Galileo (Battle of the Species) Read online

  Out of the corner of his eye, Desh saw Tig tap on his thought blockers, initiating the silver shell to form around the outer lining of his ears. The Mindeerian smiled, trying not to take offense, knowing that intergalactic agents like Tig had secrets to keep, even from the most trusted.

  “Our last hunting trip on Torres,” Kia said as he sat down on a stone beside Desh. “I’m going to miss it.”

  “Come on,” Desh replied. “We’ve never lived in space before. Aren’t you the least bit excited?”

  “Sure I am, but aren’t you going to miss this place?” he continued, gazing at the trees that vaulted high into the sky. “They say no other planet in the Federation has trees as big as ours. That none have branches thick enough to run on or build houses in. I’m going to miss the trees.”

  “I’m sure I’ll miss this place too, but this has never been my home,” Desh replied. He thought about Mindeere, the planet of his birth, hoping that he would one day be able to return. He took a bite of meat and caught some of the men whispering and glancing at him. Desh listened to their thoughts for a moment, until Tig walked up.

  “Will you give us a moment, Kia?” Tig asked.

  “Yes, sir,” Kia said, then jumped off the stone and sat on the other side of the fire, never straying too far from Desh.

  “What’s on your mind?” Tig finally asked.

  “They’re angry with me,” Desh said, watching the men.

  “I wouldn’t say ‘angry’,” Tig replied.

  “I can hear their thoughts, Tig. They’re angry.”

  Tig grinned and nodded. “Yeah, okay. Maybe their feathers are a little ruffled.”

  “I can’t hear yours though when you’re wearing thought blockers. I hope you know I meant no disrespect,” Desh said.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not offended. I am, however, curious to know why you would have Kia give the war cry when you know it’s an honor given to the Alpha of the tribe. Kia may very well be Alpha one day, but not at fourteen.”

  Desh looked over at Kia and tried to imagine how it must have looked to the other soldiers. Kia hadn’t yet come of age and therefore didn’t yet bear the tribal tattoos on his face like the others did. He must have looked like such a child to the men.

  “Kia and I will no longer live by the Toran way once we leave for school next week,” Desh replied. “I need him to understand that. He will always give the war cry in my battles, regardless of whether there’s another soldier who’s older, stronger, or more experienced.”

  “Then today was exactly as it should have been. You proved yourself today, you know,” Tig said.

  “I don’t know how much I proved, considering I had half the tribe helping me,” Desh mumbled. “Tig, how do I earn respect and prove that I deserve my position when I’m constantly being babysat? How do I prove that I’m not a coward?”

  “A coward would have killed the lone Prymin and gone home. Their families will be safer tonight because of your orders today. Don’t think the men don’t realize that,” Tig replied. “You’re more respected than you think, Desh. And though your responsibility may be to one day lead, ours is to keep you safe, especially while you’re still learning. And Desh…like it or not, you are still learning.”

  CHAPTER 2

  Fight like a human

  Planet: Earth

  Galaxy: Milky Way

  Federation Date: 7.5.7266

  Earth Date: 5.14.5181 A.D.

  Renn buckled, taking the full force of the fist to his stomach. He fell into the dirt, scraping his hands against the rough twigs and rocks, and strained to breathe. He always hated this view — dirt, rocks, and Jonah’s dusty shoes so close to his face. Renn grabbed onto a tree, pulling himself up before Jonah could pin him down again.

  Jonah was only a year older than Renn, but even at the age of fourteen, he was already a full head taller than his classmates, and thirty pounds heavier.

  “Walk away, Jonah,” Renn warned.

  “In your dreams, butt-wipe,” Jonah replied. “You have no right here!”

  “I’m half Earthling. I have as much right to be here as you do, and you kicking my ass every week isn’t going to change that,” Renn said.

  “Not if you burn a human, you biohazard. Come on, it would be worth it to see you get banned from this planet.” Jonah grabbed Renn’s shirt and pulled him closer. “I dare you to spark!” he hissed.

