The Elites

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

It was tomorrow again.

And our teaching sessions ran late, well into the evening and just before it went dark, Derrick told us to scatter. The whole time I had been itching for it to be over, for there was another place I needed to be.

Was I being too eager?

I must have missed the rooftop more than I realised. The fact that Iver had said to be there surely had nothing to do with it. I was like an addict. Could Elites become addicted? Where did addiction categorise in terms of feelings? Was it feeling or was it just a habit?

There were questions like this that always made me think of the humans. They were free, free to do what they want, free to feel how they want. But maybe it was this freedom that let to consequences, that led to war amongst them. The Elites did not have this problem because we did not feel emotions, could not feel emotionally hurt by words because they were just that: words.

As I climbed out on the rooftop, I saw Iver sat next to the radio, somewhat closer to it than he was yesterday. I breathed a sigh of relief. I wasn't sure what I was expecting.

"The lesson ran late," I spoke softly as I sat down, the radio between us. "I wasn't sure you were still going to be waiting."

Iver turned to face me and as always, his eyes on me appraised, thoughtful. "I know. I looked over," he said, pointing to the edge of the terrace. We were quite far up, surely he could not tell which was me from up here, could he?

"Can I ask you a question?"

Iver did not respond but waited patiently for me to gather my thoughts.

"Is strategy what you teach your Sector?"

Iver was quiet for a moment. I realised he wasn't one for a lot of words and words he spoke were always thought out. "Yes. We go over every possible strategy and what to do if that strategy does not work. We go over all possibilities for a strategy and what each of our roles would be to avoid any surprises. Then we feed that back to the Elders. But recently, we have been working on hacking our way into human satellites."

I whipped round to face him, my complete attention on him. "For what purpose?"

"Humans have gotten better at their technology in the recent years but that means their war strategies are more... protected. We have cracked a few but it was for against other countries, other humans. We have yet to come across their war strategy against us. It seems to be heavily guarded and hidden."

"Or they don't have one," I said.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you ever wonder if they even know we exist?"

That threw off Iver as he had no answer for me. It seemed he hadn't thought of that.

"Can I ask you a question?" Iver asked this time.

I nodded for him to go on.

"Will you teach me fighting skills?"

To say I was not expecting that was an understatement. I think my mouth was slightly open in surprise. Guess you could surprise Elites after all. I wasn't sure how to respond.

"Why?" I finally let out.

"I saw you fighting, you were smoother than the rest of your Sector, more refined." His words started to create that warmth again which I needed to avoid.

"No, I mean why do you want to learn?"

"Because strategy will only get you so far. Having seen some of the plans the humans have come up with for their wars, I think they can be devious and when the time comes for our war, I want to have all angles covered. I haven't... discussed this with anyone, not even the Elders."

I considered for a moment what to do. As surprising as his request was, there was no harm in covering all bases. I understood where he was coming from.

"Okay. As long as you also teach me some strategic thinking." I got up and motioned for Iver to get up too. We put away the radio to avoid damaging it. "What style of fighting would you like to learn?"

I could tell Iver was unsure and so I decided for him. "Why don't you show me what moves you already know and we can build from there. It took years to learn every style of fighting so you will not be an expert on all styles but I could teach you some."

I braced myself on my feet, watching Iver do the same, waiting for him to make the first move. I knew if I was patient, my opponent always made the first move. Iver came at me. He was fast but I was a part of The Force. Before he could even lay his hands on me, I had twisted around him, arms behind his back. Kicking him in the back of his knees, he collapsed, his cheek against the cold ground and I was on top of him. He was immobilised. I hadn't broken a sweat but I had also never been this close to anyone from The Intelligence, let alone their cold leader.

I got up and dusted myself off, lending a hand to Iver.

"You only know the basic attack moves it seems," I appraised. "I can teach you some more tomorrow."

Iver did not reply, only stared at me with that intensity in his blue eyes. I started to feel a little...off. Why was he staring at me like that?

"That was..." I waited for him to finish. His voice sounded slightly different too. "I researched what that word meant," he said and I almost got whiplash from the topic change. The word from yesterday?

"Oh. What does it mean? Have the humans invented a new language?"

"It is a word to describe something or someone."

"In what context? Is it good or bad?"

"I think good," he replied never taking his eyes off me. "What you just did..."

"I am sorry. I shouldn't be taking down a leader."

Iver shook his head. "You taking me down like that was... sexy."

This time there was no escaping that heat that was building. I looked down to see if I was on fire. I wondered if Iver saw it. With another perusal from my eyes, down my legs, Iver turned and walked away. I stood there in the night, the stars shining above, the cold wind kept away from the heat inside me from his words.

Sexy, I mouthed.