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[quote][i]The luxury skyliner Queen Titania was a marvel of Formulization and engineering, a brass juggernaut of an airship that had all the amenities one needed to enjoy a thirty-day trip around the world. Gorgeous greenhouses full of exotic flora and avians served as wonderful areas to enjoy fresh fruit and well-brewed teas. Indoor sports gyms bedecked with equipment for all games of athleticism made friends and rivals out of the growing number of erudite youths who entered the ship at each stop on its global tour. Even the library, though it paled in comparison to Alexandra’s vastness, was a soothing marvel, all mahogany and leather as crystal players resonated classic music at astounding clarity. And even the dining rooms, both private and public, looked to be places that one ought only to go when dressed to the nines, the on-board chefs managing to delight with their crosscultural culinary creations every evening. There were no shortage of distractions onboard the Queen Titania, no shortage of entertainments and pleasures to partake for the two thousand prodigies within its spacious bowels.

But today was the thirtieth day, and the clear skies encouraged all to crowd around the concave windows of the foremost atrium to witness the one thing that the Queen Titania could not offer:

The Academic City of Bermuda, an artificial island on the equator made of brass and steel, its many towers jutting out as if to scrape at the underbelly of the airship.

Fifty years has passed since a tenuous truce rose from the ashes of the Futile War, and the crystallization of that peace now stood below the two thousand students. It was a lasting symbol of peace and cooperation, a cloistered space away that served as a neutral ground, where no individual government could profess power and where the youths who would shape the future of the world could learn to build a unified future.

But you were different.

For you were here for a specific purpose, a purpose determined by the government agency, by the secret society, that sponsored your admission to this prestigious academy. Through subterfuge and subversion, your goals will be accomplished with all the sophistication of an expert spy, all while you maintain the disguise of just another erudite student.

Those naïve fools, those sheltered academics, none would be any the wiser as you execute your schemes and machinations with precision and tact.

…

[b]What you didn’t know, however, was that every other freshman aboard was also a spy.[/b][/i]
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[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52pa7rj5zrs[/youtube][h1]𝔸𝕣𝕔 𝟘 ; 𝔼𝕩𝕖𝕔𝕦𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟[/h1][sub]EE 87, May 4 | Evening[/sub][/center]
The day went by in the blink of an eye. With two thousand new students arriving at the same time, a hundred different tour groups were organized and sent off within the hour as the trained employees of the Academic City of Bermuda ensured that every one of their new charges knew exactly what sort of facilities were available. The student registration and identity-crosschecking, as well as the handing of the ID cards themselves, had already been settled prior to the arrival of the airship, and while some students took creative liberties with their photographs, they were all now able to lawfully enter the heart of the Academic City: the grand laboratories, libraries, and workspaces, every area administered not by professors who would be lecturing them, but rather custodians who would assist when requested and restrict when necessary.

These were children, perhaps, but they were also two thousand of the smartest youths in the world.

Expanding out from the academic center of the city, which was cordoned off by grand, ostentatious walls, was the artificial civilization that had been set up the children. From coffee shops, to theaters, to parks and pools, to tailors and bathhouses, mundane pleasures could be found everywhere, streets paved smooth to make wheeled travel as comfortable as possible. The more astute amongst the students would’ve noticed the gradual shift in architecture as they circled around the city, each continent’s aesthetics reflected in the buildings that passed by. Bridges and canals created a pleasant break from man-forged materials, and most importantly, both the northern and eastern sides of the island featured a sandy, white coast. Artificial as such landscaping may have been, there was still something instinctually exciting about having beach access in such a tropical location. Of note too, were the skyscraping airship docks that jutted out from the western portion of Bermuda, where large warehouses were set up, storing the precious imports that maintained the sense of a functioning city.

Dormitories were established around the city as well, fanciful apartments that students had been automatically assigned to, that their luggage had already been transported into. Equipped with the whole package of bedrooms, living rooms, bath rooms, kitchens, and of course, walk-in closets, such accommodations struck a balance between undeniably luxurious for the less affluent and sorta disappointing for the most affluent. Despite having the freedom to swap rooms with other students, however, every tour group was nevertheless reminded that curfew existed still: past 10PM, all buildings would be locked down.

Answers to questions about this were vague and unconvincing, citing only that heavy fog rolled in during the night, making it near impossible to navigate after a certain point.

The tour guides pointed out the second set of walls that blocked off the southern peninsula of the artificial island. That was where the adult population of Bermuda slept in. A small price to pay to be employed in the most prestigious city in the world, after all. Beyond that, however, the outskirts of the city transformed into pleasant, controlled, nature. A calming retreat from the world of Formulization that every student would be engaged in, no doubt. And as gradually as the sun set, the tours ended, congregating upon a massive opera hall, designed in gothic Occidental style.

The Hall of the Greats stood, the location for the night’s festivities.

Pushing the doors open, two thousand students were bombarded by the clockwork symphony that played at the end of the hall. A marvel of Technologism, the brass constructs played with an exactness more perfect than even the most skilled human musicians, their sheer skill enough to make up for the lack of true emotion behind their dynamics. White-clothed tables lined the end closest to the entrance, filled with tasteful morsels and delicacies, while sharply-dressed chefs poised over larger roasts and pots, ready to serve the hungering students. Alcohol, of course, was available too, as suited men and women carried silver platters of bubbly flutes and fruity wines. Closer to the mechanical orchestra was where the dance floor was established, promising and yet daunting in its emptiness. There were dress rooms too, filled with outfits for rental, with tailors and seamstresses ready to make on-the-spot adjustments for any strangely-configured Egoist…or just regular humans. From the Occidental to the Oriental, from indigenous patterns to avant-garde designs, the treasure trove of cloths would send anyone with even a modicum of interest in dressing up into a tizzy. And for those who would prefer more private accommodations? Flights of spiral stairs would inevitably lead to clandestine opera boxes, equipped with plush seats, subdued lighting, and velvety curtains to dampen the incandescent hubbub below...or to provide a perfect view of it.

The stage was set to let the first night in Bermuda be a glorious one. As the first youths stepped into the Hall of the Greats, the clocktower struck 6PM.

Three and a half hours remained.

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