Twell and the Rebellion (18 page)

I waited just long enough for a
flicker of annoyance to cross Maza’s sharp features before I
answered. “I apologize for fighting and for distracting my fellow
cadets from our purpose here,” I replied in a flat tone that I
hoped neither grovelled nor provoked. I also tried not to envision
what it would be like to close the remaining space between us
and...

“And…is that
all
you
are sorry for?” Maza raised her eyebrows, staring coolly at
me.

I closed my eyes momentarily to
calm myself and stood silent for another long moment, considering
things before I finally replied. “Yes it is,” I said firmly. There
was dead silence for a moment, until the whispering began to grow
again, tainted with notes of excitement and disbelief.

“
I beg your pardon?”
Pretence of politeness dropped, I saw her own fists were clenched
tightly and I knew she was trying hard not to lose her temper, lose
control in front of everyone.

“
I can’t apologize for the
way I feel,” I said quietly. Yet every ear seemed to hear it, or it
was passed on in the whispering that was becoming more and more
animated and feverish to my ears. Maza paled, her outrage at my
rebellion blazing in her eyes. I had defied her in a way she
couldn’t physically prevent.

Her voice climbed several
octaves until it carried through the hall with such volume and rage
it shocked and subdued every whisper into silence. “While you are
here you will control the way you f
eel
, do you understand me!” she
screeched with such pure unbridled loathing the hairs on my arms
stood up. But I realized it was I who now had the upper hand. She
couldn’t make me say I supported the Governing Body, so she was
forced to change her objective.

“Yes,” I replied loudly
and praying to the heavens she would accept a simple yes. Because
tagged to my yes unspoken in my spirit was, ‘
yes, I can control it…but I won’t!’
Maza gave me a deadly look, which conveyed she
knew exactly what I was thinking, but she knew if she accepted my
answer she appeared to have won.

“That’s better,” she
replied finally at a normal decibel. “But of course we will keep an
eye on you, just to make sure you can control
your…
feelings,
” she spat the last word
out as if it was a curse and I glared at her with growing distaste.
Since when were feelings a crime on Como? Was anyone who ever
doubted our planet’s leadership considered a villain in her eyes?
It just wasn’t right, and the injustice of it made my anger grow,
my soul squirming with oppressed fervour.

“
Oh and one more thing.”
Maza’s smug tone made my skin crawl. “If you try to make any
contact with Jonaz Maven again, you will both be discharged from
the Army Of Powers, and sent home, as well as your
match.”

My blood turned cold as my
gasp joined the disbelief of the cadets around me. They stared up
at me, some covering their mouths with their hands, some shaking
their heads, but I was barely aware of them. I couldn’t believe she
would actually punish Jonaz and Avin to get at me. It was so
unfair. Maza was threatening everything I cared about while at the
same time further sabotaging the perception I had of my own people.
Comians were meant to be peaceful, compassionate. So why was I
suddenly comparing her actions with the nature of the Abwarzians?
Maza’s words reminded me of what I secretly knew of our POW camps
during the first war. We could be as cruel and controlling as the
people we’d been taught to hate and fear. Couldn’t everyone see
what I saw?

Suddenly, I froze. Jonaz. He was
here in the hall somewhere, hearing every word of my punishment. A
punishment that wouldn’t hurt just me, but him too. My heart raced
with dread, my stomach lurching so violently I wondered if I was
going to throw up right in front of everyone. I searched for him,
but could not find a face displaying the despair I knew I would
find on his.

“You’re dismissed,” Maza
added icily while I continued to stand there with my mouth hanging
open like a complete moron. I moved away in a daze, feeling as
heavy as stone as I stumbled down the stairs and wandered blindly
down the long bench tables. Face after face turned to stare after
me. I considered bursting into passionate tears of self-pity, but
it was definitely not the place for such dramatics. I was painted
as the rebel of the camp; tears would have seriously damaged my new
bad girl image. I think I would have stumbled straight out of the
hall and wandered into the desert of my own free will if hands
hadn’t reached out to stop me.

