SCS Fanfiction Contest Winner: Libitania, by NiameScrawls


    <strong>Chapter 1</strong>


    INCURSION DETECTED.


    PLEASE REMAIN CALM, AND PROCEED TO THE NEAREST SHELTER.


    Libi jerked back as the bright red letters shed across her augs, startling her into dropping the fine white chalk she had been using.


    "Please try not to panic, everyone," she shouted, the noise of her voice failing to mask a loud <em>CRACK</em> as her chalk shattered across the ground. Suppressing a curse that would have deducted her teaching score, Libi bent down to carefully collect the precious shards. Chalk was an expensive and messy alternative to the usual digi-pen every ssroom came with, but Libi could afford to be old-fashioned.


    "Does it look like we''re panicking, Professor?"


    A cool, elegant voice interrupted her thoughts, courtesy of a tall, bespeckled young man. His ck slicked back hair looked a bit like a giant snail had given him ab over, but apparently that was all the rage amongst the students these days.


    "No, Curtis," Libi sighed, straightening up again. ''<em>You''re all far too callous to panic.''</em>


    Libi managed to cut off the rest of the thought before it escaped her lips, but it hung heavy on her mind as she looked over her ss of excitedly whispering students. It was a sight Libi was ufortably familiar with; sixty-two students of Dal-Corp''s finest freshmen eagerly chattering over a world of death and destruction that they thought only existed in their augs. They were spread out across the tiered seating of the lecture hall. Each sat behind an enormous ck desk that resembled a barricade more than a piece of furniture; a design that made every lecture feel more like a siege than a lesson.The room itself did little to discourage that impression; brutalist concrete walls created monoliths to a distant, uncaring ceiling of ck obsidian. The primary ssh of colour came from the floor; a bloody red carpet strung atop a ck marble floor like circuitry across a motherboard. It was a look that matched how every ss felt; a training camp for soldiers of cold logic of which Libi unwillinglymanded.


    As for the students themselves, collectively they represented some of the wealthiest and most powerful corpo families Nova Halifax had to offer; plus a few token schrship cases thrown in with the mix. Regardless of their circumstances, they all attended ss consistently. Libi wasn''t sure what it was that drew them to her lectures so much, but it certainly wasn''t to learn; at least judging by the way the students eagerly whispered amongst themselves as they scrolled through their augs. Another example of Libi''s failure to teach them anything other than biology. The incursion notice had whipped them up into a gossiping frenzy, with some even making bets - as if a live alien invasion was an exciting game show.


    Not that Libi was any better. She was amongst the fortunate few, lucky enough to escape the horrors of nightmarish monsters rampaging through the streets. None of them had to watch their family members get torn shreds before them, nor hide under the bodies of the-


    Libi cut the thought short before it went any further.


    "Take a five minute break," she sighed. There was no point trying to teach when they were so distracted. "Call your families, check on your friends, scroll your aug feeds. We''ll resume ss after we''ve had a chance to dpress."


    The students immediately exploded into activity as their shackles were released, crowding around one another to gossip and chatter about the extra dimensional invasion. The only exceptions were the few schrship students who immediately began making desperate phone calls to their families, their voices drowned out by the excited chatter andughter of those who had no reason to worry for their families'' safety.


    Libi chose to copy the schrship students'' actions. Finding a private corner in the hall, she pulled up her contacts and called the only favorited number there.


    "Mrs. Irvil!" The phone barely had a moment to start paging before it was answered by a voice riddled with anxiety.


    "Victoria. I believe I asked you not to call me that," replied Libi, her own voice immediately cooling.


    "Ah- right- I''m sorry, Dr. Libitina," stammered the young woman on the other end. "I sometimes forget-"


    "How are my children doing?" interrupted Libi. "Are they safe?"


    "Yes! Adrian expressed some anxiety, and Adrianna asked after you, but I was able to distract them with a book."


    "Good. Keep them off the aug streams; they''re full of chatter about the antithesis, and I don''t want the children to have anything to do with it," replied Libi curtly.


    "R-righto! No problem!"


    "Has my husband called yet?"


    "Uhhh..." Victoria''s awkward silence was an answer in itself. "Last I spoke to him wasst week, I think."


    "What about my mother?"


    The hesitation in Victoria''s voice worsened. "I tried calling the house earlier, but Jeeves told me that she was still in her VR Pod."


    Libi sighed; it was only to be expected. Her mother had probably disabled her emergency alerts; she had imed it caused too much anxiety.


    "I-I''m sure they''ll call soon! After all-"


    "Just- " Libi cut her off. "Let me know if either of them reaches out, otherwise don''t worry about it."


    "Yes, of course. Ah, would you like to speak to the children? They''re anxious to see you."


    Libi froze as a moment of panic suddenly jumped her like a ck bear pouncing on a salmon. Libi swallowed, hesitating- maybe it wouldn''t be so bad if she didn''t say anything. Hung up, moved on with ss; it wasn''t like the kids would be traumatized by missing one phone call.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the vition.


