The Fourth World

  *

  The first day of school behind them, Zack, Fintan, Ayako, Nizhoni and the rest of the first-years made it back to the dorm, expecting dinner, but instead the rest of the squadron was waiting for them.

  A tall, thin boy, wearing the stripes of a fifth-year hushed everyone and approached the confused first-years.

  He spoke with a similar drawl to Mister Sinclair.

  “Welcome freshers,” he said, with a tone that was anything but welcoming. “I’m Simon Saint-john, your squadron captain. You’ve had your first day of school, but now you’re going to have your first night of being a real member of Red Squadron.”

  “We’re a squadron of what?” he asked.

  “Bravery!” answered the crowd.

  “And what makes us Brave?” he asked.

  “Combat!” came the answer.

  “And where do we find combat?”

  “Anywhere, everywhere, Anywhere, Everywhere!”

  He turned back to the new kids. “Tonight we’ll see just how brave you are.”

  They only had time to drop their bags, and then it was back outside. Simon led them back to the train station and they boarded a train that was outbound towards the rim wall. When they had reached the final stop, he led them off the train and across some fields and some uncultivated earth and wasteland towards the wall. It was a long walk, and the younger kids huddled in near silence.

  “Don’t worry,” whispered Zack to Ayako, noticing her concern. “It’s just a hazing”

  “Hazing?” she asked. “I am not familiar with that word.”

  “It’s a prank that they play on newcomers to scare us, but they’re not going to harm or hurt us.”

  Nizhoni shrugged. She didn’t believe him. “Because we’re kids? You forget that this is a military school. Be on your guard.” She pressed on in grim silence.

  Simon flashed his eyes in their direction. He didn’t need to say it, but it was clear that he was telling them to be quiet.

  They approached a part of the wall that looked a little different from the rest. The wall itself was a couple of hundred feet high and in sections was both broader and thicker. Fintan guessed that these were support points to help hold the weight of the dome.

  As they got closer, he could see some hatches and doors on either side of the wall section. Simon led them to one hatch, made of thick steel and opened it by spinning a wheel at its front. He gestured for the kids to go through.

  “Where are we going?” asked one kid, Raj, the small dark-skinned boy Fintan had seen in the elevator a few days before.

  Simon just smiled and gestured again. It was time to go in, not time for questions.

  Zack strode to the front of the group and walked through the door. There was some hesitation, but eventually the others followed, with Fintan, Ayako and Nizhoni taking the lead.

  The door banged shut and Fintan could hear it squeak as Simon locked it from the other side.

  They were alone, in near darkness, a dim light showing them that they were in a cave of some sort. The walls were dark and damp, and the floor sandy and strewn with rocks of different sizes. Fintan could hear Zack’s voice ahead. “It’s a tunnel, not a cave,” he called out. “There’s a light up here. It’s probably the way out.”

  “I don’t like this,” said one girl.

  “Don’t worry,” said Fintan. “I’m sure Zack is right and this is just a silly hazing.”

  They stepped carefully over rocks as they made their way through the dim tunnel. Despite the darkness, Fintan noticed how light Nizhoni was on her feet and how she deftly navigated her way through. She quickly went ahead of the group, catching up with Zack. The darkness didn’t bother her. She trotted back towards the main group.

  “There’s a large cavern up ahead,” she said. “The light is coming from there. We should go.”

  She went ahead again, stopping at the entrance to the cavern to wait for the others to catch up.

  Fintan was one of the first there. She looked him up and down, measuring him with some degree of admiration. “I walk the beaches near where I live,” said Fintan. “They’re quite rocky, so I’ve learned to balance.”

  She smiled and nodded. Fintan felt his heart flutter.

  Zack had walked into the cavern which was a good forty feet across and twenty feet high. Dim lamps, recessed deep into the rock ceiling cast a pallid light. He was striding around, in a challenging pose, arms held out.

  “Come on guys, is this all you’ve got?”

  His answer was a low, menacing grumbling noise. Something else was in there with them. Something big.

  “Oh ha-ha,” said Zack, defiant. “You make some monster noises and you think I’m scared?”