“
Sit,” Shanna commanded. I
obeyed numbly, barely aware of who was around me.

“
Twell,” a concerned voice
murmured in my right ear. “Are you okay?”

I turned stiffly and looked into
eyes like swimming pools of silver. Avin’s expression was a mix of
guilt and concern, and I felt so miserable it was hard not to let
myself simply sink into the calm depth of his gaze and disappear
for a while.

“
I couldn’t get rid of
him.” Shanna glared crossly at Avin.

“
I’m so sorry that had to
happen.” Avin was speaking, his voice breaking slightly with what
sounded like sincere remorse. He waved a hand in front of my face,
trying to snap me out of it. “Talk to me, Twell, I’m
worried.”

“Well don’t be,” I mumbled
as I broke eye contact with difficulty. As soon as I did, my head
began to clear. “You’ve got what you want now,” I added more
sharply. “You should be happy.”

“
What?” Avin spluttered.
“That’s not how this is! You’re not a pawn in some
game!”

Before I had time to ask
him what a pawn was, Avin captured my hands in his, and my eyes
snapped up to meet his gaze. “You’re far more than that to me
Twell, when are you going to see it?”

“
Oh, pulease,” Shanna
drawled lazily from my other side. “You’ve known her less than a
moon. How can you possibly care about her?”

A muscle twitched in
Avin’s jaw as he shot Shanna a look of fury.
She held his glare unblinking, her grin provoking a
challenge. For a second, I was sure he was going to take her on,
but then his hand dropped from my arm and he stood up. Muttering
under his breath, he walked off, Shanna pulling faces at his back
as he went. Suddenly, I jumped to my feet, the most immediate and
sharpest cause of my pain attacking me with renewed
force.

“
Jonaz!” I cried with such
anguish even Shanna flinched.

“
I saw him leave,” Shanna
replied reluctantly. “I’m sure he’ll be fine...probably just needs
to brood for a while…” she trailed off at the expression on my face
and had the decency to look contrite. “If he trusts you, he
wouldn’t be storming out of here,” she mumbled
defensively.

“Why should he trust me?”
I finally snapped. “He has no idea what’s going on and he could
still get thrown out of the army because of my actions!”

“
Let’s not jump to
extremes just yet,” Shanna groaned, already bored with my
self-absorption. “I’ll get a message to him, just calm down! People
will doubt your word if you lose it now.”

I hated to admit it, but she was
right. As I peeked around it seemed the entire cadet population was
watching my every move, trying to catch my every word. To my
surprise, I didn’t see judgment on every face as I had expected.
Instead, I saw interest, sympathy, and possibly even approval. I
slowly returned to my seat as someone else shoved an energy vial
into my hands.

“
You really need this.”
Talon grinned from across the table at me. I smiled slightly as I
accepted it.

“
You should be proud of
yourself, Twell,” he said simply. “It took bravery to stand up to
Maza the way you just did.”

“
Yeah, way to go, Twell,”
Kaelin said softly. She was next to Talon, looking nervous but
excited at the same time.

“
Yeah, go me.” I grimaced,
but I couldn’t help but grin a little at their praise.

The rest of morning meal was
subdued. No one dared to say much; too aware anything we said could
be reported to the officers by anyone who didn’t support our
stance. I was struck mute with anxiety and worry for Jonaz. Where
had he gone and what must he think of me? I had to find a way to
see him, speak to him… try to explain myself. I could barely eat or
drink anything, because every time I thought about my total ban
from Jonaz my stomach rolled and pitched so unforgivingly I had to
close my eyes and take deep breaths to calm myself. Finally, to my
great relief, we moved to our first mixed powers training class,
where I hoped things could return to normal. I was in denial.

“Aha, Twell Anar, you’re
reputation precedes you!” the slightly greying, yet kindly looking
officer leading our flight class exclaimed
almost enthusiastically upon my entry to class. “Boy
troubles will not be allowed as a distraction in my class I’m
afraid. You will need all your wits about you if you’re going to
navigate an army craft through enemy solar systems!”

