The door of the workshop swings open, and I zip out, swerving. I feel the inertia in my body, and I enjoy it. A strand of hair falls onto my face, and I blow it away.

Behind, I hear the whirr of rotors and Grace, as the bird, of course, flies right past me.

Now, I know I have to take this slow, as this is my first time, but I simply can't resist.

I grin and kick off at 70 percent speed. Immediately, the world blurs- and I would have been knocked onto my ass if it wasn't for the suction force attaching my feet firmly to the hoverboard.

I get a glimpse of an approaching T-bend and immediately start to change direction. I graze the wall and nearly crash into an Android. The experience leaves me thrumming with adrenaline.

I laugh and dodge a stray bolt a student had thrown at me. What he was doing with a bolt, I don't know.

I catch a glimpse of the bird, a few meters ahead. I rapidly close the distance.

I allow myself to slow down because I don't want to be the cause of any accidents today. I then catch up with her and laugh as she chirps at me in delight.

This is fun.

We spend the rest of the day with the same shenanigans. We would've continued if not for the facts our batteries are running low. Both metaphorically and literally.

So, I carry the bird under my arm, as I enter my room. I catch Dyne furiously kissing Denise, her sitting on his lap, and their hands locked together.

Luckily, they've yet to spot me. Not wanting to interrupt their moment, I somewhat awkwardly closed the door.

"Wow," Grace says.

"That's an understatement. They looked like they were on fire." I said, still processing what I had just seen.

"...You haven't seen much romance, have you?" Grace asks.

I stare at the bird confusedly.

"No. Why?"

Grace clears her throat.

"It's... nothing. Don't bother yourself. Stay just as you are."

"What?" I ask, now irritated. "My sister used to watch a lot of romance. I think I know enough about the genre to keep away from it."

"Aww, you're adorable. Also, your file tells me you got no sister."

My eyes widen for a fraction of a second as I realize my blunder. Then I continue as if nothing had happened.

"Well... she wasn't really a sister. Biologically, I mean. But I've always considered her to be my sister."

"Who is she?" She demands.

"What?"

"Who is she?" She asks once again.

"Iris Macalby," I answer.

"Too fast. You're lying. Fishy kid."

"No, I'm not. Either fishy or lying."

"You... are an utter dork."

"Sure I am." I retort sarcastically.

She laughs.

"Sensitive fishy kid. You got so many secrets, don't you?"

"...Yeah. I do." I say.

Grace's laughter dies off. I shift.

"They're my own to deal with. So, don't bother trying to figure them out. Alright?" I try to insert as much authority as I can into my voice. 

"...I can't promise anything." Grace replies, her tone uncertain.

"Oh, then... just don't pry. I have enough trouble with them as it is... so, yeah." I say.

The birds suddenly come to life and chirps at me. It flies above me and pecks at my head.

I laugh.

"Don't... do that. You're burning the reserves..."

We explore the school's dark hallways for around two hours before returning. And when I say 'we', I mean me doing the walking and her doing the talking.

Jesus Christ, she talks.

Dyne is asleep by then, with no girlfriend to be found, so I put the bird drone in the corner and went to sleep myself. The next morning, I'd woken up fresh, and ready to go.

I get a ping.

I check it. It's from Colby.

"Um..., can we schedule the meeting for next week? Half of our year has a field excursion for the next four days. Your Mentor should tell you about it if you're one of the selected students."

I blink, then I recall what meeting he was talking about. The mid-year project group thing.

I ping him back.

"Sure."

I yawn and stare at the stars for a moment. Then I stretch, leave the dorm to go to the bathrooms. There I wash up and finish all my morning work. I'm beginning to miss the implants which made all of these processes less frequent, and therefore less time taking.

I linger on the thought and decide I need to work on upgrading my implants soon. Then I realize that I barely have any credits left.

If I'm willing to sell the hoverboard, maybe I could get... four hundred credits. Six hundred if I'm being optimistic. And it isn't all that important to me, considering how much time I had spent working on it (Half an hour, max), so giving it away wouldn't be an issue. Still, I'm not going to let it go that easily. I had more pride than that.

I would sell the hoverboard in case of emergency, I decide. For now, I would figure out how to get additional credits without selling things I own.