  Renn clenched his fists in an attempt to hide the electricity that snapped in his hands, burning his own fingers and making him jump.

  Jonah laughed and shoved Renn into the trunk of a large pine tree.

  Renn swung his right fist, but Jonah grabbed his arm and used the momentum to throw him to the ground again.

  “You’re such chemwaste!” Renn seethed, picking himself up.

  “What did you call me?” Jonah asked, slapping Renn across the face when he got up.

  Renn swiped at Jonah’s hands, fearing what would happen if he lost control of the energy revving up inside him. It has to be a physical fight, Renn reminded himself. Fight like a human, fight like a human.

  “Come on, spark, you mutt, spark!” Jonah taunted.

  Renn took another swing, but his punch did little more than jiggle Jonah’s flabby belly. He saw Jonah make a fist, but couldn’t move fast enough and Renn’s nose took the full impact. He felt warm liquid trickle down his chin and he fell backwards feeling the disorientation engulf him.

  Renn scrambled to get back up and grabbed a broken branch, pointing the sharp end towards Jonah. “I don’t need telekinesis to stab you with a stick,” he said, readying himself to lunge.

  Jonah watched, calculating. He looked around at the feeble options nature provided as weapons and his posture relaxed in resolution. “It doesn’t have to be today. I will get you, mutt. Remember that,” he replied before walking away.

  Once Jonah had disappeared over the hill, Renn dropped the branch and scrunched his shirt to his nose. He stood there for a while, leaning against a tree trunk, waiting for the bleeding to stop. He took deep breaths as he fought back tears, and hoped no prying eyes were watching.

  He stared at the dirt path before him and brushed the blond hair out of his eyes with his scratched fingers. If he turned left, it would lead him to school. If he turned right, the path would take him back home, but that scenario always ended the same way.

  Renn had first met Jonah on a school hover-bus leaving for summer camp in the third grade. Jonah was in the fourth grade and went as a counselor’s helper. He acted like he was a nice guy, passing around homemade chocolate chip cookies to the kids on the bus. The chocolate chips, however, contained laxatives, a sickening drug to other species. Renn spent two days puking his guts out, to Jonah’s sheer amusement. It could have ended a lot worse had Renn’s Mindeerian body not been half human.

  When Renn’s father, Adam, found out, he went to Jonah’s father, a minister at the local church. The minister smiled at Adam and shrugged it off saying, “Kids will be kids.”

  Jonah wasn’t reprimanded for poisoning Renn or for any other bullying throughout the years, which were always dismissed by the minister, who would smile and say, “He’s only six.” Years later more shenanigans would be written off as “He’s only eight,” then “He’s only twelve,” and so on and so on, throughout the years. Renn’s father said that Jonah’s parents thought they were protecting him, when in reality they were failing him.

  “How is he going to learn to take responsibility for his mistakes or learn respect for others?” Adam would ask. A lesson about treating others with respect was a lesson denied to Jonah by his parents.

  Over the years, Renn would find the answer to Adam’s question to be, “He wouldn’t.”

  Renn took a left on the dirt path and headed to school, deciding not to tell his dad. There was little that could be done if the bully’s parents were in denial or enabling like Jonah’s parents. The only thing that would be accomplished by it would be upsetting his dad again. So Renn buried th
e pain and humiliation. The thought of seeing the look of pain on his dad’s face at being unable to protect his son was too much to bear. It was worse than a sore nose as far as Renn was concerned.

  Renn reached a lawn of lush green grass leading up to his school’s three-story building. He passed a large stone slab on the front lawn that read “Newton Junior High,” and once again thought that it looked like the tombstone for Isaac Newton himself. He loved the stone building though, and the walls made of glass. With the tap of fingers, the walls would darken, become large display screens, or clear again, depending on teachers’ whims and needs.

  He hesitated as the students ran up the front steps, and he looked down at his bloody shirt. There was no doubt that if a teacher saw the blood, the next step would be to call his dad. Renn walked to the side of the building and snuck in, awkwardly holding his arms crossed in front of his chest to hide the gore. He made it to his locker and placed his hand on the cold metal. The metal scanned his prints and the door popped open.

