Echoes of Harmony

A roar of activity in the form of the tumultuous voices of hundreds of children pierced Skylar’s ears as he entered the auditorium of Silver Ridge Academy. Rows upon rows of seats in the dimly lit room were taken, leaving him hard pressed to find one for himself until he noticed Caster waving him over. He managed to squeeze his way to him and the others, plopping down in the seat next to Rachel more forcefully than he intended. She frowned at his arrival, tapping him on the wrist.

“Okay?” she asked, her voice not above a whisper. Even through the noise of all the other voices, Skylar was able to hear what she said.

“Later.” He shook his head.

Before she had a chance to inquire further, the lights faded to nothingness. At once, the conversations ceased. A set of lights facing a stage at the front of the room clicked on, illuminating the wooden platform as Headmaster Alagin came out from behind a set of curtains. He smiled as he looked across the room, peering through the darkness at the hundreds of faces staring back at him.

“Good morning, students,” he said, pacing back and forth across the stage. His voice was amplified to carry throughout the auditorium with ease. A scattered response came from around the room. “I must say, this is one of my favorite days of the year. The last day before we take our Thanksgiving break. It’s always a struggle to keep students’ attention this week. Rather than try to teach you something you’re going to forget before you even leave school for the day, I decided years ago to allow fourth and fifth graders to have a little freedom. We have dozens of different companies and government agencies here to tell you all about what they do for work. You may talk to any of them you choose to get a feel for what you may want to do when you get older. That’s all I have, so, with that, go out and have some fun.”

Some of the children whooped and cheered, clapping loudly at not having to do actual schoolwork for the day. Sitting on the other side of Rachel, Caster was among the loudest, though Luca looked somewhat perplexed.

Not wanting to give him a chance to change his mind, the children stood from their seats. They quickly made their way out the door, though Skylar remained seated. This prompted Caster, Luca, and Rachel to stop in their tracks as they made for the exit, looking back at him in confusion.

“Skylar, aren’t you coming?” Caster asked, grabbing Skylar’s arm and tugging him gently. “Come on, we have to hurry before all the good booths are busy.”

“I’m not going.” Skylar wrenched his arm out of Caster’s grip and crossed his arms. He took slow, deep breaths to keep the tears from reappearing. Not now. Not in front of my friends. “You guys can go without me.”

“What’s wrong?” Rachel asked, sitting back down next to him. The other two sat down as well, and he suddenly became acutely aware of the fact three pairs of eyes were staring at him. A voice inside him shouted for them to stop looking at him, to look anywhere else.

He looked her in the eye and for a moment considered telling her anything but the truth. They couldn’t possibly understand what he was going through, could they? Like the headmaster said, no one understood how hard it was. But there was a certain glimmer in her eyes that prevented him from lying.

“My loving father thinks it’s best I avoid any military booths.” Skylar leaned back in the chair, sinking low into it and staring at the ceiling. A scowl dominated his face. “Apparently, I have to go to the booth run by some senator to learn about that instead of something I want to learn about.”

Rachel said nothing. Instead, she slowly reached out and grabbed one of Skylar’s hands, gently rubbing the top of it with her thumb. He flinched at the sudden touch and nearly ripped his hand away before he realized the gesture felt soothing. However, he didn’t allow it to fully assuage his anger.

“Surely, your father has a good reason for such a thing,” Luca said, folding his hands in his lap. “Our parents do often know what is best for us.”

“Not this time, Luca,” Skylar snapped. The anger that welled up inside him when talking to the headmaster seemed to finally burst free. He tore his hand free from Rachel’s grasp and pushed himself up to turn in his seat towards the others. “This time he has no idea what he’s talking about. He doesn’t care about me or my feelings or what I want. This is just about him getting what he wants without thinking about how it hurts me.”

“Well, Skylar, what’s stopping you from, you know, just going to the pilots anyway?” Caster shrugged as if the idea were obvious. “Your dad’s not gonna know if he’s not even here. No one’s gonna stop you from doing whatever you want.”

“That would be a great idea, Caster,” Skylar said, his voice still leaking with venom, “if, you know, the headmaster wasn’t going to be keeping an eye on me. How about I just run around asking for an autograph from the Snow Wyverns? Or maybe I should just send a message to my dad now that I’m not listening to what he says.”

