course.”
Scraal and I were in our room, and he was teaching me how to (consciously) beta-transport. I had FINALLY managed to transport myself across the room.
“Hey Scraal, there’s something I’m a little confused about.”
“What’s that?”
“How are we related? I mean, I know that we’re twins, but if our DNA is the same, how come we don’t look the same?”
“Well, we actually do look the same, but Dad constructed a cloaking shield when you were born; it hides your real form, which basically looks the female version of me.”
“Is Dad the only one who can turn it off?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
“Here on the ship.”
“Can we go see him? I want to see what I really look like!” I make cute puppy eyes at him, and he laughs.
“Ok, ok, we’ll go see Dad, you don’t have to use the Dreaded Puppy Eyes! I swear, those eyes are a female’s greatest weapon.”
“Don’t worry, brother dear, I won’t use them... much.” Scraal stares at me wide-eyed for a moment, then grins, grabs me in a headlock, and knuckles me in the head.
“Ow, stoppit! Scra-al! ” He laughs, then releases me and steps back.
“Come on then, we’ll go see Dad. Follow me.” He leads me out the door, through the twisting hallways, and comes to a stop in front of another plain silver door. He presses a button on the doorframe, and I hear a buzzer sound inside. The door opens, and a grumpy, growling voice says, “Enter.” We go in, and my brother walks to a desk piled high with papers and numerous file-discs. A large figure sits hunched in front of what looks like a large laptop. Scraal greets the person.
“Father.”
“Son.” Grunts the man. “Who’s there with you?”
“I have twin sister, remember? She somehow accidentally transported here.”
“Ah. Come here, Malvina, my daughter.” I nervously step up to my father, and he turns around in his chair so that he can see me. He has red tentacle-hair, dark blue eyes (like mine), and light skin. His face is rugged, speaking of years of hard work, and more than a few close scrapes. His clothing is a dark brown leather jacket, pants of the same material, and a forest-green cloth shirt. His feet are encased in black, stiff leather boots. He looks me over, like I am doing to him. He smiles, and says, “You look just like your mother, Vina.”
“Er, thanks” His smile widens into a grin, and he opens his arms. I step forward, and give him a bear hug.
“Gack! Holy kalfa beans, how the heck did you get so strong? How old are you now?”
“I’m sixteen now, Dad.” He pulls back with his hair sticking straight out, and an incredulous look on his face.
“SIXTEEN?! Has it really been that long? And you’re still so small...”
I take a swipe at him, which he ducks.
“Da-ad! I’m just short, bean-brain.”
“Ok, ok, sorry! Hey, got a boyfriend yet?”
“Actually, most of the boys who knew me in elementary school are scared of me.”
At the same time, Dad and Scraal say, “Why?”
“Well, let’s just say that there’s a reason that my nickname was ‘Claws’, back then.”
“Uh...”
“*gulp* I think I have a rather scary sister...” I give them my best shark-grin, and say, “Anyways, the reason we came to see you, is to ask if you would turn off my cloaking shield, so that I can see what I really look like.”
“Of course. Here, let me get the control.” Dad gets up and starts rummaging around in his desk drawers. After about five minutes, he straightens up, holding a palm-sized disk with several buttons on its surface. He presses the buttons in a definite sequence, and I immediately feel... different. Weird. Like several other parts of my brain that I didn’t even know I had had suddenly been activated. Wow. Ok, um, I can actually feel my hair. I can move each one individually, in groups, or all together. “Totally freaky!”
“Playing with your hair?” Scraal asks innocently. I glare at him, then scrunch up my eyes in concentration. Slowly, I raise five of the tentacle-hairs from my bangs, and curl all of the hairs backwards to make a fist, except for the middle one, which stuck straight up.
“Holy timminans! I’ll bet that Vina’s the only Pennan who ever even thought of fingering someone with their hair!”
“I agree, son! She’s definitely a tomboy, she is.” I smirk, and make my hair lie flat.
“Why thank you, Dad. I’m glad that somebody realizes that fact.”
“Look out Raiders, there’s a Bad Girl in town!”
“Ok, bro, we get it, alright? Shaddap!”
“Yes ma’am.” I sigh and shake my head. Boys... Can’t live with ‘em, can’t grow up without ‘em. *grrrublik* Oop! Looks like it’s time for supper.
“Hey Dad, what’s for dinner?”
