According to the instructions posted at the crossing, if they fell off, they had to go back and do it again. It was your typical obstacle course as far as t.i.tus could tell. The trick was, they weren"t allowed to speak to each other.
Lab technicians had implanted a speech inhibitor in his vocal cords, as well as those of Eto Mahs. t.i.tus was surprised at how many times it had already stopped him from speaking. If he concentrated, he could override the inhibitor, otherwise it kept them from making involuntary statements.
"Yeiiahhh!!" Eto Mahs screamed as he fell, for the sixth time, into the river. He bobbed to the surface, his dark hair dripping with water. "Eeiihh!"
t.i.tus grinned to himself. They might be in a holodeck, but that water was cold. Mahs screamed that way every time he fell off the light beam.
The inhibitor allowed them to make inarticulate noises, and they could signal simple directions with their hands. He wondered what the communications specialists could possibly be getting from this. The whole thing seemed absurd, but then again, he was on a private mission of his own to prove he was worthy of a juicy field a.s.signment. Each to his own, he figured.
Meanwhile, he enjoyed the wooded environment, watching the leaves shift overhead in the wind. His colony world didn"t have trees, only patches of large types of gra.s.s, sort of like terrestrial bamboo. He wouldn"t admit it to anyone, but he thought a tree was a miraculous thing. So many odd shapes and designs, each one different yet perfect in itself.
He rolled over to watch Eto Mahs climb out of the river, shivering. t.i.tus raised his hand to his mouth to yell, "Take your clothes off, you nitwit!" but the inhibitor beeped a warning.
Sheepishly, t.i.tus smacked his forehead. The lab techs must be keeping record of every incident when they tried to speak. That could be the purpose of the course. On every obstacle, underneath the instructions, they were told they could quit the course at any time without consequences by simply saying, "End program."
Mahs resolutely stepped onto the narrow light beam one more time, his teeth biting his lower lip. t.i.tus shook his head at the poor guy. He probably hadn"t expected an obstacle course on a communications project. Mahs was a third-year Cadet majoring in exobiology, according to the summary at the beginning of the course. His mother was supposedly j.a.panese and his father was from-what planet was it?-wherever. t.i.tus didn"t recall ever seeing him around the Academy, but Mahs had nodded in greeting as if he recognized t.i.tus. They had never spoken a word to each other.
Eto Mahs wobbled, flailing his arms, his wet hair whipping around. "Yeiiahhh!!" he screamed again as he fell.
t.i.tus rolled onto his back again, chewing on a piece of gra.s.s. What did he care how long it took Mahs to get across? Come Monday, he would be transporting to the a.s.sembly. He could think of worse ways to spend the next two days than relaxing on the hillside enjoying the gentle breeze.
t.i.tus kicked his heels against the stone wall where he sat watching Eto Mahs. Mahs was trying to turn the handle to open the gate obstacle. They could have just as easily jumped over, but the instruction said each of them had to turn a handle to open the gate before they could go through. t.i.tus had turned his handle with one twist of his wrist, while Mahs was practically hanging off his handle. It wouldn"t budge.
t.i.tus twisted up one side of his mouth. Eto Mahs was hardly as tall as his shoulder, and was probably the skinniest guy he"d ever seen. But he couldn"t understand how anyone could be that weak. The latch did have a tricky notch you had to catch, but t.i.tus had immediately felt it when he turned the handle. How could Mahs not figure it out? But then again, it had taken twelve tries before Mahs got across the river that morning.
As it turned out, the guy did have a great sense of direction. A few times he had been right about which way to go-once after t.i.tus had tramped at least a mile in the other direction, with Mahs tugging at his arm the whole way, trying to make him turn back.
