The Nagraitan Chronicles

Ascent to Power, Part 2

She gave her reflection a weak smile and put her hairbrush down. She did not especially want to deal with her parents right now, but it's not like she could put it off forever. She sighed and trudged down the stairs, walking into the kitchen.

The scene that greeted her was unexpected, to say the least. Her parents were sitting at the table, her father with a phone to his ear. They both looked very upset, and there were tears marring Carol's face.

"Is … is everything okay?" asked Seersha, a bit worriedly. Her mind, fully equipped with an overactive imagination, was in no way aiding her; millions of disaster scenarios had already gone through her head. Whatever could have happened?

Her parents both jumped when they heard her voice. Her dad immediately hung up the phone, and her mom gasped. She ran over to Seersha, hugging her tightly.

"Seersha!" she cried, upset. "Oh, my baby."

Seersha, a bit annoyed at being referred to as 'my baby' but more worried about her adopted mother, looked up questioningly. "What?" she asked confusedly.

Bill was angrier than Carol was appearing to be. "Seersha Ture! Exactly where have you been?! We have been worried sick. The police are looking all over for you!"

Seersha stared a moment. "What?" she asked, "I didn't go anywhere, I was here the whole time…"

Carol gave Seersha a stern look, apparently over her spasm of hysterical relief. "Don't lie to us, young lady! You've been gone for over two days --"

Seersha stared longer, gulping. "Two … days?" she asked faintly. "You mean … it's Friday?" One thing was going over and over in her brain: That was how long that she was gone in the dream. But… that was impossible, there was no way that the dream was true. Seersha would believe that a kidnapper had taken her in the night, had her sleep for two days, and put her back in bed this morning before she believed that she was an alien. Hell, she'd probably believe anything before she believed her dream. Not that she didn't want it to be true; she probably wanted it more than she'd ever wanted anything else. But Seersha did have a firm grasp on reality, no matter how insane she liked to think herself at times. There had to be some other explanation.

"WELL?" asked her father, outraged. Seersha looked up quickly; somehow, in the midst of all this, she'd forgotten that her parents were still awaiting her answer. She gulped.

"I honestly have no idea what happened … I swear!" she cried, seeing the skeptical looks on her parents faces. "I know that it sounds really weak, and unbelievable; but really, I promise that I have no more idea of what happened than you do! You know me; have I ever lied to you? Have I?" she looked pleadingly at her parent's faces.

Her father sighed. "You must admit that it's hard to believe what you're saying. You are gone for two days-- worried us sick, we were afraid you were dead; and suddenly, one morning, you just turn up, claiming that you have no idea what happened, no idea that you were gone at all. It doesn't sound like you're being honest. I have no idea what we're going to tell the police."

Seersha shrank away from the voice. Much as she tried to tell herself that Bill and Carol weren't her parents, and she didn't have to care what they thought, the fact remained that they were her parental figures. When they were mad at her, upset with her, didn't believe her-- especially when she was telling the truth-- well, it hurt.

Her mother spoke up, in a much more mournful and worried tone that her husband had. "Dear… you realize what you are saying? For you to not realize that you were gone for two days … if that is the truth, you understand the implications of that statement?"

Seersha's jaw dropped. "You think that I'm on drugs?!" she screeched. "I'd never be that stupid, you know I wouldn't! I'd never do something like that!"

"Well, what else can we believe?" asked Bill harshly. "Either you remember it or you don't. If you don’t, then the obvious conclusion to draw from that would be…" he just let it hang.

"Look, I am telling the truth when I tell you that…" Seersha paused a moment, thinking. "We can get a blood test done, you know. That will prove to you that I'm not on drugs, won't it?"

"Not necessarily, young lady," said her mother, "Not all are detectable."

Seersha put her head in her hands a moment. Why was all of this happening to her? Seersha was used to nice, explainable facts. Everything could be explained logically, even if the correct explanation hadn't yet been figured out. So what was the explanation to this?

"Look," explained Seersha, "it's almost 7:30. Why not just tell the police this was all one mistake? No, listen," said Seersha, cutting back in when her dad tried to say something, "You can do whatever you want. But I'm going to school now, all right? It will give you some time to figure out for yourselves what you want to do, and it'll give me one less day of make-up work to do."

"How do we know you won't run away again?" asked Carol.

Seersha gave her adopted mother a look that clearly said 'How stupid do you think I am?'

Bill sighed. "Alright," he said, "But I'm driving you. And picking you back up after school."

Seersha nodded curtly. Not that she wanted to go to school, but she needed some time to clear her head-- away from the upset parents. She left the room a moment to pack up, and ran upstairs. She looked quickly at her wardrobe, then threw on a pair of black pants and a nice dark gray blouse. She put two silver clips in her hair hurriedly, then ran back downstairs, grabbing her backpack.

"Ready to go!" she shouted.

Her dad came into the foyer, nodding at her. He opened the door, and she went outside, feeling a little sick. Of course, she immediately scolded herself about letting her get worried over something. Well, maybe some things were worth getting worried over, but not the other kids at school! She tossed her head a little and got into the car, slightly dreading the lecture she was sure she'd get in the car.

By some blessing, she didn't get it. Her father was dead quiet the entire car ride. Seersha knew from experience that her father thought that the quietness made Seersha made feel even guiltier and hated him being quiet more than she hated lectures. While not exactly true, Seersha had no problem letting believe that; it saved her a lot of lectures, after all.

When she got to school, she got out of the car wordlessly. Hopefully, nobody had known that she was missing.

"Make sure you talk to Elodie, Seersh. She was worried sick these past two days; she doesn't know you're back yet."

Well, there went that hope. Seersha prayed that Elodie had the sense not to yell what happened in front of the entire school.

Well, luck was obviously not on her side today. As soon as she stepped into the school, Elodie shrieked.

"Seersha?" she screamed. "Where were you? We had no idea where you were; the police were looking everywhere! I thought that you were dead!"

Seersha sighed, giving a brief, cold glare to all of the other kids around who were looking at her with interest. After that, she ignored the others, brushing off Elodie. She felt slightly guilty about doing it, but she had a lot to work out in her head.

She kept coming back to the dream. Why did she keep coming back to that dream!? It was a dream, nothing more than that; so why did her mind keep coming back to it? Seersha had learned by now that her instinct, her blind intuition was almost always right. There had to be a reason that her brain kept pointing her back there.

Her mind kept sending her back because it was the only explanation. As far-fetched as the entire thing was, it made sense, in a way. The dream had been so vivid, like nothing Seersha had ever had before-- and the end. Aurel had said that the entire thing would just seem like a dream, didn't she? Why on Earth would a dream end like that if it had just been a dream?

Nothing on Earth, said a little voice at the back of her head.

Seersha told the voice to go away, that this wasn't a time to be humorous and anyway, that joke wasn't funny. She briefly wondered exactly why she had a little voice in her head, but shrugged it off, knowing that she was stable mentally. Relatively stable, anyway.

The warning bell rang, jerking Seersha out of her reverie. She rushed to her locker, and threw her backpack in. She grabbed her binder and slammed her locker shut quickly; she'd have to grab her textbooks after homeroom, there was no time now.

Seersha made it to Room 129 in record time, rushing frantically to her seat. The teacher was very strict; if you got to your seat two seconds after the bell rang, you still got a detention. Luckily, most of the kids were already in their seats and Seersha made it to her desk with a few seconds to spare.

Opening her binder quietly, Seersha checked out what she was supposed to have due today. A paper, done already; the math test today, that would be laughably easy … nope, nothing else that she was in class during the announcement.

After homeroom, getting her History book from her locker, Seersha had to face Elodie. The girl's face was red, and Seersha saw her swallow hard. Both of these were signs that Elodie was very angry; the picture was completed with the girl's clenched fists.

"I was worried about you!" exploded Elodie. "I was scared to death that you were dead, nobody had any idea where you were, and then what happens when you get back? You ignore me and refuse to tell me anything about what happened! What is wrong with this picture?"

"Look, I'm sorry," said Seersha, not actually sounding very sorry but clearly making an effort to be nice to Elodie. She had less of her normal arrogant, superior attitude. "It's not something I want to talk about, alright?" On an afterthought, Seersha put a little bit of worry and pleading into her eyes, knowing that it would silence Elodie. It did.

Elodie closed her eyes and nodded. "Sorry," she sighed. "Well, we'd better get to class. Bye!" she shouted the last part while leaving in the direction of her classroom.

Seersha slammed her locker shut and ran off towards the History room. Fortunately, that class wasn't too bad; the teacher was letting them watch a historical video that managed to be pretty interesting. She didn't bother to take notes on it, seeing as she had a photographic memory. The teacher in that class was pretty cool, and didn't force them to take any sort of notes on anything, saying that if they failed, it was their fault. Knowing this teacher, there'd be a test on the movie tomorrow. Well, that was okay. Seersha liked tests, amazing as it sounded. It gave her an opportunity to just sit in class and do something, write the answers, and not have to listen to endless, boring lectures.

