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Fledgling
...A Liaden Universe® Adventure
by
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
...the story of Theo Waitley and how she came to have a "kind of complicated" problem to lay before the delm of Korval.
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Chapter Nine
"Four Team Three is the next to lowest ranked team
in Fourth Form," Roni said, loudly, as they left their Ready Room for
the first class of the day. "Why do you think that is, Theo?"
You know better than to answer that, Theo told herself, and bit her lip. Roni wasn't just bad at consensus, sometimes it seemed like she was actively against --
"I guess you never earned the Team a down," Kartor said, hotly. Theo blinked. Kartor never got into arguments.
"'course I have," Roni snapped. "But even you have to admit that five in one day is ...exceptional."
Kartor's ears turned red. "What's that supposed to --"
"Casting blame is antisocial," Lesset spoke
up. "We're a team; we're supposed to help each other." She
stared at Kartor, which was, Theo thought, trying to ignore the knot in
her stomach, not fair. Kartor hadn't started the argument.
"Are we supposed to pretend that we don't know which
member of our team is pulling the rest of us down with her?" Roni
rounded on Lesset, her chin and shoulders pushed forward. "We're
supposed to practice intellectual honesty, aren't we?" She threw
a nasty look over her shoulder at Theo. "And advertency."
Theo felt a rush of heat, and looked down to make sure of her footing as she mounted the belt.
"That's aggressive, Roni," Estan said sternly. Next to him Anj smiled absently and nodded.
"That's all right," said a cool, amused voice that
Theo barely recognized as her own. "She's just grateful because,
without me, she'd be the one who'd earned the most downs for the team. Isn't that right, Roni?"
Kartor laughed, Lesset gasped, Estan looked stern, Anj kept on smiling.
Roni's face turned an interesting sort of purple-red
color; her lips parted. Theo watched her interestedly, wondering
what she would say next.
But apparently Roni thought better of taking the
argument further. She closed her mouth and faced front, shoulders
stiff.
Theo took a shaky, secret breath, and looked out at
the passing corridor, pretending not to see Estan frowning at her.
In spite of the acrimonious start, the rest of the
day went smoothly for Four Team Three. 'Course, Theo admitted to
herself, as they filed into study, that was mostly because their team
mates had been very careful to keep Theo and Roni as far away from each
other as possible. Theo did her part by grabbing the study table
at the very back of the room, and opened her school book with a feeling
relief tainted by the knowledge that the worst part of the day was
still before her.
She'd just have to hang back at teamplay, she
decided. Three Team Four couldn't afford any more downs -- Roni
was right about that. The best thing to do would be to let her
team mates play while she concentrated on not bumping into anybody, or
tripping, or --
Theo sighed. She wished she wasn't so
clumsy. It was like she could see a pattern in her head of how
things ought to move, but when she tried to move like the pattern,
she'd inevitably trip over a team mate, or pull them down, like she had
done to Lesset yesterday.
She sighed again as she remembered that she was
supposed to have a 'chat' with Marjene after teamplay. As her
mentor, Marjene was committed to helping Theo negotiate and internalize
the intricacies of social and intellectual interaction -- that's what
the Concierge said. Theo knew Marjene wanted to help make things easier
for her, and she felt guilty -- a little -- for not liking her better
or for taking her advice more often.
Still, she thought, in an attempt to cheer herself
up, after she got through teamplay and her chat with Marjene, she could
look forward to the delivery of her rug.
...which was good, she acknowledged, frowning at her
book, but didn't quite make up for the fact that Kamele hadn't yet
given her a decision about Oktavi evening.
The book's screen blurred, and Theo bit her lip, blinking hard -- and
blinked again, staring at the unfamiliar icon sitting in the bottom
left corner of the screen.
It was a small, even a demure, icon, in
official-looking dark green: a coiled Serpent of Knowledge, with
Research floating above it in precise green letters. Theo
frowned. She was certain the green icon hadn't been on her screen
yesterday, so it
must've been downloaded from one of today's classes, but ... All
their Sci work was in group space, and Professor Wilit, their Social
Engineering instructor, hadn't shared any links with the class
today. Though Professor Wilit didn't always announce downloads or
extra work assignments.