Mahs gasped out, collapsing against the wall, hanging onto the handle for support. Slowly, he slid down until he was huddled on the ground, breathing heavily.
t.i.tus wished he could tell the guy how to open it. He got down and made motions for Mahs to push in as he turned the handle, but Mahs wearily nodded that he understood what to do. t.i.tus raised his hands, silently admitting that there was nothing else he could contribute, and he returned to his post on the wall.
Impatiently, he glanced around. Were they going to be forced to camp here tonight? It wasn"t a bad spot, but there was lake on the other side of the gate that he was dying to get to. A swim before rolling out the bedroll would be perfect. Yet he couldn"t cheat and jump the fence. The instructions were very clear that the partners were supposed to remain together.
He stared down at Mahs, wondering if the exobiologist had quit or was getting up the energy for another try. Suddenly Mahs looked up, meeting his eyes, as if he could feel the contempt t.i.tus felt for him.
Startled, t.i.tus looked away. He wondered if Eto Mahs had known all day how pitiful he looked to t.i.tus. He felt kind of bad about it, but also more than a little justified. Why didn"t Mahs just say "End Program" and get them both out of here? t.i.tus would still have time to get to the Antarctic Circle before the party ended, and he"d have another whole day before he had to report to the a.s.sembly.
Mahs was still looking up at him resentfully, and t.i.tus let slip a little of his own resentment at being stuck with such a weakling.
Mahs flinched as if t.i.tus had shouted the word. Without another glance, he got up and grabbed hold of the handle again.
t.i.tus instantly felt bad about the pain in Mahs" dark eyes. He didn"t want to hurt the guy. But watching him struggle with the handle, panting after only a few moments" effort, made him want to roll his eyes and shake his head in exasperation. He heroically restrained himself, even managing to feel a little burst of sympathy toward for him. But that evaporated when Mahs cast another resentful look over his shoulder.
t.i.tus sighed. It looked like it would be a long, dry evening ahead.
t.i.tus made camp all by himself, gathering enough gra.s.s to pad both of their bedrolls, when Mahs suddenly turned the handle and the gate swung open.
The inhibitor stopped t.i.tus from exclaiming, "Finally!" He grinned, ready for a long, cool swim.
But Mahs was tugging on his arm, pointing back at the gate. There was an instruction sheet posted on this side, but he must have blown right past it, eyes only for the lake.
"Proceed to the peak to make camp," the instructions said.
t.i.tus turned to look, having memorized the landscape as they slowly traversed the deep valley. They couldn"t mean that peak in the distance, on the other side of the lake. It was so far away that they would never reach it before sunset.
He realized he was shaking his head when Mahs insistently nodded, pointing to the instructions, then to the peak.
t.i.tus stared at Mahs. Why didn"t he just give up?
Mahs narrowed his eyes slightly, jerking his chin at t.i.tus-Why don"t you?
The challenge hung between them only a few seconds, then t.i.tus slowly grinned at Mahs, making it very clear that he would never give up.
They were trudging up the lower slope of the peak in full darkness when a computer voice announced, "Your time is up. Thank you for partic.i.p.ating in Communications Project #104."
The mountainside glimmered, flattening into an obvious projection before disappearing. The familiar orange-gridded walls rose around them.
t.i.tus lifted up one hand wordlessly as the door slid open and two lab techs with padds entered. The instructions said there was no way to "fail" the course, but it wasn"t his fault they didn"t complete it on time. The inhibitor stifled his initial outburst.
"Cadet t.i.tus," one tech read off the padd. "Follow me."
t.i.tus glanced back down the corridor as Mahs was led in the other direction. Maybe it would be better this way. He could explain in private to the lab tech. He didn"t intend to fail this volunteer a.s.signment. That would ruin all of his plans.
But the lab tech didn"t give him a chance to explain. The inhibitor was left intact and he was shown into a cubicle with a bed, wash facilities, and a replicator. He gestured, puzzled, but the lab tech just winked and activated the door. It slid shut between them. There was no panel on his side for him to open it.
t.i.tus was about to override his inhibitor to protest-imprisonment wasn"t what he signed up for! But before he could speak a holo-emitter activated, creating one of the sign posts, incongruously, next to the door, complete with an instruction card.
