“Ah… freedom,” Sam said once they made their way out of the hospital’s sterile halls and into the open. However, his elation from experiencing the pleasure that is fresh air was soon cut short on account of him acting according to one of man’s most natural instincts. Out beneath the open sky, he turned at once to look up at those very heavens, and was immediately struck by melancholy.
While this was not his first time being under the big blue dome since he was returned, it was his first time actively looking up at it. And the fact that he was unable to see anything different annoyed him to no end. Everything looked the same to his untrained eye; the sun’s color was as yellow as he thought it ought to have been; the clouds were just as sheepish in their lazy drift as they were in the rare times that he caught himself being enamored with their shape and beauty, actually paying attention to their existence. Even the moon, half faded and barely visible at this time of day, was without visual blemish, although it’s not like Sam would have been able to tell if it wasn’t in the right position.
Sarah’s nudging of his shoulder brought him out of his self-agonizing reverie. “Everything alright?”
Sam slowly nodded his head, his mind coming back into focus. “Yeah… It’s just the whole bit with the skies, you know? It suddenly reminded me that despite everything looking familiar, it’s still a wholly different world. And the worst of it is that it’s fake. There’s nothing up there and it just looks like that because of people’s faith or some other bullshit like that. I mean, how can you stand it? It’s like we’re locked out of the real universe by the magical skies. It’s the same plot device that aliens use in a sci-fi book when they want to prevent humanity from becoming op.”
Sarah squeezed his shoulder in sympathy. “You get used to it, like everything else. And eventually you stop thinking of them as being fake but as a different version than what we’re used to. Everyone alive now in the Web, besides us Taken, has only known what you and I would consider fake. For them, it’s absolutely real.”
“But space!” Sam held his hands upward as if pleading. “How can you stomach this, knowing that it’s just a facade, keeping you stuck on the same pale blue dot? Never being able to reach up there, to industrialize the moon and colonize Mars?”
“By internalizing that this is a different reality than the one I’m used to. One where you can’t travel out in space but instead travel in between worlds. Besides, it’s not like you and I were going to end up on the moon anyway, right? This way we can actually experience traveling between different worlds instead of just dreaming about it.”
“It doesn’t matter if we would have never made it up into space. Although, for your information, I harbored great hope of one day being rich enough to have one of the egotistical, very rich people fly me to the moon in exchange for the money they have no more need for. Or maybe instead, a second Cold War would breakout and reignite the space race in all of its glory. With the end result of making space tourism just as viable for the average person as the regular kind.
“But that’s not the point. Who cares if you, or I, or anyone else featured as 2006 Time’s Person of the Year, made it out into space? What really mattered was humanity's ability to make up there eventually, resuming its interstellar journey into the unknown. Now, there is no more unknown. Space, with its multitude of mysteries and wonders, is forever taken out of mankind’s grasp.
“It’s like we’re in Plato’s good old allegory of the cave. But instead of being taken out of our bondage, and witnessing the true form of the real world. We are being forced deeper into the cave, our chains becoming heavier as we draw closer to the earth’s core. And now we find ourselves without even the projection of the passing shadows on the wall. For there is no more fire to provide us with the light needed for the simple act of perceiving our own fake reality. We are locked from the true world, entombed in shadows forevermore.”
Sarah’s eyes turned upwards. Using her hand to shield them from the midday’s sun fierce glare. “Then if this annoys you so much, I guess that there is only one path left before you. You just need to become strong enough to see what’s up there for yourself. Being a Ruler is enough to step out into the void. But who knows, maybe if you manage to become a Chosen, you’ll be able to solve this mystery once and for all. Then, you could find us the way back to the version of space as we know it, and eventually fulfill your dream by becoming the first Sam on the moon.”
“Whoa, don’t spoil it. Now everyone’s gonna know my grand plan and there won’t be any tension.”
Sarah smiled in response. “In all seriousness, are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry I got us dragged into another stupid metaphysical debate. Won’t happen again.”
“Sam, I’ve known you for less than a day, but that’s enough for me to know that’s a promise you won’t be able to keep.”
