by Lance Berry
“But why all the way to Earth, Mara? Why can’t you go to school here?”
“There aren’t any military schools here on Luna, sis. If I want to join the military, I have to go to a school there.”
Sara’s little chest rose and fell sharply, and tears gathered within her eyes. When she spoke, it was in a soft, sad voice.
“I’ve seen the news…I know a lot of soldiers die all the time. A lot. I don’t want you to go off and die.”
Before Mara could say anything, the little girl who never ever cried that much abruptly burst into tears. Mara frowned, for the first time not knowing what to do to cheer up her little sister. She leaned the child’s head against her chest and ran her fingers through her hair, gently shushing her.
“C’mon, sweetie…it’s okay. I’m not going off to the military tomorrow. I’ve still got four more years of school first. I’ll be okay, I promise.”
To her surprise, Sara sat bolt upright and hit her on the arm
—the first time she’d done that since the night their mother died. “Don’t LIE, Mara! You can’t say you won’t die in war!
Mom always said that only God knows the future! Don’t say you won’t die, ‘cause then you’ll jinx it and you will!” Sara stared at her, a mix of freshly hewn anger mixed with forlornness in her eyes.
Mara regarded her silently a moment, then nodded firmly.
“All right. I won’t say it. You’re right…one day, I very well might die in combat. That’s what soldiers do, when they’re fighting for a just cause. And I want to fight to keep Earth free.
And to keep you safe. And if it happens, then it does, and there’s nothing you or me or Dad or anyone in the world can do to change it. But I won’t worry about that now, ‘cause all I’m doing is going off to school. And I don’t want you to worry, ‘cause there’s no need for it. You want to worry—then wait until after I graduate, when I get assigned to combat. But for now, for right now, I want to just hold you and kiss you goodbye and tell you that I love you, ‘cause that’s all that matters to me in the whole universe. And I want you to do the same, but only if that’s how you feel.”
Sara had stopped crying, intent as she was on listening to her sister speak. She wiped at her nose with a sleeve, and Mara pulled a tissue out of her purse to use instead. She thanked her and wiped her nose again, blowing once. She let out a long, tired sigh and looked at her big sister once more. “You’re going to come home on holidays, right?”
“Baby, I’m gonna come home every damn chance I get.”
Sara frowned. “Don’t swear. It’s not polite.”
Mara smiled. “You’re right. I won’t.”
“I love you, Mara.”
“I love you, darling.”
The two sisters hugged for more than a couple of minutes, and finally Sara acknowledged that she should probably get back to class. Mara agreed, but they spent another minute hugging. Finally Sara went to the classroom door, which opened to allow her in, but she stood and watched Mara head for the exit. Even after she was gone, Sara stood there another moment, until Mrs. Harper called her inside.
Mara arrived at the shuttle port just in time; another minute later, and the transport to Earth would have taken off.
She had a window seat, which she liked, and like a small child, craned her neck to watch the moon recede into the distance for as long as she could.
She felt miserable leaving her family behind, especially Sara.
She hadn’t cried in a very long time, but she felt tears forcing their way to the surface. She searched through her purse for another tissue, but she had given the last one to Sara. She swore under her breath, and was bunching up a sleeve to swipe at her eyes, when a hand holding a tissue abruptly appeared in front of her.
“Please, take it,” the older gentleman seated next to her offered. She thanked him without looking, somewhat embarrassed as she was, and accepted it. She wiped her eyes, then tucked it into her pocket.
“First time on a transport? The voyage generally moves many to either tears or worship at the temple of the porcelain god.”
Mara couldn’t help but chuckle at this last, and turned to face the person who had buoyed her spirits just slightly. He was a handsome man in spite of his advanced years—he had to easily be pushing seventy—and wore dark horn-rimmed glasses, which was unusual in an age where corrective genetic rectification for one’s eyes was legal.
“No, I’ve actually been on transports several times. It’s just…” she trailed off, uncertain as to how much more she should say. She was trying to be more cautious of people’s ulterior motives, especially older men, when they approached her for whatever reason…but this man was far older, and even though it seemed he was in decent shape, she doubted he could do anything to her, especially on a transport full of people.
Still…
“Let me guess, you’re heading back to military school on
Earth, and it’s hard leaving your family, right?”
Mara looked at him askance, amazed at the dead-on accuracy of his statement. The old man snickered, pleased with himself. “It was a studious observation, young lady. You seem to be of the right age for sophomore or junior year, you’re heading to Earth—no institutions on Luna—and you’re by yourself, about to have a good weep. So obvious, if you don’t mind my saying so, that Sherlock Holmes would probably refuse to take the case from Scotland Yard.”
