Chapter One: Visitor
It was late in the morning and her mother and brothers were out, when there came a knock on the door. Six-year-old Speed sat at the old kitchen table reading a hard copy of the newspaper. Glancing up, she set down her glass of milk and jumped out of the too-tall chair. Her small feet made no noise as she made her way down the hall to the barely-standing door of the ancient apartment. Speed boosted herself up to the peephole and looked out.
Though Speed didn't recognize the man on the other side of the door, the pale blue uniform he was wearing under a black trench coat caught her eye and she quickly unlocked the dead bolt on the door, opening the door a crack.
"Hello Speed." The man said. "My name is Dimak, can I come in?"
All Speed could do was nod and open the door fully so the man in the International Fleet uniform could enter. This he did, removing his coat as he stepped over the threshold. Speed took the coat, leaving it draped over the bench in the entryway. She lead Dimak to the overstuffed couch in the living room and sat down across from him, her feet hanging over the end of the couch, coming no where near to the floor.
"What can I do for you Dimak?" Speed asked, meeting the visitor's gaze.
"As you've probably guessed, I'm from the IF." Dimak said, "Battle school more specifically."
"Derek's at school you know." Speed started to slide off the couch thinking he must be here for her twin brother who had been tested for the Battle School Program.
"Yes, I know." Dimak replied, stopping Speed in her tracks. "Its you I came to see."
"Okay." Speed slowly slid back onto the couch.
"You're the youngest right Speed?" Dimak asked "A Third more correctly?"
"Yes." Speed didn't like where this conversation was going. It wasn't her fault her parents had three children, against International Law.
"So, according to law, you have never attended school, correct?"
"Yes." Speed said again, she wasn't proud of that either.
"You can read, can you not?" Dimak probed.
This time, Speed didn't answer. She didn't know if she'd be in trouble if they knew she had taught herself to read and could do Benjamin's homework effortlessly.
"You're in no trouble." Dimak said, and for some reason, Speed didn't believe him. She kept her silence.
"Okay Speed the silence thing doesn't go over well with me." Dimak's calm face turned hard. "Derek's monitor has shown that you can read, you can write and you can do math pretty damn well. Derek's monitor was removed a few hours ago. He's out of the program."
Speed was crushed. Her family's golden child had failed. Benjamin had bragged about how his brother was going to go into space. How he was the only boy in the inner city school to be even considered. Everyone was so sure he was going to make it, and now, he was just like everyone else.
Her disappointment must have shown on her face for Dimak leaned in "He was too confident, too arrogant. Arrogance is not a quality of battle. But on the other hand, your brother was quick. He would have flourished at Battle School, but he is not the only one."
Speed wanted to understand, but her untreated ADD got the better of her. She climbed over the back of the couch, having lost interest in the conversation for the time being. "Can I get you something to drink Mr. Dimak?" she asked.
Dimak followed her to the corner of the apartment where she opened the fridge.
"Alyssa.." He said, catching her off guard. She slammed the fridge door shut.
"Do not call me that name." She glared at Dimak. "I hate that name."
"I know." Dimak said, "So we'll make sure that the Battle School flight records list you as Speed shall we?"
"What are you talking about?" Speed stared at the tall man, "I'm not going anywhere. I can't go anywhere. It's against the law."
Dimak reached into the pocket of his uniform and removed a large folded piece of paper. He held it out to Speed, who took it, unfolded it and looked it over.
"This is a permit, signed by the Strategos, stating that the child known as Speed, being a Third and therefore being unable to receive education or health care is hereby eligible for admission to Battle School and for all medication necessary to correct her hearing impairment and her Attention Deficient Disorder." Dimak smiled as Speed looked up in disbelief.
"That means." She hesitated, not wanted to say it, in case it was untrue.
"That's right." Dimak took the paper back. "If you so choose, you can leave on the next shuttle flight to Battle School."
Speed sat down hard on the tiled floor. No longer would she be her family's outcast. At Battle School, no one needed to know what she was. She could hear again, she could amount to someone, to something.
"When can we go?" She asked.
"Well we will need to tell your mother." Dimak responded, his smile fading again.
"No, no you don't." Speed stood up, "I'm not her daughter, I'm her embarrassment. I won't be missed and I don't want to be here when they find out."
Dimak nodded, "You're choice." He began walking towards the front of the apartment. "Come on, you don't need to pack."
Speed, who didn't own anything but the clothes she had on, smiled and followed Dimak to the door. She was getting out, she was going to school. The IF wanted her, no one else ever had. How could she say no to that?
Dimak led Speed down the hall of the old apartment building to the elevator. She felt very small and plain to be standing in her street clothes next to the tall uniformed man. Dimak punched the "down" button on the elevator and stood waiting for the carriage to rise to the floor.
"You're going to fix my ears soon, right Dimak?" She asked, looking up at him. She had partially lost her hearing in her left ear after she and Derek had been stricken by chicken pox shortly after birth. Derek had been given the treatment necessary to avoid all serious side effects but Speed had been left to fend for herself.
"Well I'm not personally going to fix them." He replied, "But you will receive proper medical care in a hospital before launch."
A bell sounded from the elevator shaft and the doors slid open. Speed followed Dimak into the elevator, he pressed the button for ground floor and leaned casually up against the back wall as the doors slipped shut.
Speed emerged into the blazing sunlight of the run down slums of London England. Dimak led her across the cracked sidewalks to the waiting car. She climbed into the back seat, while Dimak got into the front beside another man in International Fleet Uniform.
"Where to, Captain?" the other man asked.
"London Grace." Dimak replied, fastening his seatbelt.
The second man nodded and with that the car skimmed along the magna- belt inbedded in the road, away from the rundown apartment building, and Speed's old life as a third.
