Beta Planet: Rise (17 page)

“Don’t worry about the jumps and fancy tricks,” Sabien said, seeing the hesitation on Geon’s face. “Today is just a time trial, so the bips aren’t even activated.”

“Bips?”

“B-P-S. It’s short for bonus points!”

“Thank you, Kuki. Yes, the bips are the holographic bonus lights that you’ll see all over the track when it’s lit up for competition. They’re usually right after the jumps, obstacles, or in the middle of the air. When you fly through one, you get bonus points. The winner is determined not only by who finishes fastest, but also by factoring in the bonus points. Style is also factored in. For example, if one bip says ten points at the end of a ramp, but you fly off that ramp doing a double-flat twist, that bip will instantly change to thirty bips when you grab it. If you can ever pull off that flip-twist again and grab a bip at the same time, well… I would probably be taking second place behind you!”

Geon responded in a sarcastic tone, “My God, now
that
would be tragic! What will your fans think?”

“I know,” Sabien replied with a sigh, mistaking Geon’s sarcasm for genuine concern. “It will be hard for them at first, but I’m sure, in time, they’ll come to understand it.”

Geon and Allea laughed and just shook their heads in disbelief as the four of them got up and headed into school. On the L-RUD on the way in, Geon thought about the strange turn of events in the last few days, with the art gallery, the museum, and Mama V. He wanted to discuss these things with someone but felt uncomfortable doing so. It was as if he wasn’t supposed to be thinking or talking about these unusual happenings around him. A part of him said to keep his concerns bottled up, but another part of him, deep within him, kept telling him that something was wrong. He couldn’t quite place what it was but he felt the urge to share his feelings with someone.

But who? Allea? Sabien? Kumuki? Mama V?

In the hallways, students chatted with each other and gave each other back-fives, talking excitedly about the first JetSurf time trial that day. As Geon walked down the hall, a couple students wished him luck. It made him feel good to be acknowledged, and to have people treat him as one of their own.

A red hologram of a tiny airplane flew past Geon’s head, and in reaction he jumped to the right and out of the way, bumping into Chiah who was sipping his drink and staring off into space. Geon bounced off Chiah, who stood unmoved.

“S-Sorry, Chiah. I-I thought it was a real plane… or something.”

Sip. Slurp. Slurp. Slurp.

“Itsnotreal. Niceshirt.”
Slurp. Sip. Sip. Sip.

“‘Oh. Um, thank you.”

Quickly making his way down the hall, Geon found his seat in class next to Sabien. On the clearboard in front was written the info for the day:

Moments after Geon sat down, a message appeared on the small clear screen in front of him.

Good Luck today, Geon!—Vaya

Then another one…

Wish you the best in trials today, Geon!—Bonsi

And another…

Wipe that goofy smile off your face and pay attention.—Sabien

Geon looked up at Sabien and smirked. He then turned his attention to Vaya, sitting across the room, and mouthed the words “Thank you” to her.

I hope I don’t let her down
.
I really hope I don’t let myself down.

“All right class, let’s seenc,” boomed Professor Maximus from the front of the class. “Eet’s that time of the veek. It’s flash kveez time!”

He was a very large olive-skinned man wearing a long grey overcoat and he had the girth and shape of a large bear. His greyish-white hair was thinning on top but his face was covered in a bush of short but thick, coarse, white beard. He slowly walked to the corner of the clearboard and tapped a button on it, disabling all communication on the students’ LifeCuffs. Immediately, a series of questions appeared on their screens and their keyboards were projected below it.

This is not going to go well,
Geon thought. All of the questions were open-ended instead of multiple choices, and Geon struggled to answer them intelligently. Most of the questions referenced technology that he had not learned about or even heard of.

Once the quiz was finished, each one was instantly graded and shown up on the clearboard at the front of the room for all students to see. Geon felt his stomach drop and tried to sink down in his seat. He was the lowest score in the class at eight percent.

A student named Ilu Perrenaya was the top score at ninty-six percent and Bonsi, the twins, Helano Mena, and another student named Koli Araki were just behind him. Sabien scored an eighty percent, which he described as “Satisfactory, considering I’m saving some of my mental strength for later today.”

He could tell that Geon was embarrassed by his score.

“Take it with a nanobyte, G,” He said quietly. “You don’t know any of this material, you barely know how to use the technology to
learn
about the technology, and you just woke up from hibernation a week ago or so!”

Geon nodded but was still ashamed to be put on the board for everyone to see. He knew it would take time to get accustomed to everything and learn the material, but moments like this one made him feel like an outsider.

His screen blinked as another message came in.

8%! Not bad for the new guy. We had you estimated at 0%!
—Vaya

Geon smiled, feeling better about his lackluster performance. In class they sat and learned about all the different ways they create power and energy from the resources they have. Professor Maximus told them that currently, the most popular sources of harvesting energy were from water, both rain and waves, wind, and bio-mechanical. They were also allocated a certain amount of energy from CARE, which is generated from something called Static Pulse Technology. He explained that the SPT plants were very dangerous, so they were constructed far from civilization and CARE accumulates and distributes the energy as needed, via Vimbox that can be plugged into any of the man-made structures.

“As you know already,” Sylvat said, in his thick accent and low, gruff voice. “Your homes, this school, and most every freestanding building are self-sufficient. Bio-mechanical energy is someteeng vee can always count on. Ven you sleep, your REMpod harvests your energy to use. Ven you exercise on the Excelerator, it also harvests all of that energy. Vee are in seenc vit the world around us, and as vee depend on eet, eet too, depends on us. Imagine the consequences if one day vee all decided to stop exercising.”

Imagine
.
I wonder what really would happen? Sabien told me that we need to hit 700 points of exercise each week. What if the entire world stopped at once?

