Interstellar Academy by Kennedy Harkins (read books for money .TXT) 📕

Floating down the tube, I tried to feel some of the joy the human obviously felt while weightless, but it evaded me. Shaking off my peculiar mood, I touched my feet to the ground of the actual ship. It seemed to be a labyrinth of corridors. I liked mazes even less than I liked puzzles, but I started off in the direction my aunt had hinted at.

There was no staff around. Most of it comprised of robots who were only called on to do specific jobs at specific times, but the living component was probably sleeping. That was another lucky break for me, and it made me anxious. I’d never been lucky, and I didn’t see why now, with so much on the line, I was suddenly sprout good fortune.

I was well into the underbelly now. Up top, everything was polished and pretty, but few people ever saw this, so it was left raw and unfinished looking. The walls were dark metal pieces, fitted together loosely in some places so you could see the red wires and pipes that made everything possible.

Pausing in my pursuit, I started a map of each hallway I'd run down. It was far from completely, so I ran down a couple explored corridors, taking note of everything. My foot steps were silent, but I was still tense at the possibility of being caught here. I finished up my exploration quickly and headed towards the front of the ship.

Two men abruptly rose up from a spot I'd thought was solid ground. I drove to the side, throwing myself from their path. They moved past me, not sparing the spot I was hiding by a second glass. Both were wearing a version of the school uniform, but with jackets and identical boots. They sported a myriad of badges on their chests that gleamed even in the dim lighting.

When they disappeared from sight, I moved over to the spot on the floor they'd seemingly fazed through. It looked solid enough, but there was a strange metal ring etched into the material. I brushed my fingers or it. Nothing happened.

Frowning, I cautiously stepped on it, looking around for a hidden switch. That proved unnecessary, because as soon as my full weight rested inside the ring, I began to sink.

My eyes stretched open as far as they could, watering slightly. It was like a silent scream for my face. I grabbed around madly as the floor devoured my legs, moving up towards my abdomen for something to grab onto. There was nothing, and it was up to my chest. The once solid metal felt squishy and gooey, but despite its watery composition, I couldn't flap my arms hard enough to keep afloat. I'd never been a good swimmer anyway, and I was even less so without a water proof covering for my wings.

My neck was gone, and it was lapping at my chin. I breathed in one last breath before being submerged completely. I kept my eyes closed tight as I sunk impossibly deeper, feeling the stinky, warm substance on my skin rush past me.

My feet collided with something solid. The next moment, I could breath and my person was no longer stifled by the goo. I inhaled sharply feeling a bit light headed. I was on the ground in a faintly glowing room. All the wall space was taken up with a surround view of the area surrounding the ship. The floor and the ceiling, too, showed an endless expanse of space. Though I knew it was all a holo projection, meant so one could see all angles of the ships surroundings, I brushed against it gently with my fingers. They met a hard surface, and I stood up.

The glowing in the room came from the wrap around glass counter supporting the holographic controls. I walked over to one monitor, and with a flick of my finger, I brought up stats on every living creature aboard this ship. The dazzling spots on a bare bones map each represented one person, and I blinked against the brilliance.

Still, I couldn't be impressed with all that after my experience. I went back to where I'd fallen in, staring at the ceiling intently for an explanation.

“It's a matter shift,” a voice said from behind me. “It changed the state of matter—gas, water, solid, whatever-- in a specific location. Incognito.”

I spun around and my words were an accusation.“You.”

February 20th:

“You.”

I grinned, though inside I felt like screaming. “Me.”

I stepped away from the master computer—the one that had access to every electronic system on the whole ship, could override anything. It would have been the perfect weapon against certain teachers who didn't think my flying skills were up to par. Sadly, that wasn't why I was here.

I'd been working on it for weeks—weeks. Every time I thought I was getting close to a solution to the imminent threat to the school, I'd find a way that the warning could be traced back to me or be picked up by someone else-- not this time though. From this room, I could hack onto Earhart's personal holo, and it'd be stamped with this super computer's signature. It was perfect.

