Silver Arms – Chapter 1
“Come on Braun, it’s time to go,” wearily announced Samson De Lorian, sounding for the entire world as if he were expecting a fight.
Braun stared pensively out the view port at the vast ringed station floating in a star-spangled abyss and reflected that his father’s tone of voice barely indicated the kind of trip they had endured together. Braun voiced his skepticism again, now that he was with in sight of his future home. “Why do I have to stay here? Why can’t I go with you?”
Samson signed impatiently, “We have already gone over this, Braun. I can’t very well drag you all over the galaxy with me as I perform my Ambassadorial duties. It wouldn’t be good for you, or safe. The Silver Arms Academy is a high security facility; its location is such that I should be able to see you rather frequently, or at least when ever my duties permit. Its education mandate is exemplary, its service is without compare and its safety record has not been blemished in over 40 standard years. Why even during the Generation War, the school remained unscathed.
“This is the best possible place for you to be right now,” he concluded, ignoring his teenaged son’s look of disdain.
That didn’t stop Braun from snorting in disgust and growling, “I bet the rules are horrible and the food sucks.”
Samson shrugged, “I don’t know to much about the rules, however I do know that the academy has a curfew. As for its daily menu, as I understand it, the academy’s cuisine is beyond excellent. You have to remember Braun; the academy is housing the offspring of some of the most powerful people in the galaxy. It would not do to offend those offspring who in the future could very well be running the galaxy. Or at least their small part of it.”
Braun glanced out the view port again, and snidely remarked, “You’d think that with such a prize within its halls, that the school would be a target for anyone seeking to do damage.”
Samson laughed softly, “In spite of its appearance, the Silver Arms is well defended. It has a state of the art defense system of its own and though you can’t see it due to the Darque Nebula, McCormick[1] is with in easy reach and ready to defend the Silver Arms should a hostile force try to attack.”
Still grumbling Braun followed his father out of the cabin, which had been his home away from home for a standard week now. He glanced back at it forlornly as he realized that one chapter at least in his life was closing. He looked forward now to a future that seemed uncertain and gloomy. The Darque Nebula, he thought was a good name, it described his future as he saw it. A black cloud with no hint of light breaking thru to illuminate his possibilities.
Braun spent the early morning[2] with his father; he had the dubious pleasure of meeting the academy’s head master, Dean Alfonzo Braitle[3] and of seeing the general public areas of the Station attached to Silver Arms. The mall level of the ring secretly impressed him, it was a thriving commercial area designed to cater to the high-class moneyed students of the academy, visiting dignitaries and the visiting passers thru. Dean Braitle proudly described the Silver Arms (Which apparently was the name of not just the Academy but the entire station) as a port of calm and security in a sea of turmoil. The Mall had everything from restaurants and food fairs, recreational facilities such as Bars and nightclubs, boutiques and novelties, and even hotels for visitors. Other levels in the ring housed security, industry and also provided living space for the stations many workers. The core of the Station was the academy, which besides the school facilities also had living space for visiting parents, teachers and staff, and approximately 20 thousand students of course.
Dean Braitle did not go into the rules or anything else of that nature though, he explained that Braun’s mentor would be his guide in the rules and regulations of the academy. Finally Braun was handed a class itinerary for the next day’s first classes and he and his father parted company. Braun couldn’t say that it was a particularly happy parting.
However, he did get one pleasant surprise that made things a bit easier to accept. His guide was none other than his cousin Jasper Osborne. Jasper was a year his senior and since the Osborne estate was only a 20 minute skip[4] from Braun’s ancestral home Jasper was frequent visitor during school breaks. They shared little resemblance to each other, other than in height and eye color, which both had inherited from their mothers who were first cousins.
Jasper was a welcome sight, and Braun felt pretty sure that his father had known about it and made sure that Jasper would be his mentor during this time of transition. For a moment his irritation with his father mellowed.
Jasper, with his usual nonchalance, plucked the class itinerary out of his hand and scanned the list of subjects. He snorted disdainfully after a moment, “to bad, you have Ingersol for political science. The man is a tyrant. However he is as smart as a whip and in half a day he’ll have discovered what your father ate for breakfast yesterday. He’ll know where Uncle Sam is headed next before the day is out and know what his assignment is too….hum….
“You also have T’Bon for Social economics. He’s a hoot. You’ll like him,” Jasper glanced at him, “You know T’Bon is a Qazori.”
Braun frowned scornfully, “I didn’t know that Silver Arms had alien teachers.”
Jasper shrugged, “The best minds in the galaxy aren’t necessarily human minds. Besides there are a few Qazori students attending the academy. Being Humanized you know. Do you know…there’s actually a class called “The Human Psyche”, its rather popular with the alien students.”
“Anyway,” he continued, “its my pleasure to be your guide. Guides usually just show the newbie around, get them settled in their dormitory and show them how to navigate to their classes for the first week thereabout. But you, being family, can expect to have my company at all hours of the day and night.”
Braun smiled, having no problem with that.
Jasper gestured to a tramcar. “We’ll want to catch a car and go up to the dorm level.”
“Can’t we walk it?” Braun asked, wanting to explore as much as he could.
