“Hello students,” the headmistress’s voice cut across the soft charter, “We are going to have a Greathing unlike any other. I am preparing you all, you see. Preparing you for something terrible and great.” The headmistress did not come out on stage; the other faculty did, mounting the stairs to either side of the raised platform and lining up to face the student body. A momentary blink of the lights… a human woman’s face appeared on the screen behind the dozen or so staff. A gasp arose from everyone in the seats.
This was the headmistress? No one had ever seen her. It was rumored she was horribly disfigured or in a stasis chamber or any number of other technological miracle machines keeping her alive but unable to walk. Everyone had always assumed she was just plugged into the computer power of the station. It was common, collective knowledge she was barely surviving.
No one talked about it openly, but in those late nights in the common rooms, or in the nooks and crannies known for faulty listening devices it was said the headmistress was an ever-changing figure like the Dread Pirate Roberts from the old Earth story “the Princess Bride.” An ever-changing title for competent women who aspired to be the greatest educators in the universe.
Yet, here she was, a caucasian woman in her mid to late 30s with bright blue eyes and a simple braid that ran down the side of her center-parted hair. She looked friendly, Auberje thought. He adjusted his mental model of her, forming this image to all the actions and interactions they had had in the past.
She was continuing, he realized. He shook away the cobwebs of banal thought and concentrated on her words, “This Greathing will encompass both the classroom and the arena. It is not squadron-based. It will instead be of pre-assigned groups of three. It will last until the end of the year or until the first group of students finishes the challenges. There will be seven challenges in all.”
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Pre-assigned groups of three? This had everyone’s attention. Riley gave him another meaningful glance. He hoped they were in the same group.
“I will send each challenge’s title to your personal computers, as well as your assigned groups… as soon as my other announcements are over,” there had been a quick rustle as most everyone had checked their inboxes furiously. She smiled for the first time. It was a tight, soft smile like she was fond of them, but maybe in the same way someone smiled at a puppy you didn’t entirely trust yet.
“I have laid out the first of these tasks in some detail. Entitled ‘Get to the End,’, it is a race. You will have 3-days to design a spaceship from the 607 modules found in the fabricator ship list. These are common parts available to you on nearly every one of the human-occupied planets. The race will be on land, underwater, through the stars, and across vast distances of space. Your ship must be fast and nearly indestructible. It is not meant to be combat-related, but you will have access to weapons if you choose to add them. Like every Greathing, you may use chits that I owe you. You will also face unknown challenges along the way from the environment, outside forces, and your fellow competitors. Consider all of that as you build your ships. Every student must complete the first five challenges to graduate from this program. If you do not, you will be sent home. You have until the end of this school year to complete the first 5 challenges. That gives you nearly 6 months. Again, the overall winner is the team able to finish all seven challenges first. Okay, other announcements: we are adding two new classes to every student’s schedule. First is a class, I will teach, in fanciful xenobiology. The other course is a philosophy course taught by Professor Garrett St. Ives. These have been added to your schedules now. Good luck, students.”
The teachers on the stage moved to act as ushers and slowly released the students. Everyone was abuzz looking through their notifications, seeking more information and their teammates. No one had an update until the last person left the auditorium.