“Yeah, not in the grand scheme of things, of course not. I meant during our current interaction. No more metaphysics during this physical tour. Speaking of the tour, can we get back on that? We’ve been standing here talking forever, and I’m very conscious of the dangers of skin cancer.”
Sarah shook her head and raised her arms in surrender. “You’re right. I’m truly sorry for wasting your precious time.”
“That’s OK.”
“Great, I’m so very happy that you found in your heart to forgive me even if I still haven’t forgiven myself. I’ll try to find my atonement while guiding you around campus, making sure to place the wellbeing of your precious skin at the top of my priorities.”
“Hey! Skin cancer is a very serious topic, so unless things have changed and you—”
“They’ve changed.”
“You can’t get skin cancer from the sun anymore?”
“No, you still can. You won’t.”
“Why not? Cause I’m a Taken?”
“Because you’re going to be a high enough level to not have to worry about cancer in no time.”
“Hm… interesting. This, of course, leads as to a very common philosophical debate, one that I’m not going to open up now even if it doesn’t have anything to do with metaphysics. But it concerns the age old question concerning the exchange between freedom and security. But like I said, there’ll be ample time to discuss it at a later date. Once I know what you meant by being a high enough level.”
“Good,” Sarah said, “because we should really get going.” And she started walking to the right, into the proper campus grounds. Her pace was suddenly much faster than before when she led him through the hospital and Sam had to rush in order to catch up to her.
Once he caught Sarah, she slowed down and returned to the pace with which she previously led him. Walking beside her, Sam made sure not to gawk too much at the scenery and the people they were passing. Turning to Sarah, he said, “You know, I much prefer the version of you that’s fed up with me instead of the version that’s trying to make me feel at ease by overindulging my idiosyncrasies.”
“Tough luck. You’ll just have to make do with my usual nurturing and caring self.”
“I’m going to hold you to that. Let’s see how nice you are once you truly get to know me.” Sarah just laughed in response and continued leading Sam through the academy. Every once in a while, she pointed around and gave Sam an introduction to where they were and what was what. He couldn’t help but be impressed with what he saw.
While the architecture didn’t look anything special to Sam’s untrained eyes, which pretty much just meant they didn’t possess any futuristic or fantastical characteristics, it was pretty enough to look at. Everywhere Sam looked, he saw clean and meticulously constructed buildings. They were all structured in orderly utilitarian lines, assuring swift passage to the hurrying student who woke up late for class.
The military-like layout of the campus grounds didn't come at the expense of the aesthetic aspect, however. There were trees and flowerbeds all along the path they walked; along those they didn’t; and surrounding every building. In short, the fancy campus more than matched the expectations that Sam’s stay in the fancy hospital had raised. Clearly, a lot of money and time went into building the place and Sam started feeling bad for making jokes at the expense of its founders (although, how hard would it have been to pick an original name?).
“That’s the largest mess hall on campus,” Sarah said with a gesture to the building. “Not that it matters all that much. At this point, I think that I’ve eaten at every mess hall at least once and there was always plenty of space.” It made sense that this mess hall was the biggest, because according to the campus map posted on a signboard nearby, it was smack dab in the middle of it. As further evidence, a lot of people were coming and going through the building’s many entrances. And Sam could swear he saw sharp tipped ears on some of them.
“Oh. Were going in? Is it time for second brekkie already?” Sam asked.
“You’re hungry? You just had lunch.”
“Not really, I just like saying the word ‘brekkie’ you know? It’s just so fun, try it.”
“I’ll pass. Want me to grab you something to drink?” She gestured towards a vending machine. Great! Time to find out which drinks survived the apocalypse.
“I’ll never say no to someone else buying me stuff on their dime. You are planning to pay for this, right? Or maybe society advanced so far already that all food and drinks are now free?”
“I’m buying. What do you want?”
“Anything I’m used to?”
“It’s pretty much the same.”
“I’ll have a coke then.”
She nodded and made her way towards the machine. Sam followed along with her, curious to see if everything was indeed the same. The choices presented on before him allayed his worries. And the taste of the coke was just as he was used to. Only it was a hundred times better because it’s been a hundred years since he last drank it.
The two of them found a bench to sit on while they went about finishing their drinks. “Damn…” Sam said with a sigh as he sat down. “I guess all this walking took its toll on me. Is it normal for me to be this tired?” And was it alright for him to complain about his legs at all?
