Breeze Corinth (Book 1): Sky Shatter (17 page)

Oslo sat alone as memories flooded his mind, bringing him back to a time when the cavernous dining hall would have been filled with cadets, sailors, airmen and officers eating their meals and exchanging news and gossip. The din of voices would be overwhelming as the kitchen staff, an army in their own right, worked overtime to feed them. He could hear laughter from some conversations; angry voices from others over a disagreement.

Now, the place was still except for the slow drips coming from the ceiling.
Water on the roof from last night’s storm
, he thought idly.

Oslo stood up, straightened and smoothed his uniform, then headed for the exit.

OSLO ASSEMBLED EVERYONE OUTSIDE
the dormitories after breakfast where he had Excort bring supplies and materials consisting of paint, brushes, trowels and shovels. Breeze and Ray picked through the tools spread out before them while Sally looked on.

Oslo spoke. “Perihelion, as you can tell, has seen better days. She once was a shining jewel that has since lost her brilliance. But no longer. We shall restore her luster, beginning with the three of you.”

Sally raised a hand and cleared her throat.

Oslo nodded. “Yes, Ms. Trumbull, question?”

“Are we the only students here? I’m mean, are there more coming, or is this it?” she said while casting a sideways glance at Breeze.

“
Ja
, of course. They’re on their way, just a bit of difficulty getting here. Apparently the weather is quite foul in some of the territories and is delaying their arrival.”

Excort gave him a puzzled look.

“Great, just hope we get some better company,” she sighed.

“Sir, how do you know about the weather? Are the comms back online?” Ray said.

“The comm room will be functioning soon,” Oslo responded without looking at him.

Breeze piped up. “Maybe it’s those weird people on the coast that attacked the ship I traveled in, could they be slowing down the transports?”

“Weird? You should be one to talk,” Sally retorted.

“What’s your problem?” Breeze said.

“The fact that you’re here. Let’s just say I’m not used to attending a school with guys who should be in a machine works class. Shouldn’t you be with Excort fixing stuff around here?”

Ray spoke up. “Sir, I really need to get in contact with my father. Are you sure there is no other way?”

“Yeah, me too. I need to tell my parents I want to leave,” Sally added.

“You know, if it weren’t for guys like me, half the machines you use wouldn’t work!” Breeze said to her.

Sally glared at him. “Do you think I care? I’m talking to Oslo. I’m done with you. And how come you don’t ask about calling home? Oh, I know, daddy threw you out of the house? Let me guess; juvenile delinquent who skips school?”

“Students!” Oslo raised a hand and silenced them. “Now, back to our original task. Perihelion needs you. Together, we will rebuild this school. And it begins with the three of you. Teamwork is important. And I do believe we have a lot of team building to do.” He pointed at the ground. “Spread out before you are the tools and implements you will use to complete today’s assignment. With Excort’s guidance, we will begin by sprucing up the dormitory area.”

“We will?” Sally said.

“With my guidance? I was going to let them figure it out,” Excort said.

“I can show everyone sir. It wouldn’t be problem.” Breeze offered.

“Stop sucking up to the teacher, machine boy. Nobody cares,” Sally retorted.

“Sir, I can’t even stress how important it is that I reach my father. Could you please have Excort expedite repairs to the comms?” Ray persisted.

“Quiet!” Oslo boomed.

Silence fell over them.

Oslo’s hands were balled into fists. He slowly unclenched them as he spoke. “Class, I know it’s not easy being here. You all have made an arduous journey over a great distance to get here. And now you find yourselves in new and unfamiliar surroundings. I understand. But your parents want you to be here. It is the safest place to be right now. I—”

“Safe? This place is falling apart! And besides, what are we being safe from?” Sally interrupted.

Oslo closed his eyes and took in a quick breath.

Excort glared at her and shook his head.

He continued. “As I was saying; it’s a new experience. I understand. Your gifts have made you unique and here at Perihelion we will mold your skills into valuable assets. It all begins now with the simplest of tasks, such as taking pride in your surroundings. This is your home now—” he said, then shook his head. “Well, your home away from home. Excort, please show them what we have planned for today.”

Excort begrudgingly stepped forward and began grabbing some of the tools. “Well kids, we will start with the basics. As you can see, the walls have quite a few cracks so we’re going to use this compound to fill them in. Later, we’re going to sand the walls and paint the building.”

