck to him, and he predicted it would never leave him. He was raised in a mansion, with a rich father and mother, while taught formal language and behaviour. That was something Nolan hated about him. 

Raised, he thought. I thought raised, and not born.

One time, when he was with Ruby, she said, “Did you know I’ve seen your father’s slaves?”

“No,” he said. He had never seen the actual labourers, only the servants and maids that responded to his every call.

“It’s horrible!” she said. “My brother took me there. I don’t know why he does. Only me, him, Dawn and her cousin have seen the place.”

Seyden remembered the things Chalice had told him about their brother. He was mean, supposedly. 

“You mean the place that my father goes to every winter, right?”

“Yes. That’s a true fact. He comes there every winter. Just to see to production, maintenance, and regulations. The conditions are harsh in winter. I wish I can free them.”

“When I turn president, I will do it,” Seyden said. He didn’t want to mention that it was a promise he’d made to Dawn. That was something special between them.

“Good luck,” she said. “It’s not only your father that’s corrupt, you know. The whole system.”

“My father isn’t as bad as you think,” Seyden said, defending him.

“You only think that because he’s your father,” she said. Then she froze. “I’m sorry, that was extremely rude.”

“Don’t be,” Seyden said. “It’s okay. You can let out your true opinions to me. I’ve told you everything about my life in space. It’s your turn to tell me what happened here.”

So Ruby did. Over the past few days while Seyden got better, she talked and talked about various things. The horror she’s seen of the country, politically and epide-mically, because of the disease. How her father continued to fight for the rights of the children on the station, often arguing with Seyden’s father. How more attacks from both the humans and the countries’ enemies became more frequent.

“I feel as if the nation’s crumbling from within as well as outside,” she said. “We are the strongest nation, but from the epidemic coming from the neighbour country, our enemies, and the humans, I don’t think we’ll survive any longer.”

“We have allies,” Seyden reminded her. “We’ll pull through.”

That wasn’t going to last, though. In two years over half the Meyvoid Fleet was coming. Just to rescue him, and maybe start the biggest battle of the entire war along the way. He didn’t know what was to become of his father, of his country, and of him.

“But at the same time I don’t want to pull through,” Ruby said. “Seeing as to how Sedolas rose to power. A nation is only as great as its people. I don’t think we should count, then, with all the amount of forced labour we have.”

“You’re quoting famous Sedolas heroes now, are you?”

She nodded. “So maybe I’ve taken an interest in literature. Mother forces me to read a lot of stuff, and I don’t like admitting it�"especially to her�"that I’ve learned to like it.”

When enough time had finally passed, Seyden was fully well. His coughing was rescued to a minimum. His muscle pains have completely disappeared. His nightmares left, too. One morning he woke up, realizing he had a nice sleep. He wanted to scream in joy�"but also in fear. This meant he was ready to go back, something that hadn’t seemed so real to him until now.

The doctors found this out and reported to his father. He immediately wanted him to return.

“You have to understand its more safe up there,” he told him, his voice muffled in his face mask. He pointed to it, reminding him of the disease epidemic. “Now, you must go.”

“I didn’t even get to say goodbye to Ruby,” Seyden said. He was being escorted by his father and a squad of bodyguards to the spacecraft bay. “Will you miss me?”

“Yes,” his father said without emotion. “As for Ruby, she’ll find out herself. You know your training is important. You have to get back as soon as you’re well, and you are now.”

Seyden wanted to ask again if his father made sure the instructors were punished for what they did. But he would be annoyed if he asked again. Plus, his father never forgot something. He heard other people say he was eidetic, he had a perfect memory. It was a good skill to have to be a leader of a great nation, since you were so busy with so many things you can’t afford to forget even one of them. 

Seyden was guided into the same hovercraft that brought him here. He said a quick goodbye to the Ruby, the mansion, the planet�"which was his home. And no matter who he was, it would always be. 

This might be the last time he would smell fresh air on Adilan. If the humans failed to retrieve him and bring him to earth, he might never leave the station. But if they did succeed, they would immediately take him to earth, with no reason to go back here. He might be saying goodbye to his planet.

He got into the spacecraft and buckled up. The spacecraft would soon launch, and then he would soon see the surface get smaller in the view of his window. 

Why can’t I just have a little bit more time here? he thought. He had taken his days for granted, not realizing how little time he actually had to experience the pleasure of living. He wished he hadn’t.

Then later, he would wave goodbye when the view would change to the familiar blue and green ball shrinking in the distance. And the only place he could say hello to was the one where kids got beaten and killed to death. 

 

 

 

15

The Power

Of Trust

The trip back was mostly the same. The ship docked at the station, and he was sent to his bunk.

He then went to class, and everyone was happy to see him back. They were excited, to be more specific. 

“Glad to see you back, commander,” Chalice said. “It was like when Rena was gone�"I had to take over for a long time. I’m not as good as a leader as you.”

Seyden was glad to see her calm, and not always distressed, like she was when he had left. He noticed too that her eyes looked back to normal. 

“They fixed you up?” he asked her. 

She nodded, smiling. “I took over my fear.”

Seyden smiled back. He was happy to see that she was back to normal. In fact, almost everyone was. After the initial shocks of the first two tests, it only took a few weeks for everyone to get their bearings back together. They hadn’t done the next test yet, but Seyden knew whatever it was, they could handle it this time. They were better prepared, after the first two. They were ready.

They were back on their winning streak. When Chalice took over, there were a couple of bumps in the path�"a few losses�"but ever since Seyden came back they never lost a battle. Seyden felt confident. He and his class were back to being the best in the academy. Their minds were refreshed, they took more risks during battles, and he was no longer sick. He felt like a reborn person.

“You’ve grown, too,” Evestor told him one day. “What happened to you when you went back home? Did you take a growth chemical?”

“Shut up,” Seyden said playfully. “You’re just jealous.”

It had been a while, and something bothered Seyden. The instructors weren’t punished yet. He was waiting for it to come, when his father’s men would personally send them to jail, or something along those lines. He had told this to everyone one night in the bunk room.

“I told my father about it,” he told everyone. “He never forgets anything. I guess help will come soon, then.”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Charity said. “That seems a little far-fetched. Maybe he won’t actually do it.”

Terra nudged her. “Snow, please don’t be mean.”

“But it might be true,” she muttered. “Red�"no offence�"but I don’t think you’re father will do it.”

“He probably already knows about it,” Sidian said. “Crike, maybe he even has all this planned, from the very�"start!”

It was another high-pitched squeak. Everyone laughed, and he was embarrassed. Seyden still didn’t know what caused it. Sidian had already confirmed that he wasn’t doing it on purpose to everyone.

“I just don’t know,” Seyden said. “I mean, I’d like to believe you guys are wrong, but I’m just not sure.”

Over the past few weeks he talked with Brandson, too. As usual, he talked about Earth, and how nice their lives were back there. 

“At your age, you would be interested in something called video games. You would also like a sport, maybe. I don’t know which one you’d like.”

The words were all new to him. He didn’t know anything about what he talked about, and he wished he did. He felt as if his life was robbed from him.

“Don’t worry,” Brandon told him, and he must’ve looked like it. “Your parents are almost here to talk to you. As for us coming to you�"about a year has passed, hasn’t it?”

At first he had thought that two years was too long. It had shocked him that it would take that amount of time to get here. It wasn’t much of a surprise though�"during classes on the topic of the war, he was taught that depending on the ship and speed it would take around that time. The Meyvoid Fleet must’ve had many big and slow ships to restrain it from getting here any quicker. 

When he first heard those news, he wondered, two years? How old am I going to be by that time? The day he would graduate. Well, the day he was supposed to graduate. The instructors had made it clear that he would actually stay on the station forever. It wasn’t a test, like everyone else. The only thing he wondered is if they got his father’s approval.

“I think,” he told Brandson. “I can do anything you want me to here, you know.”

“Yes, yes, you keep reminding me.” He took a moment to think. “Have you done the simple stuff I told you to do?”

Seyden hadn’t forgotten. He had searched the station on his free time, just like what he had been suggested to do, and found mostly nothing. There were the occasional rooms that he wasn’t allowed in, since he didn’t have the rank to enter. He didn’t know what was inside them. There was one specifically that was very secretive, and always locked and protected. He told this to Brandson.

“Secretive, you say?” he said. “Suspicious to me. Is there any way for you to enter?”

“Maybe,” Seyden said, thinking. “I have a friend who can steal things really easily. If I can get her to steal the keycard from an instructor to enter…”

“I encourage you not to. Your friend might ask why you would need it.”

That was true. But something told Seyden this was worth investigating. Whatever was in the room, it was clear it was very important to the instructors. There were red stripes on the edges of the door, something he remembered seeing on the box he had been assigned to carry to the other sector by Beni. They were in a jagged, cut-off pattern. Maybe the contents in the box had something to do with the contents of the room. 

“But I think I should, sir, with all due respect.”

He sighed. “Do what you have to, I guess. Whatever’s in there�"computers, documents, whatever�"you should burn it. If it’s bad. You know how to start a fire, right?”

“Sir, are you forgetting I’m on a space station?”

“Of course not, Seyden. Is the door pressurized? An airtight room?”

“By the looks of it, yes, it is.”

“Then there you go. The fire will eventually die out in that room. And is it in an outer wing of the station, or in the centre?”

“An outer wing, sir.”

“Even better. They can detach it from the station if the fire goes out of control.”

“But I’m not sure if its fully sealed. And if it is, they might find out. What if there’s nothing flammable in it as well? How would I start it?”

“I’m sure there’re documents in there. As to start the fire, you can try rubbing two sticks together.”

The sentence made no sense to Seyden. “I’m sorry, sir?”

“I was joking,” he said. “You wouldn’t have two sticks.”

“What do you mean by two sticks?”

“Have you ever heard of a campfire?”

Seyden shook his head, unaware of the term or its concept, once again.

Brandson seemed to be locked in a memory. “Ah, the good old days. I always took my boys out camping before. We took two sticks, rubbed them together really fast and hard, and the heat from friction would start it. My eldest liked doing that instead of just using a lighter. He always said it just, made more sense to him. It made him feel more like we were actually camping.”

“That’s nice sir, but I don’t think I can,” Seyden confirmed. “I’m not going to start a fire.”

“You mean you don’t have the guts to. Okay, that’s fine. Just lay low for now.”

“I will.”

When the connection ended on the holo-com, Seyden relaxed. Every time he ended his talk he felt safe from his secret being revealed. 

The holo-com was an exquisite sort of thing. He was scared that it wasn’t as secretive as he thought, since Ruby had seen it easily, but he decided to stop worrying when Brandson told him not to. Ruby was an observant girl, and no one else on the station seemed toes it, just as she did. Or else they would ask him about it. It was a device used for soldiers in the war, not for a cadet still training in an academy. 

It had all sorts of unique features. In his view, he had a user interface�"a display that showed things he could use to his advantage. He could keep track of time since it had a clock. He could analyze or scan expressions or other things with its reading technology. It had different views: thermal vision, night vision, electronic, electromagnetic, and more. Of course, it all felt weird, since he only had one, which was on his left eye. He wondered if you were usually supposed to have two. 

Brandson advised him against going into any of them by stealing a keycard, then. There was no other way to get into one. So he would just have to ignore them. He would never find out. 

Later, when he was in class, Nolan was giving a lesson about insensitivity. 

“Here, you learn to become a gentleman as well as a soldier,” he said. “There are things you cannot say during certain circumstances. Even if it’s true. Like for example, you cannot call a person fat in front of them even if it’s true. You’re learning this because during an escort mission, you will travel protecting important people such as leaders and politicians that will care very much about your manners. And because�"you guys don’t have any.”

He cleared his throat. “This reminds me of when I used to be on one myself, and I was escorting the Queen of�"well, I forgot the name. We were on a traveling on an aircraft and I said, don’t worry, there’s a ninety-five percent chance to survive a plane crash.”

The class laughed. “Exactly. You can see why this was insensitive for me to say. Afterwards she scolded me for saying such a thing, while we were on one.”

“Wait…” Seyden whispered to Evestor, beside him. “That isn’t so bad. That was a positive fact. A fact to improve confidence in flying. I have to mention it.”

“Don’t,” he said. “Seyden, don’t. Remember the last time�"”

“I’m not going to let past experiences affect my behaviour,” he said. 

“You mean your ego.”

“I’m not going to be scared of the slucks just because they forced me to.”

He raised his hand. Nolan, already expecting a disagreement, smiled. They had done this so many times before. And each time Seyden never learned. 

“Yes, Seyden?” he said. “Isn’t that fact a positive one?” he asked. “I mean, your intention was to lighten everyone’s mood, right? To make them feel better about the situation.”

He heard the some people groan, but he didn’t care. As long as he challenged the instructors, he would keep being who he was. A stubborn rebellious leader. He couldn’t back down, even when everyone wanted him to.

“That’s not the point,” Nolan said. “The point is that the sentence was insensitive, and even if it was positive or even if my intention was to brighten everyone’s mood, it was insensitive because I gave the thought of the scenario.”

“No, I think�"”

“It doesn’t matter what you think!” he roared. “Class, help me decide. I’m tired of this criking disputations. Whip or baton?”

Seyden didn’t expect it to go this far. His blood ran cold, hoping he would change his mind.

“No!” everyone said. 

“I’m sorry for my mistakes,” Seyden said. It was something he usually said often, a line he was forced to say now. “I will try harder next time.”

“Come on, he barely did anything wrong,” Calum said. “Just make him recite the oath or something.”

Everyone laughed, getting the joke. “It’s a punishment already!” someone said. Nolan looked for the cadet who said it, hoping to find him and punish him too, but he was left disappointed when he couldn’t.

“Wall. Now!” he yelled at Seyden.

This time, Seyden wasn’t going to follow. “I told my father about this, you know. He’s going to flog you so hard when he gets you you’re going to wish you were dead.” Then he laughed. A true, genuine and deep sound that stopped all the noise in the room and made everyone uneasy. Seyden felt uneasy himself, unsure how to react.

“Oh, you think you’re so smart, don’t you?” he said. “Don’t make me have to explain the obvious.”

“What?” Seyden asked, fearing the answer.

“Your father planned this!” he said. “The tough punishments are part of the program! He lied to you when he said that!”

Even though he suspected the truth, it damaged Seyden badly. He felt horrible, knowing that his father really was evil.

“No…” he muttered. 

“Yes!” Nolan said. “Good soldiers only come from pain and fear, beatings and tears. Bad soldiers come from good childhoods.”

It was a famous line from a book Seyden had heard before. 

It couldn’t be! This had to be the instructors’ decision, not his father’s! Why would his father do this?

Now he fully understood what was so illegal about the station. He had admired the thought as a child, but now he realized why all countries in the world were against them. 

Your father is evil, and corrupted, and his whole country is too. He’s a dictator, and I hate him, I hate his empire, I hate it all! Dawn had warned him, when he was young. She couldn’t have been more right. Only stupid people would think his father was good. Even the humans had him as their main target. 

And he was his son. He was probably hated by billions. The despising stigma around him must’ve been huge. “Pathetic, you are,” Nolan said. “I can definitely see the stubbornness that I saw in your father. You must want to grow up to be just like him.”

“That’s sick!” he said, revealing his opinion to everyone about his father. Everyone was always careful around him when they talked about the president of Sedolas. They all thought he was sympathetic and loving to him. But no, he knew the truth. He was corrupted, and not a good father at all. He had sent him here, a childhood graveyard.

“How?” Nolan pushed. “How, when years ago I recall you forcing Sidian to clean up someone else’s vomit because you knew you had power over him?”

Seyden didn’t want to look at Sidian, who must remember that embarrassing experience. “He chose to do it,” he said. “I was only doing what’s fair.”

“The traits are in you, no matter what you say. You will become as great a leader as him someday, if you ever leave this station.”

“I’m different!” Seyden said, desperate to prove himself. “My father doesn’t believe in fairness, but I do! I understand the corrupted ways he has�"”

Then the station vibrated. A quick announcement went on, with a sharp and intense tone: “Fire! Fire! High capacity of danger with a fire in sector D-Two! Seal the breach! Everyone evacuate to the nearest exit zone! This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill!”

The class went into panic. After the announcement the fire alarm went off, an eerie and scary noise that signalled chaos happening all around the station. Nolan tried to calm everyone down. 

“We could all die!” Nye said. “Sector D is the second closest to us!”

“Shut up, everyone!” Nolan yelled. “Each and every one of you know what to do! We’ve done this drill countless times! We’re going to the exit zone at the end of the hallway. A spacecraft from the hangar will be waiting there to bring us in, and then we get as far away as possible while the fire crew tries to deal with it. Move, move, move!”

Everyone lined up quick, scared. Seyden, as their commander, immediately went to the front, and waited for Nolan to dismiss them. 

“What could’ve caused it? What could have caused it?” Amber said, tugging her hair in fear. 

“We find that out later,” Nolan said, staying calm. “Get your bearings together, cadet!”

He looked at Seyden. “You, lead them to the exit zone. Now. You know the boarding procedure. I’m staying here.”

“Wait,” Seyden said, “aren’t you coming with us? The drill is that the current instructor we have will guide us to the exit zone and the spacecraft. Only the fire crew stays behind.”

“I’m part of the fire crew, ya filthy, criking ninny!” he said. He pressed his com. “Reve, I need the spread information. Centralized or exterior module?”

“Exterior module,” Seyden heard Reve reply back. “Need your help now. It’s not as bad as it looks, we may be able to contain it.”

“What luck,” Nolan muttered. “Exterior module.”

Seyden understood. They were almost certain they were safe, even if the fire was controlled or not. The backup plan was to eject the module from the station. It wasn’t something they wanted to do at the start, since there were objects and equipment, and valuable resources to save in every module. It would make the sector smaller, something they didn’t want either. And there were people, too. Sometimes they were too slow to evacuate, or they could be trapped by the fire. Plus, they never had to do it anyway, since they had a better backup plan: just put a hole in the wall and suck all the oxygen out for the flames to die. It was only used as an absolute last resort plan.

“What are you still doing here?” Nolan told him. “Leave, before it spreads!”

Seyden obeyed. He lead his class to the exit zone, which wasn’t faraway at all. There were already a ton of cadets, all from other classes, filing towards the exit zone. 

In no time, they made it onto the ship, about seventy of them with both cadets and instructors, launching away to get far from the station. Everyone pushed over each other to see through the windows at the station.

Seyden was at the front, with his class. They saw the sector with the flames inside, although barely visible with all the smoke. 

“Whoa,” Sidian said. “Who knows, this could maybe be our third special test.”

“Don’t be dumb,” Mady said, “We were told it wasn’t a drill. And Nolan said he didn’t know the cause.”

Sidian shook his head. “Doesn’t it occur to you that they could be lying to us?”

“That could be true,” Seyden told her, and everyone else as well. “You can’t trust them now.” He stared at the station, watching other spacecraft carrying more cadets leave. “I for one hope that the place burns down.”

“Me too,” Chalice said, beside him. “Who wouldn’t?” Sidian said. But everyone knew that it wouldn’t happen. There were many backup measures to save at least the majority of the station. And even if it did, it didn’t guarantee their training over. They would probably be sent to another academy back in Sedolas.

Fate has already decided our futures, Seyden thought. We have no escape.

It has been found out,” Nolan told everyone later. “We contained the fire. It wasn’t too bad. And we found out the cause.”

He locked eyes with Seyden. “You!” he yelled, and Seyden’s heart skipped a beat at the sudden intenseness. “We found your fingerprints at the door in one of the rooms you don’t have access to, and on a gasoline pump. A purely confidential storage closet containing loads of citum and gasoline canisters. Both very flammable things, which is why we keep it secure in that room, where no cadet can play with it. Either you set a bomb to explode it, or you left a gas pump leaking, which would only take a spark to ignite. But you did it! The whole academy knows. Solitary confinement, one night!”

The class was shocked at the revelation. Some gasped, not knowing Seyden had the capacity to do such a thing. He was probably the most righteous and integrity-full cadet in the class.

“What!?” he said, in total disbelief. “That’s nonsense. That’s…that’s…criking nonsense!”

“You asked for it,” Nolan said. “Two nights!”

“This isn’t true!” Seyden said. He was desperate, now. “You guys know I’m not like this! I didn’t start it!”

“Seyden, it’s just better to admit it,” Mady said, with sad eyes. “It’s okay.”

“But I didn’t! It’s a lie!” Somehow he knew this was some sort of test. Maybe it was a continuation of the fear test�"he was being treated unfairly to see how he would deal with it. 

He knew for a fact that he didn’t enter any of the secret rooms around the station. Yes, them finding his fingerprints on the doors was true, though. He had tried every lock of every door, hoping one would budge. But he didn’t touch any gasoline pump. He didn’t even know citum was flammable!

“Admit it,” Locke said, impatient. 

“It’s okay, we won’t judge you,” Amber told him, beside him. She touched his shoulder. 

He shrugged it off. “Listen�"I did not do this. They’re lying. They just want someone to blame it on. Someone else�"or it couldn’t been an accident�"is the cause.”
“Three nights!” Nolan yelled, trying to hold his rage. “You’re the liar! The evidence is strong. Somehow you got in, and you started a fire with a timer so you can blow this station to pieces, along with the rest of us. And even if you didn’t intend to, and you caused it by accident, it’s still your fault!”

“Seyden does hate this place a lot,” Terra muttered, hoping he wouldn’t hear. But he did, and he glared at her. She shrunk back in her seat. He didn’t know he could be that scary. It must be a trait of his father.

“You have thirty minutes to get what you need at the bunk,” Nolan said. “Use it wisely. Take a shower, or something. No bringing anything into the solitary confinement chamber. Other instructors had mercy on you, you know. Reve, Beni, Don, Saph, and I wanted to beat you up hard, and then send you to jail back to Adilan. Mass murder is a serious crime!”

“Manslaughter,” Seyden corrected. “I swear, I didn’t enter that room. And if I did, I would never try to kill everyone on this station. We’re already dead anyway, from the way you guys treat us.”

“Four nights!”

