Falcon's Landing

Beginnings

  As Lizzie's mother stood at the door talking to a man clad in black, Lizzie took the book the man had given her and went into her room, her little mechanical puppy named Kadin following behind her.  Lizzie sat on her bed and looked at the book.  It was a beaten up old volume with the name “Zig” written in silver on a leather cover.  Lizzie opened it cautiously and began to read the note on the first page.

               

Dear Lizzie,

                You might not even know who I am by the time you get this, but read my story and remember.  I’m your brother and I love you no matter where I am.  I'm going on an important mission tomorrow, and I don't know what's going to happen.

 

"Gyro!" My mother yelled. "Gyro!  Time to get up!"

                I pulled the blankets over my head and tried to go back to sleep.

                "Good morning Ember City! It's a beautiful Friday morning in October." My alarm went off. With a groan I turned it off and put on my Forearm Computer, F.A.C. for short. I hit a few buttons on it and heard the countdown for the shower start. I got up and walked over to my sleeping dog.

                "Wake up, Bo," I nudged my dog with my foot.  He was a medium sized mutt with dark brown fur and short floppy ears.  No response. Weird, he's usually on by now. I knelt down and searched around for his “on” button which was hidden under his synthetic fur.  Once I found it I pushed, thinking he was still in sleep mode. Still no response.  I scratched the area behind his ear. I heard his internal fan start up, and I gave a sigh of relief.  Lights turned on in his eyes as he barked happily.

                "Good morning," I said, still scratching behind his ear. "Go wake up Lizzie while I take my shower."  I rubbed the silkscreen on his stomach in a friendly gesture.  The countdown was over and the shower was running.  I don’t know what it will be like when you read this but fresh water is very costly and it isn't something that should be wasted.  I raced down the hall to the bathroom.  I jumped into the shower.

                "Shower, turn up the heat, I'm freezing." The water got even colder. “I said hotter, not colder! Please!" It was getting colder by the second.  I have nothing against the cold, but not this early in the morning.

                "Shower! Off!" I figured it would be better to take a quick shower than a long, freezing one.  I hopped drying and dressing my self quickly, I went into Lizzie's room to see if she was awake. With all the trust I placed in Bo, things were weird today.  Indeed Lizzie was wide-eyed and fully awake. Yet I couldn't find Bo. I scooped Lizzie out of her crib.

                "You haven't seen Bobo have you?" I asked, arranging her so I could walk and carry her more easily.

                "Bobo wake me up, and then started to smoke." Her thick brown hair bobbed up and down as she spoke.  This worries me; I spent hours working on him in my workshop trying to make him perfect.  My workshop was in the backyard, you know the dinky little “shack” in the back yard?

                "Gyro! Get down here and take care of Bo!" My mom yelled.

I took the stairs two at a time while holding Lizzie tightly.  When I came to the kitchen there was Bo, smoking. It was pouring out of every opening it could find. In one fluid movement I handed Liz off to my mom and knelt beside Bo. I burned my hand when I tried to touch his body.

                "Ow!" I yelled. I raced to the faucet and ran cool water over my hand to ease the throbbing. My mom set Liz down in her high chair and got some ice from the freezer.

                "Here honey," she said soothingly as she put antibiotic cream on my hand and bandaged it.  "Hon, what ever you need to do, it better happen soon because school starts in about 15 minutes, and you can't be late again. Your dad left ten minutes ago. He left 20 dollars as your gas allowance."

I stuffed the money into my back pocket on my way to workshop in the backyard. (It used to be in my room, but after a nasty little mishap with a prototype robot and a hammer, my parents decided to set up a shed in the backyard for me.)

                "Bo, follow," I commanded as I went out the door.  I walked up the shed entered the entry code on the lock and said, "Gyro Ziggurt Duffy."

                "Access denied," came the reply.

                "What? I said 'Gyro Ziggurt Duffy'. Please don't make me say it again," So many glitches that day, I would later learn that all of this trouble was caused by a system crash in the neighborhood.

                "Access denied," came the monotone answer.

                "Don't make me hardwire you!" I threatened. The shed emitted what could have been mistaken as a sigh had it been human.

                "Access granted." Ha! I don’t care how pathetic it sounds, but it felt good to win over a machine.

                "I think I've finally snapped," I mumbled to myself. The door slid open and Bo and I walked in.

                "Table," I said to Bo as I patted my worktable. He jumped and landed on the table with a soft thud.

                "I'm going to take a quick look at what’s going on, but to do that you're going to have to be turned off. Okay?" I asked him. He barked in agreement. I opened his mouth and pressed on a couple of teeth.

                As he was powering down I whispered, "Nighty-night."

                I looked at the clock on my F.A.C. "Frak! I only have eight minutes to get down to Cal's house!" I exclaimed. I touched Bo's body to make sure my workshop wouldn't burn down while I was at school. Luckily he had cooled down.

 

 

I rushed out, grabbing my backpack, hover board, and helmet on the way. Once the door was closed behind me I told it to lock then gave it my password again. I stopped briefly in the kitchen to grab some toast and say goodbye to my mom and Liz.  With my board safely under my feet, and my helmet on my head I was ready to go.

I slowed to a stop as I reached Calvin's house.

                "Hello," I said, beginning our five year long routine.  He was slowly locking his door and walking toward me. He grunted what I guess could be called a greeting. That was not part of the routine.

"What's wrong?" I asked. Again, not part of the routine, but everyone needs a change from the ordinary.

"Shower wouldn't start, alarm didn't go off, lights wouldn't go on... Need I continue?" He replied.

"That's bizarre, my shower was having problems too, and Bo took a while to turn on this morning."

"Hmmm..."

"Something is not right," I mused, as we walked toward school. We started our normal conversation, "Did you get this answer for this problem" "Are you going to that party" and other things along those lines.

As we were crossing the intersection of Subra and Colren, we saw a building completely surrounded by police officers blocking off the road and the sidewalk. The only route left to school would take us 20 minutes.  So we decided to try and get through. Cal and I walked up to the nearest officer.

"Um, excuse me. Sir?" I said shyly.

"I'm sorry, but you boys will need too clear out and head to school," the officer replied stiffly.

Calvin spoke up, "But sir we are on our way to school.  This is the route we take everyday and the only other path will take us 20 more minutes, which we don't have.  Then if we're late, we'll get detention. After that our grades may be lower. No good colleges..."  Here was the Calvin I knew, wouldn't shut up unless forced.

"Okay, okay, enough talking. I'll just write you a note or something," the officer interrupted.

"But what if..." I put my hand over Calvin's mouth.

"Thank you, sir" I told the cop as he handed me a note authorized by the Ember City police department. "Before we head off, may I ask what's happening in the building?"

"Somehow the security system was activated, sealing people inside." Oh great more tech problems. So I asked the obvious, “Doesn’t the police have the deactivication code?"

The officer gave me a puzzled look, "Um…the mainframe has… has randomized the… the, um, codes by itself."

"Why hasn't someone gotten on the roof and entered from there?" I inquired.

"Because the security system is programmed to immobilized the 'average' person trying to leave or enter through the roof, unless the security system is turned off."

"And what, sir, is the 'average' person?" asked Cal.

The cop thought for a minute before saying,” About 5' 5" tall, and at least 120 pounds."

"Oh," I said. "You know I'm just under 5' and about 105 pounds.  Just incase I could be of assistance."

"I'm not sure son. You're only, what? 13?"

"14, sir," I said proudly. For once my lack of height could help, and I intended to.

"I'll talk it over with my supervisor.  Stay right here, both of you." He went to go talk to someone else in uniform. I turned to Cal, who raised an eyebrow at me.

"What?" I tried to make it seem innocent, and failed.

"Your mom's going to kill both of us. You for going, me for not stopping you," he responded flatly.

"Oh come on. And besides," I adopted a superhero like voice and pose. "I'll be helping my city" Seeing that he was still hesitant I added, "We'll be missing school and you can talk to the press on my behalf" That worked almost instantly.

He attempted to suppress a smile as he said,” Fine, but I still think it's a bad idea."

I smiled back, "I'm sure you do.  Here hold my bag."  I gently tossed him my bag. 

The cop came back and directed me to a van, "Inside you'll find Ann. She will give you some new clothes that will suit this task better." I looked down at my grubby "tech geek" t-shirt, jeans with a hole in the knee, and my worn boarding shoes. I nodded and stepped in the van.

In the van were a bunch of cabinets, drawers, and shelves. Ann sat at a desk stacked high with paperwork. I stood and waited, she continued to work as if I weren't even there. I tried coughing politely.

Ann looked up from her work. "You must be the boy who's helping."  I nodded. "Okay then," she got up from the desk and opened a drawer. "Hm... These pants should be the right size." She threw a pair of black pants to me. The insignia on the back pocket identified them and part of a Special Forces uniform. Ann pulled open and another drawer, "And here's a shirt, size small" Again she threw it at me a shirt with the Special Forces insignia, a white S.F. in front of a fire. I got changed while she searched.

By the time she had found all the things I needed, and thrown them at me, I was completely changed into a black S.F. uniform complete with full contact shoes, shirt, pants with and infinite number of pockets, and skull cap.  Now Ann was looking in a cabinet filled with gadgets of every kind. Every few minutes she would set aside a tool of some kind. Finally she turned around to face me.

"Okay, Zig was it?" I nodded. "Here is a Zapper, head set, pliers, wire cutters, screwdriver, and a flashlight," She handed each of these and explained their uses.  Once they were all safely in my many pockets, she explained what exactly I was supposed to do. 

After I put my headset on I got out of the van and walked over to Cal, whom I had left my board with. He was talking to the police officer I had spoken to earlier.

"Nice clothes," Cal said as soon I was within ear shot. "Officer Noren was just telling me that our school has been notified of what's going on.  He also said I could stay and watch as long as I didn't interfere."

"Are you ready?" Nolen asked me.

"Ready as I' m going to be, sir" I said, taking my board from Calvin.  I checked to make sure everything was working correctly.  Finding everything to my liking and the fuel tank full, I strapped my helmet on and followed the officer over to the side of the building.

I set my board down on the ground, stepped on it and turned it on. I nodded to Nolen and Cal, who stood a safe distance away.

Instructions came through my headset, "Be ready on my count." I got into position. "3, 2, 1, NOW!"

I rode my board straight up.  Making sure I kept my footing, I took a quick survey.  I was about 15 feet above the ground with the roof about 5 feet above me and rapidly getting closer.  I waited until I was about a foot above the roof then pressed a button on my F.A.C.  The board didn't stop. So I had to come up with a new plan, quickly.  I pressed another button and my board shot forward over the roof.  I jumped off and landed on the roof with a thud.  The board fell onto the roof and skidded to a stop with a very unpleasant grinding sound. I really hope that still works later. I didn't have time to check.  Keeping low to the ground I made my way to the entrance panel.  I eased the panel open and slid inside.

"Are you in?" Officer Nolen asked through my head set.

"Yeah," I responded quietly.

"Then head down the stairs.  Once you're in the hallway make your way to the third door on your left."

"Okay," I slowly walked down the hall.  One, Two, Three. Ah ha, there it is.  I quickly found the third door. It was labeled "mainframe". I attempted to locate the key to the door in my many pockets. It was a while before I found the key card and swiped it in the door. The card didn't work. I tried about five more time before I finally called for help.

"We have a problem here, sir, the key card won't work."

"Do you think you can pick the lock?" Nolen asked.

I responded in an angry whisper, "It's not that kind of lock, sir."

"All right, can your arm device handle it?"

I took a deep breath, "I can try, sir."

Inside my pockets I always keep a couple spare wires, just in case.  With these I connected my F.A.C. to the lock.  A few buttons, and some colorful words, later the door popped open. "I'm in"

Once I slipped inside, I sat down next to the mainframe and began opening it up.

"Okay, I'm in the control room and the panel is open," I reported. 

"Good.  Now disable the system, count to one hundred and turn it back on. Then, get out of there as fast as you can."

"Why?"

"When the system restarts itself it sends test charges through the building to make sure all the panels are receiving information, so once it's reconnected, run."

Pliers in hand, I untwisted a couple of wires and waited. As the lights were going out, and the building was powering down, I found my flashlight and turned it on.

1, 2, 3...I started my countdown. Through my head set I could hear cheers of people leaving the building.

"Good job kid, we're getting the people out now"

 99,100! With a quick twist I reconnected the security system. The effect was immediate; the air around me was alive with electricity.  I felt pulses surging through me, dully at first, but quickly intensifying.  I grabbed my tools and shoved them in to random pockets as I ran out the door and up the stairs.

By the time I reached the roof, the pulses were almost paralyzing. In staggered steps I managed to get over to my hover board.  To my dismay I found that my board wouldn't turn on.  I was running out of options, with only one thing left to do.  I needed to alert the police to if I was going to pull this off.

"I need some kind of mat or landing pad on the side of the building where I launched from," I ordered picking up my board and running toward the edge of the building.

I had forgotten any of the military manners I had learned in school, and Nolen noticed. "Was that an order?  Did you just ord-"

"Just do it!" I shouted. The pulses were growing stronger. I was barley able to suppress a moan of pain, when a jolt went straight up my leg.

In one motion I jumped off the edge of the building and place my board beneath me in hopes that it would add to my air resistance.

I turned on the microphone in my F.A.C., “F.A.C. turn on force field. Now!" In seconds I was surrounded by a light blue haze. I tested the strength of the field by pushing it with my hand.  It bent slightly where I pushed, but did not break.  Weak, but it should help at least a little bit.  Keeping my knees bent, I prepared for impact.

Landing caused my entire body to throb. As I attempted to stand my vision began to ebb away.

"F.A.C. force field off," I coughed weakly.  I stumbled a few feet towards a paramedic that was running to me. "I'm fine" That was all I could manage before slipping to my knees.

Then everything went black.

Chapter 3

While I was unconscious, I had a strange dream.  I'm on a beach far from Ember City.  I'm in a different Special Forces uniform that has holes in it.  Some are burn holes and some are tears.  I look up and see a young girl walking toward me.  She looks familiar, but I couldn't remember from where...

I woke with a start to find myself surrounded by machinery.  My mother and father were sitting down in chairs in the corner, asleep.  It was dark except for a little light coming from under the door.  My head was spinning, what happened?  Last thing I remembered was walking to school with Cal and...  That's when all the past events came rushing back to me.

"Oh," I said to myself quietly.  I looked around and saw I was sitting in a hospital room.  I ran a quick checklist of myself and found that I had a cast on my left leg, some new burn pads on various areas of skin, and my burned hand had a new bandage on it.

"Dad," I whispered.  He shifted a little in his seat.  "Dad!" Still trying to keep my voice down, I managed a slightly louder whisper. He sat up and looked around.  Once he saw me sitting up he jumped out of his seat.

"You're awake!" Dad said, not even trying to keep his voice down. This woke up my mom and she, too, jumped up and commented on the fact that I was awake.  They both ran to the side of my bed.

"How do you feel, son?" questioned my father.

"A little dizzy but otherwise I think I'm fine," I replied.  I smiled at my mom,” So, how much trouble am I in?"

My mom gave a weak little smile, "Your body will punish you enough. Do you realize how much electricity was forced through your body? You are lucky you got away with the few injuries you did."  Only now did my left leg and a few patches of skin begin to throb.  I could tell that the fall was taking its toll. I felt like an elephant had sat on me.  I gave a slight moan at the pain.  The doctor walked in.

"I see the pain medicine is wearing off," he said jokingly.  "That was quite a stunt you pulled mister Gyro.  Not only did you allow hundreds of volt of electricity, but you also managed to break you leg upon impact."

"Oh," was all I could manage.  "So..."

"So," he began, "your leg will be in a cast for at least a month.  You have some burns that still need to heal, and you will need a lot of bed rest in the upcoming weeks.  Once we deem you well again you can go back to school and talk to the press that has been trying to get in since you arrived here."

"Press?  Why do they want to talk to me?" I asked, dumbstruck.

"Why? Because you're the insane 14 year old who saved hundreds of people and ended up in the hospital," my father supplied.

"Where's Cal?" I asked.

"He's probably in bed right now. It's about 6:00 in the morning," my mother said

"How long have I been unconscious?" Dr. Roberts looked at his charts.

"About four days,” he answered.

