by Lance Berry
With that, Wentwell turned away, heading down the fork in the path toward Paddington Court. Travis stood in place a while, considering his words. Then, as the first drops of rain began to fall, he picked up the pace in order to reach Brigand before the downpour hit.
Marion Holmes resided in quarters B-17, on the same floor as Travis. She was a yearling like himself, although he had never really taken too much note of her in Macavee’s armaments class before. He found her in her room, sitting at her desk typing a letter on her vid-com.
“Hi,” he announced as he knocked on the open door. “Sorry to disturb you. I’m–“
“The famous Travis Rand,” she finished as she turned and got a good look at him. “I know. I think I helped pull your fat out of the fire with Macavee.”
“And modest about it, I see,” he quipped. Marion smiled as she rose to greet him. “If you can’t be proud of your accomplishments, then life isn’t worth living,” she said as she offered her hand. “Marion Holmes.”
“Hello,” he said as he accepted and shook. She was very attractive; light chocolate complexion with almond brown eyes and a crew cut done in such a way as to almost leave her dark hair unscathed, yet still be regulation. Apparently, the campus barber must have taken a shine to her. She was just a little shorter than him, which he liked. “I just wanted to stop by and thank you. It was very gracious of you to come forward like you did.”
Marion shook her head. “Nonsense. I saw what happened, it was my duty to do something about it. So everything worked out?”
“Yeah. I got off light,” he answered, and chose not to say anything about the demerits he had received. Listening to her talk and seeing the way that she carried herself, he already had the sense somehow that she was a better cadet than him. No sense in giving her more fodder to tease him about.
“People already know that you’re a standup guy,” she told him. “Chang knows what happened, and I think he’s spreading the word about what really went on out there. And I don’t know if Macavee told you, but I signed an affidavit defending what you did.”
“He did. Thanks a lot.”
Marion waved dismissively. “After I signed it, I discretely passed the word along about you as well. You shouldn’t be getting any more glares from anybody, I don’t think.”
“I guess I owe you one.”
Marion smiled again. It really was a beautiful smile, Travis thought to himself. “Then I guess the next time day passes are given out, you owe me a dinner,” she said with a glimmer of hopefulness in her voice. Travis smiled back, definitely intrigued by the possibilities. “You got yourself a deal.”
“Okay,” she accepted. “So what are you up to now?”
“Ironically, I’ve got to get to the firing range, if you can believe it.” He chuckled self-consciously, but she joined in and let out a little laugh. A slight silence fell between them, and she chose to break it after a moment. “Well, I’ve got to get back to my letter. I don’t have much time before my own class.”
Travis nodded, and a thought came to him. “Shouldn’t you have the same schedule as me? You’re in my ammo class.”
“I just transferred in from the Citadel. I don’t have the exact schedule as you ‘cause I’m taking advanced courses in command back home. I’m just here for a couple of specialized courses.”
“Really?”
“Mmm-hmm. I’m considering transferring here full time next year, though. Nothing’s set in stone yet.”
“Okay. Well, I’ll let you get back to it then. And we’ll talk more about that dinner later.”
“Definitely. Nice meeting you, Travis Rand.”
“You too, Marion Holmes,” he said with a smile. He turned and left, calculating in his head how many more weeks were left until end of first quarter, and passes for off-campus were handed out.
For Travis, the rest of the morning was sweet: Everywhere he went on campus, cadets of all years and even some officers praised his heroic act of saving Chang’s life. He accepted the compliments graciously, and did his best to take it all in stride. When lunchtime rolled around, he entered the mess hall to thunderous applause and a standing ovation. He couldn’t help but blush, and did feel a sense of pride as cadets slapped him on the back and shook his hand. He was even allowed to go to the head of the line to get his food tray. The applause continued even when he reached his cadre’s table, and they all rose to shake his hand and congratulate him.
Chang came over to him directly and shook his hand. “Thank you, Travis. I honestly cannot say how much I owe you for what you did.”
