Road to Arcadia: the Path East

Chapter Four: Unexpected Mentor

Kai was able to muscle his way through the next three days of training without catching much of Rawda Bakker's ire. If anything, she was probably happy with him, happy that soon he would not be her problem anymore. Towards the end of training her attention was geared to equally criticizing everyone by shouting out their underachievements. Kai couldn't help but wonder if the current head of the R&R was destined to become one in the same. The thought struck him as unlikely.

Even with the instructor's rhetoric about rest and self care, she took the last day of training to work them to the bone. There was no last day of school energy, no happy-go-lucky reminiscing of the time they spent together. No pizza parties to commemorate the occasion. Just a lot of running and reviewing.

They had spent their last day split between the Southmayd building--the place where they learned about the logistical operations of the R&R--in the morning and Heather park for their final over-the-top training scenarios.

Kai left practice sweating again. He missed the early days of the R&R where they were learning inside. In chairs. The early days of classroom training were where he shined brightest. The light of a star pupil dimmed the moment the class stepped outside.

If Rawda had one philanthropic bone in her body, she used it to let out the last training session early. Sounds of gratitude escaped the mouths of panting trainees. No one wasted the opportunity, shuffling away from the area as soon as they were able.

Kai didn't follow the rest of the trainees, instead splitting off from the group in the opposite direction. Judging by the sun in the sky, he would cross paths with a friend just in time.

He hurried down the street as fast as his exhausted legs could carry him--which was, admittedly, not very fast at all. He passed a couple of pedestrians on the way, politely smiling and nodding at each one that walked by. The street led him by the giant greenhouses and some official-looking buildings.

These buildings were older, you could tell by the height and the thickness of the greenery snaking up them. These were among the first to occupy the platform that would become the moving city. He recalled from the brief history lessons he had absorbed during his nearly three months here. They were also among the first buildings new residents met when they first arrived.

This was the city center. If the old buildings and giant greenhouses didn't give it away, the short, domed building with a stout exterior and an impressive diameter would.

The Arcadia Integration building--the INT as it was often labeled--was the hub of all incoming and outgoing activity. It was where all new residents, including him, came through in their first days here. The building held most of the vehicles used to traverse the outside world. It was where new intakes were screened, processed, and oriented. Anything that came from outside the city went through that building.

Kai was well familiar with it. Even after he went through the initial orientation in his first days, he still found himself coming back to hover around its enormity and take in the surrounding views. He was able to meet some new friends in the process.

Kai tried to recall the note left for him in his mailbox the other day. The INT building. Around 1800 hours--six o'clock. South exit.

The south exit was the door with the least fanfare. It wasn't the massive pair of double doors that spilled out onto a paved overlook of the city, meant to give new arrivals a feeling of peace and elysian calm. No, it was barely a door that spat out a back walkway used only by utility workers and employees trying to avoid conversation. Its view was partially obscured by an overhanging tree.

There was no one there when Kai arrived. Hoping that he was early instead of late, he took a seat on a nearby half wall lining the walking path.

The sun shifted. The color in the sky became more and more orange. Kai bided his time by avoiding eye contact with the few strangers that did pass through. It was what they would have wanted.