A Wider Sky: Beyond Eclipse Series
by Talyis Bagley Ellison
Copyright first edition 2013, 2015
Chapter 5
Having met my first alien was anti-climatic.
She didn't vaporize me. I saw no super magic or special powers and she did in-fact look human. She was a bit snarky and had a sense of entitlement but I could say the same of Ben and Maddie. It seemed like everyone outside the colony had that aura about them.
We must have traveled far, even at lightening speed because once we arrived it was later afternoon. Though, I could have sworn we were on the craft for no more than an a few hours. Maybe not having much to say after choosing my study path and reading through the dossier becoming an expert on my fake alien life, the trip seemed to take forever.
"Here you are," she announced as the craft began to land.
Again, I felt like I was going to loose cheerios as my mom used to say when I had an upset stomach, not that I really knew what that meant.
Tall ornate gates and beautiful green hedges crafted into various artistic shapes surrounded the entrance to the campus. Students milled around and it seemed peaceful, fun maybe. I corrected myself mentally, reminding myself they were not humans running around the green quads fields playing games, chatting with one another on blankets or laying in the grass with books under their elbows.
The craft floated passed the main campus building featuring a massive sculpture erected in tribute of Eclipse. It was formidable, a steel planet Earth with flames spilling off into the atmosphere while being eclipsed by a smaller planet, the Y'vori's home planet. Water surrounded the terrific sculpture.
"On the top of the hour, spouts the most spectacular water display. As if to douse the Earth's flames," the woman boasted as she caressed her pin matching the sculpture's design.
We stopped in front of a dormitory and the transport woman escorted me to my room. I balanced my large duffle over my shoulder like a hunchback. I tried to stop my curious eyes from soaking in the reality of being on campus. The lady was walking so fast I didn't get a chance to further take in my new surroundings.
The dorm hall was empty - everyone was enjoying the beautiful sunny day outside. Each door had a sensor pad to unlock the rooms.
"These were installed once we decided to admit you. We don't have locks on our doors in The Realm, but I guess now that have a human in our midst, it's an unfortunate necessity."
She snatched my hand and pressed it to the sensor pad. My dorm room door slid for lack of better expression, vaporized before my eyes. I walked in and set my duffle bag on the floor and looked around what would be my home for the next year.
It was simple. A first floor dorm room looking onto the quad. I had a small bed, a kitchen area that was no smaller than the makeshift one we had on our dresser top back home in the colony. A peculiar shower that looked more like a small metal closet with a window sat near the door. The Transport Woman touched the silver plated wall and dresser drawers materialized, pulling out from the wall. She pressed another button and a desk folded out from the wall with a complete matching metal chair.
So much for having a matching dorm room motif that my mother worried that I missing out on. I already had a set for me here, silver metal, glass and whatever else I discovered would materialize or pull from out of the wall.
The Transport Woman took my tablet from my hands, swished a few windows to opened a schedule.
"This is your orientation schedule. I have just enrolled you in your program. You are to report here every Friday at 17:00 hours for a weekly briefing. You will do this until we no longer see it fit to brief you. If you do not show up, we will consider it a deviation from the plan and you will be marked a terrorist.
I gulped and my eyes watered pools of apprehension but I willed them to dry.
Be strong, dammit; you haven't been here 10 minutes.
"We are glad to have you here Ms. Walker, you are our first human to pass our test and we are also proud." She swallowed each word as if it were poison.
"You are?" My mind was swimming again in the learning curve. This was so contrary to what I was taught about aliens, my voice shook.
"Yes, we are. So please make this worth our while as much as yours." Again the stepford-wives-body-expressions took over her, she tipped her head from side to side with a muted smile.
She then pointed out a map on my tablet of the campus and gave me a billfold of money to last me the rest of the year, which I promptly tucked into my dresser drawer. It was a bursary gift heavy with warning. I was not allowed to bring any money to Ben and Maddie's home and definitely not allowed to bring anything from The Realm to the colony.
"I hope you will stay for the festivities." She commented as she left which brought back the chill that lived in my spin.
I took a deep breath and looked around the room. This was my home, my alien home, where I was to pretend I was an alien.
I exhaled and then slid my eyes mischievously to the bed. I flopped myself onto the bed. Surprising soft and so comfortable. I crossed my legs at the ankles and tucked my hands behind my head to stare at the ceiling and relax for a second.
I guess you do what they say, "when in Rome, do what the Romans do." and with that, I flicked my hand in the air.
