ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE: It’s Pepper Flavored

  ************ 125 ************   Somewhere, in a different part of the universe, an Artonan child who’d been born at the same time as Alden Thorn was excited. Maybe too excited. “Stop.” Alden shook his head as he watched the Opposite stone on his desk glow a soft white for the fourth time in the past fifteen minutes. “You have to pay for those.” He finished making note of his very first successful casting of the wordchain in his ledger, using the Palace of Unbreaking’s official name for it—My Body Becomes My Assistant—and admiring how awesome he was at drawing logograms when he had the chain on top of his enhanced dexterity. Then he placed his brush bristles-down in the cleaning divot on the cap of the ink bottle. The foggy crystal checker was still glowing. Alden shut the ledger and picked up the stone. I hope you’re surrounded by a bunch of other kids right now, he thought. And they saw your stone light up, and they’re all wildly impressed. He also hoped the little enthusiast had been saving up the pleasant halves of these wordchains as a celebratory reply to Alden’s first message, or that they were baby wordchains of some kind. Otherwise they were piling up the debt fast. Alden had muted his team’s conference call while he worked. They’d had it going all day, with people vanishing from it when needed and reappearing during their breaks to offer ideas or ask questions. After tucking his ledger into his desk and his blinky checker into a pocket, he joined back in. “All right,” he said, “last chance to decide if you want me to pick up anything for you. I’m heading to Wrightwares.” “I want beef jerky.” “He means do you need anything for gym, Jeffy!” “But I do want it for gym. I always eat protein during our break.” “If I see beef jerky at the Wright shop, I’ll get some,” said Alden. “I’ll check in once I get there.” He muted them again so that they wouldn’t make him nervous. They’d been doing a lot of worrying and rehashing all afternoon. Some of them seemed to enjoy fretting, but he didn’t find it helpful. When Alden emerged from his room, he found Lute sitting on the floor by the fireplace, working on some kind of craft project. “I got the chain,” Alden said, gesturing to himself. “My shirt tag has been removed—with scissors this time—and my body has become my assistant.” “Congratulations! As your tutor, I expect a World’s Greatest Teacher mug. By the way, I don’t think you can make a shirt fast enough for it to be useful on the course. Maybe with some practice…” “A shirt?” Lute held up a net tank top made out of purple yarn. “Isn’t it beautiful? This is just a test piece. You could do this same kind of thing with your cord, though. Give me ten more minutes, and it’ll be a floor-length dress. Even your ankles would be safe. From things larger than the holes in the net anyway.” Alden stepped over to check it out. “It’s cool. I found a guy online who crochets paracord backpacks for people. But why are you in here designing theoretical armor for me?” “Because it’s much more interesting than my homework. And I couldn’t think of anything else fun to do to help the team. Although I’m sure if I could get my hands on the whip…” “Kon hasn’t even gotten his hands on it.” “I’m sneakier than Kon.” Lute threw the tank top on over his shirt. “How do I look?” Alden took in the hastily made purple net. “Mmmm…do you want to come to the Wright shop with me?” Lute looked down at himself. “It’s so bad you won’t even answer, huh?” ****** The list of supplies wasn’t long, but it was easy to get distracted in the island’s largest Wright shop. “Alden, you need a grappling hook!” “Those are neat.” “A handheld line launcher!” “I’m buying one as a present for myself after I make it through first quarter probably.” “Levitating pulleys! A portable autoloom! Self-knotting rope!” “All exciting things,” Alden agreed, examining the spools of cordage in front of him. “Whyyyy are you not buying the exciting things, then?” Lute had the loom in his arms. “Because gym time is training time. And during training time, I operate under the assumption that when shit goes really wrong I’m not going to have access to ginormous hardware stores full of magical doodads. What’s more likely—me getting stranded on another planet and finding the perfect Wrightmade tool? Or me getting stranded on another planet and finding some kind of rope?” You couldn’t rely on a mad scientist’s fully stocked laboratory being within running distance all the time. Lute didn’t answer. The silence was conspicuous considering how much talking he’d been doing since they arrived. “What?” Alden asked, looking around at him. “Nothing!” Lute hastily put the loom back on the shelf. “You don’t have to pretend it’s reasonable. I know it isn’t.” Alden went back to studying the cord. “Even if I do end up in a crisis, the chances of that crisis involving me being stuck on a planet without a System and nothing but one companion and a rope we wove out of natural fibers are astronomical.” “Hey, a man needs to be prepared for all eventualities,” Lute said lightly. “Sometimes Systems break. Sometimes drone propellers destroy eyeballs.