The Energy Crusades (2 page)

* * * *

I am an Athlete for the Reformation Republic on Earth. And while I have traveled all over the world playing tennis, the
Tennis
Academy has been my home since I was six years old. It was hard to believe I was finally saying goodbye. We all dreamed of getting to go home one day, of finishing our endless time of training, but this end was only another beginning for me. I didn
'
t believe my days of waking at dawn and working through most of the daylight hours were over just because I was going back to my home Grid.

I took my time packing my things. Everything I owned fit into the bag the Reformation had provided for this task. My roommate, Alize, watched glumly from her bed as I cleared out my half of the room we
'
d shared for the last year.

"You
'
re only seventeen," she whined. I could see her eyes filling with tears. She never bothered to control her emotions.

"I have to go Alize. It
'
s time."

"But you can stay another year!" she insisted. I nodded. Yes, I didn
'
t have to start my Crusade until I was eighteen, but I could start it early, and I was ready to go. Alize understood this, knew she would not hesitate at the chance to leave the Academy herself, but her sorrow followed me as I left our room and made my way to the tennis courts without her. Last day or not, I still had to earn my energy for the Academy.

"Again, Kaia!" Coach Audrick Renier demanded from the sidelines as I went through my drills with a virtual partner. I swung around the court in my virtual tennis gear, hitting against an opponent who was supposed to be unbeatable. I had beaten the virtuals, however, even though they were designed by Descenders, and I was only human. My tennis racket felt like an extension of my left arm.

"Coach?" He hadn
'
t noticed I'd completed the drill. "Your fingernails are glowing," I teased, drawing him out of his reverie.
Instead of re-starting the exercise, he looked down at his hands.
His fingernails were turning the gray-purple of his emotions, a color that conjured melancholy. My Coach rarely let his feelings show. He worked to control his Descender traits in the same way he taught me to hide some of my capabilities.

"Go wash up, you horrible girl," he chided me, pretending to be mad. As I watched, he reached out his hand, and one of the tennis balls left on the court flew into it. I held back a grin and pushed his inquisitive mind out of mine. It was one of the abilities he wanted me to conceal. Humans did not have the same control over their minds as Descenders did. Humans could not reach into the minds of those around them or stun another being with their raw energy. They were unaware when their own minds were invaded. But I could do and feel all of those things and more, facts my coach seemed determined to keep a secret. I couldn't call objects into my hands as easily as he could, but I was working on it.

I could see the faces of the other Athletes peeking through the gates. They were waiting for my practice to end so we could share a last meal together. I began to walk toward the gate, when Coach Renier called me back.

"Solar glasses, Kaia," he insisted. I turned and accepted them from his hands, giving a dutiful bow before moving off again. It was another rule he
'
d implemented; all Athletes must protect their eyes from sun up until sun down. Part of me knew he insisted on them because he didn
'
t want people whispering about the girl with the purple eyes. I couldn
'
t change the odd color of my eyes, but I didn
'
t want to be whispered about and didn
'
t protest the solar glasses too vocally.

My coach was especially careful about keeping me away from Commander Renier, the head of the Reformation Republic. The two of them were brothers, but Coach rarely mentioned their relation. I
'
d met the Commander once. He
'
d come to a match along with several other prominent members of the Reformation, all of them Descenders. As he sat in the stands surrounded by his advisers, they made no attempt to blend in with the mostly human audience. They let their energy show visibly, creating clouds of various colors like a force field surrounding them. Their hair stood on end in shades no human could ever grow naturally. Commander Renier
'
s
hair
fanned about his head like a burning red sun. It was a display of power and intimidation, and the humans shrank away from them instinctively.

We had no warning the Commander would be present at the match, no inkling he had taken an interest me. Coach Renier hoped his visit was random and meant to show how important these matches were, and how vital it was for humans to strive to reach their full energy potential. He had no time to warn me about guarding my mind. I let it go blank while the Commander was in the stands, but the effort slowed me on the court. He latched his mind onto mine, probing and probing, but finding nothing. I shouldn
'
t have been as guarded as I was, I should have relaxed and let some thoughts fill my mind, but I seized up, irrationally terrified of him.

