Chapter 1
'Hiya... the name's Kirash. This is the school bus. Before we move anywhere, praps I'd better introduce a few things to you... there's a few rules round here:
One; Never pick on someone 'till you know what species they are... I remember a kid while I was still a year 7, who picked on another year 7... the kid that picked on him was year 10, and as far as I know, has never left the hospital. The year 7 was a CoP, or Child of Pericious... Beast to you. Don’t worry about me, I'm half Terran. half Frelonian, although I think there's a bit of Psi-man in there somewhere...
Two; if you really want to fight, NEVER fight in the territory over Cellon 4... death is legal there, so it's a bad idea... oh, by the way, the school's on Cellon Prime, the most lenient society in the history of the 4 Galaxies [those would be this: the Frelonian galaxy, the Milky Way, Gerain and that other one the Skylancer visited...]...
Three; never be at the bottom of a bundle, especially when the rest of the bus is involved...
Four; learn the various classes of individuals: The Alphas, the Betas, the Deltas and the two Omegas.
First, I'm sure you’ve heard of the Alpha Male, the strongest of the pack, not too bright though... well, it's the same thing.
Next, the Betas... if there's one Alpha male, the aspiring-alphas must be Beta Males...
Delta, well, in evolution, only the strong survive... yeah, right! The Deltas are the ones that should, in theory, die off, due to survival of the fittest... but there is a good type of Delta... which I call generally Delta Positive, which, although they often lack strength, make up for it in brains... I'm a Delta Positive, in case you're wondering...
Finally, Omega Positive, and Omega Negative... Positive have all the good parts of a Beta and Delta, negative have all the bad points... simple as that.
Rule Five; only sit upstairs if you wanna get blamed for everything, get set alight etc.
That's about it, but you'll pick up the rest as we go along.' said Kirash, a boy of about 16, who had hair that naturally curled back on itself, about 25 cm in the air at a 45 degree angle.
'Kirash, when I asked for an introductory video to show the prospective year sevens... this was not what I had in mind. You've got to redo it... Monday, 9, my desk or detention.' said Ms Krenge, interrupting Kirash's video.
'But I-' began Kirash.
'Nine Monday, Kirash, without fail.' said Ms Krenge firmly. Kirash looked deflated as he walked back to his seat and sat down heavily, just before the bell was sounded. 'Get out.' said Ms Krenge, pressing the door release.
***
'Phew, you got off light there Crash.' said Grey "Hey, call me Space." Ace, jogging to catch up with Kirash.
'Yeah, talk about doin' your homework on the bus.' said Jillian "Define the word 'Freak' for me..." Cazama, catching up with them. Jillian, or Jill, as she preferred, was one of the Star People, a race made up of the survivors of the original Starcannon blast from the 4-Way-War, who were totally dedicated to stopping the tragedy ever being repeated. Although the Etile fired them, the Starcannon Shells had hit at least as many Etile planets as Reegaal, Spiron or Alience. It was the firing of the Starcannons that united the other three sides against the Etile forces, and ended the war, which had gone on for centuries. The Etile were correct: one way or another, it DID end the war suddenly. There are members from all 4 factions in the Star People, and those are about the only Etile that survived. The Star People, as well as protecting the Starcannons from outside forces, especially the Cotaab, also try to preserve nature, and they believe in many Elders, what we would probably call Gods, including Elders of the forests. They will try not to harm a living thing, unless it tries to harm them, not even an Etile, unless it actually TRIES to hurt them.
'Hey, it took me at least 15 minutes to string that together, remove the swearing... so I need to work on that a bit. You're just lucky she didn't want to see yours Jill.' said Kirash "Call me Crash if you can’t remember my real name" Meyozohiker.
'What can I say? Some of us have all the luck, like good looks, good brains...' said Jill.
'And some have none, like me.' grinned Crash.
'Yup.' said Space, knowing that Crash was more intelligent than he was.
'A report to do by Monday... Great... There's times when I wish Alexus hadn't insisted on education for all.' said Crash.
'You say that now...' said Space, sometimes going intellectual.
'Okay, so, what've you guys got planned for the weekend?'
asked Hiro "That year 10 still isn't out of hospital." Slayure, running up behind the three friends, and jumping on their shoulders.
'Nuffin', we were just about to decide.' said Space.
'We could just go around Cellon Prime, you-know, like we normally do.' said Jill.
'Boring!' said Fret "I never asked to be leader..." Terken, joining them.
'Yeah, you just like that idea 'cos it costs you less.'
said Crash, ever the optimist.
'Okay, as we're nearly all here now... I'm sure we can decide.' said Hiro, the diplomat. Although he was a CoP, or Beast, he preferred diplomacy, unless someone pushed him over the line.
'Yeah, we've only got this one weekend of freedom, before the Annual Camp.' said Fret, who was from Bestoli-ak, and totally immune to the Beast virus. The Annual Camp was a tradition started many years ago, where the whole school left for two weeks, to some practically uninhabited planet. This year, it was the moon of Cellon 4.
'Personally, I quite like the Annual Camp.' said Crash as they walked around the corridors towards the lunch room.
'I like the way that we have a chance to get in touch with nature and our inner selves.' said Jill. She was just like that. This was from a person that refused to wear any kind of footwear because it put her 'out of touch with nature', a girl who believed that trees were the souls of ancestors, that all life was sacred, and it goes without saying, a vegetarian. She even refused to eat de-re’d meat.
'How's the Freak Club today? Missin' one I see.' asked Brian Herrigan , who was, as Crash would put it, the Alpha male.
'Out of our way, Brian.' said Space, trying to walk past.
'That's MISTER Herrigan to you, Joker.' said Brian. Calling "Grey Ace" "Joker" was about as far as his humour stretched.
'Get out of our way Brian.' said Hiro.
'He's not worth it Hiro, although I s'pose that if you DID kill him, you’d raise the average IQ several points.' said Fret.
'What's that, Jerken?' asked Brian, picking Fret up by his blazer lapels.
'Oh, just that a Neanderthal man, dropped on his head several times strait after birth, has more intellect than you.' said Fret, knowing that Brian would be confused by this. Brian dropped Fret.
'I'm watching you, Jerken.' said Brian, wandering away.
'You know we were wondering what to do this weekend?' asked Crash slowly.
'You what?' asked Sam "Retro" Sunders, jumping out in front of them from round a corner.
'We were just threatened by BTU.' said Space wearily.
'Ah, big, tall an' ugly.' said Retro.
'Yup.' said Space.
'Hang on lads, I've got an idea...' said Retro. Retro was totally human, and loved classic Earth things, like movies from the 20th and 21st centuries, and music from the same era.
'So do I.' said Crash slowly.
'You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?' asked Retro.
(*end of chapter 1*)
This is just Chapter 1. If you are interested, please ask me about this, or other stories.