They secured the crystalline data core. They were well ahead of their opponent teams who, as far as they could tell, were still on the initial planet. That gave them plenty of time to continue to look around. They were all tired after the day's events, and Auberje made sure his ship, with it’s reduced staff and crew, rested.

Riley was particularly adamant that he do the same. He fell asleep immediately and woke to the smell of coffee brewing. Odd, he thought, I don’t drink coffee.

“Good morning, young Auberje.” The voice cut across his haze. He opened his eyes and looked at its owner.

“Who are you?” A pair of brown eyes, a doughy face, blank features without signs of living, pallid almost marble in features.

“Suffice to say, I’m not someone who’s supposed to be here. I have a request, young man. I will give you 10 billion credits, if you will promise me before you leave Star Academy, you will ask to see the headmistress in her true form. Do we have a deal? I’ll put the funds in an escrow account which you will be able to verify.”

Auberje gaped at him, 10 billion credits would set himself and his family up for life. They would be amongst the top 1% of the galaxy’s wealthy. They already were most likely. But this would guarantee it. A promise to ask to see the headmistress’ true form? It seemed so innocuous.

“You jest?”

“No. I never tell jokes, nor jest.” The face did not change into a sneer, but Auberje heard it, “What say you, I cannot stay any longer?”

“I… yes, I don’t see a downside. I’ll ask her before my time at Star Academy ends, I promise.”

This time, the features relaxed, “Thank you, the account number can be found on this piece of paper.” The odd life form held out a hand and then began to crumble to dust. The paper slid, covered in dust, through the air, landing on the bed next to Auberje. He shook his head, staring in disbelief at the pile of dust and the small piece of paper. He memorized the numbers, 14572-65415-616986-65135.

“Headmistress, who was just here?” His voice was hesitant, if he was right, she would say no one.

“No one, why?”

The answer came immediately. He wasn’t surprised by the speed, but the response concerned him. Either he was hallucinating or someone had managed to get a robot to Auberje on a ship, in the middle of uncharted space, and without the Headmistress’ systems knowing. That someone could do it was conceivable but near 0 probability of success. He thought again to the request, strange as it was. He would no doubt have to comply, after checking the account for its credits.

He stood up, showered, and dressed. Putting the paper into his pocket as he left the room. His uniform felt snug, and right today. It was day 3 of their Greathing. He expected it to be the hardest yet. Everything had been a bit too smooth so far.

As he reached the bridge, Minden spoke up, “Sir, we have confirmation from Marcus that things are working out over on the Den Mother. Fighters are cramped, but some of the smaller children can fly them. We have a dozen running exercises now. We are to maintain a close distance, somewhere between 100,000 and 250,000 kilometers and remain ready for anything.”

“Very well, put us into yellow alert. I don’t want to unnecessarily tire out the crew, but I want to make sure we are all close to being ready for combat. Let’s also shorten eating shifts by 15 minutes. I hate to do it, but otherwise too many of the crew are in the mess halls at the same time.”

“Very well, I’ll communicate it out.”

“Thank you, Minden, can you send for the Chief of Science? I want to talk to him about his findings, if any. And let Marcus know I’m awake and available if he needs me.”

“Will do, sir.” Minden proceeded through the checklist as Auberje took his seat. Riley walked onto the bridge a few seconds later, and he smiled at her as she took her seat. She smiled back. He felt a flush of warmth and happiness.

“Science officer requests your presence in the science bay, Auberje,” Minden reported. Auberje nodded, he wasn’t strictly speaking needed on the bridge as it was Miranda’s Watch.

“Heading there now, Riley, would you like to come?”

“I would love to,” her toothy smile widened and he laughed in pleasure. They went together to the lift, taking it down five floors toward the lower middle decks. The science floor has a massive set of large and small rooms on this deck.

They were greeted at the doorway by the 2nd year. She came to attention smartly and walked them further into the science rooms. Past doors with toxicity warnings and rooms that looked like iceboxes. They were escorted through blue lights, red lights, and purple pulsing lights to a round door about the size of a grown man. The door split open vertically revealing a morgue. Dozens of lockers lined the walls, but in the center was a pair of figures standing over a body.

The body was alien in features but was even odder looking as it was split open, guts, and… was that metal?

“Captain Auberje, I’m glad you’ve come. I wanted you to see this first hand,” the taller, older of the two students greeted Auberje with an outstretched hand.

This figure, 7th year Kevin Daxen looked nothing like the nerdy scientists of the holovids. He was built like a small ogre. Arms of muscle, his grip was firm but not crushing. His eyes belied his deep intelligence. They seemed to burrow into Auberje. He returned their inspection with no rush. He had long ago realized you could unsettle almost everyone by a willingness to be inspected. Soon enough Kevin looked away, eyes moving to Riley.