Seyden then realized there was no point in arguing. No matter what, the instructors won. He thought he had gotten that through his head already. He sighed and walked slowly to exit the classroom, trying not to look guilty as everyone watched him.

When he got out the door, Nolan slammed it at him. He walked to the bunk room, prepared to break down and just give up on doing good at the academy. He hoped there wouldn’t be any cadets or instructors walking in the hallway to see him sulking. There weren’t, which satisfied him. But when he got to the malfunctioning door it slammed right in his face, and he bumped his head. 

“Ow!” he yelled, extremely frustrated. Why was Fate so mean to him? He kicked it as hard as he could. 

It opened shortly after, but it didn’t make him feel any better. He went to the bunk room, fell on his bed, and gloomily moped, wishing his inferior reputation to the instructors never existed. It all started when he had disrespected King Hedaeus�"wasn’t it? He wished he never blurted his opinion out loud. He was the only one that did, since everybody learned their lesson. But he didn’t. Stupid, stupid, stupid me, he thought. Criking me. Crike this. Why can’t the humans rescue him already? Why did they ever leave him in this foul, wretched place? 

After a while, he heard a person’s footsteps. 

“That’s new. I’ve never heard you swear before.” Chalice. Of course. Nobody else would come. 

Seyden was annoyed. “What about trying to set fire to the station? That’s also new, right?”

She hesitated. “So, why did you?”

“I didn’t,” he said, turning around to face her. He must’ve stated that for about the hundredth time. “I can’t believe you agree with those dumb slucks. I didn’t touch anything in there. That’s the truth. It’s probably just to be even more unfair to me.”

She exhaled, sitting down on the bed. “I trust you. I mean, it does make sense. They probably just lied about your fingerprint. You would never try to enter those rooms, knowing you.”

She believes me, he thought. I did try to enter them, and they did get my fingerprint. Only for the door handle, though. And I only did it for the humans. 

Seyden then realized how much power trust actually held. To make someone believe something else, something that wasn’t entirely true, was like cheating. 

Chalice trusted him. And if everyone else did, then he basically had total control. It was true he didn’t start it, but the instructors finding his fingerprint was not. They must’ve found it on the doorway, and saw it as a chance to trick everyone by going further and saying they found the same print on the gasoline pump inside the room, too. Even if that part wasn’t true. But still, he had touched that door. 

He was just like his father, then. Lying and deceiving. 

16

Death Comes Before

The Blow

Things are getting more serious now,” Reve told them. “Something that’s never happened in the history of the century-long war. The Meyvoid Fleet, almost the whole of it, is advancing slowly in our direction.”

So they found out, Seyden thought. He had expected, because Brandson had told him to. There was no way the information would be hidden for much longer. With their technology Adilan would find out eventually�"and also way before they would arrive. 

“We don’t know the reason behind it,” Reve said, looking at every cadet one by one. When he got to Seyden, he could almost swear his eyes bore right into his soul.

“But we have notified the president. It’s another problem he has to deal with, but we all know he’s a great leader and he has the capacity to deal with it. Anyway, we all have to be on high alert. Nolan, what’s the fleet’s current position?”

“About three quarters of the way here,” he said. “Maybe a few months until they arrive.”

“We should be ready when they come,” Saph said. “We’ve come a long way so far�"they’re already teenagers. Maybe we can hold them back with just the station. I mean, we have the Particle Accelerator and a ton of spacecrafts in the hangar.”

“What’s a teenager?” Evestor whispered to Seyden. He had once asked the question himself, and also to Brandson. The vice-admiral was skeptical about his unknowingness of the topic. He said they weren’t educated about the things that happened to them in their age�"and they should be. 

“A soldier doesn’t need to know that,” Reve said. “Let’s just say it’s the midway point between a child and a man.”

He cleared his throat. “Let’s get back on topic. Their location is not exactly pinpointed. We don’t know what direction they will be coming at. If we’re lucky, we’re on the side they’re on. If we’re not, then we can’t really do anything about it.”
It doesn’t matter, Seyden thought. They were going for him. They would find the station whether they were on the right side or not. They weren’t interested in starting a battle at all. Well, at least not intentionally.

That’s what Brandson had told him, but he doubted the idea. Why would they bring so much of their fleet, then? Everything about their plan was sketchy. “Don’t underestimate the cannon of the station, too,” Don said. “We’re not as helpless against them as you all may think. The cannon is purely designed for destroying massive spacecraft like a mothership. It can rip apart hulls and start internal fires inside, effectively endangering the entire crew with just one blast, even if the other side is intact.”

“Yes,” Reve said. “When they do come…well, the five of us are deciding whether to let you guys defend the station, or we’re going to go into lockdown. Saph here is up for letting you all fight them. But I think it’s dangerous, and you’re not fully ready yet.”

“They know all the fight moves we’ve taught them,” she said. “They can all fly a spacecraft flawlessly. They can use a rifle with perfect aim. If not the entire academy to try to defend the station, why not just the graduating classes? We should at least try. Then let the rest go into lockdown.”

Beni knitted his eyebrows, thinking. “We can definitely consider that idea. That’s not such a bad one.”

Lockdown. Another drill the academy practiced. If there was any sort of outer threat to the station, like rogue human pilots attacking them, the instructors could initiate a lockdown drill. A lockdown activated a virtually indes-tructible shield around the sector it was initiated from, and all doors were sealed immediately, unless someone opened them from the control room, or through codes on the doors. Basically, when it happened, nothing got in, and nothing got out. Whoever was inside was safe, and whoever was outside had no choice to leave unless they could penetrate the many barriers. 

“Maybe,” Reve said. “I’ll think about it.” “You may be our lead instructor,” Nolan said, “but you don’t make all the decisions by yourself. We have a say in them.”

“I know that. It’s just…I’m the one that approves the decisions. If I say no, then that makes it final: no.”

“Fair enough, I suppose,” Nolan said. “Well then. Everyone, back to your bunks. We’re early tomorrow, as we always are. You get the rest of the period as free time.”

The class cheered and went for the bunk room. Everyone talked with their friends about what they would spend their time on. 

“I’m doing homework, of course,” Evestor told Seyden. “I’ll see ya.”

“I’m training in the gym,” Chalice said when she came up to Seyden. “Wanna come?”

He shook his head. He had been tired lately, finding himself wanting more rest more often than before. Especially since he had been cramped from so many nights of solitary confinement because of disagreements in classes. He just wanted to take a nap, and relax in his bed, even if it wasn’t the comfiest in the world. 

But it sure felt like it, after it was only one of two beds he had slept in his entire life.

Late at night, Seyden was the only one awake. It wasn’t unusual, but also wasn’t common. It was the perfect time to talk to Brandson in private, when everyone was asleep. He had gotten a call from him recently which he decided to take now. 

Taking a nap had refilled him with energy, so much that he had trouble sleeping in the actual evening. It always happened to him when he took a nap during the day. Even back in the mansion. No one else he knew seemed to have the problem�"they all slept fine even after taking a nap during the day. 

Brandson appeared on the screen. “We have something special for you,” he said. 

Seyden knew immediately. His parents�"his real ones�"had finally arrived. He was filled with excitement, shock, and nervousness all at the same time. He wasn’t ready! Would he be able to handle it?

“I know you haven’t seen them in a long time,” Brandon said. “But…here they are. They miss you. Just wait, they’re coming now. It’s about time you answered the call.”

Seyden wasn’t so sure about it, now that it was actually happening. The reality of it was a big shock�"he was actually going to see his real parents! The ones that birthed and abandoned him as a baby. The ones that named him, gave him a stuffed coyote, and sent him away. 

“Jonathan!” he heard a voice say, as a woman he did not recognize at all came onto the screen. 

The ones he did not know. 

“Oh, my son,” she said, her eyes watering. “We’re coming to get you, honey.”

Honey. A word new and strange to Seyden. Suddenly he was six years old, thinking that he wasn’t a sweetheart, or a baby, or a honey. He was a snowflake, and he belonged to his mother, the one who called him that.

Not to this stranger. Who was she to abandon him? 

Then he saw a man’s face appear on the screen. His father. “John,” he breathed, eyes also watering. “It’s been so long. You’re so…grown up.”

Seyden’s eyes were tearing up, and he hated it. He didn’t want to feel sympathy for these strangers. The president of Sedolas, and his wife, were his real parents. They were the ones who actually raised him and took care of him. 

And they didn’t abandon him.

Brandson must’ve seen the look on his face. He frowned. “Seyden, what’s wrong?”

“Sweetheart, we’re almost there,” the woman said, touching the screen. “We’re going to get you out of there. We’re going to get you ho�"”

Seyden shut off the connection. He couldn’t take it anymore. It was too much for him. He just wasn’t ready.

He began to cry, the tears flowing freely now, silently. He was aware of all his friends, all the cadets sleeping around him. His real family, not the strangers he had met a moment ago. 

He knew he shouldn’t have done that. He probably made his parents worry about him, and Brandson would surely question him about it. But they just didn’t understand that he wasn’t connected to them anymore. His home wasn’t Earth, even if he was undoubtedly a human. It was Adilan. 

He buried his face in his blanket. He was ashamed of crying, especially at his age, but he couldn’t help it. He just felt so…bad. About everything. About the fact that he wasn’t a regular person, and he didn’t have a regular childhood which he should’ve had. He didn’t know how to snap or whistle, and instead knew how to control a spacecraft. He didn’t know how to blow bubble gum, and instead knew and studied the economics and politics of Sedolas. He didn’t know how to ride a bike, and instead knew how to shoot a rifle, to take a life.

He didn’t even know what he was. A human? A Naman? No, he didn’t know who he was. That was his real problem. Who was he?

He didn’t know. It bothered him, and he realized that’s why he felt so bad. Also the fact that he abruptly hung up on them, when all they wanted was to comfort him. It was wrong to do so, he knew that. They would be worried that their son didn’t want to continue to have the one connection he had to home anymore. 

I can’t work for them, he thought. I’m not one of them. 

He decided the best thing he could do was sleep. When he woke up in the morning, he heard a voice. It was Chalice: “Commander, you better come see this.”

Everyone was watching the door where Will had come through. None of them had seen him in a long, long time. Reve had brought him back, finally. He left as soon as he did.

“Will!” Nye said. “It’s good to have you back.”

But he was motionless, his eyes blank. He didn’t speak.

“I think something’s wrong with him,” Charity said. 

Seyden pushed his way to the front of the crowd to see. Will hadn’t even moved since he came in. 

“Hello?” Mady waved a hand in front of his eyes. “Anybody in there?”

“What did they do to you?” Chalice asked. “Does anyone know his worst fear?”

Everyone looked at Sidian. “What?” he asked.        “You’re his best friend,” Evestor said.      “We can figure it out,” Calum said. He went right up to Will, who still hadn’t moved. “He’s just staring into space, and his eyes are blank. And his personality’s as nonexistent as Sidian’s brain.”

“Shut up,” Sidian said, but everyone laughed. 

“Funny, right?” Calum said, nudging Will. “Come on. You always laugh when someone makes fun of Sidian.”

Finally, he spoke, robotically. “Making fun is disres-pectful. Disrespect is wrong. Wrongness is bad. We should be good, not bad. Good cadets make good soldiers.”

“What happened to him?” Amber said, looking worried. “I feel bad for the little guy.”

“Sympathy is good,” Will said. “Good cadets make good soldiers.”

“He’s not like himself,” Evestor said. “It’s like he’s…brainwashed. Like, actually brainwashed.”

Seyden felt as if he was hit with a sandbag. He realized something then�"something he should have known. Something he should’ve seen coming. 

“What’s wrong?” Chalice asked, seeing his expression. “Are you okay?”

He nodded, but really he was feeling sick inside. He excused himself and went to his bunk, looking for Will’s note. He hadn’t thrown it away. He had no reason to. 

He read it again, realizing the truth. 

Don’t worry, I’ll be back, but just a little different since I have just overcame my fear, it said. 

Then, on a lower line, You know how everyone knows that I always obey the slucks, because it just makes things easier. 

Obeying them just makes life easier and less painful. You know I always obey. 

He had tried to warn him, many times! How could he not have known? Will had given the note to him, and to him only because he thought he was smart enough to find out!

“Tell me what’s up,” Chalice said, finding him. 

He gave her the note, and her eyes widened when she read it. 

“When did he give you this?” she asked, her voice deadly serious. But he didn’t hear her, his mind was off elsewhere. He was watching Sidian leaving the crowd around Will too, going to his bunk. There was something suspicious about his behaviour. He could read expressions very well from a very young age�"better than most cadets. Saph had told him it was a great skill to have as a soldier. He read Sidian’s expression now. Was it…guilt? That was an expression he had learned and mastered to read. He had left the crowd just like Seyden, but he wasn’t retrieving a note from Will. Did he just leave because he wanted to? Did he not even care?

He took the note back from Chalice. “Hey!” he called to him, and Sidian faced him as he went up to him. He held up the note. “Did you get one? We all know you were the one closest to him.”

“What?” he looked confused. “No. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Seyden didn’t want to stop there. He had just had a gut feeling. “Why would he give one to me, and not you?”

“What are you doing here anyway?” Chalice asked, who had shown up. “Don’t you even care about him? He’s your friend.”

“Please,” he said, “You think I’m sad for him? I knew this was going to happen. I’m the teacher’s pet, remember? Nolan told me. I knew way before we even had the fear tests they were going to put him into this state. It’s just more punishment for�"well, you. For everything you’ve done here, and for your unfairness special test or something.”

Chalice gasped. So Seyden was right�"guilt. He knew Sidian felt something�"just a little bit�"for Will. 

He was enraged. He stepped forward and pushed Sidian, while the bully stumbled back. 

“You didn’t tell us!” he said.

“Crikes!” he said. “I never knew you’d get this mad.”

“Mad?” Seyden said angrily. “Why wouldn’t I? All you’ve done is cause mischief around here, for years! He’s a person too, you know!”

“He’s pathetic,” he said. “What are you going to do, anyway? Tell on me? They’re not going to do anything to me.”

Seyden couldn’t stand him anymore. He lost his temper, and grabbed him, putting him in a headlock, trying to choke him. He tightened his arm, harder and harder, wanting to choke the life out of the guy.

But Sidian just laughed. “You’re pathetic too.” He easily switched the tide, escaping and putting Seyden in a headlock. “I can kill you,” he told him. “Nolan said you’re impossible to kill. You just survive all odds. How about I prove him wrong? Let’s find out if that’s true, shouldn’t we?”

“Sidian, stop it,” Chalice said, deadly serious. “You’re hurting him. Stop. I mean it.”

“Of course you do,” he said. “Why don’t you come and do it yourself, then?”

“I’m going to get Reve,” she said. “Stop it now. Maybe you’re protected from them, but Seyden is protected by the most powerful person on the planet. His father. When the slucks see this and realize that fact too, you’re as good as dead.”

Sidian laughed and released Seyden. “You’re good,” he said. “You know just the right words to say.”

Seyden coughed on the floor. Chalice helped him up. “It’s okay,” she told him. “You’re fine, now.”

He was glad to have such a good friend when he needed it. A good commander is never alone, he thought. That’s why they’re commanders. They need people to command. By themselves, commanders are virtually useless. 

“Now, I say we never speak of this again,” Sidian said,  menacing and threatening. “If you do…”

He trailed off at that, letting it sink in. Seyden realized how much power words had when said in the right way. Sidian could be holding a knife and there wouldn’t be a difference. It would still be threatening all the same. 

“Fine,” Chalice decided, for the both of them. “Get out of our sight, or we’ll tell.”

“Blackmail? Do you not realize that won’t work since he attacked me first? I can tell that to the slucks, and then they’d give him a beating with the baton, for sure. They’ve been merciful lately, with only solitary confinement. They should give him enough injury until he stays in the infirmary for weeks. Whatever, I don’t care about it anyway. The slucks favour me�"I was going to be the commander if Seyden never butted in with his father’s authority.” “Has he not proved himself worthy of the title now?” Chalice said. “Everybody�"even you�"knows he deserves it. He leads better than any of us. We haven’t lost a battle lately.”

Sidian grumbled. “I don’t think you acknowledge the possibility that we’re winning because of us soldiers, and not him.”

Then he left. Chalice offered to help Seyden go to his bed, but he refused. He was definitely hurt, though. Sidian was rough, and he should never be underestimated. He should’ve known that. He was dumb to attack him. 

“Such a jerk,” Chalice said as Seyden rubbed his throat. “Poor Will. If Sidian told us, maybe we could’ve done something about it.”

But they couldn’t. Seyden knew that. He had learned many times that he would never win against the instructors. He just had to face that fact. He wanted to tell Chalice that, but he was afraid it would do something to his throat, which was hurting badly. 

“I’m sorry Red,” she said, sitting next to him. “I couldn’t do more.”

“You…you did enough,” he rasped. Her face reddened, smiling.

Did you know she likes you? Ruby had said. He wanted to mention it, but he was too scared. He liked her too. Ruby had told him not to tell her anyway. 

She stood up. “We have a battle in like, twenty minutes.”

Seyden paused, then nodded, remembering. 

“Rest for now,” she said. “We’ll take care of Will.”

He exhaled, relaxing. He liked how she was kind to everyone, not just him. Or maybe it was for him�"just like how Amber laughed at Locke’s every joke and agreed with everything he said. He had always wondered why she did all those things. But now he did. He realized he did those things with Chalice, too. 

He was feeling a weird sensation. He didn’t know what it was. It was…strange. Unexplainable. 

I don’t know this feeling, he thought. Maybe a human thing? I don’t know.

He forced himself to forget it, and think about Will. 

The boy was definitely brainwashed. His mind wiped clean. Blank. It was obvious, but he didn’t figure it out.

You know I always obey, the note had said. 

So that was his fear. Being hypnotized, being stripped of freedom, of will, of choice. Much like Seyden, then. He had no say if he wanted to go to Adilan or not. He was forced.

He didn’t know how the instructors did this to Will, but they did. They made Will a consistent and reliable obeyer; a cadet with no decision-making. It would come handy during requests he had for him during battles. Will always followed him during battles, because he wanted to. Now, he would still follow his orders, but it wouldn’t be the same because he had to. His mind forced him to. If he had no freedom, he wasn’t living. He was the same as dead. For him, death had came before the blow. He was basically dead, but he was still alive at the same time. Nobody had struck him, but he had died anyway. The instructors had killed another one of them.

They did this to him. He wondered how much time they had before they were all like him. 

17

Hidden

Secrets

Tension hung in the air more often now, when everyone had learned the Meyvoid Fleet was advancing their way. Some cadets were deathly terrified, hiding in corners. Some were already saying their goodbyes. The academy wasn’t in good shape, with not a lot of people having any courage, and the instructors yelled at cadets to get their bearings together. They told them this is what they were trained for. A perfect chance to test their skills and knowledge. 

Seyden also felt like he was being avoided more often now, ever since the rumour of him starting the fire was spread. Cadets in the hallway whispered to each other when they saw him. Instructors had faces of disgust when they saw him. It probably hunted him way more than they thought. 

It’s unfair, he thought. But that was exactly what Nolan and the others wanted him to feel. They wanted to make him feel trapped and helpless, not being able to do anything. They were right about that being his fear, although it was more complicated than they thought. Nolan often sent him to solitary confinement instead of beating him because he thought for Seyden, it was worse of a punishment. He thought Seyden feared being trapped more than physical pain. The truth was, Seyden was glad he got it instead of a beating. It was just better. He wanted it to stay that way. 

Solitary confinement wasn’t as scary as it used to be before. Not just to him, too. For everyone. That and quarantine were just childhood nightmares. Now that they were mature�"a word Brandson had said�"they weren’t scary. 

But the fire thing was a real test of his sanity. Everyone in the academy hated him. Even his class was reluctant to follow his orders during battles.

“Repto, I need you to take out those two guards over there,” he said on his com. “You’re the closest. We need them immobilized if we’re going to enter their base.”

But she hesitated, looking at Seyden, wondering if she should. “Repto, you need to do it now,” Seyden said.

Then Sidian spoke, on the com: “Don’t trust him, Repto. He could be sabotaging us. There’s an opening over here, on the other side, where it’s easier to get in. He’s just trying to enter the base the hard way.”

Crike this, Seyden thought. Sidian didn’t understand that this was the best entrance of the base. Even if there were more guards in this path, the hallway was narrower than the other entrance, so if reinforcements came, they would have an easier time taking them down, because of their field advantage. He had already gone through that over and over at the mission planning, and still Sidian didn’t get it. 

“You really believe him?” Seyden told Less. “Have I ever made us lose? Why would I make us lose?”

She shook her head. “My mom always told me to never trust a person known for deceiving.”

Seyden wanted to throw a tantrum. Was she really serious? She wasn’t going to do it? Just because of a lie she believed from the slucks?

Then Melody spoke on the com: “Repto, please don’t believe Rex. If anyone’s going to make us lose, it’s him. We’ve gone over many times that the location you’re at right now is the best way to enter the base. Plus, Red is like the ultimate strategist, and the best commander in the academy. You can trust him.”

Less didn’t listen. Instead she turned off her com so nobody could hear, and spoke to Seyden. “You have made us lose before, remember? When I told you we can hack their comms to figure out their plans, and you said no, and then we had our first ever loss. It was your fault!”

It was the unspoken event between them. Seyden had wished she would never bring that up. It was cheating, and he didn’t want to do that to win. It didn’t make him proud. It was the same as his father issuing an order to make him the commander of the class when he just got there�"it was a cheap move. 

“Not true,” he said, glaring at her. 

“What?” Melody asked. 

He had forgotten his com was still on. “Nothing,” he told her. “Forget it. Anyway, she’s not going to do it. I need you here, Diamond. To take out the guards. I can’t right now, because I need to clear the area behind the outpost for reinforcements. Plus, I’m under heavy fire.”

“Roger,” she said. “I’ll be there.”

He turned off his com, and pointed at Less. “You. Timeout, five minutes. Jeopardy can lead to the failure of a mission, cadet.”

She grumbled, folding her arms and staying back. “You’re one soldier down. You’ll regret this.”

