Free Compete by Norilana Books Page A

savagery, an archaic event that should be rightfully abolished, if not for the old laws and traditions—”
    “Is there any other way to become a Citizen and get all your wishes granted?”
    Aeson exhales loudly, in visible frustration. “You,” he says, “are truly impossible . Why would you want to be a Citizen anyway? You can live a perfectly comfortable life as a Civilian, or even choose Cadet and become a successful Fleet Officer—”
    “I don’t want a comfortable life. I want to live an extraordinary one,” I say stubbornly. “And I want all my wishes granted.”
    “What wishes?” He stares at me, craning his neck slightly.
    “I wish to have all my family rescued from Earth before the asteroid hits. I wish to have my mother brought to Atlantis and put into that high-tech medical machine to have her cancer removed. I wish my father and my brother George to be here too. That’s about it.”
    “Oh, is that all?” His tone is rich with sarcasm.
    But I ignore it. “Well, a decent home to live in would be nice too. And of course higher education, so that I can learn everything I can about this new world I am about to enter—”
    He appears to be once more rendered speechless, as he watches me with eyes that bore right through me, it seems, digging deeper and deeper, searching for something, I don’t know what. . . .
    “And these wishes of yours,” he says softly, “do they also include a family at some point?”
    “Well off course they do! As I just said, I want Mom and Dad and George—”
    “No,” he interrupts. “I mean, do you want a family of your own, a marriage union with a loving mate, maybe children. . . .”
    As he says this, I feel heat once again rising in my face. “I—haven’t thought about it,” I reply haltingly. “Probably at some point, yes—but that kind of stuff is not part of my core wishes right now . And besides, it does not matter, none of it does. What needs to happen now is the urgent rescue of my parents and George—”
    “It’s not going to happen,” he speaks ruthlessly.
    “What?” I open my mouth.
    “Let me be blunt. None of what you want is possible. There is no way to rescue your parents, and you cannot become a Citizen. I am sorry that you have been deluded to think that you can do something—”
    “No!” I exclaim, standing up suddenly, while dizzying vertigo rises in my head. And then I sense I am about to say the same thing I told him before, back at the National Qualification Center in Colorado, when I accidentally used a compelling power voice on him: “I do not accept this.”
    But I don’t. Not this time.
    I rein the surge of power back in, as I feel my own prickle of gathering energy along my skin, and I allow my voice to dissipate and echo only in my own mind. And then I slowly return to my seat.
    I have no idea if Aeson Kassiopei realizes the kind of inner struggle I just had to put down.
    Instead I say very softly, “I am sorry, I disagree with your assessment when it comes to my own life and my own choices. I am going to enter the Games of the Atlantis Grail as soon as we arrive on Atlantis. Please tell me the truth. As a free individual, am I forbidden to do so?”
    There is a peculiar dark pause. He watches me tragically.
    “No,” he says. “It is true. You may not be denied this outright.”
    “Then it is settled.”
    “No, it is not ,” he says loudly, commandingly, with rising anger. “Although you do have a certain individual right to enter the Games of the Atlantis Grail, according to our laws, you are also on my ship, under my orders. As such, I can forbid you to act in any way that will potentially harm or damage you—and therefore your voice —as it relates to matters of Atlantis. Your Logos power voice is an asset and you are hereby ordered to comply with my decision.”
    “And what if I refuse to comply? Will you incarcerate me?”
    In that instant Aeson Kassiopei gets up from his desk. He takes three steps