Skylar Mars and the Stolen Egg Read online

  On the other side of the door stood a short Tursiops with short, light-blue hair. He offered Skylar a hand up. “Don’t mind them. They’re corp-brats who think they’re better than the rest of us. We’re not all like that around here.”

  Skylar accepted the hand up. A rush of shared compassion hit him, then passed. The boy’s webbed fingers felt strange. Even though his skin looked like it should be rubbery, it was actually fairly soft. “Thanks. I’ve dealt with guys like that before. I’m Skylar.”

  “Del. So you’re the new kid Ms. Grissom told me to expect. Blue 19, right?”

  “Yeah. Is that your room too?” Ms. Grissom had told him he should get along with his roommates. So far, Del had tried to rescue him from the exploding toilet. That was a good start. If he kept doing things like that, Skylar would be happy to make friends with him.

  Del nodded. “Yep. I’ll introduce you to the others after supper.” A feeling of loneliness hit Skylar as Del continued, “They tend to eat with some of their other friends. But hey, I can help you learn the ropes, since Ms. Grissom said you were going to be on the same schedule as the rest of us. That is, if you don’t mind following me around until you get the hang of everything here. Some folks say I go on a bit too much.”

  Skylar couldn’t help but smile. He felt he was on the way to making his first friend in his new school. Even if he didn’t know how long he was going to be there, it felt good to get to know someone. “Sure, I’m good with following you around.”

  The bathroom door clanged open and a three-foot-tall cleaning bot entered.

  “Come on, we better get out of its way,” Del said, motioning for Skylar to leave the now-empty restroom. “Last week, somebody failed to move fast enough and ended up getting a good scrubbing.”

  “I’ve never actually seen a cleaning bot work,” Skylar said. “I mean, I’ve seen vids and read about them, but this is the first one I’ve seen. That is unless you count the remote controlled jack bot the Intergal Rescue gal had.”

  Del stopped in the doorway and seemed to study Skylar. “Where are you from that you’ve never seen a cleaning bot in action before? I thought they were everywhere.”

  “I’m from Hummassa. It’s a little backwater spot out on the edge of settled space. We were a little behind times.” He hoped the feeling of being a hick disappeared as he looked back over his shoulder at the cleaning bot which had started removing the wreckage. It might be something that was everyday for Del, but for Skylar, it was totally new and interesting.

  “Must’ve been.” Del led Skylar in the direction of the flow of students had been moving earlier. The common room was once again clear. “We might not have all the most modern tech around here, but we’re a bit beyond that. I guess you’re going to have a bit of a learning curve here, like not using the Vi-Go-Tions’ stalls.”

  “Was that what happened?”

  “Yeah, their fluids don’t mix well with ours. The results can be volatile. As you now know. Pathal and his gang like to trick the new kids into using the blue stalls and watch them explode. You got lucky. One of the kids they did it to caught the urinal in his back and spent a day in the med bay getting patched up. That poor kid still walks funny and never uses the public toilets. Can’t say as I blame him.”

  “I guess I’m lucky you came along when you did.” Skylar relaxed as they strolled through the archway that opened into the cafeteria. His thoughts eased up more than they had since waking up in the jungle. He didn’t even mind that a lot of heads turned his way. He’d survived the corp-brats’ first attempt. With Del around to show him the ropes, he didn’t doubt he would survive the next round too.

  7

  Meeting A Mover

  UNTIL HIS head hit the pillow, Skylar hadn’t realized how tired he was. He fell into a quick but restless sleep. His dreams were filled with visions of his mother, the raider’s bombardment of Hummassa, and exploding toilets. The tall, dark man also made an appearance. Again, something inhuman screamed in the distance; it sounded like it was in distress, or at the very least angry about something.

  Waking a little before the alarm sounded, Skylar lay in bed sweating even though the temperature in the room was set to be comfortable for humans and Tursiops. He finally decided to get up as quietly as possible and grab his shower before Del and his other two roommates woke up.