A good commander singles out imminent dangers to the mission, even if they are his own teammates, he thought. Holding back unpredictable members if necessary is acceptable, and commanders should never regret the decision.

Plus, they were already one solider down. Will did practically nothing during battles ever since he was put into�"that state. He just stood there, holding his rifle, awaiting commands. And when you gave him one, he executed them poorly, so Seyden just decided to not give him any jobs during battles.

Even though they still won, Seyden had kind of hoped they lost, so that he could blame it on Less. But his plan was too good. Everyone followed it correctly�"except for Less and Sidian�"and it worked perfectly, as usual.

After the battle, when everyone filed inside the armoury cheering as always, Seyden took off his helmet, pulled aside Chalice, and told her what happened. “And you said: Don’t worry about it,” he told her, quoting her. “You shrugged it off and said, Come on, nobody believes you started the fire. Those were your exact words.”

“Well you proved me wrong, then,” she said. “I’m sorry. But what are we going to do about it?”

For the first time, Seyden didn’t know. “I just can’t believe they don’t trust me. After…how many years?” “Some people trust you,” she said. “Your closest friends. Me, Evestor, Melody, Amber…I think Mady. I think the believes you didn’t do it. And I’m sure Will would too if…you know.”

Seyden nodded, agreeing. He wasn’t much of a person for revenge, but he wanted to punish Less in some way. Somehow. He wasn’t going to let her get past this easily. It was going to be hard to do since she always seemed to be right, every single time she disagreed with him. 

One day, during the free lunch period, he felt angry and sorry for himself while walking through the hall. He felt more left out ever since the incident, even as if he tried more to fit in. But maybe he couldn’t fit in, because maybe it was because of his real identity. He was a human. Even if humans and Namans were virtually the same, there were slight differences. 

Mady and Dellos saw him in his sullen mood in the hall, while walking by. “Hey, Red,” Mady said. “Why are you so gloomy all the time? How about you come with us to get lunch, to make you feel better.”

Seyden hesitated, deciding. Then he nodded. He was hungry. “I guess.” 

Calum came around the corner then. “No, I know what’s going to make him feel better.”

“What?” Mady asked. 

“Seyden, I spied on a sluck entering one of those rooms we can’t enter. You know, the ones all around the station, with different coloured stripes. The ones only slucks have access to. Anyway, I watched the sluck enter a code to enter the door, and memorized it, too. He didn’t know I was watching him do the code.”

“I thought the doors have a card-swiping thingy to enter, not a number pad,” Mady said. “And I thought Nolan clarified that their just storage rooms for citum and gasoline. Kept locked up away from us because they’re very flammable things.”

“Well, this one has a number pad,” Calum said. “And not all of them have citum and gasoline.”

“How do you know?” she asked. 

“Long story. Cosmo found that out from a sluck, then told Locke, then told me. Oh, I guess it’s not a long story then. Anyway, I say the four of us break in. What do you say, Seyden? Buddy?” He nudged him. “Being sneaky, just like old times?”

“Um, I’m not so sure…” Mady said, looking at Calum’s desiring face. She gave in. “Oh, okay! Fine. It sounds like fun, that’s all.”

“Agreed,” Seyden said. “Let’s find out what’s in there.”

“Yes!” Calum said. Then he rubbed his stomach. “Mentioning citum has really made me hungry for some. I’m out. Do you guys have any?”

Mady pulled out a pack and offered to everyone. Only Seyden didn’t take one. 

“Suit yourself,” Mady said, chewing. 

“Follow me,” Calum said. “I know where the room is.” They went through the many hallways of the station and got there in no time. Seyden recognized the door. It was one of many he had tried to enter, by testing the lock. 

“Here we go,” Calum said, about to press numbers on the keypad.

“Wait!” Mady said, and he froze. “What if they find our fingerprints in there?”

She’s thinking about what happened with me, Seyden thought. 

“I wouldn’t worry,” Calum said. “They only checked for fingerprints because they wanted to find out who started the fire.”

“What about cameras?” she asked. “They can see us enter. Also, if they ever find out that cadets did enter this room, the first thing they’ll do is find fingerprints. And then they’ll find out its us. Plus, what if someone’s in there?”

“Stop worrying,” he said. “We can’t back down now. I thought you didn’t fear anything.”

She blushed. “I don’t, Calum. I’m just figuring out possibilities that can happen to get us in serious trouble.”

“Okay, you won’t mind if I enter then,” he said, humming as he entered the code.

The door slid open, and the four of them went inside. The first thing they saw were screens. Lots of them. 

“Whoa,” Calum said. “You don’t think all this can be…”

“The camera room!” Mady whispered. “Crikes!”

“We might be in some serious trouble,” Calum said. 

“Who cares?” Seyden said. “We’ve gone too far. Let’s check it out.”

He went over to a desk. Many screens covered the wall above it, and he studied all of them. Calum, Mady, and Dellos went over to him and peered at them over his shoulder. They showed views of every part of the station. It definitely was the camera room. There were labels that told what screens watched over what areas. Hangar. Sector A-One hallway one. Classroom fourteen.

“Look! It’s the cafeteria,” Calum said, pointing to a screen that displayed a bunch of cadets eating on tables. “We’re spying on all of them. Feels weird.”

“Crikey, look over here, what Dellos found!” Mady said. Dellos was pointing to another screen. “It’s the bathroom! They even have cameras in the bathrooms! That’s creepy!”

“That’s sick,” Calum said. “What shmuck would want to watch us in the bathroom? Look, they can even see in the stalls! And in the showers!”

Seyden looked around more. Everything was there. All the classrooms, the bunk rooms, the training gyms, the simulation rooms, the battlefields, the public washrooms, the bunk room bathrooms, the cafeterias, the hangar…it was too much to take in. 

“So the slucks spy on us everywhere, all the time,” Mady spoke aloud what everyone was thinking. “That’s how they know everything going on, then.”

“We’re lucky no one was in here,” Calum said. 

Seyden noticed that there weren’t any cameras in the other secret rooms. He knew that because he didn’t see any screens showing citum crates and gasoline canisters. There also weren’t any views of outside the station, which he thought they would have. That meant no outer cameras. During an attack by the humans�"which he expected one was coming up soon since their fleet was advancing towards them�"they would be useful to use to see what was going on outside. Well, they probably had the windows all throughout the station for that purpose. You can clearly see outside through them without cameras. 

“Let’s mess around,” Calum said. “Watch this.”

He grabbed the mouse on the desk, and looked around the station. He laughed when he saw funny things, like cadets spilling milk on their clothes in the cafeteria, or some tripping in the hallway. He nudged Dellos, and the boy actually smiled for once. The two of them looked around the screens for more things to see around the station.

“Calum actually made him smile,” Mady said. “Rare.”

“Yeah,” Seyden said. There was something burning inside him that he had always wanted to ask her. Chalice had said that she wasn’t sure if Mady trusted him or not. He decided to ask her. 

“Of course I trust you,” she said, smiling. “You’re Commander Red. The best leader in the entire academy.”

“So you know that I didn’t start that fire?”

She suddenly frowned. “Red, there’re times that even the best fall down to sometimes�"”

“So you don’t trust me.”

She sighed. “Fine, I believe you. It’s just…I want to, but it’s hard to since the slucks said they got your fingerprint on that door.”

“I did touch that door. Only to see if it was locked. But they lied about finding my fingerprint inside. They probably said that to make everyone confirm that I went inside.”

“I guess. So you didn’t start the fire, I suppose. Well�"” She saw Calum staring at the showers. “Hey! Stop that! Turn that off. What do you think you’re doing? Why would you do that?” “Sorry, an urge,” he said. “I can’t turn it off, anyway. I don’t know how. And if I did, the next sluck that comes in here will see it turned off and find out that cadets were in here. Us, if you don’t understand.”

“That’s true,” she said. Then she shivered. “It just makes me uncomfortable that they can watch us in the bathrooms. Even in the showers. I don’t think I ever want to take a shower again. Don’t you guys think we have to do something about this?”

“We can’t say a word about this,” Seyden said. “Not even to your friends, because they might tell. If the slucks find out we were in here, they’re going to beat us up hard. We just have to live with the fact we’re being spied on everywhere.”

She exhaled. “You’re right, I guess. You’re always right. That’s why you’re commander.”

“She hates admitting that,” Calum said. 

“Shut up.” Mady punched him in the shoulder, hard. “So maybe it’s true I wanted to be the commander, just like Sidian.”

Seyden didn’t know that. Could it be the reason she sometimes didn’t side with him? He remembered the event that caused the uprising in the academy to happen. Evestor had fallen asleep in class, and Sidian forced everyone to vote baton on him or else he would expose everyone using citum to the instructors. Mady had voted baton. Was it because she despised Seyden secretly?

No, probably not. She was wiser than that. She did it because she was one of those heavily-addicted cadets to citum, too. Plus, the revolution wouldn’t have happened if that event hadn’t taken place. “What’s this room?” Calum said, looking at a screen displaying a room filled with dozens and dozens of spacesuits hanging on racks. There was a pressure chamber on one side, and that immediately told them what it was. 

“Some sort of escape room,” Seyden said. “You can get out of the station and just explore on the outside. Look, I even see ropes there, so just in case you float away. And I see jetpacks.”

“Let’s go check it out!” Calum said. “Look, there’re tons of suits inside. If we take four, the slucks will never notice. It’s in sector C.”

“We don’t know how to enter,” Mady said. “If we need a card, we’re doomed. If we need a code, we’re also doomed.”

“Not so much on the code possibility,” Calum said. “This computer must have everything. Let’s see…”

There was a search option on the computer. Calum used it to try and find out more about the room.

“Look, there’re blocked files here,” he said. “Purely confidential. Can’t enter, though.”

“Sounds interesting,” Mady said, and Seyden agreed.

“Ah, here it is!” he said. “Turns out it is a coded door, and the computer has the password. Would you look at that. How lucky are we. I memorized it already. Let’s go.”

Dellos nodded. Mady agreed instantly, wanting to check it out. “We have lots of time before lunch ends,” she said. “I don’t mind exploring the slucks’ secrets instead of eating.”

It was Seyden who took a while to decide. But he did. “I’m in.”

You sure we won’t get caught, commander?” Calum asked again. “I mean, you’ve already told us many times that you’re sure. But�"are you sure?”

Mady laughed. “You annoying Homo sapient, Calum. He said he’s sure! How many times does he have to explain? He said there’s no cameras looking outside the station. We’re safe.”

“Yup,” Seyden said. “You even said yourself the slucks won’t notice if we take four suits, since there’s so many of them. And we survived breaking into the camera room, didn’t we?”

Calum nodded. “I want to try actually going out of the station. I’ve never done it before.”

“Nobody has done it for a long time, probably,” Mady said. “Who would use suits now when you can just explore space with a spacecraft?”

The station is pretty old, Chalice had told him once, a long, long time ago.

They found the room and entered it with no problems. 

“Suit up, everyone,” Seyden said. 

When they were all ready, they stood in the pressure chamber, barely holding their excitement. 

“Remember,” Seyden said, holding a lever to open the door. “Not a single word about this.”

“Yes sir, Commander Red,” Calum said. “Now would you hurry up?”

Seyden pulled the lever. The door opened, and the black emptiness of space, with the familiar tiny dots. Stars. 

“Attach ropes,” Seyden said, and they all followed. “Hook up coms. We all know sound is nonexistent in space. After you’re done�"have fun.” “This is so cool!” Calum said as he jumped out first. “Why?” Mady asked, jumping out after him. “We’ve already felt the thrill of zero-gravity. During battles. What makes this so different?”

“We were contained, then,” he said. “Also, we always had a mission so we couldn’t focus on having fun. This time we don’t. We can move freely.”

“But you’re still safe,” Seyden said as he waited for Dellos to jump out before he would. “You’re still connected to your rope. Once you move away from the station, in the opposite direction, you’re not coming back.”

“We can use this, you know,” Mady said. “Like, I don’t know. Maybe if we want to get to a location on the station without the instructors seeing us.”

Or if we want to hide from them, Seyden thought. This could be a hiding place. 

“Good analysis,” he told her. “Your observation skills are excellent. A good commander�"”

“Always compliments his or her teammates,” she said, with an annoyed tone. Seyden could imagine her rolling her eyes. “Well Red, you going to jump or not? Look, Dellos is doing backflips�"you can only see it if you’re here with us.”

“Yeah!” Calum said. “Let’s just enjoy the view here. Come on and have some fun with us.”

“I will,” Seyden said, about to jump. “Remember…”

“Not a single word about this,” Mady and Calum both said at once, annoyed.

Seyden nodded, satisfied. He intended to just spend some time relaxing with his friends. To unwind from the stress of the academy. He jumped to join them, thinking, This is the life. Why would I ever want to go back to Earth?

18

Law And

Order

Crike, crike, crike!” Nolan said as he entered the classroom, finding everyone seated and prepared for the next lesson. 

“What is it?” Terra asked, trying to find out what everyone wanted to know. 

“Nothing,” he said. “Just stuff going on down on Adilan. Political disagreements. Debates. And we’re losing.”

“Why does it make you so angry?” Terra said. “It doesn’t affect us here.”

“Yes it does. Forces from all directions are closing in on Sedolas. We have lost a bit of territory in doing so. Our allied countries are falling as well. If we lose this war against the planet, then this station falls, too. This whole academy. And then we can’t keep producing super spies like you. In fact, this station is the only thing keeping us alive. We’re low on troops, so we send in our best soldiers in small squads to take out their bases, by themselves. And guess what? They were trained at this academy.”

“Well, I think all those countries are right to do this,” Charity said. “We are trapped, here, against the law, forced to fight in a war we didn’t choose, and�"”

“Don’t you understand?” Nolan interrupted. “If they win, they’re going to kill all of us, including you. They’re taking no chances. They think you’re just as corrupted as your country, so they’re going to blow up the station with the first chance they get.”

That was something unexpected. The whole class froze in silence, taking it all in. 

“So you better shut your criking mouths and hope that we stand our ground and win this war,” Nolan said. “Serve your own country.”

“What about the humans?” Sidian asked. “They’re closing in on us, too. Oh, how much I can’t wait to just crush their tiny little bones…”

“Yes,” Nolan said. “They’re coming too, sooner than ever. We need more time. We’re just hoping they come a little slower.”

Well I’m hoping they come a little faster, Seyden thought. They’ll save me from this wretched planet and its people. And the grip of my father. 

“I say we tell that to the world,” Locke said. “Tell them all that the humans are coming, and we better fight as one before they do. So that means we have to stop fighting each other, if only momentarily. Do they not realize that we’re trying to help us win this Naman-human war?”

“But they don’t want to do that,” Charity told Locke. “Because Sedolas has committed international crimes! They don’t deserve help!”

“This is the big debate going on down there, actually,” Nolan said. “If whether or not the whole world wants to join Sedolas against the humans to defend our race, or keep trying to overtake Sedolas for all its crimes. Right now, they’re more on the latter side. That could be today’s lesson, actually. A matter of opinion and political oppositions. What do you guys think?”

“The first option, obviously!” Sidian said. “We have to show those little crikes we’re better than this. We have to show our true power. The only reason they’re winning this war is because we’re in a world-argument right now. And we’re kind of low on soldiers ever since that epidemic from Nye’s country ravaged the world.”

Sidian glared at Nye, and he shrunk in his seat. 

“That wasn’t his fault,” Melody said. “Plus, it started recently. When he was on this station. Stop treating everyone that came from that country here like they’re disgusting freaks, Sidian. Like they belong in quarantine.”

“No, I don’t think we should even continue the war with the humans,” Amber said. “We don’t need to show off our power to them. Before anyone thinks I’m a human-sympathizer by the way, I got this idea from Seyden, so don’t blame me.” She looked at him, smiling. “Maybe we should just show them all the problems going on in our world and try to make peace with them. We’ve had this war with them for way too long.”

“We’ve got a human-sympathizer!” Less yelled, and a lot of cadets laughed. “She must think the little crikes are cute!”

“No!” Amber said, turning red. “I don’t!”

“Stop that,” Seyden said, standing up. “Stop picking on her. And so what if she’s a human-sympathizer? That doesn’t change the fact she’s a Naman and she’s on our side.”

“True fact,” Evestor said. “Amber would fight for her country, just like all of us, no matter what.”

“Yeah,” Amber said. 

“I’m on her side,” Charity said. “Also on the side of the countries down there fighting for our rights. I’m pretty sure even kidnapping and child abuse are illegal in Sedolas. This whole station’s illegal!”

“But it was created by the president,” Nolan said. “It’s clear you’re on the wrong side of justice. Without the harsh punishment we give you, do you think you will be fully trained and ready for the true realities and horrors of war? Do you think you don’t understand the concept of it better than any other cadets training in the other militaries around the world? All of the things we do to you is to fully prepare you for the real world, because in the real world, things aren’t or will ever be as fair to you as they are now. We beat you so you understand the pain and torture, the amount of harshness enemies will give you, during war. We send you to solitary confinement so you understand the feeling of being imprisoned and trapped, when you get captured in war. We take away your shower and food privileges sometimes for punishments so you understand the bad hygiene and starvation of war. Everything we do is to prepare you for the reality. Why do you think we are the best academy in the world, and Sedolas has the best military? Everything we do to you all is for a reason, and that’s what you don’t understand. Keeping you in the dark about the true horrors of war will only make you soft when the time comes for you to face it. Does that make sense? Am I clear enough?”

Everything did in fact make sense, something no one wanted to admit. Charity’s head sunk, and she said, “Yes, sir.”

“Good, so you understand it now,” Nolan said. “You all may think we give harsh punishments for no reason, huh? Well now you know why we do. It’s the best and only way to get you ready. We even do it for good reasons, too. We only do it if you did something wrong, and you require a lesson to learn from your mistakes. We don’t just dish out punishments for free. We also tried to prepare you for this, long, long ago. Why do you think one of the very first lessons we taught you as a child was the importance of punishment?”

Seyden didn’t want to admit it, but everything Nolan said actually made sense. Now he understood how everything that came to them was deserved. The first special test was create so they could overcome their fears and be better soldiers. The second test was to prepare them for the reality of taking a life, something they would inevitably have to do in the future in a war. Well, unless they became a medic. 

It was all planned, from the start. Everything for it had a reason. Now he understood better why his father thought all their punishments were okay. But even all that doesn’t explain how they were stripped of freedom as children, forced to fight as soldiers. They never wanted a life like this. They never chose this. They should be given the choice now, if they wanted to continue their training or not. That would be better. 

We are at war, kid! Brandson had told him. Don’t you understand? These are desperate times, and that makes us desperate too!

So he was right, then. Their harsh training was necessary to make great soldiers, because war made everyone desperate. They were forced to be in this war because Fate just come them specifically to. Fate had to choose them, because she had to choose someone. If she picked a different group of kids, they would also be thinking the same as them, right now. 

It was the same as his case with the Parasite Operation. He was just the unfortunate one to be chosen out of the many other babies to be in this project, just because scientists predicted in the future his genetics and abilities. Brandson had told him he would look closest like the president of Sedolas, and his wife, so no suspicion would come from there. He also told him he would be the closest body build to a Naman at that age, so he was the prefect choice. 

Plus, we had to choose one! he had also said. 

“So now that you understand the case on our side, what side do you choose now?” Nolan said. 

Nobody answered. They all knew if they did choose, and the chose wrongly, Nolan would get angry at them. Also, Nolan’s points were actually good and proven correct. The class was now confused with which side to pick. It was Charity who spoke first, after a long silence. “Well, I still stick to the side of the countries down below that are against Sedolas. If these are all the points that were said in the political debates down there to defend Sedolas’s position, and they still lost, that means the points of the other countries, whatever they may be, are better. The winner of the debates determines the evidence of my statement.”

Wrong move, wrong move, Seyden thought, thinking Nolan would say whip or baton any moment now for her unacceptable rebellious nature.

Instead, Nolan nodded, pleased. “I respect your view.”

“Did she not hear everything that you said?” Sidian told him. “Make her pay!”

“This lesson is to teach you to have your own opinion!” Nolan said. “Not to try and get everyone on one side.”

Only Sidian could say that and get away with it. If anyone else did, it would be over for them. Sidian grumbled and slumped back in his seat. 

Melody spoke up. “Well, I agree with Charity. The things you do to us here are not acceptable, even if they’re for a good cause. Explain the goodness of Will’s state, then.”

No, Seyden thought. Absolute bad move. 

The whole class ruptured into argument. All the tension in the air broke, replaced by adrenalized energy. Most stood up and yelled at the instructor, trying to defend Will, some sided with the instructor. 

“Yeah! Turn him back!”

“We’re not going to ignore this!”

“We’re not letting this go unnoticed and unjustified!”

“Shut up! He deserved it anyway!”

“No, you deserve it!”

“It was punishment for us, don’t you understand? Totally justified.”

“Crikey, would you want to be turned into a mindless slave? A zombie?”

“Stop! Stop this, now!” Nolan yelled, trying to calm everyone down. But it was no use. He looked at Seyden. “You’re their commander. They’ll listen to you.”

He tried to get their attention, but it didn’t work. He shook his head at Nolan. 

The class was getting more uncontrollable, with anger heating up towards one another, some directed at Nolan. Cadets started throwing things at each other, and a fight was at its dawn. 

“Look at him!” Melody said, bringing Will up to the front of the class. “Nobody deserves this. Tell me one good reason Will deserved this. There’s no argument he’s dead! He’s practically dead!”

“Too bad,” Sidian said, “the state is irreversible.”

“How do you know that?” Nye said. “Do you know something?”

They didn’t stop there. Seyden wanted to take part in the argument. He wanted to help his friends with their side, the right side. The side the planet agreed on. But he knew it was best not to act or speak. Everyone expected him to side with his father, something he even expected as well. He loved his father, and his opinions weren’t as bad as everyone thought. He was sure of that. 

It would be dangerous to let out his opinion about the situation, especially now, when everyone was yelling at each other, thinking their side was the one that supported justice. And thinking the other one was unfair. 

“The world is just overreacting,” Locke said. “Just because of our harsh training and treatment. If you’re not tough enough, then leave. Only the strong should survive!”

