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The Chronicles of Rina Balan - Part FIVE |
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Menaka Space Port
She was excited, sort of. By the time she reached the space port she had a plan. She knew exactly how she was going to tell Arulia. She had it all ready and went through it one more time before she entered the ship. She put her box down and began just like she had planed. It went perfectly too. That was until she got to the end.
“So what do you think?” asked Rina.
“No,” said Arulia curtly.
“What?”
“I said ‘no’.”
“I got that, I was kind of wondering why.”
“Why?”
“Yeah.”
“You’ll get yourself killed.”
“I’ll die some day.”
“It isn’t your battle.”
“Well, now that I’m free I want to fight for that freedom.”
“It has nothing to do with you.”
“I can’t stay on Menaka forever, I’m going to have to go into space, they could kill me there. And they’re attacking innocent people.”
“So?”
“I figure that most likely I’m going to be killed by a Zorax.”
“And if you join the war, you’ll increase that possibility to almost definitely.”
“You see, if they’re going to be the ones to kill me, I want to kill some of them first. And I’ll be saving people.”
“Rina, you’re not thinking.”
“Yes I am. I’ve thought this through.”
“You came up with the idea twenty minutes ago.”
“I think fast.”
“But not necessarily well.”
“Arulia, trust me. I know what I’m doing.”
“You don’t anything about the galaxy.”
“I can learn.”
“From who.”
“Well -.”
“Not me.”
“But -.”
“No. I will not feed your insanity.”
“Insanity?”
“Yeah, you got to be crazy in order to do this.”
“Maybe I am.”
“Rina!”
“I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
“What would happen to me?”
“I’ll fix you.”
“And then what?”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing.”
“Arulia?”
“I won’t end up in the junk yard.”
“Junk yard?”
“As trash.”
“You’re not trash.”
“But if you stop flying me in favor of another ship, they’ll send me there.”
“I won’t let that happen.”
“You’ll forget.”
“I won’t.”
“Why not!”
“You’re my best friend.” Arulia paused, no human was ever friends with a ship. She remembered the day she had taught Rina the word. She’d had so much trouble understanding what it meant. She never knew anything like that where she was from. But somehow, all on her own, she’d managed to grasp it. And now she’d used it.
“Do you even understand what that word means?” asked Arulia as she switched to hologram form. It was just strange watching the girl have an argument with a ship.
“Yes. And you’re my best friend.”
“You can’t mean that.”
“Yes, I can.”
“And you’re serious?”
“Yeah.”
“And I won’t be able to change your mind?”
“Right.”
“Fine.” The engines fired up and they shot into the sky.
“So we’ll go?”
“Yeah, it’s off to Terrania with us.”
“What do we need?” asked Rina.
“You’ll need papers.”
“Papers?”
“Records, proof of who you are.”
“And how do I get those?”
“I can make them.”
“Okay.”
“So is that our plan?” asked Arulia.
“I guess.”
“Sure.”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“What’s that around your neck?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“Rina!”
“What?”
“Tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
“That’s not funny!”
“What’s not funny?”
“So cute.”
“Good night.” She climbed on the bench behind her. Arulia smiled.
“Good night.” She fell asleep. She could fall asleep unbelievably fast. It was a talent she had picked up as a slave, to get as much sleep as she could. It was valuable gift. But what she lacked was the ability to stay asleep for very long. Most nights she just woke up. But once every once in a while she woke up with a scream. Usually she could choke it down. But on a night like tonight, she couldn’t help it.
“AHH!” yelled Rina as she shot up and then fell out of bed, “Ow.”
“Rina? Are you okay?” asked Arulia.
“I’m fine, it was just a nightmare.”
“You have a lot of those.”
“Is it surprising?”
“No, do you want to talk about it?” She didn’t say anything.
“It’s just -.”
“Just what?”
“I want to let it out, it would probably help me so much.”
“Then go ahead.”
“It’ll hurt everybody else, if I tell you, it’ll hurt you.”
“Rina?”