It was late in the morning and her mother and brothers were out, when there came a knock on the door. Six-year-old Speed sat at the old kitchen table reading a hard copy of the newspaper. Glancing up, she set down her glass of milk and jumped out of the too-tall chair. Her small feet made no noise as she made her way down the hall to the barely-standing door of the ancient apartment. Speed boosted herself up to the peephole and looked out.
Though Speed didn't recognize the man on the other side of the door, the pale blue uniform he was wearing under a black trench coat caught her eye and she quickly unlocked the dead bolt on the door, opening the door a crack.
"Hello Speed." The man said. "My name is Dimak, can I come in?"
All Speed could do was nod and open the door fully so the man in the International Fleet uniform could enter. This he did, removing his coat as he stepped over the threshold. Speed took the coat, leaving it draped over the bench in the entryway. She lead Dimak to the overstuffed couch in the living room and sat down across from him, her feet hanging over the end of the couch, coming no where near to the floor.
"What can I do for you Dimak?" Speed asked, meeting the visitor's gaze.
"As you've probably guessed, I'm from the IF." Dimak said, "Battle school more specifically."
"Derek's at school you know." Speed started to slide off the couch thinking he must be here for her twin brother who had been tested for the Battle School Program.
"Yes, I know." Dimak replied, stopping Speed in her tracks. "Its you I came to see."
"Okay." Speed slowly slid back onto the couch.
"You're the youngest right Speed?" Dimak asked "A Third more correctly?"
"Yes." Speed didn't like where this conversation was going. It wasn't her fault her parents had three children, against International Law.
"So, according to law, you have never attended school, correct?"
"Yes." Speed said again, she wasn't proud of that either.
"You can read, can you not?" Dimak probed.
This time, Speed didn't answer. She didn't know if she'd be in trouble if they knew she had taught herself to read and could do Benjamin's homework effortlessly.
"You're in no trouble." Dimak said, and for some reason, Speed didn't believe him. She kept her silence.
"Okay Speed the silence thing doesn't go over well with me." Dimak's calm face turned hard. "Derek's monitor has shown that you can read, you can write and you can do math pretty damn well. Derek's monitor was removed a few hours ago. He's out of the program."
Speed was crushed. Her family's golden child had failed. Benjamin had bragged about how his brother was going to go into space. How he was the only boy in the inner city school to be even considered. Everyone was so sure he was going to make it, and now, he was just like everyone else.
Her disappointment must have shown on her face for Dimak leaned in "He was too confident, too arrogant. Arrogance is not a quality of battle. But on the other hand, your brother was quick. He would have flourished at Battle School, but he is not the only one."
Speed wanted to understand, but her untreated ADD got the better of her. She climbed over the back of the couch, having lost interest in the conversation for the time being. "Can I get you something to drink Mr. Dimak?" she asked.
Dimak followed her to the corner of the apartment where she opened the fridge.
"Alyssa.." He said, catching her off guard. She slammed the fridge door shut.
"Do not call me that name." She glared at Dimak. "I hate that name."
"I know." Dimak said, "So we'll make sure that the Battle School flight records list you as Speed shall we?"
"What are you talking about?" Speed stared at the tall man, "I'm not going anywhere. I can't go anywhere. It's against the law."
Dimak reached into the pocket of his uniform and removed a large folded piece of paper. He held it out to Speed, who took it, unfolded it and looked it over.
"This is a permit, signed by the Strategos, stating that the child known as Speed, being a Third and therefore being unable to receive education or health care is hereby eligible for admission to Battle School and for all medication necessary to correct her hearing impairment and her Attention Deficient Disorder." Dimak smiled as Speed looked up in disbelief.
"That means." She hesitated, not wanted to say it, in case it was untrue.
"That's right." Dimak took the paper back. "If you so choose, you can leave on the next shuttle flight to Battle School."
Speed sat down hard on the tiled floor. No longer would she be her family's outcast. At Battle School, no one needed to know what she was. She could hear again, she could amount to someone, to something.
"When can we go?" She asked.
"Well we will need to tell your mother." Dimak responded, his smile fading again.
"No, no you don't." Speed stood up, "I'm not her daughter, I'm her embarrassment. I won't be missed and I don't want to be here when they find out."
Dimak nodded, "You're choice." He began walking towards the front of the apartment. "Come on, you don't need to pack."
Speed, who didn't own anything but the clothes she had on, smiled and followed Dimak to the door. She was getting out, she was going to school. The IF wanted her, no one else ever had. How could she say no to that?
Dimak led Speed down the hall of the old apartment building to the elevator. She felt very small and plain to be standing in her street clothes next to the tall uniformed man. Dimak punched the "down" button on the elevator and stood waiting for the carriage to rise to the floor.
"You're going to fix my ears soon, right Dimak?" She asked, looking up at him. She had partially lost her hearing in her left ear after she and Derek had been stricken by chicken pox shortly after birth. Derek had been given the treatment necessary to avoid all serious side effects but Speed had been left to fend for herself.
"Well I'm not personally going to fix them." He replied, "But you will receive proper medical care in a hospital before launch."
A bell sounded from the elevator shaft and the doors slid open. Speed followed Dimak into the elevator, he pressed the button for ground floor and leaned casually up against the back wall as the doors slipped shut.
Speed emerged into the blazing sunlight of the run down slums of London England. Dimak led her across the cracked sidewalks to the waiting car. She climbed into the back seat, while Dimak got into the front beside another man in International Fleet Uniform.
"Where to, Captain?" the other man asked.
"London Grace." Dimak replied, fastening his seatbelt.
The second man nodded and with that the car skimmed along the magna- belt inbedded in the road, away from the rundown apartment building, and Speed's old life as a third.