The room was filled with the scratching of pencils on paper as the professor, tall and lithe with dark brown skin, turned to set the chalk on his desk. The sunlight streaming through the window illuminated his face.
“So, what do we do now?” The professor asked expectantly. A chorus of hands rose up. He called on one, a young blonde woman known as Rachel, and the best student within the class. Granted, that wasn’t saying much as the class we were in wasn’t very prestigious in the first place.
At least, that was my excuse.
“You just have to substitute the approached x value into the equation to find the limit, right?” Rachel replied confidently.
“Excellent answer Rachel,” the professor gleamed a smile before returning to the board to describe another concept.
Altrus Academy was a place where dreams were made and broken. As one of the most prestigious universities in the country it had a limited student body compared to the other educational institutions surrounding it, but what it lacked in quantity it made up for in quality.
Physics! Law! Mathematics! Chemistry! Philosophy!
In any subject one could think of Altrus Alumnus dominated the field and stood at the
very top. This was simply due to the sheer prestige and knowledge of the educators, as well as the billions of dollars sunk into the vast, city-like campus. Altrus Academy was like heaven on Earth, whatever a student needed to continue their education and research they would receive it, whether it be a lab, grant, or a better professor. As long as a student showed their worth, they would be granted what they needed.
When I received my acceptance to Altrus, I was overjoyed. I had worked myself to the bone, studying every day to the point where I was part of the top 1% of students in my country. I had always assumed that I would be one of those prestigious Alumnus myself, breaking records and defining fields. But when I stepped onto campus my dreams were immediately crushed.
I was immediately placed into the bottom of the Sheep class!
The student body of Altrus Academy was separated into classes based on class rank. The Sheeps, the Rams, the Bison, the Wildebeest, and the prestigious Gazelles. The 1000 student body was divided equally into these classes based on rank, and would once a year gain the chance to move up in rank through the selection exams. Despite all that I had done in my home country I still was only in the bottom 1% at Altrus. The Sheep class was granted almost zero resources, the worst professors, and no amenities. Everything we had, we had to work for, compared to the Gazelles who were handed their resources on a silver platter.
The class ended, breaking me out of stupor. I sighed and stood up, moving to put my meticulously taken notes into my bag. It was already my third year in the Sheep class, and I hadn’t moved up a single rank my whole time in Altrus. The Miraculous Man in Last Place, that was the title I was known by throughout the entire Academy. I had already resigned myself to doing the bare minimum to maintain my rank. I was not going to give up and go home, especially when my parents had worked so hard to give me the opportunity to come here.
As I walked to the front of the room the door slid open with a woosh, blasting me with a bright white light from the sun. I let out a sigh and began the long trudge back to my dorm. I cursed my luck as vehicles of all kinds sped past me, hovering above the ground. Unlike the rest of the student body who were provided transportation by Altrus, the Sheep class had to purchase their own vehicles. We were truly deemed, “horrid investments.”
I reached my dorm room twenty minutes later. It was a short, squat, white building with no windows. Even a view was a resource that couldn’t be spent on the Sheep. I scanned my eye to the black square next to my door, and once it confirmed my identity the door slid open with a woosh. I stepped in, greeted by the light of artificial windows. The room was simple, a bed with a desk beside it for studying, a latrine, and a port for food deliveries. I had certainly abused the last feature.
I stepped into the latrine and stared at myself in the mirror. I was short, as the rest of the people in my country were. But while they were strong and built from working the fields, I was fat. I had spent most of my time before Altrus studying without a care for my body, I thought I would be able to dedicate more time to myself once I got in, but even at Altrus I was barred from using any of the health facilities until I had ranked up. In my distress I ate constantly to distract me from my life. Such was the predicament of the Sheep class. My skin was dark, my hair greasy, and my eyes were covered by thick glasses that made my eyes look perpetually wide.
I checked my watch briefly, noting that it was almost 5:30. I had to get back to studying before I missed the deadline for my assignments.
Ding!
A chime broke the silence of my room before an annoyingly chirpy voice filled the space around my ears.