Seyden had disagreed with that statement once. It hadn’t gone so well. 

“That’s the thing!” Mady yelled. “We can’t!”

“We all leave when we reach fifteen,” Locke argued. “What’s so unfair in that? We’re not kept in here forever!”

But I am, Seyden thought. I hope they don’t mention that. I don’t want to be brought into this. 

“But after fifteen we’re forced to fight for the rest of our lives!” Melody yelled. “You’re the pathetic, overreacting crike!”

“You don’t treat him that way,” Sidian said, putting himself between them. “Take that back.”

“Never.”

“Sidian, don’t do this,” Evestor said, stepping in front of her. “I’ll stop you.”

“You were always a coward too, Wolf. Why are you only addressing me?”

“Fine,” he said. “Both of you, stop. We can’t let our anger get the best of us�"”

As he said that, Sidian pushed him. It was unexpected, but he stayed upright. He pushed him back, angry.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Calum said, going in between them, facing Evestor. “Wolf, don’t contradict yourself.”

“Why are you defending him?”

“It’s getting very bad,” Chalice told Seyden, but he could barely hear over the noise. “The class is a mess. What should we do?” Seyden shrugged. He wanted to leave already, but being dismissed wasn’t as soon as he would have liked. He had something to do rather than this. Especially rather than this. 

Those confidential files in the camera room�"the one Calum had found�"he had told Brandson about it. He remembered the vice-admiral once telling him, Maybe just find out anything they do on that station. This could be a perfect chance to try and get information for the humans. Brandson had agreed. The plan was, he would be connected and would be seeing everything Seyden saw in his vision, when he would be hacking the computer. All he had to do was flip through the documents as fast as he could. The humans would be recording, and they could pause if necessary, so he didn’t need to view the documents for long. 

The only thing was, Seyden knew of only one person he could count on to hack files in the computer with ease. It wasn’t going to be so easy. 

The argument was getting worse, too. Nolan couldn’t keep control of it at all. Accusations and insults were thrown at each other, as well as materials and sometimes, desks. The ruckus wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. It just kept getting louder and louder. 

Then, just as Seyden couldn’t take it anymore, he heard a new voice yell over everything, like an all-powerful, booming, voice command. 

“Stop!”

The sudden change to stillness and complete silence puzzled everyone. What was even more puzzling was that it had came from Dellos. That weird and confusing fact was what made everyone stop going at each other’s throats. It was such a miraculous event. 

“Stop this all, now!” he said. 

“Dellos,” Mady said. “Your voice. It’s back.”

For a moment, Dellos was paralyzed, confused. As if he just realized it too. He felt at his own throat, testing it. “Stop, stop, stop. I can talk! I can talk!”

“Crike,” Terra said. “Stinger can talk.”

“I can talk!” he exclaimed again. 

“What a surprise,” Nolan said, grinning insincerely, with fake content. “Our buddy Dellos has found his voice again.”

Dellos was so overwhelmed with surprise and joy that he sat down on a chair, unable to support himself. Everyone crowded around him, forgetting about the argument. 

“He’s back!”

“He’s himself again!”

“Looks like bad childhoods can be fixed, then. Never knew.”

“First he smiled, and now he can talk,” Mady told Seyden. “I thought this place would destroy him even more. Somehow it’s fixing him.”

“Why?” Seyden asked her. “What happened to him?”

“Best not to explain,” she said. 

“After this…interesting, event,” Nolan said, “you are all dismissed. Later, everyone is going to clean up the class. I’m not letting this occurrence go. No excuses, no, But I didn’t do anything, sir’s. It’s everyone’s duty. You may go.”

Everyone relaxed. He left, and then all their attention went back to Dellos again, praising him. 

“Wow! That was amazing!”

“Yeah! You made him leave, and you gave us free time!”

“You’re awesome, man!”

“And you can talk!”

For Seyden, he saw it as a perfect opportunity. How many other chance could he get? He had to do it now. 

How could he get Less? There was only one thing: citum. Of course! The perfect bribing object.

He went to Terra first. She was along with group of cadets crowding over Dellos, which was basically everyone. “Terra,” he whispered to her. “Can you give me a whole pack of citum?”

“Right now?” she asked, looking amazed. “Wow Red, I never knew you were addicted.”

“I’m not,” he said. He needed to prepare for desperate odds. Less wasn’t going to take one piece. “I just need it, for…something.”

“You’re not tricking me,” Terra said, her eyes narrowing. “Are you thinking about starting another fire?”

“No!” Seyden said, a bit too loud. “I’m not. Please, trust me.”

“Prove it. It’s already been proved that you started the last one, whether it was truly an accident or not, with a fingerprint. And we all know you and Chalice don’t do citum.”

“I need it to bribe someone,” he explained. “Just please, I need some. What do people pay you?”

She looked around. Maybe checking for instructors in the hallway. Then she took out a pack from her pocket and gave it to him, quickly. “I have more, so don’t worry about me. I give it away for free.”

“Thanks, Terra.”

“This better be for something good.”

He tried to hide his inner guilt. It wasn’t, and that was the thing. He was just using the power of trust. He was helping the humans, secretly, because nobody knew. If she found out what this was really for, she would have never given the pack.

“It is,” he said. “I promise.”

He put the pack in his pocket, about to leave. 

“Oh, and Seyden…” she said, and he turned. “I know what the slucks are capable of. I do trust you.” She winked. 

He nodded. 

That could be your downfall, he thought. Because even I don’t trust myself. 

19

Revelations

The first thing she said when he asked her was: “No.”

“Come on,” Seyden said. “Please. I know you don’t trust me, but I need to do this. It’s for something important.” 

“What’s my benefit?” she asked. “Never mind, I don’t want to know. I don’t want to trust a liar.”

That was the reaction he was expecting. But he really needed Less. There was no other choice. The humans counted on him. They didn’t know a single thing about the station, or its layout. If they were to rescue him, a map would make it so much easier. They’d pick which rooms to go to, and secure, and which to take down. They also needed information about what was going on in Adilan, and the academy. This would benefit them so much. Plus, it was confidential. There could be secrets about the Namans that the humans would want to find out, to exploit them. Maybe it could be a secret weakness, or a revelation about Seyden’s father’s plans. 

“Please, I need you to just hack into the slucks’ central database system.”

“The slucks’ computer network?” she exclaimed. Now she looked unsure, indecisive. “Why didn’t you say so? I…I’ve always wanted to hack their system.”

So she’s drawn by hacking opportunities, he thought. He chose to take that as an advantage. “It’s the camera room, too. You can spy on all the cadets you want. Remember how you used to love doing that, with the coms?”

“Ha! That was funny,” she said. “Hearing the other team insult each other because they’re always losing to us. But no, I won’t do it. Well, okay…maybe. Ugh, I don’t know.”

Seyden pulled out the pack of citum from his pocket. “I’ll give you this if you do it. A whole pack of citum. For payment.” He paused, thinking. “You know, Locke really likes citum.”

“Crike!” she said, seeing the citum. “A whole pack!? You’re crazy! Who gave you that? Terra? She rarely gives whole packs away. I’m going to vomit so much if I eat all of that!”

“Yes you will,” Seyden said, pulling it back as she tried to snatch it. “And it’s a really good feeling.”

“How do you know? You don’t eat the stuff yourself.”

“I was just told. Locke will love it if you share some of this with him.” She seemed to consider taking the offer. “Please don’t bring him into this. Plus, crike Locke. I’m eating that whole pack myself!”

“Not until you accept, remember?”

She hesitated. “Just give me time to think, okay?”

“No.” Seyden was firm with that. “Now or never. What other chance will you get to hack the slucks’ network, too?”

“I have to say, you’re good at this kind of stuff. This is a good offer.”

“Less, you can’t let that fire thing take over your decision to help your commander. And you can’t believe I’m corrupted because of my father. You see how opinions like those tear up the class like that? We’re being torn apart, forced to choose between two sides. When the humans arrive, we can’t afford that. We can’t be just like the planet down below and be too caught up in our own mess to address those aliens. We have to stick as a team. When the humans come, and they will, we have to stay a team. Maybe Adilan won’t, but we will. And for a team to happen, there has to be trust.”

“Fine! I trust you. I know a Homo sapient like you wouldn’t have the guts to do such a thing, anyway. But that still doesn’t make me accept your offer. I still don’t know what it’s for.”

“You don’t need to know, cadet. You haven’t been following orders lately. I say this is also a great chance for you to make up for it. That’s another benefit for you. How many more benefits can I give?”

“Hmm. You make good points too. I think you’d become a great replacement for your father when you’re older. A great president of Sedolas. Isn’t that what you’re going to become? Instead of a soldier?”

With the humans’ help, that wasn’t going to happen to him. He put his faith and trust into them that they would come in time to rescue him before that. He would assist them in taking down his father’s empire. 

But he still wasn’t sure if he was going to do that. He still loved his father, and his planet. Helping the humans invade and win the war�"that wasn’t something he wanted to do. For all he knew, his blood may be human, but he was more Naman as a person. This was his home, his planet, his family. He didn’t want the humans to win the war. Only to help him escape his eternal fate at the academy, and to take down his father’s empire to leave Adilan in peace, and then leave. He had decided in that moment he didn’t want to go back to Earth. He’d stay here. And he wasn’t going to let Brandson talk him out of it. 

“Maybe,” he told her. “Are you going to do it or not? Think of all the pros and cons.”

She thought for a moment. “There’s no cons.”

“Exactly.”

“Yes there is, actually,” she said. “Helping you.”

“I thought you trusted me.”

“I know, I was kidding. I’ll do it. I already stated that you aren’t a liar, I guess. It’s almost a fact that you didn’t start the fire to everyone, you know. We all know�"as Calum would put it�"freaking Commander Red wouldn’t do such a thing.”

He relaxed, finally getting satisfaction for once. That was what he thought, at first, and it turned out he was right. After years of having him as their commander, of course they all trusted him. Maybe they had doubts, like how Less did, but ultimately, they knew him inside out. 

“Good,” he said. “Let’s go, then. Right now. We have half a period left. Lots of time.”

“Lead the way,” she said. 

And he did. He remembered the path exactly. The two of them slipped off without anyone noticing. If anyone saw them, it wouldn’t matter anyway. They would think the two of them were going to the bunk room, maybe to get something. 

When they got to the outside of the camera room, Less stood guard and watched for any instructors or cadets walking nearby as Seyden typed in the code that Calum had told him. There wasn’t a single person, though. The class period wasn’t over yet. 

“Wait,” Seyden said, before he was about to touch the last number. “I forgot to tell you. I’m going to open the door slowly. If there’s someone in there, we run. As fast as we can. To make sure he or she doesn’t find out it was us.”

She nodded. “Just do it already.”

Seyden punched in the last number, opened the door slowly, and peeked inside, half-expecting to see an instructor. He exhaled when he saw the room empty. 

“All clear,” he said. “Move in.”

Just like when Seyden first entered the room, Less had an amazed reaction. “Whoa,” she said. “Cool. Spy headquarters for the slucks. I see they have cameras everywhere. Even the washroom, crikes almighty. When did you find this?”

“Keep it a secret, okay? Only Calum, Mady, Dellos, and I know it. and now you do. Long story on how we found out the code to enter. The computer’s over there, on the desk. Work your magic.”

She searched through the computer to find them first. “Is this it? Confidential files? Is this the payload?”

Seyden glanced at it. “Yes.”

“This was easier than I thought. No brute force attack needed. I was also hoping we may had to do some phishing on Nolan just in case all else failed. That would be fun. But nope. Just a simple firewall to figure out how to get past.”

“I have no idea what you’re saying.”

“You wouldn’t,” she said, shaking her head and agreeing. “Look, I’ve already found the vulnerability. Easy peasy. I can use keystroke logging to do this.”

“What do you mean? Please explain.”

“I’m just going to use a program that records which keys were tapped when someone last typed in the password. Then I’ll use them to enter, because the keys are the password. Look, even easier. The password is just four numbers.”

She tapped a few keys. “There. I found out what four numbers the person who last opened the file used. Now…” She typed rapidly, putting the four numbers into different combinations. “Twenty-four combinations with four numbers.”

“And you memorized all this?” Seyden asked, amazed. “Do you have an order in your head to list all the combinations quickly?”

“Yes,” she said. “I’m a master hacker, right? That’s easy stuff one should know.” There was a flash of green on the computer. Access granted. “All done,” she said, smiling happily. “Only the tenth try.” “It’s as easy as that? Just programs and a bit of math? I thought it would take a few minutes for you. That’s actually kind of cool. Too bad hacking’s kind of shamed in the world.”

“See, that’s what I hate about people,” she said. “They think hacking is bad. It’s not hackers that are bad, it’s crackers. The ones that crack into people’s devices. There’s a difference.”

“I know, I know. There are good ones, like the ones that work for governments. Maybe you should work for my father. That would be an honour.”

“It would be my pleasure.”

“Yeah,” Seyden said. “Now it’s my turn. Move aside. Also, I’m going to talk a bit, just ignore me if something I say or do doesn’t make sense.” She shrugged, accepting. 

He pressed his com. “I’m in,” he said, and he knew Brandson was listening. 

“We’ve already hit record.”

“Good,” he said, and he started flipping through the pages of all the documents.

“Whoa, whoa, what are you even doing?” Less asked. “You’re not even reading them! You’re just mindlessly flipping through the pages!”

“I said don’t ask,” Seyden said. 

“What?” Brandson asked. 

“Nothing.”

“You brought someone in with you? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Seyden was about to say, I needed someone to hack it for me, but then that would give away to Less that he was talking to someone. He decided he wouldn’t answer any questions from both of them, to keep their presences a secret to each other. 

He continued flipping through the pages, the majority schematics and maps of the station, and files about it and its creation. 

“These are secret, important, classified files, and you just want to skim through them?”

“I said no questions!” Seyden roared in a commanding voice, making her move back away from him. He instantly regretted it, too. He could’ve been heard by any instructor that heard walking outside the door. 

“I’m sorry,” he said. 

“You have too many traits of your father,” she said. “The ferocity and voice, something you can see clearly in the both of you.”

He’s not my father, Seyden thought. The traits are just pure coincidences. 

But he knew they weren’t. The humans chose him instead of any other baby to send here because they knew he would be the closest to the president of Sedolas�"in genetics�"when he would grow up, in the future.

Less relaxed and moved in closer again, looking through the files as Seyden skipped through them one by one. “Stop here!” she said. “Look. What’s this about?”

Seyden obeyed. He read the title of the document. Naman spy warfare.

“Crike, yes,” Less said as they read the document. “We have Naman spies on Earth? What good news!”

“Hell, no,” Brandson said, on Seyden’s com. “They have Naman spies on Earth? What bad news!”

That was something truly new to Seyden. So they weren’t the first to use that advantage? The advantage that both races were almost alike in every way?

It was creepy to think about. There could be kids like him on Earth, but them being Naman, not human. 

But as he read on, he figured that wasn’t the case. The document stated they were specially trained espionage agents, sent on missions to Earth for the war. They weren’t like him. They chose to do it. He was the first to be sent as a baby, not an adult. He was the first actual parasite. 

“This intel can be a major role in the success of this war,” Brandson said. “It tells us we have traitors on this planet. It’ll make us be more careful about who we trust and who we tell things to. This is actually good for us. We’ll try to expose them as soon as we can.”

“Keep flipping,” Less said. “There could be more stuff like this.”

There wasn’t much more. Just more documents, letters, and notes about the station, the academy, and Sedolas and the events occurring in the country. There was one letter to his father though, sent by an instructor he didn’t know. Sent years ago.

The cadets have begun to question our ways of punishment, it said. They do not understand it is part of the program. We can’t tell that either, or else it will spoil their training. Tell us what to do if they question our training.

So it was proven true, that his father did lie to him. His father had said he didn’t know about it, and that he would get the instructors punished. He lied. Seyden already knew this, since Nolan confirmed it, so it wasn’t much of a shock. 

“But Nolan told us,” Less said, reading the same thing. “About the punishments thing. How they’re planned, he had said. So I guess he disobeyed a rule?” “I don’t know,” Seyden said. “I mean, Nolan disobeys the rules all the time. You and everyone else know he tried to kill me, when I got into that escape pod. And he forced all of you to keep it quiet to Reve, right? Or else he’d be in big trouble, killing the president of Sedolas’s only son.”

She nodded. 

“Who’s Nolan?” Brandson asked. “Or Reve? And what are you even talking about? And you haven’t answered my question. Is there someone else in the room? You’re talking to someone else, it seems.”

Ah, clueless Brandson, he thought. Brandson could only hear Seyden’s voice, not Less’s. So he would have no idea what she said. A moment had passed, until finally he completed looking at all the documents.

“I still don’t understand why you’re just skimming through all�"wait. Unless…” she gasped. “What’s that thing in your eye?”

“What?” Seyden closed his eyes immediately, hiding it. He closed the connection to Brandson. I’m exposed, I’m exposed! he thought. I let her too close to me, enough so she could see it in my eye. 

“I knew it!” Less said. “You’re recording all of it! So you can read it later, huh? No, because a holo-com is expensive and only used for real soldiers. An organization must’ve given it to you. Who are you working for? Your father? A resistance against your father?”

“Nobody,” Seyden said, opening his eyes, since there was no more use of it. He was glad Less hadn’t gotten the full truth. “Keep it a secret, please. You weren’t supposed to know. Not a single word to anybody. I mean it. Not even your closest friends, or a sluck. If I find out, I’ll kill you.”

“You think I’m scared of a puny threat like that?”

Seyden thought fast. “Fine. If you do and they catch me, I’ll expose you using citum to the slucks and you’ll be deep in trouble too. Also, if you don’t agree to keep it a secret, I won’t give you the pack of citum. You don’t have a single reason to tell them, too. If you do, tell me. Now.”

Her eyes narrowed, thinking. “As I said earlier, you’re good at playing these games, Red. I’m not sure if I can trust you, since maybe you did start the fire, for whatever group you’re working for, but fine. I’ll take the citum, and keep my mouth shut.”

“It’s not that hard. You and all the other cadets have kept the citum secret for a very long time. This one shouldn’t be a problem.”

She opened her palm. “Give it, please. Then I’ll shake.”

Seyden sighed and fished it out of his pocket, handing it to her. 

“I promise,” she said, smiling and winking. “I won’t tell. Count on it.” She held out her hand to shake. 

Seyden shook it, hoping he wasn’t going to be scammed later on. 

Classes became boring and uninteresting as fights broke out more often. The energy heating up around the academy was getting hotter, as more cadets got distressed and scared from the incoming Meyvoid Fleet. But some were not, and they claimed they were ready to slay all the crikes that came to them. 

But to most, they were scared. The distress got to everyone’s nerves, the fights getting more intense, and the riots more often.

Melody and Sidian’s rivalry hadn’t gotten any better, too. 

“You only side with the rest of the world because they’re the majority! You don’t listen to what Sedolas has to say, that’s your problem, you crike. You don’t listen to your head! And you’re probably only doing this because you’re sympathetic to that pathetic little crike, Will!”

“Will is your friend! More than mine! Plus, why would I want to trust a guy who murdered a politician!”

“That’s not much of a secret anymore,” Sidian said, eyes lowering. “It was an accident, okay?”

That seemed to stop Melody for a moment. “What?”

“I wasn’t aiming for him. I was aiming for the president.”

Amber, who looked shocked the most, said, “Sidian…that’s even worse!”

One time, when Melody was left really angry after another fight with Sidian, she told Seyden, “Come on, Red. Let’s start another revolution. This time not including that stupid criking Homo sapient. I want to ram my fist into his face so bad. Nolan’s always there, too, guarding him.”

Seyden would shake his head. “We’ve learned from our mistakes, Diamond. We would never succeed if we tried again.”

“Great. Now you’re hopeless too?” she said, frustrated, storming off. 

The hatred left a gloomy atmosphere around the academy. Seyden had felt unhappy and not the same ever since. He visited his spot at the window often, listening to the asteroids hit the side of the station. And he just stood there, looking at the stars, thinking. Sometimes he considered Melody’s idea, about starting another revolution. Everything was was worse than ever before in the academy. Instructors beat up kids more often. He could see it in the bruised eyes and cuts some had while walking in the hall. Probably to behave, since everyone was anxious and nervous about the incoming threat. They only had a bit of time left, until the Meyvoid Fleet would descend upon them. Some cadets got terrible nightmares about it, fearing the day it would happen. Because it was already proven it was going to be inevitable.

In his class too, cadets were beaten up by all five of their instructors more often. Him included. Nolan had gotten angry about everyone always fighting, so he just started punishing everyone. Sometimes cadets were still too rebellious to him and didn’t care when he beat them up. So he targeted something that would make them feel the bad all the same. 

“Please, don’t,” Amber said one day, crying. “He’s like the smallest one here. He’s just a poor little soul. Don’t do it, please.”

“Well I’m tired of having to control this class!” Nolan yelled loudly, the rage in his eyes intense. He looked like a wild, rabid animal. A ferocious look. His eyes bloodshot from exhaustion and tiredness at having to maintain the class, and his body in bad shape. “I’m going to do it!”

“Please! No!” Amber shrieked in tears, in a last desperate effort to save Will. 

But Nolan did it. He hit Will multiple times with a baton, until blood was left on it. “He won’t feel it anyway!” he yelled. “The little crike deserves it! And you all deserve it!”

Will didn’t say a single word, just lay on the floor, motionless. He didn’t even groan. 

Two cadets, Evestor and Nye, tried to get up to bring him in the infirmary without permission. But Nolan saw them. 

“No!” he yelled. “You two, sit down!”

“He needs to get medical help, now!” Evestor said.

“You know what? I change my mind! Get here! Both of you!”

Evestor gulped. They obeyed, and got what everyone expected. A beating with the baton. Evestor was a strong, sizeable cadet, so nobody was worried much when Nolan hit him. He just grunted with pain and took it all in. But everyone feared when Nolan would strike Nye. When the blow came, it came on the head, and some cadets gasped. Nye was knocked out, with blood on his head. 

“That’s what you get when you mess with me!” Nolan roared, and everyone went silent. 

