Frontier: Book One - The Space Cadets Read online

  “What happened?”

  “We don’t know for sure, but Raj had to be returned to Earth for treatment.”

  “How do you know it was him?”

  “They don’t send too many shuttles down to Earth, and Bennett was on the same one. His records at the school were instantly erased, like he’d never been here.”

  “And now he’s back?”

  Seamus sighed. “And up to his same old tricks, it seems. Was there a girl with him?”

  “Lim?”

  “Yeah, that’s her,” said Seamus. “Victoria Lim. That girl’s nastier than a bag of ferrets.”

  “She’s the one that cut you, isn’t she?” asked Patrice. “Bennett would never be so stupid as to get his hands dirty. No offense.”

  “None taken,” said Aisha, understanding what he meant. “What’s her story? She’s Asian, why would she be with a racist like him?”

  “Racist?”

  Aisha explained what he had said to her, and how he had tricked her into a response using that word.

  “She’s an unusual creature,” said Seamus. “Her family were emigrants to the UK from Hong Kong. She was born in England, in Dorchester. Because of the money her parents were able to make in the UK, she lived a life of privilege. She associated all the good things she had with being British, and by extension, her family had left all the bad behind in China.”

  Patrice sighed. “She’s the perfect companion for someone like him. Someone who leaves behind all that she is in a desire to be more like him. It’s a reaffirmation of his perceived superiority.”

  Aisha shook her head, and Soo-Kyung punched her gently on the shoulder. “Hold still or this wound will get worse. I’m going to give you some stitches now, okay?”

  She felt the cold spray of anesthetic on her scalp, as Soo-Kyung got to work.

  “I have some expertise in Martial arts, including the bo, which is very popular amongst the older children,” said Patrice.

  “Bennett,” said Seamus, “is really good at it, too.”

  “Not as good as me,” said Patrice.

  “I’m not going to let you fight him for me,” said Aisha, defiantly.

  Patrice smiled his kind smile. “I know,” he said. “But you are going to let me help you learn how to use it, so you can defend yourself against him in the future.”

  “And I know a thing or two as well,” said Soo-Kyung, as she put the finishing touches on some liquid sutures. “Wound is clean and stitched up. It’ll likely sting for a while, but I don’t think your brain leaked out.”

  “So you’re going to teach me to fight?”

  “I’m going to teach you to defend yourself, there’s a difference.”

  She could see the seriousness in his eyes. She never thought she’d find that kind of thing attractive, always thinking that she wanted a guy that would make her laugh. But whenever she looked into his eyes when he was like this, she just wanted to get lost.

  She felt a tap on the top of her head from Soo-Kyung, presumably asking her to stop drooling.

  “When do we start?”

  “Tomorrow,” said Patrice.

  “Why not right now?”

  “Because you’ve taken a blow to the head. You should rest.”

  “That’s no fun.”

  “Learning to fight isn’t fun either.”

  “I thought I was learning to defend myself,” she said, mimicking his voice.

  Seamus covered his mouth with his hand and snickered. “She got you there, Buddy!”

  Aisha laughed, covering her mouth, and trying not to cry again. She remembered the despair that she had felt earlier in the day, the desire to go home.

  And then she realized that home was here with these crazy people. Soo-Kyung, a member of the North Korean elite; Seamus, an Irish hacker; and Patrice, the kind of person she always thought that she would hate: Rich, white and privileged. But instead he was kind and warm and good. She looked at him and a warmth radiated from her heart.

  Is this what they call love, she wondered, before Soo-Kyung insisted that the boys stay for dinner.

  Chapter 13

  Friendship

  Love can be such a powerful force, and such a fickle feeling. Before you ever find love, you will wonder what it is, and there are many emotions, many states of mind that you might confuse with love.

  Don’t fall for words of love. Words without actions to back them up are meaningless. Don’t be a fool for flattery.

  Don’t fall for promises of love. Love is present in the here and now. If someone loves you, they love you now, not sometime in a nebulous future.