"Four days!" I was practically yelling. "What about Bo?! What happened after I blacked out?! I have to go fix Bo!" I started to get up only to be carefully pulled back by my father.

"Son, you need your rest now. We'll bring Lizzie and Bo tomorrow to visit. Cal said he'd stop by this afternoon if you were awake. But right now you need to calm down and take it easy. Okay?"

"Okay," I responded, looking down. "Have you guys been here the whole time?" I looked at my parents.

Mom was the first to answer.  "We took turns, one of us here, one at home with Lizzie. Right now she's at Grandma's house."

"Can one of you bring me some of my own clothes?  This hospital gown isn't the most comfortable"

"Of course," my father turned to look at my mom, "you need to go home and get some rest.  I can stay with Zig.  Sound good?"  My mother nodded. "Okay, then I'll drive you home and come back in a bit."

Both my parents kissed me before they left.  The doctor gave me some medicine and handed me the remote control before he, too, left.

As I was flipping through the channels I came upon a live news feed from outside the hospital.

“Our sources indicate that young Gyro Duffy is awake. Stick with us for an interview with Gyro, only here on News channel 4,” said the reporter. "His friend, Calvin Tyra had this to say” They played a clip from the morning of the incident.

"Zig is amazing.  He's a brilliant inventor and a math wiz.  Gyro even knows more about technology then most adults" Cal started rambling again, and eventually they just moved on to the next clip.

“That beard looks pretty good on me.” Cal had walked in unnoticed.

“What beard? You mean that dirt on your chin. How did you get here so fast?” I smiled.

He smiled too, “I was already on my way to see you when your parents called to say you were awake. I've been visiting you a lot since you were admitted here."  I was beginning to notice that Cal looked every one of his 16 years.  Over the past year he had matured from a dorky 15 year old to a young adult jock.  He quickly went from my best friend to an older brother.

"You okay?" I asked. "You seem... kind of tired."

"I was...I was just worried.  We've all been.  How are you feeling?"

I gazed warily at my burns.  "Just a few bangs here and there," I said holding up my arm.  "The doctor says I should be good as new in a few weeks."

"Let's just hope you'll feel well enough to go to school soon.  I'm bored with telling the same story, with missing details, over and over again."

"Yeah, I might just write it down so I can give people a hand out instead of retelling it.  Don't you have to get to school soon?" I looked at the clock.

Cal attempted to look insulted, "What? You wanted me to leave?"

"No, no. It's just-just-," I stumbled.

He finished for me, "You just don't want me to be late. Yeah, I probably should go, although I do have a pretty good excuse this time. Get better," with that he left.

I was suddenly very tired. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was asleep.

My father gently shook me. "Zig, wake up.  It's time to go home."

Huh? It's only been a few hours since I woke up.

"No, you've been asleep for an entire day" he replied.

Oh. With my father's help, I sat up.  "Here are your clothes," he handed me a bag. "Do you need any help getting dressed?"  I was about to respond that yes, I would need lots of help getting dressed with all of these machines hooked up to me, when I realized that I had been disconnected.

I shook my head, "I think I can manage."  In the bag there was a pair of sweatpants, a short-sleeved shirt, boxers, and a pair of slip on shoes. All new.  At the very bottom of the bag someone had stuck my F.A.C.

Once I was done changing, I stuck my head out the door to look for my dad.  He was in the waiting room talking to an unfamiliar woman.  Her blonde hair was in a neat bun.  What intrigued me most was not that her black suit was pressed so flat it seemed to have a razor edge, but the insignia on her lapel.  The white label of a Special Forces officer.  I grabbed a pair of crutches that were waiting for against a wall.

I could here parts of their conversation as I walked toward them.

My father's back was to me. He was clearly upset about something, "You want him now?! He's only 14.  We are supposed to have at least three more years.  You agents think-"

"Please sir, calm down and lower your voice," the women said coolly.  She took a look around and immediately noticed me.  My father turned to see what she was looking at.

"Hello, would you mind giving me and Ms. Collins a second alone?"

"What's going on, dad?"

"Son, a moment please."

"I'll be in my room," As I turned and walked down the hall, I left one of the listening devices stored in my F.A.C.

Once the door was shut behind me I put on my headphones.

"Sir, I understand your frustration, but you and your wife gave you consent when he was placed in your care.  He's ours.  You were just raising him."

"But you people said you didn’t want him.  You said he didn't meet standards and so he was being given to us.  How can you say Gyro is yours?"

At the mention of my name I gasped.  What did they mean? He's ours.

"Sir when it comes down to is that he can come peacefully or by force.  I believe it would be better for everyone if he came willingly."

"But what if he-frak" the transmitter went quiet for a bit.  When I next hear my father's voice it was much louder. "Gyro, would you please join us.  It wouldn't waste quiet so much battery."  I was found out.  My options were to face it like a man and walk out there. Or I could run and I was too tired to run. So I went to my dad.  He didn't look all too happy.

"How long?" he asked me.

                I studied him a moment, "From 'you were just raising him." Dad sat down.

                Ms. Collins turned to him, "Would you like to tell him or should I?"

"I'll do it.  Sit down Zig.  Son, you know your mother and I love you very much right?" A nod "Good. Gyro, we aren't your real parents."

                "What? I look just like you two. I have the same eyes, hair, build... I'm your son!"

                "No, the S.F. just did a very good job matching you to our family.  You were born to be a Special Forces agent. You were going to be trained from the time you were born, but you didn't show any signs of you special genetics.  So you were given to us.  And we have raised you since.  They now realize that your genius, which took a few years to develop, is now at least that of a trainee with many years of training. They want you back." My father's gaze never wavered from my face until that last sentence. He hung his head, the sign of a defeated man. "None of this was supposed to happen until you were 17, when they were going to try again with you."

                The women took her cue, "Yet recent events show us that we did not give you enough time, and we need you to come back."

                "What if I don't want to?" I asked.

                Ms. Collins stared at me coldly, "I'm afraid you have no choice," she turned to Father. "Someone will be by on Thursday to pick him up.  That should be enough time for goodbyes."  With that, she left.

                "Zig-" my dad began.

                "It's okay.  I'll go get my stuff, and then we can leave."

 

The car ride home was silent. As we pulled up to the house my father warned me, "Try to get into the house quickly.  There are no reporters here now, but I'm sure someone will tip them off soon."

                "Ok.  Are mom and Lizzie waiting inside for us?"

                "Yeah. Also, Calvin said he might try to swing by after school today.  You'll probably have lots of visitors today so let's head upstairs."  He got out and helped me out of the car.  As I hobbled up to the front door, my dad grabbed my bag and rushed in front of me to open the door. 

                Once I was in my room, I slept until the next morning

                "We'll let him go to school later today.  He need to tell his friends what's happening."

"Why should we let him out of our sight, even for a couple of hours?  We should be leaving!  We can go to France; you have some relatives there, don't you?"

"George, be reasonable, we can't leave the country.  All our friends and family our here.  And who knows maybe he'll be allowed visits home?"

 My father sank into a chair.   "You know they won't let him out, you never see the kids until they show up at some crime scene years later.  By then they've changed.  Their lives before training are just a distant memory."

"Let's just make the best of the time we have.  There is no reason for him to worry, he'll learn soon enough."

"Learning it anytime is too soon," I said.  My parents turned at stared at me.  "I don't want to leave.  I like dad's idea of visiting your relatives in France.  It's a long time since we saw Cousin Rachel."

"Oh honey..." my mom got up and hugged me, which was awkward with my crutches in the way.  She led me to a chair and I sat down.

George and I looked at each other in silence for a while.  Finally he got up and said, "I have to go."  With that he turned and left.

"Can I get you anything?" Mom asked. Her worry lines etching canyons on her face.

"Um, yeah, something to eat...  I don't want to go," the last part barely came out as a whisper.

She sat down with a sigh. "I know but we don't have a choice.  Besides you'll get the best education that's offered so you won't be bored in class anymore."

"But I'm ok with being bored in class if it means being able to see my friends and family.  I don't want to forget that I have a life outside of my training, that I have real friends, not just some super breed of kids." I paused for a moment letting it sink in. "I'm not going."

Mom was visibly distressed, “Why don’t you go get dressed and I’ll take you to school?  What class do-” She was cut off by the doorbell. 

I could here her from where I was, “No, you may not talk to him right now, he’s sleeping...  I know you’ve been waiting for a while…Fine I’ll see if he’s awake yet.”  My mom came back into the room, “There’s a reporter here from Channel 4, and he wants to talk to you.  Do you feel up to it?”

I wondered why everyone interested was in me still. I was old news. “Sure.  Do you want me to wait here?” She nodded and went to the door

She returned with a man in his 30s wearing a pair of jeans and a sweater. “Hello Zig,” he said as he shook my hand and sat down across from me. “My name is Paul Sky. I’m from the News Channel 4 team and I would like to talk to you about your experience.”  I looked as bored as possible.

“Okay what do you want to know? All the basics were already released to the public,” I said lazily.

He started getting annoyed. I was having fun with him. “Right, we know that you are 14, and roughly 5 feet in height and you weigh about 105 pounds. What I would like to know is why did you do it?”

“Why did I do what? Why did I go into the building when it was completely locked down? Why did I go when no adult had been able to?  Well I think I just answered your question.  I did it because it seemed as if I was the only one who could,” he wrote it all down.  I sighed, “I mean I could sit here and tell you that I went for some heroic cause, but what it comes down to is that I thought it would be fun.”  He looked shocked. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like helping people in need, but how often do you get to ride your hover board straight up the side of a building?  How often do you get to enter a building through the access panel and get to see into the mainframe?”  Paul continued to scribble everything down in his little notebook.

“Was it worth it?” Paul asked.  He finally looked up when I was silent. I just stared at him. “What?”

“Honey, answer Mr. Sky,” Mom said.

                I took a deep breath and spoke, “It was.” I continued to stare.  He was getting nervous now.

Once he cleared his throat he went on, “Um, how does it feel to be the first child to be accepted into the Special Forces Intelligence Unit?”  I looked to my mom. Should I have told him the entire story? She shook her head.

This was the perfect time to practice my acting. “It feels wonderful, to think that they’d accept a kid like me.  Someone who has had no training. I feel wonderful.” I gave him the most sincere smile I could manage and he visibly relaxed. Man, I should’ve been in plays.

He got up. “Thank you for your time.” He shook my hand and was gone.

“Time to go to school,” I smiled at my mom. “I’ll get something to eat there.”  She nodded and went to find her keys.

 

We got to school during the passing time before third period. At the time I had math. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me as I made my way to the math room.  I walked in and sat in my seat like nothing had changed.  I even managed to smile at the people who stared at me.  Mrs. Roberts came up to me, “What’s your excuse for not having your homework this time? You had to be the hero saving hundreds of people?” She flashed me a friendly smile. 

“So you’ve heard that one before?” My smile was equally as friendly.

She gave me a quick hug.  “I’m glad you’re okay and that you decided to visit.”  She looked around at everyone. Then back at me, “From the way everyone’s staring, we’re not going to get any work done today.”    Mrs. Roberts went to the front of the room as the bell rang.  As everyone was taking a seat, the morning announcements started.

“Everyone show your Tiger pride tomorrow by wearing black and orange for spirit day.  Today’s birthdays are John Gillens and Anna Lagen.  And a special announcement goes out to Zig Duffy who is finally well enough to join us.” I could hear applause erupting from all the class rooms and the staring intensify.  “On a similar note, Zig Duffy report to the principal’s office.” I stood up and quietly made my way to the principal’s office. 

The hall was silent except for my soft breathing and the thump of my crutches as the hit the floor.  I opened the door to find a serious looking secretary waiting behind her desk.

“You can go in now.” I nodded and entered the office.

Mr. Sanderson looked up from a pile of papers, a line creasing his forehead, “I hope your feeling better, Mr. Gyro.”  I winced at the name. “Have a seat.  Now, let’s get to business.  I have just filed your papers and you are no longer a student of Jack Relonds High School, I’m sad to say.  You are now enrolled in the Special Forces training academy.”  He was quiet as I read the transfer papers he had placed in front of me.

I sighed, “So that’s it? No goodbye party?  No awards for my perfect GPA? I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but well, yes I do.”

“I have strict orders from the S.F.  After today, you are not allowed on the campus. You may go to the rest of your classes today, but someone must pick you up immediately after school.  I’m sorry.” He stood up and shook my hand over the desk.  With that I left the room and started back to the math room as the lunch bell rang. 

I bought my lunch and sat down at an empty table in the corner.

“You should be at home resting,” Cal said as he joined me at the table.

“Don’t worry, I will be soon.  Apparently I’m not allowed on the school campus after today, and I can’t stay after school.  I must be picked up immediately after school.”

“That’s not fair.  You should have a party in your honor after what you did.”  I nodded.

The bell rang and I was off to gym.  As I walked through the hall, there seemed to be an invisible bubble around me, keeping all people at least a foot away from me.  I sat down on the bleachers inside of the gym and waited for class to start.

Coach McClain stood in front of me.  Finally, he said, “Guess you can’t participate in class today.  Why don’t you go clean out your lockers and then report back here where you can wait until someone picks you up at the end of school? Okay?”  I nodded and left swing myself forward as I walked.

The rest of the day passed fairly quietly; I cleaned out both my normal and gym lockers as Coach requested and loaded the contents in to my backpack.  Apparently, someone had already been by and cleared out the school issued books from my locker, leaving just my personal belongings behind.  I spent the rest of gym sitting on the bleachers watching my classmates play kickball.  Five minutes before the bell would ring; Coach suggested I start heading out to wait for my mother.  To my surprise, she was already waiting for me outside. 

The rest of the day passed with little notice, varying only when both of my parents insisted on hugging me before I went to bed that night. Which kind of weirded me out, they haven’t done that since I was probably eight years old.  Before I went to sleep, I dug through my vid-disk collection.  I found the one I was looking for, labeled “Gyro-age 4”.  I put it in my player and before me I 3D picture formed of my younger self waddling after my father as he helped my mother clean up the family room.

I was following my father as I turned too quickly and found myself face first in a wall.  My younger self sat down hard as he broke out into tears and my, no, his father, hisfather tried to console him.  The scene ended with George tickling the young Gyro he held in his arms.  I just stared at the empty space where the picture had been. So much had happened since then, even since last week.  George and Haley where no longer my biological parents, they couldn’t protect me anymore from the world, from any walls I meet along the way to achieving whatever I was meant to do.  I slept fitfully that night dreaming of the future in which Lizzie doesn’t my name… a true nightmare.

***

My mother woke me the next morning, “You should start packing; they will be here in a couple hours.  They sent a message that you should bring some of your favorite inventions with you. Also, you can bring one picture, but no more, they said.”  I got dressed and went down to my workshop. I stood there thinking about what to bring.  I know I should be bringing my zap kit and my F.A.C, but I couldn’t think of what else.

“Why don’t you take your hover board?” Father suggested gravely; I had left the door open and he was now leaning on the doorpost.  I nodded and packed up the tool kit for it as well as the kit for Bo. I took one more quick look around the room and picked up a new leather journal that George had gotten me for my birthday; it had "Zig" imprinted in silver on the front.  Quickly, I put the bag over my shoulder and headed towards the door. 

“We’re going to miss you,” George said.  “Your mother and I will write as much as we can.  We’ll even get Lizzie to send a vid-mail to you, if we can.” I nodded and walked into the house.  Bo was waiting inside for me, fully charged and ready to go.

“I’m almost ready; I just need to find Lizzie first. Where is she?” I asked Bo.

In a computerized voice, he said, “She’s in her room.” I nodded to him in thanks and slowly made my way upstairs.  There, I found Lizzie playing with her stacking blocks in her room.   I sat down beside her and took something out of my backpack.  Lizzie watched with curiosity as the little mechanical puppy began to jump around and play with the blocks.

She looked up at me, “Little Bo?”   I shook my head.

“This isn’t Bowman, you can name it what ever you like.”

“What name do you like?” she asked.

“I think the name Kadin is nice,” I answered.

She giggled, “I like Kadin. Here Kadin.”  The little puppy came and sat in Lizzie’s lap. “Thank you Zig.” She got up, spilling the little dog on the ground, and gave me a hug. I know I'll miss you, little one. I kissed her and got up to go to the door; Lizzie started to cry. With her on my back I lowered myself downstairs and went to the family room, whilst the mechanical pup followed behind us.

