LITMIR.BIZ

      ISBN 978-5-4490-8885-7

      Created with Ridero smart publishing system

      CHAPTER ONE JULIA

      2198. The scene is set in dwarf ε-galaxy somewhere between α, ß, γ,.. ω-galaxies, in the School of Magic.

      – Elizabeth Smith, you start your internship tomorrow in ß-galaxy. Steward Larkin will escort you.

      – Margaret Kenning. You are leaving for γ-galaxy with Kurt Koch.

      – Boney Zimmerman. Your internship destination is α-galaxy. Lesley Ziemer will take you there.

      “When will my turn come? Where will they assign me?” Julia was thinking to herself listening to Madame Groysman’s crisp monotonous voice and having all these questions flicker unanswered through her head like the stars in the sky. Suddenly all the important events in her life came live before her eyes.

      The girl was an orphan at a very early age. Both her parents and brothers died on the same day and she was brought up by foster parents. They were aged, of modest means and childless. Though Julia had known all her life that Maggie and John were not her real parents, she did not feel deprived of a real family. Maggie and John loved Julia and always treated her with care and respect, which created a kind of distance between them and embarrassed Julia even more.

      She was seven, when they sent her to the boarding School of Magic for girls where she studied for 10 years. Hardly had she entered school, when there came an unexpected turn of events. First she had a narrow escape from the fire when she stepped on Jane’s foot by accident. Jane showed her anger by giving Julia a fiery look which instantly set her uniform on fire. Julia did not have time to feel scared, as two security guards turned up next to her and extinguished the fire. In the classroom, there was a loud bickering between Kasey and Linda. Kasey had lost her textbooks and was thinking Linda had taken them.

      – Why would I need your textbooks? I’ve got mine. – Linda was saying, trying to reason with her.

      – They were here a minute ago, – Kasey was screaming.

      Tempers flared and everyone got involved. Suddenly all metallic items started falling from the stands. Carla had them magnetized with her look, while the others were trying to push her out of the classroom in skirmish. The next moment the people and the things in the room froze in the air. Julia stopped them with her look. God knows what would happen if not for the bell. Madam Groysman and Andrea Livandowskaya, the class head, entered the room.

      – What’s going on in here?

      The steel in school principal’s voice was unmistakable and scared them more than the falling items. Everyone froze and the room fell silent.

      The school was located in a huge majestic building that inspired awe and respect. The school management had been very strict about the established order since the start of the school

      The school program was the same for everyone during the first three years. Every student had a special gift. The school’s mission was to develop the students’ gifts. All the girls studied hard but the most important outcome of the primary school was to learn to exercise control over one’s thoughts, emotions and actions. This was a real challenge and most learners had to leave school after the third grade. Not everyone was able to control themselves and use their gift when required. The greatest takeaway for those who survived was to value what they had.

      Starting from the fourth grade, students were to take their majors along with compulsory subjects like telepathy, telekinesis and the simplest forms of teleportation. At the same time, they could control other people not only through their gift but also their intellect.

      Julia excelled at school. She was well-mannered and boasted such unique abilities, as eidetic memory, mental arithmetic skills, an ability to locate the required information very fast, find her way in an unfamiliar setting, recognize codes, symbols, signs and translate them into any language, ranging from the language of Ancient Runes to dialects spoken by small nations. She also had the gift of controlling others. The School of Magic helped her develop these gifts. Julia was in friendly terms with the girls in the school but her best friend was Jack. He was the best pilot at school. As they didn’t have the chance to meet very often, each meeting was unforgettable.

      Julia introduced Jack to Maggie and John during one of the parental meetings. She could see that they seemed to like him but didn’t want her to be close friends with him, though they wouldn’t acknowledge this.

      All the official events at school were attended by students and pilots. Today was one of the events. A group of graduating students was leaving for other galaxies to have their internships in different schools of magic.

      – Julia Wexler, your destination is ω-galaxy and Jack Black will escort you there.

      The principal’s voice brought Julia back down to reality. Hardly had she realized the significance of her assignment, when all her friends started to hug and congratulate her. That was indeed a dream assignment. Throughout school history, only one graduate had the honor of visiting that galaxy. This was not merely by a stroke of luck that Julia had got that assignment. She had the best grades at school. Over the past three years, her name had topped the list of the best candidates at school, which happened quite rarely.

      Jack, who was a pilot in command, had never escorted anyone during their internship. “May tomorrow start today for me to spend a few hours with Jack.”

      The departure was scheduled at six a.m. Julia couldn’t sleep; she was hyper excited. What was there for her? There was nothing new there to be explored about galaxies. Or almost nothing. She had learned at school of magic that ω-galaxy had been explored less than other galaxies but differed from the others only by being located further and having a larger size. Why was she worried then?

      “This feeling of uncertainty is scary.” Julia thought to herself. She had never left her own galaxy, nor had she traveled outside her school of magic. Maggie and John would visit her but they would not take her home for holidays. Why wouldn’t she ever give it a thought?.

      “It ‘s already past midnight. At five she has to be in the departure zone. She has to rest for a couple of hours. Who needs your goddamn gift when you can’t even help yourself to sleep. Just don’t fret. Lie down, close your eyes and count until ten. Good girl!” Soon she was fast asleep. In her dream she was racing into an abyss at a great speed. She was about to fall into a huge crater, when someone pulled her out of the waves of turbulence that were about to destroy her.

      The alarm went off. It was half past four and time to get up. She fixed her hair and clothes, touched the sensor units to open the door and went into the corridor. She could hardly walk. “Not enough sleep. The flight is long, though. Will get some.”

      Julia went to the dispatcher’s board of inter-galaxy flights (DBIF), which worked non-stop. She entered the departures hall, where some of the interns were already waiting. It had never crossed her mind that there was such a powerful system behind the School of Magic.

      The warehouse was nearby. Everyone went into their cubicle to get their special gear. At six o’clock sharp, the crews were ready for departure. Julia’s flight was the last one on the schedule and she was watching the spaceships take off through the bulletproof glass wall on the dispatcher’s board. The view was fascinating.

      Julia listened to the flight instructions. Jack had already checked all the gear and the navigation system and was looking through the flight variables that he had received in an envelope right before boarding the spaceship. Though

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