Stephanie glanced quickly at the woman and hurried out, half afraid the teacher would change her mind. She could only hope her next class was an improvement. Determined not to let the irritation upset her, she jogged into the room and made it halfway before she stopped abruptly and gasped. Standing at the bottom where the professor should be was a huge, broad-shouldered Dreth. He had long dreadlocks and very dark-green skin, and his two tusks jutted from his bottom jaw, sharpened to a point. He slammed his fist into his hand and bowed his head.

  She glanced hastily around the room, uncertain about what to do. It seemed common sense though, from what she knew about Dreth, that they weren’t formal creatures and had little to no finesse to them. So she simply went with it, slammed her fist into her palm, and bowed to him. The Dreth immediately changed into another professor. This one was perhaps in his fifties, with a pleasant smile, black shaggy hair, a black trench coat, and a tall, fit body. Several scars marred his cheeks.

  He shook his finger at Stephanie. “Very good. My name is Professor Van Borrow and I am an avatar created in the likeness of the great biologist and former Federation soldier who received many honors for slaying Dreth pirates. I have also studied Dreth culture for many, many years. I can already tell that you will do well here. Please, have a seat. Take a load off. I know you came from Powerful When You Present—stupid class.”

  Stephanie chuckled and her tension eased a little. While he seemed like someone a lot easier to get along with, she still really wanted to be on Meligorn. She couldn’t help it. That was what she’d thought she would be doing.

  BURT immediately took notice. He narrowed his focus and watched intently as Professor Van Borrow began to draw on the board.

  The AI entered a command and sent it to the system. Stephanie watched the professor write as she leaned forward with her chin in her hand. Suddenly, his body began to shift and shake. Confused, she fixed her attention on him in an effort to determine what the problem might be. When he had stopped shaking, he whirled and threw the trench coat from his shoulders. He was no longer the professor but instead, a Meligornian.

  Pretending again to be a game engineer, BURT spoke from above. “I could tell your frustration. I’ll make sure you know enough before you leave. For now, why don’t you interact with a Meligornian?”

  Stephanie jumped up, immediately excited. The Meligornian looked at his clothes, which were now all too small since he had replaced the professor. He motioned quickly and changed into long, flowing robes. “Ah. That is better.”

  She walked forward and extended her arm to take his with her other hand up and pinky tall. They both bowed. “Kaitel Gorniffula,” she said formally.

  “You may call me L’Shy.” He smiled. “Let’s make this more comfortable, shall we?”

  He waved his arm again and transported them to the same arena in Meligorn where she had been before. L’Shy sighed and rubbed his hands together. “That’s better. Shall we start with some discussion, then?”

  They sat in the center of the field and discussed their families. She learned that Meligorn had a bond with their children like humans did, but when the parent died, the child received the magic from that parent. It was strong and helped them to move through life, almost like a spirit guide with powers.

  L’Shy looked up at the sky. “We have always been a peaceful planet. We don’t enjoy fighting the Dreth pirates but now that we all move so quickly through the galaxy, we have to protect our way of life. When the first Earth human was brought to our planet, it was curious. No one feared because we had no reason to. It was rather like an animal that has never been hunted watching a bowman pull an arrow right in front of it.”

  Stephanie sighed. “But we exist peacefully, right?”

  He smirked. “For the most part, yes. But when we saw the history of humans and the destruction, war, murder, mass killings, and so on, we realized that it might be advisable to keep an arm’s length. Joining the Federation in a common cause was our first step to make sure there would be peace between us.”

  Stephanie nodded as she flipped her finger over a blade of grass. L’Shy stood and reached down to pull her to her feet. “Enough of the boring. Let’s do a little magic.”

  If the truth be told, BURT was as anxious as she was to proceed with the magic side of things. In his determination to help her, he had discovered his own lack—one which hindered the progress of his Primary Rule. The simple fact was that, as an AI, he did not have the capacity to either understand or perform magic. He was, however, supremely intelligent. While his lack had, at first, left him a little nonplussed, he had resorted to his default—data. There was a wealth of data on Meligorn and its magic available to even a mediocre AI that did not have his intelligence or limitless resources.

