Alzar had been right; the second time in the kyphosis chamber was significantly easier for Aubrey. Not fun per se, but no panic attacks, and the pain wasn’t nearly so sharp as she spewed the thick liquid from her lungs.
She was released from her chamber, and after another quick cleansing, was free to wander the ship.
“We’re still several minutes from the Academy,” Alzar had told her. “But Captain Palaemon saw no harm in letting you watch the approach.”
Following the guided lights that Alzar had provided on her HUD, she made her way through the ship’s damp corridors towards the observation deck at the front of the vessel.
The large chamber was lined with cushioned seats that hovered. The room stood empty - in fact, the entire ship seemed devoid of people; the only sound she heard besides her soft footfalls had been the low throb of the engines that made everything vibrate. Aubrey assumed most of the crew must be in kyphosis chambers.
On the wall at the front of the ship was, what appeared to Aubrey’s eyes, a giant, thirty foot in diameter hole. Since she had not been ejected into the vacuum of space, she inferred there was some sort of protective substance between her and the abyss. Just not something she could visually see. The effect was unsettling as she stared out into the stygian void.
She approached it, searching with her hands out until she made contact with the velvety metal that she could not see.
“Glass steel,” Alzar chimed helpfully. “Although the name is misleading, it is a composite blend of carbon nanotubes and graphitic ribbons which is much stronger than either glass or steel.”
Aubrey stepped back and took a seat in one of the many chairs that faced the window. In the distance, a brilliant blue and orange nebula spread its wings, beautiful and vivid. The light from it was harsh, almost unnatural to her eyes.
Behind it, thousands of points of light, a much denser star field than the one visible from earth, glimmered in the blackness. To the left, a large planet loomed, its surface a swirl of green and gray gases. Two large, tan rings surrounded it.
With no frame of reference, Aubrey had no idea how big the planet was, or how close they were to it.
“What’s the name of that planet?”
“I’m afraid that information is classified.” Alzar answered.
“What do you mean classified?”
“The Academy is the elite training and research facility for the Alliance. The Five, in their wisdoms, have decided that only a select few can know its coordinates. Most of the ships that fly in and out of this system do so blindly.”
“Blindly? How does that work?”
“The Ship A.I. receives the coordinates for the Halabi drive via a quantum key that is physically carried by an officer from military intelligence. These officers, known as Travelers, are tasked with guarding each key with their life. No one knows how many Travelers or keys there are, but rumor has it they are few in number. It is a great honor to be given that position, and the job is frequently given to retired Field Marshalls.”
“What’s a Halabi drive?”
“They’ll teach you this in greater detail soon enough, but the Halabi Drive - named for the discoverer of the unified field theory, celebrated physicist Asad Halabi - functions as a wormhole generator. It creates a micro tear in space-time, allowing a ship to jump directly from one location to another.”
Aubrey rubbed her chin, her brow furrowed with concentration as she watched an animation that played on her HUD demonstrating how the Halabi drive worked.
“The drive, however, must be carefully calibrated and tuned in with a quantum key or beacon, which the ship uses to lock on to a safe travel location. While unkeyed jumps are possible, there is a risk of jumping into solid matter or other hazardous environments. So the Halabi Drive allows instantaneous travel between known locations, but is never used for exploration. That’s what the P.E.P. System is for.”
“Pep? That’s a funny name.”
“My goodness, you have a lot of catching up to do. P.E.P. stands for the Planck Energy Propulsion System. By continuously contracting the subatomic space in front, and expanding the space behind the ship, the system creates a sort of wave of warped space, which allows the ship to travel faster than light.”
“Wait, how is that possible? I thought nothing could travel faster than the speed of light.”
“Unfortunately another common misconception from your era. The Big Bang, for example, expanded many times faster than the speed of light. But in some ways you are ironically correct, nothing, that is empty space, can travel faster than light. By manipulating the empty space between subatomic particles, the ship is able to travel faster than the speed of light, though the physical matter itself does not.”
“I’m not sure I follow.”
The ship had passed the gas giant, and was now entering an asteroid field. Aubrey had always imagined an asteroid field packed with rocks, nearly impassible. But the reality was starkly different than what she had seen in movies. The giant stones floated gracefully, miles apart, twisting and rotating as they orbited the unseen star at the center of this system.
“You should be able to see Bavel, the Academy now.”