If there was one thing that Seersha couldn't stand, it was needless boredom. This mostly bothered her because she didn't like inefficiency, and it was very inefficient to leave all the kids of all different academic levels in the same classes. Seersha, very goal-oriented, saw everything for its use, and how well it works; in Seersha's mind, school didn't work very well.

She sighed and put half of her attention to the screen. The other half was pondering exactly what happened. Exactly--

It hit her like a jolt. The 'dream'… it didn't start when she went to bed. It started … when did it start?

She checked out her notes of her homework. Yes, on Wednesday she'd been in school. So … she'd started her 'dream' either on the bus or at the park. Yet, she'd woken in her bed. That could only mean one thing.

It wasn't a dream at all.

The next few weeks weren't very fun. Seersha's parents reluctantly agreed not to draw any more attention to the case, and the police quieted down. Still, the entire thing didn't just blow over. Her parents were much stricter with her than they had ever been before, becoming excessively over-protective. Also, Elodie kept trying to find out what had happened. By the end of the week, Seersha almost believed that the whole thing had been a dream. But, if it was a dream, how could she explain the days she'd been gone, and the fact that the 'dream' started in the middle of the woods, and yet she woke up in her bed?

She couldn't. The logic was the only thing to keep her from losing all hope. Seersha remembered that at the end, she was assured that it wouldn't be for very long. If it was true, then she'd know fairly soon. However, every day she was a little more convinced that it was just one big fantasy.

Not surprisingly, Seersha started to slip into a sort of mild depression. She'd never been like that before; if she was upset, she was upset because of something. But lately, she couldn't really help it. There wasn't much going for her right now in her life. If those few days really were a dream, Seersha had no idea what she would do. It's interesting how much things seem worse after you can see how much better they can be.

Not that many people would consider it 'better'. But Seersha had a rather unique idea of the ideal world. Who really cared how scary something was, how much in danger you were? It was exciting, wasn't it? She was being challenged, wasn't she? Working towards something?

She had had a mother there, a real one.

Seersha had always slightly scorned that attachment to your parents, but then again, hers didn't exactly understand her very well. A mother that would understand, sympathize, who understood ambition (for Seersha was sure that the leader of the fleet understood that), in short, a mother who was like Seersha herself … that was something that she desperately wanted. Carol may be her mother, in her mind, but she wasn't really a mother figure. Aurel could be.

Almost two weeks afterwards, Seersha was sitting in an English class again. They were learning about verbs. Verbs! Could there possibly be a more boring thing to do than listen to some stupid teacher ramble about something that Seersha had understood since she was what, two?

It gave her a chance to think, but then, so did every class. She'd been thinking all the time, analyzing everything to death. Wondering if it was true or not. Losing the hope that she had.

No, time to think was not necessarily a good thing.

Finally, after an eternity, the bell rang. Seersha gratefully left the room. This class really driving her insane. In fact, the felt like it literally was; she could have sworn that she was hearing whispers in her head. Great, now I'm insane. Well, we knew it would happen sooner or later, didn't we, she thought to herself.

"Hey, Seersha," said Elodie, walking up, hugging her books close to herself, "What's up?"

"The sky," responded Seersha shortly.

Elodie gave Seersha a long look. "Bad humor doesn't go well with you, Seersha."

"If I want to be annoying, I can be annoying."

Elodie just rolled her eyes and walked next to Seersha as they went to their Science class. "We have a test today, you know." She shrugged. "Apparently it's supposed to be really hard. Maybe I should have studied," she said, a little worriedly.

Seersha gave a harsh laugh. "Study? Lower yourself to the pathetic level of those idiots with an empty space where their brains were supposed to be? You'd lower yourself that far? Elodie, Elodie. You appear to have devolved in these past weeks."

Elodie scowled, but shut up. Seersha had always been rather mean; it was part of her. But these past weeks had been really bad. Ever since those two nights that Seersha was gone. Something had happened then-- Elodie was sure of it. "Seersha--" she started hesitantly, then quickly changed her mind about asking about it. No, that would be a very bad idea. "Never mind," she said hastily to Seersha's questioning look. Seersha just shrugged and walked into the Science room.

There was no denying it. There were voices in Seersha's head, no matter how much she sighed and tried to block it. Deciding to just let herself go crazy, she listened to them

Seersha? Are you there? Go to a place where you're alone. We're ready to pick you up. The voice sounded like Junes's. But that was just her insanity again, wasn't it?

Or had she been right, and the dream was real? I'm here, she said, but how do I know that you're real?

(laughter) You don't, I suppose. Except to go to a place where nobody else is around. Alone. And above all, do not let anybody be touching you!

Seersha shrugged, deciding that if she was crazy, she might as well play along. She stood up and left the classroom.

"Seersha Ture!" exclaimed the teacher. "Exactly where do you think you are going?"

If the voice was real, she wasn't coming back to Earth. If it wasn't real, then she'd be sent to an insane asylum. Either way, it didn't really matter whether she got this teacher mad at her.

"Away from this pitiful place," she sneered, and left, with the teacher exclaiming angrily at her. Unbeknownst to Seersha, Elodie got up to run after her. The teacher just let her leave.

Seersha looked around, but she couldn't see anyone. She crouched down inside a doorway that was never used. I'm alone, she thought, hoping she was telepathically sending it somewhere. You can come now … oh, please, please come … she pleaded. If they came, it would mean that it was all real … she wasn't crazy …

We're coming. The 'voice' sounded amused.

Suddenly, Seersha felt a hand on her shoulder. "Seersha, what's wrong?" asked Elodie's voice.

Seersha panicked; she definitely remembered … Junes? … tell her to make sure not to let anyone be touching her when she was there. She tried to shove off Elodie's hand, and then--

FLASH!!

--She was suddenly standing on the command deck, where she had last been. Her mother, Aurel was there, in her deep blue uniform, the gold trimmings clearly marking her as the leader of the fleet. Junes, as well, was standing there, though not in any sort of military uniform. Seersha's face broke out into a happy smile, something that is rarely seen on the face of Seersha Patrenoi, as she surveyed her mother. Aurel smiled in greeting, but was working on some sort of console and had to turn her attention back to it for a moment. Junes, however, looked worried, her eyes focused behind the young Nagraitan. Wondering what was bothering Junes, Seersha turned, and her jaw dropped in surprise.

Elodie had been transported with her.

"She was touching you when we were transporting you, wasn't she?" asked Junes heavily. "Oh, I was worried something like this would happen."

"What?" quivered a scared Elodie. "What's going on? Where are we? Seersha? Seersha? Where are we? What are those weird-looking --"

"Quiet, child," Aurel cut her off sharply, looking up from the console and straightening. "While we understand your worry, mindless babbling is not helpful in the least. You are on the space station Cetoudi, the home of the largest Nagraitan population everywhere. That is what we are, Nagraitans. I am Aurel Patrenoi, leader of the Nagraitan Fleet."

"Patrenoi?" whispered Elodie. "Isn't that Seersha's real last name? But--"

"Yes, Aurel is my mother," cut in Seersha quietly. "So I'm sure you're bright enough to figure out that I am Nagraitan."

Junes looked at Aurel quickly. Seersha thought that she heard something in June's mind-- it sounded like half or something like that. 'Half'? What could that mean?

As soon as Seersha heard the thought, she also felt June's blocks snapping up quickly. Seersha blinked, trying to work out what it meant. Half-Nagraitan? No, Seersha was sure that she was just being paranoid; she wasn't even sure that she'd really caught a thought at all. It was probably just her overactive imagination coming into play again.

Elodie, oblivious to what was going on in Seersha's mind, screeched a little. "You're an alien? Seriously, Seersha? Why didn't you ever tell me?"

Seersha raised an eyebrow at Elodie smoothly. "Since when an I required to share every one of my secrets with you? Last time I checked, I was allowed to keep to myself the things that I consider private."

Elodie flushed a little, and Aurel looked curiously at her daughter. It was obvious that Seersha had inherited arrogance; that definitely came from her father. Also, Seersha's stance, her posture, the tilt of her head, the way she held herself-- all of that reminded Aurel completely of her father, even if as far as physical features she didn't resemble him much. He--

No. Aurel cut herself off. She'd better not go there. She should have known from the start that it would never work out. How could it? It had taken Aurel 10 years to finally realize. Nobody had known, of course. They could be sure of that, if nothing else; not even their children knew. Though, that appeared to be a bad thing-- it backfired grossly. Needless dying had resulted.