Well, Theo thought, it couldn't have gotten there by accident; she must've just not noticed the download.
"Advertency," she muttered, remembering Roni's jibe. "As if."
She touched the green icon.
It unfolded, like a flower blooming, until the entire screen was limned in green, with a query box centered.
Name? The floating green text asked.
A quiz, Theo thought, staring at the familiar layout. How in chaos had she missed that?
She keyed in her name. The center box faded as a new one glowed into being at center top.
Protocol, the floating text said. List primary line of inquiry.
Theo closed her eyes, thinking back to Social
Engineering. She didn't remember Professor Wilit saying anything
about a solo quiz, or an unscheduled paper. On the other hand,
she discovered to her chagrin, she didn't remember much about any of
the day's classes; it was almost like she'd been doing the work in her
sleep.
She took a breath and brought her attention back to the screen.
Primary line of inquiry, for a Social Engineering
solo? She chewed her lip. It had to be a Social Engineering
solo, she decided. It was just like Professor Wilit. So.
The little bit she remembered from today's class had to do with the
mechanisms that societies put into place in order to enforce the goals
of that society. She probably couldn't go wrong by
initiating a line of inquiry into an enforcer protocol, but -- what?
"The Eyes don't watch everything," she heard the bus whisperer's voice again. "Even we know that."
Which was, now that she thought of it, kind of an...interesting... thing to know. Especially since she knew that the Eyes did watch everything. It was knowing that, as much as the Eyes themselves, that kept society safe.
Except...getting pushed wasn't exactly safe, was it? she asked herself, and reached for the keys.
Primary line of inquiry -- The Eyes, their purpose and their programmed watch cycles, she typed, and paused...
The box closed.
"I wasn't finished," Theo muttered, tapping
the screen where the box had been. It did not reappear, but a
third one did, at the right margin.
Result Sought: A graph or map, Theo typed rapidly, illustrating unwatched areas, with timetable.
The box faded, and a fourth came into existence on the left.
Deadline? it inquired, which was gave her pause
until she remembered that their Professor Wilit never gave them
deadlines for their work. She'd told them during their first
class that she'd be doing a term-long study, and would share the
results with them before Interval. She'd said it would amuse
them. Theo wasn't so sure -- and, anyway, she liked to get her
work done promptly. It wasn't like there was a lot of it, though
if you listened to Lesset...
ASAP, Theo typed. The final box faded.
Accepted, came the message, and Theo nodded,
fingering open a notepad and beginning to tap in a preliminary source
list. She wondered if anyone at the Safety Office would talk to
her about the Eyes, and if she should ask Professor Wilit for a
study-chit. Each student got three per grade-term, and she'd
already used one of hers. If the safeties wouldn't talk to her,
even with the chit, then she'd have wasted it, and would have only one
in reserve for the rest of the term.
Her mumu was suddenly warm against her leg, signally
receipt of a message. Theo pulled it out and thumbed the window
up; her stomach clenching when she saw the text was from Kamele.
If she couldn't see Father on Oktavi....
Theo, you may keep your dinner engagement with Professor Kiladi.
That was it. Theo smiled and just sat there, holding her mumu and
rereading that single line until the warning whistle sounded and it was
time to pack up and go to teamplay.
They'd changed clothes and got to the practice floor
ahead of time with Roni's, "Don't be slow, don't be late!"
echoing through the corridor the whole way. Of course they weren't
going to be late -- everyone on the team was trying to be on their
mettle with the last few days worth of setbacks and point-bleeds
threatening to drop Four Team Three to the lowest in the school for the
year, much less to the lowest ever in the team's history. Seventy
eight Four Team Threes had come before them, and only five had had
lower scores at this point in the year.
Roni had spent quite a bit of time walking around
with her shirt half off to explain to the female team members the
importance of making things right, starting right now, and then another
bit of time complaining that she'd have to buy another new set of
blouses, and maybe new shoes, too, since she was growing so much.
