Ley walked out of the shuttleport and onto the lift that connected the shuttle port to the main hub of Oasis Academy called The Library. As the lift, rose she yawned; it had been a long trip. Even at faster than light speed, it had taken over six hours to get from her home planet, Tia, to the academy. Oasis Academy was an artificial world; it covered 144 million square kilometers and it was also the best (and hardest to get into) school in this solar neighborhood. It functioned as both a high school and a college. Inside was a complete recreation of a mythical planet called "Earth"; it provided a neutral ground for students from all the 14 different planets and their colonies to learn how to take care of their own native planets. It also has an extensive technological program.
The lift emerged out of the blackness of the hull and into the even greater darkness of the deep ocean. In the darkness, she saw glowing lights dancing in the distance. After several minutes, the surrounding ocean started to get brighter and she started to see fish and other animals drifting by. As she neared the surface, she glimpsed some dolphins some distance away chasing a school of fish. The lift emerged out of the surface of the water and Ley gasped in open astonishment. Only now did she truly understand the vast scale of Oasis Academy.
In either direction was the ocean. Beyond that was land stretching on as far as the eye could see. As the lift rose, Ley could see more and more of the vast inverted floating sphere that was The Academy. She could see mountains, plains, forests, and lakes. Looking upwards the world was in darkness. The desert she knew was there was covered by a black cloak. Of course in the way of that view was the Library; it was a large sphere covered in glass arrayed around it was light and heat generating panels, literally miniature suns.
All of a sudden swooping away from The Library, Ley saw a small shuttle craft a "pod". They served as a small portable dorm and classroom for the students. For that reason, all incoming students were required to get certification in piloting one. As the pod came closer, she could see students inside laughing. The pod swooped around the lift tube in dizzying circles before soaring off toward a distant forest. Now more pods were coming from Library, swarming from all over and dispersing. The returning students orientation was over and they were returning to "class."
The lift entered the outer shell of the Library before coming to a rest in the main hall of Library. It was a truly magnificent sight. The curved wall went up several stories and were covered in greenery. The halls were bustling with activity. All of a sudden this strange girl bumped into Ley and almost knocked her over. Luckily she managed to right herself in time. Ley's first impression of the girl was that she looked awfully strange, but then again she was floating upside down in midair.
"Hey" she said. "you okay?"
"Hai, I mean yes I'm fine" Ley said. She hadn't expected this. Not that floating was unusual at home Ley just hadn't expected people to be so open about it.
The girl friends came up, "Seri watch where you're flying or... floating, I mean bouncing, or whatever you call it." The girl who spoke was dressed all in green with silvery-blue skin and short cropped dark hair. Seri, if that was her name, righted herself and began arguing with the blue girl who obviously wanted her to come down, now.
"Hello. I'm sorry about my friend." This one was a guy a bit taller then Ley with white hair, and he stood next to a girl that looked exactly like him. " My name is Adien Ise. This is my sister, Kira," he continued, gesturing to the look alike girl, who gave her a nod before returning her attention to the argument. "The one who almost knocked you over is SeriKeraTenDilaLaEsei but everyone calls her Seri. The bossy blue one is Saotomi Hai." That comment earned him a brief glare, which he promptly ignored. "Over there are Ruen and Osuni," Adien mentioned pointing to a small group of three off to the side who waved and started to come over, weaving around the people they encountered. Ley nodded slowly taking it all in. She realized Adien was looking at her expectantly and that Seri and Satomi had broken off their argument for the moment. So as Ruen, Osuni, and their friend, a girl who looked a year or two older, came over, she told them her name. "My name is Ley Xi-ala,..."Ley hesitated unsure whether to add more -but if they might be my friends I should be honest with them for the start, right?- so she forged ahead and told them her title, "...Kuruma".
The shock on their faces was evident. then came the questions inevitable.
"So you're a...?"
"Are you really from Tia?"
"What is it like?"And so on. Ley patiently waited for the storm of questions to pass, slightly annoyed by their overwhelming, if understandable, curiosity.
"What about your eyes?" The last question came from the girl that came with Ruen and Osuni, and upon seeing my confused look she introduced herself. "Oh, my name is Natilaya Gorzoni. I'm helping out with orientation, and heard you'd be coming."
"Hey, what's all this about? Eyes?" Seri asked so confused she swung upright again.
"Well.." began Ruen "you've heard of Midnights right?"
"Sure," Seri replied. " those mysterious funky named shape shifters with super advanced technology and glowing eyes that everyone is all freaked out about, " Ruen gave her a significant look that told her just how stupid she was being at the moment. Seri lacking anything constructive to say; simply overbalanced, slipped and fell on her head. The group consensus was to ignore her so, Natilaya returned to her question
"I thought you couldn't change your eyes?" Ley sighed.
