CHAPTER 006

A fter being scanned into the campus student tracking system and receiving her school communicator, Elara was officially ready to begin her first year.

Like most other students, Elara and Knot began by flipping through their communicators to find out their class schedules and dorm room assignments. The device folded over like a clamshell, with a soft and flexible screen inside.

“Dorm assignments are up, but no class schedules still,” Elara groaned, reading from the small screen.

“I guess we’ll have to wait!” the Grix said pleasantly.

The girls were walking through the glass skywalk that led to one of the first-year dormitories. At first they thought the path would curve around a large oak tree. Instead, the walkway opened up inside the tree itself. Living wood shaped a giant spiral staircase inside the tree’s trunk. It was at least thirty feet wide and lit with a cascading rainbow of naturally bioluminescent floating seed pods.

As the girls climbed, the stairs led to a massive common room inside the tree’s canopy. This was their dormitory, high up in the clouds, capable of housing more than two hundred newly enrolled students.

After a few awestruck moments, Knot and Elara pushed their way into the small throng of equally impressed first-year students.

“Compartment 313B,” Elara read from her communicator. “And my roommates are named Beezle and... Clare? I think I saw her stuff on the train...”

“312A!” Knot exclaimed with a gravelly grin. “We’re neighbors!”

“That’s fantastic!” Elara said. “Who are you rooming with?”

Knot gave a sympathetic smile. “I’m so sorry, sweetie, but I’m in a single unit. The doors will auto-lock me in so I don’t... wander.”

Elara gave Knot a curious look. “Locked in? Why?”

“It’s a Grix thing. We’re heavy sleepers, and we occasionally...” Knot shrugged and looked embarrassed. “Well... we wander while in a dream state, seeking... late-night snacks. We’re naturally a hunter species, mostly small mammals give or take”—Knot held out a hand, holding it roughly Elara’s height—“about so big. Anyway... it really is best that I have my own space. You understand, right?”

Elara nodded very quickly in response. Then, sighing, she looked out at the crowd of freshmen. “Anyway... I hope my roommates are nice. I’m not so great at making friends.”

Knot gave the sulking girl a friendly punch on the arm, which sent Elara staggering several feet. “Of course they’ll be nice! You’re just shy. Making friends is much easier than you think. Here, let me show you...” And with that, the Grix disappeared into the crowd of students nearby.

Elara rubbed her bruised arm. She had been so quick to judge Knot’s appearance. A lifetime of isolation on a faraway farm world had left her very...

But Elara never finished the thought. Instead, the Grix stomped back across the common room, grasping a thin young girl with a bald head and light blue skin.

Knot dropped the new student at Elara’s feet. “Here you go, Elara!” Knot said happily, pointing to the girl. “I found you a new friend!”

Surprisingly, the girl Knot grabbed didn’t run away.

“I am Beezle,” the girl said cautiously, rising to her feet. She was a pleasant girl with a half smile on her face. It was as if she existed in a permanent state of calm. “From the Arctuiaan settlement in the Delta region of Quasi-Space.”

“Oh!” Elara perked up. “Beezle! What a weird coincidence! I think we’re roommates!”

“What are the odds?” Knot said with a guilty smile. “You’d almost think I peeked at the public dorm profile listings.”

“I’m Elara. And I’ve heard of Arctuiaans!” Elara continued, suddenly excited. “You have, like, some kind of hive mind. Right? Like bees?”

The girl turned a slightly darker shade of blue. “Well... it’s not quite like that. When we sleep, we rejoin the OverMind. It’s um... it’s kind of like a hive mind? More like thought sharing, if that makes sense?”

“It completely makes sense,” Knot said, elbowing Elara. “My friend didn’t mean to be rude. She just left the farm. This is all so new to her.”

Elara raised an eyebrow. “I can still hear you, Knot. Besides, you’re the one who walked up and kidnapped the poor girl.”

“It’s okay.” The Arctuiaan smiled lightly. “I really don’t mind talking about it. Or the kidnapping, I guess. Though that was very weird. Anyway, I’m excited to room with you, Elara! It’s all so strange. You are the first beings I have met that have never communed with the OverMind. It must be very...” The girl looked thoughtful, searching for the right word. “Lonely. Yes. It must be lonely and quiet when you sleep.”

“I guess?” Elara responded. “I’m usually not aware. And quiet is preferable for humans at rest. I—”

There was a buzzing noise, and Elara pulled out her personal comm system. Opening up the device, Elara saw a message from the school. “Hey, guys... they just released class schedules!”

Knot and Beezle instantly grabbed their own communicators. Beezle let out a loud and happy gasp. “I have been selected to attend Dr. Amiba’s course on magnetic core stabilization! And I’m enrolled in Seismic Studies! I registered for the course late and was uncertain there would be room!”

Elara quickly flipped through her schedule. “What time do you have Seismic? I’m on the third period with Mr. Trutton...”

Knot was quick to jump in. “I have Trutton’s class, too! With a follow-up course in flora design.” The Grix looked up. “I didn’t think that was even offered to first-years.”

Beezle smiled. “And I have it, too! We are all on the same course schedule! As friends should be!”

Elara’s jaw dropped as she looked from Knot to Beezle. “We’re friends? For real? I mean, we kind of forced you to hang out with us—”

Beezle shook her head vehemently. “No. At first that was true. But I have decided that now we are an alliance, and by the code of my people, I shall honor our newly forged bonds!”

Elara opened her mouth to respond, when suddenly the conversation was interrupted by a loud bell.

Older students, ones who had been attending the school for some time, immediately began to move. Uncertain of what was happening, Elara called out to a passing Deltaainian, “Hey! What’s that bell? Where’s everyone going?”

The amphibious upperclassman grinned with both of his mouths. “That’s the first warning to check in to your bunks, freshmen. You gotta head up to your rooms.”

Elara turned back to her two new friends. “Well?” she said. “Shall we check out our new home?”