“It’s crazy!” I exclaimed.
“It is a good lesson for young kids like you. You learn how to overcome the obstacle and enjoy the process at the same time. There will always be those that will try to bring you down but you have to remember that there are also people that will support you. Obstacles are everywhere in life but overcoming them can bring you joy and happiness.”
After racing across a field of thousands of marbles and fighting through rows after rows of giant spider webs they were finally at the final challenge. They had to jump through five fiery loops that constantly change sizes. While the mantis jumped through one by one with little difficulty, the baboon seemed hesitant. It carefully jumped though the first ring but when it got close to the fire its fur turned from red to a dark blue.
“OH NO. It’s allergic to the fire!” Fairy shouted.
The Designers noticed it too and instantly changed the fire into some red liquid, like lava. Baboon’s face lit up and it proceeded to jump through with no hesitation.
“Sometimes it’s not just about the winning or losing, Designers also need to learn to understand and respect opponent’s conditions and feelings. They usually design the environments according to the Racers’ talents and sizes. They can’t just design based on their own preferences. I remember this particular game where the two of the competitors had to help each other or they would have never completed the race.”
“The Designer was brilliant!”
“That was me!” Fairy giggled with pride while its body gleamed.
Mantis and Baboon now both lie on the ground at the checkpoint, gasping, exhausted from the race. They patted each other on the head as if saying “good game, my friend.”
The final lap.
The team in the silver sent in a small robot and it was sitting in a vehicle that looked like a flying saucer. There were no crazy obstacles on the track, only a few black and white springboards that would appear and then disappear.
“What are those for?” I asked.
“Those are the speeds boards. The black one makes you accelerate four times faster for two seconds. While the white one makes you accelerate only two times faster but for four seconds.”
“Which one is better?”
“It depends.”
The robot was racing across the tack on its flying saucer with incredible speed. It successfully hit the first black speed board and sped up even faster. Finally, the team in yellow sent in their last Racer. It was wearing a huge helmet and yellow body suit. It also had two arms, two legs and resembled a human but what caught my eyes was what it was using as a vehicle - a pair of shinning black roller skates!!!
“OH MY GOD!” I screeched. “It’s Achilles!”
The Racer in yellow started on the track at a normal pace but as it glided along it got faster and faster. Leaning forward, it swung its arms in rhythm with its legs, moving swiftly as if it was a professional speed skater. It hit the first black speed board, then it hit two white ones and just like that it caught up with the robot. Just when you thought the Racer in yellow was going to overtake the team in silver like a lion pouncing on a gazelle the robot pulled away by hitting another white speed board.
“AWWW! SO CLOSE!” I screamed.
Nevertheless, the skater didn’t give up and hit two more white speed boards to narrow the gap between it and the robot. The finishing line was in sight and on the track, ahead of the two Racers, a black speed board and a white one appeared simultaneously.
“Black!”
“No, White!”
“NO! BLACK!”
I screamed and jumped frantically while pulling on Fairy’s feathers, it yelled in pain.
The team in silver chose the black one and yellow chose the white. The robot still kept the lead as they near the finish line. My heart sank, feeling little bit disappointed.
“WHAT!?”
All of a sudden a white speed board appeared on the left side of the track near the finish line. It happened so fast the robot couldn’t hit it. The Racer in yellow on the other hand didn’t miss it and glided onto the speed board gracefully, propelling it forward. In a blink of an eye both Racers crossed the finish line. It was very close, the distance that separated them was probably only a few inches, but in the end the team in yellow won.
The crowd exploded with screams and cheers!
“YES!” I hugged Fairy and shook it enthusiastically (Well… a more accurately description would be I grabbed it like a soda can and shook it violently. Fairy almost fainted.).
“Let’s go find Achilles! It must be him!!!”
I squeezed through the crowd with Fairy following close behind. Everyone was talking about the Racer in yellow. I couldn’t help but feel a little proud that an earthling just defeated the aliens, just like in the movies.
“He’s over there!” I strained my neck and caught a glimpse of the yellow helmet.
“Achilles!!! ACHILLES!!!” I leapt up and down frantically.
“Watch out, kid! Watch out! Be careful!!” Fairy kept shouting but I ignored it.
“OUCH!”
I tripped over a tiny student that I didn’t see in front of me and fell face first onto the floor. The crowd went silent and everyone just stood there staring at me. There I was, on the floor, face down and my body in an awkward position. I didn’t want to get up, I was very embarrassed.
“Beanie, is that you?”
The skater glided through the crowd and stood in front of me. It took off its helmet.
It was Nightingale.
“Beanie, is that you?”
16
3D MAZE
I developed a good sense of direction from constantly moving from different orphanages and foster homes. I could easily remember any street names even if I had only been there once. I usually never got lost.
However, it was not perfect and I still get confused once in a while. Sometimes, I would find myself at the corner of an unfamiliar intersection, looking around at the buildings, the trees, the cars and the people passing by. They all seemed so familiar, like I had been here before.