    "Dr. Libitina?"


    "I- sorry, Victoria. What was the question?" said Libi, a pathetic attempt to buy herself time.


    "Your children. Could you speak with them? They''re anxious to hear from you."


    A familiar sensation overcame Libi - a cold, dead weight that settled on her chest, suppressing fear, hate, love and joy, all. Logic, a pure and simple equation that she fell back on when feeling overwhelmed. Sometimes, it was the only thing that kept her going.


    "Y-yes. Of course. Put them on the line. Please."


    A moment of silence passed as Victoria moved the call from her augs to a portable cell - an archaic device necessary due to Libi''s insistence that the children not receive imnts till puberty.


    "Mama! Are you there?"


    Libi swallowed, hoping her augs didn''t pick it up.


    "Adrianna. Hello. Is Adrian there?"


    "Yeah. He''s here."


    "Hi Mama."


    "Hello. Are you both well?"


    "Yeah." Adrian''s voice seemed hesitant, unsure; almost nervous.


    "Are you certain?" Libi cursed herself for how cold her voice sounded.


    "Yeah," answered Adrianna in his stead. The twins sounded identical to most, but Libi could detect the slight tonal difference between the pair; as well as the deep fear Adrianna was trying to hide.


    "Good. Mama will be homete tonight. Be good, and listen to Victoria. Tell me if there are any problems."


    A moment of silence followed. Libi closed her eyes, and tried not to bang her head against the wall.


    "Okay. Love you." Thest sentence was a barely audible whisper.


    Libi ended the call, the words ''Love you too'' dying on her lips before they could be vocalised.


    <em>''Good job Libi. Veryforting for eight year olds to hear. May as well add a few more zeros to their twenty year therapy bill now, why don''t you.''</em>


    It was the first thought that day she didn''t cut short.


    -


    When she turned back to the ss, the students were still buzzing about like bees.


    "Alright, everyone back to your seats. Augs off, please," she called loudly, her voice easily drowning out the chatter. "We still have an exam on Wednesday, and unfortunately Dal-U Corp does not ept alien invasions as a valid excuse for half of my ss failing."


    "Professor! Do we have to continue?" whined a neon pink haired girl. "This might be my only chance to be a samurai!"


    "No one in this ssroom is bing a samurai, let me assure you of that, Annie," answered Libi emphatically. "The requirements for ascension are well known, and you''re more likely to die of an aug-short than fight an alien. Now, if there are no further interruptions, can we <em>please </em>continue with the ss?" she asked, trying and failing to keep the exasperation out of her voice. Fortunately, it was enough for the students to begrudgingly focus their attention onto her.


    "I know the history of marine biology is hardly excitingpared to an Incursion, but I may as well make today''s lesson relevant. Can anyone tell me the basicponents of an Antithesis cell?"


    An unsteady silence began to settle over the ss as they considered the question.


    "Annie, you know I <em>can</em> see you looking up the answer, right? An Incursion may be happening, but the school''s anti-cheat hasn''t stopped working." The neon pink girl merely stuck her tongue out at her, switching her augs over to a Princess Magical Bubblegum Apocalypse stream as she did so. Libi sighed and pointed instead at a different student whose hand was hesitantly raised.


    "Yes, Erika?"


    "Cell walls, chlorosts… and… vacuoles?" she answered, her usual English lilt tilting up in skepticism.


    "Correct, but you''re still missing a fewponents. What makes them different from typical nt cells?"


    "They''re out to kill everyone?" said a young man with long spiky hair, eliciting a half-heartedugh from the ss at the attempted humour.


    "Well, you''re not wrong there. But does anyone know why?"


    Another moment of silence followed before Erika tried again. "Trogon…aptic?"


    "Trogonanaptyx. From the Greek phrase <em>Trógontas anáptyxi</em>, meaning <em>eating growth</em>," Libi said, writing down the spelling of the word as she spoke. "It''s an enzyme, specialized in breaking down foreign organic material into usable DNA. An Antithesis cell can then use this DNA information to divide, creating new cell variations far quicker than normal evolutionary methods."


    "This then leads to a form of ongoing biological warfare within an Antithesis Hive, with sessful variations-"


    She cut off as a second set of bright red letters red across her augs, blinding her for a second time that day.


    ATTENTION!


    DAL-U CORP FACILITIES ARE UNDER IMMEDIATE LOCKDOWN DUE TO ANTITHESIS BREACH. TAKE SHELTER IN THE NEAREST CLASSROOM AND AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS


    <em>It turns out they DO know how to properly react to an Incursion</em>, thought Libi idly as she watched the ss turn into a screaming panic.


    ***


    You can find more of Niame''s works here: Niame''s Fictions | Royal Road


    If you enjoyed Libitina, then you should check it out on RR and encourage Niama to write more!


    She also has an Instagram: Login ? Instagram and a discord: Discord - Group Chat That''s All Fun & Games