Mara smiled again. This old man was crazy…but in a nice way. He held out a hand in greeting. “My name’s David. David Blaustein, but my friends call me ‘D.J.’”
Mara accepted the hand and shook as she queried, “But your initials are D.B.”
“Well, my middle name’s Jeremiah. But it’s a bit pretentious, in my book anyway, to constantly introduce oneself with given, baptismal and surname all at once. And whom might you be?”
“Mara. Mara Elliot,” she replied with another easy chuckle.
“Nice to meet you.”
“You as well, Ms. Elliot. I’m off to school myself, but in the capacity of teacher, not student. However, I have always considered myself to be a bit the student when it comes to observing human nature. So, if I was correct, then may I ask what school you’re attending?”
“Westview,” she said proudly. “And I’m taking some summer classes to catch up before I start my junior year.”
“Really? What are you studying?”
“Command principles. I’m going to be a Heavy Cruiser captain one day. Do you mind if I ask what you teach?”
“Of course not—it wouldn’t be much of a conversation if we didn’t ask one another questions, would it?”
It turned out that D.J. Blaustein taught Higher Principles and Ethics at a school in Virginia, and was returning from visiting an old college friend who lived on Luna and was hospitalized. It was expected that D.J.’s friend didn’t have long to live, and so it seemed this was to be a final visit. Blaustein and Mara talked a bit about the losses in their lives and other personal experiences, neither of them dwelling too long on the former. He was an interesting gentleman, full of many strong opinions, but well thought out and chocked with personal erudition. Mara enjoyed speaking with him, but even more so listening to him talk.
As the transport reached the end of its journey, at the transfer point in Pennsylvania, Mara realized that D.J. had initially begun talking to her in order to take her mind off her problems. She thanked him for it, and while not openly copping to it, he gave a nod and respectful, moderate bow. She couldn’t help it; she gave him a quick, grateful peck on the cheek, and he blushed in return.
“Good luck to you, Mara…with a few more captains like you on our side, I’m sure we’ll get this whole war thing done in no time,” he said before he headed off to his connecting flight. He had told Mara on the way to Earth that he had been against the war with the Calvorian Alliance from the start, but there was a sincerity in his voice when he made his case which allowed her to momentarily empathize with his point of vi
ew.
As she slung her carry-on bag over her shoulder and wheeled her larger traveling bag behind her, she glanced out the windows of the starport. The sky had been overcast as they arrived, but the clouds parted briefly for a full view of the sun blazing in the sky. She smiled, feeling refreshed by the chance meeting with Blaustein, wondering if her mother had sent him to her in order to help her get through the trip. In any event, she felt better about her decision, and boarded her own connecting flight without a care in the world.
Chapter 10
Westview Academy was located in Albany, very nearly bordering Vermont, which placed it at a safe distance from what was now the New York Wastelands. When the Calvorians learned to turn Earth’s nuclear weapons back upon the populace, the city itself underwent a dramatic renovation.
New York was a primary target for the Calvorians, and when the first nuke hit in the core of the city, the majority of its skyscrapers were leveled while the populace at ground zero died instantly, blasted into nothingness. A quarter of the Hudson River was vaporized while the shockwave from the blast itself made its way clear across the river and far parts beyond.
Radioactive death and its kinetic sister killed all in their path, while the survivors on the outskirts of the attack found the old adage of that which does not kill me, makes me stronger was nothing but a lie. It turned out that that which did not kill them immediately, simply did it over a slightly longer stretch of time.
Queens and other outer boroughs of the city became quarantined nether regions where the inhabitants died hideously slow deaths from the fallout. Across the banks of the Hudson, West Point and other institutions of learning—military and privatized—ceased to exist as they were either destroyed outright by the blitzkrieg, or shared the fate of the extended boroughs.
As the newly instated United Earth Force eventually began to pick up the pieces, the fledgling government decided that the traditions of institutes such as West Point were still necessary in order to uniformly train new troops, and so rapidly established schools such as Westview to carry on. Westview was indeed more of a remedial school, set up for students who had to temporarily leave the military for whatever reason— pregnancy, family problems, illnesses or other—and bring them back up to speed and on an even level with students in other standard military academies. While classes were in session only during the summer months, Westview possessed the same level of standard equipment and highly skilled instructors as regular academies.
Mara was surprised at how easily and comfortably she slipped back into the familiarity of military life on campus, and having some of her friends from the Citadel around made the transition a pleasurable experience. One of her closest friends was Katie Long, a cute blonde from Canada, who had come to first the Citadel and then Westview because of their reputations. The two young ladies headed to the library one day in order to do research for one of their more difficult classes, The Future of Command Ethics.