“Hey sheepie! Remember you have to meet us near the academy buildings by 6!” It was Rachel’s voice.
“And remember, don’t be fucking late.” Her tone was dark, and I knew I couldn’t refuse.
My assignments had to wait.
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The clock had struck 6, just as I arrived, panting, behind the academy buildings of the Sheep. Rachel was there, waiting, with a group of 9 others. They were the top 10 in the Sheep class, inheriting the position from those who had moved up to the Ram class last year. They also inherited the position as my designated bullies for the year.
From framing me for cheating, making me steal test answers, threatening my family, and threatening anybody who tried to be my friend, there was no line the Top 10 weren’t willing to cross to make my life miserable. I never knew why, maybe because I was an easy target. But there was nothing I could do about it, the Top 10 all came from affluent backgrounds, compared to me who came from a backwater country of farmers. There was nothing I could do to make my situation better.
Rachel walked up to me, followed by the group behind her. They were all wearing the simple, dark uniforms of the Sheep class, but their postures and expressions betrayed a sense of superiority.
"Look who finally decided to show up," Rachel said with a smirk, her tone dripping with condescension. Her nose wrinkled, “Eugh, you stink. Does he even shower?” Her group laughed.
I steadied my breathing before saying, “What do you want, Rachel?”
Rachel tilted her head, studying me with an amused glint in her eyes. “We’re just having a little get-together. You’re part of the Sheep class, aren’t you? I thought it’d be fun to test your social skills.”
One of the young men, Alex, snickered. “Yeah, we were just discussing how to improve our class rank. But, you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
I clenched my fists. ‘Just endure Adi.’ Imitating their cheery tone I replied, “I’m here to listen. Just tell me what you need me to do.”
Rachel’s smile widened. “Oh, you’re mistaken! It’s not about what you need to do. It’s about showing us what you’re capable of. You’ve been at the bottom for a while now, haven’t you? We’re curious about what you’ll show us next! I mean, three years in the last place? That’s got to be a world record!”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Alex snickered, and I felt my face flush. “I don’t see why I need to prove myself to you. I’m just trying to get through the year.”
Rachel stepped closer, her eyes narrowing. “That’s exactly the problem. You’re just getting by, and that’s not enough here. Seems like you haven’t gotten the hint, we’re at Altrus Academy Sheepie! Maybe if you put in a little more effort, you’d actually be worth something.”
I felt a flash of rage, it was exactly their fault that I couldn’t rank up. The Top 10 had constantly harassed me to the point where I could barely study.
“What do you want from me, Rachel?” I said indignantly.
She gasped mockingly, “Seems like the Sheepie has gained an attitude! About time no!”
The others laughed, hands over their mouths.
She leaned over until we were eye level, her voice lowering to a mockingly concerned tone. “How about this? Show us you can take a joke, and we’ll leave you alone for a couple months, ranking exams are coming up after all.”
One of the other girls stepped forward, holding up a small, cubical device. She adjusted her glasses before saying, “We’ve got a challenge for you—solve this puzzle by midnight, and maybe we’ll leave you alone. Fail, and we’ll have to find other ways to entertain ourselves.”
The device had a complex pattern of lights and buttons. I glanced at it and then back at Rachel. “Fine. I’ll do it.”
Rachel’s mirth faded, and all that was left was her cold gaze. “Good. Let’s see if you can live up to even the low expectations of Sheep.”
I turned away as fast as I could and began walking back to my dorm. This was the opportunity of a lifetime. Inwardly, I had almost thanked Rachel, all I had to do was solve a puzzle and I’d have all the time I wanted to study? Maybe I could even rank up this year!
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I hurled the cube with all my strength, but just before it slammed into the wall, it froze mid-air, losing momentum until it merely tapped against the surface and fell to the ground with a thud. The room was suddenly filled with a sharp chime, followed by a cold, robotic voice:
“Intention to damage Altrus Academy Property detected. Reduction of 1% to scholarship.”
A jolt of electricity prickled my wrist, but I barely registered the pain.