  Above all, don’t fall for mere feelings of love, feelings come and go, and can be fooled.

  You’ll know when the time is right and the person is right. He won’t be one that you want to be the one, he’ll just ‘be’ the one.

  Love is an action, and the ultimate action is sacrifice. When you find the one that would lay his life down for you, and you would lay yours down for him, you’ll have found love...

  “They are called black bean noodles, and they are a comfort food in Korea,” said Soo-Kyung as Aisha tried to manipulate the inky, sticky mess onto a pair of chopsticks. Patrice was looking at his suspiciously, but Seamus was slurping them down like a pro.

  “Well, South Korea anyway. We used to smuggle the packaged ones across the border into my country. Cheap, nasty stuff, but comfort food nonetheless,” she smiled as she ate a mouthful. Some dangled like a helpless squid before she bit through them, letting remainders land on the plate.

  Aisha sniffed hers. Despite the dark color, they smelled sweet, almost like caramel. There were small black bits mixed throughout the sauce.

  “It’s just chopped meat and vegetables,” said Seamus. “It’s good!”

  Patrice took a little bite. His expression changed from one of surprise to delight. “It is good! Where did you get this?”

  Soo-Kyung shrugged. “There weren’t a whole lot of them in my country, so we had to smuggle them in, like I said. I figured there’d be less in space, so I packed some of the ingredients to make them here myself.”

  Patrice put his bowl down. “I can’t eat them, then. You can’t have a lot, and it’s precious to you.”

  Soo-Kyung rolled her eyes. “Don’t be silly, a pleasure shared is a pleasure doubled, right?”

  Patrice blushed and reached again for the bowl. “I’m glad you said that,” he finally admitted. “I’m starving and didn’t want to give up good food!”

  Aisha realized she was the only one not eating. “Go on,” said Soo-Kyung. “It won’t hurt you. Maybe a bit messy, but that’s part of the charm.”

  “I’m not very good with chopsticks,” she said finally.

  “Then use your fingers,” said Patrice, putting his chopsticks down again and using his fingers so she wouldn’t be alone. Instantly, his hands were covered in black goo. He slurped the noodles down, and then licked his fingers.

  “Go on, what are you waiting for? If I can do it…”

  Aisha laughed and dug in. Seamus was right. They were good. And it was nice to have a taste from home, even if it was somebody else’s, instead of the endless supply of mess-hall food.

  ***

  Once Aisha had had a few days to recover, Soo-Kyung had booked one of the exercise rooms, and cleared it out to make a dojo. Together, she and Aisha had laid out mats.

  “I will teach you basic self-defense,” she said, “before you work with Patrice. I know you can’t wait to get your hands on him, but you can work with me first.”

  Aisha blushed. Soo-Kyung only smiled more.

  “It’s okay,” she said. “Your secret is safe with me.”

  “I’m not so sure it’s a secret anymore,” Aisha replied, quietly.

  “You are bigger than I,” said Soo-Kyung, “and stronger. I would have no hope against you in close combat -- if it were just a question of mass.”

  There was something about the way Soo-Kyung moved, a confidence and li
theness about her that Aisha hadn’t noticed before.

  “Okay,” she said, grabbing the front of Aisha’s uniform. She twisted her wrists, bent her knees and turned at the hip. Suddenly Aisha felt herself being flung to the ground. The smaller girl had thrown her like she was a toy. She had done it with enough control so that Aisha didn’t get hurt.

  Soo-Kyung laughed a little, and reached out a hand to pick Aisha up.

  “It’s just physics,” she said. “It’s the concept of a lever. These allow you to exert a large force over distance by applying a small force at the right place. My arms are the levers.”

  Soo-Kyung twisted her hips like earlier. “So when I twist my hips like this, I can turn your own weight against you. Now, you try.”

  “But I’m bigger than you.”

  “It doesn’t matter. You aren’t strong enough to pick me up and throw me, are you?”