Jasper grinned, he had a pleasant face, which really lit up when he smiled, “sure, you could walk, but I wouldn’t recommend it just yet. This station is huge. We are in the ring now, and the core is a good jaunt away still, and even from the core we’d have to take stairs or elevators or both to get to our destination. Trust me, walking is great exercise, but its farther than either of us want to walk today, at least.”
Braun let it slide and followed his cousin to a tramcar that had just emptied of its passengers. As he slid onto the padded bench next to his cousin he queried. “So what is the curfew like?”
Jasper flashed a smile as he leaned back into the comfortable seat. “Curfew is easy, senior students like us have until 13:30 pm to get into our dorms Sunday thru Thursday. Lights out is at Midnight…though, sure enough there’ll be a light burning thru the night here and there as a student or two cram for an exam or something like that. On Friday and Saturday nights seniors have to be in by 2:30 am.
“Now the mall is open to all students during their off hours though all students need a pass to get thru Academy Security, you’ll be issued yours probably tomorrow. That pass will let them know what your scholastic rating is and whether you being disciplined or anything like that. You have to attend classes and show willingness to do your work and assignments, even if your having trouble. If you’re ‘grounded’ the mall is out of bounds until your status is restored again. ‘Course there are other places to go. The Garden belt is on the ring and its stunning. You can exercise, walk the entire ring, admire the trees and plants, sit on the grass and read, or even go for a swim if you want. I’ll be sure to take you there at your first free moment. Students can go, see, and do just about anything on Silver Arms, the security is tight in a few places though so you do have to watch where you’re going.”
“Hmmm…so, what is the food like here?” Braun interjected.
Again the smile flashed across Jasper’s face, “Prime rate, we are fed genuine cuisine Cuz. No trash is served here; even on Pizza day, everything is fresh and perfect. We get the four standard meals a day, plus a few snacks, so no one goes hungry.”
Braun thought about it for a moment, he recalled a time in the deep past when some kids went to school hungry and that lead him to another thought, “So how many charity cases does the academy take on an annual bases?”
For this Jasper did not smile, “I don’t know, a few here and there. The school is damn expensive and you pretty much have got to have money to afford to send your kids here. Now that doesn’t mean there aren’t scholarships to be won, which allows the less financially fortunate an opportunity at a truly excellent education,” he shrugged then and continued, “it’s not like its announced, and most of the scholarship kids are pretty closed mouthed about how they were able to place. So usually you just don’t know who’s a ‘rich’ student or a smart student.”
“Hey!”
Braun yelped at his cousin’s jest, then he quelled when he saw how
broadly his cousin was grinning now, “ha ha, very funny.”
Jasper pursed his lips and chuckled, “You do realize that when you say ‘Ha Ha’ its because you lack the intelligence to think of a more fitting rebuttal, don’t you?”
Braun showed him an ancient gesture that had Jasper trying desperately to stifle his rowdy laughter. Once his cousin had calmed down, he wiped his eyes and laughed merrily, “Ah I have missed you Jasper. It’s going to be a grand time with you here.”
Jasper chuckled, “I’m glad you’re here too. It was right of your father to enroll you here.”
At that Braun frowned and glanced out at the passing scenery. Jasper allowed him a moment of silence then leaned closer to him and murmured. “You know he did the right thing Braun, he’s to powerful in the government and you are his only true vulnerability now. He can’t protect you on the outside, not properly anyway, and he couldn’t do his job effectively if he was constantly worrying about your well-being.”
Braun slanted his cousin a heated look, “He could have kept me with him, I wouldn’t have been a burden to him…”
“And when he was in closed session,” Jasper countered quietly, “how would he have protected you then?”
Braun seemed about to release a ready argument, and then snapped his mouth shut and turned his head away again. Jasper looked thoughtfully at his younger cousin, taking in the tenseness of his strong jaw and the tightness of his broad handsome mouth. He noted the strain around his cousins eyes and with out really thinking about it he brushed his hand out over Braun’s creased forehead and smoothed out the lines of stress there. “You know he was right to bring you here Braun. He had no other choice, not if he wanted to keep working and keep you alive and well at the same time.”
Braun muttered, “Yeah, but I don’t have to like it.”
Jasper shrugged, “You don’t have to like being a hostage either. You handled that with great panache by the way.”
Braun spared a cool look for his cousin and remembered the events that had set all this in motion. He had been one of a bus full of kids that had been taken hostage by hard-line military extremists who were demanding self-government of their tiny colony. He was just another captive at that point, his value only dependant upon how far the world government was willing to go to keep him and the others safe. His father hadn’t even at the time been involved with the colony, as he was dealing with another diplomatic matter than. But that had changed, at least for his father. As soon as his staff relayed what was happening he had put a hold on the negotiations and taken a skip to the hostage scene. Somehow he had managed to keep the press from revealing that his son was a hostage of the extremists, thereby keeping the captors from learning that they had a potentially valuable captive amongst them.