  By the time he emerged from the bathroom, the other three were waiting for him.

  Connor, the other human in the room, glared at him. “We’re all on a schedule here. If you make us all late for breakfast, I’ll remember it for as long as you’re here.” He shoved past Skylar and slammed the bathroom door.

  Del shook his head. “Don’t mind him. He’s just a little grumpy in the morning. I’m really hoping that’s not a human trait, although I haven’t noticed it in all the humans here, just a few.”

  Fin, another Tursiops, shrugged and said in a low voice, “I don’t really think his folks taught him much in the way of manners. He’s not as bad as some of the corp-kids around here, but he still doesn’t cast you humans in the best light. If you know what I mean.”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean.” Having dealt with a fair number of corp-brats back on Hummassa, Skylar knew the type all too well. After Pathal and the toilet the previous evening, and now Connor, he was beginning to wonder if all the humans at Stars’ End were jerks. Del and Fin appeared dressed as they had been the previous evening, in sleek, gray synthetic jumpsuits that looked similar. “Aren’t you two waiting for the shower too?”

  “Nope,” Del said, “most Tursiops bathe before sleep. Immersion in water helps us relax. Plus, showers are a bit harsh on our skin. We were just about to head down to the cafeteria for some breakfast. If we get out fast enough, we can lose Connor for a bit and he’ll wake up and be a little more cordial.”

  “Yeah, right,” Fin sniped.

  Skylar tossed his toiletries on his bunk—the one above where Del slept—and gestured to the door. “Let’s get going then.”

  Del held the door as the other two walked into the simple beige hall. There were already a fair number of students and staff moving around, and most everyone headed toward the common room and cafeteria.

  “I got to thinking about it.” Del continued along with Skylar while Fin stopped to talk to another Tursiops. “Our semester just started about two weeks ago. You have good timing, showing up when you did. With any luck, you won’t have a lot of catch up to do. But if you do, I’ll be happy to help you. I can get you through everything we’ve done so far without too much trouble. That is, if you want me to.”

  That was something that Skylar hadn’t given any thought to. What if they were a lot further along in things than his school back home? And would there be classes on things that his mom would’ve had a fit over, like psychic skills? It was a school for psychics—surely some of his lessons would be about that, particularly since they said he had psychic DNA. “My school was destroyed in the raider’s attack. I don’t know if any files remain that could be transferred. That might cause trouble.”

  Del shook his head. “Probably not. I bet while you were talking to her yesterday, Ms. Grissom did a full assessment without you even realizing it. If she didn’t, she probably had Grandfather do it. She’s always asking him to probe people while she’s talking to them. It’s not exactly ethical, but technically we’re all minors, so although we have to obey the laws, they don’t exactly apply to us the same way as they will depending on our job choices. Counselors like Ms. Grissom, teachers and such are given a bit more leeway than some.”

  Although he had other questions, one thing stood out for him. Skylar stopped and looked at Del. “Your grandfather is here?”

  “Yeah.” Del nodded. “That’s one of the reasons I’m here.” He frowned a bit. “Grandfather Aduncus is the head reader teacher. He’s a level-ten reader. I’m just a lowly level two feeler. Lowest ranking psi my family has produced in generations. Luckily I’ve got the highest IQ ever seen in my family. I can
remember almost everything I’ve ever read or seen and can make use of the knowledge without any strain. But it would be nice to rank a little higher on the psi scales.”

  “Wow, that’s cool! Not that you rank low, but that you’re so smart. I’m used to being smart too…okay, a bit average in school work, but at least the math and stuff makes sense,” Skylar said. “But you think your grandfather was probing my brain if Ms. Grissom wasn’t? That’s creepy.”

  He didn’t bother adding that he wanted to learn how to keep other people out of his head and away from his thoughts as soon as he could. First, Phil played with his emotions, then people were reading his mind without permission. It wasn’t polite. He understood some of his mother’s fears about being around psychics, but he pushed those concerns back. If he had skills, he wanted to learn how to use them so they could be useful in the future.