No, best not go there either. Aurel forced her mind back to the conversation, reaming herself out for allowing her attention to wander in that fashion. "Now, we have a little problem. We can't send Elodie back on the beam; that would require someone of eveliri to go back as well, and Seersha won't have the strength for another jump. She'll have to stay with us until a transport is free. I'd say, around … 1 and a half human months."

"One and a half MONTHS?!" screamed Elodie. "But-- but-- my family! School! Dance class! How can I stay here for that long?" She looked nervously at Seersha. "Tell them. I have to go back, I have to! C'mon, tell them!"

Seersha sighed. "Elodie, there is nothing that I can do. Brighten up! Don't you want to see an alien civilization, and get away from Earth for a few days? I know that you do."

"If your parents and the police went berserk over you after two days, think about what'll happen to me after 7 weeks! Can't -- can't you think of anything?" she quivered worriedly.

"Well," spoke up Junes slowly, "We could send your parents some sort of ransom note-- no, no, they wouldn't have to pay," she assured Elodie hastily at the look on her face. "But we can set up clues, for the police. It won't be hard to make them look convincing; humans, or at least human police, are amazingly moronic. After we get a transporter, we'll send you back."

Elodie nodded. "Yeah … though my parent's'll be majorly over-protective after that. It'll give them quite a scare--" Elodie chuckled, "But oh well. Now …" Elodie stopped a moment, pondering. "Why do you all speak English?"

"When I saw that you were here, I automatically set my translator to the language that you would understand," explained Aurel.

"You did? I didn't notice you changing anything--"

Junes let out a laugh. "Two things. First, Aurel is telekinetic; she can move things, change things with her mind. Second: we are not as primitive as mere humans are! Our computers respond to thought, not physical contact."

"Wow!" breathed Elodie. "You can move things with your mind? That's--"

"General Aurel Patrenoi!" a voice blasted in. "Your help is needed, quadrant 25-42-3."

Aurel sighed. "I'm sorry, Seersha, that I couldn't be here longer; I hope that you are not opposed to being sent to the Academy? We need to start your eveliri straightaway."

Seersha nodded, trying not to let her disappointment show.

"I'll try to arrange to get a holiday for us, when we can really get to know each other, alright?" said Aurel.

Seersha laughed. "You don't have to play the part of the over-busy mother, Aurel. It's okay, I don't mind. You're like some working parent on a human movie sending their kid to boarding school."

Aurel smiled a little. "Alright, then. I'll see you later. Elodie, you'll go to the academy also, though I don't imagine there's much you could do there. Take a month and a half break, I suppose. You could learn to fly a fighter, maybe."

Elodie nodded.

"Okay, then!" exclaimed Seersha. "Oh, by the way … the problem … is it solved? Can I stay here forever?"

"Of course," said Aurel.

"Never go back to Earth?" further questioned Seersha, overcome with joy.

"We wouldn't bring you back here if we'd just have to ship you right off back there. No, this is permanent."

Seersha fought back the urge to give a whoop of joy, and simply nodded. However, every eveliri in the room smiled a moment at the feeling of intense happiness coming from the young girl.

"Alright, now," said Junes, "We should get going to the Academy."

"Now?" cried Elodie in a disbelieving tone.

Seersha blinked at Elodie a moment. "Why wouldn't we leave now?"

"Well, wouldn't we like… start off first thing tomorrow or something?"

Junes sighed. "There is no point in reserving quarters for you when we can just leave right now. Besides, what's to be gained by waiting? There'd be no point. So, come on."

Elodie and Seersha both followed Junes through a doorway. Elodie was back to just biting her lip nervously, and looking around her in something akin to fright. Seersha couldn't keep a large smile from showing on her face as she looked around. "Uh, Junes?" she asked.

"Yes, Seersha?" asked the older woman pleasantly.

"I … can I look … like I really do, again?"

"Of course!" exclaimed Junes. "I don't ever know how I forgot…" she went over to the wall.

"Look like yourself? What?" asked Elodie, confusedly. "You-- you look like them?"

"How else could I be the daughter of one of them?" snorted Seersha. "Of course, I am…That's what turns me back? How exactly does it work?" she asked curiously as Junes came over with a small object. She pressed it against Seersha's shoulder a moment. Black-purple fur grew all over her body, and claws grew from her fingernails. Elodie jumped backwards, frightened at this sudden, literal, change in her friend.

Seersha looked down, then around. She felt complete, whole in this body. Just as she felt extremely comfortable in these surroundings. She an odd, almost cliché feeling that she'd probably read in a book somewhere.

She felt almost as if she was going home.

During the trip, Elodie mostly sulked, while Seersha spent all of her time on the computer system, learning all that she could about Nagraitan culture. She was excited over going to the Academy; there might be people who were up at Seersha's own level; Seersha might be able to actually learn stuff in class, stuff besides just these powers she had.

This thought seemed attractive; it seemed like all that someone like Seersha could ever want. But, of course, there was that little voice in there, bothering her. People who were her equals sounded wonderful to Seersha, but at the same time, the thought almost …appalled her. She was used to being the smartest, used to being the best. Did she really want people who could be considered as good as she? After an entire life of being the best, the thought appalled her as much as, if not more than, it attracted her.

The enemy, as she knew, was made up of the Vikrah. This consisted of five species: the Hakrin, the Xeeniwe, the Uiusz, one species whose name isn't pronounceable and couldn't be written, and one species that as far as anyone knew, didn't have a name.

"Seersha, you haven't eaten anything. You don't have to leave that console, as you are obviously planning on learning everything possible to learn in just one day, but please take something?"

Seersha jumped at the sound of the voice, startled. She spun around to see Junes standing there disapprovingly.

"Fine," sighed Seersha, getting up to grab some sort of food from the table, not really paying attention to what she was doing. She immediately went back to the computer, munching on something as she was reading more information about the war.

Junes kept trying to keep Seersha from studying so much; she said there'd be plenty of time for that at the Academy, and she should take a break before the real work began. Seersha kept trying to get her to leave her alone. Only sometimes did Junes leave for very long.

It was wonderful. Didn't Junes understand that? Getting on the computer, learning things that she didn't know before, being able to look into the dynamics of the governments involved in the war-- wonderful. It was pleasure; it was play. Now that she could learn, Seersha could just not understand those kids at home-- back on Earth, who hated to learn. How could anyone hate to learn?

"JUST GO AWAY!" she roared angrily. More quietly, she added, "That is none of you business, and even if it was, I'm busy right now. I've asked you politely, again and again, to go away. I can force you to go away if you annoy me any further." Her eyes, her voice, were so cold. It scared Elodie. The smaller girl made a sound that sounded almost like 'eep', and scurried away.

Seersha, who was a bit sorry but more annoyed at herself for blowing up, sighed. She tried to concentrate on learning about the war, but somewhat to her surprise she found that she couldn't concentrate. She finally stood up to go apologize to Elodie.

She found Elodie sitting on a cushioned mat, doing some sort of stretches. Seersha watched Elodie stretch, and marveled that the human body could actually stretch like that. After a few moments, she cleared her throat. Elodie looked up.

"Yes?" asked Elodie, a bit icily. Considering the circumstances, that wasn't surprising.

Seersha took a breath. "I'm sorry," she said.

Elodie stared at Seersha in amazement. "Did you just apologize?" she asked.

"Yeah, well, that's not all I have to say. It wasn't entirely my fault, you know. I think I deserve an apology, also. "

"Do you?" asked Elodie, raising an eyebrow. "Exactly why do you deserve that?"

Seersha took another deep breath. "You had no right to ask me some of those questions, Elodie. I understand that you're a bit scared, a bit worried, and a bit overwhelmed. Well," she said, seeing Elodie's face, "maybe a lot overwhelmed. But you have to understand; some of the things you asked me were over the line. To be absolutely truthful to you, Elodie, I don't know who my father is. It's some sort of top-secret thing, though I have no clue why. Now that you know that, might you be able to understand why I was mad at you?"

"Well… I guess," said Elodie slowly. "You're one of the only friends I've ever had. I know you don't think very highly of me-- you don't think very highly of anyone. But you'd always been at least kind of nice to me; as nice as you ever are, anyway. Now, you're just so cold, wanting to do work all the time, seeming to find me just an annoyance…"

Seersha hesitated. Elodie did feel like an annoyance, one that she wanted to be without. Seersha didn't know what she could do about it; she couldn't change her emotions. She shifted a little, unsure of what to say for one of the first times in her life.

Elodie noticed. "Nah, it's alright. Say, I could exercise to some music; do you know if the Nagraitans have any?"

"I'm not sure…" Seersha thought a moment. I could try to find out, through the computer system … who knows, they might have some really good music!" Seersha sat down on the mat, accessing the computer system.