"Everyone of us has got to start acting mature, you
know! We've got to take responsibility for our own actions and support
the team properly!"
Theo had not tried not to cringe under the barrage
of "mature, growing-up, and act-adult," sentiments Roni'd thrown around
-- it sounded to like she was just re-broadcasting the last things
she'd heard from her mentor. Worse, Roni had particularly stared
at Theo when when she'd said, "growing up".
Father had once threatened to write a column The FAQ
to gain, so he said, a greater audience for what he called the Fallacy
of Infinite Comparability. Kamele had given him one of those
frowns that quivered at the edges, like she was covering up a laugh,
and said that if he wanted to commit academic suicide over a triviality
it was up to him.
Apparently he had decided that publishing the
Fallacy wasn't quite worth academic suicide, because the column never
appeared. Theo knew he had a valid point -- comparing their
team to teams from so long ago was...meaningless, really, given tech
advancements, alterations in teaching theory and four dozen other
facts. She felt the weight of team history anyway, and it
wasn't made any lighter by the fact that she was the one holding the rest of them down.
Leisure and Recreation was one of the most important
parts of a safe and balanced life, they were taught, and thus one of
the most measured. This 'mester, they were doing Scavage, and next week
was Play Day! Scavage was a team building game, like most LR
games, everyone got two chances at each position in practice before
they had a "tournament" where they'd play with other teams. Teams with
the higher scores would, of course, be rewarded for their
team-building...
It wasn't until Theo got to the game court that she
realized why Roni had been pushing so hard. Normally, Roni wasn't
much for the active games like Scavage -- she said they made her sweat
too much -- but this was her second turn as Captain, and she always did
like to be was in charge!
That's antisocial! Theo told herself, and bent into her warm ups with a will, trying to focus on the team, rather than the individuals.
As she warmed up, she heard the sounds of balls
being readied; the slow clunks and chirps as they rode the ball-lift up
to the ceiling feed tubes. Involuntarily she looked up -- but the
launch bin wasn't open yet so she wasn't really trying to get a jump on
the game.
The nearby smack of shoes against floor brought her
attention to court-level again, her stomach clenching as she saw that
Roni was deliberately coming to her. She was almost as noisy as
Lesset, Theo thought, like she thought making noise was proof of
effort. Roni came closer, Captain's band already around her arm,
and her team smile locked in place. Her forehead showed a sheen
already, as if even the warm-ups were work for her.
"Theo, I just wanted to say -- I don't
believe those rumors that you knocked Lesset down on purpose," Roni
said surprisingly. "I was right there and I saw the whole
thing. It really was an accident! I think you really do try to be a good team member, but you can't help it if you're clumsy!"
Theo stared, feeling her fingers curl in toward the palms. She needed her needle and her thread right now, she thought, or she was going to -- going to --
Orange flashed at the edge of her vision. Gasping, she spun, and called out to the team
"Dr. Viverain is on the court!"
Viverain was the acting head of the L & R
department, but unlike Professor Appletorn, who held a full-time
collegiate position, she was a traveling academic who sought work where
she could now that her old college had been decertified. Viverain
rarely instructed the Four Team students, but when she did she wanted
them to play just as sharp as graduating Fifth Forms.
"Four Team Three, I expect you to all be in position
by the time the ball-bin is full!" Viverain called out.
"We're going right to a game!"
Groronk!
The first round buzzer went off and then the bin
overhead emitted the usual rumplety-bumplety sound as the balls loaded.
The team stared up, trying to get a quick look at the balls they'd
drawn – and each called a number. The team Captain would then make the
consensus call. Together, they had all of ten clicks to bid.
"Fourteen," said Lesset, which was predictable,
because fourteen was about the least you could score on a round.
The greens... Theo thought she saw a lot of greens!
Green was a high score ball if you could get a good shot...
"Sixteen," said Kartor. Theo thought that was a mite low... but the balls still weren't fully loaded.
“Nineteen!” Estan and Anj called at practically the
same second. That was starting to be high... but no, maybe they'd
seen how many greens there were.
Surer now, Theo called “Eighteen” just as the bidding clock hit eight.