  The grumbling grew louder. Fintan heard someone gasp. Behind Zack, the shadows jumped.

  It was behind him, and he didn’t see it.

  Then it shuffled into the light, roaring as it did so. Monstrous and over ten feet tall, all teeth and fangs it lumbered on two back legs towards Zack. Its forelegs stretched out like the claws of a crab, and were equipped with long, sharp, talons.

  Zack screamed and ran for cover. The monster, or whatever it was, continued lumbering towards the group. There was no cover in the tunnel that they had come from, so the only hope for escape was to go forward into the cavern and hope to go around the monster, or climb higher than it could reach. There was chaos as they scattered, screaming.

  Fintan fought the urge to scream. He was quivering with fear, and it felt like the world slowed down as the beast moved towards him. Then something kicked into action within him and he saw a trail that led upwards and away from the cavern floor. He darted towards it, but it was shorter than he expected, and he reached its end quickly. There was no further way to climb, so he could only hope to hide. There was a large rock near its end, and he found Raj there, cowering in the dark. He leaped behind the rock and huddled up with the smaller boy.

  Neither of them said anything, afraid the monster might hear and might find them. They could hear it shuffling across the cavern floor, and they could hear the screams of the other children.

  Fintan closed his eyes as tightly as he could. He reached for his bracelet, wondering if he could use it to call for help, but it was dead. Raj’s was too.

  He couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to the others, so, peeping out from his cover, he saw Ayako and Zack on the other side of the cavern. They were climbing upwards towards what looked like an artificial path around the rim.

  And then he saw Nizhoni.

  She had no escape route, and she ran out of space behind. The monster had cornered her and lumbered slowly towards her, roaring as it went. From his vantage point, behind the monster and a little to its right, he could see her face, emotionless and still as always. She was slowly crouching down to try to grab a rock. She wasn’t going down without a fight.

  A rush of bravery hit Fintan and he screamed, climbed over his rock and charged straight at the monsters hindquarters. Seeing a stick on the ground he grabbed it, and swung with all his might at the creature’s right leg.

  He must have missed, because with the strength of his swing he found himself corkscrewing into the ground and falling in a cloud of dust. Disoriented, he tried to pull himself up, to see Nizhoni pulling back with the stone and throwing it hard and straight at a point behind Fintan.

  He heard breaking glass.

  The monster vanished.

  There was laughter, followed by a voice. “I don’t believe it, she broke it!”

  The lights came on in the cavern, and Simon stood in the center, smirking. Other, older kids wandered in from their hiding places around him.

  “You spoiled my little joke, didn’t you, little girl?” he said, facing Nizhoni. If he was trying to intimidate her, it didn’t work. She stared back, unblinking.

  Not getting any traction, he turned to Fintan. He laughed. “Nice swing there, ace. You should play baseball!”

  He laughed and mimicked an umpire
yelling “Steerike One!” The others laughed along; one clapped Simon on the back.

  He moved in for more abuse. “Trying to save the little woman and he ends up on his butt in the ground. How embarrassing for our little hero.”

  “Shut up,” said Nizhoni.

  Simon looked back at her, and raised an eyebrow. He advanced on her, his hands closing into a fist.

  “Did you say something?” he snarled.

  “I said ‘Shut up’” she responded.

  Fintan could see Simon’s body tense up as he approached her. Fintan climbed to his feet and ran to stand between them. Simon was much taller than he was, so he was looking up towards the older boy’s chin.

  “Leave her alone,” said Fintan.

  Simon stopped in his tracks and looked down at the smaller boy. He smiled. Laughed.

  “Oh you kids are just too funny!” He bent over, double, laughing hard, slapping his knee. The other older kids laughed too. Nizhoni put her hand on Fintan’s shoulder, gently pushing him aside so she could stand beside him instead of behind him.

  Simon continued laughing at them, pouring on the humiliation. Fintan was getting angrier by the second. Bu Nizhoni took his hand and led him away without a word. She wasn’t going to confront Simon on this.