“The memories are my responsibility, no one else should have to carry them.”
“If that’s how you feel.”
“It is.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Help me make new memories, better ones, ones that I can share with everyone.”
“I can do that.”
“Thank you,” said Rina.
Terrania
Terrania was the closest planet to Menaka so in comparison to the seven month long trip to Menaka it was very short. It took only a week to get there. Arulia had finished the fake records she needed to get into the academy. They were going over the story.
“Once more,” said Arulia, “You’re name?”
“I’m Rina Balan,” said Rina.
“Birthday?”
“February fourteenth.”
“Age?”
“Sixteen.” They had had to estimate her age.
“Good, home world?”
“Menaka.” It was the perfect choice, really. It was over crowded so nobody had enough time to verify if it were true enough. Plus it was the closest planet and all recruits from Menaka came to Terrania. Also they had just been there and Arulia had hacked into some hospital and stolen the form for birth records. “Hacked” was a new word for Rina, she even learned how to hack in the week it took to get to Terrania.
“Where were you educated?”
“I had a private tutor.”
“Perfect, we’ll be there in a couple of minutes, remember what you have to do?”
“Yep.”
“So are you ready?”
“Yeah, yes.” An image appeared on the screen. Arulia had explained it all to her. The screen was basically there to show things that had to do with the ship, system checks up, a star map and broadcasts. In this case someone was hailing them. It was a way to communicate. It was a man, a solider too. He had the uniform and everything. He had a lot of hair on his face.
“Identify yourself,” said the man angrily, they’d gone over this.
“Rina Balan of Menaka,” said Rina.
“What’s your business on Terrania?”
“I’ve come to enlist.”
“Call him sir,” said Arulia.
“Sir.”
“Are you a pilot?”
“Yeah, yes, sir.” Arulia had to keep telling her to stop saying “yeah” and “yep” but to always say it correctly as “yes.”
“Care to prove it?” asked the man.
“Huh?”
“Grab the controls,” said Arulia.
“What?” asked Rina as she did as she was told.
“Let’s play the follow the leader.”
“Huh?” He took off.
“Follow him!” She jerked the controls forward and they raced off. She saw Arulia switch all power to the sublet engines. They sped up and she pulled up right beside him.
“How’s that?” asked Rina.
“Pretty good, try this on for size.” He dove down between the buildings.
“Rina! Go!”
“I can’t that’s insane. I might hurt someone.”
“You’ll be fine, you’re in a ship.”
“It’s not me I’m worried about.”
“You’ll loose him. It’ll be fine.”
“If I kill someone I blame you.”
“Fine, just go.” Rina dived. She weaved in between buildings. She held her breath as the two ships twisted around the city, it was called Lunae. A beautiful name that reflected the city’s silver horizon. Everything was silver and blue and clean. Quite simply it was the exact opposite of Menaka in every conceivable way.
He shot straight up, she followed. He hid in the clouds and so did she, never letting him out of her sight. They went back down and flew about foot above the ground and they hit the sea. She was distracted as they skimmed they skimmed the surface, sending water flying their wake. It was spectacular. He dove down under the water and she looked through the screen. There was life under the water. She let out a breath of amazement.
“It’s lovely isn’t it?” asked Arulia.
“Yeah.” He spiraled upwards and shot out of the sea. She followed, gazing in awe at the fountain that they sprayed out of their way. The man hailed her again.
“Look ahead,” said the man and she did, “That is the Academy.” There was a building built in the middle of the sea. And it wasn’t just a building, it was a small city. It was huge, magnificent.
“You mean, I’ll study here, learn to be pilot?”
“If you get in.”
“Entrance exams?”
“Right. Now you can land, the space port in the northeast quad.”
“From there it’s easy to get to check in. Registration has two more days before it’s closed for the new term.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Go on now.” She pushed the controls forward. She landed safely.
“Good luck,” said Arulia. Rina walked out and looked around. It took her twenty minutes to find the check in station.
“Hey,” said a girl as she walked over to Rina.