“Right, I’m done here. Manual labor is not my thing,” Sally announced as she turned to walk the steps back up into the dormitory.

“Sally Trumbull, did I make a mistake when I asked you to set an example for everyone? About how you would endeavor to bring the grace and style of Greenbrier here?” Oslo called out to her.

She stopped, and then turned to face him.

Oslo continued. “This campus is your canvas, young lady. An opportunity to make your mark and to leave something behind for others to know you were here. Did you ever stop to consider that?”

She began to say something, then descended the steps without a word and stood with her classmates.

She placed a hand on her hip. “This place will need a new coat of paint. I mean the color scheme you have now? Horrible!”

Oslo smiled. “
Ja
, you are right. It’s time to turn back years of neglect and set things right.” He paused for a moment as the smile faded and his eyes narrowed into slits.

Excort cleared his throat loudly.

Oslo snapped out of his trance. “Very good. I shall leave you to the tender mercies of my groundskeeper. Do me proud!” He turned and walked away.

“You’re not staying to supervise?” Excort called out to him.

Oslo waved a hand. “I trust your management style, old friend.”

“Old friend? Look who’s talking,” the dwarf grumbled aloud, then turned and glared at each of them individually. “All right then—”

“Exactly how old is Oslo?” Sally interrupted.

Breeze chimed in. “Why is he so pale? In this sun he should be tan.”

“Excort, I would like you to repair the comm systems immediately,” Ray said.

“You? Paint brush! You? Trowel! And you? Shovel!” Excort shouted as he pointed at Sally, Breeze and Ray. “Follow me!” He marched to the side of the building.

Bewildered, they followed.

Excort gestured at the façade. “You will begin here by sanding down the wall, then fill in the cracks with this putty.” He grabbed a bucket filled with goop and dropped it in front of them. “Then, prime and paint the walls,” he said and stood with his arms crossed as if daring them to ask another question.

Sally didn’t care. “Why start with the side? Why not the front?”

“Because if you do a horrible job, nobody will see it,” the dwarf retorted.

“But when is everyone coming? Hey, can I choose the color of paint?” Sally asked as her eyes lit up.

“Do what you like, what do I care,” Excort muttered.

“What kind of a groundskeeper are you anyways? You’re such a grouch. The ones at Greenbrier are much more pleasant. Could you make a palette of colors I can work with? There are several different shades I would like to experiment with first,” Sally said as she looked over the building with a critical eye.

“Are you sure you want us to use this putty? I don’t think this is the right kind of compound for this weather,” Breeze commented as he stuck his hand into the bucket and pulled out a clump.

“Mr. Excort? I need you to see to the comm repairs at once,” Ray said.

“Why are you so eager to call home? Daddy’s little boy getting lonely here?” Sally taunted.

Ray whirled on her. “You of all people should know better than to say that.”

Excort rolled his eyes, then put his hands over his ears and walked away.

As Breeze watched the dwarf disappear around the corner, it dawned upon him how lonely and desolate the campus was, and watching his classmates argue made the feeling more acute. He had nothing in common with them and could never relate to the life they were accustomed to. Why he didn’t run away from home like so many others from his town did, he didn’t know. Probably because no matter where he went, nobody would accept him, not even here at Perihelion.

“Hey guys, Excort just wandered off,” Breeze announced.

Sally and Ray stopped their arguing to glare at him.

Breeze shrugged and grabbed a trowel and the bucket of putty. He squatted down and dipped the trowel into the bucket and spread its contents across the wall, filling in the gaping cracks and holes.

“Shouldn’t we sand the surface first like the midget said?” Ray said.

“His name is Excort, and yes, we should. There’s a sander right there,” Breeze pointed behind him. “You can start on that section of wall. I believe I saw a scissor lift around back earlier. If it’s fully charged, you can drive it over here and use it to get to the higher sections of the wall.”

“Are you giving me orders? Who made you the boss?” Ray blustered.

Breeze shrugged. “Do what you want, Ray. I’m not going to waste this day fighting with you.”

Ray glowered, and then left to fetch the scissor lift.

“What should I do?” Sally asked.

Breeze looked up and smiled. “You seemed really interested in the colors. You can mix up some of those paints over there,” he said and pointed to a row of cans behind her, “then brush sample patches on the wall. This way when the paint dries, you can get a better idea of what color you like, then pick one.”