Roni stared, soundless, at the overhead... the clock hit nine, then...
“Twenty One!” she called; the official team
bid; everyone else gasped. That was hardly a consensus call!
The buzzer double-clucked and the first ball began
to roll down the spiraling wire chute, dropping ever closer to the
launch spout. Roni hurried down court while her team members
darted glances and shrugged shoulders at each other. Twenty-one
would take a lot of luck.
Overhead, the chute vibrated and sang as the ball picked up momentum.
“Let's go!” Theo called. She pointed at
Kartor, whose face was just shy of grim. “Third Ring!” she
said. "Estan, you back Lesset in Second. Anj --" but Anj
had already drifted dreamily off down-court. Theo sighed.
Team Captain should've set the team's positions, but Roni didn't care
where the rest of them were, as long as she was in First Ring, where
scoring was easiest. Roni liked to score.
They did work up a sweat on the first round, with
Theo's off the cuff positioning proving to be almost reasonable.
She and Kartor were in the outer, largest, Ring. They could, if
required, dive or drive into Ring Two. Ordinarily you tried to
get fast people into the middle ring...but having Lesset on one side of
Ring Two wasn't too bad, because not only could Estan help her when she
flubbed, but team members in Ring One or Ring Three could back her up
too. Depending how, and how bad, she flubbed if the ball got back
into Two or Three on the other side it might still be playable.
Roni was hogging Ring One, even though she shared it with
Anj.
On good days Anj was their best player; and she
could rove into Ring Two at need. Playing at the edge of Two,
where Lesset should be, she could keep the errors to a minimum.
Estan played opposite Anj except when back-up was required, and Lesset
wandered between her supposed posts, sometimes blocking good passes and
other times causing bad bounces.
On the whole, they did better then they had a right
to on the first set. A typical ball started out on the spiral,
gaining speed, rapidly, until one of the rotating tubular launch points
matched the slot the ball was passing over. The circular court
was entirely contained within a tall thinly-padded wall and it was
Kartor and Theo's job to gather the ball off the wall, if that had been
its trajectory, and sling it underhanded toward the center; or if it
were falling elsewhere in the outer ring to makes sure that it didn't
continue to the outside or bounce away from the other team
members.
Once in Ring One – or if lucky tossed or kicked from
Ring Two – the ball had to be scored by getting it – for a single point
– into one of the waist level the stationary chutes on a flaring
parabolic column rising seamlessly from the floor and extending – with
a similar flare at the top – to the ceiling. For higher score one
aimed at the three rotating chutes higher up the column with the
highest rotating fastest and being smallest. The column at school was
well padded at the base and like the spirals, formed of a lightweight
open mesh fabric mounted on highly visible mechanicals. In the
higher levels and in the pro game the column was a near invisible
crystal structure which was often nexus of a collision, but which could
be used to aim and deflect the ball to someone in better position for a
shot. In this scholastic version, the column was less dependable as a tactic, its safety factor a minus rather than a plus.
Time was of the essence in every version of the
game, because as soon as a ball crossed into Ring One, or numbered
beats after it crossed into Ring Two, the next ball started down the
spiral. It was bad form – and cost points – to scavage or score
the second ball first.
They only did that three times, the scavage, and in
the end they lucked out with twenty three points, which was good
for a first go, and was aided by a very lucky score on the part of
Estan, who tossed it into the rotating upper goal just as the time
buzzed, with Roni calling for it on the other side.
The second round was a disaster, with Lesset
managing to toss two balls in entirely the wrong direction, causing two
double scavages early in the set after Roni had bid a relatively
conservative twenty in the face of her teammate's grumbling of how
lucky the first game had been. Everyone rushed to try to make up the
difference, the sounds of their running sounding extra clumsy to Theo,
and it didn't help that Viverain added to the noise, and confusion, by
leaning over the wall of the Instructor's Tower, shouting suggestions
for all of them.
