24
Their first tutorial with Josef took place the next day. Sean felt totally unprepared for the transformation their instructor revealed. Gone was the shy, bumbling giant. In his place was a man of blazing intent. He shut the door, slipped behind his oversized desk, and in that instant the outside world was gone. Dillon and Sean and their conversation were it. They were on.
Josef began with, “Tell me what you are thinking.”
“About what?”
“Anything. Only let us speak Serenese, yes? I need to observe your ability with the Assembly’s official language.” Josef spread his massive hands. “Let us talk on whatever you like. There are no limits.”
Sean exchanged a look with his brother. Uncertain how to take the words.
“By the time I normally start this tier of a recruit’s training,” Josef went on, “I know my students intimately. I know their strengths, their weaknesses. I know what they want to do professionally. And usually I know what they should not attempt. You see? With you two, I know nothing at all. So I ask you to spend this time talking with me.”
Sean glanced over a second time. Dillon nodded once. Go.
“You want us to be honest,” Sean said.
“If this tutorial is to be of any benefit, our words must be truthful,” Josef agreed.
“Which is why we’re speaking Serenese. So you can hear more than just what I say.”
Josef smiled approval. “The Counselor claimed you were gifted. I have seen confirmation of this in the class. Now I am pleased to know it is not simply a matter of applying your power.” When they remained silent, Josef pressed, “Come, come, gentlemen. Tell me this. What is your clearest impression of our school and what we do here?”
Sean replied, “Same-old, same-old.”
“What means this, please?”
“We swing back and forth to different places, and we don’t see a thing. One windowless room to another. We’ve learned transits to what, sixteen worlds?”
“Seventeen,” Dillon corrected. “Seventeen boring windowless rooms.”
“Boring,” Sean said. “That’s the word.”
Josef’s eyes were crystal green, a laser intent upon probing deep. “Most of the students here have great difficulty focusing on the transit itself. They need this sameness. It helps them maintain proper aim. Ninety percent of all recruits become Messengers. They are required to learn a minimum of—”
“Forty transit points to graduate. We’ve heard all that.” Sean was glad to finally have a chance to speak his mind. “We’re not most students.”
Josef continued, “Forty transit points. Correct. This is all they want. This is why they come. They travel, they perform an important role. They graduate and they step from the chambers into new and exciting tasks. They deliver their message, they have a nice meal, they stay in a nice hotel, they return home. They have rank. They are respected.”
“You’ve just painted the life we don’t want,” Sean said.
“Messengers play a vital role within our community of planets,” Josef replied.
“Right. Just like galactic cell phones.”
“Please?”
“Never mind.”
“Plus there is the issue of age. Our students are normally between nine and fourteen Lothian years old when they arrive.”
The Lothian year was about three-fourths the length of an Earth year. “So?”
“Their maturity is not at a level where we can permit them to interact with the outside world. Already there are many people, on many worlds, who resent us and suspect our intentions.”
“But why? You just said they play an important role.”
“There have been problems. Serious ones. But that is for another time, yes? Right now what you need to understand is this. Our isolation is in place for important reasons.”
Dillon complained, “But we’ve never even seen anything of any other planet. Including this one. Just weeks of blank-walled classrooms.”
Josef kept his gaze on Sean as he replied, “In seventeen days, Lothia celebrates the summer equinox. It is a great festival, and you will have an opportunity to see some of this world. But never mind that for the moment. Listen carefully, my two young adventurous gentlemen. A tutorial is meant to delve beyond the boundaries of ability. To stretch the student, to help them redefine the possible. But so far, all I know is what you don’t want. So before we speak of your professional aims, I must know the person. You understand? Yes, I see you do. Excellent. So here is what I ask. Tell me of the secret Sean and the secret Dillon. Tell me what is on your heart. Learn to trust me. You will find me a strong and willing ally.”
This time when Sean hesitated, Dillon spoke to him in English. “You’re up, bro.”
“You think?”
“I know.”
“But what if he’s the Examiner’s pet?”
“You been listening? We’re talking Serenese and the guy is coming across straight as a bullet.”
“True, true.”
“So let’s give this a shot. We’ve been here three weeks and done nothing. It’s time to do more than walk through walls.”
Sean turned back, took a breath, and launched straight in.
Sean didn’t hold anything back. Including his and Dillon’s mutual loathing for the Examiner. And vice versa.
Midway through the description of the Charger attack, Josef rose from his chair and turned toward the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves running along the right-hand wall. The professor was so large he seemed to push most of the air from the room. When Sean hesitated, Josef rolled one finger without turning around. Continue.
When Sean finished describing the assault that destroyed their home, Josef remained as he was, frowning and blindly perusing titles before his nose.
Sean turned to his silent brother and said in English, “You’ve been a big help.”
“Hey, you were on a roll there.”
Josef halted Sean’s retort with, “It is customary in tutorials to speak only the languages that all present understand.”
“Sorry.”
“No, no, it is I who must apologize.” He turned around and gave them a portly bow. “On behalf of my dear friend Tirian, I sincerely regret everything you have endured because of his prejudice.”
Sean was taken aback by the words, such that Dillon was the one who said, “Apology accepted.”
“Tirian is my oldest friend. I love him like a brother. And he can be the most exasperating, judgmental . . .”
“Bullheaded,” Sean offered. “Totally blind.”
“A royal pain,” Dillon said.
“Just plain nasty,” Sean agreed.
Josef pulled at his beard, doing his best to hide a smile. “I should mention that what is said inside tutorials is never discussed beyond this portal.”
“Now then, as to the next step. Counselor Tatyana was most explicit in her instructions. You may not under any circumstances return to your original transit point. You are to study and you are to learn. Nothing more. And yet I myself am facing a number of unanswered questions . . .”
Josef slipped back into his oversized chair. He stroked his beard in silence, one massive hand gathering it together, stroking down, tugging, again. It actually left Sean feeling calmer. He watched the giant and decided that here was a man who took them seriously. For the moment, it was great just not being put down.
Finally Josef continued, “As I said, a successful tutorial will force the student to delve beyond the boundaries of the comfortable. Normally that means the student must grow in unexpected directions. But in your case . . .”
They were content to sit and wait while the instructor dialogued with himself. Time was set aside, as were the worry and the unknown. Here was safety. Here was an ally.
Josef turned and planted his hands on the desk. “Very well. This is what I think. Let us make an agreement. Speak to one another without words a second time, and I in return will do two things. First, I will go against the orders of a Counselor. I will help you in solving this mystery. Because I too fear that Colonel Carver and his team are looking in the wrong direction.”
“That’s great,” Sean said.
Dillon corrected, “It’s great only if we can make it work.”
“But we will.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that,” Dillon shot back. “Let me know when you work that out.”
Josef held up his hand. Wait. “But we must agree among ourselves that this will be our secret. We will do this thing, and we will move in the shadows. Because I for one do not wish to anger this particular Counselor. Already she views Tirian’s school with suspicion. If she suspects any wrongdoing on our part, she would shut us down in an instant. I tell you this because I want you to understand that I take a very great risk, even speaking of this in the confidentiality of the tutorial.”
“We understand,” Sean said. “We won’t say a word.”
“We really appreciate this,” Dillon added.
“You mentioned giving us a second thing if we talk without words.”
“When.” Dillon grinned at him. “It’s just a matter of time, right?”
“The second promise.” Josef leaned closer still. Suddenly he was not the gentle, caring professor. Gone were the smile and the shyness. In their place was a warrior’s implacable force. “Do this thing, and I will reveal to you the mysteries of higher combat.”