Travis shrugged. “If I’m ever in a jam, just pull me out of it, man. That’s all.”
“Definitely.”
All took their seats as the mess hall noise resumed its standard level. “So, Travis, how’s it feel to be the man of the hour?” Drake asked.
“Well, today’s a better day than yesterday, that’s for sure.”
“Everybody’s talking about what you did,” Danielle said. “First one of us to make hero, and you’re only a yuk! Look at the standard we have to reach for, now.”
“My parents will never let me hear the end of it,” Pietro said. “’When will you be big hero like Travis Rand?’ Bozhe moi, but thank you for nothing!”
Travis laughed, but then noticed Christina was very quiet, picking at her food but not eating it.
“Christina–?”
She barely looked at him. She was trying to hide her eyes, which from behind her glasses, seemed to have been slightly swollen from crying earlier.
“How are you doing?” Travis asked tentatively.
Christina shrugged. “Okay. I feel like an idiot for dating him. I can’t believe that with everything he felt about my people, that I was still willing to give him a chance.”
“You’ve got a big heart,” Hugo chimed in. “Nothing wrong with that. Just gotta be more careful next time, is all.”
Christina thanked Hugo, and as they started to converse among themselves, Travis looked at Danielle. “I’m really sorry about what happened on the course yesterday. I didn’t mean to get your synapses fried.”
Danielle smiled. “It’s okay…at least it was for a good cause. Besides, I had some pretty interesting daydreams when the neural fireworks started to calm down.”
They laughed, and Travis was grateful for it. It was a very big relief to have things back to normal.
Chapter 18
“Come on, handsome–let’s get a move on!”
It was a month before spring break, and the cadres which had done the best academically had been given two-day passes to leave the school for a residence house just outside Los Angeles. Marion Holmes’ cadre had passes, and so did Travis’. She had swung by his room to meet him, and the two went downstairs to catch the transport.
There were fifteen cadres out of the forty in the sophomore class that had been given passes. Each one was assigned a different shuttle, but Marion and Travis’ cadres were both assigned to the same residence house. She managed to talk Christina King into taking the shuttle with her cadre, so that she could ride with Travis. As the shuttle lifted off, Travis happened to notice Danielle sitting silently by a window, staring out with a forlorn look on her face. Drake’s cadre just barely missed out on passes, as two of their members had G.P.A.’s falling just short of the requirements. Travis felt sorry for her, but was soon focused only on Marion, who was excited to be off campus and determined to have a good talk along the way.
The residence house in San Mateo was run by former alumni of the Sanderson School, and was designed in the style of an old Victorian manor. The cadets were surprised and thrilled to find that each had their own room, which at this point in their lives was considered to be the ultimate luxury. The rules of the house were slightly more lax than at the school, and cadets were pretty much free to come and go as they pleased, as long as they were in by lights out at midnight. They still had assigned rooms though, and Marion’s was at the far end of the hall from Travis’
.
On the first day, the cadets set out in small groups, each exploring different areas of the town of San Mateo. Travis’ group consisted of himself, Marion, Pietro, Christina and Danielle. They visited small shops, familiarized themselves with the local tram system and ultimately wound up at San Mateo Central Park. Christina was surprised to see the park had koksagyz dandelions; the perennial Asian flower, with its fleshy roots, had become extremely rare, nearly wiped out during the devastation of the Pacific Rim.
Marion loved standing on the bridge in the Japanese garden, watching the large and colorful Koi fish swim about playfully. Travis found that he enjoyed watching her smile, which made him smile in turn. As they stood on the bridge, the fish darting hither and yon beneath them, he took the opportunity to place his arm around Marion’s shoulder. She moved closer and looked at him knowingly. They playfully rubbed their noses together, but chose not to kiss in front of the others. As Danielle and the others made their way further down the path, Travis and Marion followed at a casual pace, with her wrapping her other arm around his waist as they strolled.
