The Energy Crusades Page 3

  You blame me? I asked him, placing the words inside his head, the way we often communicated as children. Ajax was the only other human I knew who could have a conversation with me without speaking. We discovered this secret as children and, for my part, I had never told anyone. Ajax claimed Cadmus could also speak without words, but I hadn't been close with Cadmus the way I was with Ajax, and I was unable to teach my brother how it was done.

  Ajax didn't answer me. Either he was ignoring me, or he had lost the ability altogether. I set my features with the same stony expression he wore. I felt my fists clench in anger, but I quickly relaxed them. I didn't want my anger to show. Instead, I concentrated on the necklace at his throat, the same one he had worn as a child, a gift from his mother. Cadmus wore a similar one, I recalled. It was a thin, black leather rope with a small stone attached. The stone had etchings all over it, some type of language. I wondered if he had deciphered their meaning in my absence, something we could never figure out together, though not for lack of trying. My fingers itched to reach out and touch it. I also had the urge to stick my fingers in his impossibly black hair, a color so rich it was difficult to believe it was real.

  "Ajax is the leader of your team," Professor Baal continued, "But I also expect you to be a leader. You have an affinity for endurance I believe is unmatched, and you also have extreme control over your senses. Your mind is a special weapon, and it is time for you to learn to harness its power in ways you haven't needed to before. This won't be about beating an opponent on the tennis court or winning a match. The decisions you make during your Crusade will affect others, and it is imperative you think clearly and make good decisions under pressure."

  "I can do that, Professor," I assured her when she paused, allowing her words to sink in.

  "Your Crusade will bring you face to face with the Resistance and your task will be to recover a particular item they have stolen from the Reformation. Other teams from around the globe will be attempting this same task. Do you think I need to emphasize how I feel about my team leading on all aspects of this Crusade?"

  She did not. Professor Baal's teams always completed their Crusades first, which was why being accepted on her team was an enormous honor. An Elite Crusade meant you were competing against many other teams to accomplish a given goal. The team who accomplished it first graduated and went on to serve their planet in a similar capacity. Tiergan's team had moved on to Danu, where the Resistance had only recently made their presence known.

  "These resisters have become tremendously cunning. They will bait you. They will try to make you believe the stolen property actually belongs to them and their intentions are just. The resisters want you to consider they are working in your best interests and the best interests of the planet. They will attempt to turn your minds to their way of thinking and they will stop at nothing to accomplish this goal."

  It was difficult for me to imagine such a possibility. How could the resisters believe they could turn any of our minds? The Descenders were our saviors.

  "Surely they understand they could never turn the mind of a Reformation Athlete?" I questioned, assuming she meant they would try and recruit everyone else except me. To my surprise, Professor Baal gave me a slow, sad smile.

  "It is your mind I fear for most of all. They will want you especially, Kaia." She glanced at Ajax and then back at me. "Everything I say to you in this office is strictly confidential. You can trust Ajax the same way you would trust Tiergan. As for myself, I will stop at nothing to keep you safe. I believe you are special, and I think you understand this on some level. You know Coach Renier has taken a focused interest in your upbringing and training, and he has sequestered you to a certain degree. What you don't realize is, he and I have worked together to train you all of these years, and we want to see your training pay off."

  I was stunned. I had no idea the Professor had taken an interest in me. I thought my coach was simply overprotective.

  "I am no more special than any other Athlete," I insisted.

  "Do you truly believe that, Kaia?"

  Didn't I? "Professor, I just work really hard. Harder than most."

  "Working hard is part of it, but a lot of Athletes work hard. None of them can do the same things you can do, not even your brother."

  I wasn't thrilled with her words. She was confirming something I long felt inside of me. I was different. It was something I suspected since the moment I had memory, awareness. What came easily for me did not come easily, if ever, to other humans, but I tried to push it aside. I wanted to fit in, especially when I saw other Athletes get close to each other, have relationships and even begin to think about choosing a mate. I could do none of those things. If it wasn't my brother insisting no one get too close to me, then it was my coach. I had hoped, even expected, to have more freedom at the University. It didn't matter. I brushed the unwelcome thoughts away, determined to train extremely hard and join my brother as soon as possible.

  I listened as Professor Baal went on to discuss the Crusade and my fellow crusaders, always emphasizing the need to pair with Ajax, a fact that sat like a pit in my stomach. I didn't even want to exchange words with him at this point.

  "You will be sequestered here as you were at the Academy. I expect you to continue to wear your solar glasses during the day, and avoid forming relationships with anyone who is not a member of your team."

  "My parents are perfectly capable of watching over me. They have never had a problem monitoring me in the past." I wanted to maintain some sort of control over my life, and I didn't need Ajax to monitor me constantly. I planned to avoid him as much as possible when not working on the Crusade.

  "Your parents have a firm understanding of the situation. You will not be staying with them. You will be staying on campus with your fellow Crusaders. Your parents may visit you here." She held out a hand toward me. "You are to turn over your mailbox so your files can be monitored." It felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. I wasn't going to stay at home with my parents? And now she was taking my mailbox? This device was common to all people and was a means of communication to anyone in the universe, provided they were one of your accepted files. I was already a monitored Athlete, what could she possibly need from my mailbox?

