Tock

This is where I belong, Tock moped. Right at the back of the room where I can’t bug anything up.

There Tock was, sitting on the floor at the back of the theatre with her legs curled up to her chest and her head buried in her knees. She took up the smallest amount of space that a fifteen-year-old girl could, which was smaller than most Platonians since she was frustratingly short. Couple that with her being pressed against the wall and she was almost non-existent. Almost. She had considered taking a corner instead or even hiding in the main hall, but… there was the off chance that someone might approach her and say something nice—for once—and Tock still somewhat hoped that if she looked sad in sight of everyone, then there might be that one good person who would—

Oh, who was she kidding? What was going to happen was that someone would tell her off for being so sulky, and then chide her back to work. Still, they’d be wasting their time! Tock had done almost nothing the entire time she was meant to be helping. She could count on one hand the number of questions she answered correctly; everything else was maybes and I-don’t-knows. Besides, she didn’t feel like doing anything. Not yet, anyway.

Okay, maybe I am being a bit sulky, Tock reasoned. But it’s justified!

Steady conversation shrouded the theatre. As a whole, the noise could be easily blocked out, blending into the background and becoming as unnoticeable as the skydome, but each time a voice pricked up from that cloud of noise it was a cold reminder that Tock had created this scenario. And caused a girl to fail. And Raphael.

Yeah, that was a good enough reason to sulk. I’m just as bad as those greedy folk who left Earth in this sorry state, she reproved herself.

Then something heavy bumped against the wall next to Tock and the faint scent of sweat itched her nose. She looked up and there stood Lumia, breathing a little quickly and flashing that gorgeous smile of hers. Tock had to resist the urge not to smile back. Had Lumia carried some infectious smiling disease with her when she came to Plato? That must have been it.

Lumia slid down and sat cross-legged beside Tock. Then she tried to say… something. The taller girl’s smile softened and her brows creased in mock determination. She held up loose fists well below her chin, and her elbows were pressed almost to her body.

Tock cocked an eyebrow. “What? Hold something?”

Lumia shook her head.

“Hands? Fists? Is that a guard? That’s not a guard.”

Lumia lowered her hands and looked off to the side, embarrassed.

Tock squinted at her. “Hey, do you not know how to sign?”

The blonde-haired girl hunched forward and covered her face with one hand.

Rather than be upset or surprised, Tock found the whole thing so amusing that she had to stifle a giggle. However, her amusement was short-lived. There was still too much on her mind, too much weighing her down. Tock rested her head against the wall and let out a long sigh.

“I know everyone needs my help, but if I screw up again, what’s the point?”

Lumia listened without interrupting her—though it wasn’t like she could interrupt since she didn’t know how to sign! It also seemed there was a mutual agreement to remain silent if you hadn’t already spoken. Regardless, it was nice to have someone listen.

Feeling more confident, Tock continued. “I don’t want anyone else to fail because of me.”

Lumia exhaled then shook her head. She grabbed Tock’s arm, manoeuvred it so that her bicep was flexed, then pretended to struggle as she squeezed it.

Tock let out another giggle. “Thanks. No-one has ever called me strong before because I’m really not that strong. I mean, look at me?”

Again Lumia shook her head. Then she tapped her heart, as if saying that Tock was strong inside.

Tock frowned. How could she even know? She’s never met me. She doesn’t know what I am.

Drawing her knees back up and leaning into them, Tock let out a long breath. “I wish I were that confident. Seriously, I don’t know how you smile so much when all of this is happen—”

She didn’t get a chance to finish the sentence before Lumia, to Tock’s complete bafflement, drew her in for a hug. Layers of emotions buried her. First there was discomfort from someone touching her—a thing that hardly happened in Plato. Then there was sorrow, brought on by a wave of lost memories of her mother, her real mother, drawing her into her bosom. And finally, there was a torrent of guilt and self-loathing prickling through her skin as it was sapped out of her. What remained was mild contentment.

It wasn’t the most comfortable hug since Lumia was quite boney, but it was warm and that’s what mattered. All of Tock’s worries began to fade, and she thought to herself, while nestled in that gentle embrace, that Lumia was the most precious thing that Tock had ever seen.

Once those few sweet seconds passed and human contact became unbearable, Tock detached herself and gave one little sniffle. “Thanks,” she hummed. “I never realised how much I needed that.”

Lumia returned a gentle smile back, which Tock recognised as an invitation to talk with her at any time. But not now, of course.

Tock hopped up and stretched. “Alright, time to stop whining. What do we have left? A whole”—she pulled her meus out of her blazer pocket. “Forty-five minutes?!” she cried. “Ah, if only time travel were a thing.”

Lumia stood, smiled, and then they parted ways. This left Tock with a problem: what was she supposed to do? Everyone was trying to help each other and that annoying Morgan was rushing back and forth like a ball in one of those pre-Ascension sports, and getting more frantic with each passing minute. She would have expected Tock to join her, but Tock knew that was a mistake.

