Galileo (Battle of the Species) (22 page)

“Leo, is there anyone you’d like to thank for your incredible success?” a reporter asked.

His dad looked at him from behind the reporters and paparazzi, waving with a hopeful smile.

“No, not really,” Leo said into the mics while camera flashes popped.
Leo smiled and turned to wave to the cameras, but instead found himself in a large grassy meadow. A huge bird came swooping out of the sky, landing next to him, and Leo climbed on its back. They took flight, soaring over the treetops, where he was overwhelmed by the profusion of the fall colors of scarlet, amber, and blazing yellow, with the backdrop of granite mountains.

The countryside was dotted with smoke, the air punctuated with the smell of burning applewood. As he flew closer, he could see the farmers cleaning their orchards, sprinkling the area with large bonfires. Flying closer to the mountains, the sharp acrid smell of the pine resin from the trees made his head feel clean and clear.

He put up his hand, feeling the pressure of the wind, and curved it like a snake, as he glided through the air. As he yelled, “waaaahoooooo,” the bird lifted its head and soared higher into the sky.

Leaving the mountains, they flew over a dark blue ocean, where Leo jumped off and dove off into the cold, clear water. A school of small, silver fish swam up to him, forming a fluid, synchronized unit, that circled him until their curiosity seemed to be satisfied.

He then walked up a turquoise lagoon, with palm trees ripe with coconuts. The soft white sand enveloped his feet as he heard the soothing sound of the water lapping the beach. Sensing movement to his right, he turned to see a young, beautiful Crystallian girl with long white hair walking towards him.

He took her hand into his and they walked down the beach together. She leaned over, whispering in his ear, “You’re amazing, Leo.”

Renn’s sleep regulator gave its final warning, as he sat in a chair between Dylan and the tank, hoping that Leo would continue the dream as he had guided it and not let it take him back to Crystalline with his father. Renn closed his eyes, falling asleep in the medical bay, hoping to go on a journey of his own.

CHAPTER 10

The Long Kept Secret

“Renn, wake up,” Dylan said, giving Renn a nudge.

Renn opened his eyes, feeling stiff from sitting in an uncomfortable chair all night, and slightly disoriented from waking up away from his bed. He rubbed his face, still groggy from sleep, realizing they were still in the medical bay. He looked over to see Leo was now outside of the tank, getting dressed in his uniform.

“We don’t have much time before class,” Dylan said, stretching as he yawned.

“Oh, we’ll get there on time!” Leo said, uncharacteristically optimistic, as though he were ready to take on the universe.

The three of them grabbed food from the mess hall, then took off running down the corridors, up stairs, and down more corridors till they got to the simulation room, right as the bell chimed. The room, however, looked like a rocky planet, with blue stone canyons and a pebbled gully. The cliffs had water flowing down the sides, causing the sides of the mountains to become smooth over the few billion years since the planet’s birth.

The professor escorted the class along the land, explaining how to identify certain landmarks on the map, but Renn couldn’t concentrate. All he could focus on was Remi asking Meta out and her rejection. They lagged behind the class, far enough behind so they could avoid being heard, unless a telepath were eavesdropping.

“I don’t get it,” Remi said in frustration. “Have I done something wrong?”

“No,” Meta reassured him. “You’re the nicest guy, but…I just don’t feel that way about you.”

“You mean you’re not attracted to me,” Remi said, sounding hurt.

“I’m sorry,” Meta said, as gently as a heartbreaker could.

“Whatever,” Remi said in a huff, starting to get angry. Angry that he had applied to the Galileo to be with her; angry that they were on a ship in the middle of nowhere for the next four years, and if he couldn’t get over her, the next four years were going to be hell, constantly bumping into her and sharing classes together; seeing who she
was
attracted to, and not being able to do anything about it.

Renn felt a pang of guilt at that last thought, feeling sorry for the guy.

“You know, attraction isn’t everything,” Remi said, giving it one last try.

“It isn’t,” Meta said, “but without it, it’s just a friendship. There’s nothing wrong with that, unless we pretend it’s all we need…I’m sorry Remi, I really am.” She then sped up, leaving Remi behind and caught up to Lux and Joss.