***

I was in the in family room playing with Lizzie and Kadin when the doorbell rang.  My father, who had been sitting in the room with us, got up and answered the door.  On the other side stood two bulky agents, dressed in black from head to toe.
                One of the agents said, “We’re here to pick up Gyro Duffy.”  My father nodded, and then called for my mother.

“You’ll give us a moment to say goodbye, right?” My father asked. 

The other agent said, “Okay, but make it quick.”  My mother and father each embraced me and told me that they would miss me constantly.  I said the same and then hugged my sister goodbye.

“Bo! It’s time to go,” I called.  George helped me put my bag on my bag over my shoulder and walked me to the door.  The agents escorted me from there to the van, one on each side of me, as Bo trailed behind.

“Wait a second,” said the one on my right.  He turned around and faced Bo.  “What’s that?”

“Oh that’s just my dog, Bo.”

“Why is he following us?”

“Because, he is one of my inventions.  I was told that I should bring some of my best inventions.” The agent still looked doubtful, but he continued walking towards the van.  Once we were inside the van and the van had been up-linked to the piloting system, the agent in the driver's seat turned around.

                "I'm Agent Aren, and this," he indicated the other man, "is Agent Duncan.  We'll be your escorts for the day.  When we arrive at the compound you will be registered and shown your room.  Once you have met your roommates, someone will take you to the infirmary and fix up your leg.  After that your classes will begin.  You won't be allowed free time until you have caught up with the others.  Understand?"  I nodded dumbly.

Then, I asked, "Why won't I be given free time?"

Duncan answered, "You have close to 14 years to make up.  For the next few months you will be working nonstop so you can go on your first mission before the age of 16 along with the other boys."

The van pulled to a stop as the "compound" came into view.  This so called training facility appeared to be no more than a small office building.  I would soon find out that things aren't always what they seem. 

Aren helped me out of the van as Duncan carried my bag into the compound behind me.  After I went through a complex array of security, the two agents assigned to escort me took me down a long hall, and into a rounded elevator.  All this in silence.  After what seemed like an hour long ride, the doors opened, revealing a long corridor. The ride was probably only 10 minutes long, but the quiet was getting to me.  Aren took me, slightly gruffly, by the shoulder and led me down the hall to a door at the end of the hall.  Inside was an office; Aren helped me sit down in a well padded chair.  In front of me stood a tall, stiff-looking man behind a desk.  He was dressed in the standard black suit, with a S.F. lapel pin of someone higher up in the Forces. 

“Hello, I’m Mr. Craig.  Welcome to our little home, Mr. Gyro.  Here is where you will be eating, sleeping, and working.  A lot of the last one.” He flashed me a cheesy smile. I flashed an equally cheesy one right back.

He frowned and continued speaking, "Well then," Craig sat down and looked at the papers on his desk. "Let's see you are in room 408, you'll be rooming with Thane, Quin, and Ryu.  Before you go there are some rules you need to learn.  First off, when an agent higher tells you to do something, you do it without question.  Next, please refrain from talking excessively about your home; it is better for everyone that you don't.  And lastly, make the most of what little free time is given to you.  Understand?"

I nodded and said, “Yes sir."  Mr. Craig, in turn, nodded to Aren who helped me out of the room.

As we were walking down the hall, Aren said quietly, "Phew. I'm glad that's over with.  Does he creep you out as much as he does me?"

I smiled up at him, "I guess; that cheesy smile is kind of weird."  Aren laughed and patted me on the shoulder.

"You'll fit in just fine here."  At the end of the hall we went through a door that was locked with all kinds of high tech gear.  On the other side was an immense courtyard lined with doors.  The courtyard looked as if we had gone outside; it had fake grass and what appeared to be simulated sun and sky.  The mock sun must have functioned like the real one because no one I had encountered so far looked abnormally pale as would be expected from someone who had lived underground for most of their lives. For once in my life, I was speechless. 

Aren stood in front of a door with the number 408 on it. "Come on, your rooms right here." When I had caught up with him he said, "The boys should be in there waiting.  I'll be back in a bit to take you to the infirmary.  Just put you hand on the entrance pad."  He showed me how to position my hand on the sensors.  Once I got it right, the door slid open and Aren was gone.  Waiting inside was a fair sized room with two sets of bunk beds.  At the end of the foot of the bed was a trunk with a palm lock on it.  There was a door off to the side that I assumed led to the bathroom.  Sitting on all but the bottom right bed, there was a boy dressed in loose black pants and a black tee shirt with the initials S.F. on them.  They were all starring at me.

As I swung into the room on my crutches, I said, "Um, hi.  My name's Zig."  The boy, who sat above the empty bed, jumped down and held out his hand.

"Hi, I'm Thane." Thane had short red hair and dark green eyes with a sharp, angular face.  It was obvious that his nose had been broken multiple times. Thane looked like he'd spent his life in the sun; he had the skin of a Brazilian.  He was about five feet tall and looked athletic.  Looking around I realized that all three of the boys looked well built and lithe.  "That's is Ryu," he pointed to a boy who looked about my height with an olive completion. Ryu had shaggy blond hair that fell just below his ears.  "And this is Quin." Quin had dark black hair that was buzzed to barely and inch long.  Quin's skin was bright white compared to the others'.  He wore glasses and had a book opened in his lap.  They each nodded when introduced.  Ryu proceeded to show me my bed, which had my backpack on it, how to open the trunk at the foot of the bed, the bathrooms that were, as I had guessed, behind that door and the little workshops that were also behind the door leading to the bathroom.  Once he was done with the tour, Ryu let me unpack what little I had brought.  As I took Bo out of my bag, he instantly came to life.

"Whoa. What's that?" Thane asked.

                "Oh that's just my dog Bo.  Don't worry about him.”  I started to unpack my inventions absentmindedly as the others looked on. At the time I didn’t understand why they would be staring at a novice’s work when they had had so much more training than I had.

Thane suddenly looked up at me, “I forgot, we were supposed to be getting you ready for your trip to the infirmary. Here.”  After digging for a few moments in my new trunk, he handed me a pair of knee length black shorts and a black tee shirt which both bore the Forces emblem, as well as a pair of dog tags.   On the tags, Gyro Ziggurt had been inscribed as well as the words Trainee B under where it said class. The tag also had a list of numbers running across the bottom, as well as what looked like a sensor, although I didn't know what for.  The fact that everyone seemed to be avoiding using my last name bothered me, but I shrugged it off as I left my crutches propped against my bed and limped into the bathroom.  Once I had changed and hopped back into the bedroom, I found to found the three boys on the floor playing with Bo.  I also found Aren waiting by the door with a wheel chair.  I nodded to Aren then turned to Ryu.

"Hey Ryu?" I asked. "Will you make sure to charge Bo? He'll show you how."  Ryu nodded as an amazed look crossed his face.  With some help from Aren, I sat down in the wheelchair.

As Aren pushed me through the halls, I wondered what my new classes would be like; and what of my new roommates?  They seemed nice enough, but one never knows when meeting people for the first time.  We arrived in a room that appeared to be a waiting room.  It had cheap gray carpeting and metal chairs lining the room giving it a cold and sterile feeling.  Sitting by a small doorway was a lady behind a metal desk. 

"You must be Gyro, Doctor Clark will see you in room 10," was all she said.

Room 10 was lined with cabinets and medical equipment.  In the middle of the room stood a metal table.  Dr. Clark looked up from the papers he had been shuffling through on one of the counters.  "Just put him on the table, Aren," the doctor ordered absentmindedly. With one quick motion, Aren lifted me as easily as one might a doll.  He set me on the table as the doctor began to cut off my cast.  Next doctor fixed on my bruised leg what looked like a metal tube, with many buttons and a screen that had a flat side which now rested on the table.  Aren came to the head of the table and made me lay down.  He put his hands on my arms and pined me down as the doctor started the machine.

"What's going to happen?" I asked the doctor.

Dr. Clark responded just as absently as before as he worked, "The machine is designed to drag your bones back into place.  It might sting a little bit."  That was the understatement of the century.  It hurt like nothing I had ever felt; I could feel my bones being pulled into place.  Luckily (or should I say unfortunately?) the metal tube was so heavy I couldn't move my leg, or I would have jerked it out as fast as possible.  As it was, Aren was having a great deal of trouble keeping me still.  If he wasn't holding my arms down, I would have probably hit him.  I felt like if this continued, by body would shut down.  Apparently my body agreed, and everything went black. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

When I woke up I found myself in my new bed.  I slowly sat up and saw Aren watching me from Thane's bed, across from mine. All the other boys were gone.  We stared at each other for a while before he spoke. "I'm just trying to figure out why the Force went through such trouble to get you.  I mean, you aren't very fit, you aren't some kind of ultra genius, not compared to the other boys, and you have little tolerance for pain.  You'd think that it would take more effort to train you than you're worth. But the guys up stairs obviously think you're important or they wouldn't have sent an 'A' rank to get you."  Honestly, how does one respond to something like that?  I didn't understand most of what he was saying. After another moment of silence, Aren got up and said, "Well, get some more sleep, you have some rough training ahead of you." With that he got up and left.  I sat there dumbfounded for a while before I realized that there was something missing.  I called for Bo with no response.  I got out of bed and began searching for him; only slowing for a moment to let the blood return to my head.  Now I was moving quickly without a cast to slow me down.  Within moments I realized that he wasn't in the room.  I grabbed a pair of soft black shoes that sat at the side of my bed and slipped them on.  I crept quietly into the courtyard as I called in a hushed tone.  I didn't think I was supposed to be out of my room, so I tip-toed along, ignoring a subtle pain in my left leg.  My ears perked up when I heard Bo's computerized voice.  I followed the sound into a big room with chairs and couches scattered throughout.  In the center was a massive group of boys, all clad in clothes similar to mine; black shirts and the same soft soled shoes, but they were all wearing pants, black of course. 

I whistled sharply.  Bo charged of the circle to me and I kneeled to pick him up.  I looked up into probably close to 50 boys faces.  One boy, who looked to be about 12, pushed his way to the front of the group.   "Who are you to take away our new toy?" he demanded.

I responded more calmly then I felt, "I'm his creator and owner."  The boys all fell silent instantly.

"And right now he needs to be in bed, as he was told,” I turned around to find Craig behind me.  All the boys bowed to him.  I think it was a Roman salute, but I couldn't remember my history lessons at the time.  It was the kind of bow where you have a fist on the opposite shoulder, and you bend from the waist down.  Not the kind where you instantly drop to your knees.  I just stood there, Bo in my arms, facing the man.  From somewhere behind me I heard Thane speak softly.

"Sir, I'll take him back to the room.  This won't happen again."  Thane put his hand on my arm and started to led me back to the room, when Craig put his hand up.

"A word Gyro? Then Thane can help you back." Bo still in my hands, I walked up to Mr. Craig.  He leaned close to my face, "You are causing a distraction, and you've been not even a day.  We don't want to have a problem, do we?" Again he wore his cheesy smile and again I put on an equally cheesy one.

"If I'm such a problem, then send me home," I said with confidence I gained from the attention of the boys.  For a moment it looked like he was going to hit me, but finally he said sharply, "Thane! Take a lock card with you when you help Gyro back to his room."  With a "Yes sir" and a bow from Thane, I was being led to the room.  Thane palmed the door and I stepped inside. Just as he was about to close the door, he stopped.

"What did you say to him?" My companion asked, in almost a whisper.  "He almost never uses a lock card." 

"He just has a bit of a temper," I smiled.

Thane shook his head, "Are all Landies this crazy?"

I guessed that the slang meant the people who live on the surface. "I wouldn't know; none of my friends were.” The two close ones that I had.  Thane closed the door and I heard him slid the lock card.  I check the door, it wouldn't open, so I sat down on my bed and began playing with Bo.  After a while I got bored and went to sleep.  My sleep was interrupted by a hand shaking me awake.  I turned over and tried to fall back asleep, but the owner of the hand barked, "Wake up."  Whoever it was, I couldn't tell because the light was off, grabbed my shoulder roughly and pulled me out of bed.  "Come on,” they said and dragged me out of the room and down the hall.  By the time I was completely awake, we had arrived in room furnished with nothing but a square table surrounded with chairs.  In the chairs sat 5 men and men, each wearing a uniform of the Forces, they all had a class mark of a star with a circle in it. I would later find out what it meant each of those markings meant and how unique these ones were.  The guy who had been pulling me along shoved me down in a chair by the door.

"Don't move until you are told to," he ordered.  He then went over to the table and sat down.  I opened a compartment on my F.A.C. as quietly as I could and rolled one of my listening devices under they table.  I took off one of the speaker and rested my elbows on my knees as my head rested in my hands.  With the speaker in my hand I was able to hear the conversation.

"He did nothing more than talk back.  This is such a severe punishment for such a little issue."

"Craig wants to break him once and for all.  To avoid any further issues with the boy."

"But he's only just got here, maybe he'll conform on his own."

"All I know is I won't help with this."

"You will, Zale.  You will if you ever want to see the surface, of any world, again."

“If he is really what he supposed to be, then this won’t hurt him too much.”

“If he was all he was supposed to be, then why didn’t it show up when he was younger?”

"You idiots, you know what Ally said about the kid.  He's probably listening right now."  I started swinging my feet; the picture of a bored kid.  The talking resumed;

"Nah we would have seen something.”

“Let’s get this over with” I quickly put the speaker back.  “Gyro, come over here,” said the man who had dragged me here.  I stood up and said yes sir.  I came over and sat in the seat he had indicated, right next to him.  Upon further inspection I saw that the table had grooves carved in it; one leading from each person to me. 

“Put your hands on the table, palm down,” one of the men demanded.  As I did I saw everyone else doing the same. He continued, “Gyro, you need to learn respect for your commanding officers.  Because of your lack to respect thus far you must be taught that further displays of disrespect will not be tolerated.”  At this little speech, I started to pull back my hands, only to find Duncan had put his hands on my wrists to keep them in place.  I noticed a faint blue fire flowing through the grooves and up my arms.

The one who I assumed was Zale said, “Close your eyes and relax, it’ll be easier if you do.”  He was almost sympathetic when he said it.  I closed my eyes tight as I felt a slight pressure in the back of my mind.  As the pressure slowly increased, I kept thinking put up a shield, put up a shield… As the pressure got stronger, so did my chanting.  Finally, the pressure quickly withdrew completely.  I opened my eyes to find 5 men and women looking tired and staring intently at me.

“What?” I looked around, trying to get an answer.

Finally one of them spoke, “He…he…he avoided a probe.”

I looked to Duncan, but all he said was, “Go back to your room, Gyro,” in almost a whisper.  I had no idea how to back to my room, but I had more sense than to stay there.  I wandered around the compound for about half an hour before I found a couch to crash on.  I sat down and was asleep within seconds, and thus ended my second day underground.

Quin was the first one to find me the next morning. “Come on, you have visitors waiting for you back at the room.” I let Quin lead me, barefoot, back to the room where Craig and a young, blonde, light-skinned, male agent were waiting.

Mr. Craig was all fake cheers and smiles once more, “Good morning, Gyro.  I would like to introduce you to Agent Gareth.  He will be in charge of taking you to your classes until you are able to find your own way.  So once you’ve changed into a proper uniform, he will take you to your first trainer.”  I just palmed the door and went in, barely taking notice of the two men outside.  Quin and Gareth followed me in and Craig left.  Inside the room, Thane and Ryu were sparring.  I made a wide route around them to my bed, where a new uniform lay. The uniform included a shirt, a pair of slightly loose pants, and my soft soled shoes that I wore earlier, all black of course.  I put them on then and there, not even caring who could see.  I turned to go just in time to see Ryu on the ground with Thane’s knee on his chest.  Again, making a wide route around them, I went to Gareth who was waiting by the door.

“Where to?” I asked.  Gareth wordlessly led me to a room with the title “Gym 5.”  Inside, on the walls, were various kinds of equipment and training devices. The entire floor was carpeted, and two walls were made of mirrors.  Standing in the middle was a man who appeared to be in his early thirties with dark hair and skin, and a muscular build that revealed years of strenuous exercises.  For the next four hours, that man, Dean, taught me close to 50 different punches, kicks, and blocks.  We ended our session together with an hour’s worth of tumbling and acrobatics.  Dean told me he was glad I was such a good learner, because otherwise I’d never catch up to the other boys in time.

