As they walked through the hallways of the school, heading back to their respective sections, every student heard a chime on their PDAs. Almost all of them stopped to check their PDAs either physically on softscreens or mentally.
Oh… Shit… Auberje thought, stunned. He felt true happiness seeing Riley’s name on his trio. The high had died as fast as it had started as he looked at the other name. He was in the hallway, walking fast to catch up to Riley. Now he was stopped, like so many others, stunned by the names on their lists as well. Helos. Helos Bulger? It had to be a mistake, right? He shot the headmistress a quick note and received an automated message, “Hello students, I am sure some of you are surprised by the names on your squads. Understand now, there is no mistake. Cross squadron cooperation is an imperative outside of the Academy and now, inside it.”
He considered his feelings about Helos. About him joining his squad. He thought of it that way, “his squad,” he realized, even though he had no reason to. Riley was no less an agent of her own fate than he was of his. From birth, he was raised to be a leader, and he thought of the world in terms of that central worldview. Would Helos also think of it as Auberje’s squad? What would it feel like to join a group of 3-4s as a 1-1? What would it be like to work with one’s chief rival?
Auberje tried to think how he would feel in the reverse situation, realizing quickly it was the same situation except the 3-4s outnumbered the 1-1. Riley was just ahead of him; he started toward her. He didn’t make it more than three steps when the shadow of a small framed boy stopped him. Helos was a few steps to his right, walking toward him smoothly. The crowd seemed to part before him, and no wonder. The look of pure… something… marred his otherwise childlike face.
He stopped in front of Auberje. If they had been wearing hats and gunbelts, it would have been the walk of a man ready for a duel with primitive iron and powder guns. As it was, their hands did not itch to draw, but their tongues readied words of violence. Then Helos sighed loudly and relaxed into a rueful half-grin, “I would be stuck with you two.”
“And we would be stuck with you,” Riley said as she approached the two, stopping halfway between them, then taking one more step toward Auberje. Her movement was deliberate. Helos nodded his understanding and agreement.
“Yes,” the boy said, “so now what?”
“Now we win this thing as quickly and efficiently as possible,” Auberje replied, “Do either of you know where we can meet to discuss the challenge in private? I don’t think we can bring you back to the 3-4 lounge or our rooms. I don’t want to go to 1-1s quarters either.”
“Agreed, we need a new hangout place,” Riley said, pursing her lips. She moved the rest of the way to Auberje, taking his arm and leading the boy within a few conspiratorial steps of Helos, “Let me check with the Headmistress. She must have considered this need.”
The headmistress had indeed considered the need for more meeting rooms. “Attention, all students, I am getting numerous messages about where you can meet up with your cross-squadron challenge squads. I have converted Hangar Bays 11-20 into cozy meeting centers. You will find a few hundred additional rooms with tables, chairs, pillows, couches, etc… for your use. You will also find some basic holo projectors in each room. This should allow you to model your ships for the first challenge with minimal effort. Now, get to it. We already have two groups who think they are ready to submit designs for fabrication. The race officially starts 72 hours from… mark. Now. Classes will take place as normal, so plan accordingly.”
A tiny countdown started on each of their displays. No matter what screen, application, or page Auberje went to, the display showed the countdown spinning inevitably to zil.
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“Well, we have a 3-hour break before the next class. What about you Helos?” Auberje asked.
“Same, I have nothing until last block. Shall we find a room to claim as ours?”
“Yes, this way boys,” Riley led them through the crowd, about half of whom were heading toward the hangars as well. “Auberje, any preference which hangar I take us to?” Auberje realized she was deliberately asking him, putting herself as a follower. He sighed, this human group dynamics stuff was going to be the death of him.
“I think we want to go to H15. It’s a pretty straight shot from 1-1 and 3-4,” Auberje responded after briefly checking the map of Star Academy.
“Agreed, let’s go then,” Riley said, leading the two boys there. Her small figure zipped through the crowd until they were at the front of all the students. They wound their way through the hallways coming to the massive hangar doors marked 15. The doors opened before them to reveal 3 newly fabricated levels of hallways and doorways. Dozens upon dozens of rooms showed on every floor, each opening to 10 by 15 rooms filled with places to sit, think, and strategize.
“Not the first few, everyone will try them. We want to be deep enough in to not be overly disturbed but also not so deep it takes us 20 minutes to walk here each way,” Helos added.
“Good thinking, let’s go to the top floor, 4th room then,” Riley said, climbing the ladder that served as the stairway to the third floor.
“3-4, easy to remember,” mumbled Auberje and Helos at the same time. They both reddened and then tried to use the ladder at the same time. Again they parted with red-faced apologies. Auberje motioned for the other boy to go next. He waited until Helos was up the metal rungs to follow quickly behind. The room they chose was smartly appointed. It could have been any executive suite’s meeting room on any planet in the human sphere. It was also devoid of life and ideas.
“Star Academy, fabricate three dozen posters of racing starships and small 3-seater fighters in service today. Post them on the walls in here,” Auberje ordered. Nearly instantly, the rolling of papers and the rustle of bots filled the room. Posters were plastered upon the dark metal walls. Riley nodded approval. Helos sat on a large chair, sitting as far forward as his small frame could without falling off the chair. His feet were planted in a wide stance, his hands between his legs, fingers steepled. He looked intently at the area above the holoprojector which filled the center of the room with silver and orange dots.
“Right, we don’t have that much time, let’s get to it. Display all 607 parts in list form, by ship function. Remove all but the drive parts for now,” Auberje ordered, the dots formed shapes and words and then settled on the drive list.
“Does anyone have a preference for the type of drive we use? I was thinking of trying to add a long-range jump drive, as we have to fly in space. Still, they rarely work nicely for planetside travel, which means we would also have to pack a second planetary drive to get us through the air, water, and planet travel that the headmistress mentioned. What do you two think?” He was amazed at how easily he already thought of Helos as part of their group. He knew his young mind was capable of incredible plasticity of thoughts and connections, but still, the other boy had been their enemy and rival. Yet, here they were, working together. He shifted uncomfortably, sitting opposite Helos on a small two-person couch. Riley joined him, leaning her leg against his. He found the warmth comforting. It was also slightly distracting but worth the slight loss in thought capacity.
“A jump drive? You think we can jump from wherever we end up in space to the end of the race?” Riley asked Auberje.
That’s my hope. I don’t know if it’ll come true, but that’s what I think. We always have to think linearly and horizontally in Greathings. But, we have been the most successful when we felt out of the box in spirals and twists. “ Auberje replied.
“Makes sense to me. Next question. Do we have to be in the ship to win the race?” Helos asked.
The other two looked at him dumbfounded.
“What?” Helos asked, looking proud of himself.
“I mean that thought is truly outside the box,” Auberje said, considering the implications.
“A drone would be much easier to design. A lot less systems,” Riley said, leaning in and sending a quick query to the headmistress. Instantly, they had a reply.
“Attention all students, you must physically make it to the end of the race. All three of you. Alive, to win.”
“Well, there goes that idea,” Helos muttered, unhappy that his shortcut wouldn’t work.
“It was a great idea. We need to consider all kinds of things like that, so keep it coming, Helos,” Auberje said encouragingly.
They spent the next two hours building a series of simulations and vessels. Most of their designs exploded, crashed, were destroyed by pressure or otherwise failed to work. Two designs made it through all their tests with flying colors.