  Fintan realized that she was being smart, walking away. The image had changed from Simon laughing in their faces, to him standing alone in the cavern, laughing and looking insane. Simon also realized this, and stopped. He wasn’t going to talk to their backs, so instead gestured for everyone to come closer. He had to take control of the situation again.

  “Ok, first years,” he said. “Party’s over. Let’s get back to the barracks.”

  Chapter 9: Draft

  The girl is impressive. Is she one of yours?

  Surprisingly, no.

  But her kind are always strong and noble, right?

  Her kind?

  “You,” said Zack, mouth full of breakfast, stabbing a fork in Fintan’s direction, “made an enemy last night.”

  “Actually,” said Ayako. “I think he made a friend.”

  Nizhoni said nothing.

  Zack raised his eyebrows, smiling.

  “And,” said Ayako, “I didn’t see you doing anything to help her. She was trapped.”

  “I was busy helping you escape,” said Zack. “Only one damsel in distress at a time!”

  “I don’t remember asking for your help,” she said. “And, if I remember right, I was climbing out faster than you were.”

  “Oh, I was just going slowly so I could be beneath you, to defend you.”

  “No,” she said. “It was so you could look up my skirt!”

  “No!” said Zack, but Ayako was laughing.

  “It was because I was staying between you and the monster-“

  But she continued laughing. Even Nizhoni was smiling.

  Zack buried his head in his hands. They had gotten him again.

  Fintan yawned.

  “Late night?” asked Ayako.

  “No, I just didn’t sleep well.”

  “Didn’t sleep well?” said Zack “You were groaning all night. That was some dream you had.”

  “Dream?” said Nizhoni. “What did you dream?”

  “I don’t remember,” said Fintan. “I’ve been having strange dreams since I got here.”

  “Strange dreams, blah, blah, blah,” said Zack. “Look, we can psychoanalyze them to death, but the answer is obvious. Look around us. We’re living in a giant underground city, and aliens are teaching us to fly UFOs. I think your mind has to deal with it somehow. For you it’s dreams. I wouldn’t worry too much about it; they’re just silly dreams after all.”

  “Dreams are not silly,” said Nizhoni. “Sometimes they try to tell us what we need to know.”

  She turned back to Fintan. “Try to remember. I believe it could be important.”

  Zack rolled his eyes. “Native mumbo jumbo,” he grunted beneath his breath.

  “I’ll try,” said Fintan, ignoring him.

  She nodded and smiled. It was time to leave so they got up and went to clear their plates.

  On the way, Zack whispered in his ear. “You made a friend all right, nice one buddy. Now if only I could get Ayako to talk to me like that!”

  He was smiling.

  “I’m sure it will happen,” said Fintan.

  *

  It was exciting. Today they’d start flying for the first time. Instead of the usual classrooms, they made their way to a given address in the city.

  They arrived at a large dome, nestled beneath and contrasting with the tall skyscrapers.

  “Oh look, another dome,” said Zack. “These architects have no imagination, do they?”

  Inside, a large room containing several car-sized machines awaited them.

  “Flight simulators,” said Ayako.

  “Flight simulators,” said Zack. “Aw darn it. I was hoping for the real thing.”

  “You’re not ready for the real thing,” came a voice from behind him. A tall, dark skinned, but fair-haired woman walked past and through the crowd of students. “I’m Iara” she said. “While it is spelled I-A-R-A, it is pronounced EE-Ara. Understood?”

  Zack nodded, eyes fixed on her.

  Tall, and statuesque with a perfect figure, long wavy blonde hair contrasted her dark brown skin. On her right arm, her uniform had the Brazilian flag on it.

  Zack’s eyes said more than Fintan needed to know. The boy was in love.

  Iara had them each take a flight simulator and run through various drills. Fintan recognized it as similar to what he had flown during his testing.

  He set himself up, placing his headset on and activating the display. Small windows popped into his view, containing the faces of the other pilots. One larger window opened, containing Iara’s face.