"Could you get it to respond to our voices?" asked Elodie. "I've always wanted to do that! Like they do in Star Trek!"

Seersha rolled her eyes a little, but with a small grin. "Why not?" she said, and sent the command into the computer.

Nagraitans did have music; Seersha loved it, the tunes, and the melodies, were just wonderful. It was exactly the style that she loved, something that lacked a bit on Earth, though there were some good Earth songs. However, Elodie didn't seem to like it.

She winced. "That music is stupid," she complained. "Can't we find stuff more like Earth music?"

Seersha sighed. "Computer, do you have Earth music on file?"

"Affirmative; we have music from every known species," chimed the almost mechanical voice.

"Well, there you go," said Seersha, getting up, "You can dance to whatever songs you feel like. But now, I'm getting back to my studies. After all, you're just a visitor to this place; I'm going to be staying permanently, and I should certainly know something about the culture before I start."

Elodie nodded. She seemed a bit sad, but hid it well. She went back to her exercises, turning on some song that Seersha had never heard and didn't particularly like. Oh, well. To each her own.

Back at her computer console, Seersha plunged into news of the war with more concentration and intensity than ever. It fascinated her; the dealings between Aurel and Desiny, the battles fought recently…

One obvious omission that Seersha hadn't found the answer to anywhere was the cause of the war. The entire history of the war was on file, how far back it went; but the reason they were fighting, she couldn't find that anywhere. If only--

Seersha didn't notice herself getting sleepy, but obviously she was, because the next thing she knew, someone was shaking her shoulder, saying, "Wake up, Seersha. Wake up."

Seersha jolted up; she'd been asleep at the computer console. "What time is it?" she demanded of Junes.

"We're at the Academy, Seersha," said Junes quietly.

"WHAT?!" screamed Seersha, making Junes jump. "Why didn't you wake me up? I've been asleep for the longest time! I wasted so much time sleeping!"

"You needed it, Seersha," replied Junes firmly. "You'd had a long, exciting day, and you working at the console all the time was only making you more and more exhausted. No, my only regret is that you didn't sleep longer."

Seersha glared a little at Junes, then stood up, stretching. "Well, if we're there, then I guess they're waiting for us, huh? What are we going about my schedule, I'm obviously way behind everyone else; am I going to have to sit with all the little kids? If so, we'd better get a move on; how soon can I start my studies?"

"Slow down," cried Junes. "I've ordered them to give you at least two days of rest where you don't have any strain on you. Then, we shall see what will be going on. Grades aren't very strongly focused on; you're in the class you're suited for. Over 90% on any test signals that you're too advanced for a class; 95% on over 3 quizzes in a row means the same. So even if you are placed in a younger class, it won't be anything some hard work won't remedy."

"Really?" Seersha perked up. "In that case, how can you say I have two rest days? I need to start working right away! As soon as--"

"NO." The force of Junes's voice made Seersha fall into silence. "You are going to rest-- and I mean rest. I'll make sure that you're not allowed to do any kind of studying whatsoever, and get outside a lot. The grounds of the Academy are beautiful, I think you'll enjoy being outside."

"But--" Seersha started to object.

"Seersha, no means no. You've strained yourself already, and you're not having a breakdown your first day here!"

Seersha sighed. "Fine," she groaned. "Where's Elodie? Is she already out of the shuttle?"

"Yes, and being shown to her room right now. Now, a question: would you prefer a double dorm, or a smaller one all to yourself? You would be allowed to change your mind at any time and switch."

Seersha shrugged. "In that case, I guess I'll double up. I'm hoping that I get around with the kids here more than I did on Earth, and this'll be a chance to meet some of them. Well," Seersha smiled wryly, "I'd certainly hope I get along better with these kids; I'm not as different from them as I am from human kids, am I?" Seersha was suddenly worried; what if it was just the same as it was back on Earth, after all this time she'd gotten her hopes up?

Junes laughed. "You are much more likely to be like the other kids here than you are humans. Even if you're a little different, it is minute compared to the differences between you and humans. No, rest assured, your hopes are exactly where they should be."

"I know I'm not allowed to go onto the computer console … but I am allowed to ask people about the culture, right?" asked Seersha nervously.

"Of course, you are," laughed Junes. "Ask away."

"Oh, I have too many questions to ask right now," Seersha said thoughtfully. "I need to work out what I already know, what I want to know the most, how I should ask it…" she shrugged. "I assume you're leaving after today? You seem like someone with some kind of position."

"Actually, I'm leaving as soon as I make sure you're safe here," said Junes.

"Only another human hour or so, most likely," Seersha replied.

They got to the room. There was a girl standing there. Her fur was a light brown with a few golden streaks through it. Her eyes were an ocean-like bluish green color. Her claws, rather long and obviously sharp, were a dark brown. She was of a slightly smaller stature than Seersha, with a look that was almost fragile until you noticed the strength hidden in there.

"Hello, Seersha," said the girl, obviously trying to be warm but not seeming used to it. "I'm Mystahsi, but most people just call me Mystah or just Stah. I've just been informed that I'm going to be your roommate, to help and make your first days here easier."

Seersha nodded, trying as well to seem warm. "Hello, Mystah."

"Well," said Junes, "I'll be going. I have many duties to attend to. Nice to meet you, Mystah," she said briefly before spinning and walking back down the corridor.

Mystah made a rather amused gesture. "Well, shall we go in?" she asked pleasantly. Seersha nodded, following her in. "Actually, right now is the time that we're supposed to go to bed--"

"But I just woke up!" cried Seersha, annoyed.

"Yes, well, a little more sleep won't hurt, alright?" Mystah sighed. "Because I certainly am tired!"

Seersha nodded, and walked into one of the rooms.

"Seersha?" called Mystahsi from the other room. Seersha poked her head out of the door.

"I know that last time someone said this to you, you were off the planet on a spaceship and hijacked by Desiny on the way, and crashed on a planet--"

Did everyone know what happened? wondered Seersha, annoyed.

"--But Seersha…"

"Yes?"

Mystah grinned. "Welcome to the Academy."

Seersha really didn't think that she needed the rest, but the next two days were useful. She was learning to be more relaxed around her new setting, where she would probably be staying for a long time, years. As everyone else had classes, Seersha didn't have much contact with anyone besides Mystahsi, and even then it was only for a little less than an hour-- no, Seersha corrected herself, a serna-- each day. And each day seemed to be a little longer than Earth days; around 30 or 32 hours long. When she was outside, she took the time to explore, learning her way around the grounds. That could certainly come in handy later.

She also took the time to learn how to refine her 'eveliri' more. The telekinetic powers that she could use were amazing; she found that she could move practically anything just by staring at it in concentration. By the end of the first day, she could swear that it was easier to move things than it was at the beginning of the day.

There was another problem addressed. While many of the plants did give off oxygen, there wasn't quite enough for Elodie to comfortably breathe. They had to fit a mask on for her while she was sleeping, and if she wanted to leave her room and go outside and wanted to leave the mask behind, then she had to breathe quickly, not quite panting but almost, in order to get in enough oxygen. She was constantly yawning when she didn't have the mask on, in order for her brain to get enough oxygen.

Much as Seersha felt guilty saying this, an upside of that was that Elodie couldn't talk much since it took up so much oxygen.

Oh, there was so much that Seersha wanted to learn! What the Nagraitans did breathe, their history, how they got so advanced, their technology…and the war, especially the war. Seersha had never, ever wanted to go to school; now, she was thirsting for it.

Needless to say, after the two days were over, and Seersha was called to the "Master's" office to talk about her schedule, she was very pleased.

She stepped into the office, her claws in the floor the only sound. It was an odd feeling, everyone going around 'barefoot', but then again, what around here wasn't an odd feeling?

Sit, said a voice telepathically. She sat obediently in the chair there, a bit nervously.

Seersha Patrenoi, the Master said, age of five enewe, five velsic. Former residence: Earth. First year at the Academy.

Seersha nodded in a human gesture.

Great, more time that I have to wait, thought Seersha to herself.

--Well, that's something that you'll have to learn, how to block your thoughts. Seersha flushed a moment, and the Master continued 'talking'. As I was saying, we must assess your abilities: what eveliri you have, how strong it is, and so on. Also, what your interests are, so we can select your academic courses.

"My interests?" said Seersha. "Does 'everything' count?"

The Master let out a rather odd sound, which Seersha could identify as a Nagraitan laugh. You can't take everything, Seersha. In a few sernae we'll be ready to assess you, and until then look over this. He handed a small hand-held computer to Seersha, with a list on it. It has the courses in categories; it's mandatory that you take the amount of courses from each section as designated within each section. Understood?

Seersha started to nod, but then she extended her claws briefly instead in a Nagraitan sign of affirmation. She quickly retracted them again to take the small pad. Seersha read through them, understanding enough through her 'language eveliri'.

