[ Note: This chapter takes place before chapter 1. ]
Summary of Prologue, Part II:
After losing his father to the intruders, Hoban would run away from them as they stepped into Juneau and began to wipe out the city population. Hoban would ride on a boat to leave the city just before Juneau exploded. He would then encounter the aftermath of the explosion (a shockwave and a tsunami wave) before leaving the Gastineau channel safely.
200 years later…
Date: 8/21/2299
Location: Nev High School, the city of Giav. Tavar: Leois, in the Gamia Cavar (near present day Kitty Hawk, North Carolina).
“Watch out!” someone yelled.
That was the last thing Dos heard before a ball came crashing into his head. A head shot. It didn’t count as being out, but was painful nevertheless.
It was currently P.E. time, and the class was playing dodgeball, separated into two teams. The atmosphere was intense, with both teams wanting to win. Dos stood back up and looked at the other side of the court. There were still three opponents left, with him being the only person left on his team. The rest of his teammates were on the sidelines, waiting for the coach to shout “jailbreak.”
Another ball came in his way. Dos dodged it, the ball barely missing him by a few inches. He collapsed onto the ground as it whirled over his head. Dos quickly stood back up and saw that all of the balls were located on his side, an advantage that could be useful. He would have to carefully eliminate his opponents one by one in order to win.
As he gripped the first ball, waiting to attack, he contemplated on which person to shoot first. He looked towards a tall guy named Dave. He was an athletic kid who had blond hair, was six feet tall, and wore a green hoodie and jeans. He was bad at dodging, but when it came to throwing he was an ace. Since all the balls were located on Dos’ side, Dave couldn’t use his skill of shooting, and since he was not good at dodging, that left him vulnerable. So it would be only logical to target him first. But if Dos missed, then that would be the end of him. He would need to play his cards right in order to win this three versus one encounter.
Dos prepared to attack. He wasn’t the best at throwing the ball, but he wasn’t bad at it either. He aimed toward Dave, who was panicking, trying to move to the left or right. And as he was about to throw it, Dos saw the other opponent, Todd, who was close to the middle line. Dos suddenly underwent a dilemma. Shoot at Todd or Dave? He was originally going to throw at Dave, but Todd was closer…
But no. He needed to throw it at Dave. And so he aimed towards him and threw the ball with all his might.
The ball whirled toward him like an arrow, zipping past through the air at high speed. Dave tried to dodge, but the ball was too fast for that. Eventually he gave up on dodging and tried to catch it. The ball hit his arm, and when it was about to land on the floor, Todd caught it.
Dos’ teammates groaned. He had lost his advantage. And now an additional player from the opponents team would enter the game according to the rules, and it would now be four versus one.
The fourth player being added was Dos’ best friend, Mauritius.
He wore glasses, had dark brown hair and wore a basketball T-shirt. He was both very good at throwing (even better than Dave) and dodging, so Dos knew that he was screwed.
“You’re going to lose now,” Dave said as he lifted the ball up and down playfully. There was a smirk on his face as he said that, which annoyed Dos a bit. And now that the other team had one ball in their inventory, the opponents had an attacking chance.
Dave gave the ball to Mauritius, and he aimed towards where Dos was standing, eager to hit him with the foamy ball.
Dos ran about, trying to make it hard for Mauritius to hit him. But he knew that Mauritius would not miss, no matter what he did. He was just too good for his age.
Mauritius stepped back, then broke into a run. He stopped just behind the boundary line and threw the ball. It flung across the gymnasium and hit Dos in the arm.
“TWEEET” The coaches whistle blew, announcing that the game had ended. Both teams started going around and saying “GG” or “good job” to each other. Dos felt bummed that he had lost, but he went over to Mauritius and congratulated him.
“You did well too, man.” Mauritius replied as he shook hands with Dos. “You were close. Just make sure you learn to dodge better next time.”
“Gotcha,” Dos replied.
Playing dodgeball during P.E. class was just another ordinary thing that Dos did in Nev High School. This school was founded by the government, and it was huge, as big as a large college campus, with long halls and big classrooms. It would take at least ten minutes to walk from one end of the school to the other.
As for his next class, Dos would have science, and that excited him. This was because he and his group were going to finally fly their gliders for their science project after months of hard work.
