The Outage

Chapter Three

"So you're Queen? That's not a boy's name." Miss Howard gave me a once over from atop her large nose. "Quen, ma'm."
"Another scrawny one, eh? From a distance you looked like a girl with trousers." She sniffed.
Her voice was extremely high pitched and raspy. Every three or four words her voice would raise in pitch, then drop back down like a seagull trapped in a cyclone trying to fly the winds without flapping its wings. "Well come inside Quince what're you waiting for?!"
"Quen, ma'm."

The first thing I noticed about Miss Howard's Boarding School for Young Men was the lack of privacy. The moment I walked through the front door, my attention was diverted from the empty dark hallways and endless doorways to the wall splattered with dirt and something that looked eerily like blood but smelled strongly of lavender, where three males about my age were standing naked. Skirts of cloth were wrapped around their hips to provide some decent coverage as they stood under spurting faucets of water lodged in the white bricks.

I couldn't help but stare. Where were the curtains? The soap? One stick-thin boy turned to see me and gave a friendly smile. He had floppy hair and dark thick eyebrows arched over deep set eyes. I noticed empathy in his face and smiled back weakly.
"Where you from?" I asked him, attempting to make a friend. His mouth opened as if to answer but Miss Howard grabbed my suitcase and dragged me with it. "Don't waste your time with the orphans! The skinny one is mute, the black one is stupid, and the handsome Indian is a short tempered dumbass. They're useless, they can't learn, can't work, can't do anything right." She glanced back at me with what I suppose was supposed to be a grin of convincing kindness.
"You on the other hand, Mr. Quill..."
"Quen, ma'm."
"You have potential."
I wanted to yell at her. Tell her I was no better and no worse than the boys out at the wall. That she probably told all of them the same thing when they walked through that door for the first time as long as they had parents to send them tuition. That she only wanted my money that my parents would send to her for my 'education'. That she needed to stop eyeing my headset like she would snatch them away. But I only shrugged and gave a shaky smile to the black and white checkered floor that was so dirty I didn't even realize white existed on it.

A few minutes later I was sitting in a grey room with a dresser as high as my waist -which isn't very high- and wooden high back chair that was covered in spider webs and extremely uncomfortable and a disgusting white cot supported on a creaky wire frame bed. I slid the suitcase under my bed after I unpacked my simple wardrobe of black shirts and white pants with my Valvo boots still on. I then piled my favorite books on the chair. I began to wonder, my brain firing up.

Was I the only boy with a window? Were the other boys really all orphans? Were there any other boys? Was that where I would shower? Where were the schoolrooms and textbooks? This time there was no robot to answer my questions. Then I remembered my headset, and turned the nob on the right side to contact Nano. The gears around my head began to turn, taking off my suit and helmet and folding them up into a tiny cube of metal works I shoved into my pocket. Then I heard a spark of static as I connected to Nano's station and touched the mic a few times, testing. There was no response. The static faded and erupted in spurts of loud noise and clamor then faded again into white noise. Miscellaneous words could be heard and I tried to focus on them but nothing was loud enough to process into understanding.

I frowned into the dusty mirror leaning on the wall and furrowed my brow a few times thinking. It's absolutely impossible that a headset attached to a droid's radio could be disconnected unless the robot was destroyed, the radio was torn out, or someone was given permission from the Council to own a Doshel Satellite to manipulate radio signals in their residence. And Doshel Satellites were millions of dollars; Miss Howard could never afford such a high tech hacking device while running a boarding school. Assuming I could fiddle with the reception nob later I decided to strike out and answer my questions on my own the way Tom Saywer or Bilbo Baggins would: to explore.

I slid out from behind the heavy door and into the dark hallway forgetting which way I had come in the long hallway of dark black doors identical to mine. Were there boys in those, too? I tried the one across from mine and the door was locked shut with no peep hole. I started pacing up and down the hallway, making the distance I ventured a bit farther each time, searching for something, anything, remotely familiar. I heard footsteps coming my way and I panicked, looking around for something to hide behind. I ended up ducking behind a corner where the hallway turned abruptly to the right. I held my breath and peeked out slightly seeing the boy from before with the floppy hair. He caught my eye and waved smilingly, a dingy towel ripped at the ends and covered in stains wrapped around his waist. I breathed out silently in relief and whispered, "Are we allowed to come out here?"

The boy shook his head frowning and made a series of quick confusing gestures with his hands. I blinked, completely startled.
"Huh?"
The gestures again and a shrug. I smiled and nodded feinting understanding and gave a nervous smile. The boy looked disappointed and pointed to his neck then shook his head and made a few more gestures. I perked up, realizing he was the mute one. 
"Here, use my headset! It'll translate your thoughts into an automated voice so we can talk!" I slipped it off handing it out for him. He backed away like a timid deer, shaking his head frantically, making faster gestures now his eyes furrowed in fear. I furrowed mine too, confused.
"It's just a headset!" I trusted it out again and he backed up even more before turning and walking away glancing back at me in what looked like scared disappointment. I stared down at my headset. What was so scary about it? Everyone has one. Why didn't he? Why didn't anyone here? I shook my head and walked off back to my room, tried the doorknob, and found it locked.

I kicked the door in frustration and cried out dropping my headset. I let out a silent gasp and it hit the ground with a clatter and a sickening crack. The headset cracked down the center and a whole array of gears popped off their springs sending them flying and rolling across the floor. The reception nob cracked down the side and the solar panel on the headband shattered. I stared, mouth agape in shock and stood there frozen. How was I going to contact anyone? How was I going to get another one? How in hell was I going to get out of here?!