After that I was taken to a class on the basics of the Force’s structure, luckily I’d never have to take that one again; it was one of the most boring things I’ve ever sat through.  Although I did learn that the older agents were given new name before their first mission and classified by those names.  Agents' whose name began with an 'A' were the leaders of their groups and were in charge of strategizing.  Next came those with names starting with a 'c' were the doctors and medics.  Those with names beginning with 'd' were weapon masters and dealt with the defense of their group.  There was also those with 'g' names were the diplomats in charge of translating the local tongues and learning as much of the local culture.  Lastly were those with the 'z' names; they were the magicians.  When I asked my teacher about that he refused to answer my questions, saying I would find out later.

 By the end of that lesson it was 11 o’clock and time for lunch for the older group of boys.  I found my roommates and sat down with them, which meant a half an hour’s worth of questions from the other boys.  In the middle of answering one question, Gareth came in to take me to school studies class, which included math, science, and history.  So that was another two hours long. I was then off to my modern warfare class, in which my teacher, Adia, taught me about the different kind of mission plan; different formations that I would need to memorize and be able to act on within seconds, and this lasted an hour.  Next I had a foreign language class, where I started learning a weird language called Common, not a language found on Earth.  Gareth then took me back to the gym where I practice another three hours with Dean.  By the end of all this, Dean had to practically carry me back to my room, where I slept through dinner.

Thane and Ryu were at it again, during the down time before lights out, that night.  Thane pulled me out of bed when he was finished with Ryu.

“No more.  I can’t take anymore work,” I groaned.

“Yes you can.  Come on, we’re going to teach you what we’re learning so you won’t fall behind,” he argued.  And so my days passed, 12 hours of classes in the morning followed by dinner and another hour of work with my roommates, before they let me shower and go to bed.

As the weeks went by I started to get less and less tired, and I started to actually get muscles!  That’s right, real muscles.  I learned how to handle new weapons, like staffs, and I had memorized almost all attack plans.  So, I started to go into the library when I had extra time to study further techniques.  I even had started to forget my old family and the outside world.  One day, when I entered the gym, I noticed that there were other people besides Dean waiting.  Dean and I bowed to each other like normal, then he said, “Good morning Gyro.  I think you are ready to start sparring with other people now, and not just dummies.  This is Evan, Brad, and Kelly,” he indicated two boys and a girl, who looked a little older than me, standing next to him as they bowed.  “We are going to start hand to hand combat. If you can beat them a couple times, we’ll move on to staffs. Okay? Then, Evan will start. Begin.”  Evan and I bowed and got into stances.  He and I exchanged kicks and punches neither one of us gaining an advantage until he made one final mistake.  Evan turned to kick and left his right side wide open.  I had him on the ground with my fist and inch from his face.

“Wow, you’re pretty good,” Evan panted.  I smiled and helped him up.  I had similar performances with the other two; each ending with my opponents pinned on the ground and me on top. 

“Very nice Gyro,” My teacher said.  “Would you like to try working with the staffs?”  I nodded as Brad went to get us both a staff.  This time I had to concentrate all I could.  Soon I was mixing in techniques Thane had been teaching me and the battle grew more intense.  It almost appeared that Brad had forgotten this was just a training match; he was getting fierce in his blows, and I was wearing little padding.  I thought I heard Dean yell to stop, but Brad continued to attack.  Eventually I started to get tired, and was forced on the defensive.  Brad hit me hard in the chest when I had failed to block quick enough.  I fell down and grabbed my chest.

“Brad, stop!” I tried to shout, but still Brad pursued me as I tried to roll out of the way.  As Brad was about to hit me in the head, Dean stepped in front of me and delivered a quick kick to Brad’s stomach, knocking the air out of him.  My opponent went down like a log, as he attempted to regain breath. 

Then, Dean turned to me, “You are excused for the rest of the day.  If you feel well enough to return to your studies, you may after lunch, but not until then. Now you are to report to the infirmary.”  Kelly and Evan helped me up and out of the room.

As we were walking along I asked Kelly, “What was that about?”

“I don’t know,” she responded. “He’s normally pretty disciplined.”

“I just have a way of bringing out the best in people,” I said sarcastically.

This time it was Evan who spoke, “We where all a little skeptical about a Landy joining us.  All of us have been taught that they were inferior to us; they aren’t as smart or fast.  It’s a little hard to unlearn it all when one of them proves us wrong.”  The two of them left me when we came to the infirmary.  Again I went into that awful room, after having successfully staying away from it since at least a month before when I arrived.  Different from last time, there were others inside, each bearing a cut or large bruise and each of the older than I.  I told the lady behind the desk my name and waited among the others for someone help me.

Out came Dr. Clark with a young girl, with a bandaged hand, trailing behind him.  The doctor spoke to the girl a moment then came over to me.

“What happened now?  Did you get into a fight?” Clark asked. 

I nodded weakly and answered, “You could say that.”  He led me down the hall to an empty room similar to the one I had been in before.

“Have a seat.  Now what happened?”  After I had taken off my FAC and set it down beside me, I described the fight as he inspected my chest and cuts.  “Well that’s quite a story, Brad did this you say? That’s a shame.  As far as I can tell, there’s nothing broken, but you will have quite a few bruises for a while.”  He bandaged me up and told me to go to my room and rest for a while. 

In my room I did anything but rest; I couldn’t stand being cooped up after having weeks of roaming around the compound.  I had three hours until lunch to practice my fighting, study my history, and work on a new invention in my workshop.  After seeing everyone so amazed with Bo, I investigated the inventions of these boys; what I found surprised me.  Apparently, if you wanted supplies for a new invention, you had to go “pitch” your idea to the lovely Mr. Craig.  Only if he deemed it a good use of technology, would he allow you to build it.  That was why no one had every seen something like Bo before, Craig only deemed things that would help in a fight, okay to make.  No one had ever built something just for entertainment as Bo was. 

Luckily I had managed to sneak some supplies with me when I had left.  This was a device designed for the mages here. Yes, the mages.  During my studies I had uncovered a great deal of information regarding them during in my free time.  Some time ago the Special Forces discovered that magic was not just a fantasy, but something that occurred naturally in the human body; it just took a minor operation to let it out.  Only some of the agents here undergo the surgery; the mages have the full surgery, which allows them to work magic from their hands, feet, and mouth.  Each mage can posses a different kind of magic dependent on their body’s chemistry.  For example, some master the art of fire magic, allowing them to shoot fire from their hands, send a stream of fire from their feet when they kick out, or breath fire, if they so choose.  Know I know this sounds preposterous, but it’s true. If you are chosen to become a leader, the head person of each squad, then you undergo a smaller version of this surgery, allowing you to shoot fire out of only one hand, or only when you kick with one foot. “A leader’s job is to bear the burden each of his men does,” my teacher told me.  This means, that a leader must learn a little of what each of his men knows, so he can use them to their full potential.  I know it’s a lot of new, weird stuff, but it’s true.

This invention was an improved model of the gauntlets they already wore, which kept their powers under control.  I had found a way to connect these gauntlets to the sensors in our dog tags which read our body’s vitals and hopefully I would be able to complete it before someone found out.

As I was just putting the finishing touches on my invention, there was a knock on the door.  I scrambled to lock up my project in my desk, and rushed to open the door.  What I found on the other side was Brad, covered in more cuts and bruises than I had remembered giving him.  Instinctively, I got into fighting position; ready to defend myself.

Brad hung his head.  “I came to apologize,” he said through gritted teeth.  “I should have been able to control myself better.  Especially, towards a Landy; I should know they can’t fight as well as those of us raised down here.”  In a blur, I kicked him right then and there in the stomach; he went down, falling outside of the room.  As I stepped over him, I spit and said, “At least Landys have better manners.”  Once my door had closed and locked, I walked off to find an empty gym.

Aren found me in “Gym 20”; a small gym meant for individuals to get in extra practice.  I was practicing a punch-kick combination when I heard him enter.  Without even turning to face him I said, “News travels fast around here.”  I heard him murmur his agreement as I stopped to look at him.

“How about this; you go against me in a sparring match and I tell them I thought you had learned your lesson.  And so we are both fighting our best, skin versus skin,” Aren suggested.

“Sounds good, but I have an even better idea.  I beat you, and you let me train with the others,” I countered.

Aren raised an eyebrow. “Do you honestly believe you can beat me?”

“No, but I figure if I show you how good I am, then you’ll be convinced that I am fast enough to keep up with the others.”

“Alright then.  Let’s see what you can do.”  Aren began to take off his shirt and shoes as I did the same.  We bowed and began to circle each other. Aren finally made the first move; a daring ax kick to my left shoulder.  I blocked it easily and returned with a crescent kick, which the agent blocked just as easily.  So continued the battle, each of us exchanging glancing blows at speeds I would have only dreamed of had I still been above ground.  Both of us were doing our best not to give away our next moves, by moving our bodies too much.  Slowly I became aware that there were others in the room with us, unfortunately this acknowledgement diverted my attention from Aren, who sweep his legs under mine.  Luckily, I was able to flip back in time so that he didn’t gain too much of an advantage.  The number of people watching us grew more and more until the room was lined with people of various ages and ranks.  The fight ended with a dagger on my throat, and my knee on Aren’s chest.

 “You pulled a dagger, you dirty sneak,” I told Aren.

“I wanted to see just how good you really were,” he said coolly as he put the knife away and got up, leaving me sitting on the ground.  “You might want to get that looked at,” Aren indicated a deep gash on my left shoulder that he had made in the attempt to pin me.  Someone came forward to bandage my arm as Aren walked out of the room.  All eyes were on me.

The person fixing my arm spoke, “You really can’t stay out of trouble for more than a couple of hours.”

“Well, I have to make these people understand that I can do just as much as them.  I imagine you heard what happened earlier, but honestly, Dr. Clark, you would think they would have a little better of an attitude towards other people.”

“Ah, but they do, just not on this planet,” was his response.  I didn’t have time to ask him what that meant, at that moment all of the bystanders came forward to ask me questions of their own.  Even the adults in the room had something to ask. 

When I felt like the questions would never end, some one yelled, “Enough.  Let the boy get back to his studies.”  The entire crowd went silent.  I spun around to face the speaker, an older man who appeared to be in his late forties and yet he wore the uniform of an agent and not the black suit of a high ranking official.

“Thank you, sir,” I said with relief.

He gave me a friendly smile. “Grab you things and come walk with me.”  The man walked me to the cafeteria.  On the way I learned that his name was Uri Zeroun, the first person I had met here to have a last name. I asked him why he had a last name, and none of the other agents did , and his answer was, “There are, you just have yet to meet them.”

As I sat with my friends during lunch, they asked me all kinds of questions about my fight with Aren.

“Why did you do it?”

“Why not?”

“Are you insane?

“Not that I know of.”

“Aren’s one of the top fighters in the whole unit!  He could’ve killed you!”

“Well he did cut me, I think I’ve learned my lesson. That sucker hurt!” I said sarcastically, and for that, I earned a smack in the head from Evan.

“You idiot, if you don’t start behaving yourself you’re going to get yourself killed, or sent back upstairs.”

“And that’s bad?  The second one, I know the first one’s bad.”

“Think about it.  Do you really think you’d fit in up there?  With all the training you’ve had, you’d probable end up being arrested or something.  A preemptive strike, kind of thing,” Thane cautioned.

Quin added, “That’s why none of us can go up there.”

“Fine, I won’t do it again. Alright?”  They nodded, “Good, now I have a question for you guys.  Does anyone know who Uri Zeroun is?  He walked me to lunch and I have no clue…” I trailed off when I noticed their jaws drop.  “What? Who is he?” I demanded.

“Uri Zeroun is one of the most powerful people in Special Forces.  The fact that he has a last name signifies that he has completed a great and dangerous mission.  People like that are rarely seen outside of the Head Quarters,” Ryu said in his quiet voice.

And that started the questions again.  With the bell to go to class, came an announcement over the intercom.  “Gyro, please report to gym 8.”  I shrugged and made my way there.  I entered the room; inside were boys my age, including my roommates.

The instructor, Drake, welcomed me, “Very glad you could join us so soon.  Please find a place to work.”  I chose a spot by Thane, who smiled as I walked in.  We spent the next hour or so training before going to the history, math, and science.  I still had to be in a separate class for the language class.  Still, I was learning new things with members of age group and being treated as an equal, or at least pretty close to one.

In time we started a working with new weapons; bows and arrows, swords, and a rainier, which looked like a small circle with three curved blades protruding from it.  I began to use my free time to practice with Thane and Ryu in the extra gyms. Although I couldn’t use gym 20 for a while, they were still cleaning up the mess I made.  We would spend hours going over different routines.  Eventually the other boys had a hard time beating me in one-on-one matches, so we did two-on-one matches, and three-on-one matches and so on until older boys started challenging me.  Soon there were fake battles going on; three-on-three, each fighting in their own formation.

The day turned to weeks, and the weeks to months, and soon my memory of the Landys had faded almost completely.  The only thing to remind me was Bo, who would show me pictures of Lizzie every so often, just so I could see how she was growing up.  Then came the day of my, as well as the other kids’, 15th year.

We had been instructed to go back to our rooms after combat class, and sleep.  I didn’t know why, but I assumed the other trainees did.  The 15 years woke, as we always had, to the bell, but this time there was a message was attached to the bell.  “All 15 years report to the lounge.”  And so all of us trooped down to the lounge where Mr. Craig, as well as 5 other agents, each bearing different class symbols, stood, waiting for us. 

When all 50 of us had found a seat Mr. Craig began to talk, “Congratulations 15 year old.  You have gone through many years of intense training to come to this challenge.  Over the next few days you shall be evaluated and finally, assigned classes.  By the end of this process you will be either, a mage, a weapons master, a doctor, or a leader.  The test will begin with a competition against each other.  Please find your name on the screens in the gym hall.  The fights will begin at 5:30. You are dismissed.”  We all scrambled to find our name on the immense screens.  I was to be fighting Brad, the one person whom I never hoped to see again, and I had to fight him for my right to be an agent.

Thane saw my opponent.  “Mr. Craig must have it out for you. I’m sorry.” He patted my shoulder and was gone to his own fight. 

Ironically, Brad waited for me in gym 20.  He already had his shoes and shirt off.  “Hullo Landy,” he wore a venomous smile.  “I really have to stop making enemies,” I thought.  Another friend of mine, Aren sat in the corner, along with a couple of other agents, with a desk in his lap, pen ready to take notes throughout the fight.  I stripped down and walked to the center of the mat.  Brad and I bowed to the agents, then each other, and began the fight.  Unlike my fight with Aren, Brad made no attempt hide his body’s movements, which made the fight go even quicker than usual.  I had Brad on the floor, with my foot on his face, within moments.

“Anara k’elen kina hart Landy,” I told him, using some choice words, in Sarenic, which I had picked up in my extra time.  That meant, in less colorful terms, something to the effect of "Still think you are better than a Landy?” 

“Hey Gyro, get off of him before we have to take you off,” Aren shouted. I nodded slowly and lifted my foot.  My next four opponents came in one after another, each facing defeat at my hands, until finally, I met my final opponent.  He was a tall, light skinned youth, with long black hair tied back, named Nero.   The boy entered with confidence.

Nero bowed, “Good afternoon, Gyro.  I must say, I’m quite surprised that a Landy made it this far.”  “Okay, this guy just made my list.”

“It’s nice to see that not all of the people down here are narrow minded,” I replied sarcastically as I bowed back.

Aren walked up to us, “Don’t get ruthless.”  When Aren gripped my hand in good luck, he attempted to sneak a knife into my hand.  I shoved it right back.

“I don’t want your dirty knife,” I growled.

Aren shrugged, “Suit yourself.” The agent backed away, “Begin!”  Like all battles, this one began with circling, neither person wanting to be the idiot to make the first move.  Luckily, I’m very patient when comes to this, and in the end Nero caved and attacked.  The battle was epic; lasting at least half an hour.  I almost had him pinned, when the bastard pulled out a knife. Unfortunately for me, Nero was just as good of a knife fighter as he was a hand to hand fighter.  In the end, after another 15 minutes of me avoiding the knife, not very well mind you, Dean came out of nowhere and disarmed Nero.  So there I was, on the ground bleeding, with Nero still standing with that stupid knife on the ground beside him.  Although, I noted with satisfaction, his nose was bleeding, and he appeared to be nursing a broken arm.