It felt like living in a maze for me, turning left, right, hitting a dead end and turning back. I had been seeking a way out for such a long time that every crossroad started to look the same to me.
How do I get out?
And what does world outside this maze look like?
“So happy to see you! Beanie!”
Nightingale sat next me, massaging my bruised knees. I awkwardly rubbed my nose and forehead, kind of like what Caterpillar used to do when he would get hurt.
“You skate so well, Nightingale. I thought you were Achilles.” I forced a smile through the pain.
“Achilles? Why? I beat his team all the time!” She smirked. “And I don’t even think Einstein ever won once.”
“You still see them?” I asked.
“Well…” The smirk on her face faded away. “Actually, I haven’t seen them for a while now.”
“We have to go find them as soon as possible. We don’t have much time left?”
“I know. I was worried.” She sighed. “Is Popcorn…”
I nodded slowly.
“I see… Yeah, she sort of told us what might happen, but I didn’t understand at that time.”
“Alright, kids.” Fairy interrupted us. “We should get going now.”
We pulled out the map again and it showed that one of our students was in the School of Technology, Nightingale was positive it was Einstein.
“What school are you in, Nightingale?” I asked.
“Medicine.”
“How about Achilles?”
“Science.”
School of Technology was a large silver building shaped like a pyramid, but there was something odd about it, there were no doors.
“How do we get in?” I asked
“The entrance is over here!” Fairy called out. Nightingale and I immediately rushed over.
“THIS!?”
&nb
sp; The ‘entrance’ Fairy found was more like a huge hole some giant creature accidently kicked in, and to make matters worse this hole didn’t seemed to lead anywhere, it was a dead end.
“Seriously?” I entered the hole and looked around. “This is the school? That’s it?”
“Fairy, you must been here before. What’s going on?” I stood with my arms folded, staring at Fairy.
“To be honest with you… I have never entered a school from a door…” Its body dimmed, as if signifying that it was embarrassed.
“What does that suppose to mean!?” I exclaimed.
“I can be sent into any school from my office as long as I have the pass, I don’t need to go through a door.”
“YOU ARE TELLING ME YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO GET IN!?” I shouted in a high pitch tone.
“HEY, look!” Nightingale pointed up.
Up in the ceiling was a chimney-like tunnel. Fairy’s body lit up, it flew into the tunnel and disappeared from sight.
“What’s in there, Fairy!?” I screamed.
No response.
“What do you see, Fairy!?” I yelled again.
Still no response.
“FAIRY!?”
…
“FAIRY!!!!!”
We decided not to stand around and wait. So Nightingale lifted me up onto her shoulders to see if I could somehow manage to climb into the tunnel. When I placed one of my hands on the wall to steady myself, I found it to be sticky, like it was covered with glue. It was so sticky in fact that I could climb up into the tunnel like Spiderman. I turned back and pulled Nightingale up. We then proceeded to climb upward. We managed to climb into a room at the end of the tunnel, a very strange room. The ceiling was low and there were passageways in all directions. But the passageways didn’t just go left or right and front or back. It went up, down and at an angle too, literally in all directions!
It was a 3D MAZE!
To make things worse, I found that not all the walls or floors were sticky, which meant that we had to be very careful or we could fall.
Nightingale followed closely behind me, we were crawling on all fours like a lizard, climbing through this maze senselessly searching for a way out. Every time when we reached a junction it just felt like we were just going in circles, because everything looked exactly the same!
And then, I heard a loud crash.
“KIDS? Are you there?”
It was Fairy! From somewhere above us!
“WHERE ARE YOU, FARIY!!!???? GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!” I howled.
“I wish I could, but I don’t know where you are!” It yelled back.
“Just keep talking! I will find you!”
I followed its voice and crawled upward, it sounded like it was directly above us. I moved quickly and after a few minutes of climbing I found Fairy sitting on a wall, upside down, humming a tune as if nothing had happen. I jumped over and started screaming at it.
“YOU! BAD FAIRY!” I angrily shouted. “You just left us there. I’m going to report you for being irresponsible!”
“HEY!” Fairy shouted back. “I just wanted to help, I went ahead to see what I can find.”
“THEN YOU ARE NOT DOING A GOOD JOB!”
“Hey, where’s the other kid???” Fairy suddenly asked.
I turned back and to my horror Nightingale was not behind me.
I screamed out her name, and at first I didn’t get a response but then I heard the distinct sound of someone moaning. Then it dawned on me, that crashing sound wasn’t Fairy, it was Nightingale. She must had fallen trying to climb up a wall that wasn’t sticky. Now Fairy and I had to go find her.
“Hey, she’s here!” Fairy shouted.
We found Nightingale sitting sideways on a wall in a chamber with only one opening. Thankfully she was conscious and when she saw us she gave us a faint wave. I felt my way around the walls of this chamber, but none of walls were sticky. It seemed that if I wanted to get to her I had to jump down.