  In the same way that he was able to update, for example, the Dreth pirates with latest developments, BURT was able to assimilate all the available knowledge—which included the actual working of magic that he couldn’t even begin to understand—into the avatars he had created with the express purpose of serving as teachers for his student. Thankfully, her knowledge and experience was still limited, which meant that he had the opportunity to grow his “skills” in the Virtual World as hers grew alongside. For BURT, she provided the optimum learning curve he needed to expand his thinking to encompass the enormous task he had set before him.

  L’Shy stepped forward. He put his arms out and swirled them around his head. The energy gathered with him and he pushed it from his fingertips. Stephanie watched as it spiraled forward to create a tornado in the center of the field. The wind blew wildly as he used his hands to control the twister’s movements.

  The teacher called over his shoulder, “Join me!”

  And so she did. Together, the two danced twisters across the field, weaved them together, zigzagged them across each other, and eventually, collapsed them and dissipated their power. Stephanie laughed wildly and felt a little drunk with her knowledge of sipping the battery. They practiced a few smaller magical workings, mostly to help her learn how to control the difference in MR potency from place to place. When they were done, the Meligorn gave her the traditional goodbye and immediately transformed into the Dreth professor.

  Stephanie sighed wistfully as Meligorn faded away and melted into the rocky planes of Dreth. It was dusty and barren, everything a drab rusty-red. A bitter smell pulled unpleasantly at her nose. The professor, still in Dreth form, put one fist in his palm and bowed, and Stephanie responded.

  “I will go through a really fast review of what you need to know while in the training,” he explained.

  She listened attentively and made notes on the tablet section of her arm computer. When they had worked through it, he sent her back to the empty classroom. Her heart felt much lighter and she was glad that she’d had the chance to do a little magic. Someone out there was looking out for her.

  Her mind filled with the Meligorn experience, she hurried up the steps and out the door but slowed as she turned the corner and noticed the three guys from earlier in front of her. They turned and nodded, all of them practically smoking. The one on the right patted out a red burning spot on his uniform. “I would give anything to come out of a class looking like that.”

  Stephanie chuckled. “What are you guys doing?”

  One of them cracked his back. “We came over here to grab some stuff, but we are doing action and military.”

  Stephanie’s eyes sparkled. “Nice. Do you think I could join you?”

  They exchanged glances, obviously confused and therefore hesitant. The one in the middle blinked and stared at her. “As what?”

  She shrugged and tried not to feel judged. “A magic user. I’m fairly good at it.”

  All three guys burst out laughing. The one on the end waved to her. “What the hell. It will be at least one other person to take some damage and share the pain.”

  A little perturbed, she pursed her lips. “Damage? Pain?”

  They all laughed again. “Oh sure,” the guy in the middle snarked in playful banter. “What do you think that flesh-toned leotard is for? You feel everything here exactly like you do on Earth. That includes pain. If you really think about it, how else will you learn?”

  The guy on the end elbowed the one in the middle. “She’s a virgin. This ought to be good.”

  The leader put his hand out. “I’m Chris, the asshole in the middle is Paul, and the guy with the unsat pink hair there is Erin.”

  Stephanie was still stuck on them calling her a virgin. How could they possibly know that? She pushed the thought aside and shook his hand. “Stephanie.”

  The four of them headed to the Dreth building shaped like a giant spaceship. When they walked inside, Chris typed his code in and the room flickered and filled with weapons. He removed a red disc from the wall, walked over to Stephanie, and pushed it into the fabric of her uniform on her chest. When it was secure, he nodded. “Give it a whack. It should be the girl one, so you shouldn’t get any smashed— Yeah, just hit it.”

  She gave him a deadpan look and slapped the disk, then tumbled back a step or two. Paul caught her, laughing. She now wore body armor—more structural then the guys’, thankfully, and reasonably comfortable. Paul held out a gun. “You’ll need one of these.”