"Eat and get some sleep," the instructions said. "You will complete the course tomorrow."
t.i.tus let out a wordless grunt of exasperation. So this was still part of the project. Well, he could play along with that.
The silence was starting to get to him. It hadn"t been so bad the night before, when he was exhausted from their last sprint to get to the peak. He had barely taken time to eat before falling into bed. When he woke, he cleaned up and ate another huge meal, all the while gingerly testing his inhibitor, looking around the cubicle and wondering when they were going to get him out of here.
The same lab tech came to fetch him. He must have been really beat the night before, because he hadn"t realized how pretty she was, especially that flip of black hair and those freckles across her nose. Or maybe he"d been shut up too long.
He was led back to a small white room, just like the one where he and Eto Mahs had started the obstacle course. This time a different guy entered along with him-Cadet Vestabo. t.i.tus didn"t need to read the instruction post to know Vestabo was a first-year cadet who was considered to be a mathematics whiz. He was also a regular in the Sat.u.r.day morning lasertag game that t.i.tus had joined in a few times.
As the door to the holodeck opened, Vestabo was nodding a greeting to t.i.tus, pointing to his throat and smiling at the inhibitor. t.i.tus ran his hand through his hair, letting out a long low whistle as the same countryside appeared, with the peak in the distance.
Not again! he wanted to exclaim.
Maybe they were giving him a second chance. Maybe they realized it wasn"t his fault that they hadn"t made it to the peak. But why pair him with another scrawny guy? Vestabo wasn"t nearly as timid and frail as Eto Mahs, he was just a wiry kid, much like t.i.tus himself when he first came to the Academy. But t.i.tus had bulked up by venting much of his frustration the past year working out with counter weights. Gradually, he had put on an impressive amount of muscle. On a good day, he could even beat Bobbie Ray at Parrises Squares.
His doubts about Vestabo"s ability were quickly squashed when they reached the light beam crossing the river. Vestabo read the instructions and, without hesitation, jumped up on the beam and ran across. t.i.tus grinned at him, giving him a thumbs-up when he reached the other side. He felt better for the first time since he realized he was going to have to go through the entire course again.
He stepped up on the light beam and immediately knew something was different. It wasn"t solid like before. It wobbled. He frowned as he inched forward, trying to keep his balance. He only got a few feet before he was shifting so wildly that he fell off.
He tried to grab the light beam as he went over, but his hands pa.s.sed through it as if it was an illusion-which it was.
The stunning cold choked the air from his lungs. He was spitting water and gasping, swimming instinctively against the current. With no time for thought, he was back on the bank shivering, his hands tucked between his legs.
Vestabo"s mouth was a perfect O, shocked that t.i.tus hadn"t made it across. t.i.tus knew the feeling, having stood on that side of the bank himself.
He tried it again, and this time he got nearly to the middle before losing his balance on the trembling light beam. He expected the extreme cold this time, which allowed him to feel what his body had known the first time-there were things in the water!
Hundreds of itching, p.r.i.c.kling THINGS.
He was out of the water and shuddering on the bank before he could gasp out loud. His hands convulsed over his body, frantically trying to get rid of the things, but there was nothing there, just a nervous p.r.i.c.kling that faded from his nerves.
Vestabo was hunched over, shaking, unable to hide his laughter behind his hands.
That was the last time Vestabo laughed. As t.i.tus tried again and again to get across the flimsy light beam, Vestabo crouched on the other side, chewing the inside of his mouth anxiously. He even stood up to grab t.i.tus"s arm when he finally got close to the other side.
t.i.tus kept expecting contempt to rise in the younger boy"s eyes, especially after they reached the wall obstacle. The instructions told them to each hold a grip on a transport container to get it over the wall. Vestabo couldn"t tell that the vacuum on t.i.tus"s grip handle kept breaking, just as he hadn"t been able to see that the light beam over the river wasn"t solid for t.i.tus.
