by M. D. Cooper
Rachel nodded. “But there’s plenty to do here. You up for some dancing?”
Justin crossed his avatar’s arms and huffed.
If he wants green teeth, then that’s what he’ll get. She downed the rest of her drink in one gulp.
Rachel extended her hand with a flourish and grinned at Tom. “Shall we?”
Tom took her hand and led her deeper into the club, where the lights were strobing and the music was at an almost unbearable volume. It was perfect.
She let loose, dancing as the alcohol began to take full effect in her system, swaying and spinning with the electronic music. Tom kept a respectful distance from her at first, but as the night progressed, he inched closer—eventually placing his hands on her hips.
Tipsy and having a good time, Rachel let him. No harm in having a little fun.
Several drinks found their way into her hand over the course of the evening, and she downed each in turn. At several points, she spotted Justin out of the corner of her eye and smiled at him while two women pawed at his chest.
He gave her a mental shrug, and she laughed.
The world was a little spinny by the time Rachel realized she hadn’t eaten dinner, and she wanted to see if it was too late to order food. She hadn’t set a firm time to return to the academy, but it registered somewhere in the back of her drunken mind that she had somewhere to be in the morning.
Unsteady on her feet, she stumbled toward the wall to gather herself and check the time. Whatever nano counter-measure had been in the drinks was certainly doing the trick.
When she reached the wall, Rachel braced against it and tried to spot Justin again while she checked the time on the Link. Her jaw just about hit the deck when she saw it was 0143.
Oooooh, shit.
That meant she had to be up in four hours. And sober.
The crowd parted as Justin ran through.
Her attempts to jog daintily to the bar came out more like the shamblings of the undead, but she made it to Tom without falling on her face.
“I have to go, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how late it was.” Her voice sounded clear and measured to her own ears.
Good, maybe we can still make it past the guards at the academy’s entrance.
Tom tilted his head and squinted while he tried to process what she’d said. “Oh, that’s too bad. I was still hoping to take you out on my ship.”
The idea of sudden acceleration turned Rachel’s stomach, and she placed her hand on her abdomen. “Another time, maybe. Thank you for the fun evening.”
“Here’s my net-token, if you ever want to look me up.” Tom passed the info to her over the Link.
“Will do, thanks.”
Rachel met up with Justin on the way to the door, massaging her temples. “How many did I have?”
“Was I supposed to be counting?” Justin laughed, then cut himself short. “Wait, didn’t you have a bag with our clothes?”
“Stars! That’s right.” Rachel stumbled back toward the booth where they’d spent the first part of the night.
The booth was empty, and there was no bag to be seen.
“No, no, no! This can’t be happening.” Rachel’s heart dropped. The adrenaline rush of panic instantly cleared the drunken fog. She spun around and jogged to the bar. “Excuse me! Has anyone turned in black canvas bag to your ‘lost and found’?”
The bartender glanced at her and shook her head. “We don’t have a ‘lost and found’ here. But if it’s lost, you can bet someone else figured it was a mighty good find.” She pointed up at a sign that read, ‘Not responsible for loss of unattended items’.
Rachel resisted the urge to swear at the woman, and instead stormed out of the club to the comparative quiet of the transit corridor so she could think.
“Shit, Rachel! What are we going to do? We can’t go walking into the dormitory like this, even if we could make it past the entry guards by some miracle.”
“Not to mention that bag had my only shoes aside from these.” She wiggled her toes in her sandals. “We’re completely screwed.”
“We could maybe see if they have security footage, and try to spot who might have taken the bag?”
“If we had time, yeah. But if we miss the morning muster, we’ll be in way more trouble than if we show up at the front gate looking like this.”
Justin took a slow breath. “Damn it, you’re right. Stars, why did I ever agree to this?”
“Because we’re both idiots.” Rachel plodded in the direction of the academy.
They boarded the nearby maglev train in silence, knowing there was nothing they could say to make the situation better.
As they got off the train and walked the rest of the way to the academy’s entrance, Rachel’s chest constricted until she thought she might choke. Why would I do something so reckless? The ISF is the best future I could have, and I’d throw it all away for one stupid night out at a club with a stranger while I ignored my friend? Maybe I deserve to be expelled.
She was tempted to throw up behind a potted plant, but decided vomit-breath wouldn’t make re-entry to the academy any easier.
Two guards looked her over and then chuckled to each other.
“You’ve had quite a night,” the first guard said
“It was lovely, thank you.” Rachel brushed back a loose wisp of hair from her face. “We’ll see ourselves to our dorm now.” She made for the gate.
