Maia and the Xifarian Conspiracy (The Lightbound Saga Book 1) (7 page)

FOR THE SOLE USE OF

THE XIFARIAN DEFENSE ACADEMY

TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSCECUTED

The door opened as soon as the entire group had assembled, and a tall man with a black goatee emerged smiling. His hair sat on his head in sculptured waves; white stone studs dazzled on his ears. He stretched his mouth a little too wide and a little too long, as if to allow his audience ample time to admire his flawless smile.

“Welcome, young contestants. I am Master Geir-Sei, the Vice Principal of the Xifarian Defense Academy, and I am honored to receive you here today.” He continued after a quick sweeping bow. “You are the best and the lucky few who will have the distinction of participating in the first ever Alliance Initiative. We at the XDA are proud to host you all.

“You, the brave and the talented, are poised to shape the future of our universe, the ones who are blessed to bridge the misunderstandings that divide our people. You are the statespersons of tomorrow.”

He stepped aside, held the door open, and bowed. “I invite you to embrace your destiny.”

Maia stood motionless, stupefied at Master Geir-Sei’s glitzy show, until she was swept forward by an eager wave of youngsters who rushed in a muddled but deliberate flurry to reach the open door.

12: Core 21

Maia’s stride slowed abruptly as she walked through the door. On the other side stood a spaceship that she could not have imagined in her wildest dreams. The cove they had entered was big enough to hold the entire valley of Appian, and the enormous craft stretched across the whole length. The two ends of the magnificent ship were tapered; its bulging middle with a transparent top seemed to serve as a large observation deck. A wide staircase, wrapped in plush red carpet, descended from the middle of the craft to the floor of the bay. People in various uniforms hurried around. Besides the smocks of the Tokii, some wore black coats, similar to the vice principal’s uniform, and some donned white overalls. More contestants, possibly those who had arrived in an earlier pod from another sector, stood in a huddled mass along the side of the bay.

“Behold your golden chariot to the future and beyond, the Fahrbot 878,” said, approaching the breathtaking ship with outstretched arms. The new arrivals gathered around him eagerly as his pompous voice boomed across the bay. “This ship has taken many uninitiated young ones from anonymity to fame and fortune. Maybe one day, I will have the honor of eulogizing your names to young people of another generation.

“Before I let you scramble onboard, I have a few more instructions. Once you reach the academy, you will be grouped to form units of five for the rest of the competition. Over the next six months, these teams will be trained and evaluated for the challenges of the Xifarian leg.”

He flashed a lingering smile before continuing his speech. Quite a few people in the crowd winced, and Maia resisted a pressing urge to giggle.

“We want to give you the chance of choosing for yourself. Simply speaking, you get to pick four teammates and submit your choice to me before we enter the Fahrbot. I will transmit the lists to the Academy Board, who will then approve or disapprove your choices, and add a member or two as needed.”

Even before Master Geir-Sei had finished, the crowd started whispering.

“Ahem.” Geir-Sei cleared his throat and clapped loudly to recapture the attention of the assembly. “May I point out that the intent of this exercise is to learn more about each other, so it would most likely be a wasted effort if you try to form teams with family or old friends. Pick wisely, for your survival over the next six months will depend on how well you get along with your teammates and flourish as a unit.

“Let the bonding games begin,” he almost sang, raising his hands up over his head and waving them in a spectacular flutter.

Maia stole a look at Dani and Kusha, unsure of what needed to be done. Kusha fidgeted a while, looking around shyly before he started.

“You two are the only people I know a little . . . but not enough to displease the Board. I’d like to stay with you.” He added hastily, “Only if you’d like to also, of course.”

“It’s so kind of you to ask. I would love to, thank you,” Dani replied.

“Count me in,” Maia said with a smile bright enough to send the vice principal into a jealous fit. She felt flushed with joy. After spending a day and a half worrying about all the contempt and resentment she would have to live with, she found herself in the middle of a happy, and hopefully, successful companionship. And for that she was immensely thankful. Yet, in her mind, a small sense of unease raised its obstinate head; she should not have joined them, nor any other team for that matter, and never so eagerly. Her plan was to sabotage her way out of Xif, and whichever team she joined would surely take a hit because of her leaving.

Wouldn’t that be betraying the trust Dani and Kusha were placing in me right now? How could—

“Should we look to find the two others for our team?” Dani asked, disrupting Maia’s thoughts.

Maia cast a quick glance around the bay. The crowd of contestants had now clumped into buzzing groups, their faces agitated and voices anxious. There were not many whom Maia knew, fewer whom she could think of asking. She turned back to look at Kusha who stood with a face mirroring Maia’s own hesitation.

“Or we could leave that to the Academy Board,” Dani said, possibly sensing the reluctance.

“Good idea. Let’s give our list to Geir-Sei,” Kusha suggested immediately.

They made their way to the base of the stairs where Master Geir-Sei was under constant siege, busy fielding the requests he was receiving. Many, who did not appreciate the idea of being separated from friends, wrestled to come up with very original interpretations of “friends and family.” Master Geir-Sei valiantly shooed away two noticeably distressed girls as the trio approached him. Finding that the next hopefuls had not known each other before, and they were from different parts of the planet, pleased the man to no end. He jotted down their names in a small metallic tablet, peered at it for a moment, and beamed.