Later, when all of the matches were over and Coach Renier had been summoned to speak with the Commander, my brother and I talked about the unexpected visit.

"What did he do to you?" Tiergan asked, his worry showing all over his face. We came to the
Tennis
Academy as very young children, me clinging to my older brother as if my life depended on it. Nearly ten years later, we were still each other
'
s best friend.

"He tried to enter my mind," I admitted. Tiergan was my only confidant and after the Commander
'
s visit, his protectiveness intensified. None of the other Athletes could get too close to me as long as he was near.

"What will he do to her?" Tiergan demanded of our coach the first chance he got.

"He won
'
t do anything," Coach Renier answered calmly, though beneath the words, I sensed his worry too. His brother had questioned him about me and my coach was uneasy about it at the very least. He said nothing more about it, however, and Tiergan and I had no choice but to let it go.

* * * *

"Let
'
s go, Kaia." Coach Renier stuck his head into our room in the wee hours of the morning on the day of my departure. I walked over to Alize and waited until she stood. Her blonde hair fell loosely around her shoulders and she shielded her face from our Coach. She wasn
'
t just losing a roommate; her Coach was leaving too. I put a hand on Alize
'
s shoulder and she put a hand on mine.

"Walk out with me." I
squeezed her shoulder
. She nodded and followed me into the hall where all the other Athletes had lined up, waiting to tell me goodbye. The weight of their emotions coursed through me as I stood there, momentarily stunned by the impact of their sadness. There were no comforting words I could say, no promises we
'
d see each other soon, because we all knew our Crusades would lead us to different places, and there was no way of knowing if any of our paths would cross again.

The hallway, a wide expanse with doors lining both sides, usually felt vast, but today felt suffocating filled with so many of my fellow Athletes. Their faces were somber, and I quickly hid my delight upon spying my parents, patiently waiting for me with all the others. They had just arrived in the Delphinus Grid to escort me home. I looked up at my father, whose pale eyes shone with a joyous light. He was a big man with light brown hair and hazel eyes. My mother appeared tiny against his large frame. They tried to appear gloomy too, as if leaving the Tennis Academy was cause for sadness, but my father couldn
'
t mask the way his eyes crinkled in happiness. My heart soared at the sight.

Coach Renier cast a steely glance at the Athletes in the hall. They immediat
ely sprang into action, forming orderly lines along the hallway, their backs against the walls, allowing easy passage for me and my family. As we began our trek through the dormitory, the Athletes bowed to me as I passed. I wouldn
'
t be human if the sight d
idn
'
t touch me, making me want to reach out and touch each and every one of them in turn. Instead, I bowed to them in return, and as I passed, I gave silent thanks for the friendships I had formed there.
Until
we
meet
again
. I sent the message out as a cou
nterbalance to the torrent of emotions following me as I exited the Academy. I hoped the sentiment would fill the hallway and their hearts as they remembered all of the time we
'
d spent training together.
Until
we
meet
again
. I wanted it to be true.

My father put a hand on my shoulder as we stepped into the sunlight.

"You
'
re sure about this?" his deep voice reverberated in the still morning air. Around us, the air was heavy with the heat, though the sun had risen a mere hour ago. It was odd not to hear the sounds of the tennis courts, the players warming up or going through their drills. My departure had given them a brief reprieve, but I was sure they were heading to the courts as quickly as I passed them in the hallways, and soon the sounds of tennis would fill the air again. I stole a quick glance at my coach whose face was, as always, unreadable. I couldn
'
t guess what he wanted me to do. I didn
'
t need to look at my mother. I knew, could feel, what was in her heart.

"I
'
m not about to turn down Professor Baal," I informed him. He already knew I wouldn
'
t, knew I wanted to leave. I was tired. I
'
d been playing tennis at the Academy since I was six years old, a long time to be away from home.

