The sun streams in the schoolhouse window in strips of rainbows as Mr. Striver drones on about some old dead dude and what he did to help our country. I, for one, couldn’t care less. I mean, why did we have to sit around all day learning about the past when there was a whole future out there to explore? I look at the clock above the smartboard - just five more minutes to freedom. Glancing over at my best friend Erissa, I give her a sly grin. She’s absentmindedly rubbing the half moon shaped scar on her right arm - the same one all of us have.
THUMP! I am pulled from my thoughts and look over to see a small form entangled in his chair. Of course, it is no one but Hoss. Small, skinny, sweet Hoss. He struggles away from the chair’s grasp and stands up, his pink tinted skin glowing crimson with embarrassment.
“Hoss, that is the third time this week you’ve been tied up in your chair!” Mr Striver sighs, disappointed that his top student had disrupted his class. His giant glasses are almost falling off his pink triangle of a nose and he pushes it up with one neatly trimmed claw. His nose twitches and the glasses slide back down.
“Sorry, it’s my tail! It’s been growing and it sets my balance off,” he whispers, so quietly that only Erissa and I could hear. We smile sympathetically and I squeeze his pink hand. I can almost feel the heat of more embarrassment flooding through him.
We turn our attention back to Mr. Striver, who had already begun the conclusion - YES! - of his lecture. “... so, that’s why Eirus Arc is how it is today - smart, tech savvy and amazing. Just because of that one great man, who by the way, also...”
So much for conclusion, I think.
***
When the ultrasonic wave passes over us, Mr. Striver ignores it, listing the greatness of other dead people who brought Eirus Arc to its state today, even as the other students leave the classroom to paw at their snack bags filled with Milkbones or Friskies or other treats until the end of school.
I have to admit, our country is pretty amazing. Smack dab in the middle of nowhere, the Scholars, the people who created our country, strived to make our society work. I glance, jealous, at the bag of rich, dark chocolate Hoss is half heartedly nibbling. I can’t eat chocolate. I wish more than anything that I could. I can eat small amounts at a time, like maybe a 1/16 of a square, but if I eat anymore, my stomach turns inside out and I am sick everywhere. I’ve done this before and it wasn’t pretty.
Hoss notices me noticing and pulls me up to my feet. I smoothen my long, silky ears and open my blue eyes wide. My father is walking briskly down the halls. Hoss turns around to see what I’m seeing and gasps. On his heel is Cossan, my little brother. He seems frightened. My father’s face shows worry and anger.
“Papa! What are you doing here?” My voice is panicked, and the ultrasonic wave for the end of school rings in my ears - 23 KHz. Gets me everytime. I’m glad they didn’t put it too high a frequency. Hoss wouldn’t be able to hear it and Erissa and I would just about bleed our ears out. My father ignores it. Of course - he can’t hear it. But Cossan, too young for such a high frequency, whimpers in protest. I rush over to him and cover his ears with my hands. His ears aren’t like mine - they’re human. I huff at my dad, irritated. That gets his attention. He whirls around and shows a ghost of a smile at me.
“Cassie, I need you to take Cossan and I up to Mr. Nach’s room.” In answer, I give my brother a look that clearly says What did you do this time? I nod and lead them up a series of flights of hovering escalators and over a hoverbridge, which quickly pack into boxes and stack neatly into a pile, ready to spring open at the next visitor. Outside his room, Mr. Nach, the principal, has a statue of an Older. Mother always tells me that her great grandparents were Olders. They were four legged, without opposable thumbs, and were kept as almost slaves by the Scholars’ ancestors. Mother said the Olders were called “pets”. And the Scholars believed that “pets” and people needed to be equal.
And that’s why the majority of our population is genetically mutated. And that’s why my mother is a mutated dog and my father is a human. And that’s why Hoss, tinted pink, with a corkscrew tail, is half pig, half human; Erissa, with her striking green eyes and red striped pointy ears, is half cat, and me, with my silky long ears and blue eyes and a voracious appetite for reading, am half dog, half human.
***
I scan my school card against the statue’s eye, the card that reads:
Name: Cassie Risch
Date of Birth: October 22
Years Until Graduation: 1
Printed on the side is a small square image of me - light blue eyes that were almost gray, long brown and black ears, a middle size triangle of a black nose... The statue turns its head, and says in a metallic voice, “Enter, Cassie Risch.” The statue splits apart to reveal a stone staircase - something very rare, something from far before the Wipeout - and we descend it. I hear the statue close behind us with a resounding Crrreeak.
Mr. Nach looks smug, like he knew Cossan would be back in his office, but I saw a flicker of worry in his eyes. Nodding curtly to Mr. Nach, I whisper, “I’ll leave you now.” I turn around, but when I reach the base of the staircase, I hear Papa whispering to Cossan to tell Mr. Nach what happened, inside the Private Room.
“Wait, Cassie. I need to tell you something,” my dad is speaking urgently and quickly.