…are you planning to learn to make ropes out of natural fibers, too?” “Celena North needs wilderness survival classes. The fact that we don’t have them is criminal. But I’m joking about learning rope making. Mostly. And I came here to buy something like this.” He reached for a spool of paracord in a painful shade of fluorescent yellow. “I’m not completely into making gym harder for myself. Especially not with the team aspect this time. This is an ultra strong survival cord—about as fancy as something this simple gets. And I’ll be carrying a ton of it.” There was no rule about how much rope Alden could bring to class. The outer sheath of this particular paracord was fire resistant, the inner strands provided him with some interesting opportunities, and it was strong enough that Lucille could haul every member of the team up the wall with it at once if for some reason that became a good idea. “Now we need temper spheres even though they’re probably not going to be useful at all, a bottle of that powder Everly has to have to cast her ice trap, and beef jerky.” “They’re not going to have that.” “I know.” ****** I can’t believe they had eight different kinds of beef jerky. As he headed through the locker room, Alden tossed a shopping bag toward Jeffy, temporarily distracting the Aqua Brute from whatever he’d been telling Reinhard. “So many flavors!” His delighted tone was a contrast to the conversation going on nearby. The boys on Søren’s team looked like they were discussing something serious. “Is Søren doing all right?” Alden asked. The Light Shaper had been a lot more rational by the time Alden had left the healing hospital last night. Rational enough that when he’d phoned his mother to tell her where he was and what had happened, he’d managed to make it sound like he’d used emergency teleportation the second the fire started instead of arguing with everyone about whether or not he could hide his injuries from the faculty. “They’ve been growing him new skin for the past few hours,” said Febri. “He feels fine, and he’ll be back at school first thing next week. But he’s upset they told him no gym until Wednesday.” <<Did the instructors talk to you?>> Ignacio asked. He was searching through a heavy bag that Alden knew from previous glimpses contained an alarming number of blades. According to Reinhard, Ignacio bought bulk lots of old knives off auction websites and used a spell to sharpen each one before he added it to his collection. “You mean about what happened?” Alden shrugged. “I got a check-in call from…somebody. And Instructor Marion pulled me aside before Engaging with the Unexpected to see if I needed anything. Other than that, not really.” The check-in had come from the trauma specialist he’d been assigned when he’d first arrived on the island. He was still having regularly scheduled video calls with her. It wasn’t required, but it was so strongly recommended by everyone—security people at the TC, the public health and safety office, intake counselors—that going along was better for now. And she was really good about not insisting on details he couldn’t or didn’t want to share. He thought it was overkill that the school had called her for this, though, even if she was listed as one of his medical providers. He hadn’t gotten so stressed out that he took a risk with his powers. Ignacio was opening his mouth to say something else when Max walked in. Winston, who was replacing the white laces on his shoes with red ones, burst out, “There you are! Where have you been, you jerk? We’ve been sending you messages all day telling you our plans for the runs!” “The plans that involve you all demanding I drop zones exactly where you want, when you want?” Max tossed his backpack onto a bench and yanked his shirt off over his head. “It’s such a deeply considered stratagem, and my role is so terribly complicated. However will I prepare myself to assist you if I don’t answer your messages?” Everyone was suddenly very busy changing their clothes. Alden scooted toward the nearest shower to get busy with it himself. “It’s not our fault you couldn’t keep up last time,” Winston said as Alden latched the door behind himself. “Marsha says you shouldn’t be such a dick about running out of casts. High-ranks always carry low-ranks in this kind of competition anyway. If you just cast what we tell you to, you can sit around, and one of us will get you to the finish line.” Alden grimaced. Max raised his voice. “I promise to cast exactly what you all tell me to. I won’t offer a single word of advice to the team. Vandy can try to hold you all together while Marsha chases down worthy opponents and the rest of you pose for the camera. I will say not a word. So let it be known.” They’re getting along even worse than I expected. Alden was awfully relieved he hadn’t been assigned to that team. Oddly, Mehdi wasn’t commenting on the spat. He’d been quiet ever since their team’s double loss, and Haoyu had called him “sulky” when they were discussing him as a possible target for Reinhard. I know they say highly competitive environments help Avowed make faster progress. But we’ve only had one day of team competition, and someone’s already caught on fire. Alden couldn’t imagine that smaller scale duels would lead to less hard feelings. The third years must have gone through this together, and they seem sane. At least the B’s do. The second years are abnormal, but Rahul says they’re a special case. Alden would most likely be in class with these same people next quarter and the one after. At some point it was common for high