  He dug through winter clothes he had yet to take home, and pulled out the only t-shirt in the pile. Unfortunately, it had “Physical Education — Renn Andreas” printed on the back, with the gaudy school logo of an antelope gnawing on a wad of grass prominently displayed on the front. He contemplated what his least humiliating option would be: A shirt covered in blood (thereby announcing to the world that he had just lost a fight), a geeky P.E. t-shirt (that probably reeked of dried sweat), or a sweatshirt (in 90-degree weather).

  He reluctantly grabbed the P.E. t-shirt, closed the locker, and made his way to the bathroom. He had almost reached the door when he heard a familiar voice call behind him.

  “Hey, Renn.”

  Renn walked down the wide corridor, without looking back, and disappeared into the bathroom

  “Renn?” the voice echoed from the hallway.

  Renn peeled off the bloody shirt and threw it in the sink before the door swung open.

  “What the hell? Didn’t you hear m…” the boy stopped when he caught sight of the blood on the t-shirt and the red streaks on Renn’s face. “What happened?”

  Renn had no need to glance at the door to know who was standing there. He and Caleb had been joined at the hip since kindergarten. Renn immediately felt bad for dodging, but he just wanted to spare his own humiliation. “I ran into Jonah Price on the way to school,” Renn replied, wishing he had an excuse that could at least resemble something halfway cool. “Oh, you know. I got hit by a hover-bus, while single-handedly saving four kids from a Pterodactyl.” If only Pterodactyls weren’t extinct. Hmmmm…“Oh, you know. I had a fight with a ten-foot bear…you should see the bear.”

  “So, you got your ass kicked again?” Caleb asked.

  “Yup.”

  “Why didn’t you fight back?”

  “I did fight back,” Renn replied, as he wet his shirt and scrubbed the remaining dried blood off his face. “What do you think, I just stood there and let him pound on me?”

  “No, but…you know what I mean. That guy may be bigger than all of us, but you could electrocute him, or send him flying with your mind, or…melt his brain.”

  “Mindeerians can’t melt brains,” Renn said, attempting to suppress a laugh, resulting in an undignified snort.

  “Considering it’s Jonah, it couldn’t hurt to try.”

  Renn laughed before he could help himself. He wiped himself off and put on the dirty P.E. shirt. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, walking towards the door.

  “Come on, forget about Jonah Price,” Caleb said. “That guy’s such a whiff of ass and we have more important things to worry about.”

  “Yeah, like what?”

  “Like figuring out how we’re going to convince your dad and my parents to send us to the Xavier next year.”

  “You know they’re never going to let us go to high school in space,” Renn replied, stuffing his bloody shirt in the hallway trash bin.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Do you want to be a fisherman?”

  “No,” Renn replied, pretty sure that his hands still reeked of fish from fishing with his dad the day before.

  “Yeah, well, oddly enough, I don’t want my whole life to revolve around blueberries. So you and I better figure out how to convince them.” Caleb grabbed Renn’s shoulders and shook them while they walked. “Right?”

  “All right, all right,” Renn replied, laughing.

  They walked into their history class and headed for the back like they always did. Caleb didn’t get too far before stopping to talk to Natalie and Kristina, two girls most boys would stop to talk to. Renn, however, continued straight ahead, avoiding eye contact with anyone with a sense of smell. He especially hoped Natalie hadn’t just gotten a fresh whiff of dirty laundry when he passed. All Renn could smell was dried blood, so the pungency of the t-shirt was questionable.

  Renn heard a flurry of thoughts scattered around the room, including, Nice antelope, making him speed up. He sat down and crossed his arms, hiding the garish antelope that graced his chest. He never did like the school’s logo. It didn’t even make sense. Antelope weren’t exactly indigenous to Maine. There were, however, an alarming amount of squirrels.

  He tapped on his desk, illuminating the student database and typed, “Renn Andreas.” A message instantly popped up that read: “Please submit your history homework now.”