“Uh,” said Rina, she’d been waiting for thirty minutes.
“You okay?” asked the girl.
“Easy to find to my a**,” said Rina and she stared at her, “Sorry, took me a while to find this place. I got kind of annoyed.” She looked at the girl in line with her. She was about the same height as she was, maybe a tiny bit shorter. Skinnier though and by all means looked more like a girl, not that it was hard. But she looked perfect. Long, straight blonde hair that flowed softly around her neck. She was wearing a soft pink dress and she had bags. She looked around, most people did.
“I’m Fera, Fera Linta,” said the girl and she held out her hand. Rina stared at it. She tried to remember what that meant.
“Rina Balan,” said Rina as took the hand.
“It’s nice to meet you. Are you a pilot?”
“Yes? You?”
“Nope, I’m navigator.”
“How’d you figure me for a pilot?”
“You stare.”
“Huh?”
“All pilots, they do this staring thing, it’s weird. You’re weird.”
“I’ve been told that. A navigator hm?”
“Fascinated by star maps, always have been.”
“Hm. Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Why are talking to me?” Fera stared at her.
“You look like you have a story.”
“So?”
“Maybe I could hear it?”
“No.”
“You’re staring at me again.”
“Hm?”
“Please stop.” Rina looked away.
“Okay.”
“You can look at me, you know?”
“You just told me not to.”
“Um, I think you misunderstood.” Rina turned around. They both might be the same height but suddenly Fera felt very short. Rina had way of seeming tall, she had feeling of “tallness” about her.
“Really?”
“Or not.”
“Huh?”
“Sorry.”
“I have another question,” said Rina and Fera squeaked, “Are all navigators so easily freaked as you are?” Fera stared at her before she understood. She laughed, Rina didn’t know why she was making a weird noise. But the girl had just squeaked at her so she just shrugged it off.
“Sorry,” said Fera, “You have an odd sense of humor.”
“I do?”
“Most definitely.”
“NEXT!” screamed a man behind the table.
“I think that’s you.”
“I’ll see you around.” She walked over to the table.
“ID?” asked the man and she handed over her records. She looked at him, she had one thought. She didn’t like the way he smelled. He was bald, not shaven like Hentaku, but bald. There was still some hair. He was fat and short. He was pale looking with greedy brown eyes, they were like poisonous ooze. He looked at her.
“Rina Balan.”
“You’re from Menaka?”
“Yes.”
“And what field do want to pursue?”
“I’m a pilot.”
“Everyone wants to be a pilot.” She glared at him.
“Rina, be nice,” said Arulia through an ear piece in her ear.
“I will be a pilot.” He glared back at her.
“Everything’s in order. Go down the hall. Blue door.” She nodded her head to him and continued down the hall. She found the blue door. Rina walked out into the room to see what was going on. Two guys were fighting, or at least they had been. One was laying on the ground, bleeding and the other was standing up, looking proud, it was already over.
“What’s going on in here?” asked Rina and the winner looked at her.
“I just beat up this kid,” he said.
“Why?”
“He annoyed me.” She stared at him.
“That’s not a reason, that’s just you being an idiot.”
“Careful Rina,” said Arulia over the ear piece.
“You calling me stupid?”
“Well if the lack of brain fits.”
“Rina!” yelled Arulia.
“No one here can beat me. Why don’t you just bow to me?” He placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked at his hand then at him.
“I could, or I could do this.” She vanished, she was fast. The next thing he knew something collided with the side of his head. He had just enough focus to realized it was her foot, or rather her shin. She had kicked him on the head. He hit the ground.
“What?”
“Yeah, I like my way better.”
“Who are you?”
“I'm Rina Balan. And you are?”
“Kel Sheno.”
“Well Kel Sheno, next time you beat up someone, have a reason. And the next time you want to pick a fight, pick on someone your own size. Oh and Kel? Never touch me again.” She kicked his side.
