Chapter Two

Jacinda Vasquez hesitated when she saw the young man whiz by on the pedway with another strange looking boy. She recognized the young man immediately as Devon Blake. She had known that he would be on this voyage, but it still came as a shock to her. With her parents’ meager income, they never could have afforded to send her on this trip, not without the money that had been given to them by the Blake Foundation. She could not figure out why the foundation had decided to help fund her trip. She was not an especially good student, or an outstanding athlete. The e-message had mentioned something about an above-average score on something called the Ackerman Test, whatever that was. She did not even remember taking any test like that, but if it had gotten her this chance for an adventure, she was fine with it.

Jacinda had mixed feelings about the boy. He looked nice enough, but how could anyone as rich as him be nice. When you had that kind of money, it just was not necessary. You could simply buy what you wanted without having to be nice about it. She also felt a bit of embarrassment about needing the money to go on this trip. Around her friends, who were mostly in the same situation as her, she did not mind being poor. But being around these people, she felt like she had a sign on her back that said “charity case.”

She shook off those depressing thoughts and smiled widely. Nothing like a big smile to make friends.

Just then, a group of four boys brushed by her in the passageway.

“Watch your step, pipsqueak,” one snapped as he bumped into her.

Jacinda spun around to face the boy, ready to toss a comeback at him, but stopped in her tracks. The boys had also turned around and they all looked like they were just waiting for her to say something so they would have a reason to make more trouble. She stifled a reply and looked down at the ground.

“What’s wrong, Rags, nothing to say. You workers should be more careful around the guests.”

“I am a guest too,” Jacinda snapped before her caution could stop her.

“A Guest? You can’t be serious. You are dressed like a beggar,” the boy growled. “There is no way you could afford to be on this ship, unless you are a stowaway.” The boy crossed his arms in satisfaction when tears began to well up in Jacinda’s eyes. “What did I say, boys? She must be a stowaway.”

“Yeah, Terry, a dirty stowaway,” one of the other boys agreed.

Terry Jameson and the Gustav brothers were old hands at picking on other children. They had worked out their routine and knew just what to do to upset their victims, with as little effort as possible. Terry took special pride in his ability to pick out the most vulnerable person in any group. As the situation unfolded, they took a moment to watch the fruit of their labors.

By this time Jacinda was wiping her face furiously, trying to stop the tears. Seeing her distress, the boys began to laugh even harder.

By this time, the altercation has attracted the attention of a small group of children. The growing crowd seemed to feed Terry’s satisfaction at her humiliation. Suddenly the hurt that Jacinda felt turned into anger. She had had enough of this abuse. She reached into a pouch fastened to her belt and felt around for something to throw at the boys. Her hand settled on a small can of fizzup.

The can looked small, but actually contained about a liter of sweet, fizzy soda. When it was poured out of the can it was supposed to change into its liquid form, but Jacinda did not plan on pouring it out. With a furious flick of the wrist, she shook up the can and pointed it at the group of boys. They had only a moment to look surprised before Jacinda pressed the release on the can and all of the soda spewed out on the boys, covering them with sticky, sweet smelling liquid.

All of the other children gathered around the disturbance began laughing, pointing at Terry and the three others. Jacinda flashed a satisfied smile at the boys. “Oops, how dreadfully clumsy of me.”

Terry nearly choked with rage. This was not supposed to be how it worked. The girl was supposed to run away in tears, not douse them with fizzup. Two of the Gustav brothers, Link and Junior, were not so much mad as shocked. Their younger brother, Merrell, on the other hand, was neither shocked nor angry. In fact, he found it rather funny. The idea of this slim girl shaming her tormentors with a can of fizzup made him laugh out loud. Merrell immediately liked her. Seeing that the others did not seem to find it funny, he swallowed his grin, stifling another laugh. Link and Junior turned on Merrell, giving him a double look of annoyance.

Finally recovering from the surprise, Terry glared at Jacinda, rage twisting his mouth.

“You’ll regret that. I’ll have the captain put you in the brig until you learn how to treat your betters.” Terry spun on his heals and strode down the hallway away from the laughing children. Link and Junior looked at each other and then hurried after Terry. Merrell looked confused for a moment. With an embarrassed shrug to Jacinda, he turned and followed his brothers.

With the retreat of the bullies, several children in the crowd began to clap and cheer. Soon the whole group joined in the applause. One girl clapped Jacinda on the shoulder.

“Good show. Terry and his goons go to the same PrimeSchool as I do, and nobody ever stands up to them. By the way, I’m Maddie.” The girl offered her hand to Jacinda. “What is your name, or do you want to be called ‘Rags’,” she asked with a smile.

“Jacinda, my name is Jacinda,” she replied, unsure what to say next. Normally she did not lose her temper like that. But this time it seemed to have worked out well for her.

Maddie clapped Jacinda on the shoulder again “Well, I had better get my luggage to my room. Maybe we will see each other tomorrow at the briefing. Bye.”

Jacinda waved goodbye and turned to go back to her room. She picked up her threadbare luggage on her way to her compartment. She knew she needed to hurry. She had a reception to attend as part of her trip. All of the children from important families had been invited to the reception. She had been included because her trip had been sponsored by the Blake Foundation. She just hoped that Terry had not been invited as well.