My duffle bag zipper pulled open while I laid on the plush mattress. I pressed my hand in the air towards the wall across from my bed. where the dresser drawers would materialize. I willed my hand print to appear on the walls sensor.
I smiled with surprise, my room struck a sudden chord to filling the room with the most mysterious magical music I had ever heard. It was obviously alien. I giggled to myself feeling a bit pleased.
Opps, pressed the wrong button. I willed my powers to hit the correct button and the dressers popped open.
Contently, I fell back against the pillow, the music was strange but I enjoyed it. It was perfect music for unpacking from the comfort of my bed.
I waved my hands in the air as if I were a conductor-of-cleaning. My clothing floated out of the bag and into various dresser drawers in a concert with the Y'vori music. The last note concluded with my mom's afghan crawling up my feet to drape over me.
I pulled it closer to my nose and inhaled the sent of my home. I wonder how long it would last before it faded and started to smell like this alien dorm room and The Realm. I tried not to dwell on that idea too long and I flipped my wrist and my tablet landed in my hand.
Okay, I said to myself, What shall I do next?
***
I decided if I were going to do as the Y'vori did; I might as well jump into the deep end. I'd have to integrate myself sooner or later and I wanted to make sure I would be ready for my first class.
Changing into a new outfit and without a second thought I snapped my Eclipse pin onto my sweater. I dashed out of my room to catch up with the last first year tour gathering in front of the fountain. I was a bit out of breath but I gravitated to the back of the group so I could observe. I didn't want to talk to anyone in case I accidentally say the wrong thing or deviate from my dossier.
The campus was beautiful, surrounded by a wooded area and a lake sat on the east side where love birds would jump into canoes from the powerhouse for quiet dates on the tranquil water. Cherry blossoms seemed to cocoon the sidewalks to the library.
The student center was overrun with students playing games and setting up tables for club sign-ups. I wondered if this what it was like for my mom to go to university Before Eclipse.
So much energy sizzled and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves in the sun. I wish I could write home to let my mother know that I was okay. But I had a feeling that was not allowed, technically because that would mean paper from The Realm would enter the colony.
The student tour guide quizzed the groups on the names of the academic buildings. Harvard for the Arts of History and Literature majors and where I would spend most of my time. The other academic buildings were also named after famous human universities: The School of Politics and Military Strategy was in the Yale building and Science and Astronomy in the McGill building. The School of Instruction and Greater Knowledge was the most prestigious program according to the tour guide causing a lot of students to chime in how they were going to be spending a majority of their time in the Oxford Building which also housed the campus cafeteria.
The group visited various dormitories which we named after famous humans that had done great things for the world. I thought it was a wonderful gesture, even though I knew better than voice that sentiment aloud.
I was glad I didn't.
"Does anyone know why we name our dorms after humans?" The tour guide smiled brightly, his eyes glinted with pride.
A young girl who looked like she would have been a freshman in a pre-Eclipse human university raised her hand stretching her to her tip-toes to be seen from the back of the group.
"Because, even though these humans surpassed the majority of mankind; we still will achieve greater for Earthkind and universe's well being." She sang.
Wow. That was a real projection of a majority ruling-class seeing themselves as the minority.
I begining to wonder what did the Y'vroi really achieve that was greater than Gandhi or Daniel Hale Williams who developed the first open heart surgery. Or were humans more like Louise Latimer, the man who invented filaments for lightbulbs before he was overshadowed by Thomas Edison and Nicola Tesla? Other than pull mankind into near extinction, how have the aliens create a better life or did they just replace another ruling class.
I had to stop thinking because I knew I was digging myself a trap already three hours on campus and I was beginning to fume. My mother's lessons where making me test everything they said. I couldn't take what the said at face value because I knew better. For the first time, I was greatly appreciative that my mom secretly taught me what our colony schools would not.
After the near implosive campus tour, the students dispersed to go to the cafeteria. That was one thing I knew I wasn't ready for and I wasn't going near the cafeteria until I was ready.
I instead decided to pick up my textbooks by going to my advisory hall. The Harvard building was pretty empty and pristine. Even the wooden panels lining the stone floors had been polished with meticulous care.
I stopped in front t office of my advisor feeling a surge of real excitement. Professor U. Winsdor, PhD read the brass plaque on his heavy wooden door. I knocked the door and it echoed down the hall. No one answered. I felt like a fool so out of place.
I didn't know what to do. I had to pick up my books but the entire building was an empty shell, everyone was outside enjoying the final hours of summer. I noticed a sensor similar to my bedroom console. I pressed my hand and a small scrolling screen read: Welcome Kiowa Walker. To check-in register your tablet.