My house! I wasn't using it, and I have a much more reliable one... on a planet somewhere. That's there for emergency as well.

As the age-old motto said, anything can happen in space.

Therefore, if I could sell the house to someone... perhaps to someone in dire straits so that they wouldn't question the... frankly overpowered security systems, I would be all set. Easier said than done though. Finding a person who fit my requirements might be a little tricky. Less so if I used my old connections.

I wasn't willing to. I have an A.I that could see what I could.

The students? It's not as if they are lacking in money. The problem was advertising without looking shamelessly desperate. It isn't as if I can go around asking people if they want to buy a house.

Maybe if I ask Dyne. I'm willing to bet he has more connections than me (Here, in this alias), so he probably could find people who are interested. I doubt he would refuse, considering how friendly he is too.

Now, to figure out how to explain away the crazy defenses. Maybe if I don't? It's not as if the need to blow up Omegas would sprout up from nowhere. I could just reveal the basic defenses. Maybe weave some code to activate the security systems based on some predefined situations. But not self-destruct. That function will lay tucked away.

So, if I ask Dyne to help me out today, what would be the earliest response? Three to four days? Would I be able to stay that long without money? And what if it takes longer, or a need arises for more money?

Ah, wait, I've already answered that last question. I would sell the hoverboard. Once I regain sufficient funds, I can just build it again.

I stop to look at a hologram of myself. It mirrores me, down to the tiniest detail.

I have dark messy hair, that covers nearly a third of my forehead. A couple locks reach my eyebrows. My nose is sharp and upturned. I have a small smirk on my face. And there's a calculating look behind those irises. Those deep, dark irises.

On a whim, I change my eye color. I decide to make it violet. That's my favorite color.

Immediately, I see the change. I no longer look arrogant. I look...

Like I know stuff. No, that wasn't right. It feels like I'm different from others, wiser. No, that isn't right either.

I search for the words in my head, but I give up after a few tries and just decide to tuck away this new appearance for later examination.

I brush my hair with my fingers, trying to make it look more orderly. I end up looking worse than I had begun with. Earlier, I'd looked handsome, in a rugged sort of way. Now, I look like a dork who forgot to comb his hair.

I mess it up again and pat down the few strands of hair that were standing. I look better now, but not as good as I did earlier.

Hair, I decided, is something I won't bother myself with. I look fine as I am.

I go to the inventory, and change suits. Then, as I am running to the training halls, I am pinged.

This time, it's my Mentor.

"Head to the Hangar. There is an excursion, and you are one of the students that are selected. Also, you will make sure Lizandra doesn't ignore her physical training. She's the girl you dueled with earlier. You and the other students will be dropped off at a planet on the edge of the galaxy. Upon contact, you will have to work together to return to the school. We will make sure that no pirates will block your return as well."

Interesting. Colby had said it would last for only four days, and that means there must be a ship to repair, or put together, as making one takes a lot more time when starting from scratch. Especially with no industrial tools.

I'm also reminded of my money issue. I decide to ping Dyne now as I won't be able to for the next four days. It fits nicely with my timeline.

I ping him.

A moment later, he pings me back.

The data reveals a thumbs up, in the form of code.

Then, I do some pondering about the excursion. I realize that my Mentor hasn't given me any requirement for items that can be brought along. I don't know whether he did it on purpose, or not.

I ping him just to be sure.

"You cannot bring anything along. You will have to depend on your creativity."

Okay. Wow. That just made things a whole lot more interesting.

I reach the hangars. The door slides open, and already, I can see many students hanging around, talking. I don't spot Colby or Dyne among them. I do spot the girl- Lizandra? Lizandra talking with some girls. She glares at me as soon as I enter.

The girls notice around her look at me. One of taps her on her shoulder and asks something along the lines of 'Who's that guy?'.

I smile at her and scan the room.

The groups here are very... restrictive. There are a few wanderers, just like me, and I see that their attempts at joining any one of the circles are largely unsuccessful. Poor guys. And gals.

There is a group of condescending Builders in the corner. Any wanderer that reaches them is then quickly turned away, in a very rude manner. I decide that they can be a cause of infighting.