Time and again Vestabo grunted as he suddenly had the full weight of the container swinging from his grip. It kept thudding back to the ground. t.i.tus remembered how he had been forced to carry it over single-handedly when Eto Mahs hadn"t been able to hang on to it. Now he knew why. He cringed to think of how he had stared at Mahs, unable to understand why he couldn"t carry a nearly empty transport container.
Vestabo, on the other hand, seemed confused, but once they got over the wall, he shrugged it off and his good-natured smile returned.
It was the same when they reached the transparent barrier. The instructions told them to go left to find the opening, and t.i.tus remembered traipsing along hip-deep in marsh gra.s.s forever while Eto Mahs tugged at his arm, trying to get him to go the other way. As it turned out, the instructions were wrong and the opening was about a klick in the other direction.
t.i.tus knew he probably had the same pained expression as Eto Mahs as he tried to get Vestabo to stop and go right instead of left. It was excruciating, knowing that he knew the fight path but he wasn"t able to tell the kid. And Vestabo didn"t exactly trust him at this point.
Still, Vestabo finally lifted his hands in surrender and returned to the instructions with t.i.tus. He read them again, and pointed in the recommended direction. t.i.tus insistently pointed the other way, and when Vestabo wavered, t.i.tus started jogging toward the spot where he knew the break in the barrier would be.
Vestabo had to run after him. They were supposed to stay together, according to the underlined order on each set of instructions, otherwise the course would automatically end. It turned into to a race, and t.i.tus couldn"t bear to look back at Vestabo"s concerned expression, obviously worried about his sanity.
Yet when he found the opening and showed him how they could slip through, Vestabo grinned and pounded t.i.tus on the shoulder in congratulations. The kid was so nice about it that he couldn"t even get irritated, much as it galled him to have a first-year cadet condescend to him.
By the fourth obstacle-the antigrav jump, complete with trick pad that let Vestabo sail over while t.i.tus bobbed up and down like a puppet on a string-t.i.tus was ready to call it quits. He"d had enough of these jokes. He hadn"t signed up for this.
Besides, every set of instructions taunted him with the fact that he could simply say "End program" and the torture would be over. He sneered at the wording: "The course will be deemed satisfactorily completed upon the command to End program." The first time around with Eto Mahs, he had hardly paid attention to that disclaimer, believing there had to be some sort of black mark that would result from quitting such an easy obstacle course.
Now, the only thing that kept him bobbing up and down, trying vainly to get over the obstacle, was the image of Eto Mahs with his mouth set in a tight line, his dark eyes burning down at t.i.tus as he leaped up and down, trying to get over. And his grim expression of satisfaction when he finally did make it to the other side.
A low whistle made t.i.tus look up. Vestabo winked and held up an apple he had plucked from the tree. He was sitting on the wall overlooking the gate, in exactly the same spot t.i.tus had taken after he had completed the task of turning the handle. Now it was t.i.tus sweating and grunting over his unmovable handle.
Vestabo gestured with the apple, then tossed it to him. t.i.tus caught it without thinking, then realized it was just what he needed. He sat on the ground, leaning against the gate, and sank his teeth into the plump, green apple. Sweet, tart juiciness spread across his tongue. He hadn"t eaten an apple yesterday.
t.i.tus nodded up at Vestabo in thanks. The kid shrugged it off with nothing but sympathy in his expression. Maybe he knew there was some sort of trick going on. t.i.tus hoped so. He hated to think of Vestabo"s disillusionment when he had to go through the course a second time. t.i.tus had figured out that all the volunteers were made to go through twice. Little things he hadn"t noticed now stood out. The way Eto Mahs knew exactly where to go to get to each obstacle, and his anguished expression when they had first entered the course. t.i.tus knew exactly how he felt, except he didn"t have someone subtly tormenting him with derision every step of the way.