Renn didn’t approach Meta during class, or for the rest of the day, sensing another boy around, wanting to be with her, was the last thing she wanted at that moment.

***

Renn walked into the simulation room the next day to find Professor Paro there, waiting for him.

“What experience do you have releasing electricity?” Paro asked. “That is, besides the one Aranea you already showed me the first day you arrived?”

“That was it,” Renn said. “Well, on purpose anyway.”

“I’m sorry, what do you mean?”

“You know…like when I have nightmares, it just sort of happens,” Renn said.

“Mindeerians usually grow out of that during childhood,” Paro said, breaking eye contact out of embarrassment for Renn.

“You act as if I just told you I still wet the bed or something,” Renn said.

“Do you still wet the bed?” Paro asked.

“No!” Renn exclaimed in shock.

Paro scoffed. “I'd be more embarrassed about emitting electricity when I slept.”

Renn and Paro looked around, unsure of how to get past the awkward moment, until Renn asked the first thing he could think of. “Why do our eyes turn black when Mindeerians fight?”

“The scientific explanation is that the body is preparing to release large amounts of electricity and it's protecting the iris with a dark film cover. Like humans putting sunglasses on before a bright sun. As far as the enemy's concerned, it means the Mindeerian is about to unleash hell and they'd better run or prepare to die.”

“Cool,” Renn said with a grin. “What about our fangs?”

“You don’t have fangs,” Paro reminded him.

“I know but, do Mindeerians use them for anything?” Renn persisted.

“Well, it’s a last resort of self-defense. If you’re about to die and the only thing you have left are your teeth, the fangs come in handy to tear flesh,” Paro said, unfazed by the brutality of it. “It just isn’t used that often anymore because if you’re fighting against another species, who knows what you’re putting into your mouth.”

Eew
, Renn thought.

“All right, enough talking,” Paro said, putting on a pair of Mindeerian simulation gloves, so as to not tear up the ship. He released lightning from both palms in steady streams, showing Renn how far they could reach. He stopped and fired short bursts of lightning like a laser and then small bursts like bullets.

“There are many different ways to control the blasts,” Paro said while he demonstrated. “There’s no need to explain which type works in certain situations, because you’ll know what you’ll need when the time comes. What you do need to practice is controlling it.”

Renn spent the rest of the class practicing bursts of electricity over and over, noticing a minor improvement by the end of class. He still didn’t have the aim Paro had been hoping for, but that would come with time, Paro insisted.

When the bell chimed, Renn headed towards his dorm feeling sluggish and shaky, deciding to make a detour towards the mess hall. He maxed out his allotted calorie intake for the day, ordering as much food as Ava would allow him.

His wrist kept beeping with messages, until he had to pause from eating long enough to reply to all, “I’m eating.”

Leo and Dylan walked in, watching him wide-eyed, while Renn stuffed more and more food down his throat.

“Should we be worried?” Leo whispered to Dylan.

“Seriously, man. Is this a Mindeerian thing?” Dylan asked, looking at all of the empty plates.

“No, I just have no energy,” Renn replied, then stuck out his hand so his friends could see it trembling.

***

It was time for quarterfinals testing, and the students had spent the last week going over everything they had learned thus far. They all seemed to excel more in one class than another, and helped each other out as best they could.

Renn, Leo, and Dylan made their way to the simulation room for the self-defense exam, having no idea what to expect. Renn brought his Mindeerian gloves, just in case, hoping he wasn’t going to have to use them. If he botched a physical exam, Paro would not only fail him, but also make him feel really, really bad about it. He didn’t seem to care if Renn missed a question or two on a written exam, though written exams were usually done in a classroom.
            When they walked in, they saw rows and rows of weapons. Each student was assigned to a table with dozens of weapons to choose from and had to choose the appropriate form of self-defense for whichever alien Ava made appear.
            Renn did pretty well, shooting a large beast that snorted fire with a J-9 laser rifle, and stopped a herd of killer-bots with an electromagnetic pulse device. But when he got to an alien that looked like a snake the size of a city block, he was kind of stumped.