“Pretty much. Despite your body being perfect for magic, it’s pretty normal physical wise. You’re not out of shape. But you’re also not in shape. But what you’re feeling now is more of a result of getting used to your new body. In a couple of days, even if you don’t move around too much, a walk like today won’t be anywhere near as hard.”
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“Oh shit. Does that mean that I’m going to have to start working out?”
“What did you think being a soldier entails?”
“I thought I’d only have to meditate my chakras and my magic will automatically make me stronger.”
“That’s… a very crude way to put it. Magic can make you physically stronger, but only if accompanied by regular workouts. And patterns only build upon what is already present in the body. So every physical fighter, that is to say, most fighters, are going to be in pretty good shape anyway. This is a great segue, though. Come on, I’ll show you where all the gyms are.”
Sam got up to follow her, unable to muster the same amount of excitement at the prospect of seeing all the different gyms. It’s not that Sam hated working out, it’s that he simply didn’t like it. Sam was, of course, one of those people who, when met with an action they didn’t like performing and also didn’t have any obligation to do, tended to avoid the action in favor of doing something much more enjoyable. Like reading a book in which the main character is able to dedicate themselves to working out in order to become stronger.
Of course, sometimes those very substitutes were a reason unto themselves for why he worked out. Yes indeed, it was a story as old as time: Boy watches Dragon Ball Z. Boy wants to be as strong and cool as Goku (not realizing, due to his young age at the time, that Goku is a horrible role model). Boy starts working out in the hope of being able to fart out a blue light beam from his hands. Boy eventually loses his drive to work out, opting to watch TV instead. Now Sam wasn’t saying that he was that boy. Because there was way more than one piece of fiction that, time and time again, drove him to adopt a workout regimen after he compared himself to its protagonist.
Of course, the main reason that guided Sam back again and again towards the goal of finally being in shape was simply feeling good about himself. That good could take on many forms. From being comfortable and confident with his body image, to simply being happier and less anxious as a result of exercise. Alas, Sam was never quite able to reach the vaunted peak that was being fit. The closest he came was right before he lost both of his legs. And he made damn sure not to remind himself of that irony all that often, for his fragile mental health.
Sam managed to complete the rest of Sarah’s tour without falling down from exhaustion. Honestly, he probably wasn’t all that tired anyway. It was just that he was so unused to the feeling of his legs being tired that he was hyper-focused on the sensation. The distinct possibility didn’t stop him from grumbling to Sarah, though. He didn’t understand why the place needed there to be nine gyms as well as five pools and a couple more sport fields strewn around for good measure. But Sarah assured him that it was all absolutely necessary, and he wasn’t going to argue with her.
Besides places to exercise, the academy also included plenty of classrooms, lecture halls, labs, and evidently everything else you would need to learn about magic, combat and the interaction between the two. On the outskirts of the campus, it was surrounded by the buildings housing the pupils and teaching stuff that wished to stay the night in the academy grounds. Which was most of them, apparently. Sarah, herself, was also living in the dormitories, a fact that she proved by leading him all the way to her dorm room.
“Wait a minute,” Sam said in surprise. “A single bed?”
“Yep.” Sarah smiled. “Every student room is for a single occupant only. Like I said, they spared no money building the academy.”
“Yeah, no shit. You even have your own bathroom. But isn’t this the exact opposite of what military habitation looks like? Don’t they want to train you guys, or us guys, I guess, like it’s the real thing? To get us used to living in the field, sharing a bunk bed with twelve other dudes, and only having a hot shower once every Christmas?”
“Nope. Only the best for New Terra’s brightest. Also, the living conditions are the front lines aren’t that bad.” She laughed. “I’ll show you some pictures later, but it’s pretty nice, everything considered. Even for the rank-and-file trenchies. Anyway, I need to go to the bathroom. I’ll only be a couple of minutes. Sit anywhere you like.”
Sam nodded and opted not to move Sarah’s backpack from the chair facing the table, instead sitting in the only other chair in the room. It’s not like there was much choice, with the only other reasonable alternative being the bed. Sure, he could’ve sat on the floor as well, trying to call back to his early childhood memories. Or maybe the table, but it was currently housing what looked to be a laptop, so Sam figured that option was off the table.