“That’s quite enough Nero.  You have proved that you can overcome someone with a knife when they are unarmed,” Dean said.  Nero slowly backed out of the room, trying to avoid the many eyes upon him.  When I tried to get up, Dean gave me a sharp look and ordered, “Stay there, Gyro.  Clark will be here in a moment.”

I continued to stand, “I’m fine.”

“Gyro, sit down, that’s an order.” Of course, Dean won, he was the superior officer.  Well that, and the fact that he had someone come and hold me down.  Clark was soon at my side stitching up the deep gashes that covered my body.   The whole time I kept thinking, “I’ve got to stop getting hurt.  No one will ever respect me if I spend all of my time in my room recovering from minor fights.”

“Gyro?” Clark was saying. “Gyro, answer me.”

“What?” I said, slightly listless.

“Gyro, are you okay? Can you hear me?” I nodded clumsily; I had started to get dizzy.  I heard them saying that I’d lost too much blood; they had to get me to the infirmary now, or else…That was the last thing I heard before I entered that cursed darkness again.

***

I dreamed of the girl again.  This time she was older and her long blonde hair was tied back in a braid that reached to her waist; she looked about 13 this time.  She was talking to a man who seemed to be in his late twenties.  “I won’t marry you, Domon," she told him as she turned her back.  His response was, a sinister, “In time, I believe, you will change your mind.”

“He can’t die, we still need him.”

“You’re talking about him as if he’s only a tool.  Gyro is a real person, you know?”

“Yes, yes, but he needs to be better by tomorrow.  He can’t miss his first mission as a leader.”

I opened my eyes, “I’m made leader?”  Dr. Clark and Craig stopped talking immediately and looked at me.

Clark came over and put his hand on my head, “Yeah, you are.” The doctor smiled weakly.

My face turned serious. “How long?” I asked him.

“A little under a day,” was his response.

“Can I go back to my room now?” I started to get up, only to be pushed back into place by Aren.  “You,” I growled.  Dean held me back carefully as I strained to get Aren. “Kina! You gave him the knife.”

“Gyro!” Craig ordered.  “That will be enough of that. I order you to remain here until tonight, when you will be escorted back. Is that understood?”

“Yes sir,” I said.  Then under my breath, I added, “Kina.”  The man shot me a sharp look and was gone. 

I turned to Aren who was trying to sneak out.  "T’curanda mesafine e'ricr anneil, kina," I spat.  I never want to see you’re face again, bastard. 

"Oh come on now, don't be that way.  You know, what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” I made another lunge at him, and he fled.

“Some agent he is.”

Dr. Clark patted me on the shoulder, “Yeah, but he’s an amazing fighter.  Now sleep, someone will be by soon to take you to your room.”

***

“Troop 2 includes Zander, Gaia, Dane, Cain, and will be led by Archer,” Craig read from a list he held.  Quin stood up when his new name was mentioned and moved over with the other members of his troop; he now bore the mage’s name of Zander.  Mr. Craig continued, “Troop 1; Zayn, Devin, Cale, Dash, lead by Ari.”  Everyone was quiet; was there a mistake?  How could there be two weapon masters in the same troop?  I stood to see who was in my new troop.  There was our mage Ryu, now Zayn, Cale, our doctor, and our two new weapons masters, Thane and Nero.   Cale was a short, dark skinned boy with short, curly, dark brown hair.  I had refocus myself; Craig was still talking, “Would all leaders, doctors, and mages please report to the infirmary.  Also, would all to scholars go to classroom 5 and weapons masters to Gym 2.  That is all, you are dismissed.”  I had never heard Ryu be as quiet as he was on our way to the infirmary.

Waiting for the 15 years inside was a fleet of white robed doctors.  One doctor was waiting for each of the teens that entered.  “Good morning agents.   First I need each of the mages to go with a doctor,” Clark said.  I gave Zayn a pat on the back, and bid him farewell.  Once all the mages had left, Dr. Clark continued, “Next I need the leaders to stand by a doctor; Ari, you will be with me. New doctors, Gwen will instruct you on what to do.  Cale, please join me as well.” Cale nodded and walked over to stand by the doctor and myself.

Clark took me to one of the medical rooms, and sat me down on the table.  “Okay, right hand?” I nodded and got onto the table.  As I lay there, Clark cutting into my arm, I wondered; would I ever be able to go back to my family?  That thought was interrupted by a sharp pain in my arm and a tingling in my hand.   “Hey, you mind turning that down, this procedure is hard enough without you melting my tools.”

I lifted my head, “What are you talking ab…”  I was cut short by the sight of a flame sitting in the palm of my hand.  "You just started!  Nothing's supposed to happen until after you seal the bracelet,"  I shouted.

"I know that!  Cale, go get Dr. Curtis, hurry," Clark ordered.  To me he asked, "try to pull the flame inside, or at least move it." I focused on the fire. "Move away," I thought.  "Come back inside."  The fire flickered then began to creep up my arm to settle upon my shoulder.

"Thanks, that helped," Clark said.

I answered through gritted teeth, "It didn't help me!"  By this time Cale had returned with Curtis who was attempting to put out the fire.

Clark sighed, "Now you know that won't work.  Please put together the bracelet while I finish this."  Curtis picked up a nearby thick black band and made etches on it.  Finally, Clark fixed the band around my wrist and bandaged my arm and hand.  The effect was immediate, the flame disappeared from my shoulder and the tingling stopped.  "There, now nothing like that should happen again, unless you take off the bracelet, which isn't allowed.  Just be careful when you practice, Ari.” With our new names came new lives.  No longer were we the Trainees of which little was asked, but complete agents that would be going on missions, risking our lives for others.

My new room was bigger than the last, allowing space for the extra bed.  The room’s set-up was very similar to last; there was the main bed area in which you entered the room, then a small hall leading to the bathroom, and the five workrooms for each member of the troop, except this room was in a different section of the compound.  The weapon master’s workroom, of which we had two, contained little more than hundreds of different weapon racks, each one filled with a weapon from around the worlds.  While the other members of Troop 82-1, our troop, had to share bunk beds, I got my own single bed pressed against the wall with the door. Ah, the perks of being a leader.

Even our uniforms had changed, mine now had the Leader emblem on it; a triangle, upside-down, within another right-side up triangle, as well as extra fabric on the knees.  I also had a headband that bore the same symbol, which went across my forehead and tied in the back.  Each uniform had slight differences from the others. For example, Dash’s new uniform had extra fabric on the knees, leather armguards, and a dagger belt.  Or Cale’s uniform; big pockets on the legs, a zippered pocket on the shirt, and a belt for his medical laser. 

I looked around the room and saw Zayn on his bed, asleep.  The mage now sported bandaged feet, hands, and chest, as well as black anklets, bracelets, and a necklace that hung behind his dog tags.  Devin sat above him, glaring at me as Dash lay on his bed reading.  I motioned to Devin to follow me; he almost looked as if he were going to stay but thought better at the last moment.

I sat down in a chair in the commons and motioned for Devin to sit in the one across from me.  Once he had, I began, “Now I know we haven’t had a good history, or long one, but regardless we are going to have to work together.  I’m your leader, you don’t have to like me, but you’ll have to at least respect me, otherwise we’ll be dead the first mission we go on.  Understand?”  Devin nodded and left; I decided not to be a jerk and ask for a “Yes sir,” although, as leader, I was entitled to one. 

A bell rang and over the intercom came a voice, “All 15 year old leaders report to classroom 50.”  Thus began my training as a leader; battle strategies, fighting and technology classes for three hours each, then magic, for two hours, language for another one, and finally, basic medicine; somewhere in there you squeezed in lunch, if you were lucky.  After that we had whatever time before 10 o’clock, unless you had a mock battle schedule, was ours to work with our troop; planning out strategies and just watching your agents spar, so you could get a better idea of how to use them.  Then, typically, the leaders would stay up late at night, rearranging their charts until they were satisfied and joined their sleeping comrades.  I repeated this for months until Troop 82-1 was able to act as one. 

Soon came the marker of half a year, which meant our missions would be soon.  While I was in the gym assigned to Troop 82-1 watching Dash and Devin spar, the intercom came on, “All year 15 leaders to Craig’s office immediately for your assignments.”  I, along with the others, ran as fast as I could to the office where Craig was waiting with a list in his hand.

“Welcome Leaders,” he began.  “After watching you and your troops train for the past six months you have been carefully assigned missions, each one should be fairly easy and be completed with no interruptions.  Your assignments have been typed out.” The older man handed out disks to be read once we got into our rooms.   I grabbed mine and hurried back to my room where I was met with four eager looking young agents.  Quietly I played the disk on a nearby screen.

The text floated across the screen:  Troop 1, you will assigned to the world of Toril where you will simply protect Princess Elsa on a three day journey to her new home in the kingdom of Danmar.  She is moving in with her cousin, Orn, and his family so she can further her education.  The language there is Vidar and you will be helped by Gryphon during this mission; Gryphon will serve as your Linguist.  You leave for your mission in one day.  Ari, collect your gear for this mission from the storehouse.

There was a knock at the door.  “Come in,” I called as the door opened.  In walked a skinny, dark haired, light skinned youth.  She wore the standard SF clothes on her short frame.  We bowed respectfully to each other, as the others stared on.

She introduced herself with a seductive smile, “I’m Gryphon, you can call me Griff if you’d like.  Mr. Craig sent me to help you.”

I responded, “I am Ari, welcome to Troop 1 of the 15 years.  These are my agents.” Each one introduced themselves in turn as Griff’s eye lingered on Zayn, and his on her body.  I took her into my office to discus the battle strategies that she would need to learn.  We spent most of the night there, until she, disappointedly it seemed, left for her own room.

Our package of gear included translator/communicator earpieces that were almost unnoticeable from a distance, five sets of clothes that could be compared to something from our own middle ages, and some of the lightest and sturdiest swords I had ever seen, all inside of a soft leather-like bag that I was supposed to give to Cale for medical supplies. 

On the day of our mission we all woke before the morning bell and changed into our new clothes.  My outfit was a pair of sturdy brown pants, a green long sleeve shirt with a slit neck, a brown vest, and soft, black boots.  On my back I wore my sword in its sheath. I slipped off my FAC and put in my earpiece.  Once I had finished changing, I turned around to see everyone was dressed similarly to me except for Griff who wore a simple blue dress with slits coming up to her knees revealing hose underneath.  Inside our room, the call came; “Troop 82-1, report to the warp room.”  Zayn, Dash, Cale, Devin, and Griff filed out of the room behind me as I sadly left Bo behind.

***

The six of us crouched on the silver disk as the walls began to spin.  I looked at my team’s worried faces.  “Come on guys,” I said, “We’ll be fine.”  I heard a low roar; it started to get louder until…

 

I found myself in a forest with dark blue colored trees.  There was a castle off in the distance.  “Ari?”  I spun around to find Cale working on a long cut in Dash’s right arm and Griff, Zayn, and Devin standing nearby.

I rushed over to them, “What happened?”

“I walked into some stupid plant.  I’m fine really,” Dash said.  I turned to Cale.

“It’s a fairly shallow wound.  No muscle was damaged, so his arm should be fine in a couple of days; with proper rest of course.”

“See? I’m fine.”

“Okay then, let’s move out,” I announced.  “Our destination is that castle over there; if we were put in the correct place, it should be Elsa’s.”

                We hadn’t been walking for more than five minutes before we heard someone calling.  There was a soft click in our ears as the translators turned on.  “Protectors? Are you there?”

                With a nod from me Griff called back, in Vidar, “It is us, Elsa.”

                A tall blonde girl, with blue tinted skin, appeared from behind on of the trees. She reminded me of the fabled fairies that are a constant theme in Earthen fiction.  It was, literally, the girl from my dreams.  “Ari?  Come along, all of you.” 

Elsa led us on a quick route into the back of the castle where we were greeted by many bustling workers in the kitchen.  A plump older woman was shouting orders at the others in the room.  Without even looking to see who had come through the door she scolded, “Elsa, you know it’s dangerous to go sneaking off by yourself”

“Yes Am-ma, it won’t happen again,” Elsa said apologetically.   “I wasn’t really sneaking around, that is to say, I wasn’t sneaking.  I went to collect our visitors.”  Am-ma turned around, startled by the presence of five strangely colored boys and one strangely colored girl.  The five of us stood awkwardly for a moment, no one knowing what to do.   Luckily we were saved the embarrassment when Am-ma by calling for some other servant to take us to our quarters.

The room in which I was put was built out of a gray stone.  In the middle of the room there was a king sized bed with an elaborate tapestry hanging on the wall above it.  The tapestry depicted a fairy tale full of magic.  I was still starring at it when Elsa walked in behind me.

"It's pretty, is it not?"  The princess asked from behind me.  All I could do was nod since I did not know the language.  "Have I interrupted your thoughts?"  There was a hurt tone in her voice as she stood next to me.

I sighed, "You just won't understand what I said."  I had spoken in Common out of habit.

To my surprise she responded, "I can understand a little of it."

"Where did you learn Common?"  I turned to her.

"An agent named Dean came a few years ago and taught me a few words."  We continued our discussion and began to talk about our journey while Elsa showed me on a map.  We were interrupted by a tall, slender, sandy haired young man who bore a striking resemblance to the princess who stood with me.  "Ari, this is my older brother Kelnin."  He bowed his head slightly.  I returned the gesture.

"If you would excuse us, Mother and Father would like to speak with Elsa.  Please, feel free to look around the castle," Kelnin said.  I nodded as they closed the door behind them.  Walking out into the hall, I searched for my troop and found Devin, Griff, and Dash in the kitchen.

"I would like to spar.  Anyone interested?" I asked my troop.  Dash and Devin nodded and stood up.

"Where may we practice our fighting?" Gryphon asked a nearby maid.  The lady directed us to an empty court in the back.

"Two against one?"  Devin suggested.

"Well, Dash should be sitting out," I scolded.  In response to my scorn, Dash took off his vest, shirt, and boots.

"I'm fine!" Dash argued as Devin and I did the same.  Devin wore a smile that showed a slightly hidden malice of a wolf waiting to take first blood; it made me worry but I ignored it as best I could and continued to undress.

"I just don't want to get in trouble with Cale when your arm opens up."  The three of us bowed and began.  Dash and Devin attacked me at once.  I easily knocked away their attacks and returned with my own.  Soon we had an audience as Griff entered the fight.  It was three against one as the moves we were using became more intricate.  The fight ended when we saw red on Dash's bandaged arm.  Both Cale and Zayn stood in the crowd and came forward when the four of us had stopped.  Cale led Dash over to a wall where he could lean on as Cale worked on his arm.  This was the first time Devin, Griff, and I noticed the onlookers.  Elsa and Kelnin were part of the group.

Kelnin stepped forward and addressed us.  "How would you feel about fighting me?" he asked.  Of course we all knew that it wasn't a question so much of a demand.  The other two nodded as I went to see how Dash was.

"I think you misunderstood," the prince said.  "It is Ari that I wish to fight.  I must test the leader of the protectors of my sister."

"But sir, Ari is tired,” Griff protested.  "He has just fought against three of us.  Anyone else won't be so tired."

"Then Ari may rest while I warm up."  I mimed drinking to Griff.

Griff finally submitted, "Where can he find refreshments?" Kelnin beckoned a servant who brought out a tray.  The prince went off into a corner of the court to warm up.  I investigated what had been brought.  A cup held a cool blue substance which was slightly thicker than water but thinner than gelatin.  I drank it hesitantly and found that it had a fruity taste to it and was very refreshing.  Kelnin finished his warm up just as I finished my drink.