“Whatever the mess-hall churns out tonight. Speaking of which, we’d better get our rear ends over there before the grub’s all gone!”
Ch.4 – Home
Ho. Ly. CRAP! Why did I choose to sleep on the spare cot in my brother’s room? Why couldn’t I have chosen the couch in the living room instead?
By the holographic clock beside the bed, it’s around 7:30 in the morning, and my brother, Scraal Fa’nak, is snoring his head off in the bed next to me. He snores worse than my uncle. And that’s saying something! I lie on my back and stare up at the ceiling. Ok, if that brother of mine doesn’t wake up soon, he’s gonna get a pillow in the kisser.
“KKKLLLLLLL - *snort* - nlk mmph – KKKLLLLLLLLLL”
All right. That’s enough. I sit up, grab my pillow by the corners, and let him have it, right in the face. He gives a muffled yelp.
“Viiii-naaaaa! What was THAT for!?”
“You snore worse than my uncle. Plus, you talk in your sleep. Also, it’s almost 8:00, so we might as well get out of bed.”
“Excited about going home, are you?”
“Well, Mom’s probably frantic with worry right now; I don’t want her to think I’m dead. Plus, I want her to see what I actually look like.”
“Ok, fine, I’ll get up. Ugh... I need a shower.”
“Me to the bathroom first; I have to go the bathroom.”
“All right, but hurry up, I have to go too.” After we both have a shower, we meet Dad in the mess hall for breakfast.
“Here you go, kids! Fried tilan eggs and tulas sausage. Enjoy!”
“Ok, now I can’t wait to go home for some normal food!”
“Oh, you’ll get used to it, sis. Besides, I’ll probably think that your food is weird!” I roll my eyes at him, and taste the eggs. Hmm, they’re actually really good! Emboldened, I taste the sausage. Same thing; really good! I eat quickly, because today I’m going to transport to the lead ship, get my Traveller rank and number, transport back, check in, rest, then go back home. Just after I finish eating, Keena Farhan’s voice calls me over my comlink. “Malvina, can you please come to beta-transportation room five? The lead ship is waiting for you.” I touched the button on the comlink and replied, “Roger that, I’m coming down.”
“They want you down there already, twin?”
“Yeah.”
“Want me to come with you?”
“Yes please; I still don’t know my way around very well.”
“Ok then, let’s go.” Scraal and I exit the mess hall, and go down the hallway to the grav/antigrav-lifts. Those things are freaky! You step into thin air, and speak which level you want to go to. Then, the gravity either pulls you up or down. And if you have to think about which level you’re going to, then you just hover. Nothing under your feet but thin air. Scary much?! Anyways, we went down the lifts to Level 2, which houses the beta-transportation rooms. We hurry to Room 4, where Keena is waiting.
“Good, good, you’re here. Seeing your sister off, Scraal?”
“Yes, I’m still worried about her.”
“Don’t worry, bro, I’ll be fine. Maybe have a gargantuan headache
when I get back, but still fine.”
“Ok then. Good luck, sis.”
“Thanks, bro.” We clasp hands gangster-style, then I step into the transportation port. Using the picture on the screen in front of me, I picture the port on the lead ship, focusing on the easterly direction. The now-familiar sensations of my brain trying to get out of my head, the ringing in my ears, the fireworks in my head, and the blurriness of vision commence as I transport. When my head clears, I find myself in a completely different room that has white walls instead of grey and silver. A green-eyed Pennan girl with blue hair greets me.
“Hi, I’m Kali Ancro! You must be the new traveller, Malvina.”
“Yeah, I am. Um... do you know where I go to get my traveller rank and number?”
“Of course! Right this way.” Kali leads me to a room where who I suppose is Kali’s mother is sitting in front of a computer.
“Hello, dear. Come to get your traveller rank and number?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“All right, let’s have a look here.” She touches the computer screen a few times, then says, “Here we are! You are a Beginner Traveller, your name is Malvina Rose Williamson, and your number is two-seven-four-delta-three-nine-five.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“No problem, Malvina. Kali, can you see her off?”
“Sure, Mom!” Guess I was right about her being Kali’s mother. I follow Kali back to the port and step into it, this time focusing in the westerly direction. As I had predicted, I arrive back at home-ship with one wallbanger of a headache. “Owww, frick’n’frack, my HEAD!”
“Got you’re rank ‘n number?” I look up, still nursing my throbbing head, and see Dad and Scraal, both standing with computer