Chapter 1 - Gifted

 

4 years later

 

“OK kids! Ready for your ABCs? From the top, lets go!

 

A-is-for-Abhorricite - This crystal has a nasty fright!

 

B-is-for-Bamoricin - We turn away and find a bin!

 

C-is-for-Cosmeium - Rainbow fun, don’t burn your bum!

 

D-is-for-Decieveride - We double check and we don’t hide!

 

E-is-for-Etherelk -”

 

The class of bright eyes and adorable faces all sung along perfectly, despite most of them being around 4 years old or the human equivalent. Most of them were bouncing in their chairs happily to the tune of the song, lost in the fun of just singing with your friends in the middle of class.

 

Research done by the universe council showed that informing young children of anomalous materials in a fun, engaging way reduced anomaly death by nearly 98%. As per usual, awareness was key but informing grown adults about the risk only had a 20% reduction in fatalities. This was mostly attributed to the stubbornness of older generations, they simply didn’t believe it could be happening to them, there would always be another explanation. 

 

Be fair, anomalous material formation, in the grand scheme of things, was incredibly rare, however the outcome from failing to recognise the signs of a dangerous anomalous material forming were always devastating, it only had to happen once for an entire colony to be killed… even if the odds there one in a trillion, space is a big place and theres a lot of people out there.

 

But odds and chance don't matter to children. One in one hundred trillion is the same as one in ten to them, all that matters is that it could happen, which is the exact correct attitude to have in this instance. Hopefully, none of them would ever see the need to utilise this knowledge, but better have it and not need it, than need it and not have it…

 

Within the class, there was a particularly bright pair of young eyes, a young child who wasn’t just singing the song but was actively listening and understanding, the names and effects of each of the materials deeply embedded within his young mind. Only a little thing, some sort of gecko-lizard hybrid, with bright green skin and dark slate coloured, intelligent looking eyes that were brimming full of curiosity and desperate to ask questions…Beside him sat his larger brother who had the opposite colouration with slate skin and green eyes instead, with more a snake vibe to him as his tongue would dart out of his mouth from time to time and taste the air, with messy swept back, short onyx hair on his head.

 

Eventually the lesson drew to a close and the class settled down, these were orphans that the Universal Council had managed to rescue and home within one of their shelters, it was only a small facility in the grand scheme of things, built within an asteroid cluster, the orphanage was protected from the hostile atmosphere with a series of bio-domes with a full artificial environment provided within them. It was life enough for these kids, even if their definition of outside was still technically inside…

 

“Rex? You have a question?” The teacher asked, this being his first lesson with the curious boy.

 

“Yes sir, how come we’re all not dead?”

 

The class went silent.

 

“H-how do you mean, Rex?”

 

“The anomalies. Why haven’t they killed everyone? If Novarium has a self amplification rate of 38% per minute, shouldn’t the universe have ended ages ago?”

 

It was a fair question. And one much too complex for a class full of four year olds.

 

—------------------------------

 

“So we got a gifted kid huh?”

 

“Yup. Not just gifted either, a boy genius! 4 years old and he was asking about the creation of the universe and anomaly apocalypses.”

 

“Do we have any details on his past or where he came from?”

 

“Nothing really, we found him aboard a glitch frigate with his brother, entire place was completely derelict and everyone else was dead on board, just those two and a SOS beacon on their stasis crib. There were some classified details but nothing that explains the kids.”

 

“Does his brother show any gifts yet?”

 

“Aside from being a tremendously healthy and energetic kid? Not yet. I’m sure he’ll blossom though.” The teacher smiled warmly, sighed and looked out the window, his view was of the school yard outside, the bio-dome above it and the linked asteroids that floated close by, their false sun was due to power off soon and transition them to night time. Outside the window were about 100 children of varying ages who were playing in the yard, happy and free.

 

“We should contact UC headquarters.” The teachers brow dropped upon hearing the words uttered by his colleague.

 

“For a couple of kids? Leave em be for now, they’re making friends and settling in. No need to uproot them again.”

 

“You sure? Surely its better to get it over with.”

 

“A kid that smart will never see a normal life again. Let them have some memories first, for gods sake man. He’ll spend the rest of his life crunching numbers for the Terra-corps, he deserves a childhood. I’m also not splitting him and his brother up either and no one is asking for both of them yet.”

 

“Well, fair enough. You know we can’t provide him with the education he deserves either but… I don’t disagree.”

 

The teacher sighed again, looking at young Rex as he sat upon the swings with a data tablet in his hands, he frowned again as he saw his brother approach him with a cookie in his hands and shared it between them, numerous other kids coming over to investigate but quickly being shoo’d away by another child. A young alien, a Czarite, human-like aliens with flat nose-less faces, large eyes and jelly dreadlocks, largely regarded as beautiful and charismatic, the child in this instance was known as Mana and she appeared to be gunning for a portion of cookie by keeping the other kids away to let little Rex eat his piece in peace. Child politics were a fickle thing.

 

“Where did he get that from I wonder…?”

 

—---------------------------

 

“Whats a cookie promise?” Mana asked, staring at Rex’s cookie intently

 

“So… you make a promise and if you keep it, you get to eat the cookie.” 

 

“Woaaaah… so whats the promise?!” Mana was bobbing up and down excitedly, salivating at the thought of a piece of cookie.

 

“You gotta promise to be our friend.” Rex’s brother stated sternly, crossing his arms. 

 

“Both your friends? So I get two cookie pieces?! One per friend?”

 

Rex and his brother, Scaarth, both looked at one another, wondering how best to keep the cookies but eventually, Scaarth relented and passed his whole, entire cookie to Mana.

 

“Yeah, so I give you cookie and you be both our friends?” This was serious.

 

Mana took the cookie offered to her and held it within her hands, treasuring it.

 

“Cookie promise!” She squealed in delight, immediately snapping the cookie in half and giving it back to Scaarth. “Share with friends!” She smiled warmly, the snake-like child grinning from ear to ear as he accepted the piece back. There was peace in the playground today. Shame the same couldn’t be said about the rest of the universe.