Section 1:

Please select at least one of the following: Nagraitan Biology, Xenobiology, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Botany, Biophysics, Cell Biology, Zoology, Biocomputers, or Psychobiology.

Staring at the list, Seersha suddenly understood why she couldn't take everything. If they had this many courses just on biology and botany…and there appeared to be quite a few sections. She read through them.

Section 2:

Please select at least two of the following: Physics, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Robotics, Computer Engineering, Computer Programming, Technologies, Engineering Sciences, Mechanical Engineering, Atomic Engineering, Atomic Sciences, … the rest of them Seersha couldn't translate to English. She understood some of it, studying particles smaller than atoms, and some of it was completely beyond her. She shrugged; if she didn't even know what it was, there'd be all the more to learn.

She looked through all of the sections; there were a lot of them. A few she was upset that she had to take, like the stuff that was clearly the Physical Education section. Not all of the sections were mandatory, it seemed; for instance, many stated "if you take at least one of Section whatever, then you don't have to take anything from here." At the bottom, there was a guide to how many courses were the minimums and maximums needed depending on how many Eveliri classes you were taking.

Going through, Seersha checked off the ones that she definitely wanted to take. Nagraitan Culture definitely; Nagraitan Biology. Astrophysics looked interesting, and there was no way to stop Seersha from taking War History. Comparative Psychology, a class where the mental processes of different species were compared, looked interesting, too. She hadn't noticed how much time had passed with her looking over what courses there were until the Master came back in.

"We're ready to assess you," he said, using his voice for the first time. It was kind of odd, gravelly somehow, as if he never used it. She nodded, and stood up to follow him out of the room.

The next room over was dull; the walls, ceiling, and floor were all the same, a neutral gray color. There were no decorations of any kind, just two chairs in the middle of the room, facing each other.

"Sit down," directed the Master, "and someone will be here shortly."

Seersha sat down in one of the chairs, slightly worried. She tried to relax a little, but since the room was so plain, there was nothing to keep her attention at all. If fact, she was fairly sure that that was the point: for her to be able to concentrate completely, with no distractions.

After a few minutes, Seersha was getting very bored. She started to reach out with her mind-- tentatively at first, then when she didn't find much, with more confidence. She felt people's minds around the school; she was surprised that their minds weren't more heavily blocked, but then again, they were probably working at their studies. Then, she felt a mind that was extremely blocked. She wasn't surprised that she'd missed the mind, the block was tight. They were right outside the door, which was probably the only reason she sensed it now.

She couldn't believe that she hadn't been able to read minds back on Earth, it came so easily here; maybe someone about the body she was in? But that couldn't be it, from what she'd read the eveliri was only about the mind, and she wasn't any smarter in this body than she was on Earth. Seersha shrugged, and turned her attention back to the mind right outside.

It wasn't a very busy area, so it was odd that the person was just standing there. With a jolt, she thought that maybe this was some sort of test. But what? She didn't think she should look into the mind, it seemed like that was considered impolite here, and with reason that Seersha could definitely understand.

It occurred to Seersha that she could ask the person what she should be doing, using telepathy. Oh, well, she could give it a try.

Hello? She asked. Is there some sort of thing I should be trying to do? Or should I just be ignoring the fact that you're standing right out here next to the room I'm in and apparently doing nothing?

She heard the chimes of mental laughter coming from the tightly sealed mind. You can sense me here? It asked.

Not easily. I couldn't if you weren't right there, I think, you have extremely tight shields, as I'm sure you know. Seersha paused. Why are you standing out there?

Waiting to see if you'd feel my mind, came the amused reply. At that, a door to the side of the room swung open, showing a rather tall man with midnight black fur. His claws made almost no sound on the hard floor as he walked across the room to sit in the other seat. Seersha shifted, a bit uncomfortably.

"Um…" she said, using her voice, "was the some sort of test? I mean…"

The man laughed. Not one that will be graded in any way. This is purely for different reasons, which we do not want to disclose to you at this moment.

Seersha rolled her head to the side in a shrug, realizing that there was no way she could pump information out of him. "Shall we start, then?" she asked.

He extended his claws briefly in an affirmative gesture. "First," he said out loud, though his voice was not in the least bit gravelly, "you put this on." He handed her a small metal cap, indicating that she should put it on her head.

After that was done, he started talking again. "You may be surprised how simple and primitive these tests are, but they are effective. Now," he said, taking out a small cube, "Try to move this across the floor, until it touches the wall to the right."

Seersha concentrated, and it slid across the floor immediately, with very little difficulty. The man nodded slowly, but Seersha couldn't read his face and his mind was shielded up tight.

"Can you bring it back?" he asked. Seersha nodded mutely and brought it whizzing back across the room until it was right in front of them. Guessing why he wanted her to bring it back, she levitated the cube into the air and let it hover in front of him.

He looked up at her, surprised and a bit disapproving at her bit of showing off. However, he gave a slow nod and grabbed the cube. "You have language eveliri, do you not?" he asked.

"Yeah … that's what Junes said, anyway."

"You also have telepathy, as we observed earlier …we can't test healing powers here, for obvious reasons. We'll have to do that at a later time. For now, we will assess your telepathic abilities. I have an image in my head; tell me what it is."

Seersha faltered a moment. "But … your blocks are sewn up tight, there's no way I can get in."

He gave her a long look. "You're ready to give up before you even start? Interesting…"

"No!" said Seersha quickly. "No…I'll try." She took a deep breath, and probed nervously at his mind. She almost flew around it, searching for weaknesses, for chinks in the armor. In one place she thought she found a little peephole--she forced the tiny space she saw in his mind open, open, trying to pull it open as if she was forcing a locked door. Ever so slowly, it opened, and with renewed strength Seersha gave a burst of power…and then there was darkness.

When Seersha woke up again, she was in her bed, the one in her dorm that she shared with Mystahsi. Nobody was around, so she cautiously sat up. Her head ached a little, but it was nothing unbearable. She stood up, but it didn't hurt any more that it already had.

Walking out of the room, she saw that nobody was there. What had happened; was she supposed to black out? She got the feeling that this wasn't another test, and it probably wasn't supposed to happen. Well, after over two days of not being able to find anything else out about this place, Seersha was feeling almost ravenous for information. Figuring that there would probably be a console in Mystahsi's room (the one in Seersha's was disabled), Seersha quietly slipped into the other room, searching for any source of information.

She didn't have to look long; there was a stack of something that looked like books, except they were much, much thinner. Seersha guessed that they were the equivalent of a textbook. Perfect; that was exactly what Seersha was looking for.

She opened it up and figured out how to use the book in seconds. It was obviously designed to be easy to use, easy to find your way around it. It didn't take her long to turn to the page that was the equivalent of the Table of Contents, and she paused, staring at the screen. It was a Biocomputers text-- text-computer? What did they call these anyway?

"Hmm … this looks interesting. I might as well look through, so that I have a little bit of a head start when I begin the classes," she muttered to herself, making the computer display the chapter about the process of creating organic metals and the DNA strands they used. She clicked in a few commands, rather proud of herself.

The next moment, all of her pride plummeted and was forgotten as she stared at the screen in shock.

It may as well have been in another language to her. No, that wasn't right, since Seersha could understand any other languages… Or did she have to meet someone first for that? Either way, Seersha could not what they were saying. Despite knowing all the words used, the explanations were beyond her, she was lost before she even finished reading the first sentence-- and with a jolt, Seersha realized that there wasn't a single thing that she could understand in the entire chapter.

Seersha got a feeling of dread, and couldn't do anything but stare, somehow hoping that suddenly it would make sense. But it didn't. In a few seconds, this dream had turned into a bitter nightmare. What could Seersha do? She was probably retarded around them. What if they turned her away and make her go back to Earth when they found out how stupid she was?

It occurred to Seersha that maybe she was overreacting just a bit. But she couldn't stop. Her mind raced through all the scenarios, each one worse than the one before.

Of course, it didn't help at all that Mystahsi chose that moment to come back to the dorm, and flip.

"WHAT do you think that you're doing?!" she screamed. "You're not allowed to go into my room! And while you're at it, WHY are you messing up my Biocomputers book? Can't you even wait a little while to do something? Do you have to go snooping into my things, think you're too good for the rules?

"Oh, yes, and while you're at it, do you think you were so smart that you could look in a 5^th year book and understand it?" By now, they were attracting attention; there were people coming in the door that Mystahsi had left open, seeing what all this was about. "Let's get this straight, right here, right now, Seersha Patrenoi. Maybe back on Earth, you were a big shot, maybe you were a genius. News flash: everyone here would be a genius on Earth. Here, you're just average, and you're starting as a first year. Don't get above yourself again, unless you want to find yourself friendless." With that, Mystahsi twirled and stomped out of the room, the other people in the room laughing a little before leaving too.