Braun closed his eyes and remembered how terrified he had been that one of his fellow students would reveal his own relationship to the powerful negotiator who had arrived on the scene to settle the situation. He silently admitted to himself that being the son of the Human Leagues top negotiator and diplomat was not a particularly desirable position to claim. His father’s high profile job had several times put his own life in danger and had once before cost him the life of a family member, his mother. For Jennilee De Lorian, being married to Samson De Lorian had cost her life. For Braun, he had been threatened a few times, been stalked and accosted. As the son of a potentially universally hated man he had sometimes been the subject of hate smearing and violent verbal attacks, but he had never been in as much danger as he had been during the hostage situation, and who he was hadn’t even been revealed. When it was over all of the captors and two of the students were dead, a dozen others were injured. Braun had been unharmed but it had not mattered to his father. He had known then just by the fire in his father’s eyes that Samson De Lorian would never risk a family member again. He had expected some kind of high security military school to keep him safe, but he had not expected a space station light years away from home and all his friends. He would never forgive his father for dumping him here. Never.
Jasper didn’t like his cousin’s continuing silence and finally decided to break the impasse. “Well, just imagine. You no longer have to worry about being the only valuable captive around. Should anyone decide to take this academy hostage they will have hundreds of valuable hostages to choose from.”
Braun snorted disdainfully, “What ever!”
Jasper grinned and gestured. “No really, there’s me for one. My father is a world leader. There are princes and princesses galore. Children of the extremely rich, of world leaders, of galaxy leaders, of military leaders, of powerful diplomats, of great minds, of super scientists. Trust me Braun, you are no longer alone.”
Braun glared, “You make it sound like I think I’m the only one that matters, that’s not true. I know that there are others here like you and me. That’s not…why I care so much…”
Jasper leveled a thoughtful eye upon his slightly younger cousin, “I know.” He finally murmured. “But it will get better, you’ll see. You’ll forgive Uncle Sam too.”
Braun crossed his arms and resolutely looked once more at the passing scenery. It was more distracting after all. Finally he indicated, “What’s that?” pointing at a place in the mall that was all flashing lights and jagged noise.
Jasper peered around his cousin and smirked, “Just an arcade. They have some cool retro games in there.”
“Oh,” Braun responding, sinking down into the formfitting seat once again. He stared moodily out at the passing imagery before asking, almost absently, “Did you ever forgive yours? Your father I mean?”
Startled, Jasper turned away; he waited a moment before replying. “Yeah, I did. This place has been great for me Braun, and it can be for you. There are so many freedoms for us here.”
Braun sent him an incredulous look, “Are you kidding? What about the curfew and the rules?”
Jasper grinned, “Hey, come on Braun, you know rules are made to be bent. Besides the rules aren’t that bad and the curfew is pretty good for us seniors. We get pretty much the whole station as our playground and we get to go on excursions too. High security excursions true, but you get used to that. We have freedom like you never get at home. Here we can go whenever we want, we don’t have to worry about security because the whole station is a big security station. It is everywhere, taking care of and protecting us. But un-intrusively, most of the time you simply forget about security altogether. There is so much fun to be found here and friends to make and no friggin bodyguards to get in the biting way.” He leaned back into the seat and smiled with satisfaction, adding, “The sex is pretty good too.”
Braun gaped at him, causing him the burst into laughter. After a moment Braun grinned sheepishly, then relaxed and began to chuckle along with him, but it was clear to the older boy that Braun didn’t quite get what he was suggesting here. Finally Jasper explained, “The Academy is Co-ed.”
“But the Dorms aren’t” Braun countered knowingly.
Jasper snorted, “Like that has ever stopped anyone.”
Since Braun had never lived in a dorm before he couldn’t think of a response for that one. He didn’t mind the idea of having sex though, having only experienced the pleasure of it a very few times in his young life he was of course always ready to explore it some more.
Jasper however had already moved on, though following along a subject that they had just brought up. “The dorms used to be just Boy and Girl. But with so many aliens being qualified Herms there is now also Herm and A-sexual dorms.”
“A-sexual?” Braun queried, hoping his simple question didn’t completely belie his complete ignorance on the subject.
Jasper grinned hugely, “Can’t decide which sex to be, or to be any sex at all.”
“Oh. I see.”
Jasper hooted, “I have to intro to you to my friend Thanes, id qualifies sort of as a herm, but id’s really more of a sexual morph. Great fun on a cold and lonely night.”
Braun simply looked at his cousin and refrained from commenting. He had only heard about the sexually morphing aliens on the religious beat. Most ministers of course claimed that the sexual morphs were created by the Devil to confuse the minds of good honest folks. They said other things about the herms, and pretty much clumped all different kinds of sexuality into the same lump that homosexuality had once had. As evil and ungodly. Braun, being raised by a more than worldly father had never heard his father belittle another for his or its sexual orientation, so Braun had never developed a hard bigoted attitude toward them either. But, that did not mean he was ready to experiment yet.
Jasper let his cousin alone and contented himself to watch at the preprogrammed tramcar taxied toward the right, and began to exit the mall ring. He noticed the change before his cousin did and having seen it countless times he no longer reacted to the view of the core-station looming in the darkness above. His cousin however had never seen this view though and gasped in awe that was tinged just a bit with a hint of fear. “What?”