A laser blast wouldn’t stop it
, Renn thought.
It might just make it angry
. He hesitated until it was almost on him and wondered if Paro had ordered Ava to eliminate the pain. Renn panicked and raised his hands, injecting volts of electricity into the massive reptile. It contorted in pain and died, with its head falling near Renn’s feet before disappearing. Renn glanced behind him, not sure if that was okay or if using his hands to kill was considered cheating.

He made eye contact with Paro, whom he could swear was smiling, then sighed with relief and continued the exam with a perfect score.

They stayed in the simulation room for their botany exam, and held their breath before Professor Skat chose a planet. They were going to be given one planet and expected to walk around, identifying the vegetation, and all they could hope for was for it to be a planet they had studied well.

“The planet is Bremith,” Professor Skat said.

The class divided into “Ah, man”s and “Right on”s depending on how much they studied for that planet. Renn had studied the plants that provided medicine, but not much else. He overheard Katie naming all of the vegetation in her head, recognizing all of the plants. He scribbled them down as she thought them, until it occurred to him that he was cheating and couldn’t help but feel like an ass.

He walked away, deciding he’d rather fail than succeed, if the difference was between being honest and dishonest.

Renn, Dylan, and Leo were on their way back to the dorms when a ship-bot approached Renn in the hall, advising him that he had a call waiting. He ran ahead of the others, so his dad wouldn’t have to wait.

          All students were given two breaks a year; one two-day break in the middle of the year, and one two-week break between moving up to the next year. They were about to come to their first break, and Renn was anxious to get the word on whether or not he could go back to Earth.

“You’ve got a call,” Ivan and Rudy garbled as Renn walked in.

“Yeah, I got it,” Renn said, hitting, “Accept” on the screen at the foot of his bed.

“Hey, Kiddo,” Adam said.

“Hey, Dad!  So...can I go home?”

“The Federation is going to have Cybernex shut down the portals to Earth until you’re back onboard the ship, so yes, you can come home,” Adam explained.

“They’re going to shut down access to the entire planet, just to keep me safe?” Renn replied, dumbfounded.

“No, the Federation agreed to it in order to keep
everyone
safe. You may be the only one the Eminites are after, but no one wants any more casualties.”

“I’m surprised they’ll let me go back at all then.”

“You’d be surprised how much the Federation is willing to agree to considering you’re Hollen’s son…” Adam said, looking a little nervous. “Renn, there’s something I have to tell you.”

“What?” Renn asked, curious what his dad could be worried about telling him after everything he had been through. His entire world had been turned upside down, how much more could there be?

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, but your mother and I had our reasons, and we kept it from you with your best interest in mind,” Adam said.

“Dad, you’re freaking me out. What?”

“You have a half brother,” Adam said, ripping off the band-aid as fast as he could.

Renn just stared at the screen, feeling the blood rush from his face. He could have said anything else and it would have shocked him less. He was growing a second head, the Sun had turned blue, or a Zorgre was running for president, anything but that.

“Wow,” Renn said. “I so didn’t see that coming. Who’s the woman?”

“Woman?” Adam asked confused. “Oh, no, he’s not my son; he’s your mother’s…before we were together,” Adam added.

“Okay, making a little more sense. Why tell me now?”

Adam rubbed his face, preparing himself to rip off another band-aid. “Because he’s on the Galileo, and when we meet at the port junction, your mom…”.

“Wait, hold on. He’s here?” Renn asked, wide-eyed, thinking about the Mindeerians onboard. “Oh my gawd, I know who it is! He’s totally cool, Dad! He even looks like me. He’s got blonde hair, just like mine and blue eyes….”

“So you two get along then?” Adam asked.

“We totally do!”  Renn said.

Adam sighed. “Oh thank gawd,” he laughed. “I was so worried about telling you.”

Dylan and Leo walked in and saw Renn practically jumping on his bed. “What’s going on?”  Dylan asked, before realizing Renn was still on the phone.

“Tabit’s my brother!” Renn said.

“That’s cool,” Dylan replied. “He’s such a good fighter.”

“Tabit? Who’s Tabit?” Adam asked, confused. “Son, your brother’s name is Desh.”