Chapter 19: The Day Off
Jayce spent the next day with his friends at Micu's house. Though not huge in size it was beautifully decorated inside and full of replica artifacts from Earth. Famous paintings, pictures, and figurines lined the halls while the furniture was painstakingly reassembled to set a sophisticated ambiance. Jayce always felt like he was inches from breaking some priceless artwork while in Micu's house so he usually did his best to stay in the basement that Micu had converted to house his friends when they visited. The four of them had alternated between stretching and devouring the snacks that the robot butlers prepared for them for most of the day.
Ralnas and Jenira had been staying here since school had gotten out. They were still in the process of applying for housing due to having no family to provide for them. If not for Chiron generously taking them in when they were little it was probable that they would have ended up on the streets with the host of other kids who had lost their parents during the end of Earth. Many of these kids migrated to the hubs where they could find decent jobs working in cafes or shops. It was not uncommon for people visiting hubs to be waited on by 17-year-olds who had been working at the shop for a decade. Ralnas and Jenira never forgot to thank Chiron whenever they saw him but he would always brush them off with a smile and a hug.
Now camped deep in Micu's house there were blankets strewn across the floor forming their beds and small stacks of clothes piled neatly beside the TV the four were gathered around. Jayce was laying on the floor trying to massage his back which still hurt from all the shocks he had gotten during the potential exam. Micu was sitting cross-legged doing his best not to laugh at Ralnas who was spread out like a kite searching for some means to stretch his legs to shake off the toll on his body that riding his hoverboard had placed on him. Though the fastest among the four on a board Ralnas rarely found reasons to go to his full speed and doing so for the entire lava section the day before had seriously pushed his limits. Jenira was curled up into the couch reading up on the latest drama to happen between members of the elite teams. They were her movie stars and knowing she was about to meet some of them tomorrow she wanted to ensure that no one said anything that might offend their heroes. The TV flashed with clips from the previous day's exam results. Though they all harbored a secret hope that they would be the ones to get first they weren't sure someone hadn't gotten a member or two through their door before time expired so they waited nervously.
Jayce finally found the perfect position to relax his back and sighed with contentment when the channel quickly cut from the clip they were showing. "Ladies, and gentlemen the Human Daily crew is pleased to bring you the official results of last nights exam!" The camera moved over to a familiar face, Leon Roberts, flashing his trademark smirk Leon looked into the camera bot. "Well, we had quite an exciting exam last night. Over 15 teams successfully completed nine rooms! Such a strong showing is usually a good sign for the later rounds of the competition but I digress." He swiveled to face a different camera bot. Behind him appeared the rankings. Ralnas shot up and got as close to the TV screen as he could before actually touching it. Micu slowly pulled him back so that the rest of them could see. Leon strung the moment along until the tension had increased to his satisfaction. "In first place was a team from the Ogrium race, they managed to get three of their four members through the tenth door before time expired!"
Jayce groaned loudly and fell back. Micu patted his shoulder and turned to Ralnas. "Ogrium? What do they look like?" Ralnas turned to him his mind racing to remember. Finally, it snapped in his brain. "Oh! They're large rock type dudes. They kinda look like humans if humans were made of rock and had spikes shooting out of their bodies. They usually join up with team Chief from what I can recall." Ralnas trailed off trying to think of a better descriptor but he couldn't recall any of them really standing out in his memory. He looked back at the TV, "At least that's how much I can remember. We should look them up on our watches after he finishes." Micu nodded and looked back at the TV.
Leon Roberts had been going on and on about how impressive it was to almost open ten doors this whole time. This only served to worsen Jayce's mood and he had a pillow over his face so he could pretend not to be listening. "And now in second place, we have a team who was so close to being first, coming from the Yuhru race this team managed to get two members through the door. Their team name, ironically, is "not last"." Leon laughed at this and the camera cut to a clip of this team competing. Those bird people that the four of them had been watching before they entered were shown in the clip. It was definitely a different team though, distinguishable by the fact that one of the birds had bright red and green feathers around his head. The rest of his team and most of the birds that Jayce had seen had some combination of brown and white feathers.
