“The first thing you need to know,” he continued, “is your essential role in meeting with extraterrestrials. You will learn about their culture, lifestyle, technology, and many other aspects to pass it on to humans.”
“What?” I blurted out.
“Spooky, spooky, spookeh” Kailus muttered, wiggling his fingers.
Both Notemi and Lyviria sat in silence, but Kemia was looking with wondrous, wide eyes—so wide she may have unlocked extrasensory powers for those tiny socketed organs. In contrast, the person who seemed a bit constipated was the brawny Olma, who was uncharacteristically silent from the news. Did he understand what was being said or was his size protecting him from the mention of extraterrestrials?
“So, any questions?”
“That’s it?” Kailus asked dumbfoundingly. The Integrator returned his answer in a nod. “Well that’s disappointing.”
“What did you want to hear?” The Integrator asked with furrowed brows.
“That you were going to build up some tension—like how I was chosen as a candidate because I have good acting and improvisational skills, how aesthetically pleasing I am with my navy blue blazer, and things like that,” Kailus asserted. A pause followed in Kailus’ vain, yet agreeable attempt at having the Integrator introduce the situation more properly.
“So Kailus,” the Integrator started.
“Yes?”
“You were chosen as a candidate because of your good acting and improvisational skills, and you look quite goo-”
“No!” Kailus interrupted. “You missed the timing; what good would it do to tell me this now?”
“You wanted to hear it, no?” The Integrator asked. Kailus looked bewildered and was at loss for words, so he slumped in his chair with arms outstretched on the table. Olma held Kailus’ fingers and lowered his head, paying his respects to his deceased vanity in silence. A smile spread across my face, which gradually transitioned to a chuckle, then laughter.
Kemia and Notemi joined with fists thumping the table, while Lyviria giggled in her usual poised posture. The Integrator stood silent without noise peeping through a single fiber of his being—allowing us to let our ripples of joy sink into Kailus to dissolve his residual pride.
Lyviria was the first to settle back into her natural tranquility and commenced with the first question. “So what does being the spearhead of humanity’s evolution mean?”
“Like I mentioned, it will involve you all going to explore star systems and worlds beyond our planet. There are things that not even your minds are capable of perceiving and understanding at your stage, so there will be a training period after today’s meeting before I send you off on your adventures. With your increase in perception, you will garner knowledge other humans can use so that it can benefit the planet as a whole—think of yourselves as an intermediary between our planet and the stars.”
Sounds of enthusiasm prickled my ears, with Kailus reawakened and invigorated by the call to adventure. He leaned forward with a knee on his table to high-five Olma; briskly pushing his chair back to clash with the one behind him.
In my peripheral, Kemia reached for two-handed high-fives from Notemi, then Lyviria. Kailus turned towards me with two raised fists for a cheer – matching the beat of my heart at the exciting news – while Kemia made her way to high-five me and the two boys across the aisle.
When calm and stability returned, Lyviria continued. “What do you mean by things we are not capable of perceiving?”
“What I am allowed to tell you is: at your current stage, you cannot see extraterrestrials. Although you all are quite close to reaching that point in perception, it is not sufficient; especially since you will be interacting with them more in the future than humans on Earth. You can say this will be the primary aspect of your training.”
“What kinds of extras will we encounter?” Olma asked.
“We can call them ETs for short,” the Integrator assured. “But I cannot give you any details because I, too, do not know what beings are out there.”
“Ooh, I hope we can learn more about our health,” Olma said.
“And any herbal or healing technologies they have!” Lyviria said, seeing her more animated now since I arrived.
But their joy seemed to ignore one question that probed me since the Integrator started talking about ETs; something didn’t add up. He must have encountered ETs in some form or another if he said we can’t perceive them. This meant he could perceive them and had already planned our training for a long time, which was also mentioned in the letter.
“You must have encountered ETs somehow. When and where did you have that experience?” I asked.
“Hmm…” The Integrator pondered for a long moment as he walked to the right side of the room and leaned on a table, then walked back to the center. “You could say that it was a hunch.”
“So you don’t know whether ETs exist or not, and you want us to visit their worlds?” I pressed.
“I wouldn’t say they don’t exist, but the meeting with them was not physical in nature, so words are insufficient to describe that experience. It will be a surprise for you, so I don’t want to spoil it,” the Integrator smiled. “In regards to visiting their worlds, it will be a mystery to me, and we will all be experiencing that surprise together.”
The presence of ETs is the present awaiting us, huh? Although the idea of meeting ETs and their worlds is exciting, his unwavering faith in his ‘hunch’ was disarming. It was on the border of carelessness that riled up my thoughts of ‘What could he be thinking?’ and ‘Do I trust his trust in himself?’ I didn’t want to hinder my joy because of distrust, so the obvious choice was clear.