“Sorry, it was just a thought.” Caster’s ears turned slightly red, and he sunk into his seat.

“Calm,” Rachel whispered, maintaining the same neutral face.

Skylar stared at her for a moment and found a tinge of guilt creeping into his stomach. He realized he shouldn’t be mean to his friends. It wasn’t their fault. They just happened to be convenient punching bags, so to speak. He broke the gaze with Rachel and stared at the ground, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

“I’m sorry, guys.” His voice was quieter and calmer than before. “It’s just… My dad thinks he knows what’s best, but he doesn’t stop to ask me if that’s what I want.”

“It is alright, Skylar.” Luca reached past Rachel and pat him on the shoulder somewhat awkwardly. “Sometimes, we lose control of ourselves. It is important to remember your father, in his own way, is doing what he thinks will result in the best upbringing for yourself.”

Skylar said nothing. He sat there, painfully aware of the fact the other three were still staring at him. After several seconds, he looked between them all, a wicked grin coming to his face.

“You know what, Caster? You’re right. My dad’s not going to know if I do what he says or not. So, I say I go to the pilots and talk to them. After all, he’s not here to stop me.”

Without waiting for them to answer, he stood and made his way to the door. The other three, judging by their footsteps, hurried to catch up with him.

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“Skylar, are you sure that is a good idea?” Luca asked, a hint of panic in his voice. “Like you said, the headmaster may find out…”

“I don’t care what the headmaster does or doesn’t find out about, Luca.” Skylar couldn’t keep the exasperation out of his voice. He stopped and turned around before rolling his eyes at the worried look on Luca’s face. “My parents always expect me to be perfect. I’ve had to live up to their idea of what a child should and shouldn’t do as long as I can remember. If my dad finds out, so what? What’s he going to do? Disown his only child and leave no one to take over for him?”

Silence was the reply he received.

“So, I’m going to do something that makes me happy for once, without worrying about their expectations. You three can go wherever you want, but I’m going to the pilots.”

Without waiting for a response, he pushed through the doors. The hall outside the auditorium was abuzz with activity. A set of floor to ceiling, arched windows lined the opposite wall, allowing the light of Draconis to stream through. The hundreds of kids once in the auditorium milled about the wide hallway, some running with excitement as they moved between the different booths.

Some of the stands were from corporations based both on Stariek and on other planets across the settled galaxy. They contained a variety of signs of all different colors, some lit with neon lights to better draw attention. Others were more muted, such as one displaying a banner for the Social Democratic Party. Under this stood a middle-aged woman with shoulder length brown hair who smiled and waved Skylar over. Inwardly sighing but doing his best not to show it on his face, he walked over.

“You’re Skylar Reid, correct?” the woman asked. She extended her hand, which he hesitantly shook. “I’m Senator Winter Maneli. Your father asked me to talk to you a little about how our political process works.”

“I’m sorry, Senator,” Skylar said, trying his best to not sound bitter. “But I don’t care about politics. I want to learn how to fly a fighter like one of those Starhawks the Snow Wyverns flew here.”

“Oh, I see.” She frowned slightly, apparently unsure of how to process the information. “Your father assured me you expressed a great deal of interest in learning more about this.”

Of course he did. Skylar couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes and sighing at that.

“My dad doesn’t know me as well as he thinks he does. Sorry for wasting your time.”

Skylar heard Luca mutter an apology to the senator as he turned and moved down the hallway, looking left and right for the Snow Wyverns. He passed a variety of different booths, some of them industrial companies that made spaceship parts and even one for a wildlife sanctuary on Stariek’s southern continent just outside the city of Epinau. Finally, near the end of the hallway, he found the one he was looking for. It held the largest crowd with several dozen other kids staring in awe at the Snow Wyverns as they answered questions. The rumble of conversation from them turned into an incomprehensible roar as he drew closer.

Skylar managed to push his way to the front of the crowd as they answered a question from an excitable boy he knew as Markus Ressel. The two pilots looked even more impressive up close. Their flight suits seemed to almost be made of interlocking scales, like a dragon’s hide. One was a man with short cut brown hair, similar to Caster’s, whereas the other was a woman with her black hair tied into a tight bun on top of her head. The booth behind them was covered in dozens of miniature models of the same SF-17 Starhawk they flew to the field.

