The Lost World Academy pt. 1

The monorail glided along the track, swaying every now and then. I glanced out the window to see the train was heading towards the city's perimeter wall. As soon as the train passed through a space in the wall, the scenery outside changed in a flash from sparse suburbs to dense jungle. The trees enveloped the monorail on all sides causing it to get noticeably darker on board. I peered outside the window eagerly trying to get a glimpse of some alien-looking animals, but the foliage was too dense. Eventually, I gave up and began to people watch.

All of the other passengers on the train were students. Muffled sounds of their conversation mixed with the soft whir of the monorail. Most of the students in my car seemed to know each other, some of them turned and chatted with the people seated behind them. I began to feel overwhelmed. It was strange being surrounded by an unfamiliar group of people. Not only that but I have never seen this much positive energy in one place. Back home people were rough around the edges and mostly kept to themselves. The only person who seemed to share that sentiment was the one sitting alone on the bench on the opposite side of the train from me.

She was a beautiful girl of Asian descent with a serene aura about her. Her skin was surprisingly pale, almost like a porcelain doll. However, that wasn't the strangest feature she had. Her hair, draped down most of her back like a dark curtain, was a mix of dark purple hues. At first glance, it would seem black, but on closer inspection, it was obvious that it was a dark shade of purple. Her bangs formed a triangular fringe that lightly touched the bridge of her nose. In the reflection of the window, I could see her staring off with disinterested eyes.

Her eyes.

Her eyes were a deep plum color. At first, I thought she was wearing contacts like me but something about them convinced me that wasn't the case. Those eyes turned and glared at me causing my heart to skip. Ah, crap. I have only been here for a few hours and I have already made an enemy. My mind raced as I tried to think of a way to salvage the situation, but then someone stepped in between me and the girl effectively saving me.

"Hey! Ummmm... is this your robot?"

"Uhhhh... yeah. Why?"

Standing in front of me were two girls. One of them had her brown hair tied back in two buns on either side of her head with decorative ribbons hanging from them. While the other girl had short crimson hair which stopped just above her shoulders. Both were wearing the academy uniform, but unlike mine, they had the letter "C" embroidered on the front of their shirts.

The first girl began to play with her bun ribbons. "We just think he's so cute. Does he have a name? Did you just transfer to this school? Which colony are you from?"

The barrage of questions forced me into a mental corner. Ace sitting next to me began to cower in his seat from all the extra attention, using his pamphlet as a shield. "Yeah, his name is Ace. I'm sorry he gets easily frightened. If you could just give him a bit more space he will let you talk to him," I said - ignoring the last two questions.

"Yeah, Viki. Give them a little breathing room," said the red headed girl. Her demeanor was poised and reassuring. "I'm so sorry. It's just that it is rare to see someone with a personal robot. Most of the time-rich people have them as household servants. We were just curious. That's all."

"Nah it's fine," I said, waving my hand dismissively. "See, Ace. They're ok." He still didn't want to come out from behind the pamphlet and quite honestly - I don't blame him. "If you try introducing yourselves, it will calm him down a bit. He very rarely meets new people."

The girls looked at each other and then back at Ace. "Hi Ace. My name is Reina and this is Viki," said the redhead in a cool voice.

Ace slowly lowered the pamphlet with shaking hands and confronted his two new fangirls. He beeped a small greeting to the girls causing both the girls, even the poised one, to shriek in excitement scaring Ace back behind the pamphlet.

"AWWWWWWW! HE'S SO CUTE!"

I had high hopes for you girl number two. You reassured me with your cool-headedness and then you let me down.

The intercom chimed followed by the female announcer — "Now approaching Academy Station. This is the end of the line so all passengers please gather your belongings and prepare to disembark."

"Bye-bye Ace," both girls said as they returned to their seats.