At the prince's motion I stood up and walked over to him.  We bowed and I fell into a fighter's crouch while he took up a different fighting position.  At his word we began exchanging blows.  He was an amazing fighter; he completely hid his motions until was upon me.  Soon we began to slow as fatigue took a toll; the whole time I was trying to figure out whether it was better to win or to lose.  If I won I could have bragging rights, and I’d win, but the prince my harbor resentment towards me for beating him in front of his people.  On the other hand, if I lost I might be showing Kelnin that I was weak as a leader and couldn’t be trusted with his sister; but his pride would be saved.  As if he had been reading my thoughts he whispered, “Fight your hardest; I won’t think less of you if you lose or if you win.  Besides, one of the greatest qualities of a prince is his humility.”  With power that should’ve knocked him outside of the court, I kicked him in the side.  And he just took it as if he felt nothing; instead of flying across the field, he mimicked my kick landing one of his own, square on my chest.  Griff tried to catch me as I was propelled towards a castle, but failed to move quick enough.  With the impact came a sudden and overwhelming sense of magic; not the bone-crushing force I had expected.  Still, it was enough to knock the air of me.  I gasped for breath trying to get my bearings; Zayn stood beside me with his hand pressed flat on the wall, beads of sweat clinging to his forehead.

“Thank you,” I told him quietly.  Zayn accepted my thanks with a curt nod of the head, then he made his way over to the refreshments.  Kelnin walked forward to offer his hand in help, but I refused it saying, “We’re not done yet.”  Elsa translated for her brother.  Kelnin wore a strange, yet respectful, smile as he resumed his fighting position and I did the same.  We continued our fight for only a short time longer; Kelnin had his knee on my chest, pinning me down as I panted.  This time when he extended his hand I accepted it, but I dreaded the proclamation he would soon make determining whether or not this mission would succeed.

As I dusted off the dirt from my pants, Kelnin turned and addressed the crowd standing before us.  “While this stranger was unable to stand up to my fighting technique,” Here it comes, “I refuse to entrust him with the care of my sister.” “His determination throughout the fight shows that he will do whatever it takes to protect my sister.  Thus I deem him a strong and trustworthy leader capable of taking my sister to our cousin’s house.”   It took a moment to erase the disappoint look from my face that been there in the expectation of a poor recommendations. 

For the next few days my team and I packed supplies for our journey.  We set out on winged horses called senars after a tearful departure from the castle grounds.  I was the only one, besides Elsa, who had ever ridden a horse before; everyone else was fearfully gripping their reins as we soared into the blue sky.  Although, I have to say, I was a little bit scared flying high in the air with nothing to catch us, and I had the experience of flying in an airplane, another bonus of being a Landy.

We touched down to make camp for the night just as the green sun was setting.  The girls started a fire and began to prepare dinner as the rest of us set up tents.  We had a quite meal of fruit and vegetables accompanied by the blue gel-like liquid that I had had earlier.  As Elsa tried to get us to reveal more about our own world, she explained her own.  Everything from the purple trees to the blue grass, it all enticed us.  While we were talking, a thought struck me.

"Elsa, why did your parents request a team from the S.F?  Don't you have your own guards?"

She looked grim, "Of course, but our guards can be bought with a light sack of coins.  You cannot."  That was the last we spoke of the subject.  Our conversation somehow turned to Elsa telling us fairy tales until everyone was asleep.  I, however, had the first watch and would be awake until the sun began to creep into the sky.  I entertained myself by trying to find new constellations in the foreign night.

When the sun's first rays appeared in the sky I woke Devin, and climbed into my bedroll.  A couple hours later, our camp was packed up and we were ready to fly.  We flew for the rest of the day, taking few breaks for food and rest.  The next four days fell into this pattern as well.  On the fifth day of travel, Elsa informed us that we were only a day away.  I consulted my maps and confirmed the estimation.  We landed for the night and set up.  Just as we were finishing dinner for the night, a twig snapped just north of us.  My troop quickly formed a protective around the princess as we drew our weapons.  "It's probably just an animal," Elsa protested.  Cale faced the princess with his finger to his lips and turned back around.  Coming straight at us was the sound of marching boot steps; it seemed like an enormous amount.

In a low voice, I spoke to the group, "We're going to move a hundred paces to the south.  Make sure to keep Elsa protected.  On my word.  Go!"  We quickly abandoned our bedrolls and other possessions and walked into the nearby bush.  I hoped someone remembered to put out the fire before we had left.  From the protection of the scrub, I saw the fire still consuming wood.  With a few hand motions, I summoned Zayn to my side.  "Take out the fire, but do it discreetly."  Zayn put his hand, palm down, on the ground and was silent for a few moments.  He quickly inhaled and the fire was dead.  The magician had sucked the air out of the fire's grasp.  "Good job."

"Nice trick, kid," The was a deep voice behind us.  We all turned to see a handful of armed men eyeing us carefully.  We backed into the opening where our things lay.  We were surrounded and their were arrows trained on our every move.

Using the low voice I told my group, "Zayn, Devin, and I will stay on the ground.  The rest of you will take Elsa and leave under a cover that Zayn will provide for you.  Fly nonstop until you have reached the castle.  Be ready to move on my word.  Zayn, get ready."

The man from before shouted at us, "Let us take your friend, and we won't rough you up too much seeing as you are just little kids."  I could almost feel Devin's temper rising.  When no one responded he shouted even louder, "Are you deaf? Hand over the girl!  I tire of this! Archers, fire at will, but don't hit the girl!"  The sounds of a hundred arrows shooting from their bows would normally make me cower in fear, but not now.

"Now!" I shouted.  Zayn and I crouched down, placing our palms on the ground, as Dash, Elsa, and Griff propelled themselves towards the waiting senars under the cover of Zayn's air shield.  I was set at my own task of summoning walls of fire to burn the oncoming arrows while Devin shielded himself with his swords, one in each hand.  "Are they safe?" I was struggling to keep a hold of the magic.

"Yeah, lower the shields," Devin reassured me.  "Do we let them take us?"

Zayn and I stood in unison, "I fear we might have to; until then, fight like hell."  I weighed the sword in one hand and made a small fireball in the other.  "Oh, one other thing I forgot to mention; don't say anything and we won't have to explain our language and where we're from."

The walls of fire dropped; soon after, we were being rushed at by heavily armed solders.  Stab here, block there, and hope that cut you just got doesn't bleed too much; it was all you could hope for in a mess like that.  The three of us ended, bloody and bruised, bound with rope and swords on our necks.  We were all breathing heavily, as were the soldiers; we must have been going for half an hour at least.  "Who are you?" demanded that deep voice as more pressure was applied to the sword at my throat.  I grimaced as I felt blood trickle down my neck, but I returned Deep Voice's cold stare with one of my own.  He demanded again, "Who are you?!"  Deep Voice smacked me in he head with the side of his sword.  The world began to swirl as I lost conciseness.  Damn blackness.

Next thing I remember, I was sitting in a cold cell along with Zayn and Devin.  We all had iron shackles around our ankles and wrists binding them together.  Piecing together words as best as I could in my dazed state, I asked in a slurred voice, "Wha...what happened?"

"You got hit," Devin put it bluntly.

I shook my head in hopes that it cleared my thoughts; it did, a bit.  "I know that, but...but after that."

"They dragged us here and here we lay."  My teeth started to chatter as I began to feel very cold.

“Is it just me, or is it cold in here?” I asked.  My partners stared at me worriedly.

Zayn dragged himself over to me and started to examine my head.  “You got hit pretty hard.  Devin, did you take any medicine classes?”  Devin shook his head.  “Damn it.  Cale, are you there?” It took me a moment to realize that he was talking through his earpiece.  I reached up to inspect my own and found it present, but damaged; I replaced it with little thought.  “Yeah he hurt his head.  How?  He’s Ari; how else? Yep, being a smartass.” 

I let out a grim laugh, “It wasn’t just my fault; that guy had a sword.”

“He says he’s feeling very cold and it looks like he’s bleeding.  No, there’s nothing to wrap his head in.  Well, they took our knives and our clothes aren’t ripped anywhere, but I can try.”  Zayn took a hold of the bottom of his tunic and pulled off a thick strip of fabric which he tied around my head.

After a moment of thought I said, “With the amount of blood that I’ve lost, I should be dead and the impact of the blow should’ve crushed my skull.  From all of the biology classes I’ve taken-”

Devin’s laughing interrupted me, “You still don’t get it do you?  Stupid Landy.”  It was the first time someone had used that name with me in a while.  “We’re not human; we’re something else, something faster, smarter, and stronger than the Landys.”

“But…but…,” I forgot what I was trying to say, “I’m tired; ask Cale if I can sleep.” I started to lie down but I was stopped by Devin who had crawled over towards us.

“You idiot; never sleep with a concussion, you might slip into a coma.  You have to stay awake so you can tell us how to get out of here,” Devin ordered me.

“I hardly think I’m in any condition to be leading you,” I mumbled.

Devin gave me a cold stare, “It’s your job to lead us.”

“Both of you be quiet; someone’s coming,” Zayn quieted us. 

The door groaned as the lock was lifted and opened.  Deep Voice walked in and grabbed me, stood me up, and ordered me to follow.  When wasn’t able to walk in a straight line behind him, he simply picked me up and slung me over his shoulder.  We left the other two teenagers in the darkness of the cell, locked up until I returned.  The big man took me on a long walk to the throne room.  Once we had arrived in the long hall, the man set me down on a long red rug with led up to a high backed wooden throne.  In the throne sat a twenty-something year old with a crown tilted to one side of his head.  This man was one of the ugliest men I had ever seen; his face was too small for his head and an ugly scar disfigured his left side.  I almost cringed at the sight, but I stopped myself just in time.  Deep Voice grunted something and shoved me forward.  I felt like I was drunk, or what I assumed it was like, they didn’t allow alcohol at the compound.  I could barely walk in the straight line of the carpet; the room was spinning.  With a push from a guard, I was on my knees before the throne.

Only now did the man in the throne turn his attention away from cleaning his nails to look at me.  He began to talk, and laugh at what I’m sure was a stupid joke, but I couldn’t understand any of it without my translator.  When I didn’t respond, he got mad; all I could do was stare at the man stupidly.  I caught bits and pieces of what he said, but none of it made sense to me.  Finally, when he had come up and stood right in front of me and yelled to his guards, “You expect me to believe that this is the great leader of those captured rebels?!”

My translator had started to work again.  “I told you that he fought against us…”

“And?!”  My head throbbed at the shouting.

“He got roughed up a bit,” the man ended quietly.  Whoever the yelling man was, he had great power, or maybe his appearance scared people into submission. 

“Now we have no idea where Elsa is!  Do you honestly expect me to believe that this drooling idiot somehow summoned a wall of flaren?” My translator was fading out.  Last thing I heard before it died was, “Bring the other two in here; now!”  Soon my agents had joined me kneeling in front of the man who began to introduce himself to them. 

I stealthily leaned over to Zayn who sat to my left, just within hearing range, “What’s his name; my translator is broken.”

“He says his name is Domon…now he’s questioning us and getting mad that we aren’t answering.”

“I have a plan, if you’re willing to follow me.”

“To the deaths.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.  I need you to melt our force air through our chains in such a way that they break; I don’t care if the shackles come off, but they need to be detached. Then, we’re going to run like hell.  Just remember, no matter what I do, your responsibility is getting out and making sure Elsa is safe.”

“What are you going to do?” Zayn was concerned.

“Just go!  Now!”  He sprung up as I tried to recall the night of my punishment a few days after I had arrived at the compound.  I tried to recapture that wall I had made in my mind; that image of an impenetrable wall that could protect my mind from all intruders.  With little thought I managed to take off my band that held my powers in place; the effect was immediate.  A glass dome protected us from the wave of men coming forward.

Devin looked on in amazement as Zayn worked on his chains.  “How did you do that?”

“Don’t worry about it; Zayn are you almost ready?”

“Yeah,” With a quick, almost dismissive motion, he split my chains in half.  There were warriors shouting at us from outside my dome.

“What are they saying?”

Devin answered, “Various threats and the like.  Can we go now?”  I turned and faced the doorway; thinking hard I was able to produce a tunnel that shoved the people blocking the door out of the way.  The spell was quickly taxing my strength.  With Zayn and Devin supporting me, we ran towards the door which Zayn shoved open with a flick of his wrist.  Outside, a group had gathered to see what the shouting was about.  Zayn sent a whirlwind to clear them out of the way.  “Let go of your spell now,” Devin ordered.  My vision ebbed as the three ran outside of the castle.

“I expect you two to find your way back to a launch site and I expect you to contact the others to make sure everyone is okay.  Also, someone put my bracelet back on.”

“Where are you going?”

“Out,” and I did.

 

The heat from a fire woke me out of my foggy sleep.  I groaned and put my hands on my head as if to keep it from falling off of my neck.  I found my head wrapped in a real bandage, my shackles had been cut off, and I was now laying in a bedroll.  I struggled to prop myself up on my elbows as the conversation around me ceased and all eyes fixed on me.  “Is Elsa safe?”  Cale rushed over to me and started asking me questions but I waved him away.  “I asked, ‘is Elsa safe?”

Dash nodded, “Yes, we left her with her family yesterday morning.”

Turning to Zayn I asked, “How long was I out?”

“About two days.”
                “Why haven’t we transported back to base?”

“They told us to give you three days to wake up before we risk moving you.  So we’ll head out tomorrow morning.”

“Why can’t we leave now?”

Cale answered, “You need to eat before we go anywhere and daybreak is only a few hours away.”

Amazed I asked, “You guys have been staying up the past few nights?”

“We all took shifts to make sure that someone was guarding and that someone would be awake when you woke up.  Eat some of this; can you hold it?"  I nodded while food was forced into my hand.  I ate it without question.  My vision blurred as I fell back into a deep sleep. They drugged me? I wondered.

The last thing I heard before slipping to oblivion was Cale telling me, "It's only a mild sedative to ensure you sleep through the pick up."

The sedative didn't work as well as it should have.  I regained conciseness as the low roaring started.  Because of my injuries, the slight stinging that was associated with transportation fields now felt like fire that crept inside my body.  I cried out to my friends who stood in a large circle around me, but there was nothing they could do.  I would just have to endure until...

As soon as we had landed back at the base, a medical team picked me up and rushed me to the medical wing.  There, I was put to bed and my injuries were treated.  I tried to protest that I would be fine if just allowed to go back to my room, but I submitted when a doctor asked me how many fingers he was holding up and I could not answer.  Later, amidst the confusion of the doctors and nurses surrounding me and the fog that still clouded my thoughts; I remember Zayn and the others visiting me as he displayed new bandages of his own.  Over the next few weeks, for I'm sure it was weeks and not days as I remember, I slept only waking momentarily to turn over and fall back asleep.  At one such occasion, Dr. Clark came to visit and succeeded in grasping my attention and keeping me awake.

"When can I leave?"

"Since you keep leaving the medical wing before you should and you continue to injure yourself, you will stay here for a month until you are completely healed."  I groaned and fell back onto my pillow.  After he had left I got an idea.  Without consulting with my common sense I maneuvered around the various tubes and wire that were connected to me and unbuckled my bracelet.  Without a predetermined image to constrict the unleashed power it took the form of a long white rope which wound itself around my arm.  I tried to breathe calmly as panic gripped me.  The machines around me started to beep as my pulse rose.  Knowing doctors would be racing in soon to see what was wrong, I concentrated on one thought:  Mend my body so it is how it had been before the mission but keep any bruises, cuts, or scars.  I chose my words carefully so that whatever happened wouldn't affect the scars I had collected over the past year and a half.  Fighters are strange about their scars; the scars are seen as metals that prove their owner has been in battle.  No sooner had I had this thought fixed in my head, power flowed through my body like electricity.  My muscles started to twitch and convulse uncontrollably as the beeping of the instruments that were hooked up to me got louder.  My breath grew ragged and my head pounded.  This is it; I'm going to die.  Doctors rushed in as I had expected and started to talk over me while others tried to restrict my flailing limbs.

"He's having a seizure."

"He can't; it is not allowed by our DNA!"

"What else could this be?  Do you see anything strange about him?"

"This is Ari Zig; nothing is normal about him."

"I mean anything abnormal, even for him."

"Not that I can- his bracelet is off!"

"Someone put it back on!"  I felt them attempt to reattach it, but it wouldn’t clasp around my wrist no matter how hard they tried.  "It seems all we can do is wait this out."

"Ari, if you can here us I need you to say yes."  A mumbled version of the word passed out of my lips.  "Good, he's still conscious."  And, damn it, I am going to stay that way.

Slowly the tremors stopped and someone fastened my band around my wrist.  I was exhausted and drenched in sweat.  Doctors released their grip on me and were herded out of the room.  Soon only two doctors remained; one was Dr. Clark.  "What happened?" He asked bluntly.