  She stared at it for a second but didn’t take it. Instead, she walked to the wall and selected two medium-sized batteries. She bounced them up and down in her hands and shook her head. “These will be fine.”

  The guys looked at each other and Paul shook his head. “It’s your ass, lady.”

  Erin slapped his hand against a diagram on the wall. There were two ships, a Federation one and a Dreth one. “We have to get a speed vessel—which is a fighter ship—out of the Federation mastership and fly it over to the Dreth ship. It sounds easy, but the first time, it’s disorienting because the artificial gravitation on those things is really weak. It’s like walking on a bunch of small trampolines.”

  “Moon shoes.” Stephanie snickered as she recalled the old-ass pair Todd had bought offline and had on a shelf in his room.

  Erin stared at her for a minute. “Uh, yeah, sure. So, when we get there, we have to take the ship. We’ve played this dumbass battle…I don’t know, twenty, thirty times? It’s a pirate episode, so we can’t pass the class until we clear the operation.’

  Paul shoved a dagger into a sheath on the side of his calf, his foot up on the bench. “Yeah, but none of the good players wanted to help us. So here we are in summer school.”

  Stephanie spun the battery through her fingers like a baton and stepped closer to the diagram. She could already identify a tactic.

  Chapter Thirty

  “Are you ready?” Paul asked with a smile and his fist hovered over a red button on the wall.

  The guys shouted confirmation and a rush of adrenaline pulsed through Stephanie. She wore a belt with two dangling pockets. A battery was stowed in one and she held the other in her hand. Paul slammed his fist on the button and the room immediately became the inside of a Federation ship. Everything was dark-gray and large funneled metal tubes bound together ran all over the ship’s walls and ceiling.

  She looked around and took care to keep her feet planted. Even inside the main ship, she could feel the difference in gravity. Chris grabbed her arm and pulled her down the hall. “Come on, newbie, stay with us. Follow them to the speed vessel.”

  Stephanie nodded and broke into a run. It took a moment for her to find her pace. Once she got it, though, she could run faster than she could on Earth. They headed down the long tunnels and the sound of their boots slamming against the grated floor echoed around them. They turned right and headed down a set of steps into a hangar bay.

  A Federation general stood in front of the last ship in the row. “All right soldiers,” he barked. “Man up. This is your time. Collect that ship and kill those Dreth pirate sons of—”

  Paul ran right past him and waved Stephanie forward. “Avatar. Come on. We’ve heard it a million times.”

  She hurried after them onto the speed vessel. It was small, with four chairs up front and a small area in the back with computers and weapons strapped to the walls. As she entered, the hatch shut behind her. She took a seat beside Erin and watched as he put the belts on. She did the same, snapped them on each side, and pulled the front to tighten it across her chest.

  Chris sat in the driver’s seat, pressed several buttons, and pushed forward on the lever. They hurtled forward down a small tunnel and the far end opened slowly. As they approached, Chris hollered like a cowboy, turned the ship sideways, and made it through the half-opened space. As soon as the craft emerged, a sudden jolt threw Stephanie’s arms and legs up. Chris activated the gravitational balance, which helped her lower them again.

  She watched out the huge front window of the ship as they sped around and to the back of the Dreth pirate ship. It was distracted, fighting a fleet of fighter ships from the Federation. Chris spun the ship around, guided the craft like a wild man, and steered through a hatch at the back. He looked at Paul, who typed feverishly on a tablet. He had hacked the ship to let them in and now closed the passage behind them.

  They all released their belts and pushed to their feet and Chris checked that her armor was still active. He grabbed the neck of her suit to keep her steady. “They’ll come strongly right out of the gate. Don’t hesitate or they’ll get you.”

  Stephanie mustered her courage, the whole thing as exciting as hell, and gripped her battery. They poured out of the speed vessel and ducked behind its wing to avoid the laser guns that had already begun to fire at them. The three guys immediately returned fire. Chris used a pistol laser gun, Paul a larger one with a winding barrel on the bottom that spat sparks, and Erin threw some kind of electrified blades. Immediately, Stephanie moved in and hurled flames at the attackers.