The clip was the same tenth room that they had been in but instead of only the floor collapsing heavy nets began falling from the roof. Two of the birds were quickly caught and dragged down but the brightly colored one rallied his other teammate and they successfully avoided the rest of the traps before pulling themselves through the door. It then cut back to Leon who went on another long explanation about how impressive they were. He frequently cut back to the clip and highlighted things in slow motion. Jenira watched fascinated. While it was true that one could accuse Leon of enjoying the sound of his own voice just a little too much it was also true that he was among the most knowledgeable of all humans when it came to these type of competitions. There was a reason he had his own segment on Human Daily if nothing else.
Jayce and the two other boys were quickly losing interest after realizing that if a team got even one person in the door then they would finish ahead of them. Jayce was fuming at himself and his emotions were obvious to Ralnas and Micu. As much as they wanted to console him they were also berating themselves for letting the team down. Dark clouds hovered above each boys head as they got lost in their own thoughts. Just as Jayce went to turn the TV off Leon ended his analysis and then looked directly into the camera bot. "But this is the most exciting news of the night folks!" Jayce hesitated and looked back to his friends who shrugged and he returned to his spot among the blankets.
Leon's face was beaming with pride, "A team of humans, and a team that I had the personal privilege of meeting two of their members have finished third." As he said this Jenira and Ralnas jumped up and started performing a victory dance with each other. Micu and Jayce stared at them dumbfounded. "That's right folks for the first time since we've been in the present version of the simulation a human team has broken the top ten in exam scores. Not only that but they are only 16 years old! Team Chiron's Chosen has finished third!" Jayce and Micu's mouths opened so wide you could fit an entire cake in with room to spare. They looked at the TV, then their friends, then each other and then back to the TV. Indeed, on the screen was a clip of them rushing through the maze. Leon Roberts was saying something but Jayce was too stunned to say anything. He rubbed his eyes, pinched his thigh, and slapped his face a few times before finally acknowledging that he wasn't dreaming. He jumped up and started dancing with the Marrow siblings wildly shouting unintelligible words of excitement. Micu couldn't begin to understand what had been said and repeated it over and over in his mind. He played with the words and felt that he must not be understanding correctly. But staring back at him from the TV was his face. Micu fell over and stared at the ceiling with a smile of pure joy plastered on his face.
...
Chiron had been settling in for the summer break after wrapping up his final graduation duties and had by chance had enough time to watch the reports on the exam that had taken place the day before. Sipping his hot cocoa he reclined in his comfy chair. Nodding along with Leon's analysis and watching the clips with interest for ideas on new lessons to teach the students next semester. He had gotten up to replenish his cocoa when he heard "Chiron's Chosen" in the other room. Dashing back to his TV he pressed the rewind button and reaffirmed his ears weren't hearing things. His eyes bulged and he leaned against his comfy chair. As Leon showed a clip Chiron almost died of shock. He paused the TV and zoomed in on the faces. No doubt about it. Those were his students, and they had chosen his name for their team name. Chiron had just pressed play when his watch beeped to let him know he was receiving a call. Pausing the show he answered and saw his vice principals face staring back at him through the projection. "Chiron! Those are our kids! That's Jayce and Micu! They went to our school!" Chiron was smiling as though he had just won the lottery. "Let me call you right back, I haven't watched the full clip yet!" Quickly hitting play Chiron watched the coverage of his students on repeat over and over. Each time his smile consumed more of his face until he was more smile than man. His joy was so powerful his wife came down from their bedroom and asked him what was causing him to be so happy. Chiron couldn't even speak but simply pointed at the TV screen and hit rewind again.
...
