August 6th, 2029, Monday
The sun peeked out of the treetops, its light cast upon the upper floors of Kadic Academy. The air was wrapped in a summer warmth as the cloudless sky gained a purple hue. The heat began to evaporate the residue of the evening rain that sank into the brickwork and splattered the glass panes.
The arrival of dawn signaled a new week of school and a deafening alarm from the phone of a Kadic student. With a fatigued groan, an arm emerged from the sheets to rummage through the mess that lied on top of a nightstand. Various items began to fall off as the hand stumbled across the top of the furniture piece. When the palm finally made contact, the fingers curled around the device and yanked it, along with the cable, towards the bed.
The student slumped out of his bed as sunlight intersected his groggy, tan face. He let out a wide yawn and a broad stretch; the exertion was followed by the growl of his stomach.
"Another first day at school," Marco thought as he ruffled out the bed locks in his brunette hair, "Like I already hadn't had plenty of those."
After a quick shower and breakfast, he made his way towards his first class, math. Rather than taking a seat, he waited by the door as he traded awkward glances to the students that entered. Eventually, a passing teacher, staring into a pile of notes, veered towards the classroom door. Marco stepped in front of his path, "Excuse me, are you Mr. Pichon?"
The man looked up from his pages, revealing his pasty profile as he adjusted his round, thin glasses. "And you are?"
"The name's Marco." The boy raised his hand for a shake. "I'm a new student. It's my first day at Kadic and I was hoping you not do the whole 'we-have-a-new-student-with-us' spiel. Just for my sake?"
Mr. Pichon gave a tired stare. "Ah, yes. Marco. I have that memo somewhere." The middle-aged man began riffling through the emails on his phone.
"Look, the memo does not matter. I just want you to promise that you will help me, just this once, keep a low profile. I do not want the attention."
"Oh," the teacher gave a more lively expression, "I understand."
"That's great," the student said as he moved into the classroom, "Thank you."
As Marco took one of the last remaining seats, Mr. Pichon addressed the class.
"Alright class, before we begin, I have an announcement to make."
No.
"We have a new student joining us."
Don't do it.
"So please welcome, Marco Della Robbia."
You balding bastard.
The announcement created a hushed chatter of rumors in the classroom.
"Wait, Della Robbia? As in Odd Della Robbia?"
"You think it's a coincidence?"
"Well, he did go to this school."
"I mean how many people do you know have that last name?
Marco could only stare into the eyes of his new teacher with contempt.
"What was that? Did you think I was shy and thought it was a great idea to help break me out of my shell? Why can't teachers just accept a small favor- IS HE REALLY SMIRKING RIGHT NOW!?"
Marco could only sink his head into his table. As Mr. Pichon settled the class down for the lecture, Marco's neighbor leaned in.
"So, is your dad actually, you know, the movie director?"
Marco could only answer with a soft groan.
Marco's day did not get any better. Within the commute to his next class, the rumor of Marco's dad being the famous director for many streaming shows and movies, Odd Della Robbia, had already spread like wildfire. On his walk to third period, he had multiple students get in his way. They asked questions or acted all buddy-buddy with him like they were old friends. One person even asked Marco if he could send their screenplay to his dad.
As lunchtime came, Marco quickly rushed towards the large cafeteria building as he was chased by the amateur reporters of the school paper. As he grabbed his tray and got in line, a hand reached out and tapped his shoulder.
"Hey there. Are you the new guy everyone's talking about?"
"No, I'm not going to help you get my dad's autograph."
"Wow. I see you really got the full brunt of Kadic's gossip scene. The name's Eito Stern."
Marco turned his head to see a boy his age. His demeanor delivered an aura of confidence.
"So Stern … like … Stern Industries?"
"Yup. And I dealt with the same thing you're having when I first came here. They'll quiet down before the week is done."
"So how do I survive till then?"
"I think I might have a few tricks."
With their trays filled with food, the two sat alone at an empty table. They began trading stories in between their bites.
"So, you live off campus?"
"Yeah, my grandparents live in the area, so my parents went, 'Why bother paying for the room?'"
"Well, that sounds nice. Cause let me tell you, the beds here are a pain. The mattress is like a solid brick."
"Sorry, can't relate. But you have my condolences."
Soon, their trays were emptied, and it became time for the next class.
"So, Marco, where's you're heading to next?"
Marco took out a folded piece of paper containing his schedule.
"I have 'Intro to Robotics'."
"Well look at that, we have the same class. All walk you to it."
The duo turned in their trays and left the cafeteria.
The building that the robotics course was located at one of the newer facilities of Kadic. The structure was two stories tall with the same slanted roof as the rest of the campus. It sat next to the science wing of the school and served as the hub for courses that relied heavily on computers.