Jasper pointed, “That’s the body of the station, we are only seeing the top part of it mind.”
Braun stared up at the thousands of lights illuminating the massive structure. It had seemed impressive from the transport but he now that he could make out so many more details the core was remarkable. “Incredible…but…I don’t understand…the Mall is mid level on the ring. How can we be seeing the core from the mid level?”
Jasper shrugged. “Its actually a projection. Projected along the entire surface of the arm. The station has four main arms attaching the ring to the body. Only the top level of the arm is the true view as the top of the arm has a clear cover. But this view is the same one visible there.”
The arm was only 1000 meters from the ring to the core body of the station. It was a very busy thoroughfare, with tramcars traveling to and fro. Some trams were carrying a dozen individuals, while others were smaller, holding only two occupants or as little as one. There were also people on foot, walking on designated paths which kept pedestrians separated from motored transports. Some of the foot traffic walked at there own pace, well others strolled along moving sidewalks. There were masses of individuals, a vast and colorful mixture of peoples of all ages from all over the neighboring galaxies. Many of the parties were ethically mixed, while a few were singular. Some groups were large and verbose; while others were small, to just a few individuals in number. All of which was fascinating to the uninitiated, which Braun very much was.
Though the son of a worldly and experienced diplomat, Braun had very little experience with aliens, having only seen them ever on the vid screens. His school hadn’t had any alien students, though he did know that there were aliens living on Earth. His community hadn’t had any alien residents either and being a place of little political influence it hadn’t been on any alien tours either. So this was Braun’s first true encounter with flesh and blood aliens.
Jasper leaned toward him and started making quiet introductions. “That group over there is the Calibrese. Its hard to tell at a glance which are the kids and which are the adults, but if you look closely you’ll see that most have spots on their faces and arms, they are kids. Adult Calibrese don’t have spots.” He was describing a clutch of teddy bear like creatures that came in a range of colors though most would also only come to his shoulder in height. Most of them had a wide range of spotted patterns on there furry faces and limbs and one would assume on their bodies to if they were visible, but the Calibrese were a rather modest species and tended to be covered from their necks to their ankles. They had great big furry feet, which they never covered, why when they were as good as boots in the coldest conditions. They also tended to keep their arms and heads uncovered, though around their arms they might wear decorative bands and bracelets. They were indeed like teddy bears, warm and cuddly seeming and rather cute.
“They look like Ewoks.” Braun remarked, smiling.
Jasper snorted, “Don’t let appearances fool you. The Calibrese might be cute and cuddly looking like the Ewoks of that old movie you like so much. But they aren’t. The Calibrese take offense easily and are probably one of the more aggressive races we have encountered.”
Braun gaped at him, “You’re kidding.”
Jasper shook his head, “No.”
“Then why…”
The older boy shrugged, “The Calibrese have brilliant minds. Their scientists are incredible. There are a few Calibrese teachers on the station too. Like a lot of alien species, the Calibrese are sending there young to learn how to integrate with other species. Basically, how to get along and understand that they aren’t being insulted but misunderstood.” Jasper moved on then, indicating a single individual.
“That gorgeous creature is an Androsian, one of those sexual morphs I spoke about.” He half rose and waved at a passing individual. Braun stared in fascination as id responded by bounding over the railing, causing an alarm to go off, and nimbly maneuvered around the tram-traffic to pull idself into their car. He felt himself blush as the stranger immediately snuggled into Jaspers arms and kissed him noisily, as Jasper laughed. While his cousin and the other were occupied Braun took a moment to appraise the bold new comer, and found that it was appealing all right.
The Androsian was pretty much scantily clad in a lacy halter, and short shorts. Ids feet were incased in wrapped on sandals and id had bangles jangling around both ids wrists and ankles. Ids skin was a rich milky blue shade with indigo stripes that were outlined in pewter and Braun also suspected were enhanced with some kind of glittering makeup. Ids hair was a glossy shade of magenta, which could not possibly be real, and ids toe and finger claws (not nails) were painted a rich gold shade. Ids shape was basically humanoid, a tad slimmer perhaps but not unpleasant to look at, not at all.
Finally Jasper pushed his enthusiastic friend back and the stranger, grinning cheekily now turned ids considerable charms upon Braun. Braun could only stare, the stripes on ids body continued around the edge of ids face, these stripes were more delicate of course as they basically followed the hairline, leaving the face itself bare of them. Eyes very like a cats, but of no color that a cat had ever had sized him up, and from the approval in those violet depths did not find him wanting. Thick magenta eyelashes framed those remarkable eyes, drawing all other eyes to ids face, which was very admirable indeed. The face could have been either male or female, though those eyes with the hint of gold glitter on the lids should have only belonged to a female. The nose was small, and very like a humans, fine and straight with delicate nostrils. The brow was smooth and unmarred, the eyebrows fine and slightly darker then the hair on the Androsian’s beautiful head. The shape of ids face was a perfect oval, with a small proud chin placed beneath a generous mouth the color of rich burgundy wine.
“Who’s this?” The Androsian asked, idly stroking one slim hand against Braun’s cheek.
“Play nice Thanes…”Jasper warned with a hint of amusement in his rich voice. “This is my cousin Braun.”