Aubrey approached the window. In the distance she could see a colossal asteroid coming into view. As their ship drew closer, Aubrey could see that the asteroid itself had been hollowed out, its gaping maw pointed in their direction.
The central stone was encircled by a band of silver and blue metal, which was dotted with windows and lights that glinted in the darkness. From this band, eight bridges led out to enormous circular disks made of the same material. Several glowing ships darted around the asteroid like mosquitoes, buzzing in and out of the structure’s mouth.
From a distance, Aubrey had drastically underestimated the size of the asteroid. As they approached to dock, she began to understand its scale. The enormous opening gaped at least twelve miles wide, and half that distance tall. The asteroid itself must have been forty or fifty miles in diameter, with a slight ovaloid-shape, not quite round, like an egg that had been squished.
Aubrey felt a sense of vertigo as they entered, passing through a strange glowing wall of blue light that was only visible as the ship passed through it, dancing beautifully off the glass steel window.
Inside stretched the docking bay, a structure unlike anything she had ever seen. Rather than the brown stone she had seen on the outside, the inside was covered in a smooth metal finish. Thousands of gleaming cone spikes jutted out from the walls seemingly at random, like the inside of a metallic geode.
The spikes were hundreds of yards long. Several other ships were attached to the cones, and from her angle it looked as if they were impaled on them. She could see things moving along the surface, shapes that were difficult to make out at first, but which she eventually realized were robots.
Aubrey had always imagined the future filled with humanoid robots, made to mimic the appearance and mannerisms of their bipedal creators. In retrospect, a foolish notion; to consider form over function. The robots, with their thousands of moving parts, more closely resembled insects and invertebrates as they clambered across the spikes and their docked vessels, cleaning or repairing, welding or transporting equipment.
The ship approached one of the spikes, which looked as though it were going to pierce straight through its belly. She heard metal sliding against metal as the docking station opened like a flower blossom on the front of the ship, the walls spreading and folding back to reveal an opening.
The spike slid into the cone-shaped hole, and as the two pieces met, the metal ropes of both the cone and ship morphed and intertwined until the vessel lurched to a stop as it locked into place.
Several robots clambered onto their vessel; Aubrey could hear the clangs and clatters as they loped along the surface. She pressed her face against the glass steel to try and see, and was startled as one of the robots skittered across the surface of the window. It was nearly twice her size. She was shocked at the thing’s speed as its ten legs pumped and worked in unison.
A deep voice echoed in her skull.
“Welcome to the Academy, recruits. This is High Commander Nam Rood. Your A.I. will lead you through orientation. We will meet in the great hall at oh-nine-hundred.”
Alzar chimed a small four note tune.
“I have downloaded the schematics and orientation materials. If you’ll follow the green line, we can begin.”
Aubrey followed the path Alzar laid out for her, through the vessel and out what she assumed was the spike she had seen enter the ship’s belly. She ran her fingers along the smooth metal wall absentmindedly as she listened to Alzar, amazed at the seamless joining of the ship and docking station. If she had not seen the two structures separately, she would have never known they were anything but a single solid system.
“The Academy, or Bavel as it is more commonly known, was founded in the year 2170 by Ammu Rapi, a retired Sky Marshall whose battle prowess and tactical capabilities are the stuff of legend. After conquering the Divona, a more numerous and technologically advanced enemy-“
“We were at war with the Divona?” Aubrey interrupted.
“Why of course,” Alzar replied. “The Alliance was forged in the heat of battle. But as I was saying, Sky Marshall Rapi conceived of Bavel as a place where the best and brightest military minds could come together to develop war theory, tactics, and prepare for the inevitable future conflicts that humanity would face as they expanded to the stars.”
As she exited the corridor, she entered another long hallway. The construction of the passageways within Bavel were remarkably different than the ones she had encountered at the Blackburn Plantation. Shorter and tighter, the hallways here felt more claustrophobic. The walls were ribbed and lined with coils of wire and piping, reminding Aubrey of the innards of a frog she had dissected in her biology class. The place was clean, cleaner than the ship had been, but not as aesthetically pleasing, nor as sterile as the plantation.
“After direct supplication with the Five, his concept was approved. Each of the five Mega-corporations were commanded to offer their full financial and technological backing.”
“Mega-corporations?”