Days like those were often, now. Cadets were badly hurt, and Seyden tried to stay out of the trouble. It worked most of the time, since Fate was nice to him. When he did get in trouble, Nolan barely hurt him, or just gave him solitary confinement, or a petition for him to miss three meals. 

The place was getting scarier by the second, so Seyden spent all his free time alone, training in the battlefield room whenever he had the chance. Usually during the free lunch period, when he couldn’t eat a meal, because of his punishment, or when he just wasn’t hungry. 

Anyone can enter the field to train freely if there wasn’t a battle going on, but rarely anyone did. They would choose to just rather do homework, or chat with friends, or something else. Seyden didn’t really feel doing any of those things. He still had all his friends, but he felt more distant to them now. He still couldn’t shake the feeling he wasn’t one of them, and he was different. It just didn’t feel the same when he talked to them. One time, Brandson had told him, You’re coming home to Earth. Leaving behind your old life behind. So it’s best if you don’t have any ties. Okay? No ties. 

He felt more alone than ever when he trained in the battlefield. He practiced doing shots, and flipping, and fighting techniques, but it was boring without a partner. But one day Chalice found him. 

“There you are,” she said. “I’ve been looking for you. Every single time you disappear. So this is where you go.”

“Please leave me alone,” Seyden told her, hoping she didn’t take it so harshly. He just wanted to be alone. 

She wasn’t Ruby, though. She disobeyed him and went inside. “Is that a direct order?”

“Yes. No. I don’t really know, please don’t ask.”

“If it is, I have the authority to disobey if I think it’s a bad one,” she said. “Second in command. Have you been training here?”

Seyden nodded. “Mostly every day.”

“By yourself? Can I join you?”

“May I join you, sir?” he said. “Even if we’re not at ease, you still refer to me as a commander.”

“What’s up with you, lately? I remember back in the meadows you requested for people to play with you. You liked other’s presences. You’re very different, now.”

It was the same thing Ruby had said. Maybe he should just tell Chalice, too?

“Listen, I have to tell you something�"”

“And what’s that in your eye?” she said, floating closer. I’ve only just noticed it now. Is that new?” That made things easier. The thought that he had no choice but to tell her now made it easier and more comfortable to.  

Seyden told her everything. The whole story, just like Ruby. About the humans, his real identity, his real parents, and how he shut them out and told Brandson the next day he couldn’t talk to them. How he didn’t know who he was, since he was a human but also a Naman, too. Everything about the Parasite Operation, how he is a spy, how he works for them secretly, how he hacked files with Less. In the end, he probably told her more than he told Ruby. 

He wasn’t sure how she would handle the information. When he was done, she seemed kind of doubtful. Or fearful? He couldn’t tell. 

“Wow,” she said. “Oh, poor you. You must be confused and hurting inside.”

She’s talking to me like an animal now, he thought. Maybe she’s disgusted?

“Are you repelled?” Seyden asked, curious. “Appalled? Do you still like me?”

She paled. “What? No. Of course not. Also, you mean as a friend, right?”

“No,” Seyden said. “Ruby told me.”

There was a tense moment of complete silence. Only a few seconds passed until the tension was broken, and they both bursted into laughter. 

“I’m going to kill my sister when I get home!” Chalice said, still laughing with tears in her eyes. “That little runt!”

“Only in one more year. Maybe that’s why she chose to tell me a while ago. She thought you’d be cooled off by the time you got home.” She laughed even more. “Yeah, true.” Then she froze as if she realized something. “Wait, when did you get to see Ruby?”

“During the time you were blind and deaf. I went home because I was sick, and contagious. She’s fine. She’s also worried about you, you know.”

“Did you tell her I’m a lieutenant?” she asked, excited. 

“Of course.”

She sighed. “What revelations we have. I mean, yours is much, much bigger, of course.”

He nodded. He was glad that it didn’t affect her much, like he expected it would. Being a human wasn’t as bad as he thought. One could fit in with Namans.

“Things are going so bad here,” Chalice said. “Wors-ening.”

“I know,” Seyden said. 

Days passed by, and Seyden wasn’t alone when he trained in the battlefield. He was happy someone close to him accompanied him every time. One that knew about the things he talked about from his childhood, because she had the same one, too. Memories from the same mansion that sat upon the hill facing the sunset, and the meadows and forests that covered the estate.

But things were sort of different between them, now. He couldn’t quite place it. Maybe it was the thing Brandson had told him that bothered him.

No ties. 

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to leave Adilan and his life right now. For all he knew, Earth could be a place like quarantine. Or worse, solitary confinement. A planet of oppression and destruction, just like what was taught to them, when they were only children. 

20

Injustice

It’s finally here!” Reve announced to all the cadets in the class. They were standing in front of the five of their instructors.  “Your final birthday at this academy. Your final year. All of you are somewhat near fourteen, and you only have a little bit more time left until you graduate into soldiers. Then you can fight in all the battles you want down below, and you can serve our country!”

Everyone clapped, including the instructors. Some cadets didn’t, though. Seyden one of them. It was a celebration, he understood, since they were almost out of this place. But it was a celebration for the wrong reason. Everyone was applauding for the wrong reason. The idea of overthrowing the instructors had completely died out. There was no hope anymore, and the instructors made sure it stayed that way. Everyone only hoped it would be an easy last year so they could finally escape, something everyone had been wishing for from the very first year. Now, after many had passed, they were all barely hanging on to sanity, desperately hoping time would pass faster. 

“You have all officially stayed on this station longer than on Adilan,” Reve said. “Some of you may not even remember all the details of your house, your home, even your family. You only have a little bit of time left. But may I warn you, this year isn’t going to be a breeze. It’s going to be your hardest one yet, with many challenges you have yet to face. Many victories. Many tragedies. Do your best in this year, and you may make up for your entire time at this academy. We only graduate the best, and only the ones that work as hard as they can are the best. So remember to always�"crikes!”

There was a distant boom, and the station shook a little. Reve paused for a second, waiting for another. 

“What was that?” Terra asked him, frightened. 

“No need for panic,” Nolan spoke for him. “There’s just a little…feud, going on out there. You know, the allied nations in Adilan fighting back against Sedolas in a resistance of theirs of some sort. They’ve been sending small squads to break our barrier of defence here lately. Just little pokes here and there, nothing to worry about. As you all know, this station has a powerful mini fleet that can protect us from whatever they throw at us.”

“What are they trying to do?” Charity asked. “Are they trying to save us?”

“You shut up, criking filth,” Nolan said. “Yes, they are. But you don’t deserve to be saved by them. None of you do. After what you all tried to do to us years ago, which we still haven’t forgotten. You murdered one of us, too.”

Seyden could see Charity balling up her fists, prepared to tell him that it was a cadet that was murdered first�"which was the reason they were the only class with fifteen cadets�"but she knew if she did he would get even more angry, and he would try to deny the fact too. 

One time he had asked Evestor, “Am I not the replacement for Rena? If I may ask, why do we still have fifteen?”

“Am I not?” he questioned, raising an eyebrow. “Sorry, I’m not used to your royal boy, noble blood way of speaking.”

“Shut up,” Seyden said. 

“You weren’t a replacement,” he said. “You were just the last addition to this gifted class. You know how our class is a bit harder than the others since you have to be good to transfer early. So you were just the latest addition. We were supposed to have another one after you, but it turns out there aren’t any more cadets with gifts like us. And then, let’s say we did get another one, plus Rena if she’s still alive, then, you know.”

“Sixteen,” Seyden said. “I understand.”

“Can you just please say I get it? Not, I understand?”

“Nope. If it bothers you, why stop?”

“Ha ha.”

“Tell me how we’re the gifted class again.”

“Are you kidding? We have a master hacker, a girl who can do basically everything, another who can steal from anyone, the toughest and biggest kid in the academy, a know-it-all, a sneaky prankster that’s probably going to be signed up for recon, an amazing pilot, and the dynamic duo that can take down anything, the best fighters in the academy. One that can shoot down any target first try, and another that can take down enemies twice her size. That’s just a sample. Don’t forget me, who everyone relies on for guard the hostages missions. And of course, the best leader. The latest but not least addition, the smartest and most strategic cadet in the academy, you. The one who leads the best out of any of us, the legendary hero that started the revolution.”

“I am no hero,” Seyden said. “I failed you all, did I not?”

“Well, the best thing is that we tried. Also, what is up with your speaking today!”

“Sorry. Just thinking about home makes me feel like I have to follow its rules. My mother goes crazy when I use slang, like slucks. Also Chalice’s sister, whenever she’s there. She sometimes visits.”

“Just ignore it,” Reve said, in the present. “Our fighter pilots are immensely skilled. They’ll take care of those lone squad fighters out there that are trying to get you. They can’t get you, anyway. What are they going to do? Stuff about two hundred fifty kids in a spacecraft that can only hold one or two? You’re safe, here.”

Oblivious, Seyden thought. Why is Reve acting so oblivious to the fact that most of us maybe want those spacecraft pilots to rescue us? I know for a fact he knows that we hate this place, and him. He’s acting like they’re trying to kidnap us. “This special day should be celebrated during all the classes you may have today,” Reve said. “You have successfully spent over half your life to military duty, instead of a luxury life on Adilan. That is a great achievement.”

That’s a sad achievement, Seyden thought. We’re still just kids. 

“So, keep that thought in your minds for the rest of today. And you are dismissed.”

Later, during class, it wasn’t as noisy and rowdy as usual. Nolan had threatened everyone if another fight happened in the class again, he would personally break everyone’s bones one by one, whether they took part in the fight or not. 

“I’m very angry at all of you,” he said. “You think you all can do all of these uncivilized things ever since this little crike here joined this class.” He pointed at Seyden. “He’s become a bad influence on you all.”

“I haven’t done much wrong lately, sir,” Seyden said. “I’ve been trying my best to lay low, and stay that way. I don’t participate in the class’s fights and arguments, I walk away from that.”

“We’ll see,” Nolan said. “We’ll see who believes the liar.”

“Sir, I didn’t start the fire. You know that.”

He grumbled. “Shut up, crike! Homo sapient!”

This time, Seyden didn’t flinch. 

“You’re no better than one of those crikes,” he said. 

I am one, that’s why, Seyden thought. 

“You’re worse than those filthy animals that took my home,” he said. “They ruined my life, you know!”

“We know!” Calum said, at the back of the class. Some cadets laughed. Nolan always reminded everyone about his rough childhood, how his home was taken by humans. It was annoying for everyone, and whenever he said it most just rolled their eyes.

“Shut up, Snare!” he yelled at him. “And stop laughing! Humans are no joke! They’re vicious animals! They tear you apart! They bomb each other for no good reason, and kill innocents of their own. They pollute and pollute, and dump garbage out in their rivers. They discriminate each other, and eat each other! They’re filthy animals! They’re filthy crikes!”

Nolan’s temper is really short today, Seyden thought. 

“Now, all of you behave!” he yelled. “Let me start the lesson! Remember what happens if you all try to tear each other apart again!”

Everyone listened obediently. Nobody wanted to ruin it for the whole class. They’d be hated, then. When they would all get beaten up with broken teeth, bones, and be in a mess of blood, they would all blame the one cadet who caused it all. So everyone kept quiet. It was hopeless to try and stand up against him. 

Throughout the lesson, Seyden was bothered by Sidian and Locke, who kept snickering behind him. He didn’t know why.

“They’re so annoying!” Melody, who was beside him, whispered. He nodded in agreement. 

“Ignore them,” he said. “It’s for the better.”

“The rich crike is talking again, huh?” Nolan said, spotting him. 

“No, it was me,” Melody said, thinking quickly.

What is she doing? he thought. It was also me. Is she taking the blame?

“Tell me what I was talking about, then,” Nolan said. 

“Um…” Melody took a moment to think. 

Calum saved her, though. At the back of the class, he yelled, “Your childhood!”

The class bursted into laughter. Nolan was fuming with anger. “One last chance!” he yelled. “Until I kill all of you!”

The class went silent, obeying once again. Nolan continued with the lesson. 

But Sidian and Locke didn’t stop snickering behind Seyden and Melody. It was getting hard to concentrate, until Sidian spit out his chewed citum into Melody’s hair, when she wasn’t looking. 

“That’s it!” she yelled, standing up. “Sidian, you and me, we’re settling this, right now!”

“No!” the class groaned. 

It’s over, Seyden thought. We’re going to get the worst punishments. 

“It’s not my fault!” Melody yelled. “Sidian spat…” then she realized it was citum. If she exposed that, then they were really in trouble. “Something at me!” She pulled it out of her hair and threw it in the garbage at the end of the room, before Nolan could see it. Of course, out of pure talent, she put it in there first try. 

“You!” Nolan roared, his face beginning to turn red in anger. “I’ve had enough of it! All of you will be getting a punishment! But you, Diamond, first! Face the wall, now!”

“Whip, whip, whip,” the class chanted.

“Shut up!” Nolan yelled, his voice becoming hoarse. “I get to decide this time!”

He pulled out his baton from a drawer, which was still soaked with fresh blood from previous beatings. 

“No,” Chalice whispered, who was on Seyden’s other side. “We can’t let this happen. He’s going to hit as hard as he can this time, I’m sure. It’s another Rena happening all over again. I don’t want to witness another death!”

The class watched as Nolan flipped the baton in his hands, waiting to strike. 

Chalice is right, Seyden thought. They’ve killed enough of us already. First Rena, then Will, and now Melody. Nobody’s going to do anything! I have to!

He knew in that moment then, not a single person was going to be brave enough to do something. They were all too scared, all cowards. But he wasn’t. 

A deadly moment passed. Nolan raised the stick to strike, shouting at the top of his lungs. 

But there was another shout, too. Seyden got off his seat, yelling for Nolan to stop, and ran at him. I can take him, he thought. I’m almost his size. 

He rammed into the instructor with all his force, knocking the baton out of his hand. On the ground, he began kicking him in the stomach. 

Then the class erupted in cheers and pandemonium. Everyone stood up, cheering for Seyden, some helping him. Calum got up and grabbed the baton on the floor, helping hurt Nolan by harming him with the weapon. Other cadets began helping by kicking him on the floor, while he was curled up in a ball, whimpering. 

One of them kicked the instructor in the face, and blood spurted out. 

“Hey!” Amber screamed. “Stop it!”

Seyden stopped and saw how much damage they were actually doing. He chose to help Amber. “Hey! Enough! Stop!”

Everyone obeyed his order, though confused by it. 

“We can’t do this!” Amber said. “We can’t start another revolution! If we do, for sure we’re going to get sentenced to death!”

“You’re too soft!” Less said, pushing her. “What’s your problem!? Don’t you hate this guy? And this place? After everything they’ve done to you, and to us, you still feel sympathy!?”

“Hey! Stop that, don’t push her!” Seyden was fully surprised to see that it was Locke. “She’s right this time, okay? Not you. She’s not sympathetic, she just wants to live! For once in your life just understand you’re wrong!”

Then they heard voices in the hallway. 

“They’re coming,” Calum said. 

Everyone looked at Seyden, their leader. It’s become natural for them to, he realized. 

“What do we do?” Chalice asked him. 

He contemplated. This was very serious. It could be life or death. He had to give them a good plan. “The best plan is to run. Hide. Stick together or be in small groups, whatever. No more classes. No more fun and games. This is serious. You hide, or you die, so don’t get caught. They’ve gone way too far. I’ll stay here and distract me. It’s me they want. Go! And remember, stick together!”

Nolan, on the floor, groaned. Seyden was surprised to find out that he was still conscious. 

“What about him?” Evestor asked, pointing. 

“Leave him!” Seyden yelled. “Move, move, move!”

Everyone scattered, following him. Cadets quickly went into groups, and ran out the door of the classroom, trying to find hiding spots they could take in the station. 

“I hope you’ll be okay,” Chalice told Seyden, about to leave. 

“I’ll take care of those slucks. It’s my job to protect and lead you all, isn’t it? That’s the true job of the commander. To keep you all safe. Now go, before they get here!”

She nodded, leaving with the other cadets. Seyden looked around. The only one who hadn’t left yet was Calum. 

“What are you still doing here?” Seyden said. “Hide! They’re coming!”

“I’d rather stay here, and be loyal,” he said. 

“A good soldier follows his commander’s orders!”

“Well, a good soldier doesn’t abandon his post! Or his commander!”

That was true. There wasn’t any time left, anyway. The other instructors arrived, all four of them, all with tracking bolt rifles. 

“Crike!” Reve said, looking at the mess. Chairs and desks flipped over from cadets rushing around, things spilled, Nolan on the floor, bloody and whimpering. And Seyden and Calum standing in the middle of it. 

“You two!” he yelled. “Seyden, you really can’t restrain yourselves from trouble, huh!? What did Nolan do to deserve this!? He was an orphaned child, his home destroyed by the crikes, and now lives in a filthy, old, mouldy station like this! All he did was follow orders!”

“We’ve had enough!” Seyden yelled, louder. “All you’ve done is torment us for fun, and tell us it’s for training! We can’t take it anymore! This is it. This is the last stand. We’re not going to cooperate any longer.”

Reve growled. “All you have done ever since you came to this station is cause mayhem, and be a source of bad influence for other cadets! I’ve had enough of your crikey!”

He shot a bolt at Seyden’s neck, which immediately latched onto his skin and gave him an electrical shock. He fell to the floor, paralyzed, his vision already blurring and fading away. The last thing he saw was Reve shooting Calum too, the cadet crumpling to the floor just like him, before he blacked out. 

Yes, that’s the one. That’s the stupid crike was the one who started it, and tried to kill me! That one was the one who used the stick. It was painful! I’m telling you Reve, they’re evil! Just kill them both!”

“We’ll kill one of them.”

“Why!? Just kill all of them! This one over here�"he’s the symbol of hope for the academy, or something along that foolishness. It’s all criking nonsense! They praise him like a hero, or king, or god, or something! If you kill him now, while’s he’s restrained, we can destroy the beacon of light for the rest of the cadets at the academy. I’m telling you, he’s dangerous!”

“And he’s awake.”

Seyden felt a sharp pain on one cheek. Reve had punched him, and surprisingly, it helped him clear his vision. He was drowsy, and his sight was still slightly blurry. It took a moment for everything to come into focus. He was on a chair, bound by cuffs, with Reve standing over him, in a dark room. A training gym room? he thought. Where am I? What are they going to do to me? What's Fate decided for me?

“You have a mission,” Reve said. “It could be your last, or it could be his last. Kill the other cadet. If either of you don’t try, we’ll give you another very painful electrical shock. The tracker bolt is still on your neck. It’s very painful, trust me. As you experienced, the highest setting knocked you out. You can only escape if you kill the other cadet. If nobody dies, both of you do. This is your punishment for trying to murder one of us, again!”

Reve punched him once more. He couldn’t see straight after, and he was in incredible pain. The tracker bolt was painful. He almost felt as if he had died. 

A while later, it must’ve happened outside his conscious-ness, the chair was gone, and he was lying on the floor, spitting blood. The room was still dark, with dim lights, and he saw Calum on the other end, standing and advancing towards him.

Of course, they had to put him against Calum. Only one of them would live. He was barely hurt, too. They had given him an advantage, an edge over him so he could easily win. They were being unfair to him, again.

How unjust are they, really? he thought as he felt Calum grab his collar, lifting him up.

“Sorry, bud,” he said. “But they’re forcing us to. You’d understand. Just let me survive. I know it sounds like I’m betraying you, but only one of us can live. I’m sure we both agree it should be me.”

Seyden groaned as Calum kicked him, on the floor. Then, again, and again. 

“Come on, Calum,” Seyden groaned, closing his eyes in pain. “We’re friends.”

“But I want to live,” he said. “Why aren’t you fighting me?”

“We’ll figure out a way for the both of us to escape here. The slucks are the real enemy, not us!”

“Quit your whining,” he said, grabbing his neck and squeezing. Seyden felt his hand close tighter and tighter, and the pain that came along with it, too. 

“You’re…you’re doing the slow, torturous way,” Seyden told him, barely getting the words out. “You still care a little bit. You know you can easily snap my neck with your full arm, right now. The slucks taught all of us how to. You can get it easily over with, but you don’t want to.”

“Shut up!” he said. “You’re wrong! I’m not killing you slow because I still care, I’m doing it because I don’t! I want you to suffer! And yes, the slucks taught me. They also taught me how to kill, too! And they taught you! So why aren’t you fighting back at me?”

“Because…” Seyden said, struggling with his throat being crushed. There was no use. Calum hadn’t been his friend, ever. Not at all. There was no point in arguing with him. It was time to go into action.

“Because…” he repeated, “because a good commander gives his enemy a false sense of security.”

He twisted Calum’s arm, releasing the grip on his throat and making him yell in pain. He pushed him off, and didn’t waste time moving swiftly behind him and putting him into a headlock. He pulled his arm, tighter and tighter, making Calum choke and gasp for air. His arms flailed around, trying to get Seyden off of him, but he was too strong. Seyden knew he could easily take down Calum. He was one of the best fighters in the class, and this was no problem. He had been training with Chalice in the battlefield, and the training gym sometimes. Mady had taught him a few moves for hand-to-hand combat, too. 

Because she’s my real friend, he thought. But this crike isn’t.

A long, gruelling moment passed, until finally Calum stopped moving and breathing. Mady had told him sometimes enemies do that, to trick the person who is choking them, so he waited a little bit longer until he was sure Calum had suffocated. 

He pushed his body aside, gasping for air from the weight that was on top of him the whole time. He stood up, spitting blood, claiming victory. 

“I won!” he yelled to the instructors, if they were listening or not. 

Calum was right: they had taught him how to kill. But the test they gave them was fake. It had been a hologram. Now this was his first kill. 

He spat at Calum’s lifeless body on the floor. He had finally gotten the revenge he’d wanted for years. 

“That’s what you get,” he said. “For blaming Mr. Coyote’s death all on Sidian. All you do is befriend people and backstab them. Who knows, maybe you’d do that in the future, if you joined a military squad. I may have just saved a bunch of lives by killing you. You deserve this. All your life you’ve betrayed people.”