Thanes pretty mouth curved up in a delighted smile, “Why yes, you have spoken of him. He’s just lovely Jasper. Look at all that lovely honey hair. And those – how you say? – Baby blue eyes.”
Braun had no where to retreat to when the Androsian cupped both ids graceful hands around his face and leaned forward, delivering a heart pounding welcoming that had his mouth aching and his mind reeling. As Thanes eased back id murmured huskily, “Well come Braun. Well come indeed gorgeous one.”
Braun was very much blushing when Thanes happily contented idself again by snuggling on Jasper’s lap. Jasper had a hint of something gleaming in his eyes as he looked at his cousin and tucked his arms somewhat possessively about the Androsian’s slim waist. Something that might hint at jealously perhaps, Braun wondered. Braun, still blushing decided that Thanes was not a comfortable thing to look at right now, he heard his cousin playfully growl “You’re such a slut, Thanes…” as he once again forced himself to watch the masses of peoples go by.
After a moment though he was drawn back by the conversation going on beside him.
Thanes was playfully saying, “You won’t believe who your new dorm-mates are Jasper. You’ll just be pickled pink.”
“That’s tickled pink,” Jasper fondly corrected, smiling at his cousin, “and besides Braun, who else is moving into my dorm?”
Thanes glanced at Braun and smiled sumptuously, “I peeked at the new arrivals list on the Deans desk…”
“And why were you in the Dean’s office?” Jasper interrupted, unable to keep the amusement out of his silky voice.
Thanes raised ids graceful shoulders in a careless shrug and tucked ids slim striped arms about Jaspers neck, blinking innocently, “You know me…” seemed to be all the explanation required.
Jasper chuckled, “You’re right, I do.”
Thanes pushed playfully at ids friends amused face and scolded, “Quit interrupting me Jasper. Can’t you see I’m trying to tell Braun something?”
Jasper leaned back, appearing to relax his hold on Thanes, and smiled indulgently, “Go ahead, finish your story.”
Thanes straightened and continued with ids story with a smart, “Thank you!” thrown in for effect. “Anyway, as I was saying you’ll never believe it. I can barely believe it. Twenty years ago he was the reason your people and his even went to war. And now, he’s a student here in this school. Isn’t that incredible?”
Both humans stared at Thanes now, waiting for id to divulge the juicy information id had learned so recently. But Thanes was a great one for games, and loved to nurse things to the fullest extent to get the best reaction from them. Thanes knew that Jasper had the patience to out-wait it, he having done so with great success many times before. But the other was an unknown factor to id and Thanes was willing to bet that Braun had yet to learn how to play the game. By the way Braun squirmed and the color rose on his handsome young face Thanes knew id was correct.
Jasper though was the one to spoil Thanes fun, “Enough Thanes, spill it.”
Thanes pouted for a moment, then ever quick to recover id revealed gleefully, “Vondale T’Ranos Nis Vales Nis Zagren is officially a student of the Academy.”
Jasper sucked in a breath, but Braun just looked puzzled, the name was not unknown to him, but he did not place it with anyone he should know. Thanes was positively glowing though and continued anyway. “Oh, he is just as gorgeous as the vids promised he would be. Just wait until you see the face and body that caused a 20 years war. Troy’s Helen for the new age.”
Braun shook his head and looked at his cousin. Jasper, he saw, was looking very thoughtful. “I don’t understand, who is Von Dale T Nis whatever?”
Thanes exclamation could only be described as shocked amusement. “Vondale T’Ranos Nis Vales Nis Zagren.” Id corrected with barely controlled laughter.
Jasper placed his fingers over Thanes’ pretty mouth before id could speak again and admonished, “Be quiet you.” Thanes’ beautiful eyes continued to sparkle with glee above Jasper’s silencing hand just the same even as it settled back against ids friend to let Jasper tell the story.
“In school you would have known of him as Vondale Vales,” Jasper began, noting the glimmer of knowledge that lit in his cousin’s eyes. “The Androsian have no trouble with the Qazori language, so of course Thanes can say that name with out any problem. Vondale Vales was the reason the Qazori and we fought a war for 20 years. He murdered Councilor Tarl Castle, but his people refused to give him up to the human authorities to face judgment. There were a lot of mistakes made on both sides. Ours ended up kidnapping Vondale and sentencing him with out the benefit of his own people being there to defend him. They took him back. And we went to war. I was born five years after it ended.”
Thanes moved out from under Jasper’s hand, “Vondale was just an infant.” He stated
“From all accounts he was seventeen years old when he seduced and then murdered Councilor Castle. Old enough to know what he was doing.” Jasper refuted.
Thanes huffed, “You humans, still so fixated on standard years. You know that I am twice your age in standard human years and yet physically I am of an age with you. You know this to be true?”
“Well…yeah?” Jasper muttered, trying to avoid Thanes’ pointed gaze.
Thanes cuddled close to Jasper and murmured throatily, “If you can believe I am your age when by standard years I am not, why can you not believe Vondale truly was a child when your Councilor Castle assaulted him. A child who, admittedly, lethally defended himself. Besides which, has he not paid the ultimate price? His people went to war for him; they killed and destroyed because of him. Do you think he sleeps easily knowing the lives he cost? On both sides.”