  Aisha shrugged. Gripping Soo-Kyung the same way she had been gripped, she twisted her wrists and turned from the hips in the same way. Nothing happened.

  She pulled harder, and lifted Soo-Kyung a little, but by turning she lost balance and fell, pulling Soo-Kyung down on top of her.

  “Am I interrupting something?”

  They turned to look at the source of the voice: Patrice.

  Soo-Kyung lifted herself off Aisha and nimbly jumped to her feet. Patrice smiled and reached down. Aisha took his hand, and he effortlessly lifted her to her feet.

  “Nice effort,” he said. “But you need to work on it.”

  So Aisha grabbed the lapels of his uniform, flicked her wrists and twisted at the hip. The expression of surprise on his face as she threw him to the ground was perfect.

  ***

  For the next few weeks, life continued apace in the Academy, and things began to take on a feeling of normalcy. Aisha was even beginning to enjoy her classes, especially the science and math ones, at which she excelled.

  The highlight of each week was when Simms took them flying. While others, such as Soo-Kyung and Ronaldo, were extremely effective flyers that Aisha could never hope to match, she did seem to have a knack for strategy. Simms regularly called upon her to command groups of flyers against ones that he set up.

  At first, his teams won easily. But, over time, she began to see how he thought, and how he did things. That was his weakness -- his predictability.

  The first time she beat him, it was a tough slog and narrow victory. After that, the wins came easier and easier, until he didn’t seem to be much of a challenge anymore.

  Her sessions with Patrice were also extremely rewarding. Not only was she learning a lot about self-defense, she also found herself growing in confidence as she understood the art better. She remembered the first day that Soo-Kyung had shown her basic throws, and how the smaller girl had held herself. Now she felt more comfortable in her stance.

  She hadn’t yet dared go into the mess hall, but she knew the day was coming soon.

  Patrice became more and more interesting every moment she spent with him. He was certainly a very masculine guy, but not the cliché musclebound moron that she’d known around her old school. It went beyond intelligence, too -- there was something deeply insightful about him. When he began to share his hopes and dreams for the future with her, she realized that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.

  Far from the privileged rich kid, he was humble, he was caring, and he knew about the things that mattered in the world. She had hated talking with rich kids in the past, stuck in their little self-absorbed bubbles. But he wasn’t like that.

  He clapped her on the side of the head with his bo. It had a huge set of pads on the end, which softened the impact of any hit. The pads also added weight, and therefore momentum and force to any attack.

  “Wake up,” he said, smiling. “You’re daydreaming again.”

  “Sorry about that,” she replied, before doing a spin move that caught him on the back of his leg, buckling it and sinking him to one knee. Turning again, she got him on the back of the head, knocking him flat. “Who’s daydreaming now?”

  He laughed. That was one of the things she was beginning to love about him. She had just humiliated him, but he was good-natured enough to know that she had succeeded. That it wasn’t about him. It was about her.

  She returned his smile and helped him up.

  Then she heard the sound of a slow clap. Sebastian stood in the door, mocking applause. “Utter crap,” he said slowly, smirking towards Patrice. Lim was in tow, mockingly watching Aisha.

  But Patrice, credit to him, didn’t take the bait. He ignored Sebastian and returned to his fighting stance, facing Aisha.

  This time, Sebastian wouldn’t allow himself to be ignored. Standing between them, he faced down Patrice. “I’ve beaten everybody in this school except you,” he said. “Because you are too scared to fight me.”

  “If you insist.”

  “Don’t mock me. Don’t brush me off.”

  Patrice said nothing, and just met the other boy’s eyes. He dropped his bo, and stood straight.

  “You will fight me,” said Sebastian, his eyes icy cool. “I’ll make sure of it.”

  Taking Lim’s arm, he swept out of the room. Aisha caught her eye as they left, and Lim smiled a frozen smile.

  ***

  Aisha lay in bed, unable to sleep and not knowing why. She flicked on her window and set it to show scenes from Canada.