I turn around again and cock my head, look expectant.
“My office, they search for potential threats to Eirus.” I know that... he tells us every night at dinner. How is it important?
“They found an outsider.”
***
My ears prick up. I need to hear this. I’ve never seen an outsider in my life. “What? Who?”
“A human. One of my employees is going to go and find out who he is and where he’s from, after dark.” My dad seems agitated somehow. “It’s possible he’s a survivor, but you never know with people who haven’t seen Eirus Arc. They get scared of us and often try to do something that could destroy us.”
“But, Papa, how do you know this? He’s the first outsider in a hundred years, and Eirus didn’t exist a hundred years ago.” I think my voice seems too elated. I need to know who he is.
I don’t care much for the outside world. I know it’s just deserts or mountains of rubble. I feel safe in Eirus. I hope the arrival of the outsider won’t change that.
I feel the same safety blanket me as I join hands with Erissa and Hoss, who waited for me outside. We walk out the door, when Hoss drops my hand and smiles at me. I give him a quizzical look but grin back at him. Finally, I can’t hold in my excitement any longer. “My dad says they found an outsider.” Erissa lets go of my hand too and gasps. Hoss looks crestfallen, but I don’t see why.
“WHO?” They speak at the same time. In answer I shrug, try to look disinterested. I am trying to hide a smile but it slips out and I start laughing.
“I love your laugh.” Hoss is smiling at me again and suddenly I feel blood rushing to my cheeks. I smile in answer and ask Erissa about her day, trying to change the subject. Hoss’s hand slips into mine again and it feels right. All three of us have been friends forever, so I know nothing could be different.
We reach Hoss’s house first, so I walk with Erissa in silence for a few minutes before she asks me about the outsider again. “Is your dad going to interrogate him? I know that is his job, but is only he supposed to do it or can someone else?” It wasn’t often that Erissa asked about Papa’s job. Her own dad was the president of the Architectural Board, so she didn’t really know about anything outside of that. I, on the other hand, pelted her with questions, all of which she answered in a patient voice. So I tell her.
“Yes, Erissa. Many people can interrogate suspicious people, but an outsider is the most dangerous thing that could end up in Eirus Arc. That's why my father needs to question him. He’s the head of his office." My voice is small, because I'm realizing what I just said. The outsider could be a trained assassin. Erissa nods knowingly. My thoughts flit back to what is happening to Cossan back in Mr. Nach’s office. I turn to Erissa, worried about him. Just when I’m about to tell her what happened to Cossan, my thoughts are interrupted by squawking.
“I can’t believe he picked us for a mission! A mission! I think I’m going to scream. Do you think we’ll be able to talk while we’re on it?” It’s Hessa and Nessi, two half-ravens whose excessive chatter gets them into a lot trouble at school.
“I hope so! I wouldn’t be able to go a day just by being quiet. I’m so happy. A mission! A mission! I think I am going to go crazy!!! Aaaaahhh!” Wow. Nessi is going crazy. She is always a loud person but that scream just about blew my ears up. I don’t see how they would be offered missions, they talk way too much for ravens. Ravens are supposed to be secretive and quiet. But either way, it would be a mission at night so nobody would be able to see them. Their feathers are as black as grease on a hoverbridge engine.
As we steer away from them to enter an architectural masterpiece - Erissa’s house, I hear them screaming loud enough to wake up every sleeping child in Eirus Arc. Erissa whips inside to put her backpack on her bed and bounds across the beautiful green lawn with a neon yellow bag on her shoulder. I grin mischievously and she laughs.
“I thought, you know, since your father’s working late and my parents are out visiting Arch - you know, the old cousin who brings me clothes about forty sizes too small - I could spend the night?” I nod in reply, glad I’ll have company. Other than Cossan, who is extremely annoying, I never have anyone to do anything fun with. Mama loves doing random projects which makes life at home interesting, but she never wants help on anything.
Things are eerily quiet as Erissa and I cross the street to my house. Correction. My estate. It is a 3 acre lawn with fountains, a guest house, a pool inside the living room and a big theater that was customized just for me, because nobody watches movies nowadays. Plus, very few movies were saved from the Wipeout and they were evenly distributed to all the families of Eirus Arc. So at home we have only one movie. Erissa has one I’ve never seen before in her paw, though. “Where d’you get that from?” I ask, curious.
“Oh, Rissa gave it to me” she says dismissively. I raise my eyebrows at her, but she just laughs.
“Let’s eat dinner first, Then we’ll watch it. I think my mother will let us eat marshmallow cookies for dinner!”
“Oh, the ones with the chocolate sauce?”
“Yes, precisely, but I can’t eat chocolate. We have to toast the marshmallows so they are warm and gooey!” I can’t help but feel excited. The sun is setting already. The winter night sets in fast. We step into the warmth of the house, but I think about the outsider one last time before he is completely wiped from my mind.
What’s he like?
© Copyright Roopal Kondepudi, Erin Hearne. All rights reserved.
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