Civilization Beyond the Stars - discontinued

12

A/N I am sorry for the long break but I faced with an unproductive spell of procrastination and the writers block. Thanks to jaya jha for the unintended encouragement that reminded me to continue writing. Thanks to mugdha tewari and ananyaverma7 for cover suggestions and thank you everybody else for simply reading and following the story and providing me with both encouraging and helpful feedback.

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The meeting was interesting in the start, but I ended up playing interview with my new friends later on. I will take pity and spare you the boring details.

After the council meet ended which took a long hour, I was absolutely clueless as to where I have to go. So, I subtly signaled to Ken and slipped out with Michael and Alicia. They seemed to know their way around pretty well (they lived there, duh!). We had not rounded the second corner when Alicia bumped into Ken, bursting into giggles recalling our earlier conversation.

"Hmm... you made aquaintence with the prince, good. Now run along boys, I am responsible for dropping you guys off at the academy."

With a quick goodbye with Alicia, I and Michael set off behind Ken. He led us in the opposite direction to the docks, we climbed down three landings and after a few turns entered a sort of garage. This winding journey got my directions messed up so bad that I was unable to tell which way we came from. Though my internal compass wasn't that great to begin with.

Though I tried to remember what I had seen during the short gliding-car ride, on seeing the academy it simply evaporated. Too insignificant for me to remember. We were not the only ones reaching the academy. There was a sea of cars and longer cars (or very sleek buses) at the gates to the academy. We had travelled above a thick forest for a long time before reaching here. The building itself was small and unimpressive compared to the palace. On seeing the thousands of students crowding at the gates, I reminded myself not to judge a book by its cover. There must be something more to it. The academy was located in a large clearing surrounded by dense forests on all sides. A metaled road ran around the main semi-spherical building. It was almost entirely made of glass and shone like a disco ball in the bright sunlight. The heat was not unbearable. Curtesy of the surrounding forests.

Even though others were waiting to get in, we did not face much of a problem. Why do I suspect that had something to do with Ken and his withering glares? I didn't like the fact that we were ushered through whereas others had to wait outside in the sun. After all we were also students and all the students should be treated equally.

I changed my mind when I saw one of the groups of students give me a threatening scowl. Glad to escape from their warm welcoming glares (hear the sarcasm). 

The gates opened to reveal a large reception. The room glowed with the warm sunlight and potted plants nicely contrasted the white surfaces. Everything was modern (or maybe I was from a not-very-advanced planet). The building was circular from inside. Even though there was a line of rooms towards the outer wall, there was a circular corridor running outside them. The building was huge from inside. From the outside, it seemed like a small place but the inside was simply bigger than the actual space occupied by it. I had the déjà vu feeling. Same as that on Ken's spaceship.

The center space was occupied by foilage. Tall trees and dense bushes made it impossible to see the other side of the round building. The sound of water flowing and falling along with the rustling of leaves could be distinctly heard. With sunlight slanting on the plants and lighting up the area, it looked like a forest accidently dropped in alien surroundings (which was true) (kind of). The area was big, stretching to the size of a basketball court. We followed a very sharply dressed woman with a face carved in stone to the foyer. There, she led us to a circular pedestal which was apparently the lift. For the most part, I tried to mimic Michael as he was obviously familiar with everything whereas I would've made a laughing stock of myself figuring out where to stand or what to do. I felt like a boy from stone age dropped in the middle of times square in my loincloth.

Glass slipped around us forming the walls to the lift as the pedestal rose and whisked us upward. The glass slid back in the ground noiselessly as I carefully stepped out drinking in the new surroundings. We were at the top floor as a dome shaped ceiling curved above us offering us a splendid view of the cloudless blue sky. There were no support columns to stop the vast expance of glass from crushing us all. I made a mental note to ask Daniel about not only the architectural soundness of the building but also about all the information that could affect me here, which his dad had failed or conveniently forgotten to tell me.

This floor was even bigger than the ground floor. I tried not to think of how this was possible as it gave me a splitting headache every time. Apart from the standard round corridor there were several other hallways branching off at regular intervals. The place was dimly lit and our footsteps were muffled by a plush carpet under our feet. it felt like walking in a corridor of a five-star hotel. The only difference was that instead of room numbers on the door, there were names written in calligraphy on golden boards stuck to the doors right above the peephole.

I couldn't keep the mischievous grin off my face as I started plotting malicious pranks, of which there were innumerable possibilities. A solitary door caught my sight as we scurried behind the lady. It wasn't literally solitary but seemed different from the others. In a way that sent a chill down my spine. A door which was witness to a terrible fate.

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I know this one was a shorter chapter and I'll try to upload longer ones in the future as it seemed apt to finish this on a cliffhanger.

some things to wonder about:

who were the hostile kids? were they in any way related to the solitary door? who was the occupant of that room? some pranks that our protagonist might play in the future.