The reason why they needed to fly their gliders was because they needed to get a special chemical from the water that makes up the clouds.
The chemicals would be needed for the group’s main experiment that was to happen after the flight. And they would get it by making the gliders go through the clouds. (Now one may wonder, won’t it be easier to collect the water by letting the clouds rain? That would have been much simpler, but the chemicals that are needed for the experiment don’t drop onto the ground when the rain falls. So that’s why the gliders had to be used to take the chemicals from the clouds directly.)
As for Dos’ group members, they were Mauritius, Gwen, Victor, and Cwelie, which was a good group since all of his teammates were smart. In addition to that, he was happy that Cwelie was in the group, since he had a crush on her.
And the possibility of him flying the gliders (There were only three gliders and five members, so not everyone would get to fly) made Dos excited but also nervous, as it was his first time flying the glider in real life. But he had done well in the simulations of the exact same glider model before, so this flight would probably go smooth for him.
As P.E. ended, Dos went back to his locker to prepare for his next class. He went to the class with Mauritius, and they chatted about basketball while they went there.
“You know the Baklives just won the championships?” Mauritius said as they walked through the halls.
“Dang, I didn’t know that,” Dos replied. “I wanted the Franlos to win, to be honest.”
“Those guys? They kind of suck, you know.”
“Yeah, they’re going through a rough season. But I’ve always been their fan for years, you know. Loyalty matters.”
“Huh, you’re kind of right, I guess.”
Eventually they arrived at the science sector. This sector had a total of five different buildings. Four of them were classroom-sized and were called ‘modules.’ The modules had a gray dome shape, with antennas poking through at the top of the dome. The other building was a warehouse that stored various science projects and other science-related materials.
The modules were positioned so that they made a square around the warehouse, with the warehouse being in the center. Each module was connected by a steel pathway, which made walking between the modules easier.
Dos and Mauritius entered the third module, where there were already a lot of students inside. Dos spotted Cwelie with her friends on the other side of the classroom. She had dark black hair, with a perfectly shaped nose, and eyes that looked beautiful. When he saw her his heart beat fast, and a surge of adrenaline spread throughout his body.
Eventually, the teacher told the class to sit by their electronic desks (which were high- tech desks with a built-in computer system) and wait for her instructions. Once Dos and Mauritius did that, the class started.
“All right everyone, I want everybody to group up with their science groups.” The teacher, Ms. Kelly said. She was a woman in her mid-40s and had pink glasses, navy blue eyes, and hair that reached her shoulders. It was her second year teaching at Nev High School, so everything was still pretty new to her. But she was managing her class well.
As everyone started to group up, Dos and Mauritius met Cwelie, Victor, and Gwen. Everyone greeted each other and they talked about the flight that they were going to do today.
Once everyone gathered up in their groups, Ms. Kelly told all of the students to go to each group’s specified places to continue their science projects. These projects involved many people moving to their workstations. Some groups stayed within the modules to prepare their science projects, while others headed towards the warehouse. Dos’ group was in the warehouse group, since their science project involved gliders, which were all stored within the large building.
As the group walked to the warehouse led by another teacher named Mr. Gov, Dos walked next to Victor and tried to start a conversation. Victor was a shy guy, timid and aloof. He was extremely smart, however, and was the main contributor in designing and engineering the gliders themselves. Dos wanted to get to know more about Victor. And as shy as he was, if you started a conversation with him, he would eventually talk a lot.
“So, do you like how the gliders ended up?” Dos asked.
“Yeah, it came out better than I expected,” Victor replied.
“How so?”
“Well, I liked how the gliders went beyond the test performance expectations.”
“Oh I see. That’s good to hear.”
“Yeah it really is. And I bet that when we fly the gliders–”
The conversation abruptly got cut out when Mr. Gov stopped and announced that they had arrived at the warehouse. It was a ginormous metal building, shaped like a semi-circle and around 30 feet tall. The curved roof and the walls of the building had a lined pattern like that of a shipping container. It was indeed an incredible sight.
And so the group walked inside the warehouse via the main door, where their science projects were waiting for them.
To be continued…
A map of the stage of the series, showing the three cavars.