If I want to get stuff done, then I would have to undermine any authority they might have. That, or join them, and insert myself as the dominant member, despite not being the leader.

I opt to go with the former because the latter seems like it would involve a lot of shitty underhanded tactics. Just like politics, as my dad used to say. So would the former, but on a... smaller scale.

Considering how hostile people seem to be towards them, I don't think undermining their authority would be hard. I would just have to find a suitable time to call them out on being jerks. Then insert myself as being the more reasonable Builder, and also dependable.

That would raise my status, and obliterate theirs. I have to look out for the backlash, however. That would be a problem, but the thing is, I've spent enough time being paranoid that I know what to look out for.

I'm not sure if I'm still paranoid. Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. But either way, I can be able to spot any traps waiting for me.

Some people are looking at me in the corner of their eyes. Assessing me, just as I did.

First impressions are important. They determine how a lot of people act towards you. Many people know how to take advantage of that. I was one of them.

I smile friendlily and walk towards a wall. There are two groups close to it, but not close enough that I would be intruding. I lean against the wall and let my head hang lazily.

In the corner of my eyes, I see Lizandra still glaring at me. I let my eyes skip over her. A girl next to her is staring at me without much subtlety. I catch her eyes and smile at her. She looks away.

I see Lizandra clench her fist, and moves her lips slightly. I assume to curse me under her breath.

A voice sounds out, clearing its throat.

"Hello. Yes, this is the old-fashioned way of informing people, but I believe that sending the information straight to your brains wouldn't have the same impact. Anyway, as you know, we like to take away any measure of routines, patterns, and the sort to prevent our students from falling into complacency. And so, we have designed an excursion to a barren planet on the edge of our galaxy. The planet has a breathable atmosphere, but little water, and food. Your goal is to find the remnants of the ship that discovered the planet around a hundred years ago, fix it, and return it to the school. You will have three Androids monitoring you throughout the entire excursion, and after your return, you will be given credits and gear based on your performance. Good luck."

A carrier- I recognize it to be the one Jack had driven in the race, detaches large panels. The panels slide into a discreet compartment, and a fancy hover staircraft extends. Hover staircrafts used anti-gravity to... move you forwards. Because, of course, some people were too lazy to use the damn stairs.

A waste of good resources. I clench and unclench my jaw.

Students filed into the carrier, in their groups. I wait until the first half is through before entering as well. I graze right past Lizandra on purpose.

I enter into a white passageway, with warm yellow light that's source lay in the ceiling.

A couple of turns, and a grav lift later, I arrive at the crew housings. There is a similar white passageway, only this time, there are soft rectangular depressions, with a slight crease that indicates their function as a door.

I receive a bundle of information through a neural link to the ship. Not as steady as a direct one, but then again, I'm not piloting the ship.

My H.U.D lights a door near the end of the corridor in green, signifying that room to be mine. I go to it, and it automatically opens up. Inside is a cozy little room, with a holo bookshelf on the wall, and a large window next to the bed. There are holographic icons on the window, for various settings.

There are two white pots next to the door, with short stubby shrubs growing out of them. I smell a pleasant fragrance coming from them. I inhale deeply and then enter the room.

The door slides shut silently behind me.

There is a small holo panel displaying a multitude of icons in a globe. I tap one, and the globe rotates, showing me three others. I tap the central icon and left icon.

The room dims, and silence fills it. Just the way I like it.

I sit on the bed.

"How long till we reach the place?"

"I don't know."

"Ask the onboard ship's A.I."

"I just did. He said it'll be around three hours."

"What should we do till then?"

"The other students are going to the zero grav mock battle spheres."

I get off the bed.

"Mock battles it is."

I begin walking towards the door, but then I notice something weird with the plants. A bud sprouts out of them and rapidly turns into a blueish purple blossoming flower. The flower is conical in shape. But that's not what catches my attention.

I walk up to the flower and bend over.

"Oh yeah, the flowers might be old style, but I personally ordered them. Did you like them?"

I carefully pick up a small feather from within the flower. I lift it up and carefully examine it.

Before I'm done, however, the feather disintegrates into a shower of dazzling lights. I see a familiar face in the light.