Evening came, and the group split up; Danielle going with Pietro and Christina for a tram ride to further explore the city, and Travis and Marion having dinner at a restaurant just outside the park. They had a great time in each others’ company, and Travis came to find out that Marion’s parents were both career military. Her father was chief engineer aboard the Porter, and her mother was chief of security aboard the same ship. Marion had grown up in North Carolina mainly, but had been a true military brat, traveling with her parents to various postings on Earth and its moon before the couple had been assigned to their current ship. When Marion chose military life, they couldn’t have been more proud.
The conversation was punctuated by small silences several times. Travis and Marion’s fingers played nervously with one another, and they shared numerous smiles. On the tram ride back to the residence house, they all but did it in one of the empty cars, their makeout session was so intense. They agreed to each go back to their separate rooms upon their arrival, however, since the house owners did bed checks at midnight.
A couple of hours after bed check, Travis was lying in his bed, about to doze off, when the door opened and she slipped in among the shadows. “Hi,” he said quietly, managing to wake himself fully as she quietly slipped off her pajamas and quickly climbed into bed. They held each other close, kissing passionately. It felt so good to be with her, to have her lying atop him as they kissed, that at first he didn’t realize that something was wrong when he began stroking her hair.
It came to him with a sudden clarity that although Marion had short hair, it was smoother than this, and didn’t feel quite so rough. Intuition hit him, and he quickly stretched his arm out, reaching for the nightstand lamp with the old-fashioned switch. He found it, flicked it–and was surprised to find it was Danielle’s face looking down at him. Her hips were raised, poised to mount him.
“What are you doing,” he whispered sharply, inexplicably embarrassed for some reason. He lifted her up off of him and pulled the sheets around himself.
Danielle sat staring at him, uncertain at first what to say. She grimaced and pulled part of the bedcover up around her breasts. “I thought you wanted this,” she answered, a look of hurt on her face.
“So did I, but I thought I was going to be the one to give it to him.”
Marion was standing in the partially opened doorway, her form highlighted by lights shining through the hallway windows from passing AirKars. “I don’t know what you had in mind,” she whispered at Travis, anger in her voice, “but I don’t get with other girls, and threesomes are definitely not my thing.”
“Marion, wait–you don’t understand…”
She waved her hand disdainfully. “Adios, baby–your loss.” With that, she stepped out into the hall and slammed the door behind her in such a way that was certain to wake at least a few people up, more than likely the house owners.
“Oh, shit,” Danielle said as she jumped out of bed. She snatched up her pajamas, hurriedly throwing them on. “I’m sorry, Travis, I–I don’t know what…I gotta go.” She opened the door, cautiously peeked to her left then her right, and exited, closing it behind her as quietly as possible.
It came to Travis that he should turn his light off, in case the house owners did wake up and decided to go door to door for a spot check. “What in the flying hell,” he muttered as he threw himself back onto his pillow, staring up at nothing in the darkness. In spite of his earlier arguments with Danielle, he honestly had no idea she had any sort of feelings remaining for him. And now that she was with Anthony Drake, he had no idea how to handle this. Now that he knew Danielle liked him, he supposed he could have her any time he wanted. But he had come to like Drake as a friend, and a pang of guilt stabbed at his conscience. Could he really do that to a friend? No. He knew in his heart of hearts that no matter what, he couldn’t betray a friendship in such a cowardly fashion. This brought him back to Marion, who obviously thought that he considered her to be just a play toy to have around for kicks, which certainly wasn’t the case. He and Marion related to each other well, and they had shared experiences, both being in a military training camp. In some ways, he had more in common with Marion than he did with Gilda…
Gilda.
She had let him know that other boys were interested in her, but she was waiting patiently to hear from him. How long would he be willing to test her patience before he contacted her? How long would she be willing to wait? He knew he should do the honorable thing and just tell her there was someone else he was interested in, but the idea of having her to go home to, to make love to, was very tempting. Three girls, all of them interested in him to some degree. All of them for the taking, if he could play his cards right.
