5: Chaos and Decision

The next few days at Avonside University were chaos. Most people didn’t know what to do, they hid themselves as we had, or they argued and ranted at each other, or they turned to violence and worse. One of the frat houses burned to the ground, thankfully a standalone building so the rest of the university didn’t catch fire too. A security guard was killed during the first night defending the cafes as they were raided for food.

A group of particularly angry, scared individuals even pillaged various areas of the university for supplies and then escaped into the wilderness. They apparently thought their chances were better out in the wilderness than with the chaos in the university.

Our group did what we could to survive, getting wind that one of the dorm cafeterias was giving out food, we went there and got the meager portions they were giving out. We stuck together though, the seven of us, that was the main thing. We all knew we needed each other, safety in numbers and all that.

One terrifying night however the need for safety was proven awfully true. A group of drunk guys tried to get into our room, apparently Melody had been dealing with a stalker for the past year. He was a guy whose unwanted advances she’d rebuffed and he hadn’t taken it well, harassing her ever since.

On that night he decided that the chaos was his chance, talking his friends into helping with an attack on our room. Adam, Duncan and Grace stopped them, putting the awful people down with almost terrifying levels of brutality. We all knew what they had intended, and seeing Grace repeatedly stomping on the ringleader’s gonads had been almost satisfying.

Almost, because of my stupid problems with violence, it had turned me into a wreck. I hated that I’d been so powerless to help, but I’d known that if it had been me who had needed to stop them, I would have failed miserably on many levels.

We got through it though, and on the morning of the third day, gunshots rang out across the campus for several hours. The few campus police and security were cracking down on the wanton violence with deadly and efficient force of their own. It wasn’t pretty, and I was almost certain that during the fighting people were injured or killed who hadn’t done anything wrong.

A lot of people had been hurt during these few days, but then a semblance of order returned when staff came around towards the end of the morning, slowly gathering everyone for an announcement. We were corralled onto one of the sports fields, every single person in Avonside who wasn’t with the people now in charge.

A stage had been set up, the security and cops standing around it looking menacing with their guns. I felt unease building within me, the way everyone was wary of each other. We could all see people who’d done some nasty shit over the past couple of days, and now we were expected to stand next to each other and listen to someone speak without trying to settle grievances on the spot.

Adam and Duncan were all sorts of puffed up, and I knew that Grace had slipped one of Bray’s decorative knives up her sleeve. No one trusted anyone at the moment, that was for sure.

“Hello everyone, thank you for cooperating in coming here,” a woman’s voice said from up the front, her voice was considerably more authoritative than the old man who’d spoken to us in the gym.

We all turned to see a woman in her fifties standing on the stage in front of the microphone. She looked intimidating to say the least, every bit the ball busting female CEO of a movie, and with a start I realised that’s who she was, minus the movie part. She was the woman in charge of this whole place.

“We can all see that our lives have changed,” she said, pointing into the sky where the sun was about an hour away from the midday dimming.

As the sun rose on the first day we had discovered that the ring did indeed spin, both for spin gravity and on the yaw axis to give us a day and night cycle that was almost twenty four hours long.

Continuing after a deep, solemn breath, she said, “Many of you did not take this well, many of you turned on each other, on the university. Let us be clear right now, those of you who committed minor crimes, you will not be punished. We understand that this has been a trying and stressful time, and that can lead to mistakes. However, those of you who went further… you will be punished severely.”

Several people in the crowd tried to make a break for it, bystanders moving out of their way with fearful expressions. It was obvious why they were running, and security guards moved in like hunting dogs. Scuffles broke out, quickly ended by the threat of death at the end of a gun. It was shocking, terrifying to see for someone like me. I’d seen more violence than most, but never like this. The violence I’d experienced in my life had been personal, not institutional and impersonal.

I felt a hand come to rest softly on my back, and I turned to see Bray looking at me, again with that knowing, understanding look. I gave him a weak smile, trying to convey that I was okay, but he didn’t believe it for a moment. Giving my back a quick pat, he turned back to the stage as the woman in charge began to speak again.

“Now that that unpleasantness is dealt with, hello students, tutors, professors and staff. If you do not know me, I am Patricia Rogers, CEO of Avonside University,” her voice was sure as she spoke, until a pause, her voice gaining a wavering tone. “As you have all realised by now, through some means we do not have a hope of understanding, we have been transported here, to this unknown world.”