achievers to end up with higher level gym groups and low achievers to repeat a course. But until then, he was rooting for his class to be very normal. Bland. The vanilla pudding of CNH classes. He walked out wearing his unitard a minute later to find Jeffy trying to soothe Max with a strip of beef jerky. “It’s pepper flavored,” he said, waving it under Max’s nose. “I don’t want it.” “How do you know if you don’t bite it?” “Jeffy, let’s go meet up with our group. They’re already waiting in the gym. Anyway, Max might be saving room for the dinner tonight. There’s going to be pork so many ways. Haoyu can tell you all about it. He’s memorized the menu.” ****** Their group would be facing Team Febri/Shrike for the first run. As they walked out to the track, the sky was overcast, and the wind was blowing so hard there was grit flying through the air. Maricel and Lucille led the way, hauling bags of clayey soil with them. Njeri and Everly were right behind them, discussing their roles quietly so that the other team couldn’t hear. Reinhard was giving Lexi unsolicited tips about who to attack with Writher if the archer wasn’t available and the need was urgent. And Haoyu and Alden were bringing up the rear with Jeffy and Astrid. The other half of the class would be watching from the bleachers while Principal Saleh, Instructor Klein, and Instructor Marion took turns highlighting team tactics and breaking down the ways individual students had chosen to use their powers. Alden was looking forward to having his turn in the audience even as he dreaded having his decision-making critiqued. As his shoes hit the pavement, he checked himself over for the third time since setting foot outside. Yep. All still here. Two thousand feet of paracord sounded like a ton, but it was a very portable amount. Alden had it wrapped around him in two cross-body loops to make an X over his chest, and he was wearing a pouch full of his temper spheres. He would be allowed to carry a small knife or scissors to cut the cord if he wanted, but he did not want. Having unnecessary sharp objects on your person versus the team with the S-rank Knife Meister was a bad idea. Instead, he’d precut the cord into long sections that were tied together with loose knots. That way he could dole out lengths of it to teammates or sacrifice pieces without wasting much time. “We should think of this rematch as an opportunity,” said Reinhard as they took their place at the starting line on the track. “The day before yesterday is history.” “Literally!” Astrid said. “It’s literally history. So let’s make new history together…” He trailed off then looked around at them all uncertainly. “I’ve never done a pep talk before? But I thought I should do one as co-captain.” Several people had wanted to try their hand at leading the team. Rather than having a big argument about it, they’d decided to have four captains. Two per run. The captaincy wasn’t about directing overall strategy or approaches to obstacles, since that was already agreed on. What they needed was someone who could keep track of the state of the game and rearrange team members to make sure their plans stayed viable after attacks from the other team had injured or killed people. Reinhard and Njeri were in charge of this run. Haoyu and Astrid were in charge of the next. Alden had been a little surprised that Astrid wanted to try giving orders, but she seemed worried that she couldn’t contribute enough in other ways. Njeri suddenly cleared her throat and put her hands on her hips. “All right, Avowed!” she bellowed. Their whole team took a step back from her in surprise. Olive—the Adjuster on Team Febri/Shrike—yelped and whirled around to stare at her. Instructor Ivanova, standing by the track doing final hurdle checks on her tablet, looked startled too. “Today I want you to think about one thing and one thing only—do you know what that is?” Njeri demanded “Better teamwork,” Haoyu said. “Aiming well?” suggested Reinhard. “Sportsmanship?” Astrid asked. “Impressing the principal!” Jeffy exclaimed. “None of that!” shouted Njeri. “Victory dines at the tables of those who have prepared the greatest feasts. She can only grow fat on our preparation, our love for the game, and the flesh of our enemies.” Alden exchanged a look with Haoyu. On the other side of him, Everly was nodding along with the speech. “I won’t lie to you,” said Njeri, shaking her head. “We are not truly prepared. We have not sweated enough yet to fill Victory’s cup. And our love for this game is just beginning to blossom.” “Wow,” Jeffy said in an awestruck voice. “So what do we have left to offer Victory to tempt her toward our table?” “Not sportsmanship?” Astrid whispered. There was an extended pause. Then, Reinhard looked over at the other team. “That’s right! Look at your enemy. They are our offerings to Victory. When they pass you by on the course, when they come at you with their weapons, when you feel the stirrings of intimidation, remember—they are Victory’s sustenance. And we are her hunters. We will not let her starve!” Njeri took a deep breath, then smiled. “I’ve always wanted to give a pep talk! I thought you guys might need some extra vigor, since Febri/Shrike has beaten us before. I modeled it after a speech my hockey coach gave! How was it?” “Energetic.” “Motivational in a slightly threatening way.” “Is the hockey team all right?” “Victory!” “But