Twice, Viverain said encouraging things about the
way Kartor and Theo got the ball toward the center, but once into the
Lesset Zone things tended to go astray, with Lesset's shoes constantly
scraping and squealing as she tried to get back to where she wasn't,
and Roni's footfalls sounding lik hands slapping water in the
pool. In the end, the team missed their bid by five, with the
instructor counting out their errors, loudly, the while.
“Theo, you've got to get me the ball more!"
Roni was panting, her face almost as red as her shorts. "I think
if you hadn't kept passing to Kartor and Estan you really could have
helped me score more. You know, maybe if you got the ball to other
females we'd have been in the game!”
Theo gritted her teeth yet again. She'd counted.
She'd passed the ball to Anj nine times, Kartor seven times, Ronni five
times, Estan four times, and Lesset three. Far more... oh, never
mind. Ronni's real complaint was that she hadn't scored when she had
the ball, and that wasn't Theo's fault.
Viverain leaned over the wall. “Waitley, you've got
a good touch on those passes. You might go to the inside a bit more,
but otherwise... you're keeping Third Ring strong. And you,
Grinmordi, you've got to keep an eye on where your tenders are.
Instead of trying to intercept you ought to be letting some of those go
through for the best shot."
Theo saw the look Roni gave her as Viverain clicked
the remote for the round-buzzer. The balls tumbled into the rig
and before anyone else could bid, and likely before she even
looked, Roni called, “Twenty-five, team, twenty-five.”
Theo caught the shocked look on Viverain's face, but
then she was running, because the first ball through was a blue one –
the smallest and hence the fastest to the floor.
If the second set had been a disaster the third was
always just one lucky move away from it. Lesset scored early on an
improbable push shot using the column for a bounce-in, then Kartor went
down against the wall hard digging another one out of the joint, his
throw finding an off-balance Theo who managed anyway to fling it to
First Ring, where Roni was in just the right spot...
They played hard, and finally it seemed there was
some rhythm to what they were doing. Anj woke up, and they all started
feeding the ball to her – everybody, that is except Roni, who started
calling for every shot to be sent to her. Three in a row went
to her and were flubbed in a flap of mis-worn shoes, and suddenly there
was a scavage, which was Estan's problem as he mishandled a cross
circle pass from Theo, cutting their chance of making the bid
badly.
The next-to-last ball was blue, bounding wildly off
the wall before Kartor could get to it. Theo backed him up, snagged it
and threw in the direction of Second Ring. It should've been Anj's
play, but Lesset was there, and flung it purposefully but far too hard
toward Roni. Roni bobbled the ball; the spinning goal rejected her
throw and her rebound. By then the green ball was in the
tubes. Roni called for the blue ball again, but Anj had it and
made the goal with a casual looking one handed toss.
Theo thought the green ball's momentum would likely
bring it to her. She started moving, trying to position herself, but as
the ten-tick gong sounded the ball found a slot and launched itself
toward Kartor. He bobbled it briefly, managed to push it to Theo,
who was rushing toward Second Circle while the sound of footsteps grew
louder.
“It's mine, give to to me!” Roni's voice was
loudest; but the others were calling out “Time!” and “Shoot!” and over
it all Viverain yelled, “Now, Theo!”
Theo's back was toward the goal; she held the ball
lightly on her fingertips, spun, ignoring the sounds of steps and the
shouting; brought the ball up and threw it at the spinning top goal as
hard as she --
Kathunk! There was a body falling on Theo, a squeal of shoes, and a splat! The game buzzer went off at the same time as a high keening sound began and Roni's voice went from screech to rage.
“You killed me! Blood! Blood! I'm bleeding!”
Knocked breathless by the fall, Theo blinked up at
her, seeing blood all over the other girl's face. She tried to
get up, then rolled away, arms folded over her head to protect it from
Roni's kicks.
“Killer! “Sociopath! Killer!”
"That's enough!" Viverain said sternly. The
yelling and the kicking stopped, but Theo still huddled on the floor,
wondering dully how many downs she earned the team this time.
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Base page created December 1, 2006 by Sharon Lee
Chapter updated March 26, 2007
technical revision posted April 7, 2007
Update March 15, 2008, 12:19 p.m. EDT
copyright © 2006-2007 by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
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