“Yes, unlike the primitive era you came from, our Alliance functions as an unfettered free market system. Five Mega-corporations rose to prominence hundreds of years ago, each with thousands of subsidiaries and child companies. Omicorp, Microtech, Advanced Logistics, Aeon Chemical, and Genematics. By using the free market theories that were still in their infancy during your time, the Alliance has made an environment whereby visionaries and the gifted are free to pursue their own ideas, liberated from the shackles of outdated concepts such as morality or the public good. By rewarding the strong, the Five have created a darwinian utopia.”
Rounding a corner, Aubrey entered a bustling room filled with soldiers in military uniforms. Their pristine clothing varied in color, from deep reds and purples to light blues and greens. Aubrey couldn’t determine the meaning of the colors, but assumed it had something to do with rank or perhaps unit assignments. The clothing was spartan; no extraneous pieces, except for small gold and silver stripes along the neck line, varying in numbers and thickness from person to person.
“This is the one place where all tech is shared, and all work is done in unity by the Mega-corporations. The school is overseen by a retired Sky Marshall, hand-picked by the Five and given the honorific title of High Commander. Their job is to oversee the training of the finest military minds in existence, as well as managing the research and development of new weapons systems, war ship design, and of course, the Jugger program.”
The green path led Aubrey through a large set of doors that slithered open.
Aubrey’s jaw went slack as she entered the Jugger engineering bay, a gargantuan chamber at least as big as the ship port by Aubrey’s estimation. Inside were the Juggers, giant robots as tall as sky scrapers, each in its own bay, a lattice of wires and beams running along the edges like delicate spider strands.
Each Jugger was a drastically different shape and number of limbs, with different weapons systems and configurations. At the front of the bay, a set of thick doors, large enough for several Juggers to pass through, protected them from the vacuum of space.
The Jugger closest to Aubrey had powerful, strong legs and a hunched body and torso with four long arms that reached to the ground, its shape reminiscent of a gorilla. Above it, the name “Ork” was painted. Technicians dressed in white uniforms flitted through the room, checking computer displays, making adjustments and testing the piloting systems. Several other workers dressed in black uniforms were floating in the air on mobile platforms, welding and repairing the massive monsters. Dparks rained down to the metal floor below.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Juggers are the pride and joy of the Alliance. Few ever manage to see one up close, even fewer qualify to work on them.”
She walked past the giant mechs, her eyes wide with wonder. Several more platforms buzzed past her, carrying supplies, weapons, and crew. Aubrey hardly noticed them.
“A Jugger consists of three components. The spiders, which are a specialized nano-bot system used by the Jugger pilots to interface with the liquid panel computer system, allowing a direct neurological link between the pilot’s nervous system and the Jugger itself. The spinner is the central hub for controlling the Jugger where the pilot resides, generally the head of the construct, although a few Juggers have deviated from this basic design.”
Aubrey could see one of the spinners being moved into position. It did indeed very much resemble a head being slowly lowered onto the shoulders of the Jugger's body. From the bottom of the spinner, several long mechanical tentacles writhed, searching for the host body. Once contact was made, the tentacles pulled the spinner into place, locking into the body with a thud that echoed across the large chamber.
“And lastly, the Nephilim, or body, which contains the weapons systems.”
Aubrey stopped, staring blankly as the Jugger powered up. Nymph, as the name above its bay indicated, was a much more slender Jugger than Ork. It had two powerful, three jointed legs, a long thin torso, and two long arms. Its rectangular head dropped low, about halfway down the chest, and on its shoulder an immense missile system had been installed.
Aubrey could feel the energy and power crackling from the thing as it stood taller, its legs and arms extending. Simultaneously, several hundred wires and hoses disconnected from its body, swinging loose until they hung limp from the ceiling and walls of its bay.
The Jugger took a step, and Aubrey reflexively took a step back. Its footfalls thundered through the hall, the force of the impact rattled her teeth and tickled her feet as the entire room shook.
“Aubrey?”
She hadn’t even realized Alzar was still talking.
“Yeah?” she murmured.
“Shall we continue?”
She lingered, watching the massive machine make its way through the room until it disappeared into a large opening at the rear of the chamber, which lead deeper into the asteroid.
“Aubrey?”
“Yes, alright.” She sighed.
She hardly heard the rest of Alzar’s guided tour.
He gave her a sense of the general layout; the central asteroid was mainly to house the shipyard, the Juggers and their respective tech and support facilities, and the battle arena commonly known as the Etemenak.
