A Strong Foundation, Can Birth Legends - Part 3

We were lead up to the entrance of the Academy.

A woman stood on the top step and beckoned to them. She wore a white sheet wrapped around her body. She looked old to me, yet young at the same time. Then I saw the motes of light orbiting her head and knew she was an AI. I had seen them on the vids. I knew she wasn't solid, but she was still real.

"Excellent work, Chief Petty Officer Mendez," she aid in a resonant, silk-smooth voice. She turned to the children.

"Welcome. My name is Deja and I will be your teacher. Please come in. Class is about to start."

I groaned out loud. Several of the others grumbled as well.

She turned and started to walk inside. "Of course," she said, "if you prefer to skip your lessons, you may continue the morning calisthenics."

I double-timed up the steps. It was cool inside. A tray with crackers and a carton of milk had been laid out for each of them. I nibbled on the dry stale food, then gulped down my milk.

I was so tired and wanted to lay my head down on the desk and take a nap - until Deja started to tell them about a battle of how three hundred soldiers fought against thousands of Persian infantry.

A holographic countryside appeared in the classroom. The children walked around the miniature mountains and the hills and let the edge of the illusionary sea lap at their boots. Toy-sized soldiers marched toward what Deja explained was sized soldiers marched toward what Deja explains was Thermopylae, a narrow strip of land between steep mountains and the sea. Thousands of soldiers marched toward the three hundred who guarded the pass. The soldiers fought: spears and shields splintered, swords flashed, and spilled blood.

I couldn't take my eyes off the spectacle.

Deja explained that the three hundred were Spartans and they were the best soldiers who had ever lived. They had been trained to fight since they were children. No one could beat them.

I watched, fascinated, as the holographic Spartans slaughtered the Persian spearmen.

I had eaten all of my crackers, but I was still hungry, so I took the crackers of the girl next to me when she wasn't looking and began to munch them down. I heard a giggle from behind me, and I turned around to see the white-haired girl. She looked me in the eye before letting out another giggle.

"Pay attention," she whispered. Pointing at the holo field. I turned around and looked at the projection.

The Persians broke file and ran, while the Spartans stood victoriously on the field.

The children cheered. We all wanted to see it again.

"That's all for today," Deja said. "We'll continue tomorrow and I'll show you some wolves. Now it's time for you to go to the playground."

"Playground?" I said. That was perfect. I could finally just sit on a swing, relax, and think for a moment.

I ran out of the room, as did the other trainees.

Chief Petty Officer Mendez and the trainers waited for them outside the classroom.

"Time for the playground," Mendez said and waved us closer. "It's a short run. Fall in."

The 'short-run' turned into two miles. When I first saw the playground, it was nothing like I had ever seen. It was a forest of twenty-meter tall wooden poles. Rope cargo nets and bridges stretched between the poles; they swayed, crossed and crisscrossed on another, a maze suspended in the air. There were slide poles and knotted climbing ropes. There were swings and suspended platforms. There were ropes looped through pulleys and tied to baskets that looked sturdy enough to hoist a person.

"Trainees," Mendez said, "form three lines."

The instructors moved to herd them, but the others and I made three rows without comment or fuss.

"The first person in every row will be team number one," Mendez said. "The second person in each row will be team number two . . . and so on. If you do not understand this, speak up now."

No one spoke.

"Trainee Alia," said Mendez.

A 'yes, sir,' sounded from behind me. It was the white-haired girl.

'So her name's Alia.' I thought.

"You will be with the three in front of you, seeing as you are the 76th person of this group." continued Mendez.

"Sir, yes Sir!" replied Alia.

I looked to my right. A boy with sandy hair, green eyes, and darkly tanned skin gave him a weary smile. Stenciled on his sweat top was SAMUEL-034. In the row beyond Samuel was a girl. She was taller than John, and skinny, with a long mane of hair, dyed blue. KELLY-087. She didn't look too happy to see him. I looked back at Alia. ALIA-097, it said on her sweats.

"Today's game," Mendez explained, "is called 'Ring the Bell'" He pointed to the tallest pole on the playground. It stood an additional ten meters above the others and had a steel slide pole next to I. Hung at the very top of that pole was a brass bell.

"There are many ways to get to the bell," he told us. "I leave it up to each team to find their own way. When every member of your team has rung the bell, you are to get groundside double time and run back here across this finish line.

Mendez took his baton and scratched a straight line in the sand.

I raised my hand.

Mendez glared at me for a moment with those black unblinking eyes. "A question, Trainee?"

"What do we win?"

Mendez cocked one eyebrow and looked me up and down, appraising me. "You win dinner, Number 117. Tonight, dinner is roast turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, brownies, and ice cream."

A murmur of approval swept through the children.

"But," Mendez added, "for there to be winners there must be a loser. The last team to finish goes without food."

We all fell silent - and then looked at each other warily.

"Make ready," Mendez said.

"I'm Sam," the boy on my right whispered to us.

The girl to the far right of me said, "I'm Kelly."

"And I'm Aira," said the girl behind me.

I just looked at them and said nothing. The others would slow him down. Too bad. I was hungry and I wasn't about to let them make me lose.

"Go!" Mendez shouted.

I ran through the pack of children and scrambled up a cargo net onto a platform. I raced across the bridge and jumped onto the next platform, just in time. The bridge flipped and sent five others into the water below.

I paused at the rope tied to the large basket. It ran up through a pulley and then back down. I didn't think I was strong enough to pull myself up in it. Instead, I tackled a knotted climbing rope and scrunched my body up. The rope swung wildly around the center pole. I looked down and almost lost my grip. It looked twice as far down as it had looked from the ground. I saw all the others, some climbing, others floundering in the water, getting up and starting over. No one was as close to the bell as I was.

I swallowed my fear and kept climbing up. My thoughts consisted of the ice cream and chocolate brownies and how I was going to win.

I got to the top, grabbed the bell, and rang it three times. I then clapped the steel pole and slid all the way to the ground, falling into a pile of cushions.

I got up and ran smiling all the way to the Chief Petty Officer. I crossed the finish line and gave a cry of victory. "I was first," I said, panting.

Mendez nodded and made a check on his clipboard.

I watched as the others made it up and rang the bell then raced across the finish line. Kelly, Sam, and Alia had trouble. They got stuck in a line to get to the bell as everyone bunched up at the end. They finally rand the bell, slide down together and crossed the finish line . . . last. They glared at me. I shrugged.

"Good work, Trainees," Mendez said, and he beamed at them all. "Let's get back to the barracks and chow down."

The children, covered in mud and leaning on each other, cheered.

" - all except team fifteen," Mendez said and looked at Sam, Kelly, Alia, and me.

"But I won," I protest. "I was first."

"Yes, you were first," Mendez explained, "but your team came in last." He then addressed all the children. "Remember this; you don't win unless your team wins. One person winning at the expense of the group means you lose."

I ran back in a stupor all the way back to the barracks. It wasn't fair. I had won. How could you win and still lose?

I watched as the others stuffed themselves with turkey, the white meat dripping with gravy. They spooned down the mountains of vanilla ice cream and left the mess all with chocolate encrusting the corners of their mouths.

All I got was a liter of water. I had drunk it, but it didn't have any taste. It did nothing to my hunger.

I wanted to cry, but my body was too tired. I collapsed in my bunk, trying to think of ways to get even with Sam, Kelly, and Alia messing me up - but I couldn't think. Every muscle and bone in my body ached. I had fallen asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.