Katie Kincaid Space Cadet

by Andrew van Aardvark

  The female cadets ate in ravenous silence. It was disconcerting to think that some of the larger male cadets would be even hungrier than they were.

  Susan was several large bites into her second burger before feeling ready to mingle some conversation into the eating. “Do they do fast food on Ceres, Katie?” she asked Kincaid. Eating non-government issued food wasn’t the only purpose of this outing. Susan and Colleen also wanted to do something to cheer Katie up. Additionally, they all needed to do their best to prepare for the coming week.

  “They do,” Katie answered, “but it’s a high-end luxury there, very expensive, and not as good as this.”

  “Burgers and fries are a high-end luxury?” Colleen said.

  “Yep,” Katie confirmed between bites. She paused to stare out the burger joint’s plate-glass windows at the other buildings of the small town. It was almost as if she couldn’t believe where she was. This quietly puzzled Katie was a distinct improvement on the shell shocked zombie they’d been dealing with for the last couple of days. Time and food heals all.

  “Well then,” Eva commented, “kind of makes me hope I don’t get posted to Ceres when we graduate.”

  “Imagine you’d miss the milkshakes here,” Katie said agreeably. “I used to think even synthetic milk was a frivolous expense. Afraid I’ve gotten spoiled.” She paused to give a small smile.

  This pleased Susan. Katie realizing her experience on Earth, and by implication her attendance at the Academy, hadn’t been a complete personal disaster, was a good thing. Only BOTC wasn’t over, especially for Katie, and they needed to look to the future. “Small patrol craft are a good first posting if you’re on the command track,” Susan said in answer to Eva. It was also a reminder to Katie that if she could make it to that point, she’d have a leg up.

  “That’s true, my brothers, and Dad say so,” Colleen chipped in.

  “Okay,” Eva relented. “Years off anyway. Next week?”

  “Is next week. Starts tomorrow. Got it,” Colleen replied.

  “Only they haven’t told us much about what to expect,” Susan said.

  Katie didn’t say anything. She was listening attentively. Good.

  Susan took another bite of burger and tapped the table in front of her for dramatic effect. “Not the same as not telling us anything,” she said. “And it behooves us to make use of every scrap of information we have.”

  “Sure,” Eva agreed.

  Colleen nodded.

  Katie paused in her eating to give Susan a quizzical look. She seemed the least convinced there was some point to this exercise.

  Susan gave Katie a hard look back. “It’s important,” she said. She looked around. “For most of us, how well we do next week is going to be an important input in how we place in the course’s rankings. That’ll be on our records for the rest of our careers.” Susan looked back at Katie. “For you, Katie,” she said, “it could make the difference between facing a review board or getting a clean pass. Your finish on the main part of the course last week was weak.”

  “I realize that,” Katie said. She didn’t say it meekly. She sounded as if she was annoyed and trying not to show it. Good, Katie was going to need all the fight she could muster. Truth was, and they all knew it, she was almost certain to end up in front of the review board and a good showing next week was necessary to making her case with them.

  Susan nodded. “We know at least two things,” she said. “One, it’s a course wide exercise. They’re keeping us in our teams, but it doesn’t look like we’ll be acting as part of platoons. Two, it’s going to last most of the week.”

  “Which means what?” Eva asked.

  Susan smiled. Eva and Colleen both flinched. There was a reason Susan was at pains to maintain a bland exterior. Susan on a mission could be disconcerting. Not to put a fine point on it, but Susan, if she wasn’t careful, frightened people. Susan figured one reason Katie had trouble projecting a command presence was because she’d trained herself not to do the same. The true unfiltered Katie was scary. Her fellow cadets weren’t wrong in sensing something off in the way she presented herself. Susan on the other hand felt no compunctions about discomforting people if need be. “It means Katie is going to have to deal with Andrew. She’s going to have to manage to look good despite him.”

  Eva made a renewed attack on her food. She made a point of saying nothing. Eva was not one to look for trouble.