My trust in him was supported by his young, smiling face resembling childlike wonder. He must be at least forty years old, yet despite his still and uneventful form, I could feel his infectious exuberance which found its way into my thoughts; telling me I could smile unceasingly for the rest of my life—an invitation I refused solely for the reason that my cheeks would become sore.
I wanted to see how he remained so young because he looked just like the rest of us candidates, but the bagginess of the ceremonial robes obscured his natural figure, leaving me only with hints of youthfulness through how he portrayed himself. This gave me a sense of ease and connection with him that implied we could talk about anything. It was similar to that feeling when I first met Kemia—with how familiar and at home I felt, but less in-your-face and smothering with love. It was much more refined and subtle. Even the single thought of distrust that I momentarily manufactured completely swamped this subtlety into a distorted mess.
He was also similar in aspects to Lyviria and the structure we were in—except… it was much more powerful? It was a mix of blending into the physical environment and the ambiance. His clothes certainly did not match anything around him because that was only a facade. There was a caring and motherly impression coming from him, but it was devoid of masculinity and femininity. It was puzzling and mysteriously inviting and welcoming.
“Is there something that you can tell us that you do know?” Notemi asked.
“There are many things, but they can only be pulled out if you have a question. You can continue to probe, but my answers will only be as good as your questions. Some answers may be prevented from reaching you because I do not deem the time necessary and I do not want to remove the fun for you. And of course, the rest is for your curiosity.”
Notemi displayed a contorted look on her lips, contemplating as hard as she could to rebel against the Integrator’s non-provocative statement before surrendering to her lack of questions.
“If there are no questions left, we will proceed to the next matter,” the Integrator said.
Silence.
“None? Then let me introduce your new teachers.”
He opened the door by the chalkboard and out came three people walking to the front center of the room. The Integrator stood to the side and asked them to introduce themselves, starting from our right.
“I am History Professor Daniel Lorraine, and you might know me from the recent annual public seminar on Integration Day, two days ago.”
I did not notice him at first, but looking closely, I recognized his silhouette with a brown ponytail and half-rimmed glasses. The rest of his body was draped in the same ceremonial robe as the Integrator and officers, which the two other teachers also wore.
“I am Doctor Amy, and I oversee most doctors around the planet and practice in healing.”
Instead of an off-black color for her robe, it was white. Her blonde hair was also in a ponytail, but compared to Professor Lorraine, it was lengthier. She had visible wrinkles around her face showing her old age, but other than that, she looked and felt vibrant and young with her sharply shaped nose and chin that was ready to take on whatever the world threw at her.
“And I am Seamus; you could say I get in touch with supernatural beings. I will also be your primary teacher during your training period. We will be meeting regularly, which reminds me that I’ve got some very nice stories to tell!”
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He had the same colored robes as Professor Lorraine. The only conspicuous thing was his extremely messy white hair—a record-breaking messy that was much wilder than that of Olma’s and Kailus’ when Kemia ruffled it. Combined with his sharp nose and thin features where his cheekbones could be seen, he had a hysterical look accented by his scouring eyes that wanted to pounce on the next opportunity to cause an uproar in the room.
“Please don’t tease them any further, Seamus,” the Integrator pleaded with a facepalm. Doctor Amy giggled as Seamus poked the Integrator like he was playing with a child. Surprisingly, the Integrator was ticklish and appeared terrified, or at least feigned his act so well to fool us. If a supernatural medium can make the Integrator act this way, what was he going to do to us during our training?
The adults stopped their play and allowed the Integrator to return to his presentable self and continue his speech. “So how do you all like this room so far? Pretty neat!” He asked and answered.
“If you designed this yourself – compared to the exterior design of this building and the hall – it’s quite lackluster,” I said, recalling my first impression of the room. “Anything outside of this room gives a sense of beauty that this room doesn’t quite capture.”
“See, even one of the candidates agrees with me, master,” Professor Lorraine teased. “You should leave the interior design to the experts and not force yourself to impress your selected children.”
“I don’t need any expertise to enjoy what I’m doing. Also, my candidates are a reflection of how well I chose them, given by their ability to see the truth in certain aspects,” the Integrator winked at me. “Also, Professor Lorraine, you will not be calling them children very soon; they will be surpassing you after their training. And since I have selected you as my disciple, you better make sure you don’t fall behind!”