Sally clapped her hands together. “I get to pick the color?”

Breeze shrugged. “I don’t see why not. Is there anybody here to tell us not to?”

Sally squealed and ran over to the row of paint cans. She knelt down, picked one up and fumbled with the cover but couldn’t pry it off. She resorted to using a fingernail and cried out in pain when it broke.

She turned to ask Breeze for help but he was already beside her. He had a utility belt that Excort left behind, and he grabbed a screwdriver from it and easily pried the covers off the cans. He then stirred the paint within each one before pouring small amounts into pans. He replaced the covers and used a hammer to tap them shut, then reached into a box and pulled out brushes and placed one into each of the pans.

“Now what you can do is brush a strip of paint onto the wall like this,” Breeze said as he grabbed a brush and dipped it into the paint, and then brushed a strip on the wall. “Take your time and brush different colors on the wall. That will give an idea of what you’re looking for. If you still don’t like what you see, no worries. Just take these extra pans and feel free to mix the paints any way you like to create the colors you want. Just remember as you paint the strips, give them time to dry. The paint is very wet and shiny when you first apply it. But as time passes, the shine wears off and the color fades a little. Kind of like what happened to this place.”

She nodded as she glanced around.

“Anyways, just go ahead and paint the colors you like. Find one that you feel is right and we can go from there,” Breeze said as he handed her the roller.

“Thank you,” she replied meekly.

Their hands touched and she smiled. He blushed and returned to the wall he was patching.

Sally brushed the samples onto the wall all the while looking at Breeze from the corner of her eye. She was pleasantly surprised that there was more to him than she gave him credit for.

“What do you think this school was like before? You know, before it all fell apart?” she wondered aloud to get a conversation started.

Breeze paused for a moment and looked around. “You know Sally, I’m beginning to think this place was never really a school at all. And if it was, the school was just a part of something much bigger.”

Her brushing stopped and she leaned toward him. “What makes you think that?”

He shrugged. “Just the way I arrived here through the strange tunnel in the sky along with the fog, as Oslo calls it, that supposedly hides the island from outsiders. Then, there’s the various types of aerocraft I saw at the landing facility along with the ones inside the hangars being repaired by the robot mechanics. And if you look at the way this place is spread out the avenues seem more like taxiways for aerocraft to be moved from one building to another. And then there is the harbor. From the sky, you can see the remains of piers that have sunk. Were there a lot of ships that came here? If so, for what? The water is crystal clear, you can see all of it.”

Sally stared him. “You…saw all of this?”

“Yeah, didn’t you?”

She shook her head. “I don’t remember seeing any of these things when we arrived here. In fact, I don’t remember much of anything as to how we got here.”

Breeze was stunned. “You don’t remember flying through some type of tunnel in the sky? It was the weirdest experience ever. If felt like time stood still. I asked Oslo and he tried to explain it to me, something about the island not being in sync with current time.” He paused for a moment. “I wonder why getting here has to be so complex?”

Sally shook her head. “I don’t know. I just know Ray and I boarded the transport and we…fell asleep. When we woke up we had already landed. Excort was there to meet us and took us to the dormitory. We spent about a week with just Oslo, Excort and his wife, Mila. They kept telling us that other students will be arriving shortly but you were the only one who showed up.”

“You mean to tell me that Excort never took you on a wild ride around the island? You didn’t race down a waterfall, and then through a side of a mountain?”

Sally stared at him blankly.

Breeze pressed on. “Did you get a look at the pilot on your transport? Mine didn’t even look human.”

She shrugged. “Like I said, we fell asleep on the transport and woke up when we landed. I can’t remember anything else and I don’t know if Ray does either. I wonder where he is?” She looked around, and then resumed painting samples on the wall. “Breeze, how do you know so much about aerocraft?”

“Where I’m from, that’s what we do. There are a lot of people who are building all sort of experimental stuff. There are some who build and sell to the territorial governments, or to rich folk. Some build and sell to transportation services that ferry people across the land. There is a lot of talk about uniting all of the territories and that it can be done if we mass manufacture aerocraft so people can just fly over the Bad Lands, instead of risking their lives traveling across it. Everyone says it’s going to make my town of Conception into a wealthy city. I don’t believe it.”