  Colleen grunted. “Nobody’s been willing to say it,” she said. “It’s a serious accusation.”

  “Didn’t accuse him of anything,” Susan said, “but I’m not wrong, am I?”

  They all looked at Katie.

  Katie frowned. At least she was engaged, and didn’t seem angry, or even depressed any more. “I'm not sure what happened. I thought I’d asked for reinforcements in time. It could have been a simple miscommunication. I should have confirmed it. Andrew wasn’t very helpful, but I don’t know he acted,” she paused, “or didn’t act rather, out of malice.”

  “Andrew should have stepped up to help,” Colleen said with an unusual degree of heat. “He didn’t. I would have if I’d been there.”

  Susan smiled at her. It was past time that Colleen started to show some backbone. “So you’re going to have Katie’s back next week, right?”

  “Damned tooting,” Colleen affirmed. Sounded odd coming from her, but there was no doubting her sincerity.

  The look of gratitude Katie gave Colleen was painful to see. But hey, mission accomplished.

  “Good to have that out of the way,” Susan said.

  The rest of their talk was useful, but anti-climatic.

  Susan had done what she could.

  Might be enough.

  * * *

  Sunday night. It seemed to Katie she’d barely fallen asleep before the banging on the door of the room she shared with three other girls started.

  “Wakey-Wakey!” unfamiliar voices yelled. “Up and at it. Out in front of the building in five minutes. Underwear, socks, coveralls, and combat boots on. That’s all.”

  Nobody wasted time asking what was going on. Sleepily, but quickly they pulled on the permitted wear. Socks, boots, and coveralls, and trot out and down the stairs. They formed up automatically. It was dark and rather cool, and no one seemed to know exactly what was going on. Beyond the fact that this was doubtless the start of the exercise scheduled for this week, they knew nothing.

  Their usual marine instructor was fully dressed and disgustingly wide awake. A quick roll call, and they were on the march. None of this required the engagement of anyone’s fore brain.

  They were dismissed in front of a building Katie hadn’t seen the inside of yet. Unfamiliar uniformed personnel directed them into the building and to a large auditorium that made up its center. They were allowed to sit. That was nice. A buzz of conversation started to pick up.

  Katie didn’t join it. She hadn’t managed to link up with any of her friends in the rush.

  A figure appeared on stage. They were waving what looked like a sub-machine gun around. That was alarming. They’d all learned earlier how dangerous the short weapons were. They could put out a high volume of heavy slugs in a very short period of time. You had to be careful with the things. They were good for a lot of killing in not much time. Only if you weren’t careful, it wasn’t just your enemy who’d catch a slug or two.

  “Rat-tat-tat-tat!!” the figure fired his weapon into the air. Katie jumped with shock. Good thing they were all young or someone would have had a heart attack. With belated relief Katie realized the sub-machine gun was firing blanks. Of course, she hadn’t really thought this was real, had she?

  “You’re all prisoners of the Animal Kingdom Liberation Front,” the figure yelled.

  Shocked disbelief greeted this pronouncement.

  Into the silence strode a well known, if distant, figure. The course commandant, the head of the marine training staff, his erect posture, and commanding presence demanded attention.

  He
inspected the assembled cadets with a wide, cold look around. He stood center stage without the need of any podium or notes. “This is an escaped prisoner exercise,” he proclaimed loudly.

  “You are all prisoners of war,” he went on. “It is your duty to escape and find your way to safety if you can.” Once more he paused to make sure this had sunk in.

  “You have little more than the clothes on your back and five days to make it to safety one hundred kilometers north of where you will be dropped off. You will be hunted by enemy forces with vehicles and spotter planes the whole way.” Another pause, during which the Commandant signaled a variety of uniformed figures with satchels lurking at the edge of the auditorium. They began to distribute things. Looked like pieces of paper and some standardized military kits.

  “As we’re required by law to show some concern for your safety, we’re now issuing each of you some individual pieces of kit you are to keep on yourselves at all times during the exercise.” Again the Commandant paused. He gave them all a harsh look.