I glowered at the winged boy. And now it's ruined, I thought.

“How did you get in here?” he asked, having the audacity to sound angry with me.

“There's an entrance under the Faculty building,” I said. “Found it while I was looking for security weaknesses.”

Back on one of the nights I'd been sure I'd be expelled in the morning, I'd snooped around the building, planning out an act of vandalization and retaliation. I wasn't going to share that with goody-goody Dru, though. Who knew when I'd need that plan.

Although, since he had snuck in here just like me, I guess he wasn't so good. The realization made me smile.

I walked over to one of the control displays, admiring the beauty of the holo's blinking lights. “So, what're you doing here?”

His face got a little paler, and I wondered idly if I should get him the name of the guy who gene sliced my mom into tanned splendor. Of course to me, she looked like she'd overdosed on vitamin C. He definitely deserved that number.  

A noise above us captured our attention. Someone was stomping around the matter shift. I looked over at Dru, who was looking at me. We shared a moment of perfect, mutual understanding that seldom comes for people who hate each other.

Springing into action, we took cover in the corner against the tube like entrance below the shifter. It was the only place to hide in the circular room, and it was tiny. I ended up being smushed against Dru's giant wings, prompting me to remember the time a classmate had brought in a pet bird for show and tell. It'd escaped and came after me completely unprovoked. Mostly unprovoked anyway. I shuddered, reliving the feel of feathers and talons.

Two men wearing school faculty uniforms with metals on their chests sunk through the floor, looking way more impressive than Dru or I had managed. My heart was going a million miles a minute, trying to outrun the threat of these men even though my body couldn't move. Both of us huddled closer to the wall, staring at our doom personified with frozen, glassy eyes. Whatever the joke was, the men cut off their laughing upon approaching the main holo screen. It was flashing red--never a good color, unless its painted on my lips-- and reading out some warning I couldn't make out from all the way over here. One of the men flicked his fingers and pressed a few buttons. "Invasion on level six under the center of campus. Time stamped almost an hour ago." His companion cursed and they ran to the shifter without sparing a glance for the nooks and crannies. Only when they had ascended did Dru and I breathe a collective sigh of relief. I raised my eyebrow at him. "That wasn't where I came in. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy."

He stood, waving at me to get up. "Let's go. The last thing I want is to be caught here with you."

We moved to stand under the matter shifter, Dru more reluctantly than I. "Yeah well, ditto. Except I'm more hung up on the thought of being caught at all."

The gravity field turning on moving us up towards the ceiling. I took a deep breath, but didn't shut my eyes. This was all just way too cool to miss a second of. The lack of gravity kept us moving--albeit slowly-- through the sludge. It didn't seem too actually touch our skin, just brush by it, giving the feeling of the squishy mud seeping through our pores.

A few seconds after breaching the shifter area, we emerged on the floor where we'd entered. I kneaded there for a moment, gasping, before the sudden stiffening of Dru's body brought my attention up.

The two men from before we're standing right in front of us.

"Well," one of them said, grim faced. "Looks like we found our security breach."

Professor Earhart tapped her fingers impatiently on the dark rock of her desk. I shifted uneasily on the flooding slab of metal that had been provided for seating. They hadn't checked my belongs, but at any moment that blessing could rescinded, and they would find the holo. And, by extension, the illegal maps it contained.

"Did it ever occur to you, during your foolhardy quest for entertainment, that breaking into the control room of the entire school would get you expelled?"

The human was pale, but said, "Hardly breaking in when it wasn't exactly locked."

She ignored the girl, turning to me instead. "Mr. Accia, you've been a model student. I can't believe you would go along with Miss Alkaev in this."

I waited for the girl to say something, like how I'd gotten there under my own power and whim, but she didn't. She just sat there with a moody expression on her face that didn't do much to hide the fact that she was terrified out of her mind. Her hands trembled slightly on her lap.

I decided to take her lead and not say anything. She was