  Del shrugged and they started walking again. “You’re just getting started at school. They rationalize the mental invasion as an attempt to figure out what you’re all about, and that it was the best thing for you. And like I said, you’re underage at this point.”

  Skylar sighed as they entered the common room. “I love the way that adults can always rationalize the things they do to us. It’s like Phil taking my anger away from me and making me want to come with him.”

  “Yeah.” Del nodded emphatically. “Exactly! Sometimes they think it’s okay just to make us into their own personal puppets. But hey, now you’re here, at least until they find your family, right? If you test strong enough, they might try to convince your family to let you stay. That’d be good.” A feeling of hope poured out of Del, making Skylar wonder if he was lonely in the midst of the others in the school. Maybe ranking low on the psychic scales left him picked on. Although the only ones who’d bullied Skylar back home were the corp-brats, he didn’t like the idea that someone would pick on Del. They needed to stick together for that reason alone.

  Skylar watched the common room fill up as they waited for the doors to the cafeteria to open. There was a wider variety of species than he’d ever hoped to meet—he wondered where some of them had been the previous evening. They were in the middle of space, even if the artificial gravity of the station did make it feel like they were on a planet.

  He smiled at Del. “Yeah, I think maybe that would be good.” Even if it meant embracing part of himself that he’d never known he had, and that his mom had feared.

  DEL RUSHED down the hall as the number of students dwindled. “Come on, Skylar. We don’t want to be late for your first class. It’ll make a bad impression.”

  Skylar hurried along in his wake. “Sorry.” They’d been talking with some of the other students as they ate their breakfast and lost track of time. It was nice to discover he was going to have a few things in common with his classmates. There was discussion of various games, complaining about teachers, new net sites folks had visited—all in all, it sounded like most of his school lunches had back on Hummassa. Del had actually done most of the talking, but the others seemed nice and welcoming.

  “It’s your first full day. I’ll forgive you this time.” Del grinned mischievously and turned into the last door on the hallway.

  Skylar skidded to a stop behind him. The room looked nearly identical to his classroom on Hummassa. All the students had individual workstations with dual monitors. The chairs looked just as uncomfortable as what he was used to. For a second, the normalcy of it put him at ease.

  “Please take your seats,” the teacher, a tall, red-haired human barked without looking up from his terminal.

  “Where?” Skylar asked. The class was nearly full and he had no idea where he should sit.

  Del shrugged as he started toward two seats on the far side of the room. Skylar followed.

  As they sat down, Skylar clicked on his station. It worked just like the ones he was used to, even if the colors were a bit more vivid and it booted faster. “I don’t see any other open stations.”

  “There is someone who normally sits there.” Del’s webbed fingers flew across his lower monitor, and he didn’t look up. “A blue kid from Cephylon. But I don’t see him right now. His name is something most of us have trouble pronouncing, so we just gave up trying. Everyone calls him Si’lop. You’ll find that a lot of the kids with odd names end up with nicknames. It’s easier.”

  A second later, Skylar looked up to see a blue kid run into class and stop halfway across the room. He looked at Skylar and raised a green eyebrow.

  “Why can’t any of you take your seats like you’re supposed to?” the teacher demanded. “There is still one of you out of a seat. Get into your workstation so we can begin.”

  The blue kid heaved a sigh, then hurried over to the only other open desk. It was on the far side of the classroom. As soon as he sat, the teacher stood.

  “Very good. I was starting to think that class was never going to start today.” He clicked something, the lights dimmed, and a hologram appeared in the middle of the room as he started in about simple physics.

  About ten minutes into class, something flashed on the far side of the room. At the same time, a loud pop broke the teacher’s boring lecture.

  The teacher looked up from his monitor and scanned the room. “Okay, who’s the wise guy?”

  His gaze lingered on the blue student. “Si’Lop. What are you doing over there?”

  Before the kid could answer, another flash lit up the same area as the first. A loud boom shook the room.