I tried to answer but found my throat too dry to do so.  After someone held a glass to my mouth I tried again.  "I don't know."

"Bullshit; I'll ask you again.  What happened a few minutes again that ended with you without you band?"

"I don't know; I have a headache," it was a lie; in fact my head was much clearer than it had been in a while.  I was even feeling stronger than I had been.  I took a moment to think over my current situation; with that little episode I just had the doctors would want to keep me in this damn bed a little longer but with my vitals they have no chose but let me get back to my troop. 

Just as I'd predicted, Clark said, "I'm going to keep you here for a little while longer to make sure you're okay."

"On what grounds?  I've already been here three weeks and my vitals are perfect."

                Dumbfounded, Dr. Clark went over to check the machines at my bedside.  I patiently played a game on my F.A.C. while Clark studied the readings.

"You took off your bracelet, didn't you?" he accused me.

The question took me completely by surprise,

"What?"

"I heard what you did during your mission; why should it surprise me that you'd try it again."

"If I did, which I'm neither confirming nor denying, what could I possibly gain?"

"You'd get out of here and back to you friends.  I think you'll be going to confinement for a bit, just until we can figure out what to do with you."  The other doctor had left a while back.  The door now opened but instead of the doctor whom I'd expected, Aren strutted in.

"You called?" He acted like he'd been called here thousands of times.

"Yes; in a few minutes Ari will be in a wheelchair, ready to be rolled to confinement.  I would like you to take him." 

My jaw hung open, “You're turning on me too?  Is everyone in this establishment against me?"

"No, not against you; I'm following the rules."

"How many people take off their bands and survive?  There aren't any rules for this kind of thing!" I shouted at him.

"Exactly," he started to quote some old handbook, "'When something new enters your field, contain and isolate it until you can understand it.'  Those are the rules."

"And if I won't go?"

"It's not an option; it's an order."  Then next few minutes consisted of me attempting to take off all of my wires and sit in a wheelchair while still keeping my IV in my hand.  I crossed my cold legs under me as I waited to leave.  I was wearing a standard set of S.F. sleeping clothes which was far too little to be wearing when going down the halls.  With a slight nod from Dr. Clark, Aren pushed me out of the room and into the hall of the infirmary.  He took a left and walked down the hallway until we came to an elevator.

"There's an even lower level to this place?" I doubted that there was a place lower than subterranean.  Aren silently pushed me into the elevator and pushed a button.  After a while of silence I said bluntly, "You're a coward."

"Oh?  What did I do now?"

"Nothing recently; I was just thinking of our past experiences together.  One that I keep coming back to was a few months after I came to this lovely place.  I'm sure you know the one I'm talking about; the one where you pulled a knife on me," my voice was thick with malice; I couldn't help it.

He was leaning casually against the back wall.  "That's an interesting moment to ponder.  I like to talk about it more, but I fear you're letting your emotions control you.  Also, it seems we're out of time," he said absently.  The elevator dinged to signal our arrival...where?  We rolled out into yet another concrete hallway lined with door which had numbers one them.  Aren rolled me to number 4 and hit a few buttons on a key pad.  The door opened and we entered.  The walls were bare except for a simulated window on one wall.  These windows showed a scene that played on every window in the compound.  So if it appeared to be raining on a large field in my window, it would look the same in everyone else's window.  The room held only a metal cot, desk, and desk chair.  Right by the simulated window was a door which led to a small bathroom complete with shower.  A wave of depression swept over me as I realized that I might have to spend a long time in here.  This depression was lifted a bit when I saw Bo curled up on the bed.  I turned to ask Aren about it but he smiled, "Stay in bed."  He left me in the room and locked the door behind him.  I stood up and pushed the wheelchair over into a corner with one hand while holding, with my other hand, on to the metal pole from which my IV hung.  Once that was done I sat down on the cot and transferred my IV to a pole attach to it.

"On, Bowman," I ordered.  He came to life immediately, jumping into my lap.  I stroke his synthetic fur peacefully while I thought.  Was I always the rebel of the story; without any consistent friends who are more loyal to me than they are to their superior officers?  An image of a teenager a few years older than me flashed through my head, but I couldn't fix a name to the picture.  "Bo, who was my friend above ground?  We use to walk to school together, but I can't remember his name."

"Calvin Tyra, currently eighteen and attending Berkley University," Bo's mechanical voice listed off facts.  I reached the button that held Bo's fur suit in place, and undid it.  I pulled off the fur and lay it to side as I focused on the screen on his side.

My command was simple, "Show me."  The screen flickered to life as Calvin's current school picture showed up.  His face hadn't changed much, save the goatee he wore.  Old memories came flooding back and tears jumped to my eyes as my first wave of homesickness since I had got here washed over me.  While I was thinking about home I realized something about my new housing; it lacked any sense of culture, no music, no art, nothing.  The silence of this place, which had never bothered me before, now pounded in my ears.  I was desperate for some noise.  "Do you have any of my music on file?"  An answer appeared on the screen; A few old songs, but you should have some on your F.A.C.  Your ear buds are in my compartment.  A small door opened by the screen which contained two small circular speakers which we held in place by a piece of plastic that wrapped around the back of my ear.  The two speakers were connected by a thin wire which hung behind my head.  After a few minutes of searching on my F.A.C. I found a whole folder called "Zig's Favorites".  I put the speakers in my ears and hit the play button.  "Kung Fu Fighting" played in my ears followed by "Vindicated."  Apparently, I liked the songs that were from my grandpa's time.  I started humming along as my rusted memories revived themselves.  A little, paranoid voice in the back of my head was trying to yell above the music that blasted in my ears.  I turned down the music so I could hear what it had to say.  You know, they're probably watching you.  What do you they'll think about you revisiting Landy culture? Remember what Craig said, "It’d be best if you don't talk about above ground." 

Why must you ruin my fun? Another voice argued.  I sighed; the paranoid one was right, but I figured I could negotiate with it.  I cleared the pictures of Calvin from Bo's screen and put his fur back on, but I kept the music playing.  My common sense agreed that this would be alright.  Bo and I got under the covers of the cot.  He lay with his head under my hand, which I place there so I would know if he moved, or was taken.

I was dreaming again.  A young boy lays hidden being a wooden screen.  He holds a dagger in one hand, a small bottle in the other.  I stand ghost-like, as I do in all of my dreams; no one ever sees me; no one ever speaks to me.  I am just there to observe and not to interfere.  I watch the boy from a few feet away as he contemplates matters unknown. After a few moments of deep thought the boy looks up at me, as if he truly sees me.  His face is dark with responsibilities that should be beyond him.  He shouldn't see me, they never do, yet he still stares at me.  Then he holds the two items he's holding out to me.  His words to me are simple, "Help me."

The next morning, at least that's what the window told me, I woke in a cold sweat caused by the dream, but I shook of my uneasiness from it.  Both Bo and my F.A.C. were still with me, but my IV had been taken out.  Someone had been here, but they hadn't bothered to take my gadgets away.  Maybe they aren't watching me.  Then again, how would they know when I slept?  Looking around I saw that there was a stack of books on the desk.  There were books on all kinds of subjects, from fairy tales to history, but they weren't from Earth.  They were from a country called Mercu and they were written in Sarenic.  I opened the book on the top of the stack and found a typed note tucked inside.  It read:

You should start preparing for your next mission.

That was it; no more, no name.  I sat at the desks and began to dive into the books.  Bo woke a bit later and started playing classical music while I read.  Grand tales of great water monsters, wars between the most powerful nations, science fiction novels, it was all there in the literary world in which I was traveling.  Some time later Bo got bored of just watching me and growled at me to pay attention to him.  I paused my reading just long enough to play briefly with him, then I went back to my reading.  The religion fascinated me the most.  It was all about their own version of judgment day, except they had their own devil.  For a society based on plant life, it made sense that their Satan was a dragon like creature that was coming to burn down their forests.  These people live in trees; not house made of wood, but trees that they have somehow persuaded to grow with house like knots in them, miles above the ground.  They ate no meat, only what the trees gave them willingly.  Even their clothes appeared to be made out of leaves; it was incredible.  Learning about these people made me that much more eager to get out that room.  Once I had finished the books I turned on my music and went through some of my exercises.  After I had gone through all the routines I could remember, I left my clothes in a pile by my bed and went to take shower.  When I returned, my books were gone and my dirty clothes had been replaced by a clean set waiting on my bed.  I dressed quickly and ate the simple meal of soup and crackers waiting on my desk.  When I was finished I reattached my F.A.C. to my arm and stood up.  "I'm going to send an e-mail to a friend in the outside world now.  If you have any protests, I suggest you voice them now,” I announced as I looked at the door, expecting it to open.  "No objections?  Good."  I sat back down and, using my FAC, hacked in to the forces' internet.  From there I was able to access an old e-mail account and send out a short message to Cal.  "Don't worry, I'm not revealing any military secrets, but I doubt you'll take my word for it.  Just make sure you don't mess up my note too badly when you read it," I warned whoever I was sure was listening and watching me.  The message said that I was well and I was happy that he'd gotten into Berkley.  Nobody came to yell at me so I took of my shirt and started to exercise again; I had nothing else to do.  The week I spent in isolation followed this pattern set by my first day.  By the fifth day, my isolation was getting to me; there had been no response to my e-mail and no more books.  I was talking to the people that I knew were watching me more frequently now.  "Let me out, damn you!  Aren't you done contemplating my punishment, or is this it?  Do you intend to keep me here for all time, if so, I have a fork in here that will do away with me a lot quicker!"  I kicked the wall in frustration and started to pace.  Surely they've decided what to do with me by now; it's been five days.  What'll I do if they leave me in here?  I'll have to- My thought was interrupted by a loud beep coming from my FAC.  The screen told me that I had e-mail.  I sat down on my bed and read the message.

Where are you?  How are you?  When will I see you again, my small friend?

-Cal

"I'm not that small," I said.  I sent him another message.

I'm in their bunker, I'm fine, and I don't know.

-Ari

"Oh, wait."  I crossed out Ari and wrote Zig.  I sent off the letter in hopes that I would get a new one soon.  It was back to my routine for me.  For the next two days all I did was work-out, eat, and sleep.  On the eight day of my imprisonment, the door groaned open to reveal the silhouette of a short round woman.  It was Ms. Collins, the woman who took me away from my old home.

She ordered me out of the room with a cold command, "Your troop is waiting; move it."  She didn't wait for a response before turning and walking away.  I quickly grabbed my shirt and ran after her, Bo trailing behind me.

"What's going on?" I asked Ms. Collins when I had finally caught up with her.  Only cold silence answered me as she and I got into the elevator.  All eyes were on me as we got out of the elevator and walked through the waiting room.  "You have to tell me what's going on!"

She spun around quickly to face me.  "Or what? You'll stay in that little cell of yours?  Well it'd make things a hell of a lot easier for the agency!  You don't care where we're going; your only concern is if it has people or not."  Ms. Collins turned around just as quickly and continued with her brisk walk.

It took me a while before I could find my voice once more, “Are you taking me to my room?”  She nodded curtly.  I took off down the hall, releasing a week’s worth of pent up energy as I did flips in the air.  Collins yelled at me to stop, but I ignored her and continued to bounce off the walls.  She ran after me with surprising speed for one of her apparent age.  Ms. Collins grabbed my arm just as I was jumping for another flip.  The effect was that I fell on flat on my bottom.  I dusted myself off and stood.  “Was that really necessary?”  I was taller than her, which was slightly comical as she glared up at me.

“I ordered you to stop and you didn’t listen.  Now we will walk back to you room.”  She shuffled down the hall as I followed like an obedient dog.  When we got to my room, I was hesitant to palm my lock; I didn’t know what awaited me on the other side of the door.  Collins groaned behind me, “Get on with it.”  I looked at Bo quickly and put my hand to the sensor.  Inside, everyone sat on their own bunks except for Griff who, not surprisingly, sat with Dash, even though she had her own bed in the corner across from mine.  Bo followed me into the room as the door closed behind us.

No one spoke for a while until Griff asked me, “Why aren’t you wear a shirt?”

I answered as I walked over to my old trunk at the foot of my bed, slightly embarrassed, “No need."  From the trunk I took out a pair of shoes and put them on.  Next, I took the dirty shirt I still had in my hand and set it aside as I pulled a clean shirt out and put it on.  As I walked over to the door I announced, "I'm going to go to," I checked my watch, "breakfast."  I heard people stand up behind me.  Without turning around I told them, "Unless there is some rule about me going out alone.  In which case I suggest you hurry up; I'm hungry."  My troop scrambled behind me out the door and down the long hall that lead to the mess hall. We entered the noisy mess hall and quietly walked over to the food line in hopes that I wouldn't be spotted.  It didn't work.  The whole room quickly quieted as all eyes focused on me.  A few members of my troop seemed to slink back at the attention, but I ignored it as I took a tray and received my rations.  With an air of confidence I sat down at the end of a long table, so that I was separating from the others, and my agents followed suit.  The stares continued as I ate my plain meal of some form of meat in a sandwich.  Finally I asked my crew, "What rules have been placed on my newfound freedom?"

Cale cleared his throat, "You must be under watch by two people all the time, even on missions if possible.  Also, you cannot go out between the hours of eleven and four o'clock.  Lastly, Dr. Clark will come in periodically to do some tests.  Other than that, you are to continue with your training."  The last word hung in the air as everyone in the room listened curiously.  I simply nodded in agreement.

"You have no argument to this criminal-like treatment?" Devin asked with slight amusement in his voice.

I chewed my food thoughtfully.  "No," I concluded after a moment.  "Something new and strange should be treated with caution; contained and monitored.  Unless you believe anything you’ve ever been taught is wrong.  Why do you think I had separate classes when I first arrived?  Yes, because I lacked your skills; but also because the higher officers didn’t know how I would act around you.  Are we all done, because I wish to go back to our room and talk in private.”  They agreed and bused our table.  Back in the room, we sat in a circle on the little empty space between our beds.  “I need you tell me exactly what happened during the mission.”  They had just finished telling me how they had found each other, when someone knocked on the door.  “I’ll bet you an hour of practice that it’s for me.”  When no one took the offer, I got to answer the increasingly loud banging on the door.  Aren was standing behind it along with a few other agents that I knew.  “What did I do know?”

Aren gripped my elbow, “It’s not what you did; it’s what you’re going to do.”  He dragged me into the bathroom while the others trailed behind me.  In the bathroom he shoved my head under the faucet in the skin and turned on the water, but he made sure I could still breathe.

“What the hell are you doing?”  I gasped.

“There’s someone upstairs waiting to see you and we’re making sure you look your best.”  He pulled my head out, grabbed a brush, and starting brushing it.

“You seem a bit overqualified to be grooming me.  Who is so important that you’re here?”  Aren put down the brush and took out his knife.  I tried to back away from him, but his grip on my elbow held fast.  He forced me to my knees and walked behind me.  “What are you doing?”

“Just stop talking,” The older agent ordered.  He released my elbow and forced me to tilt my head down.  I felt the knife come toward my skin, and cringed.  Instead he moved it upward and began cutting my hair.  He turned my head a couple more times before he was finished.  I heard him slip the knife back into its sheath and grip my elbow once more.  Aren stood me up while someone cleaned the hair up off of the floor.  “Come on.”   I caught I glimpse of myself in the mirror and saw that Aren had done a pretty good job, but there was no time for admiring myself.  Aren was pulling back into the bedchamber of our room.  Aren studied my face for a moment, “Good thing you won’t start getting facial hair until you’re twenty.  Now we have to get going.”  Aren began pulling me toward the door.

I stood my ground, “Wait!   Who is waiting for me?  I’m tired of people thinking I’m too young, or inexperienced to know the truth.”

Aren was mad, “Did you ever think that we maybe we withheld information to protect you?  Or so you could concentrate at the matter at hand and not be fantasizing?  Now come on, Calvin is waiting!”  This last part shocked me so much that I allowed him to pull me out the door and the long walk toward the restricted elevator which led to above ground.  We had to pass through three levels of security before we even came to the elevator.  There Aren entered a couple of codes into the lock and the doors opened.  Our little group squeezed into the box and waited in silence as we flew upward.  Calvin?  How did he find me?  Why was he let in?  So many questions, so few answers!  I put my hands on my head.  “Are you going to have another seizure?” Aren brought me back into reality.