She looked saddened as she spoke, and I realised that just like everyone else she’d lost everyone from her life. Everyone except the people gathered here. I was still wary of her, but I felt a degree of empathy for her and everyone else. This was a whole huge shitty situation.

Returning to a more lecturing tone, she began to tell us about the world we found ourselves in. “It is a ring world, something we thought of as a science fiction myth until now. While Avonside was embroiled in the strife over the past few days, the researchers we have on campus have been at work. We now have both some information and some hypotheses for you all. The ring is close to three hundred thousand kilometers in diameter, this is about twice the diameter of jupiter, for those needing a frame of reference.”

Holy shit! That was massive, that was so damn massive. That was probably bigger than someone could walk around in their lifetime by a long margin. Sure, it might not be niven ring size, but it was still beyond enormous.

“There also appears to be other inhabitants on the ring, at least on the other side of the ring. These people however, from what our telescopes are able to see do not appear to be nearly as advanced as we are. They live in large rural populations, with cities being small by our standards.”

So we weren’t alone, but not in a batronauts way, but in a… what, medieval culture way? Were the batronauts actually batroknights?

“As for the environment, the plants directly adjacent to the University grounds appear to be biocompatible with human life. There appears to be birds and rodents living in the forest. The air is breathable, the soil is compatible with our crops. In short, the environment here is one that is alarmingly familiar.”

“This information, along with more I will not discuss now, leads us to some double edged conclusions. The first is that whoever put us here meant for us to survive on this world, however... they also meant for us to survive here for a long time. There will be no going back to Earth, our home, for the foreseeable future,” she said, ending her monologue with a grave expression.

The crowd was predictably agitated by this news, and I saw Grace’s expression collapse into one of worry, probably for her family back home. Surprisingly, Duncan began to cry, Adam placing a comforting hand on the large man’s shoulder. Oh right… Duncan had mentioned a fiancée during the last few days, his childhood sweetheart. Fuck. That was rough.

Opposite to Duncan, Melody and Kelsey looked almost relieved, leaning on each other and smiling, their hands clasped tightly together as they had a whispered conversation. Catching me staring, Kesley looked away with a sheepish expression while her cheeks reddened in embarrassment. Alright, I could see why they had been so close all this time then. I gave her a smile, then looked away to give them some privacy.

“Well shit,” Bray said with a snort from next to me. “Guess I don’t have to go home during the break.”

“Yeah me neither,” I said with a smile that quickly grew to a grin. I didn’t really have a home to go back to, not for a long time.

We’d all had time to process our situation over the last few days while all the rioting and shit happened. I didn’t mind one way or another. Bray was most upset by the lack of internet and his inability to play the multiplayer games he loved.

The commotion in the crowd took almost a minute to die down, and when the CEO again stepped up to the mic, everyone slowly fell silent.

Her tone was grave as she began to speak once more, “With this knowledge, Avonside gives each and every one of you a choice. It’s a harsh one, but it is one you must make. You can stay here in the university and work together with us all to survive, doing your part to make that goal a reality, or... you may leave. If you choose to leave, you will be given basic supplies to help you on your way, but nothing more.”

This again caused yet another commotion as people found issue with what she said, or turned to their friends and began to discuss their options.

“What do you all want to do?” Grace asked our group, beginning our own version of that same discussion.

“Stay,” Bray said quickly, Melody and Kelsey both nodding along with him.

“I’d like to stay too,” Adam agreed gruffly, Duncan making a sniffling grunt of affirmation along with his friend. Poor guy.

All eyes turned to me as I quickly thought through the options. I was worried, the way the CEO and security had handled this situation stank of authoritarianism, and that was bad news for everyone. On the other hand… the wilderness was unknown and would be incredibly dangerous. Which did I choose?

Making my decision on the basis that I really liked the people standing with me, I gave them all a smile and murmured, “Stay.”

They all returned the expression, even Duncan who looked… well, like he’d lost his wife to be. These were good people, we could survive whatever power hungry bullshit the University pulled if we stuck together. It was almost like we were a new family, forming due to this crisis. We had each other’s backs.