“Well, Markus, was it?” the man said. He leaned against the table and folded his arms across his chest. “It’s pretty dangerous out there in the void, where a single mistake can result in your loss of oxygen and death by asphyxiation. Or your fighter may explode during a dogfight, leaving you as nothing more than tiny bits floating through space.”

A stunned silence followed the words. After several seconds, the pilots burst out laughing.

“Nah, I’m just kidding. It’s not that bad.” He wrapped his arm around the woman’s shoulders, who promptly lifted it up and off her. “Lieutenant Bahr here and I mostly deal with pirates out there in the void.”

“Untrained pirates,” Bahr said. She stood with her back straight and folded her hands behind her as she paced in front of the gathered children. “Lieutenant Fischer and I spend most of our time patrolling the spacelanes defending merchants. But what we like most of all is being able to talk to kids like you. Any one of you could end up among our ranks.”

As she finished the sentence, both of their eyes seemed to go unfocused, and they froze in place. Several seconds of quiet passed before the man, Lieutenant Fischer, stepped forward. A nervous look passed over his face as he spoke.

“Well, I’m afraid that’s all the time we have today, kids.” He made his way through the crowd, ruffling the hair of a few children, including Skylar’s, as he went. Lieutenant Bahr followed quickly behind. “Important business to take care of. Hopefully we have time for another one of these sometime. Feel free to take whatever goodies are left on the table.”

Before Skylar even fully processed what was happening, the two pilots disappeared though a side door. The other students around him stood just as stunned and silent as he did. None of them—Skylar least of all—could believe the pair walked out like that. Caster and Rachel pushed through the quiet crowd and found their way to Skylar. Luca was close behind, though his inability to force his way through like the others made him take longer.

“Skylar, did you get to talk to them?” Caster asked, a grin on his face. “Where did they go?”

Skylar shook his head slowly. His mouth hung slightly agape, unable to form any words. The realization he snubbed the senator and gained nothing from it set in. Headmaster Alagin specifically told him to not approach the pilots. He was told to talk to Senator Maneli. He listened to neither of those instructions. What am I going to tell my dad? The thought had barely crossed his mind before a message came through his CAM from his mother. Panic shot through him as he opened it, wondering how she already found out.

<Skylar, your father and I know it’s short notice, but we were wondering if you wanted to invite any of your friends to the cabin for the holiday break.>

It took him a moment to recover from the unexpected message. At least CAMs in children were restricted from being able to send feelings along with words, otherwise she would sense his nervousness and guilt in a heartbeat.

<Let me ask real quick.>

When he returned his attention back to his surroundings, the three others were looking at him, each with a look of concern other than Rachel. She maintained her neutral expression. The crowd around them had dispersed.

“Is everything alright, Skylar?” Luca asked.

“Fine, fine,” he replied, doing his best to drive the panic away. “My mom wanted me to ask if you guys wanted to come with us up to our cabin for the holiday.”

“Sorry, Skylar,” Caster replied first, shrugging his shoulders. “My entire family is coming to our house. Our turn to host, I guess. I kind of have to be there.”

“My mother and father find it most suitable when it is just myself, my sister, and them for holiday dinners.” Luca seemed to draw himself up slightly. “As do I. It allows for further interaction between the four of us that would otherwise not be possible.”

“Okay, no problem.” Skylar looked first at Luca then Caster, nodding to both of them. Then he turned his gaze to Rachel, who stood there with her eyes somewhat unfocused. Using her CAM, no doubt. “What about you, Rach?”

She held up a finger to stop him, her head bobbing along as her lips silently moved. After several seconds, she turned to him and smiled slightly.

“Okay.”

“Great, I’ll let her know,” Skylar said, smiling back. Feeling at least slightly better than he did, he sent a message back to his mother telling her Rachel was coming.

“Of course you’ll go,” Caster teased, nudging her with his elbow as he started walking away from the empty pilot booth. “You and Skylar have been practically inseparable since you met. Now, let’s go check out some of these other booths. There’s gotta be something cool around.”

Rachel’s face turned slightly red. She punched Caster’s shoulder with a quick jab, eliciting a yelp from him. Luca was quick behind, shaking his head at their antics. Skylar made to follow when he looked back at the abandoned booth. There were still over a dozen of the Starhawk models sitting on the table. He grabbed one, quickly stuffing it into his backpack and running to catch up with the others.

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