Even with all of the work the students had been putting in, they were no closer to passing than they were after Leo unlocked those twenty-odd students. Every question that she’d seen so far was impossible if you couldn’t remember years’ worth of education, and even then it wasn’t enough! But Leo? He’d run off, found something, and used that to unlock twenty students in one go. That was the ticket! All Tock had to do was find whatever method Leo had used. And if it did exist, it wasn’t going to be inside the testing room.

Tock’s eyes settled on the stage. There might not be a show on stage but there is still a show. It’s us. This whole room is kind of like a stage, so naturally there must be someone behind it pulling the strings. Leo went to the balcony, her eyes turned upwards to the large window overlooking the theatre, so I’ll go backstage.

So she headed towards the raised stage with a skip in her step. Hope blossomed in her heart as she climbed up the steps and found the side door that led behind the stage. That was until a grating, whiny voice called her from behind.

“Hey, what in this choking world are you doing?”

Tock groaned so loudly she was sure she could be heard from the surface. Just when I was finally starting to feel better!

“What do you want, Alan?” she hissed.

The black-haired boy joined Tock on the stage. He was slightly out of breath, probably because was so desperate to boss Tock around that he sprinted over here. His shirt was untucked—not partially like before, but completely—so all in all he looked like a total slob.

His eyes darted about the stage, then settled on the door. Frowning, the sloppy boy growled, “You’re thinking of doing something stupid, right?”

Tock’s upper lip curled. “Why do you care what I do?” she spat.

“Why?” he cried, taken aback as though it was the weirdest question he’d ever heard. The gall of him! “Why? Because we can’t afford another mistake.”

“Oh, and you’re an expert on not making mistakes? Could have fooled me.”

“What is your problem?” he shouted, voice breaking, hands flailing about like they always did when he was upset. Seeing Alan so perturbed gave Tock a sense of vicious satisfaction.

“You’re the problem!” Tock screeched. She didn’t care that her voice was echoing across the room, or that everyone else had gone silent. There were things that she needed to get off her chest, and she didn’t give a damn who heard. A public execution was befitting of Alan’s crimes against her.

Alan leaned in and held out his hands, begging for Tock to stop. “Will you shut up and just listen to me?”

“Give me one reason why I should care about your annoying opinions.”

“Because I’m the only student here”—Alan stepped forwards and tapped his temples in time with every word he spoke—“who. Uses. Their. Brain!”

“Yeah? Well try using it on people for a change!”

Their argument was interrupted when Morgan stomped onto the stage. She was grinding her teeth and her eyes looked like they would pop out of her head at any moment.

‘Shut up! Both of you,’ her hands thrashed. ‘I cannot believe that I have to explain that you need to stop arguing in the middle of a test, while standing on a stage that is projecting your voices to everyone in the room. I have far too many problems to solve right now so I do not want to resolve your personal issues as well. If you want to keep arguing, then leave!’ Without giving Tock or Alan a chance to respond, Morgan spun on her heels and stormed off the stage.

With a huff, Tock stormed off also, leaving Alan to grumble after her. Why do I even bother? Nobody wants me here; they all think I’m the problem. As Tock grabbed the backstage door’s handle, ready to slam it open, Lumia’s beautiful smile popped into her mind. She paused and let her anger subside a bit. Maybe not everyone. I guess if we fail, Lumia will also fail. I don’t want that to happen.

She tried the handle and, to her amazement, the door slid open. Taking a deep breath, Tock entered backstage.

A number of things stood out to her. Firstly, the backstage area was rather spacious and hooked all the way around the stage, leaving plenty of room for props and equipment to be prepared and for actors to ready themselves for their grand moments. Secondly, part of the reason why it was so spacious was because there was no clutter. There wasn’t anything. The whole space had been cleaned out. Thirdly, the fact that she could identify all of these things meant that the lights were already on.

Guess I’m not so stupid after all, she thought. Take that, Alan!

As though Tock had just summoned a demon, the door crashed open and Alan shuffled in behind her. Tock pretended he wasn’t there and started her search.

“Hey,” Alan called. “Can you at least tell me why you’re here?”

Tock searched high along the ceiling for anything of note, but aside from the railings on which curtains and stage lights could be mounted there was nothing.

Alan approached her. “Let me guess. You’re looking for an admin terminal, right?”

“Oh, so on top of being a cat,” Tock muttered to herself, though obviously intending for Alan to hear her, “he’s now reading minds. Huh. Would have been nice if he could do that a week ago.”

Another door led away from the main backstage area. She hopped over to it and tried the handle. It was unlocked! She headed in.

“Okay, look,” Alan rushed, falling in behind her. “I just don’t want a repeat of what happened with Leo. The problem with this test is communication, right? So if someone gets locked away then we can’t give them the information they need.”

They were in a wide hall with plain white walls and floor. Doors lined either side which were most likely changing rooms or used for storage. Tock tried the first door. Locked.

Alan continued, “Like, say they can unlock twenty students but they don’t have any information on which one is best. They might unlock students who were just about to pass which would be a huge waste.”

“Uh huh,” Tock said idly. She tried another door. Locked.

“I mean,” Alan went on, “why did you even think to come here?”