The outer discs included the living quarters, classrooms, and flight training facilities. As she passed a row of classrooms, Alzar spoke of High Commander Tuku Nurta, and her revolutionary perspective on pre-emptive war.
“She very famously taught that there is no avoiding war and bloodshed. There is only postponing the fight until the advantage no longer belongs to you, but belongs to the enemy,” Alzar intoned enthusiastically.
“Mmmm” was all Aubrey could respond. All she could think of were the Juggers. The metal behemoths pulled at her. Would she have the chance to pilot one? She vowed to do whatever it took to climb inside one of those beasts. The idea excited, terrified, and enthralled her in a way nothing else had before.
Eventually Alzar led her to the central lecture hall. The anachronistic room shocked Aubrey, with its leather seats and rich wood panels covered with intricate carvings, like something from the 18th century. At the center stood a large platform. Behind the platform, carved into the marble wall were the words “Scientia Interitum” which her display kindly translated for her as “The Science of Destruction.”
It appeared as though Aubrey was the last to arrive; the thirty-six seats that faced the central platform were filled with shadowed figures in the dimly lit room, some human, most not.
“You should probably take your seat,” Alzar said.
She rushed down the stairs and sat next to a young Divona, its long limbs scrunched up to fit in the chair that was obviously not designed for her physiology. Aubrey smiled at her, eliciting a color change from bright pink to a cool green shade.
“Hello,” Aubrey whispered.
“Hi.”
“I’m Aubrey. Aubrey Ryelle.”
“Nice to meet you, Aubrey. My name is Nube Kanto.”
Aubrey reached out her hand, which Nube took and shook vigorously, her hand nearly three times the size of Aubrey’s. Aubrey noticed a scar along Nube’s shortened first finger, as if it had been lopped clean of at the knuckle.
“Nube is a Divona,” Alzar chimed in helpfully.
“What is a Divona?” Aubrey blurted out. She bit her lip in embarrassment.
Nube laughed. “I take it you never met a member of my race?”
Aubrey shook her head. “I was…” What was the term Amaslei had used? “I was pulled.”
Nube sat up. “Pulled? I’ve heard of people being recruited from the past, but I never thought I’d meet one. They must have been saving you for something special; most of the pulls were used during the Corporate wars.”
“Where are you from?”
Nube hesitated before speaking. “I’m from the planet Borvo.”
“I have no idea what that means.”
Nube laughed. “It’s the home planet of my people, in the Kemos System.”
Alzar pulled up a helpful star map, pointing out the location of Earth, now named Taranis, within the Sothis system, and Kemos, which floated thousands of lightyears away.
One of the other students sitting four seats down, a Divona like Nube, leaned towards them. “You’re from Borvo?”
Nube nodded.
“So am I. What Kingdom?”
Nube again hesitated. “Uh, from the Koje Kingdom.”
“You look familiar, do I know you?”
Nube shook her head, and turned back to Aubrey.
“My home world is made up of ten kingdoms. Some people find this dreadfully important. I’m not one of those people.”
“Psst! Girl!” the boy hissed. “Hey, I’m not done talking to you.”
Aubrey couldn’t help but smile at the boy’s audacious rudeness as Nube turned back to him. She felt the familiar rage boiling up in her chest.
“What’s your name?” Aubrey asked.
“I am Dagan, eldest son of Prince Honi, and heir to the throne of the Fibir Kingdom,” he said, his chest swelling with pride.
“Nice to meet you, Dagan,” Nube said before turning back to Aubrey.
“Prince Dagan,” he corrected. “You would do well to remember that, peasant.”
Nube didn’t acknowledge the barb, but Aubrey saw her flinch.
“Don’t mind him. The royalty from my home world are accustomed to a certain level of treatment.”
Aubrey bit her lip, trying in vain to remind herself that this wasn’t her fight. “May I ask a question, your highness?” she asked.
Dagan smiled broadly. He nodded his head regally. “Of course.”
“Did your parents not realize there are more than enough stupid people in the world to hate before they had you?”
Dagan’s mouth fell open. Nube tried in vain to stifle her laugh.
“How dare you! Do you know who I am?”
“Yes, I do. You’re a petty bully who places more importance on status than accomplishment or character. Likely because you have neither.”
“I- I’ve never-“ Dagan couldn’t speak. Several other students nearby chuckled.
“Well, I’m surprised, given how spoiled you behave. Now if you don’t mind, my friend and I were having a conversation.”
