Chapter 1

"Have a good day at school, Rion," Mom said. She pushed a stray lock of his brown hair away before kissing his forehead.

"Okay," Orion responded. "See you at break time."

"Remember. You need to watch your time during the breaks."

"I know," he said with an exaggerated sigh like only a teenager was capable of doing.

"I received another email from one of your teachers about not returning to class on time."

"It's just so boring!" he explained and complained.

There were only a few subjects in school that seventeen-year old Orion liked. He was good at every topic so school didn't hold his interest. He did like math and logic but the problems presented were usually too easy. The teachers had to spend so much time with the other students who struggled to get it. What was there to get? It was simple. The perpetual boredom made it difficult to sit in class the whole school day.

If Orion was going to sit most of a day he'd rather do it plugged into Ground Racer. He gained access to the game a couple of weeks ago. It was awesome! The vehicles touched the ground as they moved, so he could feel every vibration as it travelled. They were so unlike modern hover fly vehicles. He loved every bump and shake. He was already good at it. He often defeated rival players when he hooked into the game through GameNet.

"School is only as boring as you chose to make it, Rion," Mom said. Her son was intelligent, but she knew he had much to learn.

"But..." he said then changed his mind. He didn't want to have this argument again. "I better get in."

Orion sat at his school desk. He was part of the vast circle of 150 students. Mrs. Epsil sat in the center of the class behind the big instructor's desk reviewing today's lesson. Orion glanced at his electronic tablet on his desk to see if her lesson was transmitted to the students. He wasn't eager for it. He had no interest in learning anything more about the proper methods to create a paragraph. Weren't there more important things to learn? The world was at war with the Gruus! Why weren't they taught how to help the war effort?

Aldara appeared at her desk. Orion immediately looked down at his tablet.

"Hi!" showed on the tablet's screen followed by a smiley face.

He responded back in the same manner. He looked across the circle and gave her a real smile.

"How are you?" she asked.

"Much better now that you are here. I hate school!" Orion typed back.

"Me too!" she replied. "Do you want to meet later? My place?"

"Okay." He added several smiley faces before sending the message to Aldara.

He dreamily stared at her. She did the same This day would be soooooo long waiting for school to end. He was distracted by Callie when she briefly faded out before coming back into view. She still needed to get her virtual connection fixed but unless her family's connection was completely out it took the government forever to come out and repair it.

The light in the corner of the room changed from a steady red to a slow blinking yellow. Class would start in a few minutes. Orion decided he should go to the bathroom before the first session started.

"Exit!" he called out. The classroom faded away and the VirtuRoom was empty. He stepped out of the room

"Are you on break already?" Mom asked.

"School hasn't started yet. I have to pee."

"Don't be late."

"Yes, Mom."

After the lunch break, Orion was ten minutes late returning to class. He had no interest in history. How could it be important when we were fighting the Gruus? Only the future mattered. He would have missed even more of the history lesson but when he heard his mom's footsteps he hurried back into the VirtuRoom. He wanted to start up Ground Racer but there was no way he could plausibly explain his absence to his mom. The other issue was it was too easy to lose track of time when playing Ground Racer and he would forget about Aldara. He hadn't seen her in real life for a couple of weeks, so he was eager to be with her.

He became mildly more interested when the math instructor came online. Mr. Berger's ending problem was to determine where a spaceship would end up after assuming certain values for thrust, gravity of nearby objects, and many other factors. It was called triangulation, but it was an old term that didn't accurately describe how a person determined the answer.

The students actively used their tablets to work out the correct answer except for Orion who stared out blankly. Time couldn't pass fast enough.

A message popped up on his screen and distracted him. It was from Aldara.

"Aren't you going to work on the problem?" she asked.

"I already figured it out," he replied. He could see it all in his head and after a quick double and triple check of his thought processes, he was certain of his solution. He knew where the hypothetical ship would be.

"What's the answer?" It included a smiley face.

A message appeared in red. It was from the teacher. "Each student must do his or her own work."

Orion shook his head. Mr. Berger had to know Aldara was joking, that the students knew the rules, and that the students knew the teachers could monitor all messages between students during class. Why did Mr. Berger have to overreact?

The school administrator appeared before the end of the class.

"Hello," he greeted the students. "I wish everyone a good rest of the day. Orion, please stay connected."

Orion looked at his tablet. Aldara sent a sad face. That was his feeling exactly. He wanted to disconnect and be done with school for the day.

In a few seconds, the teacher was disconnected too. it was only Orion and the administrator.

"Orion," he said. "You are being transferred to another class."

"I won't be late from break again," Orion immediately promised. School was bad enough by itself. It could only be worse if he didn't have Aldara to look at and message with during class.

"It has nothing to do with being late. I sent your parents the new connection information. You will start your new school tomorrow."

"Why?" he asked. Was his tardiness that offensive? Did he piss off the teachers too much? "This isn't fair."

"Have a good life, Orion."

"Sir..." he called out but the administrator disappeared. He sat alone for a couple of seconds before saying, "Exit!"

Orion walked out glumly. What was going on?

"Hurry, Nepti," Novia encouraged her six year old sister. "We have to go."

"I don't want to go!" She wanted her seventeen-year old sister to leave her alone.

"You can't stay home. You'll be all alone. Dad and Mom have to go into the fields today."

"I can help! I can do lots of things!"

"I know you can, Nepti, and you will be able to do even more things by going to school today."

Mom popped her head into the girls' room. Novia and Nepti were the only girls in a family of six children.

"How is everything?" Mom asked. "Is Neptinia cooperating, Novia?"

"Oh, sure," Novia said. "We're about ready to go."

Mom looked at the scowl on her youngest daughter's face and knew she was being a pain again. Nepti was always more of a problem when Novia had to take charge of her, but she needed to go out early to work the farm today with her husband.

"Nepti?" Mom inquired.

"I'm ready," the little girl said.

"Shoes," Mom gently reminded.

"Except for that," Novia said to help her sister.

"Have a good day," Mom said.

"You, too."

Mom left and Novia helped Nepti with her shoes.

"Come on!" she said when little sister was finally dressed.

Novia's two younger brothers, age eleven and nine, were waiting outside by the vehicle. Novia's two other brothers were eighteen and twenty-one so they were out of the house. She turned seventeen a couple of weeks ago, so she had another year to go.

She remotely entered the vehicle unlock code. Her siblings opened the doors and piled in. She sat up front and pushed the pre-programmed button for the school. The vehicle lifted six inches off the ground and headed off. During the drive, Novia programmed the vehicle to return home after they got out and to come back to pick them up when school let out. It took about ten seconds to do.

When Novia saw her friends, she gave each a friendly hug. Stasya and Siri were her best girl friends and Rigylin and Polari were her best boy friends. The five of them were the oldest of the nearly one hundred kids who came to the VirtuSchool building that served the rural families that lived out here. The government promised they would connect VirtuRooms to every household but like all programs it took forever.

Mr. Sanchez opened the front door of the school and the students filed in. Novia and her friends headed to the room that was appropriate for their age.

"Connect!" Stasya said when everyone was seated in a chair.

A teacher appeared before the students' eyes. Novia knew she was physically sitting right next to Stasya, but it now looked like her friend was sitting across the circle of desks.