He wiped his mouth. “Well, now you won’t.”

Not anymore, he thought. Not anymore. 

21

The End Of

The World

Where are you?” Brandson asked him. “We’re almost there. Only a bit of time left until we arrive.”

What? He needed more time! They couldn’t be coming now! He needed to give that idea to him while not fully making him understand. Maybe a lie? He could say the Particle Accelerator was manned and active at this time, and they could wait tomorrow. They should know about the cannon of the station now, since he gave them all the files in the station that contained all the information about it. 

Cadets will go crazy when they learn they’re coming right now, he thought. He had to stall. Everything. All at once. He felt like he didn’t have enough time for anything. 

First, escape from the instructors, who had him restrained at the moment. Then he would find his friends, who were most likely scattered across the station, in different areas. He only knew one place where he could maybe find a few of them. 

Mady and Dellos would certainly go to the spacesuit room. It would be the first thing they would think of. They might have brought other cadets with them, or not. Or maybe even the whole class. Whatever the case, that would be the first thing he would go after he escaped. 

“The map you gave us came in really handy,” Brandson said. “We have a plan to go into right as soon as we get there. We have an extraction point for you, too. We’ll tell you where it is, and you’ll make things easier for us.”

No, he thought. He didn’t want to. What were they going to do to the rest of his friends? Or the rest of the cadets? Kill on sight? 

“I need troop deploy information,” he said. “What are you sending? Just one extraction team? There are things you haven’t been telling me, vice-admiral. Why would you bring the whole fleet if you’re just rescuing me?”

“Because we’re not just rescuing you!” he said. Seyden could hear him banging a table. “Believe me, it was entirely the Fleet Admiral’s idea. He thought this could be a chance to finally end the war. A last attack on you all. He said it was the perfect opportunity, too. Since we also have to rescue you as a side mission.”

So they were planning a fight, as he had expected. It wasn’t much of a surprise, since it was kind of obvious. Seyden knew if he had asked why he was held back on that information, Brandson wouldn’t tell him. 

“Answer all my questions, please,” he said instead.

“Yes, we’re sending extraction teams. But they’re not what you might expect. Anyway, I have to get somewhere else. Set your timer to…a few hours, maybe?”

“About?”

“Yes. You’ll be going home shortly, John. To your parents, too. Get ready. Do not breakdown mentally, just like the last time.”

“My name is not John!” he said, closing the connection, angry with him. 

There was not much time left. He was still imprisoned, something he had not told Brandson. His friends were scattered. 

What am I going to do? he thought. He needed a plan, quick. He was known for making up plans quick, but only now, at this moment, his ability was failing him. 

He wanted to keep his friends, and his family, and his home. But how? It wasn’t like he could bring them all to Earth. Maybe he should ask Chalice about it. She could help him decide if he wanted to stay or not, since she knew now that this bothered him. But if he was going to stay, he had to tell Brandson he had made that choice. The sooner the better, too. It could prevent the fleet from coming to their station, if he found out he didn’t want to be rescued after all.

  But he also wanted to go to Earth. To experience a life and family he never had. The decision seemed impossible, but he knew when the time came, at the right moment, he would make the right one. 

Right now, it wasn’t that moment. He had to focus. The instructors had trapped him in a room, which he didn’t know where. They told him he would be released and would go back to regular routines of classes when they find the rest of the cadets in his class scattered around the station. After all, there was one year of training left. 

There was nothing he could do to escape. He had tried everything. The door was locked with machinery, only accessible to opening from the outside. He wondered if he was in a prison chamber, of some sort. 

Now was a good time to get rescued by the humans. He was literally imprisoned. Well, technically any time would be a good time, since the instructors were forcing him to never leave the station ever again. This brought him back to his old problem: whether he actually wanted the humans to come and rescue him or not. If they did, there was no choice in going back to Earth. He didn’t think Brandson would allow him to stay after all their hard work in rescuing him. But all the cadets would be scared out of their minds, and they could also all be potentially be harmed. But he would escape as a benefit. The only thing was, he would escape to Earth, not to his home. 

If they didn’t come, then cadets would be relaxed. Seyden could stay with his real family, friends, and home. Let the rest of Adilan and his father deal with the humans’ invasion. But that was the catch, then: since he chose to stay with the Namans, he would have to help fight back the incoming humans. No, probably not even that, since he would still be stuck in the station, forever!

The decision was so hard! He didn’t know what to do. There were extreme benefits and cons to either side. To make things easier, he realized that if whether he was rescued or not, the fleet would continue with their invasion into Adilan. So the decision was solely based on him. Did he want to be selfish, and escape by himself, leaving everything in his life behind to die? Or did he want to stay with the Namans, and choose to save, protect, and fight for them?

He realize neither way, he would never see Adilan again. If he wasn’t rescued, he would be stuck on the station forever. If he was, he would be stuck on Earth forever, with a new life, whether it would be better or not. He could only pick one, with one choice only. He couldn’t pick both. 

Then a plan started to click in his head. His natural ability to make them came back. What if he could manipulate both choices so that he got what he wanted from both of their benefits, without the cons? Maybe he could let the humans free him, but then he would escape from them and go back to Adilan? Or better yet, a brilliant idea that came to him just now: tell Brandson he would rather stay on Adilan to continue working as a parasite spy. He would tell him things were better for him that way, since he also retain his old life. Brandson would believe him, but really, he would stay on Adilan and not continue to help them at all. And if Brandson realized this and tried to get at him, he couldn’t. Seyden would be under the protection of the most powerful country in Adilan. 

But that was a betrayal. A sneaky plan, something that Calum would do. He didn’t want to be like that. Maybe he should just take his free pass to safety and go back to Earth. After all, he was one of them. 

He was sad that it was only him that had a guaranteed good life in the future. Fate had chosen him to be human, and all his friends were chosen to be Namans. He realized being human wasn’t actually a bad thing for him�"in fact, it may have just saved his life. While he would live happily on Earth, his friends would die slowly, rotting in an apocalyptic Adilan, with humans razing their homes, children screaming and crying at them, famine and the disease epidemic terrorizing through their populations…He didn’t want to think about it. 

He had been pacing around in the room for a while, now. It had always helped him think, even as a child. Finally, he sighed and sat down against the wall, wishing he had better odds. He needed to get out of this cell right now, but he couldn’t. He also wished he had more time. The humans were coming right now. What a perfect moment it as for him to be trapped! 

He also wanted more time so he could decide. One choice or the other, and you can never go back. His plan at choosing both was a long shot. It would most likely not work. So he had to choose one. And again, he couldn’t, unless he was given more time. 

Once something is done in the short window of time that you have, it can never be reversed, his mother had always told him. So he had to choose wisely. 

A hissing sound interrupted his thoughts. He was momentarily confused, until he saw it coming from the door. The door was opening. 

“Hey!” The voice had never sounded more familiar. “Commander Red! How nice to see you again, old buddy!”

Seyden stood up, facing the doorway. The were there. All his cadets, standing behind him. He smiled.

“Cosmo! I’ve never been more happy to see you, cadet!” “I’m a commander, too. You don’t have the authority to refer to me like that. Although I can plainly see you have the audacity.”

“How, how�"”

“It’s been so long, Red. Since the last one. So nostalgic. And I can see now you’ve planned another one.”

Seyden wondered what he was talking about, but then it clicked into his head. “What? I didn’t plan another revolution, Cosmo.”

He looked surprised. “But how? Your cadets are scattered across the station! Some went to me and told me that very same thing! They told me what happened. Why they’re all scattered. How you beat up Nolan�"a nice feat, by the way�"and I automatically assumed you were starting another revolution! And you didn’t tell us!”

“If I was,” Seyden said, “I would make sure you and your class would be the first I would tell. And plan it with, too.”

“True. So this isn’t another revolution?” He pointed behind him. “But I’ve already got my whole class�"”

“Well, it’s a perfect chance to start one,” Seyden said. “What time is it? Situation report.”

“Again, I’m a commander too,” he said. “Remember that before you give orders to me like a cadet. Anyway, it’s nighttime. Curfew has past. Slucks are all asleep in their rooms. We escaped our bunk room because one of my cadets over here can pick locks.”

“What?” Seyden said. “Where did that cadet learn to pick�"”

“Don’t question my cadet’s abilities, Red. I don’t question how one of you can hack anything, or how one of you is exceptionally skilled at piloting. Or how one�"”

“I get it.” Seyden stepped out of the cell, seeing bright lights as soon as he did. Light he hadn’t seen in a while. The amount of it made him sneeze, something that had always happened to him as a little child and hasn’t stopped.

“Hey now,” Cosmo said, “are you getting a little sick again? I heard about what happened with you going back home, you know.”

Seyden shook his head. “Why? Has sneezing because of looking at the sun never happened to you before? I thought it was a normal thing that happened to everybody.”

Cosmo shook his head. “You’re weird. Anyway, let’s not waste any time. I’ll bring you to our bunk room. Your cadets are there. I decided not to bring them here to you, since it would be too dangerous if the night watcher saw them. And if he saw us, well, we’d take care of it with our numbers.”

They started running back towards there, Cosmo and Seyden leading the group. “Which ones?” he asked him.

“Locke, Sidian, and Evestor. Locke would obviously go to me, his buddy, as soon as possible if he needed a place to hide. He lead the other two there, too.”

Seyden wondered why Evestor would choose to go with those two, but he shrugged it off. Evestor had always been friends with everyone, anyway. He was an outgoing guy. Even Calum was his buddy, which, in his mind, had always been part of Sidian’s ragtag friend group. That probably explained Evestor’s ties to Sidian and Locke, then. 

But now Calum was dead. Another one of them, gone. Their class had a reputation for deaths, he realized. He decided if any of them asked about him, he would try to ignore the topic as much as possible. Or lie. 

They got to the bunk room in no time. Locke, Sidian, and Evestor were there, and the certainty made Seyden feel safe. 

“Commander!” Evestor said. “What happened to you? Why do you have so many bruises?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Seyden said. “Look, the slucks are sleeping right now. We could start another revolution. Right under their noses.”

“No,” Locke said. “Remember what happened the last time? We’ll never do it again.”

“Yeah,” Sidian said. “To be honest commander, everyone has kind of given up in the idea. Everyone would rather just wait it out one year. It’s the simplest, easiest, trouble-less way to do it.”

Seyden looked at Cosmo, and the commander shrugged. So it seemed that only him, his class, and Seyden was interested in starting another fight. He knew Melody would too, since she had given him the idea to start with, but to hear that the whole academy had given up�"it wouldn’t work, then. 

“It’s the simplest way to get out,” Seyden said, “but not the fastest. As you all know, the humans are coming. We need a new plan.”

There was no way of telling them that they were coming right now, without them wondering how he knew. All he could do was get them prepared. 

“We don’t know when they’re coming,” Seyden lied, “but we all know they’re coming soon. Before this year ends. We have to find the rest of the class.”

“But we don’t know where they all are,” Evestor said. “I have an idea. We can sneak to this room that only Mady, Dellos, Calum, and I found. I’m sure Mady and Dellos would go there, and maybe lead other cadets there too. It’s a start.”

“Why only them two?” Locke asked. “Where’s Calum?”

“You’re missing one?” Cosmo asked him. “All I found was Commander Red.”

“The…” Seyden tried to think up of something and hide up his guilt at the same time. “The slucks got him.”

“No…” Locke said. “Not a third one…”

“We’ll get our revenge,” Seyden assured. “First step: find the rest of the class.”

“Then what?” Evestor asked. “What are we going to do after? Keep hiding around the station, and starve to death? The slucks will eventually find us.”

“Just trust me,” Seyden said. “I have a plan. Don’t worry.”

They all know so little, he thought. About what’s really going on. They think things aren’t so serious right now. They don’t know the full situation: the humans are coming right now! I’m trying to prepare them!

But again, he couldn’t tell that to them. Because he had absolutely no explanation if they asked him how he found that out. He could already hear their voices: You’re a traitor! And he’d never hear the end of it. 

That is, if they were smart enough to find out he was with the humans. Less had found out he had a holo-com, from seemingly out of nowhere, and she didn’t suspect a thing about him siding with the humans. 

“Listen to Red,” Cosmo said. “Why don’t we just follow the first step right now, and improvise later? Let’s find the rest of your class.”

Evestor, Sidian, and Locke agreed. Seyden told Cosmo to leave his class behind, and only the five of them would go search for them. 

“You’re a hero to them, you know,” Evestor told Seyden while running to the spacesuit room Seyden was leading them to. “They’re counting on you to lead them. To find them, put them together, and protect them.”

Seyden nodded. He understood that a long time ago. Being a leader didn’t just mean you had to lead. It also meant taking care of his or her followers. 

“You sure this is the right way?” Cosmo asked. “I’ve never seen this room you’re talking about before.”

“It’s in our sector,” Seyden said. “I’m not even sure if we’ll find anyone in there. Let Fate decide if some are.”

How much time did he have left? They had to move fast! The humans were closing in, and there wasn’t much time left. 

Finally, they found it. Seyden still remembered the code, which was good, because maybe some cadet’s lives were depending on it inside. 

“One,” he told them, holding the door, “two. Three!”

He opened the door, completely shocked to see his class there! 

“Red!” Mady said. “So you remembered. There’s no better hiding spot, so I took them all here.”

“That’s great,” Seyden said, as he looked around the faces of everyone. “You’re all here. I can’t believe it! Fate was good to me this time!”

Everyone cheered, overwhelmed with the joy of seeing their commander, who had brought Evestor, Locke, and Sidian too, along with Cosmo. Seyden in return was filled with the joy that everyone was there, too. Even Will was there, in his permanent blank state. His cadets would never leave him behind, no matter what happened to him.

But something nagged at the back of Seyden’s mind. Whenever the class went back together in a reunion, there was always a cadet’s voice that told him not to forget something. And that cadet’s voice wasn’t there this time. 

A good commander also makes sure everyone is accounted for, at all times. 

“But you’re not all here,” Seyden told Mady, counting. “Where’s Charity? Chalice? Terra?”

“No idea where the three went,” Melody informed him. “They weren’t with us when we went here. They split off to go somewhere else. We don’t know where they are, sir.”

“Affirmative. Well, we have to find them!”

“Hold on a second,” Nye said, “where’s�"”

“Calum!” Less finished. “My brother! Where is he?”

“I’m sorry Less,” Seyden said. “The slucks killed hi�"”

The station shook, all of a sudden. Everyone struggled to hold their balance, and distant booms were heard.

“Crike!” Sidian yelled. “What was that?”

“It’s probably just those other countries trying to rescue us again,” Mady said, annoyed. 

“No…” Cosmo told all of them. “Listen. I can tell you for sure that’s not them. That was way more powerful.”

They’re here! Seyden thought. He was out of time! He had to act, now! He had to find Chalice, Charity, and Terra, still. Why did they have to come now?

“Well then what was it?” Melody asked. “What could it be�"” Then, alarms rang automatically. Red lights flashed in the hallway, and the noise of the alarm attacked their ears. “Warning! Full scale attack imminent! Requesting all inhabitants to remain calm, to let the authorities handle it. Warning! Full scale attack imminent!”

The announcement kept replaying, over and over again, in a robotic voice. 

“No,” Melody said, trembling in fear. “It’s started. What else could it be!”

“I say we go check,” Sidian said. “Let someone take a spacesuit outside and see.”

“See what?” Nye asked, terrified. 

“If the crikes are actually there. If they’re here already, arrived at this station.”

“We have to hurry!” Seyden said. “Find the last three of us. Let’s go! Follow me!”

Seyden lead them out the room, and into the hallways. All around them, and he expected around the entire station too, cadets and instructors were waking up, confused. Some were already in the halls, running around, screaming. Hiding for their lives. “The crikes are here! The crikes are here!” some cadets yelled. “It’s the end of the world! It’s the apocalypse!”

The station continued to shake as Seyden and his class ran through the mayhem, looking around for their missing cadets. 

Then, the announcement changed. “Warning! All inhabitants must stay calm. Lockdown is engaged. Warning! All inhabitants must stay calm. Lockdown is engaged.”

That kept replaying, too. Seyden couldn’t believe a lockdown drill was happening. The virtually indestructible shield would soon go up, appearing around the station. Sectors would be shut off from each other, with no communications in between them. They would be by themselves. And all doors connecting them would be shut immediately, unable to be opened unless you had codes. 

There are little kids all over the station, he thought. What are they going to do to them?

“Commander,” Mady said. “Let’s find a window. C’mon, we have to check. We have to be sure.”

Seyden hesitated, then nodded. They all went to find the nearest window. 

They all gathered around it, seeing the blue shield form itself around the station. They also saw…

It was bigger than anything he could’ve imagined. Almost the entire Meyvoid Fleet, parked in front of the station. The gigantic motherships, all their little followers. Cruisers, corvettes, fighter spacecraft�"the whole armada.

“Crikes,” Cosmo said. “They’re here. They’re really here!”

They all watched through the window. Anxious. Fearing. Anticipating. The true might of the fleet was right before their very eyes. From the massive view of it, Seyden couldn’t tell if this was a rescue mission for him, or an abduction. Either way, they came here to cause destruction in Adilan. Under the orders of Brandson’s boss. 

It was the end of the world. 

 

 

 

22

The Voice Of

The Namans

The first thing Seyden did was stop the pandemonium. 

“Stop!” he yelled forcefully, on an elevated platform. 

Everyone did. He had such a powerful, commanding voice. Or maybe it was out of pure fear because of his father. Everyone halted, quieting down slowly, and order was restored into the sector. 

“Thank you,” Seyden said. He had to give them a speech. Something to calm them down and prepare for the dangers and challenges they would face. They were on their own, now. The instructors were nowhere to be seen, and their sector was blocked off from the others. They were just the ragtag group of cadets from sector A.

You’re a hero to them, you know, Evestor had told him. They’re counting on you to lead them. To find them, put them together, and protect them.

He realized, when all of them were paused, staring at him, they depended on him to give them orders. They depended on him to be their leader. There was no one else. 

He had failed them once, but he wouldn’t fail them again. He was going to lead them properly this time. 

“Since no one has taken the position,” he said, “I will. I will step up to be the highest commander. I will be our leader and caretaker, the one you all will depend on. I will be our voice. Any objections?”

None. Everyone stared and agreed. He had that thing about him anyway, the thing they couldn’t quite understand. A sort of�"commanding aura. He was just meant to be a leader, just like his father. 

“What’s the plan?” someone asked. 

“A battle plan,” Seyden corrected. “This is war, against the humans. From now on, we think of us like we’re in a battle. We use our codenames. We work together to succeed. If you all may not know me yet, then you will now. Refer to me as Commander Red.”

Seyden paused, looking around at all the scared faces. “This is what we are meant for. Trained for. We have to use all our skills and knowledge to fight back against them, and make sure they don’t get to us. They’ll probably start working on that shield outside the station as soon as possible, so we have time to prepare. We’re alone, so we have to make sure we survive, because the other sectors are counting on it. And those sectors are counting on each other, too.”

“Where are the slucks?” someone in the crowd asked. “They should be here to help us.”

“I don’t know,” Seyden said. “Never mind that. First of all, has anyone here seen or heard about these three cadets of mine�"”

“We know what happened to them!” 

He heard a voice come from a far end of the room. It was unmistakable, and it filled him with joy and relief. Thank Fate, he thought. Fate is good to me. 

“We know what happened to them!” Chalice repeated, showing up looking tired from running, with Charity and Terra. “We were there at the time! The slucks filled their room with poisonous gas!”

“We’re not joking!” Terra said, gasping. “The slucks somehow got past the shield and filled their room with the gas, and they’re all dead! And all the slucks in the other sectors, too! They’re all dead!”

“And…they’ve released something,” Charity said, out of breath. “We don’t know what they are! They’re like…monsters! They look like, I don’t know. A tiger, maybe. But they’re not! They’re scary! We didn’t know the crikes can make such abominations! They released them into the other sectors, and they’re ravaging through the survivors. Both cadet and sluck!”

The crowd was filled with fear at the sudden infor-mation. There were whispers and murmurs about what they could be, and some were utterly terrified, on the floor, curled up in balls, rocking back and forth.

“Silence!” Seyden yelled, to get their attention. “Get your bearings together, cadets!” But he was unsure of what they were, too. He knew nothing about the humans’ plan at rescuing him. Brandson had told him nothing about poison, and scary creatures. He was terrified himself, but he couldn’t afford to show it. 

“Why…why did they insert all those things into those sectors, and not ours?” a cadet in the crowd observed. 

Seyden knew with absolute certainty why. Because I’m in this sector. They can’t afford to harm the person they’re rescuing. 

But he couldn’t tell him that. Instead, he let everyone shrug and be puzzled at the question. 

“Commander,” Less said, tugging his arm. “We can check the camera room and see what’s going on in the other sectors. If there’re any more survivors. And we can check what those monsters look like.”

“I doubt it’ll work, but we can try,” he told her. “During lockdown, all connections are severed, remember? We’re not sure if that camera room is still connected to the cameras in the other sectors. But we’ll certainly try. It’ll give us an edge over the situation, to know and see everything that’s happening.”

Then something appeared in his view, from his holo-com. A call from Brandson. This was perfect. He needed to have a word with him.

“Tell this to Cosmo,” he told Less. Then he called Cosmo. “Cosmo! You’re in charge. I have to do something. Keep them busy, give them orders to make sure their minds are off of their fear.”

Cosmo nodded, and Seyden slipped past the crowd to take the call. 

“Red!” Chalice said, when he ran into her. “Glad to see you’re okay.”

“You too,” Seyden said. “You have to leave me alone right now.”

“Why?”

“I have a call from…you know.” He looked around to see if anybody was listening. Then he whispered: “Them.”

“Oh,” she said, understanding. “Inform me later. I want to hear what they have to say.”

Seyden nodded. He left, finding a secluded spot in the hallway to talk. He realized the hallway with the window he spent a moment looking through every week was a great spot. He went there and answered the call. He stared through the window, looking at all the fleet’s ships ruining the once-great view of the stars. The biggest one, parked right in the middle, had a huge windshield. One that he knew Brandson would be looking through. Maybe he could be looking straight at the window he was looking through, too. 