With that thought, he got back up to tackle the gate. He didn"t care if it killed him, he couldn"t give up when Eto Mahs didn"t.
It was full dark and they were trudging up the steep slope, when the computer voice announced, "Your time is up. Thank you for partic.i.p.ating in Communications Course #105."
The mountainside glimmered, flattening into the holoprojection before disappearing. t.i.tus blinked wearily up at the orange-gridded walls. All he could think was-it"s over!
As the door slid open and two lab techs with padds entered, t.i.tus quickly stuck out his hand for Vestabo to shake. He even clasped his other hand over the kid"s, looking at him intently, wishing he could warn him. He hoped Vestabo wouldn"t get stuck with someone like him on the tough round.
This time, t.i.tus was shown directly into a room where a white-coated scientist was waiting. She smiled perfunctorily, getting up with a device in hand and coming around the desk. She pressed the device to his throat. She was a little taller than he was, very slender with short reddish-blond hair. She was also nearly two decades older than him, but he felt an immediate sense of attraction.
"I"m Professor Joen B"ton," she told him. "There, you can speak now, Cadet Hammon t.i.tus."
"That was a psych project, wasn"t it?" he asked, rubbing his throat.
"No, a communications project," she told him, returning to her seat. "But psychology is an integral part of communications, since it concerns a common system of symbols."
"I failed, didn"t I?" t.i.tus asked.
Her blue eyes widened slightly. "There is no failure in this project, we simply gather data. The fact that you completed the course two days in a row is excellent. I wanted to thank you-"
"Thank me?" he interrupted, wondering if maybe she had missed Eto Mahs on his way out.
"Yes, you"ve provided us with some valuable data, Cadet t.i.tus." Professor B"ton held out her hand. "Thank you for volunteering your time."
What could he do? t.i.tus shut his mouth, shook her hand, and got out of there.
But the sour taste in his mouth stayed with him as he packed and left the Academy. Even during the transport to Paris, where he checked into his a.s.signed quarters at the Federation a.s.sembly dormitories, there was a nagging sense of something left incomplete. He unsuccessfully tried to distract himself with the new sights and sounds of European Earth.
Idly checking over his rooms, he actually wished he had a roommate, someone to help fill up the silence. He decided he didn"t like absolute quiet anymore, not after forty-eight hours of it. He said, "Computer!" intending to request music.
Instead, he asked, "Do you have an Academy field a.s.signment for Cadet Eto Mahs?"
"Ensign Eto Mahs has graduated and is currently on leave in Rumoi, Hokkaido."
"What will his a.s.signment be when he returns?"
"That information is not available," the computer said sweetly.
"Thanks a lot," t.i.tus muttered.
"Incoming message," the computer responded.
t.i.tus practically leapt for the desk. "On screen!"
The image of Professor Joen B"ton appeared on the screen, her cheeks rounded in a smile. "Cadet t.i.tus, it"s good to see you again."
"Uh, you, too, Professor." t.i.tus felt himself go cold inside, despite her pleasant expression. The waiting was over. He had somehow known there was an ax hanging over his head all this time, ready to fall.
"We"ve had three complete runs, projects 104, 105, and 106," she told him. "That"s your two, and Cadet Vestabo completed his final round. Since you are the linking factor for this remarkable series, I wanted to inform you that I have placed a letter of recommendation in your record."
"You did?" he asked, shaking his head. "What about Eto Mahs?"
"Cadet Mahs and Cadet Vestabo will also be acknowledged. But Eto Mahs did not complete his first round because his partner ended the program."
"Oh."
"It"s rare we have two completed courses in a row. There"s only been a couple of times that we"ve had three consecutive rounds, which gives us a consistent baseline for the data." Professor B"ton beamed at him, as if she had personally cheered for him the entire way.