The puzzle was impossible, just another cruel joke by the Top 10. It was an infamous Gazelle MindForge. MindForges were used to test every class, but only Gazelle MindForges were shrouded in mystery. Rachel knew I could never solve the puzzle with such a short time limit. It was over. I sat there in shock. There was nothing I could do. The Top 10 would continue to harass me, even during the placement exams. Best case I would be last place again, worst case I would be kicked out of Altrus. Back home, I had given up on anything but studying, but here, even that was taken away from me. I felt tears stream down my face, blurring my vision. I just wanted to crawl into a ball and disappear.
A chime rang throughout the room,
“It’s not Twelve just yet Sheepie! But the clock is ticking down…. It’d really be a shame if you had to be last place for the fourth time in a row wouldn’t it. I’m just looking out for you Sheepie! Do your best!” Rachel’s voice grated against my ears.
But she was right, the clock hadn’t hit Twelve yet. I still had time. Studying was what I was best at. If I racked my brain hard enough I knew I would be able to solve the puzzle. I would not give up until I was free of the Top 10.
I picked up the cube, and pressed a button on my watch to start recording. A chime rang out,
“DriveSpace full, please pay another 15,000 credits to expand DriveSpace or empty DriveSpace of existing recordings.”
I clicked my tongue, “Of course it’s full.”
I navigated to one of my experiments with soil irrigation before promptly deleting it.
I sat at my desk, the cube glowing in my hand. I took a deep breath and gingerly placed it on the table. I brought up a holovision of a textbook on the wall in front of my desk. With my other hand, I hovered above the recording button on my watch.
“Alright Adi,” I began, anxiety gnawing at my insides. “Just do what you do best. Figure this out. No pressure. It's just another experiment.”
Flipping open the book in front of me to a section on chemistry, I skimmed through the formulas and principles.
“First things first,” I murmured, running my fingers over the cube’s surface. “This thing looks like it might respond to external stimuli—maybe chemical reactions? The lights could indicate different elements or reactions.”
I turned to another page, adjusting my glasses as I studied a complex equation. “If I can figure out what each color represents, I might be able to trigger the right sequence.”
Pushing a button on my desk, a vial shot out of an indent on the side, filled with a faintly glowing liquid. “Let’s see if this does anything.” Carefully, using a pipette, I poured a few drops onto one of the buttons on the cube. The light flickered for a moment, before releasing a low beep and flashing red before it returned to its normal multicolored lights.
“Okay, not that,” I muttered, feeling a mix of frustration and determination. “Maybe a different element... something that reacts more visibly? No, it’s probably something to do with a macro level concept, The Gazelles wouldn’t be tested by something so simple.”
I set the vial aside and grabbed another book, this one on physics. “If chemistry doesn’t work, maybe there’s a pattern to the lights that follows a physical law. Harmonic oscillation, perhaps?”
I hummed, eyes darting between the cube and the diagrams in the book. “The colors might represent states of energy. If I can stabilize them in the right order, the puzzle might unlock itself.”
Minutes turned into hours as I continued to theorize and test, my voice filling the empty room, occasionally interrupted by a chime of the clock as it called out the time. Occasionally, I paused to stretch, muttering about the absurdity of the task, but refusing to give up.
“History might help,” I said to myself, reaching for a thick volume on ancient civilizations. “Sometimes MindForge’s at the lower levels are designed with historical contexts in mind. Maybe Gazelle MindForge’s are the same? The pattern of lights might match a sequence or puzzle from a famous period.”
I flipped through the pages rapidly, searching for anything that might resemble the sequence on the cube. “The Roman Empire? The rise and fall of dynasties? No, no, no, nothing fits.”
I sighed, leaning back in my chair, feeling the time slipping away. “Maybe I’m overthinking it. What if it’s something simpler, something I’ve overlooked?”
My gaze drifted to a smaller book on law, almost forgotten at the edge of my desk. “Laws are built on logic. And those Gazelles love logic, they almost get a hard on every time you tell them a riddle. Maybe there’s a legal principle that applies here—a sequence of logic gates, perhaps?”