“Miss Belle, I’ve heard great things, I’m glad you are here too. This is my assistant, Lucy Xex. Miss Xex is a 4th year and talented Xenobiologist in training. I’ve come to a few conclusions here that I’m not sure either of us is going to like.”

“Tell us.”

“As far as I can tell, this lifeform is a pig,” Kevin spoke slowly, hesitantly, obviously holding something back.

“What?” Auberje balked at him.

“Yes, sir. I was surprised too. The dna is almost 90% match for the common domestic swine. But… I believe with clever changes to a small amount of DNA, RNA, and other biological components, along with machines to do what the flesh cannot, it has been made to look and act like an alien being. Hell, it is alien, it just isn’t an alien. If that makes any sense?” Kevin asked.

“I think it does. It actually makes me feel much better about the entire thing. These are basically robots with some functions given over to pig parts?”

“Yes, but here’s the weird part, the scary part. The 10% that’s not a pig, right, that 10% isn’t entirely genetically modified from the common pig. It contains something more. Something that shouldn't exist according to all my medical databases. That 10% is alien,” Kevin looked shaken.

“That, that can’t be!” Riley exclaimed.

“I know, but yet the evidence suggests that not only can it be, it is,” Kevin shook his head in bewilderment and awe, “What we have here is something truly amazing. A blending of viable domesticated animal DNA with an alien species’ DNA. I believe this is a discovery that will shake the world to it’s very foundation.”

“Have you asked the Headmistress about this?” Auberje asked.

“Yes, she’s not forthcoming. She wouldn’t even take my chit for an answer. She simply said she created them, so it’s nothing to worry about,” Kevin bit his lip, his assistant nodded in wonder, “I am worried about it, Auberje, Riley. I don’t understand what this means for us as humans, but if Headmistress can splice and dice DNA strands to make a pig into something so alien and have it be viable… Others must be able to as well. If that’s the case, the universe just got a lot smaller, and we might have already created or discovered nonhuman lifeforms. The implications are…”

“Stunning, I know,” Headmistress’ voice echoed about them, soft and strangely comforting. Had the light level changed? Auberje was unsure but he thought it had decreased just at the edge of perceptible levels. “I cannot be the first to understand how to put the requisite set of technologies to use. It’s why I am including these lifeforms in your Greathing. I have to get you ready for what might await all of you after you leave Star Academy.”

Auberje and Riley exchanged looks, ‘prepare us…’ they seemed to say to one another, ‘you are absolutely terrifying us.’

“Regardless, I don’t believe you have anything more to learn from this lesson. 3-4 has established the facts of these… lifeforms, as you’ve called them. Turn your scientific research to other areas now Mr. Daxen, specifically the information found on the data crystal. Your autopsy is at its conclusion.”

Kevin sighed, but nodded, “You’re right, Headmistress. I’m just poking around inside the thing now and that’s not fair to it. Auberje, I’ve got work to do on decoding the data core. Do you need anything else from me, us,” he gestured at Lucy, “in the meantime?”

“No, and good work. Keep it up,” the 7-year old turned to leave.

Riley’s question stopped him in his tracks, “Could we gain anything from the alien DNA?”

“What do you mean?” Kevin asked, also taken aback.

“I’ve been thinking on it, too, Riley,” Lucy spoke softly for the first time in their meeting, “I don’t think we know enough yet, but it’s possible that the DNA contains secrets we need to discover. We have the data,” she patted her PDA, “so after the Greathing we can look into it more. We might find new vaccines, cures to diseases, incredible strength, or terrible, terrible secrets. Either way, I promise to look into it, Riley.”

“Good,” Riley said, “I appreciate that. Keep us informed.” And she took Auberje’s hand in hers and left the room. The whoosh of the vertical door sliding open and shut was accompanied by the soft patter of their feet on the metal floors.

They walked hand in hand, in silence, for some time, past the lights of the science deck, to the lift atrium. There, stopping, they examined each other’s faces with alit eyes. Two of humanity’s greatest forms, younger than any should be with such responsibility, but minds sharper than 99.99% of the numerous billions of their race. They were the product of countless generations of mental and physical pairings and of self-selective breeding.

All that time and chance had brought them here, to this place, to this moment. Auberje sighed, stepping forward to peck Riley on the lips. It was a soft kiss, one of tenderness and love, fear and hope. She returned it with a slight purse of her soft lips. It was a kiss between children but a promise that someday, perhaps, they would be adults and would try again in a less chaste fashion.

They slipped back to holding hands and standing side by side before the elevator doors. Their uniforms immaculate, their hands not yet sweaty from the shared heat, they stepped forward and told the elevator where to take them.

Time was still on their side, but the Headmistress, watching them, wondered how much time any of them really had. She would prepare them, she told herself, as much as she could, for as long as she could. She would prepare them for what was to come. If she could have shivered, she would have.