Besides that, the room was pretty sparse. There was a nightstand next to the bed and a dresser taking up the space left between the table and the nightstand. While the room wasn’t very large, it still felt ‘roomy’ enough to Sam, who was used to the utilitarian space of a hospital room, yesterday’s luxury suite notwithstanding.
With the bed covers all neat and tidy, the only hint that the room was occupied by a living person was the many books sat upon any and all available surfaces. There was a paperback on the nightstand, a row of books stacked in twos on the dresser, and many more arranged on the shelves above the desk. Even the table itself wasn’t spared the literary clutter. Textbooks, Sam’s well-trained eyes, honed by three and a half years in an institution for higher education, immediately ascertained.
Opting to be a diligent pupil right from the get go, Sam picked up the closest textbook and started leafing through it. What he saw there shocked him to his very core! It was a medical textbook based on the diagrams and other visual addenda, something about the human body, if Sam had to guess. But the outrageous thing was not the anatomically correct pictures, but the language the book was written in; It wasn’t English! No, it wasn’t the lingua franca of the modern academic world, but it was instead the language of Europe’s most famous partitioned state: Polish. Sam was abhorred. How far did humanity fall to, so that people have to learn medicine from the Poles? Then again; Poland was famously spared from the suffering brought on by the Black Plague, so maybe they knew a thing or two about medicine.
Xenophobic tirade done and dusted, Sam started browsing the rest of the textbooks neatly laid out on the desk. Most of them were in English, so Sam didn’t need to exert brain power trying to infer what subject they were discussing. That didn’t help him find a common thread between the different topics presented in each book. The other book on medicine and one on biology in general were in stark contrast to the book filled with incomprehensible diagrams and written in a completely alien language. Hell, there was even one book that tried to unravel the great mystery behind fucking magnets, of all things, and the way in which they work.
Sam was right about to find the answer to that question when Sarah stepped out of the bathroom and cleared her throat. “I hope you’re not looking through my dirty mags,” she said as she moved her backpack to the ground and sat on the chair opposite Sam.
“Oh, great!” Sam said. “If I knew that you had porn just lying around, I wouldn’t have wasted my time trying to hack into your laptop in order to find porn online.”
“My laptop isn’t password protected.”
“OK, so my joke doesn’t work. You killed it. Are you happy now?”
Sarah gave him a beaming smile in response. “So no different from usual then, huh?”
“Hey! You promised sickening sympathy and the complete lack of being justifiably annoyed with my behavior. Where’s all this snark coming from?”
Sarah laughed. “I’m sorry if I’ve hurt your feelings. But one thing you got to know about me is that I don’t like people going through my stuff. No, scratch that, I don’t care about people invading my privacy. What I care about is them moving things around and ruining my arrangement.”
“That’s fair, my bad. Next time I’ll want to rummage through your stuff, I’ll take a photo so I’d know exactly where each sock was.”
“Actually, socks are the one thing where it won’t matter, since all of my socks are of the same kind.”
“Smart. I used to do the same thing back when I could still wear socks,” Sam said while twirling around his wonderful new right leg.
“Then we should buy you some new socks tomorrow, now that you’re… walking again.”
“Nice, smooth… Why tomorrow of all days?”
“Why not? Are you going to spend another day going around in borrowed clothes and I’ll fitting flip-flops? Besides, it’s Saturday tomorrow. It’s the only free day I have if I want to take you shopping.”
“Why would I need you to take me shopping?”
“Oh. So, are you going to go shopping on your own, then?”
Sam shook his head. “No. Please take me shopping, mom.”
“Tomorrow it is, then. And while we’re on the subject, how did you end up losing both of your legs? If you don’t mind my asking. Probably shouldn’t have asked about it in the first place. Forget it—”
“Nah, it’s alright. I don’t have a problem telling people about it. Actually, it’s a funny story. So there I was, walking down the street with my Walkman blasting the latest book on tape I loaned from the library. I was crossing the street, and out of nowhere, I see Stephen King, if you can believe it, driving, as it happens, the very same van. Suffice to say, I was flummoxed! ‘I thought he wasn’t allowed out of Maine,’ I said to myself. I started in mute amazement, shocked awe, at the renowned and prolific author.