“You never told me this was going to happen,” Seyden said, as soon as the connection was established. 

“Look, I know you’re still attached to your old life, but please John, just let it go. Forget all about them. You shouldn’t care if they all die. You don’t belong with them.”

“So,” Seyden said, “why did you want to talk?”

“To tell you your extraction point. It’s in another sector. The one closest to you. We’ll pick you up at this chamber we found on the map that you gave us. It’s a room that has spacesuits and everything. Our extraction team is camped there, right now. Don’t worry about those cats lurking in the hallways to get there, by the way. They’re bionic-brained, controlled by us. If they see you, they’re programmed not to hurt you. But they’re not robots, if you think so.”

Cats? Seyden remembered a vague memory of Nolan mentioning them once. So the humans did have extreme wildlife in their planet. He wondered how dangerous cats were. Bigger than a Zeynin? Could they eat people whole, just like a Zeynin? How vicious were they?

Also, it turned out that every sector had a spacesuit room. Not just theirs. That was cool to know. 

He needed more information. He had decided that he was not going to follow Brandson’s orders. He was going to help his cadets, and not go home to Earth.

“Are they everywhere?” he asked. “And they can’t attack me?”

“Yes to both. The room can be a trap, too. I know you’re in there with all your friends. Lead them there, or go by yourself. Do it right now.”

He hesitated, thinking of how he was going to tell Brandson his decision. He settled it with one word: “No.”

For a still moment, Brandson was silent. Then: “Excuse me?”

“I’m not going to do it. I have too many ties, I’m sorry. I know you told me not to.”

Brandson became frustrated. “Don’t you understand? Everything we’re doing right now is for you! The main reason we came all this way is because of you! You can’t just let�"”

Once again, Seyden shut off the connection. He smiled, knowing that angered him a lot. Knowing that he would be so angry at him for doing it again. 

Now he knew where not to lead his cadets. He now knew where the humans were on the station, and more about the creatures they had let loose to eat all of them. 

He wasn’t going to be a human. How could he be, after everything he had experienced in his life? 

He had a full plan, now. He would try to attack the fleet, try to scare them off from rescuing him. Maybe use the spacecraft fighters in the hangar, or, no, the Particle Accelerator cannon. Even better. It was in another sector,  so they had to get past the monsters, but it was worth it. They could use it to destroy a few of their motherships, since Don had said it was designed for that. It was the most powerful weapon they had. 

He would scare them off, and they would just ignore him and leave. They would just go for attacking the planet instead, which is their second mission. Then he would escape with all the remaining cadet survivors in a spacecraft in the hangar, and go down below into Adilan. 

But what if they retaliate? What if Brandson gets so frustrated with him, he chooses to destroy his hope in surviving, and blast the hangar with their cannons so they couldn’t escape? 

He couldn’t think of that right now. He decided before he attacked the fleet, before he even did anything yet, he would do Less’s plan. Try to see if the cameras worked, in the camera room. 

He also needed to get back to all the comfort-needing, frightened cadets in that room, too. They needed a leader. 

After, Seyden told Chalice what the vice-admiral had told him. About how the humans had set a trap that he was supposed to bring them to.

“You’re not going to follow him, are you?” she asked. 

“No, of course not. I’d never lead you in there.” And it was true. He would never harm his friends. He had told Chalice many, many times that even though he gave them information about the station with the files he stole from the camera room with Less, he wasn’t going to continue working for them anymore. He wasn’t on their side.

“I trust you,” she said. “So, what’re we going to do?”

“I have a plan,” he told her. “Don’t worry.”

He talked with Cosmo, Less, and Evestor about going to the camera room. Those were the cadets he wanted to go with. Along with Chalice, too. 

“So,” Less said, “the five of us go there, and find out what’s happening around the station. And to see what this creatures look like. If you guys aren’t down for that, I am. That’s the whole reason I want to go.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s the reason we all want to go,” Evestor said. “But wait, Blue�"you, Star, and Snow have already seen them, right?”

Chalice nodded. “I don’t want to talk about them. They’re scary.”

“You’re making me afraid to see them now,” Cosmo said. “I mean, I still want to see them. But I can’t, right? Someone has to be in charge of all these cadets while you guys go. If there isn’t anybody, it would go into chaos.”

Seyden had forgotten all about that. “Oh. Is it�"”

“Yeah. It’s okay if I stay behind. You four go see what they look like.”

“No, I’ll stay,” Chalice said. “I’ve already seen them. Plus, they’ll listen to me. I’m not a full commander, but I’m a lieutenant. And not just any LT…Commander Red’s LT. Which we all know everyone sees as a hero.”

“Fine,” Seyden said. “Also, thanks. I’m flattered. But don’t get your hopes up, guys. We’re not even sure yet if the cameras work. All communications between sectors are down during lockdown. All sectors for themselves. Even the public address system is shut down. Notice how the announcements from it have ceased ever since we went into lockdown. And the sirens, too.”

“I may be able to do something about it if they’re not working,” Less said. “I dunno. Lockdown drills are pretty intense. I’m sure the shmucks who made the station, and the lockdown drill systems, are superior in their knowledge of tech security to me. But I can try.”
Seyden nodded, satisfied. “Good. An easy recon mission, guys, let’s go. Also, Blue, I think I have a job for you. Just analyze and study the fleet outside the window. Watch them. Tell me on our coms if they make a move, or have a change in patterns.”

“Sir yes sir, Commander Red,” she said.

Seyden and the other three started going for the camera room, as planned. 

“You know what makes me happy, out of all the things in this messed up situation right now?” Less said, smiling as they walked.

“What?” Evestor asked. 

“The thought that the slucks are finally dead. I’m glad. They so deserved it.”

That was something that had slipped Seyden’s mind in all the past, recent commotion. He hadn’t realized that. He wasn’t aware that he would never hear Reve’s commanding voice ever again, or feel Nolan’s whip strikes on his back. Or Don’s incessant scolding, Saph’s ignorance and inability to use precise language, and Beni’s sly and mischievous personality. They were all dead, and that was the last he would feel of their wrath, ever again. 

Less was right. That was a happy thought. It made him smile. 

“Our slucks were the worst, Cosmo” Less told him. “How about yours?”

“They must be just as bad as yours,” he said, “if I also feel the same way about them being dead.”

Finally, the got to the camera room. Seyden typed in the code, and they entered. The screens were still functional, and the cameras were still connected. 

“Yes!” he said. 

“Whoa, I’ve never been here before,” Evestor said, taking a look around. 

“Me neither,” Cosmo said. “All new to me. Red, when did you even find out about this?”

“Long story,” Seyden said. “So it turns out camera feed isn’t interrupted during lockdown.”

They gathered around the central desk, which had all the screens above it. Showing every corner and angle of every hall and room in the station. Seyden saw the empty, desolate hallways. He saw rooms filled with carnage. Cadets’ bodies filling the hallways, and instructors’ bodies on beds inside their bunk rooms, lifeless, dead from gas suffocation. They were all motionless. 

“There!” Less spotted. “I think that’s one of them!”

They all moved closer and studied the screen she was pointing at. Well, in fact, they were on almost all screens. Seyden half-expected to see a disgusting, creepy monster with slimy tentacles. But instead, he saw a graceful, elegant and strong creature, in the shape of a lion, or tiger. One that strode like one, and bounded in leaps when it sped up. 

“Whoa,” Evestor said. “That definitely is creepy. It’s like a tiger, like what Snow said. Or maybe a lion. But it’s not. Look, most are yellowish, but some are black. Strange.”

What is it? Seyden thought. A cat? Is that what an Earth cat was? Evestor was right about it having qualities of both a lion and tiger. Some had few, distinct fur stripes. But some had lion manes, or vibrant tiger tails. And all of them were bigger than either. Much bigger, Seyden could tell. 

“I can tell why they’re scary,” Cosmo said. “Look at how big their teeth are! Especially the two big ones, at the top, when they bare their them. They’re like fangs! And they look very vicious. Look�"most of them have blood caked around their mouths. That’s…disturbing.”

“A cadet, over here!” Less said, pointing to another screen. “Two of them! They’re trapped inside a room�"or maybe they’ve locked themselves in. And those creatures are scratching against the door, trying to get them!”

Seyden saw it. They were younger cadets. Two little girls, huddling inside the room, scared. Whimpering and crying. At the noises of the scratches on the door, maybe.

“We have to rescue them!” Less said. 

“Is there a way we can get sound?” Seyden asked. “Communicate with them?”

“I doubt it. The public address system is switched off, from the lockdown. Which is probably the only way we can contact them in that specific room. But I can try to hack it, to see if I can get communications back online.”

“Good,” Seyden said. “Wait�"what’s happening over here?”

He was looking at a screen showing the hangar. People were there, trapped inside by the lockdown. They were banging on the doors, yelling, but they couldn’t be heard. Seyden recognized them as all the workers that he saw when he had went to the hangar himself. Pilots, engineers, all of them. They were all there, hoping someone would rescue them from the lockdown, or else they would starve to death. 

He had forgotten that the hangar wasn’t part of any sector. It was for the whole station. So during a lockdown, it was separated from the other sectors, too. He had forgotten there could still be people inside. 

“We have to save them, too,” Less said. 

“Commander, what are we going to do?” Evestor asked. “There are scared, isolated cadets and people scattered across the entire station, trapped because of those creatures. They’re survivors. Everyone else, including all the slucks, are dead, poisoned in their rooms. We have to rescue all of them, and bring them to our safe sector.”

“Not yet,” Seyden said, making sure his voice confirmed it as an order. “Let’s take it slow. First, we have to communicate with them. Tell them they’re not alone, and we’re coming to get them. We have to go to the control room for that. The announcement system is there. And Repto has to hack it.”

“It may be hard, too,” she said. “I’ll try my best. Lives depend on it.”

Technically, Seyden could try to rescue them by himself, since the monsters were no threat to him. He wasn’t scared of them, since he knew he was invulnerable to them. But he had to pretend he wasn’t, in front of all his cadets. Also, he couldn’t rescue them anyway. Even if he could walk past those monsters freely, he couldn’t bring those cadets and people in the hangar back to their safe sector without the monsters harming them. 

Also, there was a problem. How would they get into the other sectors anyway? There would be closed doors and shield barriers blocking them from getting past. He told this to Less, Evestor, and Cosmo.

“Looks like you’ll need me more than you thought,” Less said cockily. 

“And if you can’t?” Cosmo asked. “If you can’t hack the lockdown defence systems? What then? How are we going to rescue them?”

“It would be impossible, then,” Seyden said. “But the least we can do is try. So, I say this short mission is accomplished. We saw what’s happening around the station, and we saw what the creatures look like. And which hallways they are in, exactly. Now we just have to try to get communication systems back online, so we can have a way of speaking to them.”

“Lucky us,” Evestor said. “We don’t have any threats in our sector. We’re safe, and the barriers make sure of that. I wonder why we’re the only sector without those things. But I’m happy about that.” He shivered. “I can’t imagine being in the same room with one of those things.”

They’re scared, Seyden thought. They all are. Because of me. I did this to them. And I have no threats, since neither the creatures or the humans will attack me. I’m safe. The only thing I can do is lead and make sure everyone will be okay. Let’s see if fail them this time. They depend on me, because I’m their beacon of hope.

23

The Final

Decision

He told all the cadets everything. “We’ve found out that there are people that need to be rescued, all around the station,” Seyden finished. “First, we’re going to send a party to the control room within this sector, to see if we can bring back communications around the station. We’re going to try to contact them.”

“We saw them in the surveillance room, with the cameras all around the station,” Cosmo said. “But we have no way of contacting them.”

“So, first,” Seyden said, making a plan in his head. “Repto and I will try to make contact. Once we do, we’re going to come back here and make a plan on how to rescue them. They’re all in different sectors, so Repto will also try to get the doors of the lockdown to open again, into those sectors.”

A cadet raised his hand. “What about those monsters? How will you ensure our safety of them if you’re going to open the doors?”

“Good question,” Cosmo said. “Let’s let Commander Red answer that question.”

Seyden felt all eyes in the room stare at him. The thing was, he didn’t have a plan for that at all. He wanted to say, we’ll figure it out, but with all the pressure on him right now, at that moment, he knew saying it would make them lose their hope. 

Then he heard a suggestion, from Mady: “Commander. We can use the spacesuit room. We can enter another sector with them, since you told us every sector has an airlock chamber and a spacesuit room just like ours.”

What she was saying suddenly clicked into his head. “That’s…brilliant, Fate! We can use that plan. I also recall you mentioning that the first time we found the spacesuit room, correct?”

She nodded. “It’s a good idea. We suit up, and use ropes and jetpacks to travel in space, around the station, around all those monsters and locked doors. It’s like a shortcut around all the obstacles. A cheat code.”

“We’ll make a plan once Repto and I get back,” Seyden told all of them. “For now, stay calm as always. Come on, Repto. You know where the control room is, I don’t. Lead the way.” They ran through the halls, going for the control room. As Seyden and Less passed an instructor’s bunk room door, Less stopped in her tracks at it. “I want to check,” she said. “I just gotta see if they’re actually all dead.”

“No,” Seyden said. “Stop wasting time. We know for sure they’re dead. By poisonous gas, too. What if the gas is still in there? If you open the door, you can release it and endanger us all.”

Her hand was on the knob, about to open it, until she realized how good his points were. “True. But, what if they’re not actually dead? How sure are we that it was poisonous gas? What if this whole thing is just the third special test by the slucks, and they’re all hiding in there, snickering? Maybe the camera feed is fake, and all those monsters and dead cadets happening around the station isn’t real.”

“The humans!” he said. “Don’t you see their fleet outside that window? They’re real, and they’re here! Don’t let anything fool you. How would the slucks set up that?”

She nodded. “Fine, I guess you’re right. Everything just seems unreal to me. Let’s move on.”

They got to the control room. There were buttons and levers around a desk that overlooked a window to outer space. Seyden once again saw the Meyvoid Fleet parked right outside, in all their numerous glory, staying still right in front of the station. 

“There,” Less said, pointing to a speaker microphone on the desk. “The public address system. It’s right there. I’ll get started on bringing it back. I don’t know how long it will take.”

Seyden nodded. “Do you best. You have as much time as how long those people around the station live from starvation or thirst.”

“True. So about a few days?”

Seyden let that one go unanswered. He watched as Less went on the computer to see if she could do anything about the communication systems. 

“The lockdown is a tough security system to beat,” she said, typing fast on the computer. “But I think it’s possible. I’m not sure how long I will take, yet. It’s a code set by the slucks that I have to encrypt. It’s designed to be unbeatable. Like, they made it so once you order a lockdown, it’s almost impossible to get it to turn off.”

“How would they turn it off, then? We use the lockdown system during drills. And let’s say in a situation where the threat is dealt with, how would we turn it off? Is it a one-time thing? We can never go back?”

“No. There’s a password only the highest authority slucks know. I think Reve was one of them. Not even Nolan, or Saph, or Don and Beni know. Reve has been here the longest, I think, so that’s why they trusted the code with him. And it’s the same code that I’m trying to figure out.”

“Okay. What do you think the password could be?”

“Anything with the keyboard I have right now,” she said, looking down at it. “It could have numbers, or letters, or even symbols. It’s probably a mix of both, which makes it even harder. I’d rather have it with numbers, since there are only ten digits that I can work with, so it narrows down the possibilities. I’m going to start an encryption process right now, which will take a while. In the meantime…” She turned in her chair. “Tell me what happened to my brother.”

Seyden hesitated, trying to find a right answer. Something that would satisfy her without telling her the truth. 

“Tell me,” she said. “It’s okay, I’m ready for anything. I just want to know. What happened? Did they beat him to death like Blade? Or did they turn him into Titan?”

“Something like that,” he muttered. How can I say he was killed by them without her asking how I myself isn’t dead, too? She’s asking for a specific answer.

“Just tell me. Whatever you say, I won’t let it take over me.”

Seyden wasn’t so sure about that. If that was true, then he would have comfortably told her the truth. He didn’t like lying, he liked giving the honest answer. But he didn’t trust her enough yet to give her it. She might hate him if he did. “Lethal injection? Electric chair? Torture until death? Popped limb sockets?”

Fine! I’ll tell her the truth! “None of those. A gladiator fight.”

She knitted her eyebrows. “What?”

“We were forced to kill each other. Or both of us would die.” He waited her to get angry at him. 

Instead, she took it calmly. “I see. You had no choice.”

Seyden was glad to find out she understood. 

“He’s my brother, but I think we wouldn’t be surviving right now without your leadership. So I’m okay with you being the one to survive out of you two. Right now, we all would be panicking if we didn’t have anyone to lead us because you’re dead. I know for sure my brother can’t lead.” She laughed a little, but then frowned after, ashamed in doing it. 

Emotions are nonexistent during desperate times, and desperate odds, he thought. A good commander never shows his emotions Especially the strongest ones, like fear and love. Fear will make everyone lose hope, and love will make everyone lose their sanity and common sense. It’s also the more dangerous one�"you can risk your life trying to save someone you love and die along with them.

“I’m almost done the process,” she said. “Oh, look, it’s actually not as hard as I thought. I think I can get the password in maybe an hour? We have to wait that long, though.”

“At least it’s possible,” Seyden said, with relief. 

So they waited. Seyden counted seconds and minutes in his head, Less drummed her lap, tapping a beat to waste time. The hour seemed to stretch on forever. 

Finally, it passed. “It’s done!” Less said. “The system is back online. We might get a lot of calls for help, now. From all the rooms people are stuck in.”

The speaker crackled, and it turned out she was right. There were tons of messages. Seyden and Less both put their heads closer to tune in. They were all voices of workers and cadets, all around the station.

“Help me! I’m trapped!”

“Save us! We’re in sector B-Two! Send some help!”

“We need backup over here! Some sort of creatures are attacking us! Ah!”

There were noises of the monsters, too. In some of the messages, Seyden could hear low, deep, guttural growls. Abnormal screeches and roars. Vicious tearing and scratching. 

“Crike, what in the�"” Less withdrew her head from the mysterious, alien noises. “What monsters! They sound a bit like lions, but way more freaky. What could they be?”

“The best guess is a human animal,” Seyden said. 

“We have to reach out to them, now. Tell them they’re not alone.”

“Wait.” Seyden blocked her from touching the micro-phone. “I want to listen a bit more.”

“Is anyone there? Please, if there’re any survivors, save us!”

“Ah! They’re coming! Close the door, close the door!”

“Our sector is in chaos! All our instructors are dead! And then there are these alien creatures roaming the halls, looking for survivors�"”

Less turned it off. “I can’t listen anymore. We have to help.”

Seyden nodded. “Yes, we do. First, contact the hangar. We saw a huge group of workers there, remember?”

Less obeyed. She typed in a number on the pad, which was the room number of the hangar. There was a list showing all of the room numbers. 

“Hello?” she said, holding the microphone to her ear. “Is anybody there?”

There was a response, but messy and disrupted: “Is that someone? Yes! Guys, someone has brought back commu-nications! It’s a miracle! Yes, we’re here. Send help. Send some people to rescue us, please! There are about thirty of us. Those little crikes are all outside the station! We can see them!”

“We’ll try to do as much as we can,” Less said. “Our sectors is safe. For some reason, the humans didn’t put anything in ours. We’re just a big group of cadets, no instructors, because they’re all dead. We’ll try to rescue you and bring you here, but we don’t have much of a way of doing that while avoiding the creatures.”

“We can try to fight,” the person on the speaker replied. “There’s a lot of us. The creatures aren’t invulnerable, and we have a lot of things here we can use. Wrenches, crowbars�"”

“No,” Seyden said, ordering Less to give him the microphone. “You’re in the hangar. Why don’t you try to escape with a spacecraft?”

“The criking Meyvoid Fleet is right outside, kid! What do you think of us, crazy? We’re not just going to open ourselves in their line of fire and risk our lives!”

Then, he heard another voice: “If we try to leave the hangar with a spacecraft they might see us and shoot us down. We’re scared of that, that’s what he’s trying to say. Well, I want to fight back! I want to show those crikes we’re not defenceless!”

“This is truly a desperate time,” Seyden said. “I am also in favour of attacking them back. Just to scare them off. Take down one of their corvettes with your most experienced pilots, maybe. It’s the only chance we have at making them go away.”

The other person’s voice came back: “Who do you think you are to command us like that, kid?”

“I’m the president of Sedolas’s son!”

“Crikes!” Seyden could feel the person’s fear in the exclamation. “He even has the tone.”

“We have no more instructors, so I suggest you report and obey me. All the cadets are. They see me as their leader.”

“It’s not that non-sensible,” the other person told his comrade. “The cadet is right. One of them has to take charge if all the instructors are dead. And he did.”

“What do you say?” Seyden said. “Are we going to strike back at them? It’s okay to risk your lives. You’re already trapped in there, surrounded by the monsters, so our lives are already risked. Attack one of their ships. Try to make them flee. It’s a long shot they will, by at least you can die knowing you served your country.”

“He’s right,” the first one said. “Maybe we should follow him. We’re all dead in here, anyway. Hopelessly trapped by those crike aliens. But, how are you so sure they will leave that way?”

“You’re only part of my first plan. Us cadets will try to get to the Particle Accelerator cannon and try to take down one of their motherships with it and all its ammo charge. That will really make them redraw, and see our true power.”

“What?” Less whispered, grabbing his forearm to stop him. “You never told me you planned this!”

“I never told anyone,” he whispered back. “But it’s true, though. The best chance at making them leave and go for Adilan instead of us is to fight back. The people of Adilan must see the fleet in their skies, now. And they’re dreading the moment the invasion will begin.”

“Exactly! So they’re preparing for it. This station is like a wall from stopping them. We’re like a shield to stall them from starting the invasion. We better stall as long as possible, not make them go away faster.”

“Oh, so suddenly you’re on the side of sacrificing all our lives to help Adilan? We all care about surviving, too. So we’re going to do it. Attack them. And make them go away.”

