Opposite Operators

His head rang, but when his brain came back online, he was still sitting at his desk by the window. He was still holding his schoolwork tablet. His eyes stung.

The ship around them shook. Something creaked, groaned, and the sounds of smashing concrete and bending metal made his head ring even more. It sounded like they were inside a collapsed building, but nothing around them was collapsing.

“What the hell?” Shay hissed. She was still here, next to him. His best friend wasn't hurt.

He reached out with one hand and Shay reached out with hers, grabbing his best friend at the same time she grabbed him. 

“Something happened with the field test,” Delo whispered. “Something bad.”

Shay looked out the window, at the absolute darkness, and Delo followed her gaze. It wasn't entirely dark, there was something almost like...texture, or something, in it. But it while it wasn't dark, it definitely wasn't light either.

"Maybe it wasn't a test. Maybe they did the jump, and it went wrong," Shay whispered. “It's just like our parents said."

A horrible shiver ran down down Delo's back, then turned around and came back up for a second round that made his teeth ache and his stomach flip over. His parents and Shay's parents were friends, had been friends and roommates for all of Shay and Delo's lives. They were low scientists, but they were still here to work, and work they did. They had access to all the information on the reliquary drive.

Elaila, Shay's mother, had tried to make the other adults keep their discussions to after they thought Shay and Delo were asleep. Technically the two families, three including Callist's family, who had also been living with them on Earth for the longest time, were supposed to be separated, but they were so used to living out of each other's pockets that they all just stayed in the biggest dormizone together. Especially the four kids. Delo wasn't sure if he could even sleep without listening to Callist's snoring or Sharabi's tossing and turning. Without knowing Shay was right there.

And so, Shay and Delo still heard things they weren't supposed to.

Like how the science behind the jump just didn't add up, and how they couldn't trust the people in charge of the reliquary drive to actually tell anyone what they were doing.

Shay squeezed his hand. "It's gonna be okay. We got this. Just like when we were stuck in 18-6 with the alarms going off, or we had to get Sharabi out of that gene lab. We got this."

He nodded. "We got this." As long as they were together, it would be okay. There was nothing they couldn't figure out together.

All around them, their classmates were shrieking. Running around. Yelling. Crying and laying on the floor like little babies.

Shay shook her head. "They're going to need some serious help though."

Honestly. Why wasn't the cephalon explaining what had happened?

The screen where Melica was usually displayed had gone completely dark. That was worrying.

And people were still running around or laying down and screaming. Seriously, it was like none of them had ever been stuck inside a piece of malfunctioning machinery before. He and Shay were the only calm ones.

“EVERYBODY BE QUIET!” Shay yelled. For someone so tiny, she could be incredibly loud, and that came in handy sometimes. She jumped up on top of her desk, spreading her arms wide. Delo was more than ready to catch her, but she didn't fall.

Wonder of wonders, everyone actually listened. That was more of a miracle than Shay not falling.

“What's going on?” Tranla whimpered. She was still laying flat on her back like she was trying to sleep or something else stupid.

“Obviously something went wrong with the... test,” Delo said. “We need to stay calm. Somebody will be coming to check on us soon, I bet. Until then we need to not make problems for everyone else while they're trying to fix the ship, yeah?” 

Somebody threw the door open. A boy his age that he didn't recognize came running in, panting. He had very dark skin and huge, scared blue eyes. 

“Is your cephalon working?” He demanded. 

“Melica?” Delo tried.

There was no response.

At the front of the room, Railin poked at the access terminal. He had sure calmed down fast. “It's totally dead,” he reported. “No electricity going in.”

"Hells," Delo hissed. He could hotwire a cephalon, could interject one cephalon's conduits with a different cephalon, could shut them off temporarily or distract them, but he'd never actually fixed one before.

“We need medical help in B-18!” The newcomer said. “Chaliez is hurt, the roof caved in and she's bleeding everywhere!” 

Bloody fucking hell.

“Did you try B-17?” Shay demanded. She was still standing on her desk. 

“They're totally caved in!” The boy yanked on his pale lavender hair. “Everybody in there must be dead.”

Delo took a deep breath. He could hear his mom's voice at the back of his head, telling him to just breathe, to not panic. Panic was the real killer, anything else could be dealt with. He had learned it time and time again. If he had panicked when Sharabi was trapped inside that gene lab, she would be dead. He couldn't panic now.

“I know some first aid,” Tranla volunteered tentatively.

“Sumiru’s in class B-18, and they're from a farm,” Shay reasoned. She stumbled slightly, her legs starting to shake. “They’ve sewn up so many animals that I'm sure they have it under control.” 

Delo offered her his hand, and she took it, leaning on him to get down without falling. Once, he and Shay had been the same size, but he grew. So did she, but not nearly as much. His best friend was so small and skinny that he could carry her on his back and run, if they needed to.

“Unless they're dead,” Tranla said, faintly hysterical again. 

“Sumiru’s fine,” the newcomer said. “They told me to go look for a functional cephalon.” 

Good on them. Sumiru was smart, fun, and a little bit clueless, but in that sweet and honest way that made Delo want to sit them down and teach them everything he knew, until they stopped being clueless. Apparently they were calm in a crisis as well. Figures. He had a good feeling about the tall Venusian farmer from the start.

“Then keep doing that,” Shay said. “Keep going down the hall until you find one. Tranla, you and I will go check on whoever’s hurt in the next class over.” She paused, finally letting go of Delo's hand. "Thank you for helping me down," she whispered.

"No problem," he whispered back.

“Who put you two in charge?” Sirafin snapped.

Her twin brother Saurlin jabbed her in the ribs. “It's a good idea,” he said. “It's like Delo said, we have to keep calm. Don't make more problems.” 

Huh. He didn't peg Saurlin for the reasonable one between them. The twins were from this weird, tiny little community on Pluto. Delo didn't know much about it, since they'd called everyone from Zinruil City 'worthless factory fodder'.

He'd been called much worse, and it wasn't exactly untrue either, but he didn't want to associate with anyone who just boiled him and his loved ones down to the city they came from. Zinruil was a factory town and he was one of its many slumrats. They embraced it. The factory slums were cruel and would chew you up in an instant, but everyone who came through them alive was stronger than they'd ever be given credit for.

Shay squeezed his hand and let go. "You stay here and keep everyone else calm," she said. "I'll be back."

"Be safe," he said.

"And you."