"Most can't that's one of the reasons I was chosen, well and I had almost finished school back home and they didn't know what to do with me."
"We'd heard that a representative from Tia would be chosen to attend this year, and we knew they were called Kuruma but that was all, " Natilya explained.
"How do you change your shape?" asked Saotomi getting down to business. "Is it similar to how Seri floats? She won't tell us how she does it."
"I can't answer the first question, but it is not at all like how Seri floats. As for how Seri does it, I can show you." Ley explained mysteriously. Saotomi couldn't decide whether to feel disappointed or exited, so she settled on curious.
"You mean you can do it too?" She asked quite surprised. Ley just grinned and walked over to Seri where she was still on the floor. As Ley approached, Seri looked up
"I'm sorry about earlier" She began.
"It's okay it was an accurate description, anyway," Ley admitted helping Seri to her feet.
"Can I borrow your ปั่นด้าย (Pan Day)?" Lay asked whispering.
"You can use them?" Seri asked surprised. Ley nodded as Seri handed her three. "Is that enough for now?"
"Should be, I'll return them later," Ley agreed. As she walked back to Saotomi, Kira appeared to take an interest coming over from where she had been talking with Osumi quietly. Ley moved her arms around experimentally, trying to get a feel for these Panday. She smiled at everyone's confused faces, before shooting nine feet up in the air.
Ley swung around in the air. She had forgotten how fun กระดอน (Kradxn) or bouncing was. She hadn't done it for years. After about a minute, she dropped back down.
"Wha, how?" Adien managed to get out, which was more than anyone else had managed. Everyone looked equally shocked. Except Seri and, suprisingly, Kira who just grinned and asked calmly.
"Where'd you learn?" Saotomi whipped around, "You can do it too?Why didn't you tell us? How does it work?"
"I can't bounce" replied Kira I've tried but I'm not very good, and as for how it works I'm sure Ley can answer that better than I can."
"I learned at school" Ley explained "I specialized in Xenology. That's why I'm here, to study abroad. As for how it works you leave the hard work up to the ปั่นด้าย (Panday). "Ley held out a panday to show them. They peered closer at her seemingly empty hand. Saotomi was the first to spot the almost invisible ball of fluff. "Go ahead," Ley urged it as it climbed onto Saotomi's arm. Ley was about to explain how the ปั่นด้าย spun threads that you balanced on but just as she was about to do so, a chime rang out through the air. It was time for orientation to begin.
As Ley and the rest of the group made their way over toward a platform at the back of the hall, a voice called out. "Natilya, Natilya over here." The boy waving had dark hair and an infectious smile. He was standing with a small girl and a boy with long multicolored hair.
"Kekakiko!" Natilaya called, "Good to see you." The two groups joined up under a tree. Natilaya began introducing everyone, "...... and this is Ley Xi-ala Kuruma" Kekakiko looked surprised and glanced at Ley quizzically but didn't say anything more.
He then began introducing his group, "I'm Kekakiko Faluen, this is Mia Kinma..." the small girl waved and began climbing the tree for a better view.
" River Icefire" the boy with cool hair interrupted before he could be introduced.
"The're gonna start soon," Ruen commented. "We should all climb the tree."
"Is that allowed?" wondered Saotomi.
"Sure," replied Kekakiko "Students do it every year." It took awhile but everyone got into the tree with time to spare.
"I hope we're in the same pod," commented Seri, "That would be fun."
"Actually, there's a good chance we will be put together. The pods are organized, at least at first by who meets who at orientation." Ley could tell that River was about to comment on something, but orientation had started.
"Hello everybody," the person standing on the platform said loudly. He waited a minute for everyone to stop talking. "My name is Hoi-ni and I teach Climate Systems. Up there," he said, gesturing to a balcony "is our Librarian/Director, Isa, but she's very shy so she leaves all the talking to me." This led to a few chuckles. "This is a very big group so we're going to divide you into your pods right away." Hoi-ni continued taking out a list. "In Pod 1 with Eva we have Ante Godonva, David Exixnianx, ..."This went on for some time. The kids whose names were called left, making their way through the crowd. The only exception was when he called pod 4 a group of kids near the tree Ley was sitting in started pushing their way roughly through the crowd causing a brief commotion. Then it was their turn, or almost but not quite "... Pod 7 with Coran we have Saotomi Hai, Ruen, Osuni, Ta-KAg, Mia Kinma, Japoui Hou, and SeriKaraTenDilaLaEesi..."
"Bye," Ley whispered as they slid or fell respectively down the tree. After what seemed like an hour but was probably only a couple of minutes, Ley's name was called along with everyone else remaining in the tree with her.
"...Pod 13 with Yui we have Adien Ise, Kira Ise, Natilya Gorzoni, Zoe Adel, River Icefire, Kekakiko Faluen, and Kuruma Ley Xi-ala..."