“Fine,” she said, annoyed. “Excuse me?” he heard the person say on the speaker. “So, we’re going to plan something big. Attack them back with the strongest spacecraft in our hangar, I guess. Do you have a name we can refer to?”

Seyden thought for a moment, holding Less’s angry glare. “Call me Commander Red.”

So the plan is real simple. Rescue all of the scattered cadets,” Seyden said, after he and Less went back and explained everything they found out. “We’re going to send only the oldest kids. The graduating classes. We also have a side plan. The fleet out there is never going to leave until we’re all dead, presumably. We don’t know the real reason they’re here for. So we’re going to fight back and stand our ground, and try to scare them into leaving.”

“We’re planning to man the Particle Accelerator and shoot down one of their motherships in order to do that,” Less said. “Also, we convinced the pilots in the hangar to try and fight back at them, too. All thirty of them are going to risk their lives and try to destroy some of their fleet with their strongest spacecraft. But right now, we’re going to make a plan on how to rescue all the cadets around the station.”

“Let’s do it, then,” Chalice said. “Let’s make a plan. Come on, Seyden. You lead.”

Everyone watched him again, and he felt all the pressure on him once more. Think, he thought. What’s the first thing I do when I make a battle plan?

“Map,” he ordered, remembering. 

“Glad to see you keeping it traditional,” Melody said, smirking. “Cosmo found this blueprint map of the station in the surveillance room, when he went back. It has all the schematics of the station.”

She held it up, laying it on a table some cadets had brought for them from the cafeteria in the hallway. They all crowded around it. 

“Hey! Hey! Slow down!” Seyden said. “Only the graduating classes. The oldest kids here. Cosmo’s class and my class.”

“That’s not fair!” a younger cadet yelled. “We want to see!”

“You have no point or reason for it. Tell me, what was the plan of the slucks we were going to do when the humans would arrive? Or, at least, I think it was Saph’s plan.”

The cadet grumbled. “She said the graduating classes would fight back, and the rest of the cadets would continue issuing the lockdown drill.”

“Exactly,” Seyden said. “They said that a while ago, when we weren’t the graduating classes. But now we are, so we’re in charge. We’re the ones going to do something about the situation. You all are lucky that I even tell you all what’s going on. So you, sit down, and hide in a corner or something.”

Everyone around them laughed, and the cadet turned red in embarrassment. He left the crowd in tears. 

“That was cold,” Chalice whispered to Seyden. 

“Teaching them a lesson,” he muttered. 

“You seem to like acting like a sluck. Maybe the job would suit you well.”

It’s a possibility, he thought. If the humans never came, he would be stuck on the station forever anyway. So maybe that would be his only choice. To become one of them.

They followed his orders. Cosmo and his class crowded around the table, and all the cadets that didn’t belong left. 

“So, here’s the map,” Melody said. “Red, your plan is to use the spacesuits and walk along the side of the station to avoid all the obstacles, right?” Seyden nodded. “So.” She pointed around the station. “Get the suits first, and then go wherever we need to to rescue cadets.”

“We’ll need to bring extra suits for them, when we go back the other way,” Mady said. “Sounds like a plan.”

“What about if they’re not close to the spacesuit room at all?” Evestor asked. “And we have to escort them there. We need to go through the hallways, with a chance we’ll see the monsters.”

Everyone was silent. 

“We can maybe try to get weapons from the armoury again,” Terra suggested. “Just like last time. Last revolution, remember?”

“No,” Seyden immediately said. “Then we need to take the keys from the slucks’ dead bodies. And I don’t want to risk opening the doors to their bunks if the gas is still active. We’ll have to just hope we don’t encounter them, or run if we do.”

“We’ll never make it!” Locke said. “That’s too dan-gerous! They’ll eat us all!”

“We have no choice. We have to get those cadets to safety.”

“Commander, when did you say they’re going to attack the fleet?” Amber asked. 

Seyden almost forgot about that. He looked at the window, and everyone followed his gaze. “Any moment now.”

They waited, watching the fleet, listening. It was only a few minutes until they saw it�"piloted spacecraft leaving the hangar of the station and flying towards the fleet. 

The cadets in the room cheered. The younger ones were filled with joy. “Yeah! Rip their ships apart!”

“Destroy them all!”

“Make them run!”

They all went for a single corvette, as they had planned, with Seyden. The swarmed it before the humans even realized they were under attack. The corvette was taking heavy damage before they finally sent out a few fighter spacecraft of their own to deal with them. The cadets cheered every time chunks of the spacecraft exploded in light, in different directions.

They’ll be bringing up its shields soon, he thought. Every big ship surely had them. The humans probably had all their shields off in their fleet, because they weren’t expecting an attack at all. They had been caught off guard. But when they get them up, it will take a long time until the fighter pilots would take them down and continue harming the hull again. This was their only chance at harming them as much as possible.

He continued to watch the silent light explosions in the distance, until he got a call from Brandson. This was not going to be any good. He answered it anyway. 

“What do you think you’re doing!?” he yelled. “Fighting back? Trying to scare us off? Do you really think you can scare or take down over half of the entire Meyvoid Fleet?”

We’ll see when one of your motherships is down, he thought. “I’m not going to work for you.”

“We’ll see about that, John.”

“My name is not John! My name is Seyden, Commander Red, the voice of all the Namans on this station! And I’m not on your side. I’m not that newborn child you sent here either, so don’t call me John.”

“Stop playing your games, then. You’re wasting time. We both know your plans won’t work and you’re just stalling. Just get to the extraction point already! We have all our cannons trained on you, and we’ll leave everyone else alone if you just leave, and come with us back to Earth.”

“You’ve killed so much already. Tell me, what are those things, really? The beasts that terrorize our halls?”

“Ligers,” he said. “You wouldn’t know. I don’t think your race has ever advanced as far as we have into genetic science. They’re a cross-breed of lions and tigers. And they’re bigger than both. They used to have all sorts of birth health problems before, but now we fixed them, and when they’re fixed…well, you saw for yourself. They can become reliable hunters. Killing machines. Some are hybrids of panthers and jaguars, too, to explain why some are black with vibrant spots.”

“Thanks for the intel.”

“Seyden, you know you have to make a final decision. I care about you enough to let you and your friends go, if you want to. I’ll tell the Fleet Admiral to leave if you choose to stay. You just have to tell me, and stop wasting our time.”

“You’re going for Adilan next, anyway.”

“Seyden, you know you have to. Have to make a final decision.”

He couldn’t argue with that, at least. He knew he had to choose. There was no getting the benefits of both anymore.

“I’ve made my final decision,” he said. “Here it goes…”

24

Redemption

They were all set. Everything was prepared for them to set out to rescue the cadets around the station. They had all made the decision that at some point they would have no choice but to walk around the monster-infested hallways. The liger infested hallways. Seyden remembered what they were, now. 

Fate could be good to them, and not give them any ligers to encounter. But they could also have a chance that they would see them, and they would have to fight. Everyone agreed to those terms. Their soldier instincts were kicking in, and they wouldn’t let down a chance to save cadets, even with the high dangers. They were trained for this. 

“It’s just like a hostage rescue mission,” Seyden told all of them. “No worries. Get the hostage, get out. You’re all used to this. It’s just a matter of testing your skills again. The only catch this time is that you don’t have a rifle.”

“But that’s okay,” Cosmo said, beside him. “Anyway, Red and his class go first. They go to sector B. We go to sector C. We all have the map of the sector memorized, and we all know where some cadets are that need to be rescued. After, we’ll move on to the other sectors.”

“They’ll be scared,” Seyden said. “Remember, they’re survivors of the monsters. They’ll all be hiding in locked rooms, storages, closets, whatever. Get them to safety, and comfort them if needed.”

“Red, any tips?” Sidian asked. 

They were all waiting for him to say something. They didn’t have rifles, so he couldn’t say his usual line. Now he had to say something inspirational, especially with Cosmo’s class there. 

“A good soldier values others’ lives just as much as his, sometimes more,” he said. “Remember that when rescuing the cadets. Now, move, move, move!”

When everyone was done suiting up, they all jumped out into space. Seyden was first, and he got the usual, expected burst of nausea when he left the gravity field.

“Attach ropes,” Seyden said, and all of them obeyed. “Link it to the side of the station. We’re walking on the side of it, after all. Next, hook up coms. Everyone done? Okay, final checks on your jetpacks. See if they’re functioning properly, and they still have fuel. Once you’re done, go on your way to your sector. Cosmo’s class, follow your commander. My class, you may go ahead. Stop at the waypoint when you’re inside the spacesuit room. We all enter together.”

He waited until all his cadets jumped out of the hatch. While he did, he looked at the vast distances of space and time around him, covered by a blanket of stars. They were on the other side of the station, so they didn’t have a view of the massive power and size of the Meyvoid Fleet. It didn’t matter him, anyway. To him, the plain and familiar view of the night sky, or the view of outer space, would always be more natural and beautiful. 

Seyden lead his class along the side of the station. They were all used to the zero-gravity, and using jetpacks, so they weren’t afraid of drifting off. The cadets they would rescue would be familiar with the process too. And no one needed to fear drifting off, since Seyden made sure everyone was connected to the rope that held them all together. And if somehow they did drift off, they could easily come back with their jet propulsion system. 

“We’re almost there,” Seyden said. “Keep following me. Is everybody okay?”

There were twelve response of affirmative. 

Twelve? he thought. Unless he did his math wrong, there should be eleven. Calum, a soldier down. Will, left behind due to inability to complete tasks without orders, something Seyden needed in cadets right now, more than ever. Counting himself out, it should be eleven since Dellos couldn’t�"the he remembered. 

“Glad to see Stinger back to his old voice,” he said. “Usually Fate responds for him.”

“Yes!” he heard him say on the com. “I can talk!”

“He sure seems very excited about it,” Sidian said. “How many different words has he said ever since? Four?”

“Cut it out, Rex,” Mady said. “He just came out of his trauma. Shut up about it.”

“Whatever.”

“We’re here,” Seyden said, ignoring them, just like everyone else. “Wolf, help me open this chamber lock. Everyone prepare for the blast of rushing air that will come out of it. The vacuum of space is fast, strong, and unpredictable. Stand back at the sides.”

Evestor went over and grabbed a handle of one side of the latch, while he grabbed the other. He counted to three, and they pulled at the same time. It didn’t even budge.

“Well,” Seyden said, relaxing is arms. “This could be a problem.”

“We didn’t think this through,” Amber said. “What if Cosmo’s class is having the same problem, too? What if it’s only able to be opened from inside?”

“That can’t be,” Charity said. “The hatch on our airlock chamber is very easy to open from outside. This one can’t be different.”

“Maybe because we’ve opened that one many times,” Seyden said. “So it’s become loose. This one might be old and rusty, not opened in a long, long time. Blue told me this station is really old, right Blue?”

“Everyone knows that,” Chalice said, nodding. 

“Let me and Zeynin try,” Sidian said. 

Seyden observed them for a moment, then the hatch, then back to them. “Go ahead. I see no problem. This might work, with both of your strength. Everyone move out of the way for them. And move back. Make sure to stay clear of the hatch’s direction from the blast of air. Rex, Zeynin, tighten your grip on your ropes. If the blast knocks either of you, make sure it doesn’t blast you to the vast expanses of space.”

“Yes sir,” Sidian said. 

The both of them took Seyden and Evestor’s spots, and counted to three. Their combined powerful strength went into action, and Seyden hoped it would be enough.

It turned out it was. The hatch budged, then shifted. Seyden knew if they were inside, not in space, it would’ve made a loud, creaking noise. Sidian and Locke kept pulling just as hard as they began, and the hatch finally opened. Seyden’s predicted burst of air came through, and they cleared away from it. 

“Good job,” he told them both. “Let’s go in.”

“Commander first,” Evestor said. 

“A good commander makes sure all his cadets are safe,” he said. This time, it wasn’t a quote from a lesson or manual about being a good commander. This time, it was his own. “Everyone go in first. I’ll be last.”

No one argued. They all filed in one by one through the tight hatch. When Seyden finally went in, two cadets closed the hatch behind him. He immediately felt the effect of the station’s artificial gravity when he entered. 

They wasted no time taking off their suits and getting ready at the door for their commander. He was the last to get his suit off, and when he was done, he went to the door. 

“We all know where they are,” he said. “Two cadets in bunk room, locked themselves in when everyone rushed out to see the Meyvoid Fleet through their window. Three cadets hiding in the corner of the public washroom, where the beasts haven’t figured out they could enter yet. Five loners scattered in various areas, like training gym rooms and solitary confinement chambers. We get them all. No one left behind. The first two cadets are the closest, we all stick together to rescue them. We may encounter the beasts, but we have no choice. Are you ready?”

“Yes, commander!” they all said. 

“You were born for this,” he said. “Chosen to serve your country without a choice. But now is not the time to grieve the past. On my mark. Three, two, one.”

He opened the door, and they treaded through the hallways. They certainly looked recently ravaged by the creatures. Lights were blinking and destroyed, with sparks flying out. Scratches were all over the walls. There wasn’t a single sound. 

The eerie silence made it possible for them to hear the screeches and mighty roars of the creatures in the distance. But something even more scarier were the bodies of dead cadets on the ground. They had wounds and scratches that determined an attack by the creatures, and Seyden’s cadets turned away at the sight of them. They were everywhere.

“Move around them, and let’s move faster,” Seyden told everyone quietly. “Just ignore them. It’s okay to show your fear. Courage is only possible with fear.”

The roars got louder as they silently crossed hall after hall. Seyden heard powerful, vibrating growls come from all directions from them. He was dreading the moment they would encounter one, roaming the hallway by itself as a rogue, or with a pack. He knew that moment would come. They moved faster, following his command. Their steps got louder as a result, though. That was the disadvantage of moving faster. 

“They’re coming,” Nye said on the com, and something told Seyden he wasn’t speaking out of fear. It was the truth. “Behind us?” he asked him. Nye was their lookout at the back of the group, and he couldn’t see what the boy was seeing.

“Yes. I think they smell us. Let’s hurry up.”

“Almost there,” Seyden assured everyone on the com. He recognized these halls. He had been here many times before, when he chose to go out of his sector. It was on his path to walking to class sometimes. Sometimes he entered another sector to get to a class. 

The roars behind them got louder. “I think we may encounter one faster than we all thought,” Nye said. “I’m certain they’re after our scent, now.”

“Certain?”

“Affirmative, commander. Let’s at least go into a slow run, before they see us and start coming after us. Break their line of sight. Go around a corner.”

“Okay. Everyone, follow my pace.” Seyden sped up to a slow run, as Nye had requested. 

They came to an intersection with two paths. One where they needed to go, and one that split off in another direction. Seyden made the class stay where they were when he heard growls come from around the corner, from the path they needed to go.

He looked around slowly, and saw them. For the first time, he saw them for real. Two of them, with blood caked teeth, growling and hoping they wold get another meal. Seyden saw one bring up his head and smell the area, and then roar. It must’ve smelled them. It told its comrade, and then they started going in the direction of Seyden and his class. 

“They know we’re here!” he told everyone. “Run! The other direction!”

They would be off course, but it didn’t matter. They had to stay alive. They all obeyed him, running down the other hall. 

There’re two parties after us, now, he thought. The ones following us from a far distance, and the ones I just saw now. 

Seyden made sure he was at the back of the group, because he knew he couldn’t get attacked by them. But as his class ran through the hallway, he sped up to the front to lead them.

“This way!” he said, turning a direction. They were really off course now, but they had no choice. They were even further from the cadets that needed to be rescued. 

“Around the corner! We’re almost there!” he told them. 

“They’re faster than us!” Melody said. “We can’t possibly hope to outrun them!”

“Just run as fast as you can,” Seyden said. “Don’t leave anyone behind.”

He looked back behind them, and saw the beasts catching up from the far end of the hallway. We still have a lot of distance from them, he thought. They could make it. 

They rounded another corner, breaking the line of sight. But they had to hide somewhere. Quick. 

“What are we going to do?” Sidian asked him while they ran. “Even if we hide, it might take hours until they finally leave when they’re waiting for us outside the door!”

“We’ll do that, then,” Seyden said. “It’s our only hope of surviving.”

At the end of the hallway, he saw a bunk room. The door was open. They could all run inside and lock the door as fast as they could. And then barricade it, to make sure they wouldn’t go in. 

They were almost there. He knew the ligers were after them. Catching up to them. They had to make it.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a mechanical door shut down in front of him and his class! Seyden knew this door all too well.

“No!” he yelled.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Less said. “Not right now! Please!”

Seyden slammed his fist against the door as hard as he could. But it was no use. The malfunctioning door was unpredictable. It could open right now, or in a few minutes. But it didn’t matter. They were already too behind on time. 

“What are we going to do, commander?” Amber asked him. “We’re trapped in this hallway. No doors to any rooms. Dead end.”

Seyden thought and thought. He wasn’t about to give up. He pushed his way through to the front of them, to the side facing the way the ligers would turn around the corner any second. And come at them. 

“This is it,” Chalice said. “We have to fight.”

No, Seyden thought. We don’t.

He stood in front of them, making them move back. “Get ready,” he told them. Then they came. Four of them. Four large, lion-tiger hybrids. They slowly advanced towards them, and Seyden stared at their eyes, back into their soulless lives. They eyes them all, licking their lips. 

No matter how hard Seyden tried, he couldn’t succeed. So he just gave up, and lost all hope. He knelt down in front of the beasts, with everyone watching, and raised his hands. 

“Brandson!” he said. “You’ve got us. There. I’ve brought them to your trap.”

After a moment, Terra asked, “Commander? What in crikes are you doing?”

Chalice was the only one who understood. “What? No! You said you would never�"”

But then they came. The extraction team of humans, following up right behind the ligers, one of them shouting orders to the others. There were half a dozen of them, pointing their rifles at them, with Brandson as the leader. 

“So good to finally meet you in person, John,” he said. 

“I’m not John,” he reminded him once again. He stood up and went over to their side. “There, I’ve done as you’ve asked.”

“Yes, I see you’ve finally followed orders. Well done. You trapped them in a way I didn’t expect, but you still did it.”

“Crikes!” Locke yelled. “Real ones this time! They’re everywhere!”

“Seyden,” Chalice said, with sad eyes. “You said you wouldn’t�"”

“Shut up!” he told her. “I’m not one of you!”

Finally, after a long moment of confusion to why the humans knew him, his class started to make the connection. 

“Homo sapient!” Sidian yelled. “I knew it! I was right, from the very start! You’re one of them!”

“I enjoyed betraying you the most,” Seyden growled back at him. 

“Red, this must be a mistake,” Melody said. “How could you…”

This was his final decision. To help the humans, and to finally go to his so-called rightful home, Earth. He realized not doing it so long ago was a mistake. 

“Come on,” Brandson said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “We’re returning to the ship, soon. You’re going to go home. Squad, restrain the rest of them.”

They moved forward, shouting at them to raise their hands so they could tie them. Some, in sheer disbelief at the situation, accepted their fates and obeyed. Some tried to fight back, but it was no use. The humans shot the one that did with their rifles set on stun. 

“Now, Brandson…” Seyden started. 

“Yes,” he said. “I know. We promised they won’t be killed, and we’ll release them as soon as we leave for the attack on Adilan. They won’t be killed, count on it.”

Or harmed, he thought. Good. They keep their word.

“But right now, as we agreed, they’ll be kept prisoners here,” he said. “You made the right choice, Seyden.”

“I hope,” he said, feeling guilty. 

Brandson looked at the four ligers, in a pounce position, awaiting human orders to. “We’re done with these guys. We won’t be needed them anymore. Now come, follow me.”

Seyden did. He forced himself not to look back at the cadets that were once his, yelling at him to go to quarantine, calling him a crike and Homo sapient. Some trying to call out to him to tell him, Why would you betray us?

I don’t know, he thought. 

Days went by, and they were still on the station. Seyden hadn’t boarded the ship yet, and he kept asking Brandson when they would. 

“Soon,” he kept telling him. “Just wait. There are delays, sometimes.”

He also asked to check on his friends, but he wasn’t allowed. 

“Why not?” he asked. “I get the right. I brought them to you. Let me see them!”

Brandson couldn’t take his annoying pestering anymore, so one day he said, “Fine! But you won’t like what you’ll see.”

He was brought to a training gym. The whole gym was taken over by humans. He saw scientists with lab coats, workers pushing carts full of documents and equipment and talking, and other big, heavy machinery and science equipment he didn’t recognize. 

But most of all, the training gym rooms all around the gym had his cadets inside. He heard a collection of different screams from all of them, one in each room, with lights seeping out from underneath the door. And machinery sounds. 

“What is this!?” he yelled at Brandson. “What are you doing to them? Stop this, now! You said they won’t be harmed!”

“I said they won’t be killed,” Brandson told him. 

“That’s unfair. When we made the plan, I remember clearly you saying you wouldn’t harm  them! Just imprison them.” “We’re not harming them. We’re running experiments. We had to do this for the Parasite Operation too, you know. We ran experiments on a Naman prisoner to confirm the project would work.”

This is cruel! he thought. Humans are really monsters! It doesn’t matter if they’re experiments. This is torture to them, I can hear it in their voices! Their yells and whines!

“How does that not sound like they’re being harmed?” he demanded. 

Suddenly Brandson gripped his arm and bent low, whispering. “Stop it. Right now. Let me tell you something: I didn’t order this either. The Fleet Admiral did, okay? Fleet Admiral Grim. He wouldn’t listen to my pleas no matter how much I tried. I was cheated just as much as you. Along with your parents, I’m the only one that actually cares for you! I understand how much these cadets mean to you, but the Fleet Admiral doesn’t. And everyone else. He ordered these experiments to happen, not me.” Then he released him, but Seyden was still left angry. 

“When are they done?” he asked him.

“They do it every day. They’ll be sent to their cells and the crew will be asleep at night. If you’re planning to save them, that’s all the help and intel I can give you.”

Seyden did plan to save them. But how would he say sorry? He needed some sort of redemption for them to forgive him.

“There’s also been some talk of the Fleet Admiral thinking about destroying the station too,” Brandson said. “And he wants you to do it.”

25

The Beacon 

Of Hope

The

(unfinished)