Jayce felt like he was floating and nothing could ever pull him down. "I could die right now," he thought, "and have zero regrets." He was laying on the ground like he was about to make snow angels while his friends danced around him. Then he got a text notification from his watch, then another, then two more, his watch quickly notified him that he was receiving over a hundred messages. He didn't even have time to check one before his mother called him. "Jayce! I just saw your face on the TV! You didn't tell me you got third! You know you're supposed to brag to your mom right?" Jayce blushed slightly but his cheeks were already red from all the dancing he had been doing so no one could really tell. "Mom I didn't even know! I'm just as surprised as you!" He couldn't contain himself and started laughing in surprise, in joy, in complete and utter disbelief that they were being featured on Human Daily.
Micu was also on the phone with his parents and their conversation was almost an exact mirror of the one Jayce was having at the moment. He hung up and looked up at his friends. "My parents are taking us out for dinner. Everyone get dressed!" He scampered into his room while Jayce scurried upstairs to give Ralnas and Jenira space to get ready. He quickly opened his Ripple app, which functioned very much like Twitter from Earth and pulled up the comments from the Leon segment. He scanned them and his ego swelled to double its size in moments. Comments praised his team as the future of humanity, the next step in the line of great humans to win the grand prize, the best humans to emerge in ten years. Jayce was weeping with joy when he noticed his follower count which had been only 16 with only his classmates and his mom as followers. Right now it was at 5043 and growing rapidly. His mind boggled and he changed apps to his text messages. Half were just exclamation points from his classmates. Isabel had even sent a thumbs up. Jayce quickly set their conversation to private so that Micu wouldn't get jealous. Just as he was about to start opening the texts from numbers that he didn't recognize he got a call from Chiron.
"Mr. Chiron?" Jayce was surprised. "Jayce my boy! Well if I had known you'd get third in the initial exam then I wouldn't have complained so much about all your pranks through the years!" His hearty laugh filled Micu's kitchen with noise. "But in all seriousness, I am very proud of you all. Naming your team after me... it's... too kind." His eyes watered slightly. "Just know I'll always be rooting for you four. And don't forget to come back and visit when you've made it big!" He smiled and then waved before hanging up. Jayce was stunned. His mind felt like it was running so fast it was melting. "What is going on?"
He couldn't even focus when he saw he had another call coming in from a number he didn't recognize. "Hello?" He asked a pretty woman who was looking back from the other side. She smiled and asked, "Hi, are you Jayce Good?" Jayce was unsure how to answer, he never had gotten any training in how to handle exploding popularity. "Uh, yeah? Who are you exactly?" "My name is Alba Canal. I work under Mr. Leon Roberts. He was wondering if you and your team would be willing to come on his show tomorrow and be interviewed?" She then smiled politely. "We will, of course, pay you for your time. How does 3,000 credits for the four of you sound?" Jayce couldn't believe his ears. "You want us to talk to Leon Roberts. In person. Tomorrow?" "Yes, Mr. Good. Can I pencil you in for say, 7:30 pm HST?"
Jayce was about to agree before thinking he should make sure it was okay with the others. "Can I put you on hold for like one second?" He quickly paused her and sprinted to the top of the stairs. "Guys! Do you want to go on Leon Roberts show tomorrow?" He shouted down to them. He heard a thump as it sounded like Ralnas had fallen over. He heard Micu's voice shout back, "Uh, yes!" Before he heard the other two shout their agreement in unison.
He unpaused the call, "Ms. Alba we would love to be on Mr. Roberts show." She smiled brightly. "Great! We will send a taxi to pick you up. Where should I have it go?" Jayce scratched his head, "Uh here to Micu's house will be fine?" She nodded and jotted it down. "Okay, Mr. Good the taxi will pick up around 6:15 pm HST. We are excited about your visit." The phone call ended and Jayce sat down in one of the many large chairs scattered throughout Micu's house. He pinched himself again. "It's real." He spoke to no one in particular.
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AmurZeTiger
AmurZeTiger Had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Always appreciate your power stone donations :)
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