I let out a sigh of relief. I glanced back at the girl across from me who was now completely turned away. Sometimes you just need to accept the awkward situation as is and let it go. This is one of those occasions. Ah well. To avoid making things worse for myself, I turned back towards the window. I don't need any drama on my fist da-

Something caught my attention.

Out the window, a large shape began to rise from the afternoon mist. I adjusted my virtual eye correction on my contacts to get a better look only to realize I was looking at a large cliff face. Adjusting my focus again I caught a glimpse of buildings perched on top of the plateau. The waypoint on the map in the corner of my virtual desktop confirmed that it was indeed Laurentia Academy.

"...."

I gawked at the enormous rock behemoth with a school campus on its back. Immediately, my travel fatigue melted away as my heart began to race. The hair on the back of my neck began to stand up as the monorail glided towards a tunnel carved into the side of the cliff. A fleeting thought entered my mind before the darkness of the tunnel enshrouded the world outside the train carriage.

What kind of a school is this?

*****

The air had an earthy smell to it. This was the first thing I noticed as I ascended the staircase from the coolness of the underground monorail station. The staircase led to a terrace with a metal canopy and vacant benches. Four paths stretched off each side of the terrace all of which trailed off into the jungle trees. The students all dispersed down the different paths. Among them, I caught a glimpse of the purple-haired girl leaving the terrace and quickly turned away to avoid eye contact. Viki and Reina went off in another direction, waving and smiling as they did. There was another student with them, a guy wearing a red bandana over his blond hair, he scowled at me coldly before they disappeared down the jungle path.

What was that about?

I followed the morning crowd of day students off the terrace and onto another path that led towards the main campus. I assumed a large majority of the students live on campus in the dorms. Meaning that only a fraction of the student body arrived on the tram. I can only guess that most of the dorm students boarding here are from the other colonies.

The crowd continued to move forward. Girls conversed and giggled while the guys on the other hand exchanged small talk about stuff that sounded unfamiliar and boring to me. I tried my best not to draw any attention to myself. I am not just a foreigner here, I am a foreigner from another dimension. The fewer people knew about that the smoother this day will go. I already seemed to have made a bad impression on at least two people.

The foliage around the pathway opened up to a large plaza. Around the plaza, students studied at benches while enjoying their lunches surrounded by alien-looking flowers in large planters. In the center of the round courtyard stood an ancient-looking statue of a woman dressed in robes brandishing a staff. In one outstretched hand, she had a glowing blue stone that rotated slowly as water bubbled up from underneath it, flowing off her hand and plunging into a swirling whirlpool around her feet. Around the statue, pathways branched off the plaza leading to different campus buildings. The only question burning in my mind now was — Where do I go now?

I called up the map on my heads-up display again. Even though Ace was in sleep mode on my back I could still access his files. The semitransparent map display expanded into my full view revealing the layout of the school. The plateau the academy was built on top of was broken up into three "islands" which were divided by a forked canyon in the shape of a Y. The islands were connected by bridges.

Zone A, Zone B, and Zone C - labeled the three respective islands. Tiny building icons on the islands lit up identifying their names in cleartext. Zone A, which is where I currently am, contained the Administration Building, the Library, Medical Station, Education Center, Mail Room, and Elementary Division - none of which I actually needed to visit today. Continuing on to Zone B, there is the tennis court, the baseball field, the dojo/gym, faculty housing, and guy's and girl's dorms. Lastly Zone C, which was the largest island, was where the Science Building, Botanical Gardens, Security Station, and Animal Containment were located.

Animal Containment. They actually had live animals at this school? On the map, I could see that Zone C had three sections that made up what looked like animal paddocks. I may need to get a closer look when I get the chance.

Aunt Felicia said in her letter to go to the security office and talk to some guy named Bernie. This means I need to take left at this plaza to get to Zone C. I selected the security office icon and a green line appeared on the ground in front of me pointing me where to go. I closed the map and followed the line towards the security office. I braced myself for what I would encounter once I crossed the bridge into Zone C.