Kei

  Haley and Tam pause their sparring and approach as I examine the newcomers, Joey and Emily trailing behind.

  Haley raises an eyebrow. “You Aspects are orienting her? She rates a Founder onboarding, then?”

  “We’re just volunteers, not ‘the Founders,’ and they asked us to help out,” the tall and admittedly handsome teen pressing the tablet into my hands responds. “Maybe they’re shorthanded.” He is good looking, but in an unselfconscious, approachable way. As opposed to too-perfect and almost untouchable like the girl next to him. He gives me a wry, almost apologetic grin.

  “Right,” Haley drawls, eyeing all three of them.

  The girl with silver eyes, lustrous dark hair and a face and body sculpted to intimidate also faces us, then juts her chin at me in acknowledgement. “You’ll have your chance to make more small talk later, Donovans. The faster we can get her on board, the faster we can cut her loose.” Mirrored shades almost cover her eyes, but she tugs them down the bridge of her nose and peers over them at me. Her irises are a distinct silver gray, with an almost iridescent sheen, and her gaze is piercing, almost unsettling. “Kei, yes? Andrea.”

  I nod back to her. There’s definitely something unsettling about her, but not in a bad way. More like someone being completely to the point when everyone else is dodging around the truth. Not my style, but I can appreciate it. I’m having to dodge too many uncomfortable truths already.

  I look back at the Donovans. “I’ll see you later, guys. Thanks for the welcome.” I smile at Joey, and tap the Sharksack. “And the bag.”

  He grins back as we make our farewells. Then the Aspects start ushering me away.

  “You signed up for Level Four Accelerated Learning,” the tall guy remarks, gesturing down the path leading into the looming school building. “And a bunch of other highly advanced courses. That’s… unusual for someone with no real transcript, but apparently you tested high enough at everything that the school’s willing to let you do… whatever.”

  I nodded to him, and as if by an unspoken signal we begin moving towards the doors of the cathedral-like building. We walk three abreast, Andrea on the left, me on the right and the friendly guy trying to fill our mutual silence with welcoming sounds in the middle.

  The hulking redhead in front of us beckons us towards the doors and leads the way in. The way to the VR lab is swift, and we shortly find ourselves in a spacious room filled with screens, VR rigs and full-scale holographic displays of various environments filling the corners.

  “So you use VR to learn?” I ask. I’m familiar with the tech, and probably a little too familiar with versions that aren’t even in most black labs and black markets yet, but I decide not to mention that.

  “We use a lot of things to learn,” Tall, Dark and Handsome says. “But the Administration wants to be sure you know how to use our more… ‘exotic’ tools, so you’re not at a disadvantage. Especially if you’re up to the kind of syllabus you selected. Not everyone hits the schoolbooks running the way you did.”

  Andrea nods. “Impressive,” she admits. “Perhaps we’ll partner in a lab sometime, if you stay.”

  The tall teenager between us looks over at me and grins. “Perhaps we’ll partner, period.”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Andrea gives him a hard look. “Give her the basics before we start, or she’ll be at a disadvantage. I have to set up the ‘scape, or I’d do it myself.” She pulls a thumb drive out of her bag, stands, and walks towards a console at the front of the room.

  The tall boy smiles wryly as he looks down on me. “So you’re the Kei Kimura?” He waves at his broad-shouldered friend. “This is Anton, and I’m Christopher, or just Chris. You’ve already met our cousin.”

  “Andrea?” I raise an eyebrow at the girl whose eyes match Chris’ in everything but emotion.His grin widens. “The one and the only. She seems to like you, Kei, compared to most – heaven help you.” He reaches out a hand, and I take it, cautiously. “Chris’ll do.”

  “Christopher,” Andrea corrects him from several paces off, staring away from us. She is rapidly tapping the air in front of her, and moving with purpose.

  He rolls his eyes as he squeezed my hand and shook it. “—Of the House of Aspect, the way Andrea tells it.” She doesn’t correct him.

  I cock an eyebrow at him, and meet eyes the same silver-gray as Andrea’s. I nod towards the girl. “Your sister?”

  “Cousin.” He shrugs. “But we might as well be. We all grew up together.” He’s about to say more, but Andrea speaks.