Professor Lorraine rubbed his head with a shy, resigned smile and seemed to not want to get into more banter in front of everyone. Though he did appear younger than the Integrator, it split my reality in two to see someone as knowledgeable as him being this submissive and calling the Integrator his ‘master’. Now, seeing the Integrator being submissive to someone or something else would eject me out of this body; I just hope it wouldn’t be something like a rock. Who would I look up to then?
“Now that everyone has been introduced on the teachers’ side,” the Integrator continued, “I will expand on Seamus’ role during your training period.
“Like he said, he will be your primary teacher, giving you broad and generalized knowledge that you will need to learn about in your free time to better prepare for ETs. Since he has a background with supernatural phenomena, he was selected for this opportunity to aid in your growth in perception. The other two – Doctor Amy and Professor Lorraine – will specialize in teaching you individually, depending on what they deem is fit for you and their capability of providing the necessary guidance.”
“So that means we get to separate into groups, right? Right?” Kemia perked up and asked.
The teachers looked at the Integrator, then at Kemia. Doctor Amy was the only one to giggle out of the three. “I don’t know what gave that away, but yes, you will be separated into groups—pairs to be precise.”
“We get to choose too, right?” Kemia asked again, already making up her mind.
“Well, as you may or may not see, the Integrator here loves to play games,” Doctor Amy said. “We already know who we are training, but he wants us to keep it a secret until you choose your own partners. There is this part of him where he enjoys his predictions and wants to see them play out.”
Now I'm curious as to who Kemia would be picking and whether the Integrator will be correct. Since predicting human behavior is already quite impossible, it is within my power to prove him incorrect and even choose my preferred teacher. First, I would prefer partnering with Lyviria since everyone else seemed unfit for me. I don’t want to deal with another Ruyo, so no Notemi, especially since she is not at her full power. Kemia is a bit too smothering. Kailus is a watered-down Ruyo but highly erratic, unpredictable, and dramatic. Olma wants to use me as a nail for assembling furniture. So yes, Lyviria would be the best choice because there will be less chaos I have to deal with.
As for a teacher, I would prefer the Integrator, but since that’s not an option, then I prefer Doctor Amy for the same reason as Lyviria. I don’t see how I would fit with Professor Lorraine since memory is the last thing I want to spend my life on, and he’s a history teacher. I also learned from his public seminar already—even though it was only a glimpse of his knowledge and there were some interesting topics, solely memorizing things was no different from my engineering classes. As for Doctor Amy, I do not know what I would learn from her, and considering that she is a doctor, it gives room for possibilities in a myriad of specializations. Whatever it may be, I would not mind throwing myself into more adventure since I’m already here.
“As I was saying,” the Integrator continued after clearing his throat, “you candidates can now call yourselves Explorers and will be meeting weekly with Seamus. For the rest of the week, it will be your personalized training with whoever your teacher is.”
“How long will the training take? And where would we train?” Notemi interjected.
“Training will span a few months, most likely into early or mid spring, northern hemispherically speaking. Since Antarctica will be in perpetual darkness for the next few months, you will be going off here to fly to a remote island in the northern hemisphere that I have prepared for this occasion. There is a small community there, and you will be out of contact with the rest of the world to ensure no distractions. The only contact you can have will be with family, but it will be kept to a minimum.”
“Why did we come here to Antarctica, then?” Notemi asked. The Integrator turned to his disciples and paused as they slowly moved their eyes with still heads to look at him.
“Because I am lazy and wanted you to come here. And because… why not?” The Integrator said while sweeping his head to get a full view of the room.
A shake of Doctor Amy’s disappointed head and Seamus’ facepalm prompted some of us to laugh and follow the lead in our teachers’ disappointment. Professor Lorraine’s zeal in portraying the Integrator as his master subsided into silent disbelief while he rubbed the back of his head.
“Sometimes you are just unbelievable, given the importance of your presence on the planet,” Doctor Amy said. “Fortunately, you haven’t gone on screen before, so no one in the general public knows what you look like and that you exhibit childlike qualities, even when you’re about half a century into your lifetime.”
“Who knows how long I will live? Which reminds me—I will be going on public news after everyone’s training. You,” the Integrator swept his pointer finger to all us candidates, “will also be introduced to the public. But unlike Doctor Amy here, I have no inkling of shame as to how you want to present yourselves.”
Half a century into his lifetime? If two days ago was the 40th anniversary of Integration Day, it could mean he was either slightly older or the same age as the anniversary. How did he end all wars and violence? For one toddler, child, or teenager to change the whole world, it did not make sense.
“Bro!” Olma shouted in his deep and booming voice.
“Who are you referring to as ‘bro’?” Seamus asked, looking around in confusion.
“The Integrator—what can I or can we call you?”