I smiled bashfully at him,
relieved he didn’t seem to know the full story. “Don’t worry sir.
You will have my full concentration.”

“I’m sure I will as I have
been instructed to assign an officer to stay with you throughout
today’s lesson…perhaps you can think of him as a wounded soldier
whose life is in your hands.”

I groaned and tried not to scowl
at Avin and Shanna who were right behind me. In an apparent moment
of truce as they both smirked at me.

“
And since you two find
that so amusing, you can be assigned to the same craft,” the
officer added cheerily, his blue eyes twinkling at Shanna and Avin.
Avin grinned at me. Shanna glared at Avin. I rolled my eyes at both
of them as we followed the officers out of our normal training hall
and across the sandy grounds.

We were heading to a
hanger we had not yet visited. Nor was it visible on first glance,
until it was pointed out how to look. The whole hanger, which ran
at least five hundred square Comian lengths, was built underground.
The shifting desert sands covered the clear glass roof naturally,
concealing dozens of civilian sized pod crafts capable of carrying
several people, up to huge space ships, that moved with the speed
of light, taking Comians to all the corners of our solar system in
one day. There were army divisions who patrolled full time and now
that the Abwarzians had attacked, the number of crafts searching
our skies had tripled as the cities and provinces had gone into
lock down.

Today we would learn how to
navigate our galaxy, identify the flight path to Abwarz, and begin
to learn defensive flight tactics. It was scary and exciting at the
same time. We descended to the hanger via a giant lift that easily
fit fifty cadets or more. Stepping out, the air was warmer and
thicker and the sleek tear shaped crafts loomed over our heads,
taking up nearly all the space in the enormous room. At the thought
of actually flying one myself, I couldn’t help but cheer up a
little. I loved flying; there was nothing more exhilarating than
ripping through the sky as the cities and wetlands flashed by
beneath me. Of course, there was a strict speed limit in the
civilian flight zones on Como, but what teenager hadn’t challenged
the limit at some point?

“I am Officer Falzian,”
the same trainer introduced himself, his voice easily traveling
thanks to the acoustics of the hanger. “We will begin by training
you all with simulated test flights today, so please form into
groups of four and we will assign you a craft.”

An exited clamour of voices
rippled throughout the hanger as everyone worked out their teams
and moved off to find their pods. I looked over my shoulder and
stiffened. Brazin was assigned to my team, already ushering Shanna,
Avin, and Talon into a group. I hadn’t wanted to face Brazin yet. I
didn’t feel like another lecture any time soon.

I tailed him through the hanger
until we came to our pod. It was black and large, at least fifteen
Comian lengths long and five wide, spacious even with the five of
us inside. The front of the craft consisted of a smooth conical
shape I knew would cut through the air with more speed than I’d
ever experienced. The tail tapered off to almost a point and I
forgot to be sullen as my excitement built. Eagerly I climbed the
steps up into the craft and threw myself through the doorway,
crashing into a hard wall of stone.

“
Slow down, Twell,” Brazin
growled as I stumbled back.

“
Sorry, sir,” I muttered
to the floor of the craft, unwilling to meet his eyes. A gigantic
rough hand brushed suddenly against my cheek and my gaze flew up to
his. I was startled to see his eyes were not angry, but concerned.
Okay, to be fair, concern mixed with a considerable dose of
annoyed.

“
Are you okay, kid?” he
grumbled as if showing this much compassion was tedious and against
his carefully controlled demeanour.

“
I’m fine.” I shrugged and
then added, “I’m sorry if this caused any grief for
you.”

“
You’re right. Your
behaviour has reflected on me. I had to report a thorough analysis
of your abilities and personality in order to defend your right to
be here.”

My mouth fell open. It was as
serious as I’d feared. I’d hoped that punishing me, making an
example of me, would be enough to satisfy Maza. I’d been fairly
dealt with for my apparent crime. But to question my right to be
here, when I’d worked so hard for it? I felt my teeth snap together
as I ground my jaw in mounting rage.