didn’t we agree that victory wasn’t our only goal?” “A speech about maybe being okay with losing doesn’t sound as good!” Njeri protested. “How am I supposed to inspire you all with that?” “I totally loved it!” Heloísa shouted. “Thank you!” Njeri shouted back. “But you’re on the wrong team!” I don’t know if it made me feel inspired, thought Alden. But I definitely feel more awake now. Beside him, Maricel was looking guiltily at the pile of dirt bags. “It’s fine,” said Alden. “We all decided on it.” “But I could just pour out the sand from the bags in the gym. Or forget practicing and focus on vict—” “You did that last time.” Lexi was staring at the track ahead of them. “If you want specific dirt, we’ll carry specific dirt.” “It might not even slow us down,” Haoyu added. “Having it might make things run more smoothly later. We just won’t know until we try it.” Alden thought obstacle course rules for Shapers were arbitrary to begin with. Jupiter wanted fresh-cut wood. Maricel wanted soil. There were a set number of life matter bags and sand bags on the course for them to use instead. Njeri could draw from the water obstacle if they were close enough to it or she could carry water if she wanted it earlier in the course…which they were doing this time. The water jugs were heavy. But if this were some kind of real-world scenario, Maricel could dig up the earth right outside the building and carry it into the gym with her. Or Jupiter could knock down one of the bottlebrush-shaped trees out front and do the same. Making their teams haul their special requests around seemed a little harsh. In the uni team competitions Alden had viewed over the past couple of days, Shapers usually had designated offside areas and weight allowances for their materials; but they were allowed to put anything in there they wanted. I guess this is still class and the idea is limitations. Vandy’s always going to have air around for Sky Shaping. Maricel and Jupiter will usually have something available but not necessarily the type of thing they prefer. The countdown for the race appeared, and they all took their positions. Just follow the plan, Alden told himself. See how it goes. ****** The race began, and with it, the team’s first major strategy shift. “Slowpokes first!” Reinhard shouted. Not how Alden would’ve put it…but yes. Everly, with her Glaze Object spell, was the best answer for the fire box. Three casts of it would coat the box in solid ice for several minutes, allowing the rest of the team to break through with zero movement impairment. That should more than make up for them all getting a slower start. Everly, Njeri, Maricel, and Astrid took off. Jeffy was running with them a second later, carrying a large water jug in each hand. Lucille bent over and allowed Lexi and Haoyu to strap bags of dirt to her back with one of Alden’s lengths of cord. “Is that really uncomfortable?” Alden asked, prepping his own dirt for transport with Reinhard’s help. “I can take more.” Lucille shook her head. He was glad she had it under control. Alden would be carrying four bags himself, wrapped in paracord. They wouldn’t weigh much thanks to his authority bearing the load, but at a certain point the size became awkward for clearing the hurdles. As it was, if he screwed up he was going to have three hundred pounds of dirt instantly smashing him forward into the ground or pulling him backwards off his feet depending on his luck. Honestly, I’m just grateful none of the faculty are saying it’s too dangerous for us to run with this much outside of the gym. Lucille bounded off right as the slowpokes were finishing their first lap. “I hope I tied the knots right,” Haoyu said, watching Lucille spring over a hurdle. “I feel like this is asking a lot of them.” “It’s fine. Let’s go,” said Lexi, taking off. The frontrunners of the other team were finished with their second lap. It was enough to send a jolt of anxiety through anyone after last class. The first team with a person over the finish line got to take the first shot. We’ll catch up indoors, Alden reminded himself. This is the plan. He set off and let himself enjoy the surefootedness his new wordchain provided. It was the same as the first time Lute had given it to him; his body was always moving exactly how he told it to move. It was, he thought, a little like running in a dream. In real life, you often pictured yourself leaping a certain way and landing a certain way only to have to adjust your expectations or recover from an imbalance. With the wordchain in effect, the leaps and the landings became an almost eerie match for Alden’s mental vision of them. The first few hurdles made him feel like he was on a roll; with the next dozen, he started to have a sense of surreality. He came to the end of his first lap as Febri was finishing his final one, and he had a view of the Agility Brute clearing the largest hurdle with movements so fluid they would’ve put a cat to shame. I wonder if he feels like this all the time. Febri had launched himself far enough to land on the other side of the safety mat. No need for cushioning, not a wasted step as he sprinted for the gym. First the track, thought Alden. Then the tube. Then the fire. “It’s all going according to plan, everyone!” Njeri said. The bellow that Alden had decided must be her coaching voice came through on the team call and echoed toward him from the