AEA7
E, Eris, Erim [He, His, Him; She, Hers, Her respectively]
Suun and Seel have never competed in any contest in all of their lives and they are stunned at the commotion of the gymnasium on their first day there.
“This is barbaric,” Suun says as the couple avoids the commotion of the orphans gathering and suiting up. Falstraq is there with them, but e has to shadow God and e soon leaves the couple hugging a wall with wide eyes.
The athletic period for orphans at the hall is a team competition. All of the orphans from both halls are divided into color teams that are only relevant for the exercise period. There are eight teams, Red, Yellow, Blue, Orange, Green, Purple, White, and Black. God is not the captain of the Black team, but e is still it’s most aggressive member and, consequently, the team member who gets the most respect from eris teammates.
The competition is essentially war games, though the Druintes did not design the exercise period to train their orphans in the art of war. The games were designed to promote cooperation and coordination among the orphan teams, and the games even exist in wider Druinte society within the various dormitories that are built for adult Druintes next to their places of work. The games are a capture the flag type exercise where all eight teams guard a base against invasion from other teams, and the last one standing is declared the winner. Each of the orphans are equipped with laser guns and are disqualified if they are hit three times. Each team is allowed to engineer accessories that can be worn on the body, and vehicles of any sort are not allowed. Some teams opt for jetpacks, others wear suits of armor. The Red team is known for their bare minimum approach and they focus much of their time on developing themselves physically to out maneuver their opponents. They are as agile as Earth ninjas. The Blue team is seemingly bare minimum, but actually employs the complex physical science that allows them to manipulate their own body temperature and project blasts of heat at their opponents. This technique is great for intimidating opponents, but only hits from the laser gun count to remove an opponent. These games generally do very well to bond members of teams to one another, but the rivalry can be fierce and often leads to segmentation within the orphan population outside of the exercise period.
The gymnasium is big enough to accommodate all orphans of both halls and it’s walls are high definition video screens that track the progress of each team throughout the exercise. The room is empty of any furniture, but as the games start, the floor of the gym opens and morphs into a landscape complete with obstacles and protective bases for each team. Suun and Seel are startled by the movement of the floor and they make their way to safety behind a wall that emerges on the new battleground landscape.
God is talented by every metric. E has an aptitude for the sciences and e is always on eris best behavior when e is lost in work. Falstraq noticed that early on in their time together. In many ways, Falstraq could look at God and see eris dead partner Belfrat. Belfrat was known to work intently and for hours in eris lab at efforts to make life better for every Druinte. Oftentimes, Falstraq would find erim there with protective glasses on eris forehead, or a tool for writing dangling from eris mouth. Even though Belfrat had few employees when e worked at the Hall for Druinte Cognitive Disorders, e was excellent at directing them to serve eris efforts and they mostly looked like eager students who learned a lot from eris care and attention in explaining the purpose of their work.
God is a very similar Druinte, but only in the work. During eris lab periods that Falstraq oversees, e is a picture of social ability, but as soon as the orphans spill into the giant gymnasium in the center of the Hall of Orphans pyramid, God becomes a completely different Druinte. Falstraq recognizes erim superficially as the slightly shorter than average, and significantly stronger Druinte who could whip up a device to smash atoms, then repurpose those atoms into new elements, but eris demeanor in the sporting context is altogether different.
Falstraq looks at God who is yelling at the members of eris strike team. They are tasked with ridding the battle field of as many combatants as they can, as fast as they can.
“God!” Falstraq yells over the commotion. God is conditioned to respond promptly to Falstraq no matter what e is doing.
“Yes, Administrator Falstraq,” God answers like an exasperated teen and e pushes through the crowd of orphans around erim to stand before Falstraq.
“I will leave you now.” Falstraq grabs God by the chin and forces erim to look erim in the eyes. “Remember my voice and the words you know.”
God rolls eris eyes. “My value is equal to that of my fellow Druinte. I will strive to see myself in everyone else.”
Falstraq puts a hand on God’s cheek; a gesture that God genuinely loved and thought of as eris prize for reciting Falstraq’s words that e had devised to teach God empathy. But it is always strange when Falstraq touches God as e does in the general public. It is not taboo, necessarily, but most adult Druintes simply could not justify the need for unnecessary physical contact with one another and consequently, young Druintes never know physical contact as a regular thing, and they, too, are taken aback to see a Druinte touch another. God can’t get enough of it and e doesn’t care what others think of it. When e closes eris eyes with Falstraq’s hand to eris cheek, e can feel a warmth that was practically a dream to erim; the warmth of another’s body. It was a sensation that e had only really experienced with Falstraq and eris parent that e did not know, when e was still a fetus inside of erim. God felt safe with Falstraq’s hand at eris cheek.
Before the start of war games, the teams are allowed an hour to strategize and practice. During this time, Falstraq finds Suun and Seel cowering being a wall.
“We can watch from the balcony today,” Falstraq says as e leads them out of the main door and into a long hallway that surrounds the main gymnasium floor. They soon find a stairwell that takes them up to a viewing room where scientists are reviewing live video of the game on the floor, video of previous games, and information on each orphan on the floor. The scientists are all representatives from the various halls of the planet, as well as other labor interests on the planet Druont, and they study the orhans to direct recruiting efforts.
Falstraq takes Suun and Seel to private seating away from the commotion of the recruiters and when they are seated, Falstraq smiles weakly. Eris weak smile has been eris mask as the social Druintes move into the hall.
“I can see disorientation on your faces,” e says.
“What is this?” Suun asks.
“This is…” Falstraq says slowly, “this is what the lead scientist has deemed necessary for sometime now. I don’t disagree that it is beneficial for the orphans to learn the teamwork they get here in the gymnasium, and the physical exercise is essential, but it is very hectic.”
“What is the benefit?” Suun asks.
Falstraq struggles to answer. “There have been technologies developed for the games that have defended our diplomats on hostile planets.”
Suun and Seel nod at one another.
“You will learn a lot by taking part in these games.” Falstraq says.
“We are expected to participate?” Suun asks.
“Sadly yes. The two of you are test subjects. You will be placed on the Green team.”
Seel shakes eris head slowly and stares off into the distance. Suun is crying, staring at a screen that shows one of the previous games. Falstraq notices what e is watching and turns just in time to see God grabbing a member of the yellow team and slamming eris face into the ground.
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