  For too long I'd been traveling the world, and now I had a chance to be close to home, to be with my family and sleep in my own bed. The idea of being this close and yet not actually being able to stay at home was overwhelming. Now I couldn't even call up Tiergan and discuss these injustices. I fought back tears and struggled to control my emotions as I'd been taught. Suddenly I felt broken, and I hadn't even begun my training. Why hadn't my parents told me? Why hadn't my brother told me? I clenched my hands tightly and felt the skin break under the pressure of my fingernails. The pain of it helped me to focus on Professor Baal again. She surprised me by speaking kindly.

  "You will get your mailbox back. I imagine you are desperate to speak with your brother right about now, but this is the time for you to handle these situations on your own." She continued to discuss the Crusade and the various missions we would be sent on. Besides working on such missions, I needed to keep up with my work at the University. There were subjects other than weapons I needed to master, like food chemistry, horticulture, solar engineering, and human history. The University would provide some supplies for our missions, but we needed to be self-sufficient to a large degree, able to determine what plants were edible, which would provide the nutrients we needed, identify buildings safe for use, and how to solarize them for power. All of us had proven our mastery of recycling and reuse, and we knew how to leave an environment in the same condition as when we found it, allowing for no negative effects upon the Earth.

  It was difficult not to feel overwhelmed. By the time she dismissed me to begin my day with Ajax, my head was spinning from all the changes beyond my control. I blindly followed Ajax out of the building while tears threatened to fall from my eyes. Crying was unacceptable. The last time I felt tears was when
my brother left the Tennis Academy, and I could remember no other time I'd given in to such a luxury. It was probably the day they pried my hands out of Ajax's and hauled me off to the Tennis Academy in the first place. I had wanted to stay with my friend. Ajax was again the cause of my tears, but in a whole new way. Now I had the urge to kick him in anger, feeling every bit as wronged by the situation as he did.

  He came to a halt at the transporter lanes that crisscrossed the campus. The lanes were for travel by transporter or bicycle, and particularly for the professional cyclists who traveled the grids on two wheels, earning energy and racing to be the top Athlete in their field. Lanes provided a means for them to travel with ease through populated grids. Transporters were another means of inter-grid transportation. The lightweight discs were powered by a combination of human and solar-hydrogen energies. They could reach speeds of up to one hundred kilometers per hour and climb at least sixteen meters high. My own was stashed in the pack I carried on my back, the discs being retractable, but Ajax and I remained on foot. We waited while Students zoomed by on their discs, and I had a moment to clear my head. I took in my surroundings and looked at the Students hustling around the campus.

  All of the Students wore gray energy suits, the color designating their status. My own suit was black, and so far I was the only one wearing the color for Athletes. There would be no blending in for me. Suddenly, I was glad Professor Baal had enforced the solar glasses during daylight hours rule. I didn't need another reason, like the strange color of my eyes, to stand out.

  Energy suits were the standard issue of clothing for all beings on Earth. These functional suits conformed to the body of the wearer and had tiny solar cells embedded in the fibers of the bamboo material. Human and solar energy was captured continuously, debiting or crediting the wearer's energy account as necessary. From your energy account, you paid for your daily mark upon the Earth: the food you consumed, the energy you used for a transporter, anything pulling energy out of the grid. Next, you paid your fee to your grid, and even though I attended the Tennis Academy in the Delphinus Grid, a portion of my energy was paid toward my home grid. Grids boasting Athletes were most often the wealthiest, but it was also beneficial to have many children, as they provided needed sources of energy at a time when population was at an all-time low. And finally, a portion of your energy proceeds went to the Reformation Republic to help fund its perpetual survival.

  I stole a glance at Ajax in front of me. On the back of his neck, just at the base, was a small black triangle, embedded forever in his skin. It was the mark of Unviables, those whose families were affected by the Juvenile Plague. The Baal family had lost several children to this plague before Ajax and I had been born. Though Cadmus and Ajax survived, they would always bear the mark — a warning to potential mates their genes might have been affected by illness.

  It was unknown what caused the plague, and there was no known cure, but our society placed tremendous emphasis on genetics, and selecting a mate carefully was strongly encouraged. According to the Reformation, breeding should always be a matter of genetics first and foremost, and of love second, if at all. On the whole, humans were free to choose their mates, but breeding with Descenders was forbidden, and Athletes were strongly encouraged to mate with other Athletes. To mate with an Unviable meant you were taking a chance with genetics. I knew the reasoning behind the mark, but it made me angry to see Ajax tattooed in such a manner over something he could not control.

  He spun his head around to look at me briefly, his eyes settling on my face but showing no emotion. I got the feeling he sensed I was looking at the mark, but I didn't flinch away from his gaze. Instead, I let my features mirror his vacant, emotionless stare. Ajax didn't let his eyes linger on my face for long before showing me his back again as he crossed the lanes abruptly, heading toward the dormitories. The student housing was situated at the northern end of campus, four low lying brick buildings, each two stories high. Ajax led me into the first one. A glass wall separated the corridor we entered into from the student cafeteria on our left. Only a few Students lingered over meals at this hour, too late for lunch and too early for dinner. I followed Ajax up the stairs where the hallway split off in two directions, doors lining both sides. We veered to the left and stopped at the last door on the left side of the hallway.

