The Weight of Our World

Learning

Gheetoh powered ahead at a pace that we were just about able to keep up with without breaking into a jog.
She spoke as we went, pointing out places to eat, shop and entertain us, all of which were run entirely by the students that inhabited the planet.
The buildings were not in a simple grid or obvious pattern, more European than American, so it took many twists, turns and climbing up and down the odd level to reach our destination.
The streets opened up and the walls fell back. 
Grass covered the ground, broken up by paved pathways.
The area was divided up by rows of plants and fountains, the variety of both was astounding.  Wherever you looked there was a different view; bright and colourful, simple and elegant, refined and mono-coloured, wild and overgrown…  Every possible garden you could potentially imagine, and many more that you never would, rose up around us.
Gheetoh slowed her pace to allow for us to take in the environment. 
There was not a single recognizable plant in sight.
The smells covered every scent you can imagine; pleasant, floral, sweet, fresh, crisp, pungent, rank, nauseating…  With each area a new fragrance hit us, some far less pleasant that others, clearly grown for races with particular scent receptacles or plants that had a specific purpose; medicinal or edible.
In and amongst all of the flora we beings of every variety.
Either in the midst of a lesson, seeing to the upkeep and landscaping or simply relaxing, all of the sentient life forms of the galaxy were represented there before us.
I could not help but feel a massive pang of jealousy.
The were simply living life; learning new things and hanging out with friends and peers, as though their world had not just ended.
I tried to recall what that felt like, however the mere idea felt foreign to my mind.
As we made our way across the park, there was not single head that did not turn in our direction.
It occurred to me a little late that, to anyone who had not been aboard the Screnac, human beings had likely never been seen in person before.
Along with the staring came pointing, not in any kind of ridicule or derision, but between beings, bringing one another’s attention to us.  Whispered voices and concealed words were spoken as noise and conversations dissolved as we passed by.
As oppressively overbearing as addressing the whole humanity had been, I had known the people that I was speaking to.  To a degree, I could gauge their reactions and figure out the best way to phrase things.
The scrutiny that came from every direction was terrifying.  I managed to move my trajectory so that I was in the middle of the group.  With any luck, I would be another face in a crowd of much more interesting people.
Other than the occasional glance at the continuously changing surroundings, I kept my eyes trained on either Gheetoh or the ground.
After what felt like forever yet was, in reality, only a few lals, we came to a stop.
On the grass in front of us stood three beings; a tharat, a sheenar and a pink.
Orthus smiled and stepped forwards, indicating that I should come forward to great him.
“Welcome, Laura MacPhaid, welcome everyone,” his voice was carefully schooled to be loud enough to be heard by us yet at a volume that would elude anyone that he was not addressing.
The spell broke and the residents of the park returned to their business, with only the occasional nosy glance in our direction.
“I would like to introduce Nepti Usad, it will be explaining and assigning you to the appropriate areas of study as well as leading the first mandatory introduction session to cover the basics that everyone needs know.”
I breathed an inward sigh of relief and I suspect each of my companions did also.  During our night of research, we had discovered that the sheenar are androgynous, being neither male or female.  Nowhere had we been able to find anything that would tell us how to refer to an individual.  Our collective guess had supposed that instead of he or she, it would probably be they.  However, I could not help but worry that, whatever it was to be, we would get it wrong upon our first encounter with one and wind up offending someone.  Orthus had just saved us all from the potential political incorrectness.
The sheenar stepped forwards and offered a dipped head in greeting, its voice echoed into our heads, “I look forward to getting to know you all and helping you to realize your potential in our dealings together.”  If there was anything to be said about hearing a telepath speaking directly into your head, it would be that it felt entirely natural.  There was no invasion, just a voice, or rather an understanding of what it was saying without it using actual words.
“And this is Ishni Weisot,” the pink stepped forwards and Orthus addressed me specifically, “he will be working with you Laura MacPhaid, to refine and develop your ability.”
As first impressions go, Ishni certainly avoided making a good one.
He looked me up and down with squinted eyes, it turns out that the look adopted for judging someone translates to most other species.
The forest green feathers that covered his shoulders twitched, I can only assume in distaste, and he gave a fed up sigh as he twitched his soft beak and nodded his head in acknowledgement of my existence.
Despite being the most beautiful creature that I had had ever beheld up until that point, he definitely held a very specific opinion of me and my ability, or maybe it was simply because I was human.
I returned the nod with an expression that I hoped would convey the respect that I knew instinctively that I should feel.
I have had a bad track record when it came to training; if I did not respect my instructor or understand the reason or value of the subject matter, I would always do my best to reject the whole experience and undermine the person who was really just trying to do their job or help me.
I was determined that training in telekinesis would not be something that I could take lightly.  I would do my absolute utmost to be patient and absorb what I was to be taught, no matter how frustrated I became.
However Ishni had certainly put my back up without even saying a word.  My hopes failed a little, yet I decided that, if he was looking down his nose at me, he must have plenty of experience and wisdom that would make it worth me schooling my patience.
It would push me to the limit, however I knew that I had to try.
“If you would all take a seat wherever you find comfortable, I have uploaded forms that will help me to organize the appropriate lessons,” Nepti’s voice slid through my mind, “feel free to leave any areas blank if you do not understand or wish to respond.  I will come around to each of you to discus your options.”
It took a few minutes for everyone to get settled and into the forms that were sent to each tablet, however it was done with gusto.  Many questions were asked and answered, to the satisfaction of everyone present.  The system that they had in place was so much more efficient than any I had ever come across before that it almost begged belief. 
It took less than fifteen minutes for everyone to be assigned the curriculum that either suited them best or that they chose.  There were a few courses that must be undertaken by at least one person; such as law, communication, health and medical care, as well as a few others.  Each of these were taken by those who had been advised to on board the Screnac.  I was even able to choose one for myself, despite the fact that I was there for a different reason than the others, Orthus suggested that I have something else to do in my spare time so that my brain was nourished as well as my body during the training.
I chose language.
Admittedly, I have never been very good at picking up languages, my brain learns words in a way that is difficult to teach.  The mandatory five years of French lessons in secondary school, left me with next to no actually usable French, however the same amount of time spent watching subtitled anime had given me almost conversational Japanese.
With the way that the translators work, I heard their words yet interpret them as what I could understand, which is not dissimilar from hearing the Japanese whilst reading the words.  I had been able to absorb and retain the information in the same way.  I also wanted to learn how to write in as many different languages as possible, which required a bit more concentration.
With the decisions made and the teachers apparently inbound, we were then lead back to our own building which, as it turned out, was an entire learning facility within the same walls that we slept.
Over the four floors there were several rooms that would then be fitted to suit the purposes of our chosen areas of learning.  Laboratories were set up with chemical components and equipment never before dreamed up, surgeries were set up with cloned body parts and realistic simulations, kitchens were set up with every food grown across multiple words and tools to play with, a green house was set up on the roof with every sample of plant life that could be found on Virrion, a garage was set up with an industrial 3d printer that was capable of creating elements from the most complex circuit boards to working parts of vehicles and ships.  Several rooms were created for different styles of learning and study.  A library of reference material and research documents sat next to a quiet study and reading area that was comprised almost entirely of moldable cushions.
Our resources seemed limitless.
On the roof, next to the greenhouse and beneath a lattice of solar panels, was an area for my training.
The floor was different from one corner to the next, soft, smooth, rough, hard…  it was decorated with a few simplistic plants and the odd painting of words in languages that I had yet to learn.  In my head, I saw it as my very own dojo.