Jasper remained silent and Braun returned his thoughtful gaze to the passersby. Thanes strokes ids hands down along the strong planes of Jaspers face and was content to be quiet for a few more minutes.
It was Jasper who finally continued, “At any rate. Whether he was guilty or not. A child or not. All charges were summarily dropped against him when the peace accord was signed and there can no longer be any legal retaliation against him.” He slid his hand up under the lacey fabric of Thanes skimpy halter top and rubbed his friend’s back soothingly. He seemed lost in thought for a moment, lost in the sensation of touch and warmth that was his close friend snuggled so unconcernedly against him. He glanced at Braun and for a moment, a very slim moment, he wondered if he should not let Thanes sprawl ids delectable self all over him. Then he decided against that train of thought, knowing that his cousin would have to adapt as best he could.
Images of a Qazori who had come close to demoralizing the human race (They had been forced nearly back to Earth and her inner colonies by the greater fire power of the more militarily advanced Qazori) revolved around his head and he thought about the shocking turn of events. A Qazori as hated by humans as that one had been would not have an easy transition here. Even though the Academy preached tolerance and respect, many of the human students attending here now had parents, grandparents, relatives and siblings that had fought in that long war. Many of those students had lost relatives in that war. In the alien quarter of course the Qazori were quite respected, as having some of the greatest minds in the known universe. Qazori produced exceptional scientists, doctors, philosophers, chemists, designers, and botanists and still managed to be, oddly enough, a non-aggressive species from an agrarian society.
The war was more than twenty years past now, but there were still humans who saw Qazori as a war hungry power mongering species bent on universal conquest. That they had not used chemical warfare (though they had the skill for it) hadn’t entered many a human’s bigoted mind. That, during the war, when the Qazori took a Human colony they treated their prisoners with honour and dignity was conveniently forgotten. That they had always dealt honorably with humans no one ever wanted to remember. The Qazori teachers had found themselves in debates about the war many times. They had always calmly offered proof and examples of how well human prisoners of war had been treated in comparison to the Qazori prisoners, who often had been tortured. Qazori colonies and outposts had been destroyed. Even in their greatest fury the Qazori had been unable to see themselves completely destroying a battleship or station or colony that refused to surrender, they would end up block-aiding it instead. Qazori had even been known to back off when it seemed that the humans intended to fight to the death. No Qazori could say the same about what had happened to their own colonies stations and battleships under human attack. Most Colonies, Stations and ships that had lost against human attack had been lost for good. No survivors. It was a bitter pill that the Qazori still swallowed.
And now, in their own midst, the Qazori who had caused it all. He would be a celebrity of the worst sort. Infamous instead of famous. Notorious rather than renowned. Thanes said that the Qazori had been a child, all records of that time indicated that the Qazori had been a youth of over 17 years. Thanes said that the Qazori had been the victim, all-human records revealed the Qazori to be the seducer. Thanes said that the Qazori had defended himself; all recorded showed that the Qazori had committed murder. Even having sued for peace and having declared all charges invalid there would be those who would not want to forgive. Could he? He who had never been affected by the war? He who had been born after it? He glanced at his cousin and he wondered, ‘what does Braun think of all this?’
Braun was wracking his brain and trying to remember what he had been taught about the war and Vondale Vales. He remembered being presented evidence that heavily favored the human side of the story. He knew that for matters of peace that the real truth had been wrapped up in the facts, but he did not recall learning anything important about Vondale Vales except that he had killed an important person and it was because of him that there had been a war that spanned a human generation. He wasn’t sure what he thought or how it might affect him and his. He didn’t see how it mattered anyway, since this new student staying in their dorm had to be at least middle aged by now and hardly a threat to anyone.
He ceased to wonder about this new challenge in his immediate life though because it was clear that their car was approaching some kind of security gate and it was slowing on its own. Thanes casually slid off Jasper’s lap and snuggled happily between the cousins, knowing how utterly delectable id had to look between these two good-looking youths. Id smiled demurely at the security officer who approached their transport and waved a friendly greeting. “Hyla, Briscoe Ben.”
At his side Jasper added his own greeting, “Good morning Ben, how are you doing?”
Benjamin Briscoe, a big well made man who had been in security for most of his life since the war’s end nodded at the youths and scolded, “Was that you Thanes who set off the alarm?”
Thanes gave ids best innocent could do no wrong expression and looked positively affronted. “I would never break a rule Briscoe Ben.”
Ben grinned, “Right.” He looked to the other boy in the car, noting his vague resemblance to Jasper and nodded his head in formal greeting. “Hello, I have been expecting you. You are Braun De Lorian correct?”
