The Energy Crusades (3 page)

I waited several moments as the bicycle riders whizzed past. When there was a lull, I sprinted across the track and its sponge like surface and headed for the food science building. I
'
d entered at the northwest end of campus, not far from my destination. The building itself was situated against a hill. Behind it stretched the greenhouses of the hydroponic farms, row upon row of crops grown without the use of soil. Silence greeted me as I pushed open the doors and stepped inside. A hallway branched off to my left lined with Teacher offices. To my right, a staircase led to the food labs on the second floor. I was tempted to head upstairs and explore the labs while I willed my heart to be calm. Instead, I stood a few moments in front of Professor Baal
'
s office and tried to collect myself. Just this morning I was at the Tennis Academy. Last night, I
'
d played my last tennis match for the Reformation. Now, a new chapter of my life was about to begin. I took a deep breath, gave a short knock, and opened the door.

University

When I stepped into Professor Baal
'
s office, her head was bent in conversation with a young Student. Their heads rose up in unison when I entered, each turning identical blue-gray eyes toward me.

Ajax.

He was here. The name coursed through my blood like a river of familiarity, of home, and of all I had missed and loved. Pieces of me I hadn
'
t even realized were missing snapped into place and I felt truly at home for the first time. My heart felt ready to burst with happiness.

Ajax. All of my earliest memories were tied up with him, this boy who was no longer a boy, the two of us inseparable as children, when even the night hours could not tear us apart and we
'
d fall asleep side-by-side, wherever our last adventure had found us, only to wake again and begin our adventures anew. There wasn
'
t a centimeter we hadn
'
t explored at the University, or down at the beach where the University tapered off, c
ulminating in the cliffs leading down to the sea. We shadowed our older brothers, vying for their attention or causing them mischief when we couldn
'
t get what we wanted. It was an idyllic childhood, right up until the day Tiergan and I left for the Tennis Academy.

Tall and lean, he stood before me now, unlocking emotions I hadn
'
t known existed. Without thinking, I took a few steps toward him in greeting, feeling a joy bubbling up inside of me. I wanted to burst out laughing and throw my arms around him, such was my happiness upon seeing him. But all of those joyous feelings were quickly quelled when the expression on his face showed no recognition, no happiness, and an almost outright hostility. My insides turned to ice as I reigned in my emotions, angry with myself for even allowing them in the first place. I turned my head away from him as his mother rose to greet me.

"Professor Baal, thank you for this great honor. Please consider me your humble Student." I bowed to her deeply and fought the feelings of shame at my almost embarrassing display of emotions. I kept my head lowered until she walked over and touched my shoulder, allowing me to meet her piercing blue-gray gaze. She was dressed in royal blue, the color for all Teachers, and even in her energy suit she managed to look regal.

She said nothing for several moments and then, "Please remove your sunglasses, Kaia." My hand flew to my face and hesitated there. Coach Renier taught me not to remove them, for anybody, and I wasn
'
t sure who to obey in this situation.

"You obey me," Professor Baal answered my thoughts firmly, and I mentally kicked myself for allowing her to enter my mind. I
'
d underestimated her simply because she was human and I was used to my Descender coach. I removed my glasses, pushing them up on my head while closing my mind against another intrusion. She studied my face for several moments before speaking again.

"You no longer answer to Coach Renier, but to me. Do you understand?" I dipped my head, acknowledging her words, and then tried to reach into her mind. She closed it swiftly, giving me mental whiplash as my own mind retreated. A look of surprise crossed her beautiful features and I was able to study her for a moment. She was nearly as tall as the son who stood beside her, and their looks were similar. Her hair framed her face in a short, blunt bob, the pale creaminess of her skin contrasting vividly with the stark blackness of her hair.
Ajax's hair, the same inky color as his mother's, was
disheveled, sticking up in places and falling in his eyes in others. It looked like he
'
d just gotten out of bed and combed his hair with his fingers.

"Do not underestimate me, Kaia Robi. Do not for one moment think because I am a human, I will be any less accomplished then your Descender coach." It was odd. While her words were harsh to my ears, every sense I got from her was happiness. She didn
'
t cover it up. I felt it the moment I saw Ajax. She knew I had reacted to his presence and she was glad for it. I wondered why. He obviously was not glad to see me. He was not happy to be here.

"There are six members of your Crusade team," she continued. "Each of you brings a set of unique skills, but you all must work together to accomplish your goals. Ajax is the leader of your team and your mentor in particular. You will answer to him at all times and obey his command while training. You remember my son?" She paused and waited for my answer.

"Yes, Professor," I answered. It was the truth. I remembered him. I did not look at him, though; I kept my eyes on hers as she continued.

"Ajax trained with Cadmus and Tiergan. The fact
that
they graduated and he is still here is not a reflection of his skills as a crusader. He is extremely accomplished and had every right to graduate, but I have other plans for him. He will watch over you and
help guide your training.
I kept him behind specifically for this purpose." So there was the reason for his hostility. He
'
d done everything right, accomplished his goals for his Crusade, and yet he was left behind. It was unimaginable having to train all over for a second crusade. It wasn
'
t fair. And it was hard to understand. Why do this to Ajax? Why not have the four of us train together? Why let Ajax train with our brothers at all, if she never planned on letting him leave? I turned my head slowly to meet his eyes, ready to face his anger over this injustice. He kept his face a stony mask, allowing no emotion to show. I reached into his mind.

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.