“Because it’s a show, Alan,” she explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Alan stared at her incredulously. “That’s it? Like, how is that any different from blindly guessing?”

“Do you have a better idea?” Tock retorted. “Preferably one that isn’t stupid or annoying.”

“Yeah, actually.”

Tock turned on him. “Well?” She expected—no, knew—that this was going to be one of Alan’s hairbrained schemes and it would have been better to just ignore him, but she needed to hear it. That way she could tear it to shreds. Bonus marks if she made him cry!

Okay, that’s a bit harsh. Where did that come from?

Nodding, Alan pulled out his meus. “So when we were listening to the Principal’s speech, right, I saw this icon in the corner. So I tapped on it and a map showed up.” A smile broke out on his face. “I didn’t realise it at the time, but it was a map of the testing room and the rooms surrounding it. And—get this—there were some dots on it.”

Tock folded her arms. “Dots,” she repeated dryly. She wanted so badly to slap that smirk off his face!

“Yeah, I think they were admin terminals. Problem is.” He gripped his meus in both hands and stared down at it, scowling. “I can’t remember where they were. I mean, I didn’t try to remember it because I forget stuff all the time. So I took a screenshot, even saved it to local memory rather than using the Network. But since we’re in a test our meuses have been locked out completely. I’ve been trying to find a way around the lockout but haven’t had any luck.”

Tock’s face fell. “Wait, are you telling me that you’ve been sitting at your desk for almost an hour trying to get around a lockout so that you could find a screenshot that you believe could tell you where the admin terminals are?”

Alan looked up at her with shock written all over his face. He dropped his gaze to his meus, flicked the screen on, stared at it for a few seconds, then stuffed it in his pocket. Turning away from Tock he mumbled, “I hadn’t noticed the time.”

Throwing her head back, Tock spun a half pirouette on flat feet and stomped off towards the next door. “I can’t believe you!” she howled. “Honestly, I thought I was pretty stupid but you are really something else. This whole time you knew about the admin terminals and you didn’t tell anyone. Instead, you wasted your time, and everyone else’s, staring into your stupid meus! It would have been faster if you’d gone off on your own and opened doors at rand—”

A door slid open. On the other side was a tiny room with plain white walls, almost like a prison cell. In the middle of the room was a desk much like the ones the students used. On its terminal was a message that made Tock’s heart skip a beat:

You are an administrator.

I—I did it! I found an admin terminal. I actually did it.

She spun around to Alan, grinning ear to ear, but Alan was neither amused nor confused. More like, there was a look of abject horror on his face.

“Don’t!” he shouted. “You’ll get locked in.”

“Too late.”

Tock ripped her meus from her blazer pocket and dived for the desk. Alan came hurtling through the door. Before Tock could reach the desk, Alan reached for her and tripped. He crashed into her back and brought both of them to the floor. Tock let out a winded grunt as she landed. Her meus flew from her hands, scattering across the floor.

Her elbows smarting, Tock tried to wiggle her way out from under Alan’s weight. At the same time Alan was climbing forwards hoping to pin her arms. She placed a hand on his face and pushed, causing Alan to let out a grunt.

“Get off me, idiot!” she sputtered.

“Just think it through,” he mumbled into her hand.

“I’ll give you something to think about!”

Tock turned onto her back and grabbed Alan’s head with one hand. With the other, she pinched his nose then yanked it sideways. Alan reeled back and swatted Tock’s arms away, howling in pain. Without hesitation Tock scrambled across the floor and round the desk, then snatched her meus off the floor. She hoisted herself up using the desk.

Before she could shove her meus in the dock however, Alan was up again with one hand pinching his nose. With the other, he seized Tock’s arm from over the desk, the one holding her meus. Tock transferred her meus to the other hand, then Alan grabbed that arm with the hand that had been holding his nose.

Ew, gross. That’s snot, Tock whined. Fine. You had this coming!

Tock twisted one arm towards her to expose Alan’s wrist. Then she lunged forward and sunk her teeth into Alan’s flesh.

First Alan’s eyes went wide, as though in complete disbelief. A second later he let out a long and high-pitched howl. Still he wouldn’t let go so, growling, Tock crunched down even harder until she could taste iron. Alan’s cries grew louder until he finally released Tock’s arms. The moment she was free Tock slammed her meus into the dock and the cover slammed shut. Victory!

Tock leaned against the desk to catch her breath, panting heavily. Alan groaned as he rolled on the floor. Slowly he got up, wincing and rubbing his wrist. A light smearing of blood covered part of his wrist, though it didn’t seem to be trickling heavily enough to be worried. Tock felt a little guilty for that, but no matter! She straightened up and readjusted her headband. Then she folded her arms, raised her chin, and gave Alan a smug grin.

“I can’t believe you bit me,” Alan griped. “What are you, a savage?”

“No,” Tock panted. “I’m right.”

As though to mock her, a click sounded from behind Alan. The door, which had closed automatically during their fight, was now locked. Its indicator light glowed a bright red.

Alan swung his uninjured arm towards the door and cocked his eyebrows. Tock rolled her eyes and circled round to the front of the desk.

“Let’s just get this done,” Tock grumbled.