Just when Seersha was wondering if it could get worse. She sighed, put the computer down, and walked quietly into her room.

Maybe if Mystahsi had left that alone, it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe if Seersha could brush the incident out of her mind, let it sink in, and then she could just forget about it. But no. No, Mystahsi had to relate the incident to everyone, painting Seersha as the most self-absorbed, arrogant person alive.

Seersha might be that, but how did looking through a science book show it? That's what Seersha couldn't understand. That one act did not show that Seersha was amazingly arrogant; all it meant was that she was ignorant. Unfortunately, not many people seemed to think of it that way.

Things got slightly better for Seersha the next few weeks. A lot of people were still resentful towards her, but they also got some satisfaction when they saw her with the little kids half her age. Seersha later looked on this resentfulness as somewhat of a blessing, since as a result she plunged completely into her studies. She began at the top and stayed at the top as far as scores, moving up in classes with quite a respectable pace.

Many people, mostly Mystahsi's followers, simply brushed that aside; after all, how much effort can it take to pass classes intended for children half your age? She was getting through the material much faster than most people, but much to Seersha's dismay, her scores were far from perfect and even after working as hard as she could for weeks, she wasn't even nearing being with kids her own age. Still, her pace through the classes was extremely fast; while this was not surprising considering the amount of effort the young girl was putting into her work, it did earn her a fair amount of respect from many of the less conforming students.

This newfound respect for Seersha didn't seem to change her at all. She plunged even further into her studies, determined to graduate on time, even though in order to do that she'd have to get through all the classes twice as fast as someone going through it at an average pace would. However, after another week, the lack of sleep and food, the constant studying and doing nothing else, started to get to her. Unfortunately, some of the teachers noticed.

"Seersha," said her War History instructor sternly, "You are working way too hard. All of the instructors have noticed it, and we don't think that it's healthy. Now, we're not quite sure what happened during your testing, but it's clear that you are prone to being fragile. I want you to take this trip," she said, handing Seersha a small computer pad, which Seersha was still getting used to instead of paper. "It will be educational, but it will also give you an opportunity to let off the work a little."

"But--" Seersha started to argue.

"No, no arguing. I know that it's good to work, but only to a certain extent. You're not even behind for your age anymore! That's quite an achievement, and I am not going to let you bury yourself so much in studying that you can't do anything else. No, you're going on this trip. It's to Ejuwan, a nice planet, a bit backwards, but nonetheless nice. You'll also learn a lot from the crew on the way there. You can also take that girl Elodie; she ought to be getting out.

Seersha sighed, realizing that she wasn't going to win this one. "Fine," she sighed, taking the computer carefully. She looked at the information regarding it. Not that she'd ever admit it to the teachers, but it looked interesting. The crew of the ship would be career military, people who were taking part in the war. Also, the planet Ejuwan itself looked okay; not that the Academy would ever go on a trip that would put its students in danger, but on the way there was a rather famous military base.

The young Nagraitan blinked a moment, wondering exactly when the military had began to mean the world to her, to the point where her entire life revolved around it.

When you got a mother who gives you an awful lot to live up to, said a small voice in Seersha's head. She sighed, but realized that it was true. Her mother was the leader of the entire fleet during a major war; why, the only higher position possible was the Leader.

Now that Seersha understood what was going on in her mind, she could at least try to laugh at it. Being the leader of the fleet would be way beyond Seersha's ability, so it was better not to even try for it.

No, no. Even in this state Seersha knew that she shouldn't be thinking those thoughts. If she wasn't the best, she should be striving to be the best, should be working up to her utmost abilities. Pessimism would get you no where.

Seersha looked down again, at the computer, a tad distrustfully. Well, if she had to, she might as well make the best of it. She might actually learn quite a lot from the trip.

Unknown to Seersha, on this trip the girl might just learn more than she ever wanted -- or was ever supposed-- to know.

"About time I finally got out of that cell," Elodie sighed dramatically. "I don't think I could have taken it a moment longer. The only consolation to being in there day and night was that I could devote the time to dance. Oh, I miss my parents so much."

Onemed caught Seersha's eye and made silly faces behind Elodie's back, making fun of the human. Seersha looked down and stifled a laugh, but she smiled back at the pale-furred girl and extended her thumb claw briefly, about the equivalent of a wink.

"Though," continued Elodie, not realizing that she was the object of amusement through the room, "this isn't quite much better. When are we getting off this spaceship? It's interesting to be in space, of course, but it's terribly dull to have to listen to the crew about the war and just sit around here all day. Don't you quite agree, Seersha?" It was obvious to everyone in the room that Elodie was trying to seem very mature and superior. It was just as obvious that she had no idea that her "brilliant cover" was another cause for scorn.

"Actually, I find information about the war quite interesting," replied Seersha shortly. "To your question, we'll be there in about three days."

"Is that real days?" asked Elodie skeptically.

Now this opportunity was too good to pass up. It might shut Elodie up, would be funny … and much as Seersha hated to think that this mattered to her, it would probably make the other kids like her more. She'd never cared about others' opinions before; why did she want it so much now? Either way, no matter why she would, she couldn't resist.

"No, that's in Nagraitan days. For Rehil days, that would be about one fourth of a day left."

Onemed, Leie, Neneu, and Kasin all snickered quietly, but Elodie, in her happiness in hearing that, didn't notice at all.

"Really?" she asked. "Why, that's just a few hours. Why didn't you say it would be that soon in the first place? I'm going to go pack up my things, because you know, my stuff is all over the place. Wow, whoever knew that Nagraitan days were so short?" The girl practically leaped out of the room.

Leie turned and smiled at Seersha. "That was pretty funny," she said. "She was really getting on my nerves. Did she really think we admired her? Her thought-waves certainly implied it. Are all humans that stupid?"

"No," groaned Seersha, "Many of them are much worse." She stretched her arms way above her head, a bit sore from sitting in that position so long. The simple light Blue Academy uniform moved with her so that the sleeves didn't fall down as her arms were pushed as far as they could go towards the ceiling.

"If that's true, I can certainly understand why you seem a bit arrogant," allowed Kasin. "I think that any Nagraitan would feel like they're better than everyone else if they grew up with people like her. Anyway, I didn't quite see how looking through Mystah's Bio-computing book was acting arrogant; you couldn't know it was hard. Anyway, you seemed pretty cool when you were here last time, even though I didn't get to talk to you much."

"I never took Mystahsi seriously in the first place," said Leie, "many of us didn't. So many people adore her, though, that it's kind of hard for us to get in our say. I hate to say it, I really do, but sometimes I'm afraid to speak up. I have a problem with that," her voice got quieter, and her eyes were focused on the floor, "I wish I didn't, but I see them and well, I'm not quite sure what will happen if I disagree."

"That's just because you're being stupid," said Onemed. "No offense," she quickly added, a bit sheepishly, "but really, I don't suck up to people just because I'm afraid of them. What can they do? Your telekinesis is practically off the charts, Leie, you could easily just cut off a blood pipe."

"No, that's not an option," Seersha spoke up again. "Look, there's a way to deal with people like that, and it's not by killing them. You've got to beat them at their own game."

"Oh, and I suppose that you know a lot about friendship," snorted Neneu, "You, who can't even get a single friend. Maybe it was easy for you to manipulate humans--"

"Oh, shut up, Nen," Onemed cut him off crossly. "It's not her fault that nobody liked her, it's Mystahsi's fault, and you know it. Look, Seersha, I think you might be all right."

Seersha smiled. "I hope that maybe I am. But as I was saying-- maybe she's smarter than humans, but her attitude is the same. Steal her support out from under her, she'll find all her rudeness and her obnoxious personality won't get her very far once she's lost her little reign out of fear."

"I suppose that you're not thinking at all about the fact that if you did that, you'd have a chance to pick up the pieces and be in just about the same position as Mystahsi, as far as power," Kasin looked innocent in a completely fake way.

"Popularity, that’s not power. It's play-acting at power, pretending you have power; in the end, it amounts to nothing, except practice maybe."

"So you were thinking of it, though?" asked Leie quietly.

"Seersha!" came a screech from the other room. "We're not going to be there in a few hours! It's going to be almost four days! You lied to me, and I want to know why."

"I didn't lie to you. You asked for 'real' days. The closest I could come to was Rehil days, which are about twelve Nagraitan days, or around fifteen Earth days. If you'd asked for human days, I'd have gladly told how long those were."

"You knew what I meant, Seersha Ture! You didn't have to make fun of me like that! If you're going to be like that, I guess I just won't talk to you."