  “You can inspect these items at your leisure.” The word “leisure” drew some quiet snickers. Another harsh look. “At your leisure when I am finished talking. You will be receiving a simple line map of the area you will be traversing, a first aid kit, an emergency shelter half, a water purification kit, and an emergency beacon. You will make sure you have all these items before leaving the auditorium. Clear?”

  “Yes, sir!” Katie and the rest of the cadets replied.

  “Good. You will not travel alone. When I am finished, you will find the other member’s of your assigned team if you have not already done so. You will remain together until the end of the exercise. If you fail to do this, you will not like the repercussions. Am I understood?”

  “Yes, sir!” came the reply.

  “Excellent. Once you have formed into your teams, you will be directed past several tables with a variety of useful bits of portable kit. You will have only your hands and pockets available to carry it. You will need to do so while covering at least twenty kilometers a day cross country, as the roads and easier paths will be patrolled. Take what will be useful, but try to travel light. You and your teammates may consult together. You should do so. Once you have left the room with the extra gear, you will not be able to return to it. You will be loaded on trucks and taken directly to your drop-off points. That is all.” With that, the Commandant marched off stage and out of the auditorium.

  Junior officers came forward to take charge of the cadets. It was hectic, but before long Katie had all her individual pieces of kit and had found Colleen and Andrew.

  Colleen looked excited. Andrew was resigned. Katie was afraid Andrew had the right of it. “Everybody has all their kit?” she asked. “Are we ready to go? Anything to say or ask?”

  Colleen shook her head.

  Andrew gave a short, “No.”

  With that, Katie led them over to the senior cadet guarding the way to the next room. Apparently the training staff had been supplemented by older cadets who’d already finished their summer’s training for whatever reason. Katie certainly wasn’t going to ask the doorman about it. That worthy made sure of who they were, and that they were all on the same team, before admitting them to the next room. A gym with large folding tables piled full of gear and food. Of course they were going to need food. Five days’ worth, but only what they could carry in their pockets.

  The tables also held items like compasses, matches, solid fuel tabs, sleeping pads, small shovels, hatchets, knifes, utility tools, rope, cooking kits, spare socks, and extra emergency blankets.

  Their coveralls had four big pockets at waist and thigh level and four smaller ones at breast and arm level. It wasn’t nearly enough for everything they could use, and if they stuffed the pockets full, they’d be encumbered. Katie remembered the Commandant’s advice to travel light.

  Katie also tried to follow the Commandant’s advice to consult with the rest of her team. Andrew wasn’t having any of it.

  “Take what you want,” he muttered. Then relenting or talking to himself, Katie wasn’t sure which, he said, “I’ll take a compass.”

  Colleen spoke up. “We can share a full shelter. I’ll take the rope and an extra shelter sheet, if you carry a hatchet.”

  “Sounds good,” Katie said, picking up a hatchet from a nearby table. It was small, but even in a thigh pocket it felt heavy. Colleen didn’t seem to have it much better with a coil of light line, and one of the shelter sheets, shiny on one side and dull matte colors on the other.

  Some hard candy, a couple of energy bars, dried meat, and some canned cheese and her pockets were as full as she felt comfortable with. Andrew and Colleen made similar picks.

  They looked at each other. This was their last chance. Anything they didn’t get now, they were going to have to do without for the next five days.

  Colleen sighed. “I can’t think of anything more need enough to be bothered carrying it.”

  “Me neither,” Katie said.

  Andrew grunted, then nodded.

  Katie led them to the room’s exit. Their departure duly noted, they were bundled through the dark outside into the back of a truck.

  A short while later it started moving, but where to Katie had no idea.

  The little map they had been given showed some land between two lakes, as long as they went north they couldn’t go too far astray. There was only one main road north to safety. A few intermittent secondary roads and trails seemed to parallel it.

  It wasn’t going to be easy to evade capture.

  Too many choke points.

  No point worrying about it.

  Better get some sleep.