“Hold on a minute there,” the second guard said. “We’ll need to cross-check your ident.”
This is officially the end of my life as I know it. Rachel passed her credentials to the guards over the academy’s local network.
The second guard chuckled. “Really? You’ve only been here a month and you already snuck out?”
The first guard clicked his tongue. “You really got yourselves into it with this one.”
His companion shook her head. “I think this calls for a trip straight to the Commandant. He’ll love it.”
Stars, no! Rachel’s pulse spiked. “I can explain—”
“Save it for the Old Man,” the second guard stated while making an entry on her console.
“You’re ordered to report to Medical,” the first guard stated. “The Commandant will see you when he arrives later this morning.”
“Understood,” Rachel murmured.
She and Justin trudged to their fate.
The same medical AI greeted them when they entered the lobby. “It appears your navigational error l
ed you straight out of the academy.”
“I guess I’m bad at reading maps,” Rachel shot back.
The AI’s avatar evaluated them in their mind. “Your blood alcohol levels are quite high. Unless you’ve consumed half a bathtub’s worth of booze in the last six hours, your nano has been suppressed.”
Rachel eased onto one of the benches in the waiting room. “Yep.”
“Well, your mednano should come back online soon. I think it’s best if you worked this off naturally.”
“Yay.” Rachel pressed her palm to her forehead and lay down with her head propped on the arm of the bench.
After what only seemed like a minute, a buzzer sounded. Rachel bolted upright. Checking her Link, she saw that three hours had passed.
“Wakey, wakey,” the AI attendant said. “You’ll meet with the Commandant in ten minutes. Make yourselves presentable, if you wish.”
Justin was coming to on an adjacent bench. “Oh, shit. We’re going to miss morning muster.”
“I imagine Sergeant Greggors has already been notified about our escapades last night. Missing morning laps is probably the least of our worries.”
Rachel smacked her tongue against the roof of her mouth.
Stars, I’m thirsty.
With far more effort than it should have taken, she lurched to her feet and shuffled across the room to a water cooler. She poured herself a glass of water and chugged it, then refilled the cup to take back to her seat.
“I forgot how much hangovers suck.”
Justin snorted. “They weren’t kidding about that nano-suppressor. Pretty sure I’m still actively drunk.”
Rachel noted that the universe did seem uncharacteristically off-kilter. “Yeah, that’s more likely for me, too.”
She smoothed her hair as best she could and altered her dress to be dark grey. “We should head to the Commandant’s office.”
“Yeah.” Justin rose to his feet and flexed his neck.
“Good luck,” the AI said. “Come back in an hour if your nano hasn’t cleansed your systems yet, and I’ll give you a booster.”
“Thanks.” Rachel departed the lobby with Justin.
The commandant’s office was two corridors away, in the administrative center for the academy. Few of the offices were occupied at the early hour, but the individuals they did pass cast appraising looks at the two cadets.
Rachel held her head high and stared straight ahead, ready to accept her fate.
When they reached General Evans’s office, Rachel took a deep breath. “It’s been nice knowing you,” she said to Justin.
“Likewise.”
With resolute nods, they knocked on the door and stepped inside.
Commandant Evans was standing next to his desk with a cup of coffee in hand. “Good morning,” he greeted.
“Good morning, sir,” they replied in unison.
“Have a seat.” He gestured to the two chairs across from his desk.
They complied.
The Commandant’s gaze passed between Rachel and Justin. “Now, tell me, whose idea was this?”
Justin opened his mouth to speak, but Rachel beat him to it.
“It was mine, sir,” she said.
“You demonstrated poor judgment by participating in activities that showed such disregard for the tenets of this academy,” Commandant Evans stated. “Do you have anything to say for yourselves?”
Justin stared at his hands in his lap. “I’m sorry, sir. It was a lapse in judgment. It won’t happen again.”
“Why should I believe you?” the Commandant asked. “You disregarded rules and common sense this time.”
“Because I want to be here, sir.” Justin raised his gaze to meet the officer’s.
“Didn’t seem like it last night.”
“I know, sir. I disrespected the academy and myself.”
“Very well.” The Commandant clasped his hands behind his back. “I have nothing more to say to you at this time, but rest assured I’ll administer an appropriate punishment. You’re dismissed.”
Rachel started to stand with Justin, but the Commandant stopped her, “I’m not finished with you, Rachel.”
She sat back down.
Justin flashed her a look of pity, but quickly exited the room and closed the door behind him.
Commandant Evans shook his head. “I don’t know whether to be disappointed or impressed.”
“Sir?”