“Don’t worry! I’ll catch you!” Nightingale said with a smile on her face as she reached out her hand.
“Okay!” I gave her a thumb up.
And, I jumped.
What happened next was something I didn’t expect…
Instead of falling down I fell upwards!
I fell so quickly that I didn’t even have time to scream or to be scared. Suddenly, I hit a wall, but to my surprise it didn’t hurt. Somehow my uniform managed to provide me some protection. So instead of smashing into the wall, I bounced up from it and fell in another direction. I continued to bounce and fall randomly in all direction until I finally landed on a wall that was sticky. Again, just like at the race I fell on my face, landing in an awkward position. I was quite embarrassed but at least this time there were no one around to see.
While I still rubbing my head and wondering what exactly just happened, I saw an opening that was different from the others. Could that be an exit? I hurried over and carefully peeked in and what I saw was this strange endless white space. There were no ceiling, no floor and no walls, just a giant empty white space. I squatted next to this opening, debating what I should do next. Go back or jump in?
“YOU FOUND THE EXIT!??”
Out of nowhere, Fairy suddenly appeared and the jolt pushed me forward in to this empty space. Next thing I knew, I was falling forward.
“What’s in there, Fairy!?”
17
School of Technology
Before, they would say “Goodbye, Beanie, write me.”
Now, they would say “Goodbye, Beanie, email me.”
I would look down at that piece of paper with the email address written on it and just nod and smile.
But the sad fact was I didn’t even have an email address of my own, because whenever I tried to sign up for one the information they needed would always prevent me from completing the process.
Your birthday?
Phone number?
Address?
It just left me feeling that I didn’t even exist at all.
I wasn’t certain if I was falling up or down because the WHITE emptiness was all I could see. However, this was a strangely relaxing feeling. I felt like I was floating in pure nothingness, with no sound, no color and nothing to bother me. I landed softly on the ground, which was like cotton and so comfortable that I didn’t want to get up.
“Hello, Key Holder.”
I sat up instantly but couldn’t see anyone.
Fairy suddenly appeared next to me, grinning and flashing its body. I sat there for a moment and glared at it, I was still mad at it for scaring me earlier.
“Hello, ByZzZBzCC.”
The voice spoke again in an unusual dialect.
“Hello, Secretary.” Fairy responded. “That entrance up there was really something.”
“Well, I haven’t seen anyone come down from there in a long time.”
I got up and looked around but still saw no one here except Fairy.
“Who are you talking to?” I asked.
“The Secretary of School Of Technology.”
“But I don’t see anyone here.”
“First time?” The voice spoke.
“Yes, and she didn’t go through the operation or orientation first because her time is limited here.” Fairy responded.
“I see.”
I pouted and then I thought about something.
“Hey Fairy, Nightingale is still up there… can you ask this secretary to…”
“AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!!”
Before I could finish my sentence, Nightingale landed next to me with a loud bang.
“ByZzZBzCC, I’m taking the Key Holder to find the student now.” The voice said.
Nightingale’s face turned pale when she realized that the voice was neither from Fairy nor me. I patted her shoulder, trying to comfort her, because I truly understood how confused she must felt at that moment. Suddenly, I felt something touch my back, both Nightingale and I froze and our eyes widened. I slowly turned a
round and saw a shinny and translucent figure. Its body was made of this water-like substance that rippled and flowed. Its facial features, while distinct went in and out of focus in a constant rhythm.
“Welcome to the School Of Technology.”
As it was speaking, its body slowly turned from translucent to a metallic blue and a large golden pyramid materialized behind it, floating and rotating in midair. A thick cloud of purple and pink smoke filled the void underneath it.
“Follow me, Key Holder.”
The Secretary and I walked underneath the pyramid, it stretched its arm and gathered some of the smoke and placed it in front of our feet. The smoke stretched and flattened, transforming into something that looked like a large and thin rectangular sheet. It signaled for us to get on and when we did the sheet began to levitate. We slowly circled the pyramid and from the air I could see that it was made up of these smaller individual compartments. There was one student inside each compartment and it seemed like each of them were working on their own project.
“We let the students work on what’s on their minds. Many amazing creations start from a simple idea or a sudden thought.” Secretary said.
We flew over one box and observed one particular student. It had ten different heads and each of them was spinning wildly in all directions.
“Yes, it looks strange from our point of view. However, on its planet, due to superstitions they don’t spin their heads because they think it’s dangerous and can cause diseases. The student wants to try it here, and soon it will discover that spinning their heads might actually help them concentrate better.”
“So?” I wrinkled my nose. “They’re just working on thoughts, not creating stuff.”
“It’s not just about inventing a product. It’s about learning to make a change.”
We went up further until we reached one particular box, and as soon as I saw the student in there I immediately recognize that it was Einstein. Even though it had been quite a while since I saw him I would recognize that face anywhere. So there he was, floating in midair in a shinning blue uniform like some futuristic astronaut.