He grunted in disgust. Christ, I’m turning into LeVoy, he thought shamefully, as he rolled over on his side to try and go to sleep.
Marion refused to talk to him at all the next day, and Danielle seemed too embarrassed to speak to him. At breakfast and every other time, Danielle found some excuse to be on the other side of the room or to hit the head, or make a vid-call to her parents. Marion was an altogether different story; rather than try to dodge Travis, when they saw each other in the hallway on the way to breakfast, she gave him a look that almost reflexively made him cover his testicles for protection. So he sat at the far end of the table, away from both of them. He chose not to go into town with the other cadets, and instead spent the day reading news stories on the Overnet and whatever books the home owners had on dsp.
The time finally came to take the shuttles back to Sanderson School. This time, Marion gladly traded her seat back with Christina, and Danielle made certain she sat nowhere near Travis on the ride home.
“Did something happen on the trip?”
“What?” Travis replied, some concern creeping into his voice as he answered Drake.
“Did anything happen at all? Did Danielle say anything?” Drake asked, keeping his hands poised near the bar Travis held in his own hands as he lie on the bench, lifting weights. Travis grunted as he did another press. “I don’t know what you mean,” he lied.
“Well, it’s just that…well, she’s being a lot more affectionate toward me these days. I mean a lot more. She’s doing stuff for me that she never wanted to do before. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. It’s just a little odd.”
Travis’ eyes narrowed. He gritted his teeth jealously as he lowered the weights to his chest and raised them again. “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” he huffed.
“I’m not, but…well, I know you guys are close. You must have hung out while you were over there. I was just wondering if you knew of anything that had happened, that I should know about.”
“Not to my knowledge,” he said, and raised the bar toward the holding shelf. “That’s it. I’m done.”
“You sure? That’s not your usual set.”
“I’m done!” Travis said as Drake
helped him set the bar in place once more. He sat up, snatching his towel off the floor. “I’m just a little tired, that’s all. I don’t want to risk straining anything before Ling’s class.”
Drake nodded in understanding. “I hear you. Hey, how about things with Marion? How’s that doing? Pietro told me you guys were getting along pretty well in the Japanese garden.”
Travis finished wiping his face and under his arms. “Let’s just say that my expectations went unfulfilled in every possible area while I was away.” He threw the towel down angrily on the bench, and stormed off for the showers. Although he was curious, Drake decided not to go after Travis to press him on his statement. He picked up the towel and placed it in the recycle dump-chute on the wall, then went to run a few miles on the treadmill.
When Travis knocked on the closed door to quarters B-17, a cute little thing with hazel eyes opened it in response. “Yes?” she said pleasantly in an almost little-girl voice.
“Hi, I’m Travis. Is Marion here?”
The cute little thing’s smile instantly turned into a small frown. “I’m sorry, but Marion already left. She’s headed back to the Citadel.”
“What? You’re kidding me!”
She shook her head. “She’s gone for the rest of the semester, to finish out some courses there. She didn’t say whether she was coming back or not next term.”
Travis swore to himself. “Thanks anyway.”
“Sure thing,” she said, and was about to introduce herself, but he had already turned and was headed back down the corridor.
The rest of the year moved at a fairly fluid pace. Travis excelled in the majority of his classes, and even managed to score a couple of A’s. He and Danielle began talking eventually, though neither one ever had the courage to bring up what had almost happened that night in San Mateo. Christina King and Hugo Guzman eventually started dating, but she had to drop out when she became pregnant. She was heartbroken at the prospect of putting off her career, and this almost drove a permanent wedge between the couple. But Hugo swore to her that after the baby was a few months old, they would place her with a long-term nanny service, so that she could resume classes once more. Fortunately, UEF had long ago anticipated such events happening in a cadet’s life, and set in place certain assurances for returning to the fold. In the meantime, UEF Citizen Services would ensure the couple received an agreed-upon stipend of Unicreds each month for living expenses and raising another potential little soldier.