He chuckled. “I mean, catching a ride out in the organic waste bins? That takes real dedication.”
Rachel’s cheeks flushed. “It was stupid.”
“But showed some proper out-of-the-box thinking—well, in it, I suppose. Not to mention that clever trick with ghosting yourselves on the Link.”
Is he complimenting or mocking me?
Rachel wasn’t sure what to say. “My conduct was inexcusable.”
“Rash and shortsighted, perhaps, but not inexcusable.”
“Pardon, sir?”
He paced the room. “No one’s future should be derailed just because of one night of poor decisions in the search of fun. If you’d blown up High Victoria, that’d be another matter. But drinking at a club? You were just doing what everyone else has been dreaming about since they got here, only you had the guts to follow through.”
It took Rachel several seconds to find her voice. “That’s very generous of you, sir.”
He smiled. “I consider it good cosmic karma. I hope to have my own daughter one day, and I expect she’ll do her share of reckless things. That’s all part of growing up; it’s what makes us human.”
Rachel allowed herself to feel a glimmer of hope. “Does that mean I’m not expelled?”
“That depends.” The Commandant perched on the edge of his desk. “Do you want to be here?”
She nodded. “I do. Yes, I’ve been annoyed, at times, by the mindless routine, but the kind of life I can have in the ISF… I don’t want anything else.”
Commandant Evans smiled. “Well, we’re lucky to have you. As foolish as your stunt was, it did show a surprising degree of initiative and creativity. If you can channel that energy toward something more productive, you could go far in the ISF.”
“Thank you, sir.”
He rose from his desk. “There is still the matter of punishment…”
“I know, sir.” Rachel nodded. “I’m prepared to accept the consequences of my actions.”
“Good, then go get changed.” The Commandant grinned. “I know of some waste bins that need scrubbing.”
SECOND CHANCE
STELLAR DATE: 08.06.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: ISS I2
REGION: Inner Canaan, New Canaan System
Rachel told Admiral Evans, thinking back on the events of her youth that had placed her on her present path.
He smirked.
She shook her head, amazed he still remembered the punishment.
Her escapades as a cadet may as well have been from another life, given how much had changed since then. But the commitment she’d made on that fateful night to serve her people was more salient than ever.
“Thank you for coming to see us off, sir,” Rachel said, looking the admiral in his eyes.
He nodded. “Safe travels. I have every confidence in you and your team.”
“Thank you, sir.” She saluted.
THE END
About the Author
Amy has always loved science fiction in all its forms, including books, movies, shows, and games. If it involves outer space, even better!
As a full-time author based in Oregon, Amy primarily writes character-driven science fiction and science-fantasy with broad scope and cool tech. She has completed the seven-volume Cadicle space opera series, a multi-generational epic
with adventure, political intrigue, romance, and telekinetic abilities. Additional works include the Uprise Saga space opera series, novellas featured in the Pew! Pew! Anthologies, and numerous short stories in various anthologies.
When she's not writing, Amy enjoys traveling the world with her husband, wine tasting, binge-watching TV series, and playing epic strategy board games.
Sign up for Amy’s newsletter and get a FREE story!
smarturl.it/io4hzb
Browse Amy’s books on Amazon:
smarturl.it/x31njz
Connect with Amy:
Facebook: smarturl.it/facebookamyduboff
Website: www.amyduboff.com
AN UNCLE’S UNDERSTANDING
BY M. D. COOPER
THE PRAIRIE PARK
Sera settled onto the bench in the Prairie Park, watching the Sun slowly dip toward the horizon. It looked so normal, at least for a G spectrum star. Nothing special at all about it.
“How accurate is that?” she asked Finaeus, gesturing to the representation of humanity’s home star, rendered by the holographic perimeter of the park.
Finaeus cocked his head to the side, and she saw him squint in the diminishing light. “I suppose it’s pretty good. I mean…it’s obviously a holo, but the color’s right, and they did a good job of simulating the effect of a single light source across the park. Not easy to do that when the real light source’s distance and the apparent distance are so different.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Sera asked. “You grew up on Earth. Is that what it looked like?”
Finaeus’ shoulders drooped and he sighed. “You know…I don’t really remember it that distinctly. I’ve seen so many suns lower over so many horizons, I can barely remember which is which anymore.”
Sera nodded. “I’ve not seen a fraction of the sunsets that you have, but I know the feeling. I’m going to pretend it’s perfect.”
“You could always ask Bob, you know.”
“Well, I imagine it’s really not bang-on, and Bob will feel compelled to tell me about how it’s not an accurate representation.”