Braun nodded back and presented his Ident Card to the official. Ben slipped the cards mag-strip into his reader and confirmed the new comers identity. He nodded as he handed the card back to Braun and explained. “Until we get to know you make sure you present your Ident Card with your Pass when ever you leave or enter Academy grounds. Also anytime tomorrow and on go to Platinum Blue Security for you pass. Welcome to the Silver Arms. Now I trust your cousin here will tell you a few of the Academy rules but just incase he forgets let me give you a quick crash course. The Academy grounds are open to Guests only when accompanied by you and with proper ID, or in the Case of parents and family, that being different circumstances all together. Since Academy hours are different for every zone you will have to find out when you can and cannot have guests. No over night guests are permitted that is according to standard time of course. And if you find yourself outside the Academy at curfew get yourself to a security station immediately which will see you safely back to your dorm. Now try not to do that to often or you’ll find your pass restricted. Do well, progress and behave and you’ll enjoy plenty of free time and privilege.”
Thanes chose that moment to stretch sensually across Braun and purr, “Oh, don’t worry Briscoe Ben, Braun will behave. Won’t you Braun?”
Braun felt himself starting to blush again, he just couldn’t quite figure Thanes out. Jasper barely contained a snort of laughter and chided tightly, “Thanes! Behave yourself!”
Thanes, with laughter sparkling in ids lovely eyes slid easily back between both youths once more and retorted, “I always behave myself.”
Jasper did choke on laughter then, Thanes rolled ids eyes and thumped Jaspers back, then leaned across Braun once again to share a secret rather loudly with Ben, “He thinks to be my Boyfriend. I wonder if he be strong enough. Weak lungs you know. No stamina.”
Jasper snorted and snatched Thanes back against him, “I’ll show you stamina you little…”
Thanes laughed happily and cuddled right against him. “Ummm, maybe you do have enough stamina for me.”
Ben rolled his own eyes and snorted, “Move along then.”
Once again the tram picked up speed and now moved into another area all together. It looked…palatial to Braun’s wondering eyes. Not cold and utilitarian like so many schools were but majestic and at the same time approachable. Of course this was but one area of the school and because it was a hub of the wheel of the station it was also a very busy thoroughfare. There were signs in many languages indicating directions and pointing to maps and floor plans. On each corner of the broad thoroughfare there were office life structures, all of which seemed to house some kind of security facility. Four arms of the wheel intersected here, some traffic kept going, using the academy access merely for passage to the other side, but a lot of it was turning off, some people getting out of trams while others were guiding there trams onto what looked like huge elevators. There were hanging walkways above the road, for pedestrians to safely pass over the heavily trafficked thoroughfare. Braun had thought that the mall level had seemed packed, but that did not compare to the noise and activity here. He slunk down into the seat and closed his eyes tightly while he though seriously about controlling his breathing before he found himself getting horribly sick. He had never been claustrophobic before, but he had never seen anything like this before either.
His cousin squeezed his shoulder encouragingly and murmured soothingly, “It does get better. The hub-levels are naturally busier because they are pretty much to only access to school or visa versa to the ring. It gets much quieter in the school itself and the dorms are really very pleasant. Students also don’t have to travel thru these areas when moving from class to class, or from dorm to dorm or any of the recreation areas either. We have are own transports that bypasses all of this.”
Braun was still frightfully aware of his state of nausea though and swallowing tensely asked, “Do we have to get out here?”
Jasper had already signaled the lift for the tram to take up and the vehicle was moving into position even as he reassured his cousin. “We’ll take a lift up to the first level and get of there. The first level is all pedestrian traffic anyway as it the garden level. It’s really beautiful up there and I think it will sooth your upset stomach.”
Braun blushed with shame, hating to think that Jasper thought he was weak, but Jasper didn’t think that at all, and after a moment he was feeling a bit better when Jasper assured him, “Trust me, I know what your going thru Braun, I was sick for days when I first came here, I couldn’t go near the thoroughfares and was practically confined to the dorm because of it.”
Thanes nodded gravely, “I too was mighty sick when I came. We Androsian not so many I think. Androsia lovely place, but our population not overwhelming. We thinks you humans breed too much. Hard on us Aliens to adjust to so much peoples.”
Jasper grinned, “Being confined to the Dorms had its perks though…right Thanes?”
Thanes smiled. “Oh yes. Perks aplenty.”
Braun guessed than that being confined to the dorms due to the claustrophobia that made them nauseous had been how Jasper and Thanes had met each other and how their friendship had grown so intimate. Now that they were moving on the lift he felt a bit more comfortable and he ventured, “But you are from different dorms aren’t you?”
Thanes nodded, “Ayup, Jasper is in Platinum Blue, where you are also now. I am in Indigo White.”
Braun was about to speak again when the lift settled and a door seemed to slide open on a garden. He opened his mouth, closed it again, and finally glanced at his cousin and his companion. Jasper smiled, “Come on, this is where we get off, the tram will go back down with us.”
The three of them climbed out, and two other students passed them as they were leaving, obviously intending to ride the car down to some other level. They smiled and spoke easily to Jasper as they passed, one said something to Thanes which had id laughing in its sultry voice then they had passed each other and the door was closing behind them as the garden opened before them. Here like on the mall level were four connecting thoroughfares. But unlike the lower levels, here the traffic was on foot or at best on scooters. Braun even gapped in awe as a couple people, he assumed students, rode past on elegant riding horses. Because the traffic here was slower the paths were not broad and straight but tended the meander around islands of gardens and small woodlands, forcing people into smaller more companionable groups that fostered harmony. There was music playing, in the center of the concourse, which would have been a traffic jam on any other level was a band shell and apparently something was going on there right now.