The robotics lab was arranged with tables clumped together creating multiple islands. Along one of the walls laid a row of desktop computers on the top of a countertop where parts were stored underneath.
Marco and Eito had managed to arrive at the classroom without any interruptions, using Eito's knowledge of the campus to maneuver around the more congested parts. They took their seats as they prepared for, according to Eito, one of the harder subjects in Kadic.
"This class has us assigned to a group for the entire year. You're most likely going to be in my group since we got one less member."
Eito led Marco towards one of the tables. There, a girl with unusually pink, flowing hair waited for them.
"This here is Alysa. Alysa, this is Marco."
"Pleasure to meet you, Marco," answered Alysa with a soft tone that could have come from an angel.
"You too. So, is it just you two in this group?"
"Yeah, but with Alysa, the projects are a piece of cake."
"That's because I do all the coding," Alysa responded in a playful tone.
"And that's because you're a good coder."
"I think the term you're looking for is programmer."
Marco could only watch as the two went back and forth with each other. Before the argument had a chance to boil, their teacher cut through the chatter.
"Alright, class," said the teacher, "before we begin, I would like for you, Marco, to join up with that table over there." He jesters towards Eito's table. "Eito and Alysa will be your partners throughout the school year."
The class continued as any other class for a half-hour. Marco had a bit of a hard time following the lecture; being a new student well into a school year can have that effect. Eventually, the focus of the class turned into a lab work session. The groups began pulling out their respective, three-wheeled robots out of storage.
"Well, this looks like it's going to be fun," Marco's interest soon became diminished the moment he saw the computer screen. Lines of punctuation and phrases coated the page, blending into a hieroglyphic text found on an ancient slate. "On second thoughts, I think I'll sit this one out."
"Oh, it's not that bad," Alysa countered, "This is all simply a list of instructions we give to our little guy. You just need to make sure you got everything down to the letter and then send it off through the compiler."
As she clicked the icon to send the code to the robot, the computer began to freeze.
"Yeah, simple," Marco coyly replied.
A moment passes before the monitor goes black. The only feature, a red graphic depicting an eye, laid present on the screen. Alysa and Eito were taken aback by the development with no breath for words. Marco could only look on in confusion as he began to scan the room and witnessed the same thing happening to the other laptops.
Marco could only ask, "What is going on?"
"Something pretty bad," said Eito.
Surges of electricity began to form around the computers as the currents travelled down the USB cables connected to the robots. The bots quickly sprung to life as they jittered around the tables, moving whatever other appendages they had.
Panic began to set in on the students. Girls screamed as if they touched a live rat. Boys started making Terminator jokes as a coping mechanism. One kid even tried to disconnect their robot from the computer, only to get shocked in the process. The teacher, who was as shaken by the whole affair as anyone else, took charge of the situation.
"Everyone, remain calm. This is just an electrical fire of some sorts. Please evacuate the building in an orderly fashion."
As students began to bottleneck the doorway, the machines began to scavenge the classroom for parts, though most were too focused on getting out to really notice. As the last students began to flee into the halls, the professor collectedly pulled the fire alarm, signaling other classes of the situation. All Marco could hear from his former classroom was the sound of grinding metal deafening the electrical sparks.
Students poured onto the athletic field as they took their collective chance to calm down.
Marco could only ask the obvious question, "What was that!?"
"Well clearly the school's computers got infected by some form of malware," Alysa rationalized, trying to bring some form of comfort to Marco. Just then, her phone rang. "Oh, my sister's calling. Hello… A what? … Well, the robots from our class have gone haywire so it's… Well alright. … Yes, I'll tell him but we can't just-." Just then, her phone went silent.
"So, what order did the brainiac have for us?" Eito asked as Alysa stared at her smartphone.
"She wants us at the… usual meeting spot. She says we can fix our problem there. But I'm worried about the damage those robots could cause."
"I mean, they're just little robots. What's the worse they can do?"
Just then the sound of glass breaking was heard in the distance.
"You sure about that?"
"Um, excuse me," Marco interjected, "What are you guys talking about? That ... wasn't all some crazy prank you pulled."
"What, no!" Alysa countered, "It's just … we might know how to fix the problem."
"And what would that be?"
"The first step is to escort this princess here to the rendezvous point," explained Eito.
"You're joking."
"No, we're not it's … well … a see-it-to-believe-it kind of deal and we don't have time to explain," Alysa elaborated, "We just need you to trust us."
Marco didn't know what made him follow them. Whether it be from peer pressure or the sneaky suspicion that someone, despite the situation, would bother him over his father, he followed the duo into the thick shrubbery.