The boy glared at her for a moment, before folding his long arms and staring straight forward, rage etched into his features, his bioluminescent stripes flashing a brilliant red.
“Sorry,” Aubrey said. “That kind of stuff just really bothers me.”
Nube opened her mouth continue the conversation, but stopped as a single spotlight appeared on the platform. An older human man stepped into the light. Aubrey found it difficult to estimate his age; his frame was strong and imposing, belying a life of carefully observed military discipline. A jagged scar ran along the top of his head down the left side of his face, erasing part of his ear.
Flanking him were two Techno-priests, masked and hunched, their bodies gliding along the ground as their black robes flowed behind them. At their rear walked a young woman in her late teens, muscular and stocky, her cold green eyes piercing and angry.
Trailing behind a line of sixteen adults of all different sizes and shapes filed into the room. They lined the back wall, their hands clasped behind their backs as they watched the students with dispassionate expressions.
The man stepped onto the stage. His hands rested easily at his side as he stared at the students. His eyes scanning them, pausing on each of them before moving on. An uneasy silence fell over the room. Aubrey could see several of the students squirm under his scrutiny.
“My name is High Commander Nam Rood. I am the ranking officer of the Academy, and will oversee your training here.”
Behind him, lights danced in the air, a hologram showing videos segments of starship battles, complex mathematical equations, ship construction plans, technological readouts, and Jugger schematics.
“You have been chosen from a pool of trillions to study at Bavel. Each of you have proven yourself skilled, gifted beyond measure. Those gifts might be physical, mental, or some unique combination of the two that our assessment system flagged as having significant potential. You are an investment.”
Above his head flashed the great statues Aubrey had seen earlier in the temple.
“The Five themselves have deemed you worthy. You must now live up to that weight of expectation. Here, we can give you the tools to uncover new realities, invent technologies beyond your wildest dreams, and discover the glory of war.”
Above him the image changed to a Xaphan, the monstrous beast’s mouth slathering and drooling as it screamed and tore through an enormous Batteroon, spilling its crew into the vacuum of space.
“And make no mistakes. We are at war. With an enemy so terrible they cause the very ground to tremble. They are bloodthirsty, cruel, and unfeeling. They are deadly, and they are bent on the destruction of our way of life, and the extermination of our respective species.”
Aubrey felt her heart quicken and her cheeks flush as Nam Rood’s voice echoed through the room. Music began to play, faintly at first, but building into a great crescendo as he spoke. She felt her pupils dilate as Rexotocin flooded her system.
“Will we allow this audacious enemy to violate with impunity the Alliance Systems? Will we permit the monsters who have terrorized your families and decimated your cities to escape righteous punishment? To this I say no. No, we will not. We will march to meet him, to tear from his head the crowns he has won, and teach the universe that a malediction attends those who would dare turn their weapons of war against our people, our brothers and sisters. And I promise each of you, your efforts will be rewarded with unclouded glory, and eventually, a durable peace for your children.”
The students stood and cheered. Aubrey couldn’t help but be swept up in the moment. She didn’t understand the complexities of the world where she now found herself, but this was something she could understand. Something she could grasp and cling to. Something to give her new life meaning and direction. An anchor amid the chaos.
Nam Rood listened to them clap and cheer, waiting patiently for them to quiet down and retake their seats.
“For those unfamiliar with the system here at the Academy, you will each be put through an extensive battery of tests, more intense than the entry exams. These month-long examinations are meant to push you to your physical, intellectual, and emotional limits. It will not be easy. Many of you will break, but trust me when I say we will rebuild you into something greater than what you were.”
He stepped down from the podium and approached the students, pacing back and forth in front of their chairs. Now closer, Aubrey could see the many scars that crossed his face and neck, pocking and puckering his skin.
“Once the exams are complete, you will be put into class rankings. The top three students will be selected as leaders, each choosing a team of eleven students. Each team will be assigned one of our Juggers, to work on, modify, and train with. The teams will run skirmishes, tactical battles and training simulations in the arena. At the end of the year, a tournament will be held, where the teams and their Jugger’s will face off in a live fire exercise. Based on both individual performance and overall team execution, points will be awarded over the course of your year. Additionally you will be assigned class course work based on your assessments, to both compensate for weaknesses and accentuate your strengths.”
He stopped in front of Aubrey, his steel gray eyes locked with hers. She wanted to look away, but he held her gaze.
“Some of you may die during the course of your training. It is not uncommon to lose three or four students from a given class during the four-year program.”