  “Ready,” she announces. “Kei, as newcomer, you get the honors. Endless labyrinth? Clockwork doomsday weapon? Psychological breaking point? We can try any of the classics, so long as we tackle at least one lesson plan before we’re done.”

  “One?” None of those sound like a normal classroom, but hey, I’ve been in stranger places. None I can remember, but I know I have.

  “Take your pick.” She waves a hand, and a scrolling list appears in midair in front of me. I blink. Apparently they can skip the goggles and project their holograms directly. I focus on the list. There are a lot more than three choices.

  “What’s ‘Fall of the Citadel’?” I ask.

  “Timeless, is what it is.” The huge redheaded teen looms over us before collapsing into the open desk to my right. “So we’re going back to the ‘Fall’?” He is massively muscular, especially for a teen, and has an expression on his face which flows between amused and… cautiously amused – especially when he glances at Andrea. Andrea sniffs at his question, but says nothing.

  I cock my head at the newcomer.

  “This is Anton,” Chris repeats, in case I hadn’t caught the name before, I suppose. Or I’m somehow not noticing the looming giant. Or they fear my amnesia extends to forgetting things I was told 2-minutes ago, which would make schooling hard, I suppose. “Anton, Kei. Kei, Anton. He’s my other cousin at the school.” I realize Andrea swept us along without even bothering with introductions, which strikes me as odd, even if she is somehow preoccupied.

  Is she that self-absorbed? Self-important? Or more intent on this task than I understood? Even if Andrea is taking her cousins for granted, she certainly hasn’t been ignoring me.

  Anton extends a hand with a grin. “Welcome to Crazytown, Kei. I’m the Sheriff. Those two are the Mayors.”

  “Everyone have their goggles?” Andrea asks, making a few final taps in the empty air. “In honor of our guest, I’ve selected some… challenging coursework.”

  “Challenging?” Christopher inquires. He taps his sleek VR goggles meaningfully and catches Andrea’s gaze.

  “Nothing beyond her skills. And I’ve made the usual accommodations for Anton.”

  “Kiddie Mode,” Anton confides in a loud whisper. “Things get too tough, just step closer to me. You’ll drop like five difficulty levels at once.”

  “More like seven,” Andrea cuts in.

  “Just put on the muffs and goggles and let the program do the rest,” Chris says. “Don’t freak out. Non-invasive neurostim will give you the rest of the physical sensations – it’s just like being there.”

  “If it’s too much, just yank off the headset,” Anton assures me. “You’ll drop back into reality instantly. And pain is limited to discomfort only. Just click the big red ‘Pain Exclusion’ button if you don’t want any.”

  “We’ll start in a temporary ‘safe zone,’” Andrea says, “so you’ll have a moment to catch your breath.”

  I nod. “What… are we trying to learn here?”

  Anton glances at a smartpad. “Looks like a mix of AI debugging, genetic engineering, rapid problem solving, rapid prototyping, bioethics, urban survival and, well, mixed martial arts. And flow states, of course.”

  “Additional lessons optional,” Andrea clarifies.

  “It’s a useful way of making the lesson plans take over all your senses, and all your attention,” Chris explains. “But it also let’s you experience dangerous events like X-sports without death or injury, or even severe pain.”“‘Mild discomfort,’ tops,” Anton confirms.

  “And all this to get us to concentrate.” I nod. “Original.”

  “Also for ‘gamification,’” Andrea replies. “Turn the lessons into an exciting experience, and you can remember them better. Of course, people overload if you do it too much, but it’s one of the techniques we lean on here, beyond the usual speed reading, AI tutors, Socratic method, and learning by doing.”

  “Among other things,” Anton grins, lifting his rig. “You ready?”I nod again. “As I’ll ever be.”

  Andrea punches the pad, a musical sting passes through my earphones and a haze of rainbows flares in my goggles. I feel an odd rush inside my head, a sudden sensation of falling and then…

  The classroom is gone.

  I am standing in the middle of a broken city street under darkening skies.

  I am alone.

  Patreon page. The first 10 chapters are already up there, even for free subscribers, and you can also see the art which didn't upload to Royal Road.