Until Tiergan left the Tennis Academy, one year ago, I had never been apart from my brother, not even for a day. This past year without Tiergan had been the loneliest of my life. I looked to my brother for everything; he was my friend and protector, my tennis partner and mentor. I had hoped to meet up with him again at University, but it was not to be. I begged him not to be so darn great at everything and to wait for me so we could be Crusaders together.

"Kaia," he laughed, brushing aside my fears, "It
'
s time for us to be apart. You have to make your own way in the world, step out from my shadow. Just be ready to take your chances when they come." My eyes burned with tears the day he left, but still, I was allowed no respite. I had to play tennis. I had to earn my energy.

Now, I was heading to the University back home to train with Professor Baal, the most acclaimed Teacher on the planet. She was more than a Professor to me, however. The Baal family had lived across from ours since before I was born. Tiergan and I grew up with their sons, and I had no memories from home that didn
'
t involve both of our families. The Baal family also felt like home to me. But as a Teacher, Professor Baal demanded excellence from those she trained. Her Crusaders were the finest in the world, and she only accepted those who were willing to train extensively with weapons, and to fight if called into battle for the Reformation. Being accepted on her team was an enormous honor. She had accepted Tiergan before me, and he trained so well under her direction, he had already graduated as an Elite and was gone from the University, off with his team of Crusaders on the Planet Danu. In fact, he trained with both of Professor Baal
'
s sons, Cadmus and Ajax, which left no one from home to join me at the University. While I was extremely grateful for the opportunity, I couldn
'
t help feeling resentment because Astrid Baal had let the three of them train together and left me out. Ajax was not even a year older than I; only months separated our births, and I should have been allowed to train with them, too.

I pushed those thoughts aside as I climbed into the zwitter craft provided by the University for our travel. It ran on solar-hydrogen power and could reach speeds of up to five hundred kilometers per hour. My mother and I took the two seats in the back, while my coach settled into the seat next to my father, who sat in the navigator
'
s position. He pulled the dome-like cover over our heads and locked it down, making sure we were strapped in before
allowing the vehicle to hover.

"Rest up, Kaia. This might be your only chance." I laid my head on my mother
'
s shoulder and breathed deeply. She smelled like home, a mixture of ocean and sunshine. Even at hyper speed we would be traveling for a while to get to the Orion Grid, and I was expected in Professor Baal
'
s office right away. I was nervous about seeing her and anxious about following in my brother
'
s footsteps. These thoughts pressed against me while the landscape sped by. I let my thoughts drift as I watched the earth spin away below me.

The effects of the Oil Wars were evident as the Earth flashed before my eyes in a patchwork of ruin and rebirth. Here and there, the ravages of a long, hard-fought war were still evident as scars upon the land. Collapsed buildings, fallen factories, and burned-out neighborhoods contrasted starkly with a new world foraged from the remains of unimaginable devastation.

There were no more working factories as were once abundant on Earth. Grids sprang up around Universities or Athlete Academies whose buildings were restored from those once housing similar functions. Around them, homes were either retrofitted from remains, or built anew from sustainable, natural materials like bamboo, or adobe, or anything else readily manipulated by human hands. Wherever you chose to make your home, you had the responsibility of sustaining it, providing energy for your family and the Grid, and for growing
some of
your own food. Every person was responsible for sustaining his own existence. As I watched the world hurtle by outside the zwitter, I closed my eyes against the worry and allowed myself to relax in my parents
'
presence. My mother talked softly, telling me little things about our neighbors in the Grid, or news about Tiergan. It was just idle chatter to help me relax, and it worked.
My eyes fluttered open as the zwitter slowed, coming to rest
outside my childhood home.

The University was at the center of the Orion Grid, and the neighborhood fanned out from there, like spokes on a wheel. My parents had built our house, rather than salvaging an existing pre-war structure. Its rounded, earthen walls were capped with a living roof. The plants trailed down and continually threatened to cover the solarized windows, while the garden surrounding the house was somewhat wild looking, but provided food and beauty. It spilled over into the neighboring homes, and their gardens spilled into others, until they all blended together, one after the other, row upon row, the color and lushness broken only by the homes interspersed among them. Wildflowers and indigenous plants took root haphazardly, filling in empty spaces where roads had once been. There was a look of disarray to it I found refreshing after the order of the Tennis Academy, where the gardens were kept in perfect order, just like the Athletes.

