The square was a half-mile diameter squashed hemisphere with a hundred foot ceiling. Rows of tall oaks and benches lined smooth walkways. A pond connected with a creek, spanned by Japanese-style bridges. The gardens were always in bloom. The ceiling had a large circular opening to blue skies and puffy white clouds. The projected hologram was believable due to its depth, but constant victim to hacker-pranks. On a weekly basis pink hurricane swirls, plaid skies, or dizzying patterns of hypnotic colors lit the scenery. One school legend made her name by using subliminal hypnosis during last year's induction ceremony. She'd made faculty strip to the buff and perform indecent acts in the pond. Formal events were no longer held at Campus Square.
The pair exited a tunnel and stepped onto the grass. A pair of dragons circled overhead, breathing furniture at each other. Calvin spared a glance as one belched a coffee table.
"So, what's up?" he said.
"Looks like Armageddon." Pharis laughed. A swarm of biplanes bearing the logos of school departments joined the dragons. A chaotic aerial free-for-all ensued.
"Don't get distracted, how often do we talk?"
"As usual, you're no fun anymore," she said with a chuckle. Calvin's eyes narrowed. "See what I mean, you're too fucking sensitive."
In the six years he'd known Pharis, she'd always been a fireball. In the past he'd been spared her sass; however, those days were long gone.
"It's good to see you haven't changed, Phary," he said.
"And you do nothing but change. I just wanted to know how you've been. Every time I see Lillian, she's all, 'Oh my God. CC is just like totally the best. He's fantastic!'"
"Don't be an ass, she's a sweet kid. And she's right, I am doing fine. I'm just having a shitty semester."
"Makes me wonder if the rumors are true," Pharis said, "that something's going on between you two."
"And I wonder if your mom dropped you on your head."
He'd lose the chance to hear about Rochelle if they continued to bicker. They watched in silence as the biplanes dwindled to a dozen, then seven, then three. The incidental rain of dragon-made armoires and couches dropped more planes than the opposing aircraft did. Fifteen minutes into the battle, a massive desk crushed the administration plane, leaving piloting and communications.
"Want to place a bet?" Calvin hit reset on the conversation.
"What're the stakes?"
"The winner gets a favor."
"No limits?"
"No limits."
"I'm in. I call communications." Pharis rubbed her hands together.
"You're taking comm over piloting?" Calvin said. "This one's as good as mine."
"For a DETH student, you're not that bright," she said, her eyes trained on the action. "You think a pi-boy wrote this hack? Comm students are the best on-the-fly coders on the station. As a matter of fact, with my implant I could've been controlling those planes the entire time."
Calvin raised an eyebrow. Most departments required students to get cybernetic implants for post-graduate studies and job placement, but it was unnecessary, and rare, to get your chip before graduation.
"Think I'm lying?" she said.
Pharis took his hands. Calvin flushed at the warmth. She guided his left hand to the base of her head, his right hand far lower. Pharis slipped his fingers down her skirt. It was tight fit, but he felt the small, smooth lump next to her hip—a cybernetic system's CPU and power source. Calvin searched through her shoulder-length hair and found her connection plug and wireless transmitter, where thoughts could be seamlessly turned into data and vice versa.
Calvin's mind flared with questions and memories. He stared into her brown eyes and noticed again how beautiful she was. Her thin lips were set in a smirk. Her confidence stunned him. Was this the same woman he'd known since high school? He had the heart-wrenching feeling she'd continued to grow in his absence, somehow leaving him behind. And yet this was familiar. Her skin, her scent.
Pharis stepped away. "Believe me now?"
Calvin knew she could see him blush—she probably enjoyed teasing him. His mouth dry, he said, "Why?" He wasn't even sure what he was questioning.
"So I could do this." With a graceful loop the comm biplane centered itself behind piloting and opened fire. The endangered craft burst into flames and shimmered away. "Looks like I win. So my dear CC, what could I possibly want from you?" Pharis puffed her slim, six-foot frame, chest forward with hands on her hips. "Maybe I could get the old Calvin to come out and play—"
"—Phary, is this part of your program?" Calvin pointed up.
Pharis shaded her eyes from the make-believe sun. Both dragons hovered in place, their reptilian eyes set on the pair below. "No. Looks like the dragons' hacker has gone live, but why are they looking at us? I'm not traceable."
The lone biplane performed happy barrel rolls, climbs, and dives. The pair of dragons snorted puffs of blue smoke and darted off in opposite directions. With perfect synchronicity, they mirrored each other's turns and spins as they gained on the tiny aircraft. With her first look of concentration, Pharis forced her avatar into spurts of unnatural speed and maneuverability. She cursed as the beasts closed in. With a grunt, the plane reversed direction. The dragons sped past. In the first break of their perfect dance, one dragon burst ahead of the other and stopped dead in the air. The second flew into it, planted its legs on the other's torso, and like a swimmer kicking off a wall, streaked towards the biplane. In a blink the chase was over—Pharis' creation shattered in the dragon's bite.
Stunned, Pharis turned to Calvin. Then she shrugged. "I've only had my chip two weeks. I'll be back. We'll see how they do against a squadron of star fighters."
"Um, yeah, remember me asking about Rochelle and Leo?" Calvin said.
"Oh right. I hear they saw some trouble at Star Park last night."
"The one in District B?" he said.
"Yeah, dummy. Anyway, turns out them and some maintenance knuckle-draggers ran into a gang and almost got killed by a grav gun, if you can believe that."
"Sounds like bullshit, but why weren't they at class?"
"I'm getting to that. Supposedly, they got roughed up until—dun dun dun—the brave and fearsome Lillian Anatali came to the rescue!"
"And then?"
"Your brother and the Knights came before Princess could get killed and chased the bad guys away. That's all I heard." Pharis watched the sky. The dragons resumed their furniture-focused battle as if their skirmish with her never happened.
"I have to go now, class and shit," Calvin said.
It made a lot of fucking sense. If Rochelle was on his brother's turf for some reason, then the rest of the story was easy to buy into. His brother was the worst kind of guy—meddlesome, twofaced, and a troublemaker. Above all else he was supposed to keep Lillian safe, but if he'd put Rochelle in danger—he'd gone too far.
"God, you don't believe that drivel do you?" Pharis said. "Princess Anatali involved in druggies and gang-wars?"
Calvin walked away. Rochelle wasn't like that. Leo was the bad influence on her.
"You're so sensitive when it comes to Lillian." Pharis ran to keep up. "I didn't know you were into little girls, maybe you've changed more than I thought."