“You’re my god,” said someone else as she picked up the unconscious guy from the last fight. He had lost and he was out cold. She walked up to the front of the room, there were a few men there. Four, to be specific. There was an older man and the three younger ones stood around him, he seemed to be important. The one closest to her was the tallest and the next one was the largest and looked to be the strongest. Third was short and had thick glasses.
“Where can I put him?” asked Rina.
“What happened to him?” asked the tall one.
“Some beat him up.”
“What is it you?” asked the short one.
“No. I beat up that one.” She pointed to Kel as someone helped him up.
“Just leave him somewhere,” said the fat one. She dropped him on the floor and walked away. They stared at her. She was a strange girl.
“So what do you think?” asked the tall one.
“Losers, the lot of them,” said the short one as he pushed his glasses up.
“I don’t know, I saw a few good ones in the bunch,” said the fat one.
“Personally I like the look of the girl,” said the tall one.
“Really the girl?” asked the short one.
“Shall we start?” asked the tall one.
“Are there anymore?” asked the fat one.
“No, if there were we wouldn’t start,” said the short one.
“Cute,” said the fat one.
“And so it begins,” said the older man.
“Yes headmaster,” said the tall one as he stepped forward to be seen, “Hey! You IDIOTS! Eyes forward!” Rina looked at him and he signaled to someone behind the crowd. She followed his gaze and saw other men close the doors behind them. One of them made a strange movement. It was just like a flick of his wrist, no one else noticed it. But he had thrown something, and it was fast. She could barely make it out.
“What the?” thought Raye as it flew by her head. She reached out and caught it. It was some sort of strange blade. He was trying to kill someone. Not her though, it was aimed too high and a little to the right for it to have been meant for her. She followed the path that it would have taken with her eyes. They stopped at the old man, the one that the taller one had called “headmaster.” Master meant he was important, it also meant the one who had thrown the blade was an assassin.
“Rina was going on?” asked Arulia, she sounded bored.
“Trouble,” whispered Rina as she looked at the man out of the corner of her eyes. He knew that he’d been foiled but he clearly had no idea how and he had no idea it was her. To him it seemed like it had vanished in midair. And no one else noticed anything. He reached into his pocket, he had another
“Rina?” asked Arulia.
“Damn it,” said Rina, louder than she’d meant to, which drew the attention of every person in the room.
“Young miss?” asked the tall man. The assassin released his second knife so did she. She threw the first knife directly into the path of the second. They collided and fell to the ground.
“Okay! That is very annoying! What is your problem?” asked Rina, angrily. It was annoying. She wanted to relax for a minute but no, this idiot had to throw a knife at the headmaster and had the impudence to throw it near her.
“My problem?” asked the short man.
“Not, you,” said Rina and she looked at the assassin, “I swear to god you throw one more knife and I’ll have to kick you in the face.”
“What?”
“What part of ‘I’m not talking to you’ is too complicated for you to understand?”
“Wait what did you say about knives? Who’s throwing knives?” The other two men crowed closer around the Headmaster to protect him
“Him,” said Rina and she pointed to the assassin.
“Hey! You!” shouted the tall man and the assassin ran off, “After him!” The other men who had closed the doors chased after him.
“Hm,” said Rina.
“What?” asked the tall man,
“Nothing.”
“What?”
“Well, now I’m bored.”
“Really?”
“I have nothing to do, well, except for the entrance exams.”
“Exams!?” screamed boys in the crowd and Rina realized she was the only girl.
“How did you know about these?”
“Am I not supposed to? Whatever. Personally I think that it’s ridiculous. You’re short on pilots but you eliminate a lot of try-outs with the exams. It’s like you won’t let in the few that you can get. You want good pilots that’s nice. But beggars can’t be choosers. So I figure it’s one of two things. One, you’re using the exams not to eliminate us if you think we have any chance of getting good but to rate us. Two, you don’t have enough ships. Am I close?”
“Dead on. How did you-?”
“When I landed my jumper the was basically empty. Then I got lost and found another bay, also empty despite the fact that it’s registration day. No one would be practicing today, they’d be watching around, to make sure nothing like this happens.”