“Prudent choice, young ones, I can see that your names have been accepted,” he declared with a smile that stretched from one ear to the other. “You shall be Core 21. The remaining two members of your team will be assigned by the time you reach the XDA.”

“And how will they do that?” Maia could not keep from asking. She could hardly believe that he had received an approval so quickly.

“Oh that! Very simple, of course.” Master Geir-Sei tittered at the apparent silliness of her query. “The pass-key you were given houses biometric scanners and transmitters. The moment the Tokii registered your names and assigned you numbers, an imprint of your persona was taken and transmitted to Xif along with other identifying data. The Board is responsible for cross-matching that information to find people with compatible sensibilities and group them into teams. It is a difficult and delicate task to match five or six young lives, but you have made it considerably easier for them by finding a big part on your own.”

Maia tried to digest the not-so-obvious simplicity of the procedure as the master gloated over the bafflement he had managed to produce with so little effort. Seeing no signs of immediate recovery on their faces, he tapped his fingers together, fluttered his eyelashes, and smiled.

“Now that you have successfully completed the first task, feel free to dally around.”

So they did, or at least tried. With lofty hopes, the threesome walked around trying to mix and mingle. But Master Geir-Sei’s “bonding game” had already taken its toll. Not many were interested in friendly chitchat anymore. The trio seated themselves on one of the small benches at the corner of the bay and watched the crowd instead. The excited humdrum had eased a bit, but many faces sported angry frowns, and few looked eager to make the most out of the opportunity.

Maia was about to suggest looking for a more interesting activity to pass the time, perhaps taking a stroll around the Fahrbot, when the predictable pattern was abruptly broken. A sudden commotion rose in the knot surrounding the vice principal. The crowd fell away in alarm as an angry boy made his way out from the center of the hub. He was handsome. His perfect build was well matched by the chiseled features of his face; his reddish-brown hair was tied into a stylish ponytail that Maia gawked at shamelessly. The murderous expression on his face, however, was far from pleasing, and he was clearly furious at the turn of events. Four more boys, who were nowhere as attractive as the ponytailed one, but had perfectly replicated his vicious expression, ran up to join him.

“No one breaks up Lex’s pack,” the good-looking boy growled. His sentiment was echoed immediately by the nodding heads of his “pack.” “I will get us placed together. Just wait until my people show them who’s the boss.”

“His people? His pack? Sounds rather like a gangster to me,” whispered Kusha.

Maia’s chuckles, although hushed, did not go unnoticed. Lex scowled, clenched his fists, and stomped up to them.

“You’ve something to say, smart-mouth?” he snarled and poked Kusha in the chest.

“No, he didn’t say anything,” Maia intervened, flashing the most charming smile she could muster, hoping the boy would calm down. Lex turned toward her and made a nasty face.

“And who are you, his enchanting girlfriend from the pigsty?”

“Shut up,” Kusha yelled as he stepped between Maia and Lex.

“Or what? What’ll you and your ragtag band here do to me?” Lex

shoved Kusha back onto the bench.

Dani rose to her feet before Maia could blink. She pulled out her sword in a flash, unsheathing it just enough to hit Lex squarely on the chest with the stout pommel. Her move took the boy completely by surprise; he teetered backward unsteadily and crashed into his equally surprised cronies. Dani stood with her sword still half-unsheathed, staring defiantly and matching the collective glare of Lex’s gang who looked utterly confused as they scrambled to help an outraged Lex back to his feet. Maia braced herself for their next move, her hand clamped tightly over Bellator’s hilt.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” the honey-coated voice of the flamboyant Vice Principal Geir-Sei tinkled merrily. He had walked over unnoticed and now stood in a grandiose posture—his arms crossed elegantly across his chest, right leg extended away from his body, foot tapping in a patient rhythm. He tilted his head with grace befitting a royal, gazed stoically for a while, smiled at Dani, and then turned his goatee up in disdain at Lex. “This is what being a team means—standing up for each other. What is truly important, young man, is solidarity, not familiarity.”

Master Geir-Sei rubbed his flawlessly manicured hands together and flashed another sugary smile. “Now to matters of immediate importance. It is time to go. I am sure no one would want to miss out on the wonderful views as we continue to the academy, so please go up the stairs to your right marked ‘Observation Deck’ and take your seats. Now, march in, shall we?”

After they were all seated, the head count taken, and the final papers signed by Master Geir-Sei, the Fahrbot 878 lifted off from the bay and glided out into the cavernous port with practiced ease.

Maia gripped the handle of her seat, fingers digging into its richly upholstered arms, trying to anchor herself in the safety of anything stationary as the Fahrbot plunged into the dark ahead.

13: Through the Golden Gate

As the Fahrbot faced the inner circular gate, thin lighting strips that crisscrossed the floor of the craft flickered to life, illuminating the deck in an eerie glow. Dani sat next to Maia, right beside the window, her face a mask of obligatory courage. Maia craned her neck to look at the view outside. The golden gate in front of the craft had started to part, revealing a pitch-dark passage within.