Geon was torn inside, trying to decide whether it truly was necessary for CARE to impose so many rules on the citizens of the world, or whether it was too much. On one hand, after learning about the history of the planet and all the mistakes that humans have made, this was an extreme circumstance that they were living in, which required extreme decisions to be made to survive. On the other hand, the thought of a group of people monitoring and regulating every aspect of every human’s life also seemed overly invasive to him. Something still didn’t feel right about it all, but he shook off the negative thoughts and tried to think about other things.

Stop thinking about CARE and focus on the important things, Geon. The time trials.

After class, Helano approached Geon and put his hand on the side of Geon’s shoulder, his face in the usual position, lips puckered and eyebrows raised high.

“Theñor Geon! It hath come to my attention that you might need thom help with Energy/Harneth clath. I am a good friend of your thithter Theñora Allea, and thuth, I am now a good friend of you. Pleathe allow me to offer my thervitheth to you! I can help you get caught up with all the materialth. How doeth that thound to you?”

Geon was gracious for the help but also slightly humiliated that he needed the assistance.

“Oh uhm, thank you… Señor… Helano. I really appreciate that, and, let me think about it. But yeah, I could use a bit of help.”

Helano nodded and smiled, lips pursed tightly and his face looking very proud. “Thith is great newth, Theñor Geon. Let uth thync thoon!”

They parted ways and Geon headed to his next period. The rest of the day dragged on as Geon counted down the hours and minutes to the trials. When the time finally came, Allea, Kumuki, Vaya, Bonsi, Vilu, Helano, and many other students came to watch and cheer them on. Just before Geon went in the changing room, Allea grabbed him and said with a concerned smile, “G, be careful out there. But don’t let yourself feel inferior to anyone out here. Ever since you were young you always were a star, and I want you to shine today!”

“Okay, Ally. I’ll do my best.”

They suited up and began their warm-up routines… swimming, diving, and basic maneuvers on their boards. Geon noticed that Sabien looked unusually focused and wasted no time with banter or wisecracks. When they were all ready to begin, the surfers all lined up at the start of the track behind a holographic start line. There were thirteen of them total. Geon felt his heart beating quickly and his stomach felt queasy and nauseous.

“All right everyone! Three laps, time trial! Racers ready?” Coach Aquila squealed from the sides. Everyone nodded and suddenly a large numerical image popped up in front of them, counting down the seconds to the start of the race slowly and gradually changing colors from red to green with each second.

Ten
. Geon’s heart raced, and he felt nervous, anxious, breathing too fast.

Nine
.
Breathe slower.
He looked over to Sabien next to him, who looked back with a single nod down.

Eight
. He glanced left and saw Allea, hands covering her mouth and holding her breath.
Breathe slower.

Seven
.
Calm yourself.
He closed his eyes and pictured the ocean, waves crashing against the shore.

Six
. Deep breaths in. Heartbeat slowing.

Five
. Eyes still closed, seeing family smiling.

Four
. Deep breath in, world around him frozen.

Three
. Eyes open, squat down, grit teeth, clench fists.

Two
.
Breathe in, breathe out, focus, balance, speed, courage.

One
.
This is your moment.

With a loud
BEEP
, the line and numerical image in front of them shattered into tiny pixels and disappeared, and with a sudden jerk, the racers were off. The boards made a low hum as they accelerated away expelling water out of the bottom of them. Sabien and Shiv both jumped out in front and in his own haste and excitement, Geon immediately lurched to his left and into another surfer before stabilizing his board and centering his course. He was already behind the rest of the pack.

C’mon, Geon. You have nothing to lose.

Focusing on only the course ahead of him and carefully planning out each move, he was able to slowly gain on the rest of the surfers. They zoomed around the waterways, avoiding the jumps and tricks, trying only to get to the end the fastest. Geon kept his body low and close to the water, arms extended out from his sides for balance, and his head and body crouched down for aerodynamics. As each turn approached he talked himself through them.

Left turn coming. Then right. Then right again. Then left.

As he approached each turn he anticipated the movement of his board and leaned into the direction he wanted to go before even transitioning his feet to make the move. Coach Aquila would pop into his speakers every ten seconds or so, shrieking commands to the riders.

“You guys look really sloppy out there! Give each other space! Make better turns! Lanae that was terrible execution! Quian get lower! Sabien… Shiv… not bad. Keep it up. You in the back! Geno! What are you doing? Stay out of the way!”

Forget him
.
Just keep going.

Trying to keep a balance between speed, weight distribution, and turns, Geon carved the water as close to the bank’s edge as he could, finally catching up to the three riders in the back just as they were approaching the end of the first lap. With a burst of speed, he shot past them and into the middle of the pack, where the bulk of the riders were.

Stay focused, Geon. Four laps to go. Sharp right turn ahead. Long left turn next. Then left. Then right.

The rest of the world slowly began to fade away, as the sounds from the stands, Coach Aquila, and the jetboards became background noise. Geon went into a state of hyper focus, thinking only of the track ahead and his speed and balance, talking himself through every motion. Halfway through the second lap, Geon could see on his display that he was in seventh place, and gaining slowly on the sixth and fifth place riders.

Geon noticed there was a commotion in the three and four position riders ahead of him. They were board-to-board coming around a turn and it looked like one of the riders nudged the other one, or that the rider fell into the other one. As a result, both riders’ boards hit each other and were violently twisted around, sending one rider directly into the water on the side, and the other rider hurtling toward the water right in front of Geon. Riders five and six were on either side of Geon, and he could see that he was caught in the middle and right on a collision path. The two riders next to him each attempted to swerve outward to get out of the way.