“You can call me whatever you like. Professor Lorraine likes to call me master and other people like to call me Integrator. While others like to call me…” When he trailed off his sentence, I saw Doctor Amy reach past Seamus’ back and give a pinch to the Integrator’s shoulder, who squeezed his face and displayed visible anguish, then bared his teeth before the pain broke through and he begged her to stop.
“Okay, now that questions are over, and I have introduced your teachers, it is time for you to pick your partners. Your teachers will be waiting for you outside in front of the entrance gate and inside the bus that will be flying you to the northern hemisphere.” With the closure of his speech, the Integrator gestured our teachers to the door leading to the arched hallway while he stayed behind and waited for us to pick our partners at the front of the room.
All of us Explorers looked at each other, and I promptly gleaned their varied silhouettes and colored eyes and hair, with my preference to partner with Lyviria in mind. Across the aisle, I saw Kailus reaching his palms out towards me in attempt to give me a warm welcome into his arms, but I mustered up the courage to give him a brisk shake of my head to solidify my wall of denial. He ignored me and started walking to my table along with Olma as I intensified my shaking to no avail.
When the boys arrived, they stood on either side of Lyviria and towered over our seated heads. “Who will be paired with who?” Olma asked.
Kemia’s head and eyes darted all over the place, revealing the eagerness she had to partner with anyone. When she looked into my eyes and I returned a mutual stare, I felt a bubbling energy rise within me, tickling me to laugh. Exercising all self control I had, I allowed myself to leak out only a faint smile. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to laugh all the time when grouped together with her.
Kailus was standing next to me with arms crossed and seemed to ponder in silence as he stared blankly in front of himself. Notemi, with forearms on the table, didn’t seem to pay any mind to anything that was happening. Lyviria was looking up at Olma and down to Kemia, discussing some ways in which we could choose our partners. Either in boy-girl combinations or going in depth with choosing the pairings based on our personality.
“I got it!” Kailus said. We all turned to him as he kneeled down on the floor before proceeding with enthusiasm. “Let’s talk quietly so that the Integrator can’t hear us.”
We all huddled in to whisper. “I say that we don’t fall for the Integrator’s prediction, how’s that sound?” Kailus suggested. We all nodded in agreement.
“Sounds like a game,” Olma whispered with a new quality and a combination of sounds I haven’t heard. It was a mix of rumbling and humming – spiced with care. “What’s the plan?”
“If I may start, I want to be with Lyviria,” I said.
“Why do you want to be with Lyviria?” Kailus asked, scanning my face and torso.
“Because I don’t want to be with anyone else. And, also, preference,” I answered.
Lyviria swiveled her eyes to me while her forehead wrinkled in astonishment. “Ehh?”
“It’s because you’re not as chaotic as everyone else, and it will be more efficient for me,” I clarified.
“But if you want to break the Integrator’s prediction on who we choose our partners to be, then you need to do something you are uncomfortable with,” Kailus said. Olma and Kemia jerked a few nods of agreement.
“We will most likely be with our partners until we are dead, so why not base it off of that?” Notemi suggested.
I lifted my head from our conversation at the table to sneak a peek at the Integrator, who laid his back on the teacher’s desk with hands over his chest. The room was already quite silent, so it could be possible for him to hear our whispers – if he had good ears. Realizing that he already made the prediction as told to us by Doctor Amy, I returned to my whispering position. Judging by Kailus’ and everyone’s silence, they agreed with Notemi and continued the discussion after my return.
“What do you think of Notemi’s idea, Laizen?” Lyviria asked.
“Not a bad idea, but I don’t think my answer will change.” I took a glance at Kemia. “Although it might.”
“If that’s the case, then I will pair with Olma,” Kailus said. Notemi swiftly nodded her head while her eyes looked down at the table, seeming to not pay attention. Lyviria stayed sandwiched between the two boys, unmoving. Kemia did not seem bothered by it, and neither did Olma.
“Alright, let’s do this, partner!” Olma whispered. The new partners shook hands behind Lyviria’s hunched back and stood up.
“Wait, you’re leaving?” I asked.
Olma held a hand to my shoulder for consolation. “Sorry Laizen, you’ll be choosing between those three. We’ll see you on the bus.”
“Ah, no worries,” I replied. The two boys took one last look at us before leaving the room. Lyviria was still here, and Kemia could be a possible partner. Notemi? She could, but thinking about her similarities with Ruyo, it gave me the shivers.
“Hurry up, the bus won’t be waiting all day. You also have some ET friends waiting for you to finish training in the future!” The Integrator shouted. The four of us looked at him lying on the teacher’s desk, playing with his palms and fingers like shadow puppetry.
“So,” Lyviria broke the silence with her gentle whisper. “Who will be partnering with me?”