other side of the windy track at the same time. “Let’s put this boring running behind us, and go play with the fun stuff!” A breathless cheer went up from Everly, and something like a yodel came from Astrid. Haoyu shouted an enthusiastic “Yep!” as he vaulted over a hurdle. Alden had been pacing himself deliberately so that he’d arrive at the gym behind the obstacle freezing group as planned, but it was hard not to run a little faster with everyone yelling encouragements in each other’s ears. ****** ****** “Let’s try to determine what the teams’ strategies are based on what we’ve seen at this early stage,” Instructor Marion said to the half of the class that was on the bleachers waiting their turn to run the course. “Talk with your groups. I’ll come by to hear your ideas.” “Obviously dirt is involved for my brother’s team,” Kon said to his teammates, staring at the live progress of the race through his interface. “Lots and lots of dirt.” “Maricel went to buy all of it in the middle of the night,” said Tuyet. “She said she couldn’t sleep.” “Lexi’s flinging that one bag around like it insulted his mum,” Finlay observed. “It’s going to burst.” “Look at how much weight they’re carrying for her. Dirt’s heavy. I don’t see any complaining on Maricel’s team.” They all turned to Jupiter. “The holly hedge you brought isn’t happening,” said Kon. “It’s massive and pointy. You’ve got scratches all over you, and it’s obviously stolen. It’s still got roots on it.” “The fact that is has roots on it makes it borrowed!” said Jupiter. “I can put it back after class.” They turned away. “You guys! I promise I can put it back! I already bought it special fertilizer!” ****** “Maricel’s team has decided to arrange themselves so that the slower members are at the front of the group,” Vandy said, folding her hands in her lap and staring avidly at the drone footage. “On Wednesday, they were letting the people who could race ahead do it. Today, they’ve obviously prioritized Everly’s abilities for the first indoor obstacles, and possibly they’re thinking of her synergy with Njeri. It’s likely those two will stick together for the entire course. We’ll need to watch what they do and decide if we might want to target one of them and separate them. “Maricel may or may not have a specific plan for the clay soil they’re carrying. She was disappointed on Wednesday that she was only able to use her simpler shaping abilities. She greatly admires Instructor Fragment because of their similar backgrounds and wants to impress her. The compression point skill she’s been practicing allows her to draw ground together and pack it very tightly but the shapes of her compression points are limited. She uses her left hand for the gestures usually and assigns her right to moving her creations through the air. She’s planning to incorporate breath gestures one day. Her range of control is impressive for a new Ground Shaper already, and—” “Alden’s running faster,” Winston said suddenly. “Maybe he took something.” Vandy blinked at the interruption. “What do you mean?” “I mean like drugs.” “Why would he need to take drugs to run at the back of their group?” Mehdi said in annoyance. “He was the third fastest last time. Weren’t you paying attention?” “He’s running different now!” Winston insisted. “Look at him. He’s running like…more like you!” “Excuse me, but I don’t clear hurdles like a Rabbit.” Marsha rolled her eyes and spoke to Vandy. “Why are those two so obsessed with the B-rank?” “Alden’s a diligent person,” Vandy said. “He also has experience in a high stress environment, so in some ways he’s the most proven member of our class. For example, during Søren’s accident last night, I’ve heard he used his powers very calm—” “Power,” Winston interrupted. “Singular. Alden has one useful skill. Not multiple. And he’s really arrogant. He was talking like he was definitely going to get into the program before the bus even made it here. And you know…they don’t accept a lot of people like him.” He glanced over at Max, who hadn’t spoken yet, and the rest of the team followed his gaze. “Confidence isn’t a flaw as long as it’s earned,” Vandy said seriously. “And Max is also a very diligent student.” Max took a sip from his water bottle and said nothing. “Well…” Vandy hesitated. “Maybe you would all like to talk about Shrike’s team strategy instead? We could learn something from them.” “They’ve trimmed everything holding them back,” said Marsha. “Our class has too many System experiments and wishful thinkers. It’s irritating that we won’t get another fight with their team. They’re going to be up against Tuyet’s group next. If I had one more chance at Febri…him dodging last time was a fluke. I can hit someone with the Instant Corners skill. I just need to get the angle of my strike—” “I really think our team should’ve attacked them when they were on the bars last time,” Vandy said. “Focusing on Febri was—” “I could’ve handled Shrike on my own, too,” said Marsha. She looked over at Max. “Don’t save any zones for my assaults today. I want to do them on my own. I don’t need you trying to help again. I don’t need an underling.” Max took another swig from his bottle. He spoke for the first time since leaving the locker room. “You can all have exactly what you want. No more complaints from me.” ****** ****** Alden reached the gym just ahead of Haoyu, moving at a pace that felt...