Aubrey could have sworn a smile crept into he corners of his mouth. He turned his attention back to the rest of the class.
“For those who survive - glory, honor, power, and wealth. These are what await you.”
He returned to the stage. He gestured for the young girl who stood like a stone statue to come forward. She marched to him, saluting. He returned her salute, and she dropped her stance, turning to face the students.
“This is Ean Natum, the Commander of the Academy. A fourth year, she has worked her way through blood, sweat, and tears to become the highest ranking student in the entire program. Upon reaching your fourth year, the ranking system and teams are dissolved, and you will begin running simulated battles against the Azrael. Ean, a few words if you will.”
The girl nodded, then jumped down from the stage. She was short, especially compared to Nam Rood whose powerful frame towered above her. But she had an air of dangerous ferocity about her, like a wounded, hungry animal. Aubrey recoiled as the girl approached.
“I will keep my remarks short and to the point. Mercy, kindness, and love - these are the demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in war. The enemy knows no mercy. None will be given. The enemy knows no kindness. They only know cruelty. The enemy knows no love. They know only hate. Look at the students who surround you.”
Aubrey looked up at Nube, who smiled feebly.
“They are your enemy. Make no mistake. If you fail to recognize this, a knife will find its way between your ribs. It is better to be feared than loved. That is how you will succeed and conquer, or fail and die.”
She returned to the stage. Aubrey breathed a little easier as the distance between them returned. Ean retook her position behind Nam Rood.
“You would do well to take Commander Natum’s advice to heart. You’ll now be shown to your bunks. Your exams begin tomorrow morning.”
Ean shouted. “Company, ATTENTION!”
The students all stood, a chaotic mess of limbs and timing.
“Company, SALUTE!”
The students all saluted. The action felt awkward and unnatural to Aubrey.
Nam Rood observed them coolly for a moment before returning their salute.
“Company, FALL OUT!”
Both Nam Rood and Commander Natum stepped back, turned, and marched out. The two Techno-priests followed, and the faculty filed out afterwards.
“Would you like me to show you the way to your bunk?” Alzar asked.
Aubrey made her way through the smooth metallic halls, following the blue guideline Alzar had placed in her vision. Next to her was Nube, following similar guidance from her A.I.
“What was it like where you came from?” Nube asked. “In the past I mean.”
“Nothing like this place. No space travel. Computers were things that sat on your desk, not something shoved into your brain.”
Her hand probed the node at the base of her neck. It didn’t ache exactly, but it still felt strange.
“It must be quite the adjustment.”
Aubrey smiled. “It is.”
“Do you miss your family?”
Aubrey nodded as her eyes dropped to the floor.
“My father was pulled; I was hoping to learn what happened to him.”
Aubrey felt someone kick the back of her foot. She turned and saw Ado, grinning widely.
“Greetings, Aubrey.”
“Ado, this is Nube.”
His eyes widened, and Nube’s coloration flashed red before returning to cool blue.
“A pleasure Nube,” Ado said, as he fell in step with the two of them, his huge eyes blinking heavily. “We’re terribly sorry, who did you lose?”
Nube stroked her hand, her slender fingers rubbing the knuckle where part of her digit had been severed. Her bioluminescent lights flashing a shade of deep blue.
“Oh, um… my brother.”
Aubrey looked at her, confused.
“Among my people, when a close family member dies, tradition holds that you sever the tip of your finger. It is placed with the body, which is cremated. The family then ingests the ashes during a sacred feast held in the House of Words.”
Aubrey’s nose crinkled at the thought. “Ingested?”
“Yes, it is said that once ingested, the souls of the departed become one with your own.”
Rounding a corner, they came to their sleeping quarters. A squat, spartan room that divided into three sections, each with rows of flat gray platforms jutting out of the wall. Several other students were already staking their claims, chatting idly, probing one another through feigned conversation. Aubrey moved towards the closest, Ado and Nube following close behind.
She tentatively reached out and touched the platform. It was warm and felt like a soft, malleable plastic. She pressed her fingers into the surface, which gently gave way under her fingertips. Nube and Ado watched her closely, exchanging smiles. Aubrey noticed, and blushed.
“Sorry, I just… It’s all so new to me.”
Ado stepped beside her and slid his hand along the side, causing a series of white lights to flash just beneath the bed’s surface.
“Here, let us show you how a sleep pod works.”