A complete blackness descended when the spaceship slipped into the tunnel and the gate they left behind sealed shut. And once again, the airship waited. Then another gate opened in the distance, and the diffused green light from the long passage beyond crept slowly toward the waiting aircraft. As the new path came to view, the Fahrbot shook off its stupor and glided toward the lit end, picking up speed until it hurtled forward.

“That must have been the lock gate Hans spoke of,” Dani whispered.

“Surely seems like one,” Kusha agreed. “This tunnel must be pressurized at a different level than the bay outside. The first dark tunnel is where they equalized the pressure around the craft to the same level as in here.”

“I don’t understand why the lock couldn’t be better lit,” Maia grumbled. She was not fond of dark enclosed spaces. The green mist that surrounded them now was not too uplifting either, but it was a definite improvement over the inky black. “Is this taking us below the surface?”

“Right to the center of the planet, of course,” Dani stated.

“The center?” Maia asked. “The entire core of Xif is really hollow then?”

“Well, no, not exactly,” Kusha replied. On seeing Maia’s confused look he started to explain. “The planet of Xif is hollow, but only about half of it. As far as I know, Xifarians used extreme land-carving techniques to burrow into the core of the planet. That was their only option to make the planet habitable, since the surface did not have an environment stable enough to sustain life. All their cities are located underneath the surface, where they maintain an artificial atmosphere.”

“Hans says it’s pretty amazing,” Dani chimed in with the requisite reference to her brother. “Think of the spherical planet divided into two halves, each half subdivided into four quadrants. One half of the planet is unstable and volatile, strewn with volcanoes and lava fields, hence it is left as is. The other half is hollowed out into the first four quadrants and that’s where the colonies have been built. We must be heading for Quad 1. Hans says all government offices are located there, mostly in and around their capital, Armezai.”

“Isn’t this planet also a spaceship? How do they . . .” Maia stopped midway, feeling a little inadequate. Her long-standing aversion to anything Xifarian, her fervent avoidance of all discussion related to it had led to this state of ignorance about Xif. Maia let her mind wander for a moment—how much her life had changed since she started on her routine journey to Shiloh two days ago; she was proud of her rejection of Xif then. Now, tumbling down toward the heart of the strange planet, inhabited by people she knew nothing about, she felt hopelessly unprepared.

It is all because of Sophie. Had she not betrayed her family and her people, it would have all been so different.

“No one really knows how they manage to steer a whole planet through space,” Dani said, sensing the intent of her question. “It’s hard to even imagine the kind of energy source that can drive such tremendous flight.”

The dimming of the lights outside brought an end to the discussion. The Fahrbot had entered a darkened tunnel similar to the one in which they had started. This, Maia figured, was the end of the long passageway through the crust of Xif. She sat up in anticipation and so did everyone else around her. Conversation died down and all eyes focused on another gate ahead that opened up slowly. A collective gasp of wonder rose from the deck as they reached the other side.

The Fahrbot had emerged from a “hole in the sky” that now closed shut behind them. Maia knew she was deep inside Xif, but looking around, there was very little to remind her of that. A cheerful blue sky hung above them, at the center of which was a brilliant white star. At the edges of the Xifarian world, the horizon touched the ground. Beneath them lay a concentration of buildings that Maia never imagined possible.

A sea of structures rose in peaks and spires, domes and towers, packed closely together and forming a never-ending patchwork of metal and stone. Shimmering webs of ribbon-like roads soared and snaked around the unending maze of buildings, and here and there in the vast collage of gray and dull blue lay lively patches of green. The Fahrbot wove through a tangle of roadways, gradually sinking lower, until it landed on a large field in front of a clustered mesh of round white buildings that looked like a group of freshly sprouted mushrooms. Their spotless white domes glistened in the soft light, casting a soothing spell on Maia’s tired eyes.

As the stairs unfolded, Maia, her teammates, and everyone else walked out of the Fahrbot. The Vice Principal Geir-Sei strode along a paved walkway toward the biggest “mushroom” that stood at the center of the expansive grounds.

“This is the flagship building of our campus, the Sangrey-Tothe Dome,” Geir-Sei informed as the group reached the flight of stairs that led inside. “Your living quarters will be in here, as well as most of your project rooms.”

Maia took a quick look at the vast campus surrounding them. Scattered around were other smaller structures, some shaped like the flagship building, some different. The trees and shrubs that nestled in between the imposing structures were trimmed to perfection. Pathways wound through the foliage and the buildings, tying the sprawling complex together.

“Principal Pomewege will be here soon for the welcome address,” Geir-Sei said as he led them up the smooth white stairs and directed them into Sangrey-Tothe Dome through a pair of enormous doors.

The large oblong lobby inside was brimming with anxious newcomers. From the far right end, a liberally sized glass staircase spiraled up to the floors above. The absolute lack of color struck Maia; the interior was stark with white walls, white floors, and white furniture.

“Kusha, Dani, Maia,” a voice, clear and sharp, rose from somewhere in the middle of the room. “Are you here yet?”