We exited the craft and stretched our legs. With a brief bow to my parents, Coach Renier
hopped
into the navigator
'
s seat and the zwitter
rose off the ground.

"A few minutes, Kaia, and then report to Professor Baal." He pointed at my solar glasses and I immediately put them on as he sped away. He was always on me about those glasses, always trying to keep me hidden. Just when I thought I would be free of solar glasses and virtual tennis players, he announced he would be my coach at the University.

My parents ushered me inside and allowed me to freshen up in the bathroom. I could tell they were hovering around me and feeling anxious, but I couldn
'
t put my finger on what was worrying them. They were good at guarding their feelings when they wanted to. What I longed to do was roam around the house, lie in my childhood bed, and breathe in all of the smells of home. I wanted to run next door, visit my neighbor, and shout out to the Grid I was home. Where was everybody? Where was my neighbor? Surely he should be here to greet me, right? They offered no answers and I felt hurried, but didn
'
t fret too much, feeling I would have time for everything later, time to visit and time to get acquainted with my home again. With these thoughts I began to walk, flanked by my parents, toward the University.

Not much more than a kilometer from our home, Tiergan and I had spent endless hours roaming the campus with the Baal brothers. As we approached, I could see the Energy Field, and my mother squeezed my hand. Made from a combination of recycled materials, like old rubber tires left behind after the wars, it encircled the entire campus. Energy Fields such as these were common to every Grid, providing a means for inhabitants to earn energy, or to punish consumers who failed to meet their energy requirements and needed to work off their debts. This particular Field was a functional bicycle track that became active as bicycles were set in motion, and was just one way to produce energy for an account.

Virtual Guards now surrounded the Field. They stood on the outside of the track, about a meter apart, all the way around, kilometer after kilometer, as far as the eye could see. This was now a well-guarded University. With the rise of the Resistance, those who resisted the rule of the Descenders on Earth, and along with it, a campaign of sabotage against the government, it became increasingly necessary to guard places where Elite Crusaders trained.

The guards were imposing. They each stood about the same height, nearly two meters tall, and wore full body armor, a mixture of Kevlar and Titanium. The suits were blindingly white in the afternoon sun. Where their faces should be, Virtual Guards wore solarized masks, nearly all black and featureless so you could never mistake a moment of humanity in them. They had no humanity. They were simply energy, poured into armor.

My stomach filled with butterflies. I told myself I had nothing to worry about. I was a world class Athlete, but here, I would be just another Student. I had to prove I was worthy of the Elite Crusade I
'
d been accepted on.

My parents slowed their pace and then stopped all together. My father touched my arm and I met his eyes.

"This is as far as we
'
re going," he informed me softly. My stomach clenched.

"Professor Baal would like you to meet with her on your own," my mother added. Her shoulder length, auburn hair fluttered just a bit around her face in the afternoon breeze. Her green eyes showed some sadness, but her expression said there was no room for negotiation. They had brought me this far, but now I needed to go on without them. I stood up straighter and squared my shoulders. I took a deep breath.

"Okay." I looked each of them in the eyes. I could do this. I could do anything — I was going to
live at home with my parents
again. I hugged them both tightly and then turned to face the Guards. As I approached, one of them turned its head toward me slowly. It was eerie how the faceless mask appeared to stare right through me. I felt the air grow thick around me. The Guards emitted an energy barrier, and if I were to try and cross without permission, I would be electrocuted at the very least. I held up my arm, allowing the inside of my wrist to show. My fingers balled into a fist while I waited for the mask to read the information implanted in me. It was my identification. A moment later, I felt the barrier retreat. The Guard lowered his head to me, bowing as I passed. Then all the other Guards began bowing as well. One by one they lowered their heads, and even though I could only see a portion of the field, I knew they would all lower their heads for me. I was an Athlete. They had to show me respect.