Jasper glanced toward the band shell and said knowingly, “Tristan is showing off again.”
Thanes nodded ids agreement, and since Braun had no idea what or who Tristan was, he chose to make no comment at all. Jasper started off, saying, “this way.” and Braun had no real choice except to follow where Jasper led.
Jasper led them into one of the four corner security areas. This one was manned with an assortment of beings, humans and others, all in matching or nearly matching uniforms, but each made very different by there own physical appearance. For Braun it was almost over load when he saw an insectoid alien that looked shockingly similar to the preying-mantises back at home, though this one was over six feet tall, as it handed a vid-pad to human and the two of them went walking off with the human obviously and easily understanding the mantis’ chittering words. His eyes must have been the size of saucers for the security officer who met him at the gate smiled compassionately and said, “Your first day is always the hardest. That, by the way, was Nixtixatiqin, she is the top security officer of Green Seven.”
“Green Seven?” Jasper asked aloud, “Is she on special assignment?”
The officer shrugged, “We have some high security requirements to deal with and Nixtixatiqin is the top in her field. She coordinating security for a – new comer.”
Jasper frowned, “But I thought we don’t get individual security. I mean isn’t that against the Academies policy?”
Thanes, crossed ids arms over its slim arms and murmured thoughtfully, “I am betting this extra security is for Vondale Ranos Nis Vales Nis Zagren.”
The officer laid aside his vid-pad and peered thoughtfully at the young Androsian, “How do you know about that?”
Thanes looked at him boldly and said with out concern, “I saw the new admissions list on the Dean’s desk.”
The officer smiled ruefully, “There it seems is one of our biggest security challenges. Dean Braitle just doesn’t put things away properly.”
Jasper snorted, “And Thanes doesn’t mind ids own business.”
Not in the least insulted, Thanes countered smoothly, “The academy business is my business too.”
The officer just shook his head and signaled that they could move along. Usually for students already processed thru the system they would have just passed with out stopping, by just running the mag-strip of their passes through the scanner as the moved to the lifts. The scanner had the capacity to handle a hundred scans a minute and there were twelve banks of them in this area alone. Passage thru was always very quick and orderly. But because Braun did not yet have his pass card he had to present his Ident Card, which of course look a bit longer. That and seeing the strange alien sights and speaking to the officer had slowed them up a bit, but this was no race after all.
They mounted another lift, one of many and Jasper merely said, “Platinum Blue.” The lift began to rise and seats slid out of the sides for them to sit on. Braun had been expecting a short ride, but Jasper disabused him of that misconception. “It’s a 10 minute climb from here and then another 6 minutes to Platinum Blue. You better sit down.”
After a moment the lift cleared the hub and only the back wall remained solid seeming. The rest of the lift became nearly transparent and now offered a view of the ring and the star spangled blackness of space beyond. Braun forgot to be afraid as he watched the ring and the movement of commercial and passenger ships moving to and away from the ship. He noticed one docking port on the ring and wondered if that had been where his transport had landed. Jasper stood beside him and explained. “There are four docking bays on the ring, they are mainly for passenger transport. The real unloading docks are far below.”
“Oh.” Braun flinched a moment later when they moved with in the station again. It made him a bit dizzy so that he was grateful for his cousin’s steady support. Jasper murmured, “The lift moves in a straight line as it goes up, but the ship does not, it will go in and out of the ship fairly regularly. You’ll get used to this too. Look, were out again. See, look at the Darque Nebula. Isn’t is beautiful?”
Braun opened his eyes and allowed himself to concentrate on the nebula in question. It was a vast midnight cloud, which he would not have called beautiful before, but he realized that he had to been seeing it from a different angle for he could now see other colors and even wandering flashes of light, as if lightning was illuminating different areas of it. Now it was dark in some areas while light and ephemeral in others and some of it did steal his breath. Yes, he decided, it is beautiful in a very…visceral way.
In and out of the ship the lift moved, giving Braun moments of intense visual beauty staggered with moments of mind settling quiet. Then the motion of the lift settled again and Braun was aware that the upward sensation had changed to a sideward sensation, they were now moving into the body of the station itself and no longer traveling along its undulating exterior. Here for a while there was nothing to see, then they slowed as they passed thru a waiting area with signs indicating this was Platinum Green. Thru this area they continued. Braun supposed if anyone had been going the direction they were headed that the lift turned transport would have stopped all together and accepted other borders, but the waiting area had only a couple of students that were heading out of it and none coming into it. They moved out of the Platinum Green waiting room and continued on, three more waiting rooms passed, some with more individuals in it but again none appearing to want to board their transport. Finally the lift arrived at a waiting room that’s sign indicated Platinum Blue Dorm. Here there were a few others and as they debarked the transport four boarded, the four, consisting of one human and the rest alien murmured greetings as they passed, but Braun was to overwhelmed by his bizarre day to respond. Jasper and Thanes seemed to take care of that, and then the two of them were taking him in hand and leading him out of the waiting area and into the dorm.