  He pulled out a thin metal rectangle from his back pocket and tapped the desktop, dropping the contents of the metal’s memory into the database. He opened the digital folder containing his homework, dragging it to the history folder before tapping “Submit.”

  “Homework received,” the screen read.

  He pulled up his latest history lesson, recounting the human exodus to a planet called Temin. Renn couldn’t help but scoff — as if every kid in the class hadn’t already heard the story about the exodus a few dozen times since birth.

  The students ignored the bell and continued gossiping. “All right, class. Settle down,” the teacher said, as she attempted to push her stringy silver hair back into a bun.

  The teacher walked to the glass wall and tapped, illuminating a visual time lapse of Earth on the left side and Temin on the right.

  “Let’s begin where we left off yesterday. You should all have page 72 illuminated,” the teacher said. “Now, by the year 3015 A.D., Earth had become a wasteland of mercury filled oceans, treeless plains, and toxic air. Water had become a scarce commodity, contaminated throughout the last century, and the population had been murdering each other over fresh water for several centuries.

  “Billions died after the resources were exhausted, while an ongoing search for more resources continued. Astronauts discovered Earth's replacement in 3045 A.D., a planet called Temin, nestled in the Milky Way Galaxy. Millions of Earth's wealthiest remaining inhabitants relocated to the planet via space cruisers...”

  The students fidgeted out of boredom, but Renn sat there watching, mesmerized by the time lapse. He loved when history had a happy ending. Happy endings were usually only found in fairytales.

  “Some stayed on Earth, either not wanting to go or unable to afford the fare,” the teacher continued. “Those who stayed watched the planet repair itself through the millennium. Weeds overtook roads, steel structures were dissolved by salt and corrosion, trees regrew, and the air and water became pure again. After a thousand years, the planet was once again fresh and clean.

  “During that time, we rebuilt — this time ecological, renewable, always putting the planet before ourselves. At the same time, Temin had become commercialized and overpopulated, with waste filled oceans and devastated rainforests.

  “It wasn't until 4060 A.D. when the Olerians came to Earth by spaceship, acting as hosts with a remarkable invitation. The Federation accepted Earth and Temin into the system in 5050 A.D., Federation date: 7133, giving us access to the portals, which allowed us to travel from one planet to another in a matter of seconds. The corporations that had moved to Temin were now seeing new
markets open and traveled back to Earth, stating matter-of-factly how they were going to build new factories and roads, as if this were their sole decision to make.”

  The students in the class tsked and shook their heads in disgust, just as their parents had done when they told the story.

  “We, of course, vehemently rebelled, having become an agrarian society since the healing. We weren’t willing to risk the devastation that large industrial corporations returning would cause. We destroyed anything that came from Temin and blocked the portals, resulting in an interplanetary war.

  “The Federation intervened, since the Federal Constitution states that no society can claim ownership of a planet. Society’s rights are limited to governing peace on the planet where they reside.

  “It wouldn’t be until 5101 A.D. that Earth and Temin called a truce and we allowed Temian business back in, though monitoring the commercialization and the effects they have on our planet.

  “Now, for a long time, Earth denied all forms of technology to reenter into society. That is until one man, Gustaf Tranier, started a revolution. His theory, which we adopted and use till this day, was that technology doesn’t have to be the enemy. But there must be a line drawn before technology becomes dominant over mankind. The domination that would create a world where fisherman stopped fishing, farmers stopped farming, and androids raised human babies…”

  Renn took a deep breath and cringed when shooting pains shot up his ribcage from his recent pummeling from Jonah. At that moment, he heard a captivating voice singing, like an echo filling the room. He looked around and couldn’t help but smile at the redhead a few desks in front of him.

  Oh, Rennnnnnnn, she thought, while she continued staring straight ahead, pretending to hang on the teacher’s every word. She glanced back over her shoulder for a brief moment and smiled when she saw she had his attention.

  Yeeeees, Renn projected.

  Do it, she thought.

  Do what? Renn projected.