  His country.

  She looked at the beautiful city of Vancouver, a city on the water with grey/green skyscrapers soaring into the sky, looking like they came straight out of a science-fiction movie. Beyond to British Columbia and the dramatic mountains. She looked at scenes of people skiing past snow ghosts, of kids playing hockey on outdoor frozen rinks.

  Could this be in my future, she wondered as she slipped into a peaceful, happy sleep.

  Chapter 14

  Conflict

  Mahatma Gandhi once said, ‘An eye for an eye would make the whole world blind’, which is a wonderful, peaceful, sentiment.

  But if you aren’t willing to poke out your enemy’s eye, then only you will be blind, and he, fully sighted, will be encouraged and empowered to continue in his oppression of you.

  So, if your enemy tries to take out your eye, don’t take out his. Take off his entire head, and make sure he can never hurt you again...

  Having practiced with Patrice and Soo-Kyung, attending the fighting contests took a new interest for Aisha.

  “You shouldn’t,” said Patrice. “Not yet. You don’t want to be called out.”

  “Called out?”

  “It’s common. If you are present, and someone calls you out, you really should fight them. And while you’ve learned and grown a lot, you aren’t yet ready.”

  “Can’t I just say ‘No’?”

  “Sure,” he said, pausing a little, “but if you do, you have no chance of earning any respect with the older kids. You need them on your side if you’re to get around this Sebastian thing.”

  “Has he ever called you out?”

  “Never.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he knows he will lose.”

  “That’s not how he sounded yesterday.”

  “He’s all talk,” said Patrice. But he didn’t sound as sure of himself as he usually did.

  “I still want to go,” insisted Aisha.

  “I can’t stop you, but I can only ask you not to.”

  His words were on Aisha’s mind all day, and she couldn’t focus on her classes. Why did he want to prevent her from going to the fights? What if she took someone on, and lost? There was no shame in that. And if she put up a good fight, she’d earn a lot of respect. And just like the combat simulations with Simms -- if she only ever practiced against one person, then she’d only ever be good at combat with that person.

  She resolved to go. There was open competition in the makeshift dojo that night.

  Then she remembered Patrice, and his face full of concern telling he
r that she shouldn’t. She didn’t want to let him down, but--

  “Wake up,” said Soo-Kyung. “You’re a light year away.”

  “Sorry,” said Aisha. “I just don’t know what to do.”

  “Do what your heart tells you.”

  “It tells me conflicting things.”

  “Then sort them out, but keep your brain focused on your proper work.”

  As always Soo-Kyung was right. Annoyingly so. Aisha sighed. Whatever would she do?

  ***

  I’m going to regret this, she thought as she slipped out the apartment. Soo-Kyung was in the shower, so she could be at her destination before her friend suspected anything.

  She’d slip in the back and find a discrete spot just to watch. It should be easy.

  Sure enough, the room was full, and the open space was divided into four areas where students would match up against each other using the padded bos.

  Sebastian was nowhere to be seen. She felt a little vindicated,

  The concept was simple. Win, and you stay on the mat. Lose, and you go to the back of the challengers line. Some of the challengers were hopelessly overmatched and barely lasted a few seconds against their attackers.

  One boy, David, was amazing. His speed was unmatched. Even Patrice would look slow up against him. He also exuded calm -- watching his opponent, measuring them, and figuring out the combination that would take them down. He then executed flawlessly, taking them out of the fight effortlessly. His skills were apparent in his ability to simply apply the correct amount of force to take out his opponent. No more, no less. And he was always perfect.

  Challenger after challenger faced him, and each was taken out with machine-like precision.

  She must not have noticed Sebastian coming in, but suddenly he was at the front of the line. David smiled, and took up his defensive stance, treating Sebastian like any other. The other bouts finished, and all eyes were on this matchup.

  Word must have gotten around the school, because more and more people poured in to watch. Aisha found herself being pushed to the front.