  “Listen up,” she said. “You might think you can fly a saucer because you passed the test, but don’t forget that it was just a test, and you didn’t pass every part of it. Also, that ship was tuned for someone who had never flown before. Going from that to one of these is like going from a bicycle to a sports car so pay attention”

  “Yes ma’am, paying attention.” Said Zack. “Definitely paying attention. I mean, like, you have all my attention. Not you, but what you’re saying, right? I mean I’m paying attention to your lesson. Ok, so you haven’t started the lesson yet, but I’m paying attention while I wait for you to start the lesson, and, well, I’m ready, so when you’re ready to start the lesson, I’ll be paying attention. Ok?”

  “Zack,” said Iara.

  “Yes ma’am?” said Zack.

  “Clear the channel.”

  “Uh, what does that mean ma’am?”

  “It means shut up,” said Nizhoni.

  “Oh. Yes ma’am. Shutting up now. I mean clearing the channel now.”

  The windows of the other students cleared from Fintan’s display, and a star field showed in their place. Iara’s window remained open so she could direct them.

  “Now let’s take it slowly,” she said. “Assemble at this point.”

  An icon blinked on the screen, showing the needed assembly point.

  “Oh come on!” said Zack, a window with his face popping into view on Fintan’s screen. “That’s too easy!”

  The simulator was smart. Fintan turned his head around and could see Zack’s saucer in formation behind him. It started to move forward slowly, and then suddenly accelerated.

  It collided with another saucer and bounced off in a wild direction. Fintan heard him say “Oops” as he tried to adjust. He then tried to move forward again, but again collided with another saucer. On his display, Fintan could see Zack’s head as it bounced around, recoiling from the impact shock. He was grunting. His ship was bouncing like a pinball in a machine before shooting off in a random direction. Zack screamed.

  And then his ship stopped, and vanished off the screen, before returning to its initial position.

  “I forgot t
o say,” said Iara, smiling slightly, “that as these simulators are used for in-atmosphere training, there are no inertial dampeners, so you will feel every collision as if it was real.”

  “Right” said Zack, quietly. “Ouch.”

  Iara smiled again.

  Class was only a couple of hours, but even in that time Fintan began to get a feel for the ship and how it could fly. Despite this, he was no match for Nizhoni, who flew like an expert, right out of the gate.

  “Impressive” said Iara. “Have you been in one of these before?”

  “Never,” said Nizhoni. “I just listened to my teacher.”

  Iara nodded. Zack made a slurping sound.

  Nizhoni bumped her ship against his, hard. “Ow!” said Zack. “You did that on purpose!”

  “No,” said Nizhoni. “We’re just trainees, it was an accident.”

  “Grr” said Zack.

  *

  It had been another long day, and at the end, they were glad to make their way back to the barracks. “I wonder what surprises your friend Simon has in store for us tonight?” said Zack.

  They returned in time for dinner. The buffet line was snaking around already.

  “Great, we’re late,” said Zack. “All that will be left is yucky vegetables.”

  They got in line behind a fifth year boy.

  “Some show last night,” the boy said to Nizhoni and Fintan.

  Nizhoni glared at him.

  “No offense, but you have to realize that Simon is our group captain, and under his leadership Red Squadron has won the Starball tournament four years in a row. Tonight is the Starball draft, so he needs to show that he’s in charge with you freshers.”

  “Starball?” said Zack.

  “It’s everything here” said the boy. “You might think we’re here for school and lessons and Cosmic History but it’s all about flying, and Starball is for the best of the best flyers.”

  Ayako looked intrigued and interested. “Tell us more” she said.

  “Starball is everything,” he repeated. “It’s a game, played using the saucers, flying inside the dome. It’s hard to explain – it’s best just to watch it, there’ll be a game at the end of this week. Every year the first and second place teams from the year before play an ‘exhibition’ match in the first week, to kick off the school year as it were.”

  Zack nodded thoughtfully.

  “The draft is tonight, after dinner. It’s a big deal. Students graduate, and need to be replaced. We lost two of our best players this year, so the draft will replace them. The new draftees will have to play in the exhibition game, which makes it more challenging for the leader – he only has a few days to get the new team together and working as a unit. Tryouts and the games proper will begin next semester, in late January. Then we play every squadron against every other until a winner is determined.”