A hologram of a system spun over his head, while planet after planet was highlighted with a bright blue light. As each world was highlighted, the native language or dialect repeated the same sentence.
Anakin did not need to wait until the question was complete. He already had figured out the Mid-Rim system. It was Rearqu 10.
"Name the system," Professor Aeradin said.
Anakin took his time entering his response. He watched the other students, noting who immediately entered an answer, who stared blankly at the system overhead, who tried to read what his neighbor had entered, and who whispered the answer to another. Then he entered his own.
Rearqu 10 flashed holographically overhead. The professor repeated it as the number of right and wrong answers appeared on a screen at the front of the room.
"Only forty percent were correct," Aeradin said severely. "Shameful."
The next problem flashed overhead. Anakin noted Ferus entering the answer before the question had even finished flashing. The student sitting next to Ferus glanced at him enviously, but Ferus's datapad was angled to prevent anyone from seeing what was on it.
Anakin sighed. Even undercover, Ferus had to be the perfect student.
Anakin entered his own answer. Across the room, a petite human girl with dark hair twisted in a thick knot at the nape of her neck smiled at him. He smiled back. She was in his Political Philosophies class and he had already noticed how bright she was. She had a way of seeing all sides of an issue and looking for the deeper meaning.
The contest wore on. At last the questions ceased. Professor Aeradin totaled up the responses on his data-pad and looked up.
"And the First Student today is…"
The name flashed holographically: FERUS OLIN "I'd like to congratulate our new student, Ferus Olin, for his perfect score. His time was the best. Excellent work."
"Thank you, Professor Aeradin," Ferus said.
Suddenly another hologram rose next to Ferus's name. The light particles formed themselves into words, shining bigger and brighter: IS A SNOB The auditorium exploded into laughter. Professor Aeradin looked up and saw the words. His gaze swept the auditorium while his antennae quivered with indignation.
"Who did this? Stand up this instant!"
The laughter slowly died, and the auditorium went still. Professor Aeradin's severe look traveled from student to student, trying to flush out the culprit.
Anakin drew on the Force to help him. He noted movement, whispers, a shift, a squirm. He felt the undercurrents in the room — suppressed laughter, nervousness. Impatience. Boredom. Hunger.
Triumph.
His gaze shifted to a short, scruffy human boy who sat staring innocently at Professor Aeradin.
The professor hesitated. "If I ever find out…"
His words were drowned out by a soft dinging. A voice rose from the hidden speakers. "End of contest. Five minutes to mod four. Five minutes."
"Dismissed," Professor Aeradin said helplessly, for the students had already risen, grabbing their datapads and talking and jostling as they surged toward the doors.
Anakin headed in the direction of the short boy. His sandy hair stuck up in bristles and it was easy to keep track of him. Anyone who could infiltrate a professor's holographic projector in order to conduct a practical joke might know something about bypassing security.
He noted that around him, students walked in groups or pairs. This boy walked alone.
"That was pretty wizard," Anakin said, falling into step beside the boy.
"What?" The boy shot him a surprised look from intelligent gray eyes.
"The hologram. You did it." Anakin waved a hand. "Don't worry, I won't tell. I'm impressed." He gave the boy a friendly grin. "Anakin Skywalker."
The boy hesitated. "Reymet Autem."
"So how did you do it?" Anakin asked.
"It's all in the wrist." Reymet mimicked entering items in a datapad and grinned. His gray eyes glinted. "Easy for a boy genius, my friend."
They headed down the hallway together. Anakin felt rather than saw Ferus fall in behind them.
Reymet waved a hand around him. "Welcome to the comfiest jail in the galaxy. It's not much, but we call it home."
"So how do you have fun around here?" Anakin asked.
Reymet shrugged. "I make my own fun."
The noise of the students anxiously hurrying toward lunch covered their words. "Must be hard, with all the security around here," Anakin remarked. He was pushing gently, trying to get Reymet to open up.
Reymet snorted. "Security isn't as secure as the experts say it is.
There are ways to get around any system."
"It seems pretty tight to me," Anakin remarked casually.
Several students glanced at Anakin curiously as they passed by. Reymet shoved his datapad into his pocket with a rough gesture. "You'd better not be seen talking to me. Nobody talks to me."
"What about your friends?" Anakin asked.
Reymet scowled. "I don't have friends." He quickened his pace and disappeared into the crowd. Ferus appeared next to Anakin. "Interesting."
"You heard?"
"Every word. I pick up something from him…" "Me too. Not a darkness.
Maybe just… confusion."
"He has something to hide," Ferus declared. "It could be anything, though. It isn't much of a clue." "It's a place to start," Anakin said.
Chapter Four
The dining hall was a paneled room with soft, recessed lighting and thick red veda cloth hangings at the windows that muffled sound and cast a rosy glow on the diners. It was just like the exclusive restaurants Anakin had glimpsed on Coruscant — just like the spots the students were used to eating in, he was sure. And, like an exclusive restaurant, seating in the dining hall was subject to an unspoken code.
It hadn't taken Anakin long to realize that the best tables were by the windows and he was not welcome there. He didn't know why he felt a coolness from most of the students, but he definitely felt it. When he was looking for a seat at a table, an empty chair would be pushed aside to another table, or a datapad or a pile of durasheet notes would be quickly placed on the seat. It was clear that no one wanted to sit with him. There was a power elite in the school, and everyone else fell in around it.