“How can you be sure?”
“There twelve, no, thirteen in this room alone not to mention all of the ones I saw in the halls.” Her eyes never left his.
“What’s your name?” Everyone was looking around the room.
“Rina Balan.”
“I want to talk to you afterwards.”
“The exams must begin,” said the shorter man.
“I don’t care,” thought Rina.
“Okay,” said the tall man, rather sarcastically, as he walked back to the Headmaster, who stepped up.
“Good morning!” said the Headmaster, “Welcome to The Terranian Military Academy. The exams will be taken in there, the room to the left with the really big door. We’ll start with the end of the alphabet when you hear name called, go into the next room in groups of three.” The tall man pulled out a device called palmcom, according to Arulia. It was like a miniature computer.
“The first three ARE,” said the man, “Zaks, Wati and Talen.” Three boys walked into the next room. They shut the door behind them. But it wasn’t closed for long because a second later the first boy came flying out. Then the second and then the third. They were taken to the hospital. The list was read again and again the three boys were flown right out. Eventually she figured it out how to pass. Just last more than a minute and stand around. She laid down, her last name began with “B” and it was going to a while. She was tired and if she hadn’t been so excited to figure out what was behind the door. Some people wouldn’t even going in the room, they freaked out and ran.
“AHH!” screamed a young boy from the current group, he nearly got to the door.
“Last group,” said the man and Rina opened her eyes, “Bortur, Balan, Azaru.” She flipped into the air. There were maybe twenty guys still left, among them Kel Sheno. She walked towards the group.
“You seem relaxed,” said Bortur.
“Yeah? So?” asked Rina.
“You scared?”
“Curious and excited.” Azaru screamed and ran to the exit.
“I’m scared.”
“You’re still here.”
“I’m also insane.”
“Who isn’t?” They walked into the room. They both stood there. A big, well, it could have been a man, was standing there. He was definitely strong. He growled at them.
“Get out while you still can kids, he’s evil that one, no soul at all,” said a voice and she looked around, “Practically a Zorax, the devil himself.” She saw an electronic lock, it was talking to her, trying to warn her.
“What?” asked Rina. Bortur stared at her.
“Can you hear me? Get out, please, he’ll kill you little missy.” She looked at the man and then at Bortur. He stepped forward.
“I’ll go first.”
“Are you sure?”
“Well you are a girl.”
“So?”
“It’s a guy thing.” He took another step forward. The thing stepped forward and sort of slapped him but much harder. He hit the door and flew out.
“Get out now,” screamed the lock. She looked at the beast before her. Arulia had taught her well. He lacked any form of speed.
Meanwhile in the main room the three men were talking again. They talked about all the recruits that had passed. Eventually they came back to the strange girl.
“Do you think she has chance?” asked the fat one.
“Maybe,” said the tall one.
“Completely unlikely,” said the short one, “She’s quite small.”
“Smart though, bold in a way,” said the tall one.
“I think she’s crazy,” said the fat one.
“That’s a very likely possibility,” said the tall one. Something crashed out of the room. But not like all the other times, this time it blasted through the wall. Sending rubble and debris flying their wake.
“WHAT!” yelled the fat one.
“He’s never done this before, never this violent!” shouted the short one as they went to look at the rubble. It groaned and shifted and they saw that it was the beast.
“What the hell,” said the tall one and they all looked at the hole in the wall. Rina was standing on the other side looking slightly confused.
“Not my fault,” said Rina in a questioning tone as she raised on eyebrow at them.
Colonel Trev’s Office
She walked in slowly, she’d been separated from the rest of the boys who had passed the exam. She had been sent here with the tall man. He had introduced himself as Colonel Trev. She was about to enter his office now. The two other men and the Headmaster were there too. She hadn’t meant to kick him that hard, she swore she hadn’t. It was just so hard to know her own strength here. The gravity was just that much weaker on this world. She was in trouble, she knew that, but she really wanted to be a pilot.