Seersha did her best to look sorry, but she couldn't help a small laugh. Elodie sniffed, tossed her head, and walked out of the room with her nose in the air, as if it was the worst loss they'd ever had. Kasin burst into laughter. Onemed soon followed suit, and pretty soon all of them were laughing. Another guy, who apparently had been listening to parts of the conversation, came over.

"So you finally got rid of the pessun?" he asked, smiling. Leie looked shocked, then angry.

"Maybe she's not as smart as a Nagraitan, Ionue Leanders, but you have no right to scorn her for something that is not her fault. Maybe she is-- but at least she's not a glon like you!" she spat. Seersha blinked, not knowing the translation to that word yet. She looked questioningly at Kasin, who offered no explanation.

"Ionue Leanders'" looked quite angry. "So you prefer the stupid human to one of your own? Well, we all know what starts out a traitor. When she was young Desiny was sympathetic to other species, and look at her now. You'll end up killed by us yet, Leie, mark my words on that!"

"Maybe you haven't noticed that such prejudice is highly disapproved of. Aurel, Uenepnoin, Terein, they are sympathetic to other races. And in case you haven't noticed, humans aren't the enemy--"

"-- they too stupid to be a threat," interjected Onemed.

"Well, be that as it may, they aren't, and in case you haven't noticed something else, it's not just the Nagraitans alone any more. We have the Fae and the Yeyesh, who certainly aren't, as you call it, 'our own kind'. So maybe you should just take your ugly self and your prejudice views that are more narrow minded than the humans that you so despise, and leave us alone," sneered Kasin, saying this all in one breath, as if she was almost scared to say it all.

It was also evident that anyone who tried to point out her fright to her might not live to regret the mistake.

Seersha smiled. It was nice to have friends that were like her-- even if she did make them through pettiness, from what she saw of them they saw it as a joke, and weren't just trying to get a lot of laughs out of the stupid human there. After all, there was Kasin defending Elodie.

Maybe it was a good idea to come on this trip after all, thought Seersha. Maybe I can really make a real life for myself here.

Seersha bit her lip in concentration and quickly punched in the code that she was given to work out. She was fairly certain that she had done all of the logic correctly this time…

"BEEP! BEEP! That code is incorrect," the computer quipped in that annoying voice. "Please enter it again."

"DAMN!" screamed Seersha, slamming her hand against the bulkhead.

"Careful there," said an officer amusedly. "You're here to learn how to operate the computer, not to break them all! Now, have some patience. They're not designed for you to get them correct the first time."

"That was my third try!" cried Seersha. She looked over when Leie shrieked in delight. The girl had a wide grin on her face, and she was almost jumping as the computer informed her that she had the next code right. "Good job, Lei," she called over. Her voice was disappointed, but at least she tried. Leie smiled briefly at Seersha, not missing the resentfulness but taking the congratulations all the same.

Seersha sighed, flicked a small smile at the officer, and sat back down to work out the code again. Maybe if she worked on the background first, then on the symbols at the front…

Seersha heard laughing behind her, and she looked up. There was another officer, a young man. "I've never seen it worked quite that way," he said, laughter in his eyes. "Exactly what are you doing with it?"

Seersha flushed and put her head down, forcing her mind back onto the problem. Who cared whether or not it had been done before? Originality had to be applauded here, right? It meant that she looked at things differently. Of course, differently didn't necessarily mean better…she really had to break herself of that habit.

"There," she said, with a glare at the man, "I think I have it." Her resent at being laughed at was apparent, as was the man's amusement at this.

She plugged the code in, holding her breath. The computer made a few beeps, then,

"BEEP! BEEP!" it said, and Seersha's heart sank, "That code is correct."

"YES!" shrieked Seersha, then suddenly became embarrassed and looked around.. "Er…sorry, everyone?" she laughed nervously, and everyone turned their attention back to whatever they were doing. Seersha got the next code clue from the computer, and practically fainted at the complexity of it. How was it that that boy Kenez could have already figured it out? Seersha was sure that it would take her forever to do. Was he some sort of supernatural being or something?

It hit Seersha with a flash that maybe that's what kids on Earth felt towards her. Seersha knew why in the past few years she had had no friends; she had been quite frankly not likable at all. But when she was still little, while those jibes still had hurt and she had still felt upset when kids made fun of her…had that been why? Because they looked at her, and they didn't know what to do with her? They didn't think they could ever keep up with her, so they pulled her down? Seersha suddenly looked upon the kids on Earth much more kindly, now that she could almost sympathize with them.

Well, she would try to learn from the mistakes of others, and the mistakes of herself. Now, within Nagraita, she was going to start anew. She was going to be friendly; she was going to help others.

Naturally, she wouldn't let it get in the way of power.

"Lieutenant Rueloun?" Someone came into the room calling the name, and breaking into Seersha's thoughts. Not literally, of course, thought Seersha amusedly, as now there was a whole new meaning to that phrase. A few of the students giggled at her calling 'Lieutenant Rueloun'. Seersha brushed their surface thoughts just enough to understand that the military title with that name was thought of as something of an oxy moron-- the Rueloun family was well known for being pacifists, and it was very rare to see one who was career military. The lieutenant ignored the giggling, as did the messenger. "There's a message for you coming through on the COM. You can take it in my office, if you want."

"No, that's all right, Captain," said Rueloun, "I'll just take it here."

"Very well, there's a console for you to use right over there," the captain pointed to a computer on the far side of the room. Rueloun nodded and walked over to it.

Seersha, forgetting the code that she should be working on, looked over there in interest. She knew enough to know that in order for someone to be bothered in the middle of duty, it had to be an important message. Some of the other students looked over as well, as the lieutenant turned on the unit.

"Yes?" Rueloun's voice rang out through the room rather clearly.

Seersha tried not to listen to the conversation, really she did. She knew that it was private. But after all, she was taking the call right in the middle of the deck, she had to know that people would listen. Seersha, in her effort not to listen, only heard a few snippets. She got the idea, however, that some members of Rueloun's family died, and there were two children left alive. Seersha couldn't help feeling a little pang of pity for Rueloun, and for the children, at hearing that.

"Yes, sir," said Rueloun, sounding composed on the outside, but everyone could hear the devastation in her tone, and every half-decent eveliri felt her sadness. "Requesting custody of Kitaya and Daen?" She didn't bother keeping her voice down.

"Denied."

Seersha could feel the shock coming from everyone in the room from that. Denied? For an only living relative to be denied custody was unheard of.

Lieutenant Rueloun was shocked as well. "Excuse me?" she asked, aghast.

"Kitaya has been taken in as a priestess of Xandlo, and cannot be taken out of his service now that she has been through the oath." Did the man on the other end sound almost smug?

"Already?" asked a horrified Rueloun. Seersha, not believing in these "gods", could not believe that a child could be taken in and be forced to be in the "service" of something that she herself didn't believe existed.

Do they really have proof of the gods? Seersha wondered to herself. She doubted it.

"Well, what about Daen?" asked Rueloun, who was looking very exhausted.

"It has been requested by the Temple of Xandlo, and that request has been agreed to, that you do not bring her up. They would prefer for her to be adopted by people that they feel more suited to deal with the child's abilities."

Rueloun seemed so angry that Seersha though she could do anything next, but she held her temper. "Thank you," she whispered icily, obviously not thankful at all. The woman jammed the unit off and turned around, starting to take her Fleet symbol off of her shirt. Suddenly she paused, and got that look that Seersha identified as listening to someone speak to her telepathically. The expression on the woman's face turned from amazement to anger to intense hatred, but her hand came back down and she sighed, turning back.

"Lieutenant Rueloun requesting to be temporarily relieved of duty?" she asked the Commander, who was in the room.

"Request approved," he said shortly, sympathy in his eyes.

The lieutenant turned and walked angrily out of the room. Seersha could not explain it, but somehow, she had the feeling that this would not be the last time she dealt with what had happened here today.

"Understood," said the speaker. He quietly put his hood back over his head, and walked out of the room.

"There it is," whispered Onemed excitedly. "That's the military base. It's really important, I heard. It's pretty much the base of operation for the outer fighting territories; without it, we might fall."

"Wow," Seersha breathed out, mesmerized. "It's that important … and we can see it, with our own eyes, from right here."

Kasin rolled her eyes. "You were on Cetoudi. Your mom is Aurel, the person keeping it all together. Seriously, Seersha, you seem so … fanciful at times. You are obsessed with the war, and I understand why some think that you're interested in it out of pride about your mother, even though we know that's not true. They think you're still on Earth-based thinking, where family ties mean something as far as merit."

"I guess that does sort of make me proud…" started Seersha hesitantly, then hastily added, "not that it makes me think I'm better than you or anything. But it does kind of make one feel special."

"Maybe it makes you feel special," sniffed another girl, Enni. "But that doesn't mean that it would make everyone feel special. I think your time on Earth brainwashed you."