  "This is your room," he said gruffly, without turning his head. It was the first time he had spoken to me, the first time in years I had even heard his voice, and I was surprised at how the deep sound filled me with familiarity and warmth. I brushed the sensation aside as he scanned his arm and the door clicked open. He then motioned for me to scan my own arm so my information would be synched with the room. It didn't escape my attention he was allowed unrestricted access to my personal quarters, but I would have to take the issue up with Professor Baal later. I was determined to speak as little as possible to him.

  I brushed past him and stepped into the room, while he stayed at the door. It wasn't much different from my room at the Academy. There were essentially two spaces, separated by a large desk and monitor, a chair on each side of the room, allowing accessibility to the monitor from both spaces. Acting as a barrier, the monitor allowed each side of the room a bit of privacy. The bed to the right of the door was neatly made and there was an obvious occupant for this space. Besides the standard issue University bedding, there were several extra pillows and a blanket I guessed was handmade. I had a roommate.

  Along the wall perpendicular to the door were the closets, one on each side of the room. In between the closets was a door leading to a small bathroom. On what I could assume was my side of the room, there was nothing but the bed, neatly made, without any adornments from home. I hadn't expected to be staying at the University and had nothing to add to the room, not even an extra energy suit to hang in the closet. At least I had the side with the windows. I stared out toward the food science building and the hydroponic farms. Two bulbous water towers rose from the farms, reminding me of planets set atop stilts, the way their graceful arms held them toward the sky as if an offering to the heavens.

  My head swam with questions — who was my roommate? Was she a fellow Athlete? Would I be allowed to go home and get my things? But I held my tongue and stared out the window, silently searching for answers, when I heard voices in the hall. Ajax was blocking the doorway but I could hear several Students out there.

  "Is she in there?"

  "Can we meet her?"

  "Did she take off her glasses?" They fired questions at Ajax or whispered them to each other. I couldn't tell how many were out there, not too many I guessed, but still, a bit of panic blossomed in my chest. I had never been alone or unaccompanied before, had never been around other Students who were not fellow Athletes unless I was carefully guarded. I'd always had my brother or coach to escort me, shield me, even speak for me at times, and now I felt vulnerable. Who could I turn to now? Certainly not the surly boy who pretended he didn't remember being my friend.

  To quell my panic, I quickly reached into the minds populating the hallway, finding only an excited curiosity and a hope of seeing one of the most famous and most sequestered Athletes on the planet. The pressure of such a sentiment did little to ease my anxious heart; I feared they would find me nothing more than ordinary.

  "Move back!" Ajax ordered authoritatively, his deep voice stronger than all the rest.

  I crossed the room to stand behind him. "I'll go out," I told him quietly. I was going to have to face them sometime and I might as well get used to it. I didn't have Tiergan to hide behind, and it was time for me to step from the shadows in any case. I pushed the glasses on top of my head so there would be no secrets.

  "Put them back on," he ordered softly, keeping his voice firm but not disrespectful. My hand flew up to place them back on my face, an ever-present weight upon my features.

  Ajax made a gesture to someone out in the hall, and a loud booming voice called out, "Move aside people!" Then Ajax allowed another Student to enter t
he room, closing the door behind him, but not before warning the flock outside they'd better not be there when the door opened again. You could hear their feet scurrying off before the door clicked shut.

  I tried not to show surprise on my face as the boy, bulging with muscles and huge in every direction, stepped in front of me as solid as a mountain. He bowed to me and kept his head lowered out of respect. I touched his shoulder and as he raised his head to meet my eyes, I lowered my own out of respect for him.

  "I'm Balor Marc," he introduced himself. His grin was lopsided and his teeth were slightly crooked. Overall, he reminded me of the pictures of old fist fighters back in the pre-war times. His face looked like it had been smashed a time or two, and I hated to think what the fool who picked a fight with him looked like after the dust settled.

  "I'm Kaia Robi," I replied, "What's happening out there?"

  "Just a lot of curious Students. Don't worry about it. They know not to bother you."

  "It's no bother," I shrugged, unsure exactly what was expected of me in this regard.

  "You should only be socializing with the members of your team," Ajax spoke up, "Balor is one of them. Keep your interactions with other Students to a minimum and I will accompany you wherever you need to go."

  "Socialize?" I questioned, unsure of what he meant.

  "You know," Balor punched my arm playfully, "Hang out, listen to music, kick back with your friends."

  A hot flush spread from beneath my collar and crept up to my cheeks, the most telling part of the anatomy when it came to emotions. I could hide my eyes, but I couldn't hide my cheeks. I took a step back as my hands once again curled into fists. What was he talking about? Were the Students here allowed such luxuries, while I spent every waking moment earning energy? Athletes were never allowed to socialize. We didn't kick back, whatever that meant, and listening to music cost energy.