She took a deep breath and dived in. It wasn’t a dramatic entrance, it could have been if not for the fact that she could get the door open. It was locked and she noticed that it was the same electronic lock from before.
“Man I couldn’t believe you beat up the beast,” said the lock, “It was so cool. No one’s ever done that before.”
“Ever?” whispered Rina.
“Nope, never.”
“Perfect, can you let me in now?”
“I’m the lock system for the entire Academy, I’m Secure Electronic Combination Lock System 3.2. Call me Sec, everybody does.”
“What?”
“I said ‘Call me, Sec’.”
“I get that, now let me in.”
“Are you in some kind of trouble?”
“I don’t know, let me in.”
“This is Colonel Trev’s Office.”
“I know that, let me in.”
“Is there a problem?” asked Trev from inside.
“No!” yelled Rina in a whisper and she looked at Sec, “Let me in, Sec, or I will be in trouble. LET ME IN!”
“So we’ll talk this late then?”
“Yes, fine, whatever, just let me in.”
“Okay.” The door popped open and she walked into the office. She looked around trying to act like she wasn’t a complete freak who’d just been talking to a very annoying electronic lock that was no one else could hear.
“Sit down,” said Trev as he gestured to a chair. She sat down. She felt entirely out of place. The two men from before one on each side. They were practically looming over her from where they stood on either side. The Headmaster was standing next to Trev behind the desk. They were all staring at her. The uncomfortable silence that followed only made things that much worse. She swallowed hard and shifted in her chair.
“Stay still,” said Arulia and she swallowed again, “And stop doing that. You swallowed loudly.” Rina put her feet on the ground and grabbed the sides of her chair, bracing herself for what she expected to come.
“We,” said Trev and she looked down, she didn’t want to see it, “Want you to take private, advanced lessons. It would, of course, be on top of your regular classes.” Her head shot up and stared at him.
“What?” asked Rina.
“I don’t know,” said Arulia.
“Wait-, you just- what?”
“I think you have potential, great potential,” said Trev, “And I don’t want it to go to waste. I want you to take advanced lessons outside of your classes. Would you like that? Do you think you can handle it?”
“Say yes,” said Arulia.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good,” said Trev as he smiled. Rina looked at him, smiling still didn’t quite grasp the idea of smiling yet. She mostly just thought he was strange. He sensed she felt weird.
“Um, so?”
“You’re not in trouble.”
“Personally I wasn’t going to bring it up. I was just sort of wondering where it was that I was going to live.”
“Oh right,” said the short man, “There’s no room for a girl in the pilot’s dormitory, it has always been all boys because we’ve, well, never had a female pilot.”
“What?”
“They’ve tried out, none have ever gotten through.”
“What?”
“Well, it’s just how it is and we just wouldn’t feel right putting you there. So we’re going to put you in the Female Navigator Dorm. Is that fine?”
“Okay.”
“So here’s your stuff,” said the fat man and she looked at him.
“Stuff?” He turned around and grabbed a box.
“Five uniforms, dog tags, ID card, key card, map, schedule, books and other stuff. You’re in room 832.” He practically threw the box at her.
“What?”
“Off you go then.” He picked her.
“Hey!” said Rina as he set her down outside and closed the door, “But-!” The door shut in her face.
“How’d it go?” asked Sec and she looked down. She moaned. She’d only talked to him once but he already annoyed her. To make things worse, she needed his help.
“Hey Sec?”
“Yeah?”
“Help me find my room?”
“Sure? Where is it?”
“Female Navigator Dorm, Room 832.”
“No problem, follow me.”
“Follow you?”
“Well follow the sound of my voice,” said Sec farther down the hall.
“How did-?”
“Remember,” said Arulia, “He’s all of the locks in the Academy, he runs them.”
“All of them?”
“All of them.”
“Perfect, just perfect.”
“Remind me to teach you had to cuss.”
 Zegwarian310 · Sun Aug 19, 2007 @ 08:16pm · 3 Comments |
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