  All three guys stopped, their eyes wide. Paul’s lip twitched. “She can throw magic?”

  Chris grabbed them both and pushed them to the ground as a piece of equipment exploded nearby. “Never mind that. It’s flames on a ship. I don’t think that’s good.”

  Stephanie threw one, then another, and another. She eliminated three Dreth and missed a couple of others. Her team’s yells penetrated her focus and she glanced quickly at them while she tried to avoid the enemy fire. They waved their arms and screamed frantically. She shook her head, squinted her eyes, and pointed at her ear. “I can’t… I can’t hear you!”

  As she focused more intently on them, she didn’t see the Dreth jump up from behind cover and fire at her. The blast struck her in the shoulder and threw her back against a bulkhead. She groaned and instinctively touched the scorched skin on her arm. Dazed and in pain, she barely felt it when Chris grabbed her, laughing, and hauled her down on the ground and behind shelter.

  He pushed her back against the wall and patted the cinders on her suit. Erin nodded with a grin. “Welcome!”

  They laughed and immediately resumed fire. Erin turned his head toward her. “You popped your cherry.”

  Her head began to clear and anger filled her chest as she stared at the Dreth who’d shot her. Then the words Erin had just said floated back through her mind and her face softened as a laugh echoed from her chest. She had finally figured out what the hell they were all laughing about.

  She shook her fist and felt the burn in her shoulder. “Not a virgin anymore, boys.”

  They cheered as they fought back. She glanced around and pulled up onto her knees.

  “Paul,” she yelled as she grabbed his arm and yanked him toward her.

  He ducked slightly as something exploded close to their position. “Yeah?”

  Stephanie pointed at the floor about three feet in front of her. “I want you to aim right here.”

  Paul looked at her like she was nuts. “What the hell for?”

  A smirk pulled at her lips and her eyes began to glow orange. “Yes? Okay?”

  He pursed his lips and glanced at the pirates who now moved closer, then shrugged. She grinned encouragement as he turned and aimed his gun at the ground where she pointed. With him ready, she shuffled slightly to the right and stood quickly. As she brought her arm up, a golden lasso trailed from her fingertips and she swung it over her head. She thrust her arm forward and threw the loop, which settled neatly over the shoulders of the Dreth who had shot her. With a smug laugh, she pulled it tight and yanked as hard as she could.

  The Dreth yelled in confusion as he was dragged backward off his feet. He landed hard and slid fast as she hauled him toward her, and the end of the energy lasso piled at her feet. His arm impacted the side of the ship and his gun caught, which dragged it from his hand. He flailed, grunted, and yelled in the Dreth language as he slid relentlessly to the spot where Paul aimed his weapon.

  Paul had a huge grin on his face as he stepped forward slowly and awaited his target. The Dreth came to a stop with the barrel of the gun against his head. “Hi, my name is Paul, and I’ll be the one who kills you today.”

  Then, he pulled the trigger.

  Paul put his hand over his head and gripped his hair, laughing hard. “Did you see that shit? That damn lasso was like…I don’t even know. Where did you even come up with that?”

  Stephanie shrugged and unstrapped the belt from her waist. “Wonder Woman.”

  Paul looked confused. “Who?”

  She glanced at him. “She was a female comic book hero. A big-ass movie came out a long, long time ago. Her lasso made you tell the truth. Mine makes you face it.”

  Chris jumped up and slapped the beam as they walked down the hall toward the elevators of the barracks. “I don’t care who it was modeled after, that was genius.”

  “Farthest we’ve ever been,” Erin said and turned to take her hand and hold it to his chest. “Thank you. Seriously. We made it farther and we did it as a team. Do you want to try again tomorrow?”

  Stephanie smiled, pulled her hand away, and slapped him on the head. “I’m down. It would be really nice, too, because this is my first ever experience with anything military. I could honestly use some help when it comes to that side of things.”