  12: A Determined Katie

  “Katie, Katie, wake up.”

  It was Colleen. Katie hadn’t slept that well the last few days. She’d fallen into a deep sleep in the back of the truck.

  It was surreal. Katie had no idea where they were or how long it’d been.

  It was clear Colleen wanted her to get up and follow her. So Katie did.

  Katie jumped off the back of the truck onto a dirt road. She could barely see it.

  It was the dead of the night. There were no artificial lights other than the truck’s headlights anywhere near. Neither was the moon up. The sky was full of bright stars.

  Once the truck had driven away, they provided the only light there was. Her teammates' faces were pale blobs over their dark coveralls.

  “Which way?” Colleen asked.

  “We should stay away from the main road,” Katie answered. “It’s going to be crowded. It’ll be a gauntlet of ambushes. They’ll be patrolling it constantly.”

  “So which way?” Colleen repeated. Andrew hovered.

  Katie looked around. Katie could tell which way was north by the easily recognizable Big Dipper and the Pole Star it pointed to. That told her the truck had driven west after it left them. The back of the truck had been empty except for one more team. Katie was willing to bet the truck had turned west off the main north-south road onto this secondary road and driven west, dropping teams off at intervals as it went. Couldn’t be sure of it, but seemed likely.

  “We should follow this road the way the truck went and turn right as soon as we hit a crossroads,” Katie said.

  Andrew grunted and pulled out his compass. Its needle and markings glowed in the dark. “This way is north,” he said. “We’ll go cross-country.” Without a word more, he jumped the roadside ditch and climbed across a wire fence into the field of tall grass north of them.

  Katie looked at Colleen. Colleen shrugged. “What can we do? We’re supposed to stay together.”

  The girls followed Andrew.

  It was creepy, but not hard going at first. Then they topped a hill at the far end of the field and saw themselves facing a tree line. Andrew paused before pushing on.

  Katie wasn’t sure this was the right thing to do. Still, as much as she resented Andrew’s behavior, she wasn’t sure his approach wouldn’t work either.
She didn’t want to argue. They didn’t have much time or energy for the magnitude of the task ahead of them. If tempers were short now, they were going to be shorter a couple of days from now. Best deal.

  Andrew went on, then stopped when they hit the tree line. It was very dark under the trees.

  Colleen voiced the question they all had. “Should we stop for the night and travel when it’s daylight?”

  Katie thought about the problems they faced. “No,” she said. “As much as possible, we should travel at night. It’s cooler, but most of all it’ll make it harder for the instructors to catch us.”

  Andrew nodded and motioned for Katie to take the lead.

  Several hours and a couple of facefuls of cobwebs later, and after a startling encounter with a herd of sleeping cattle in a small woodland clearing, it started to get light.

  It was nice to be able to see one’s feet again. Katie was tired of stumbling over roots and rocks she hadn’t been able to see. Katie’s feet were wet because she’d not missed marshy spots or puddles. Katie looked around at Andrew and Colleen, who were following her. They didn’t seem any better off or any happier.

  Katie could hear the occasional sound of traffic off to their right. They must be approaching that main road she’d been hoping to avoid. Katie wasn’t sure if it was her or the road that had failed to go due north.

  “I figure that’s the road over there,” she said. “Let’s check that, then parallel it for a bit before finding a place off-road to hole up and sleep. We don’t want to be visible near the road in daylight.”

  Katie’s teammates nodded dumbly.

  In the event they encountered a swamp. It blocked their way. It continued on the other side of the road. The only visible way across it was the causeway formed by the road. Too tired to turn back or proceed at right angles to the direction they wanted to go, they took the road. They ran beside it, feet slipping in the gravel of the embankment, bent over in hopes they couldn’t be seen from a distance. Their luck held. They reached the other side without being seen.

  The team stumbled into the trees and turned left. Soon they found themselves among some widely spaced, larger trees. There wasn’t much in the way of undergrowth, and the leaves of the forest floor seemed relatively dry.