“And then BAM! That’s when it hit me…”
“What?” Sarah asked once a couple of seconds passed with nothing else from Sam.
“I’m going to be honest with you,” Sam said. “I never settled down on the second part of that joke. You see, I had the first part down while I was still in the hospital and because everyone there knew what had happened to me, I just never really felt in a hurry to think up a punchline. And I didn’t have any time to think about that these last two days. Actually, I sort of forgot about that joke until you brought that up, and it just instinctively came out of me.”
“So there was nothing true in anything you said?”
“Obviously, did the part about Stephen King not clue you in?”
“Why would it? I only remembered who the guy was when you mentioned he was an author. So was the part about you not having a problem telling me also a joke? I knew I shouldn’t have brought it up…”
“No, no… that was all true. There’s no reason for you to feel bad. Look, if you really want to know; I just got into a regular traffic accident, not my fault, which, of course, never helped me feel any better about it. What was left of the legs had to be amputated. You know the drill. But anyway,” Sam said with an upbeat tone, trying to bring back up the mood he just brought down, “that’s well enough about me. What about you, huh? Any secrets that you’d like to share with your new pal Sam before he starts getting on your nerves and you start wishing you never tried to help him?”
“Too late for that,” she said with a smile, which absolutely ruined her latest attempt at friendly ribbing. “But are you sure that you’re fine with me taking up the spotlight for the conversation?” Sam nodded, taking satisfaction in the fact that he successfully redirected the conversation and prevented Sarah’s mood from falling. “OK, wow. Is it finally time for me to talk about myself? It usually takes until the 7th date for the man to start faking interest in me. You, Sam Anders, are well ahead of the curve there; asking me about my secrets only after we’ve spent together half a day.”
“Hey!” Sam cried out, trying to sound dismayed. “Who was it that asked you about your opinion on British politics only two seconds after our initial meeting? Not showing any interest in another human being for half a day, my ass.”
“You’re right, you’re right. You did ask me that one thing. I apologize.”
“Apology accepted! Now what about divulging some of that back story then?”
“Hmm… I don’t know. There’s so much to tell you about my rich and eventful life, I wouldn’t know where to begin. Anything you particularly want to know?”
“Yes, there is. Let’s start with something that might have a direct impact on my life and is thereby of interest to me. Where did you live before coming here? Just in case I decide that the single dorm life isn’t for me.”
“It’s probably going to be different for you, since you’re an adult and all capable of living by themselves.”
“Obviously you don’t me well enough yet.”
“You keep saying that, and yet the picture you paint of yourself doesn’t align with the picture that your actions create in my mind… Anyway, in my case, I lived with Maurice until I started studying here. He thought that it’d best for me to grow up with someone who knows what I’m going through, and he was the only Taken who didn’t move around all the time. Well, there are another two, now three, but they probably wouldn’t have wanted to take me in anyway.”
Sam just stared at her in disbelief. “Nuh-uh. Maurice? The Frenchman? The doctor? The dude that keeps calling you by your surname all the time? He’s actually your adoptive father?”
“He doesn’t like calling me Sarah because he wants to maintain a ‘professional relationship’ while in the academy. Because god forbid, people think he likes me or anything, or they might also to worry that I’ll get a favorable treatment from the academy because of him. And he’s not my adoptive father! We’re not a family or anything, not even a foster one. He’s my friend, not my dad.”
“Sure. I’ll take that into consideration when making jokes about the nature of your re—Wait a minute! Are you telling me that you’re not getting preferential treatment here? Does it mean that I’m not going to get any? Because you, and Maurice as well, told me otherwise!”
Sarah half laughed, half sighed. “We are. And you definitely will. But Maurice has his own set of values and he likes to act as though he lives by all of them. And maintaining the facade that there’s something he could do to make the academy treat me better and keeping his distance because of that, is one of them.”
“Speaking of which,” she said after looking through her phone, following its buzzing. “Esther finally got here and so it’s time for your very important meeting. We should get a move on. The faster we get there, the faster we can find out how much the academy is going to fawn over you.”