I opened the book, quickly scanning through sections on constitutional law, principles of justice, and legal precedents. Looking back at the puzzle I noticed something different with the patterns of the colors.
“The puzzle is testing my ability to follow a logical sequence, like a case precedent. If the lights represent different rulings, I have to ‘argue’ the right case to unlock it!”
I returned to the cube, my movements more precise, more deliberate. “Alright, let’s try this again. Gazelles love connections, it’s probably never been just one discipline, there’s got to be a sequence that ties all these disciplines together!”
My fingers danced over the buttons, pressing them in a carefully considered order. From time to time, I brought out different instruments to give the cube a different stimulus. A chemical reaction, an electric shock, a fall, speech, words, and different combinations of buttons. Eventually, the lights flickered, shifted, and then—finally—settled into a steady blue glow.
“Come on,” I whispered, my heart pounding. “Please work.”
For a moment, there was nothing but tense silence. Then, the cube emitted a soft chime, and the lights dimmed.
“I did it,” I breathed, a mix of disbelief and triumph in my voice. “I actually did it.”
A chime rang out through the room, and my attention was diverted to my watch.
12:01
I was too late.
I cursed under my breath, too tired to even get angry. It was late, and I was defeated. I left the cube on my desk and threw myself onto the bed, shutting my eyes. I would deal with the consequences tomorrow. I knew it was over, I’d be in last place for another year, the Top 10 would make sure of it. I drifted off to sleep, unaware of the intense, pulsing blue light emanating from the cube.
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Adi awoke with a jolt, the abruptness of consciousness dispelling any remaining grogginess. His eyes fluttered open, revealing the bleak expanse of a barren desert stretching endlessly before him. The sky above was an indifferent, featureless gray, and the whipping wind carried with it an odd, faintly acrid smell. Adi’s short, brown-skinned frame, clad in his rumpled uniform, felt strangely out of place in the vast emptiness. It felt as though he would be swallowed by the empty void if he remained there any longer. His glasses, askew and foggy from the heat, slid down his nose, barely managing to stay on his pudgy face.
He squinted through the haze of his greasy hair, his heart racing with confusion. The temperature was warm, but not uncomfortably so. The wind was rough, but not uncomfortably so. And the loneliness was disquieting, very uncomfortably so. Adi's breath came in short, sharp bursts, and he wiped his clammy palms on his clothes. The desert stretched out in every direction, an unending expanse of undulating sand, and he couldn’t see a soul in sight.
For a moment, Adi's mind raced with theories—maybe he was still dreaming, or this was some sort of elaborate prank by Rachel and the Top 10, their families definitely had enough money to put him into a situation like this one. He tried to make sense of his surroundings, but the more he searched, the more the desert seemed to swallow up any hope of understanding. There was no Altrus Academy, no landmarks, no signs of civilization, no escape routes. The only sound was the howling wind, drowning out any sound he made..
Adi took a deep breath, the air slightly stifling, but not uncomfortably so. He adjusted his glasses, hoping the simple act of trying to regain some semblance of normality would help him think more clearly. His mind, usually quick and analytical, was now a jumble of fears and questions. He rubbed his temples, trying to quell the rising panic. He reached for his watch to record his observations as he always did when he was confused, and was only greeted by his bare wrist.
He took a tentative step forward, the sand shifting under his feet, and then another. Each step felt like progress and futility, as if he were moving towards something he couldn’t yet perceive. Adi was already burned out from the puzzle from last night, and this situation wasn’t helping. Focusing on the challenge of understanding this strange, desolate place quickly overshadowed the difficulty of the Gazelle MindForge. However, he was always a firm believer that no problem was unsolvable, and he would be damned if he let that go now.
As he walked, the desolation seemed to stretch on indefinitely. Adi’s thoughts were a whirlpool of confusion and determination. He could not give up. If this was some sort of test or trial, he would face it as he had faced everything else in his life—by gritting his teeth and accepting whatever treatment he had to in order to survive.