Isolation

Chapter 02

Following VAL's command, every student, along with their wolves, followed inside for schooling and training. Some of them joked around, saying they were going to skip one day.

The academy itself was really big. It had to be to accommodate every child that lived in the colony and even more in the future. In the past, teachers had to teach the class. Now, they're virtual, much like everything here that worked. They entered the courtyard, the giant oak tree looming over them with the power of nature. Next to the courtyard was the cafeteria and P.E. to get the juices flowing in the brain. Then, there was the training room for the students to spar.

Mark had first block (first class of the day) with James, which was, of course, Microbiology. The wolves went off to train with verified trainers for combat and honing their instincts. As their owners, the students had to order them directly. Mark, especially, wasn't worried about losing Blaez anywhere. Their communicators also had a tracking system that showed their wolves on a map. With the tracker inside of them, they're easy to find in large crowds. Holding the map vertically highlighted the wolf in the small window.

Using the desks with the virtual desktop, they studied for a few more minutes before taking the test. James passed it with flying colors. Mark made a nearly perfect score. He only missed two questions, and he was pretty sure James was going to make fun of him for it. Guess that's what friends are for, but he couldn't help but feel like he didn't do his best.

Second block was with Sara, and they were studying more history. It was mostly a relapse of old information polished with new data. The new stuff was always about inventions and technology like the Silver Suits and weapons. There's nothing new on the Drax that they didn't already know about since the first day of school.

When they found a live Drax in that ship, they couldn't believe the anatomy of the creature. It was a biologically-engineered android, so to speak, that resembled its maker, the Inaugru. They were created to capture and experiment on new species of life forms to learn and understand them better. Looking at the minimal amount of historical records, it was clear what had happened. There was an error in their programming. The Drax had determined the Inaugru had developed into a more advanced species after creating a new life form. They had become something more powerful and intelligent.

The Drax had to experiment on them.

The Inaugru were determined to be a threat and were destroyed by the Drax. They didn't stop there. Ever since then, the Drax had been on the hunt, capturing, studying, and ultimately killing sentient species across the milky way.

Humans were next on their list.

Their experiment was basic at first. They watched Earth for years, sometimes making the mistake of exposing themselves. It didn't have any lasting repercussions. They hacked satellites and learned how humans communicated and worked in their everyday life. When they tried to escape on the Arks, they made sure to contain their specimens. We were developing a pattern similar to the Inaugru, and they didn't want a recurrence of another potentially dangerous species like themselves. They wanted to be in control.

They have weapons similar to guns called plasma rifles that can incinerate a person in mere moments. The colony's only means of fighting them are their katanas, which Mark and the other students demonstrated after lunch in their third and final block of the day: training.

At first, they use plastic rods to spar with other people. James was still clumsy, and Sara was getting very good. When Mark did it, everyone just watched him in wonder. He still didn't understand it. He's always told how good he is in combat. Sara tells him fighting with a sword comes naturally to him. Long-range, however, was a different story.