They had gotten the books they needed and were heading down the stairwell to the main lobby, when a voice boomed loudly from above, “Holy shit, look at the tits on that hot brunette!”
Mara’s eyes went wide and her head snapped around and upwards, seeking the source. Two slightly younger boys—one white, one black—were on a landing two flights up. The white boy quickly ducked aside, probably thinking neither girl had seen him, leaving his friend to take the blame. Mara was certain the one who ducked had made the snide remark, yet to her it made no difference: the other one was just as responsible, for neither stopping his friend nor making the barest gesture of apology. As a matter of fact, the black boy just stood there dumbly, staring down at Mara and Katie.
“Oh, that is it,” Mara muttered through clenched teeth. She was sick to death of boys, men, and all the inane little comments they had made to her over the years. Nice twins— can you lift your shirt and pretend you’re my mommy? Hey, beautiful—does the carpet match the curtains? Have any kids? No? Wanna get started on making some? Mara was determined that she was going to make such an example of these two that even the Calvorians would be talking about it!
She threw her books down on the landing and headed up the stairs swiftly, Katie calling after her that the two knuckleheads weren’t worth it. But Mara paid her no heed, intent as she was on running up the two idiots’ dental bills. Mara noticed that the black boy had finally snapped out of his stupefaction and raced after his friend, who had already disappeared back into the library through an exit door. She picked up the pace, not wanting to lose them in the extensive aisles. She burst in through the exit, not caring in the slightest as several students eyed her curiously, taking note of her set features and the burning hellfire in her eyes. She stood in place a moment, keenly taking in the entire chamber, searching for the two dopes that had embarrassed her so.
She spotted them at the far end of the room…for a couple of schmucks, they navigated the length of the room in good form, moving around students, tables and oddly placed chairs with formidable agility. Mara raced after them, but by the time she reached the second exit door, the boys were halfway across the quad.
She leaned against the railing, wishing she had the power to will their legs to give out so that she could reach them and pummel them to within an inch of their lives. “You moronic, diarrhea-slurping, cockfaced bastards! Neither of you have the balls to approach a woman properly, and if you tried, your useless cocks would probably shrivel up and fall off from embarrassment! If I ever see you again, I’m going to rip your dicks off and ass-fuck each of you with the others’ so everyone can see what kind of lowlife pansies you are!” Her anger expelled but not fully spent, she slapped her hand against the rail in frustration and went back inside to find Katie.
Katie was waiting in the library’s main lobby, sitting on a bench, patiently blowing bubbles with her gum. She leaned forward slightly when she saw Mara, her blond eyebrows rising slightly. “Did you enjoy yourself,” she asked facetiously.
Mara huffed. “I didn’t catch the little pricks.”
Katie stood and popped her bubble, quickly drawing the loose strands into her mouth. “Just as well. Little pricks aren’t any fun at all.” The duo laughed at the joke and headed out to the main quad.
As they proceeded to their barracks, they ran into Brad Lutz and his girlfriend, Janice Vicienzo. Both were juniors like Mara and Katie, and made no secret of the fact that they were a couple, in spite of such public displays usually being frowned upon on the grounds of a military academy.
Brad was tall, well-built, brown-haired and had deep brown,almost black, eyes. Janice was a brunette with a body that had caused most of the male cadets who saw her to walk into walls or other solid objects, the entire first month she arrived on campus. Such incidents had decreased slightly since folks had become accustomed to seeing her, but there were still a few who had to make embarrassing trips to the campus infirmary.
“Long, Elliot,” Janice said as the quartet encountered one another. Janice had the somewhat annoying habit of calling everyone but Brad by their last names. “Vicienzo,” Katie replied in an exaggeratedly serious tone.
“Ladies,” Brad said genially, and flashed a smile which in Mara’s opinion could have lit up half the campus at midnight.
She could never bring herself to experiment with her body, but fantasies of being with Brad had damn near brought her to the edge of it several times.
“How’s things going?” Brad asked them both, but seemed to focus just slightly more on Mara.
“Just great,” Katie replied eagerly. “Mara just now had to knock the stuffing out of a couple visitors who made a sharp-eyed comment about her amazing rack.”
“Katie!” Mara cried, her mouth dropping open in shock.
She could feel her cheeks flushing red in embarrassment.
“No, really?” Janice said and offered a harsh, loud laugh.
She was always amused when some misadventure would befall Mara. It seemed that through some unrevealed pact, the two young w
omen had become rivals of a sort.