"Mmm-hmm," responded Seersha absentmindedly, once again looking at the space station and imagining what was going on there. "Tell me, you can be both a scientist and career military, right?"

Onemed laughed, amused by Seersha's lack of knowledge in such a well-known subject. "Of course you can. In fact, almost all scientists are career military, and all of them work for the military. To your unspoken question," Onemed went on, either using telepathy or her advanced intuition, "you can also get into a position of power when you're a scientist. Utmost power, in fact."

Seersha gave Onemed a Look, rolling her dark purple eyes then turning them back towards the station once more. Enni, bored, got up, brushed herself off, and walked away haughtily, in search of slightly more interesting company.

"Well, it was your question, Seersha," pointed out Kasin, "even if you still don't want to admit it. Face it, we've known you two days, we know how you think. Get used to us Nagraitans. You know, there is only so much you can see in a little speck in the sky. Unless," she said slowly, "you…"

"My dear Kasin," said Onemed, who was concentrating on the dome of the station every bit as much as Seersha, "that would be illegal. Exactly what are you accusing us of? Do you really think we'd do something illegal?"

Definitely, returned Kasin, switching to telepathy.

Onemed grinned. Why, Kasin, I don't believe it. You don't trust me?

Seersha, still a bit cautious around her new friends, stayed silent from then on. She wasn't used to having friends, certainly not ones that operated on Seersha's own level. It was nice in some ways … scary and uncomfortable in others.

Especially as, she knew that they knew she found the friendship, the equality, scary at times.

After a few minutes, she thought she felt something. "Guys?" she whispered. They didn't hear her. "Onemed, Kasin … OH NO!" she screamed as she realized what the feeling is. Their heads snapped around to face Seersha.

What is it, Seersha? asked Kasin, worried.

"I'm … feeling … Desiny's nearby, she is, I know it."

Onemed closed her eyes. "I feel something, but are you sure that…"

"I'm positive," said Seersha grimly, upset but no longer panicking. "I've had an encounter with her before, remember? Come on, we have to tell someone."

"They're not going to believe you, Seersha," warned Onemed.

"Oh, they'd better!" exclaimed Kasin vehemently. You're right, Seersha, I feel it too. They can't be such dead-brains that they don't feel it if they try. We have to get to the command deck. Gather in close, I think I can 'port there. Onemed, if you'd help lend power?

Yeah. Yeah, I think that together we can manage to 'port there … I'm not sure how else three students can manage to get to the command deck. They gathered together, each having some sort of physical contact with each other.

Seersha had never had an experience quite like it…it wasn't painful, exactly, but there was this feeling of being ripped out of space and plunged back in another. This is understandable, as it's basically what happened, but it was just the feeling of being ripped, that unnerved Seersha.

"What are you girls doing on the command deck?" barked out a very angry commander. "You are to get out of here, at once!"

"But, sir--" Seersha started nervously.

"No, no arguments. You aren't allowed here, and you shouldn't have tried to 'port here. It's dangerous up here, not for students to be running around."

LISTEN! Onemed suddenly screeched into everyone's head. Movement on the bridge seemed to suddenly freeze, as everyone looked at the girl in amazement. Well, now that I FINALLY have your attention, she started testily, you may be interested to know that Desiny is near.

The disbelief was obvious, but the commander knew that it would be too risky not to look further into it. They could feel his mind looking around a little, but they could also feel that his eveliri was weak, to put it mildly. There was no way that he would be able to sense such a closed, blocked mind.

"Commander, maybe you should ask someone with slightly more eveliri," blurted out Kasin. She immediately flushed, but didn't look sorry.

The commander started to say something. He was cut off with a loud BANG, as the COM unit exploded, sending metal shards-- and people-- flying across the room.

Seersha heard screaming. It barely registered in her numb mind, the screaming. There was some quiet sobbing. She noticed that her side hurt, and looked down. She barely noticed the flowing blood that stained her light blue uniform into a dark red-purple.

The girl couldn't remember exactly what happened. She dimly recalled the explosion, but any other thinking hurt her head. The pain in her side became sharper, until she felt like she couldn't bear it anymore.

Then suddenly-- it was gone. The pain, the screaming, the crying. Seersha stood up slowly, looking around, but all she could see was a dull white. "Hello?" she called.

"Hello? Hello? Hello?" the sound echoed back, which surprised Seersha, considering that she couldn't see walls of any kind. "Who's there?" The echo carried back for far longer, seeming far louder, than it ought to in any location.

"You weren't supposed to die." The voice came out of nowhere, and Seersha couldn't see from where it originated. "We had to stop it, that wasn't supposed to happen."

"What?" asked Seersha. This time, the question didn't echo.

The air shimmered in front of Seersha, and a man appeared. He looked Nagraitan, but Seersha's admittedly underdeveloped eveliri told her that the man wasn't quite what he appeared. His fur was an ash gray, with gold streaks down his arms. He was quite tall, and the girl was had to look up to look into his eyes, which were a silver color.

"Who are you?" asked Seersha quietly, in a scared voice. She was too unnerved right now to even care about how timid-- no, who was she kidding?-- how terrified she sounded.

The man gave a small smile. "I am Dauhec, the Nagraitan god of Intelligence."

Seersha looked around and quickly revised her beliefs concerning the gods. "And what wasn't supposed to happen? I didn't die…" Seersha voice got softer, "did I?"

Dauhec nodded. "You did, Seersha Patrenoi, but you weren't supposed to. If you die, that changes everything, and in a way that it can't be changed. No, Seersha, we can bring you back to life. However, there is going to be a bit of a drawback."

Seersha looked questioningly at him.

"Well, you remember when you blacked out? That happened for a reason. It is because your mind can go further than your body is capable of going. Your father--" Dauhec cut off there. "Well, that isn't something for you to know. Maybe someday, but today, you're not ready. Before, your power was very high, and to use over 60% of it would cause you to black out. However, now, just twenty-five percent will cause you pain; fifty, so much pain that you can barely keep awake. To use over seventy-five percent of your power would kill you. And next time…we won't be able to bring you back."

Seersha nodded, a bit apprehensively. "Where am I going to wake up?"

"Well, under any other circumstances we'd simply revive your body. However, if we did that, it would be quite likely that you may be killed again, no matter what Desiny orders her troops to do. So we will transport you down to the planet. There is still danger there, but not as much." Seersha thought she saw a flash of something in his eyes, but it disappeared before she could place it. "You'll wake up with a nasty headache, but that will be the only other effect."

Seersha nodded and braced herself, closing her eyes. She felt a jolt, and then--

--WHAT a HEADACHE were her next coherent thoughts. She opened her eyes, and had to close them again, because everything was spinning. A few seconds later, she opened them again, trying to focus her eyes as images whirled before her. After everything finally stopped whirling around her, and she only saw one of everything, she stood up.

Okay, Seersha, she told herself, take one thing at a time. Your primary concern is staying alive. And figuring out where you are, and how to get back to the ship, or at least to the group. She looked around. She was in a thickly wooded forest-- somehow, it seemed familiar, but Seersha couldn't quite put her finger on it.

She started walking-- not that there was much point in that, but it was better than sitting still. Where was everyone? Why had she been put here? She wished that she could find someone! She felt her side, and noted with relief that her laser was still there.

Why did the gods save her from dying? She couldn't stop wondering that. Was there something that important about her that she couldn't die?

Seersha stopped herself right there. No, she was abandoning her arrogance, remember? They probably had some sort of overall plan all set up, and they would alter things for anyone, no matter how insignificant, in order for it to all work smoothly. She was sure that it wasn't something about herself that made them save her. She put her concentration back into looking around, trying to see someone and trying to figure out why it was so familiar.

That's when it suddenly hit her. This was exactly like the dream that she'd had! She paused, and sure enough, when she turned around, there was the older girl.

Seersha swallowed. "Desiny?" she asked, scared. She reached for her laser, only to find that it was in Desiny's hand. "What do you want?" she asked angrily.

Desiny smiled a menacing smile, the same one that Seersha remembered from her dream. It was a smile that appeared cheerful but was mocking and very evil. "Why, to talk!" She said. Everything was exactly like the dream. Could it have been some kind of precognition? From what Seersha had heard, it was entirely possible. "What did they tell you about me? They did not tell you the truth. Not the whole truth."

Seersha gathered up courage and said sarcastically, "And what would that be?" Maybe now she could actually figure out what it was.

Desiny smiled. "Why don't you ask them? Your so-called friends who are keeping you from the truth?"

"I doubt any of my friends know. If you seem so intent on me knowing, they why don't you just tell me?"

That evil smile was on Desiny's face again, along with a look of anticipation. "Seersha. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Desiny … Desiny Patrenoi."