I looked up as if yanked out of a dream.  “I’m fine,” I said quietly.  The elevator dinged and I was pulled out of it and led down the hall I had come down almost two years ago.  Just as the entrance to the building was within my view, Aren pulled me to the side of the hall by a door marked “Conference Room.”

“How well can you trust Calvin?” Aren wore a grave expression.

“I’d trust him with the lives of my agents and myself.”

“Good, still, watch what you say around him.  The public doesn’t know the Special Forces’ training routines, and we don’t want any rebellious people coming to talk about the proper treatment of human beings, because, you aren’t humans.  Now get in there and keep the conversation polite.”  He opened the door and propelled me inside. 

The same person I had seen on the picture sat at one end of the table.  He looked up as the door closed and locked behind me.  At first Cal wore a blank expression but then a bit of recognition flashed across his face.  “Gyro?  What the hell happened to you?”  It took me while to remember my old name.  Cal got up and came over to me, “Did you get into a fight?”

I sad laugh came from me, “Once or twice.  Come, sit down, we’ll talk.”  We both sat down at the long table.  “So how did you find me?”

“Well, one day I was called to the Dean’s office.  He informed me that someone had been looking at my records and asked if I knew of anyone who could hack through five layers of encryption.  I told him I did, but that person was dead, which scared him a bit.  I figured it was you and your e-mails only confirmed it.  You’re parents talked to me the day after you left and told me to act as if you were dead, that way they could grieve properly and not keep thinking that you’d be back some day.   So the school dedicated a page to you in the yearbook; you know, something like ‘In our memories, rest in peace Gyro Ziggurt Duffy.’  I think that’s what your parents are telling Lizzie.”

“What did I die of?”

“Car crash, your parents had minor injuries but the car crashed into your side.  What's with your accent?"

"Accent?"

"Yeah you sound different. Like you've been speaking a lot of Russian lately."

“Must just be the people I'm around.  Who knows what actually happened?”

“The principle, some of the teachers, and some high up government officials.”

I leaned back in my chair, “Well, in a way Gyro Duffy is dead.  I now called Ari by most, and Zig by very few in desperate situations.”

Cal leaned forward, “Desperate situations like where you got those bruises and cuts?”

“Do I really look that bad?”

“Yes, have you looked at yourself in a mirror?  Your face had changed so much, that I barely recognized you.  What’s happened?”

“I’ve been trained as a leader.  I have a troop that follows my commands without question and I am required to do the same when someone higher up tells me to.  I am a dog of the military with only enough freewill to get the job done and lately, I’ve been a bit of a smart ass.”  Cal laughed.  I got very serious, “Can I trust you not to tell anyone what we discuss here or what you’ve seen, not even my parents?”

Cal stopped laughing and quickly replied, “Of course.  You know how well I can keep secrets.”

“I’m warning you, once I’ve told you everything I’ve been through, there’s no turning back.  You’ll have to live everyday with this knowledge and not tell anyone.  Are you sure you can handle it?”

He seemed to hesitate for a moment, “I understand, and I can keep your secrets.”

“Then I’ll tell you what I’ve been through, although it must be edited; we are being watched and I’ll pay for what I’ve told you later.”  And so I told him of my training and my fights with Nero and Aren.  I told him of my mission, even though I knew I shouldn’t; I couldn’t stop myself, the word kept coming.  I ended with the e-mail I sent him and the new rules placed upon my freedom.

“I can’t believe it; there are alternate worlds?”

“Yeah, and they need our help to keep the balance.”

“But imprisonment, Zig?  How did you survive it?”

I was about to tell him the ultimate secret when the door burst open.  “Ari,” Aren began.

“What did I do now?” I responded apathetically. 

“A word in the hall?” He grabbed my elbow and led me outside.  “I ordered you to be careful of what you told him!” Aren scolded in a harsh whisper.

“I’ve told him many other things that he would die before sharing,” I said in an equally harsh whisper.

He cuffed me on the side of my head, “The sooner you learn to respect your superior officers the easier life will be.”

“As soon as I find one, I’ll listen to him.” He hit me again, harder.

“We will break you, even if it takes years.  Now, you will get back in there and you’ll stick to talking about him, or the weather, those are your only options besides me taking you back to your room now.”  He shoved me back inside where Cal sat patiently.

“So how are your studies going?” I asked casually as I sat back down.  He looked confused for a moment, but I think he understood what had happened.  So we talked about his classes, his new girlfriend, and the local politics.  I also asked him how Lizzie, you, was/were doing.  You had just turned five and were attending preschool.  I asked about my parents; my dad’s medical practice was doing well and my mom had a class that she really liked.  Cal told me that he tried to stay away from them, he reminded them of how much they missed me.

“And, um, your mom is…well, she’s…” he stuttered.

“Get on with it; is she sick?”

“Um, no…she’s pregnant with a boy.  He’s due December fifth; three months from now.” Only three weeks after before birthday.  My face must’ve gotten pale, because Calvin suddenly looked concerned.  “Are you ok?”

“I have to go see them,” I whispered.

“What?”  He was getting really worried.

I jumped up and walked toward the door, “I have to go see them!”

I reached for the doorknob just as it opened.  Aren regarded me coolly as he blocked the door, “Sit back down while Calvin leaves.  I think he was just about to leave.”  It wasn’t a question and Cal knew it.  With a quick pat on my shoulder, he squeezed past Aren and was gone.  I still stood in front of Aren; I tried to figure out how I could slip past him and the hundreds of other agents that were between me and the front door.  From there I could run to my house, for all I cared, as long as I was there.  “It won’t work; there are too many of us.  Besides, you have a mission to go on in tomorrow and there is a lot of planning that must go on between now and Thursday for it to be a successful mission.”  It was as if he could read my thoughts.

“I don’t care about some stupid mission!  I didn’t choose to come to this damn place, and you’ll have to lock me up if you wish me to stay here.  Even if you do, I’ll be waiting for that one time you leave my cell unlocked, that one time someone comes into my room without a way to defend themselves, and I’ll take off.”

“You don’t get it, do you?  We already know that, and have several ways to keep you here and to prevent you from ever seeing those people again.”  His voice got almost kind, “Ari, they’ve already moved on with their lives, why can’t you?  Accept the cards you’ve been dealt and protect those who need you.  I doubt you’ll let innocent people die just because you’re unwilling to share your gifts.”  He was right, I was being selfish and acting like a spoiled little kid.  I was never getting out of here, and even if I did, it would never be the same.  This is it, I’ve been broken and it only took two years.  I think Aren saw that I had been defeated and decided not to gloat.  He grabbed me by the elbow as he had before and led me back into the elevator.  All the guards were waiting for the next elevator so Aren and I could be alone on the ride down.  “You’ll need that temper on your missions; I’m sure it’ll scare your captors and enemies.  But while you’re here you need to remember the hierarchy of officers and you’ll soon become a respected agent and not just the rebel that you are now.”

“Why has everyone been so mad at me lately?” I asked quietly.

“Your little episode has sparked the argument that maybe we need to change some of our standards and our teachings.  Or maybe even introduce magic at a younger age and see if they can withstand the forces of wild magic.  There’s also been doubt of our training.  If someone raised as a Landy could be more adept than most of our other students who have been here all of our life.  Why should we even bother training them so early?  They just don’t realize that those raised here are better at obeying orders and mastering skills.  They don’t have to work as hard if this building is all they’ve known.”

“And so people are mad at me for making them feel inferior.”  Aren nodded.  “But I’m not trying to; I was given away because I didn’t stand up to the Special Forces’ requirements, so I just have to prove them wrong.  So what’s your feeling on the matter?”

He thought for a moment before answering, “I think you are unique and even if you had stayed here you would be beyond everyone’s skill level.  I think that being a Landy gives you more experience in some areas; like love.  You understand it more than any of us, since we aren’t allowed to court females.”

“But how does that help me?”

“Well, it seems that two of you agents are attracted to each other; you’ll have to put a stop to that.”  He didn’t need names, I knew who he meant.

“That’s too cruel; I can’t stop someone’s feelings.”

“You can and you must, otherwise they will be distracted during missions.”  The doors opened and we went back through the security and to my room.  Aren said goodbye and left me alone with my curious troop members.

“Who was it?”

“An old friend.”

“A Landy?”

“Yes.”

“There was a Landy in our building!”

“It’s not unheard of; can we move on with the problem at hand?”

“There’s a problem, Ari?”

I sighed and looked at them.  “Yes there’s a problem!  Have any of you read our mission statement?”  They shook their heads, ashamed.  I put my fingers to my temples, “Our problem is that Cale is the only one of us who will look like he belongs in Mercu!  Our skin is too light and their clothing won’t hide that fact, so what are our options?”

Dash answered, “We either look like outsiders because of our skin, or we look like outsiders because we have to wear long pants and hoods.”

“Right, I suggest we go with the pants and hoods but we make sure the material is found on their world, otherwise there’ll be more questions than we can answer.”

“We can claim we’re from another country far away and hope they aren’t very aware of their world,” Griff offered.

“Why are we going there anyway?  Did someone call for us?” Devin asked.

“We are mainly there to gather information, but there is a rumor that a war may erupt and we need Mercu to win.  I’ll put in an order for our outfits after we’re done planning this.”

Cale had a question, “What are the normal outfits?”

“Typically the girls wear grass or vine skirts, leaf shirts, and shoes made of soft barks.  The boys wear vine pants, no shirt and the same shoes.  To travel they wear a special shoe with some elastic bark which allows them to jump extraordinary heights.  Although, I doubt we’ll be dressing in leaves so we can use the excuse that we aren’t from around there.  We’ll probably be wearing a type of homespun cloth.  Any arguments or questions?  Good, two of you please escort me to the storeroom.” Cale and Dash followed me out into the courtyard and down the hall to the storeroom.  There we knocked on the door and told the lady inside what we had planned.  She disappeared into the back room for a moment and came back out carrying a huge brown sack.  She thrust it into my hands and dismissed us with a small gesture.  We took turns carrying the big bag back to our room.  Back in the room Devin and Zayn were sparring while Griff watched from her bed.  “Hey!  Settle down!  Save your energy for practice tomorrow.  Or better yet…” I trailed off into a thought while Dash began distributing outfits.

“These are made of leaves?” Zayn brought me back to the present.

“No, I told you, these are made of homespun clothe,” I informed them and returned to a slowly forming idea in my head.

Zayn put his hand on my shoulder, “Are you okay, sir?”

I shook my head to clear my mind, “Yes I’m fine; I’m just having an idea.  Do you know where I could find a ball?”

“A ball?” He seemed confused.

“You know, a spherical object about this big,” I showed him with my hands.  Still, he looked confused, “Come on, we’re going back to the supply room.”  Zayn and Devin followed me out and back to the supply room where I had a similar conversation with the lady there.  Next I walked to Craig’s office; I place where I promised myself I would never go back.  I knocked on the door and entered at his command flanked by my agents.  Craig didn’t seem surprised at my visit.

“What brings you to my office, Ari?” That stupid fake smile was on his face.

I made a quick bow and told him, “Sir, where might I find a ball?”

“Why would you want a ball?”

“My agents are growing restless and I wish to reward them for a mission well done.  I figured that a game of soccer would be a good way to keep them fit, release their energy, and it would be less stressful than an hour of practice.”

“And where would you play this game?”

“Either in the courtyard or one of the gyms; whichever we might have.”

“Someone will come by your room in less than half an hour.  Until then, Zayn, Devin, please stand outside while I speak to Ari privately.”  The two of them excused themselves with a bow and walked out.  “Have a seat.”  He indicated the same chair I had sat in two years ago.

With a quiet ‘yes sir’ I sat down.  “How have you been feeling?”

“Fine, sir,” I told him.

“Well, something seems to have happened to humble you.”  He was slowly renewing my old hate of him, but I held my tongue.  When I didn’t answer, he continued, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you use the word ‘sir’ since you’ve been here, or bow to anyone.”  Move on; get to the point of our little conversation.

“Sir, is there a point to this conversation?” I tried to ask it kindly.

“Yes, I just wanted to congratulate you on a mission well done,” he said it with slight venom.

“If that’s all, I’ll just excuse myself.” I bowed and left the room.  The three of us walked back to the room.

Zayn turned to me, “Anything new?”

“I will respect that man, but that doesn’t mean that I have to like him.”  By the time we got to our room, the ball was already there.  Dash and Cale were looking at it curiously, but they weren’t touching it.  “It won’t bit you.”  I picked the soccer ball up and started juggling it with my knees.  They were amazed.  “Put on your shoes and follow me.”  We all trooped down to the gym wing and checked the screen by the entrance.  The giant screen displayed all the gyms and who was in them.  I touched a nearby screen and entered in the number of the gym that we would be using and our troop number.  I hit enter and it appeared on the big screen.  Next we walked down to gym 8 and I divided my troop into teams of three.  I set down the rules and we started the game; they were all fast learners.  In fact, Dash scored three goals on me before we were done.  We were all tired and sweaty by the end of it. 

They were all grinning like I had never seen before.  “That was awesome!” Zayn shouted and they cheered in agreement. 

“Well I’m glad you enjoyed it; maybe we can play it when we get back.”

“Let’s play some more!” Devin reached for the ball but I pulled it away.

“It’s time to get showered.  We have to be up and dressed early tomorrow.  Now you’re acting like children when we are agents, and have never been children.”  They weren’t moving.  “That wasn’t a suggestion.  That was an order.”  They all walked out grumbling while I was behind them; they didn’t notice that no one was watching me.  The thought of escape flashed through my mind, but it was quickly squashed by the conversation I had with Aren.  My troop solemnly filed into the room and into the showers, taking turns.  I waited until they were all finished before I took my own shower and put my dirty clothes in the laundry chute.  I grabbed a set of clean clothes from the self by the showers.  When I came back out of the washrooms, the group was talked but quickly hushed each other when they saw me come in.  They watched me put Bo beside my bed and plug him in while he slept.  I felt their eyes even as I stood up and turned to face them.  “Are you afraid of me?”

Griff was taken aback, “What?”

“Are you afraid of me?” I joined them on the floor where they sat.

“I could never be afraid of someone who was raised a Landy,” Devin told me bluntly.

“And I’ve known you since you first came here; I wouldn’t be afraid of you unless you went on, like, a mass murder rampage.  But let’s not try that idea,” Dash joked.  I laughed a bit before turning to Zayn expectantly.  He answered similarly to Dash.  Next, I turned to Cale and Griff.   They wouldn’t answer.  “I need to know.”

Griff nodded, “Yes, I little bit.”

“And you, Cale?”

“Yes.”  He looked ashamed.

“Good.”

They all looked up at me, “What?”

“It’s good that you’re a least a little afraid of me.  All of you have to understand that I’m not here to be your friend; I’m here to be your leader and you can’t go acting like I’ve betrayed you if I say that there will be no more soccer.  And I need you to be afraid enough to know what’ll happen if you don’t listen to my orders, but I’m ok with you feeling friendly with me, just keep what I’ve said in mind.”  I got up to go to bed but Griff grabbed my arm.  I turned and looked down at her.

“We’re sorry.”  I nodded and changed my course towards my office down the little hall off of the bedroom.  I sat down at my desk and just stared at some maps that were on it.  I was trying to organize my thoughts, but it was hard.  So much has happened in the past few days. Why was Cal allowed to see me?  Why can’t I just blend into the background and have people forget that I ever lived above ground.  Then; is she trying to replace me with a new child?  Why did they say I had died and not just left to live with relatives?  I’m dead to them and Lizzie will never know that I even existed.  But enough of this; I must focus on the matter at hand.  And so I went over the map and plans until I fell asleep at my desk.

Around seven o’clock the next morning, Zayn came to wake me up.  I thanked him, took one more, quick look at the map, and went into the bedchamber to change.  Griff went into the showers to have some privacy.  Our outfits were just as I’d expected; simple outfits of worn and patched cloth.  We wore the soft bark shoes I had described earlier.  For weapons we had staves carved with intricate designs at the top.  Over our clothes we wore a long simple cloak; all of them in earth tones.  I made sure that Bo was on and capable of taking care of himself while we were gone.  When I was done with that, we all left to the transporting room.  As before, we all kneeled on the giant silver disk as the roaring and the slight stinging started.  The room spun and we were on our way to another world.

Create a free website with Weebly