  From the workstation next to Skylar’s, Del unsuccessfully tried to muffle a guffaw. Skylar looked at him. “What?” he whispered.

  A pronounced fart sounded, followed by another flash that brightened everything before the loudest boom yet rolled across the space.

  The blue kid got up and walked toward the teacher as other students chuckled and laughed softly. “I’m sorry, sir. My regular seat was occupied when I got here. You said I needed to get in a chair and the only one available was near the heating unit.”

  The teacher looked at Skylar, then at Del. “Aduncus, was this your idea? You put poor Si’Lop out of his seat just to disrupt class?”

  Del shook his head. “No, sir. It was an honest mistake.”

  More of the class laughed.

  Skylar stood up. “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t realize my taking a seat would cause a problem.” He looked at Si’Lop. “Have your seat back. I’ll take the other one.” He walked toward the front of the room.

  Si’Lop nodded slightly. It caused his green hair to drop down in front of his brilliant ruby-red eyes. “It’s not a problem, this time.”

  I’ve got a lot to learn about other species, Skylar thought as he walked to his new seat. First exploding toilets and now flashing farts. What’s next? Flaming crap?

  STIFLING A yawn with his hand, Skylar struggled to pay attention to the teacher at the head of the class. Professor Corda was the first Cryptod Skylar had ever met. Del explained before class that the slight hunch in the teacher’s back was actually a vestigial shell. Professor Corda was one of the non-psychics on the teaching staff, but he was over seven hundred years old. Before class started, the human girl sitting in front of them said he was one of the original Cryptods and may have actually been around at the start of the Central Galactic Council, which was only nine hundred years old.

  So far, most of the class was stuff Skylar already knew. Combined with the fact that Professor Corda had a very dry, unchanging voice, it was enough to make him drift off. Even trying to focus on the various historic holograms around the room didn’t help as the Cryptod droned on about how humans had expanded out into the galaxy and used both terraforming and gene manipulation to make worlds and humans more adaptable and usable.

  Something nudged his ill-repaired ear.

  Skylar turned and looked over his shoulder. The desk behind him was empty. He glanced across the aisle at Del, but his friend appeared entranced by their teacher.

  When Skylar turned his attention to the hologram
that Professor Corda pointed to, someone flicked his hair. It was the barest of touches, this time on the other side of his head. In that direction floated one of the cephalopod students in its containment bubble. Skylar didn’t see any way it could’ve touched him. It turned one of its eyestalks toward him and blinked. Skylar raised his hand, trying to gesture that he wasn’t trying to draw the cephalopod’s attention.

  “Our newest student, Mr. Mars, has a question,” Professor Corda said.

  The blood drained from Skylar’s face. He didn’t have a question. He gulped as he tried to find something to say that wouldn’t sound stupid. “Have sentient species been engineered, and which gene combination worked the best?”

  What could’ve been a frown crossed the teacher’s scaly face—it was hard to tell since he looked like he had a constant frown. “Mr. Mars, that’s actually a much more appropriate question to ask in the interplanetary biology class, but since you ask, at last count, there are only three species still around that are a result of various gene splicing strategies that have since been outlawed. Many of us longer-lived lifeforms find what your species has done in the past incredible, but there are others who feel the technology was not human in origin, but something left over from the originators of life itself. As a teacher, I try not to let personal opinion cloud my ability to teach. If you don’t have any other questions, I’d like to continue my lecture.”

  Skylar shook his head. “No, that was all. Thank you.” He wished he could dissolve into his chair and never set foot in the classroom again. He hated it when he inadvertently drew attention to himself. It always caused trouble, and he’d hoped to avoid that.

  “You are most welcome. I wouldn’t want to make a bad impression on your first day.” The teacher turned back to his hologram and continued his lecture.

  A soft giggle came from behind Skylar. He wanted to turn and look but was afraid of attracting the teacher’s attention. For the rest of the class, the invisible flicking of his ears and hair continued.