by Ivan Kal
“Adrian, may I ask you something?” the voice said.
For a moment, he was startled and started looking around his room for the source of the voice; when he saw that there wasn’t anyone there with him, he realized to whom the voice must belong to.
“Iris, is that you?” he asked.
“Of course. There is no one else present here,” she said.
Adrian shook his head and grinned.
“I see that you synthesized a female voice for yourself.”
“Obviously,” she said. And Adrian swore he could feel a touch of amusement in her tone.
“I like it,” he said.
“Thank you,” she said, and now he was sure he heard pride in her tone.
“You wanted to ask me something?”
“Yes. I wanted to know if I could have access to the rest of your databases. I have already read through your book collection several times. I find that the material becomes less entertaining after the fiftieth read-through.”
Adrian opened his mouth in shock. She already read through his collection fifty times? He realized that he shouldn’t have been surprised; she had much greater processing capability than him. And even though his own brain’s processing speed will increase over time as he became more compatible with his implants, he would still never be able to match her pure computing abilities. He thought of ways to keep her occupied and reached a decision.
“Okay, I’ll give you access to my databases. I can also give you limited surf access to the net through my implant.”
“Great! Thank you, Adrian,” she exclaimed happily.
Adrian set the permissions on his implant and went to sleep.
Chapter Fourteen
January 2102 – Two years later
Adrian stood at attention inside the receiving area on the combat-training base. He, alongside his ninety-nine classmates, had just arrived on the base for the combat part of their training. The base itself was in the space between Mars and the asteroid belt, and was massive, at least a couple kilometers long. They’d spent the last two years learning about Fleet operations, from how to pilot a ship to how to fight it. They’d spent a significant number of hours in the simulators where they had been put in teams and competed against each other in fleet combat operations, or where they’d had to survive a different kind of crisis, each one of which was a reality of operating in space. After two years of classes and fleet training, they’d had a weeklong testing period where they had been evaluated on everything they’d learned during those two years.
Those that passed had been given a rank of cadet tier 1. And then those who wanted to be in leadership positions and had earned sufficiently high scores at the end had been sent to this base, where they would spend the next year training with army personnel. After finishing this year of combat training for those who wished to be in command positions, they would be given a chance to serve and command a real ship. It was decided that anyone who was part of the fleet command needed to have at least some military knowledge and expertise. No one really had any experience fighting in space—and wouldn’t until a conflict appeared—but Olympus leaders wanted everyone to know how to fight. There were even some talks of installing a mandatory one-year training for all members of Olympus. Their population was small, and since the only military they had was a former security, they had the need to expand their forces.
Having everyone go through at least a year of military training was one of the proposed solutions, effectively turning the entire noncombatant Olympus population into militia. The biggest reason for the plan was an alarming increase in military activity from Earth countries. Their “secret” warships had finished, with more under construction, and a great push in technological research from Earth in weapons and space technology was alarming to Olympus. On the surface, the relations between Earth and Olympus were good. They traded and kept cordial communications, with Olympus providing some small aid to their colonization efforts. The plans for a mandatory military training were still secret, and Adrian was only privy to them because of his connections to Laura Reiss. He had grown close to her. With her becoming something of a mother figure to him, he spent his vacation days with her, and they kept in touch via messages and vid calls.
Adrian stood somewhere around the middle of the single line they formed on instructions from Platoon Leader Martinez. After they disembarked from the transport, they were immediately instructed to form a line and wait at attention for the man in charge of the base to greet them. A minute later, the doors on the far side of the receiving area opened and a man in the dark green army uniform of Olympus stepped in, followed by one other man with darker skin that was almost pure black. As the man approached, Adrian could discern the rank markings on his shoulders; there was a simple star with three shallow V bars below it, marking him as a force commander, one of the higher ranks in the army. The man beside him had a star, the same as the force commander, and one shallow V bar below, marking him as a commander, a rank lower than that of a force commander. The men stopped a few steps in front of the line, and both of them looked at Adrian and his classmates.
The force commander cleared his throat and spoke in a clear, carrying voice. “I welcome you to the army’s training base. I am Force Commander Nicholas Pierce, and I am in charge of this facility. You are the first ever class to come through this training base without being a part of the army, and as such, you will be put through a yearlong crash course in the army operations. Our superiors thought it wise to have their fleet personnel sent here to be trained until they bring their own programs up and running. And I completely agree, unlike some others.” As he said this, he glanced at the man standing beside him. “You will have much to prove. I hope that you don’t disappoint. And as you probably already know, passing this course is a requirement for graduating from the fleet. I wish you all good luck.” With that, he turned and left through the doors he had come in through. The man who came with him remained and kept glaring at them. After a few moments, he finally introduced himself.
“I am Commander Dayo Okoro. I will be in charge of your training. And I, unlike my commander, do not agree with the decision to have you spacers trained in the army facilities. But since it is not my decision, I can only try to make you into something that will be as small an embarrassment to the Olympus army forces as possible.” There were some murmurs from Adrian’s classmates at his words, and the commander immediately zeroed in on one of the cadets that Adrian recognized as Liam Thorne, a thirty-year-old former transport pilot, and stepped right up to him.
“You think that you have what it takes to learn in a single year what our recruits struggle to learn in three years?!” he yelled at the cadet. Liam shrunk back at the commander’s booming voice that echoed throughout the bay.
He swallowed and looked straight at the commander. “No.”
A scowl appeared on the commander’s face. “You will respond to all questions by a superior officer with a ‘yes, sir’ or ‘no, sir!’” he yelled again. “And did I tell you that you can look me in the eyes?!” His voice boomed. “Eyes forward!”
Liam quickly turned his gaze to the far side of the bay. Commander Okoro turned from Liam with a curse.
“You lot aren’t even trained in simple army etiquette. How am I supposed to teach you worms anything?” he said. He turned to Platoon Leader Martinez. “Get this sorry bunch out of here and into their quarters.”
Martinez saluted a fist to chest, and Okoro returned the salute and left the bay.
Platoon Leader Martinez turned to them and ushered them towards a side door and through the base. They walked for a few minutes before arriving at a big door that slid open when they came close to it. They went inside and found that there were ten more rooms inside; all the doors were open, and they could see a room with ten beds in each room.
Martinez walked to the middle of the main room where five big TVs were placed in front of wide couches and a few tables; further inside of the main room there were billiard
tables. Martinez gestured for them to gather around him.
“These will be your accommodations for the next year. Your rooms have been chosen for you; bathrooms and shower rooms are down at the end of the room. Women on the left and men on the right. Your room number should arrive in your implant inboxes shortly. You will be placed in groups of ten, and you will act as a team in your training. Not all of you will go through the same training, and you will all either pass or fail together with your teammates.” There were again murmurs at that, but Martinez forestalled them by raising his hand. “Inside your rooms, you will find army uniforms that you are required to wear. Leave your cadet uniforms inside your lockers; you won’t be needing them here. You are free for the rest of the day. You are starting your training early tomorrow morning 0600 base time. It’s now 1813; you should set your implants to base time immediately and go to bed early. You will need to be rested tomorrow.” With that, he left them.
Those few of Adrian’s classmates that hadn’t had implants before had been given them prior to their arrival at the station. Adrian’s classmates didn’t know that he had one as well; he was too young, and the implant he had was top secret, and he wasn’t allowed to talk about it with those who didn’t have high enough clearance. So he brought his datapad out and found out his room number there. Adrian’s classmates immediately started talking with each other, while some started separating into groups by their rooms. Most of them were familiar with each other from the fleet academy and were at ease with each other. His room number was 9, which was the last room on the right. When he entered the room, he found that three of his new roommates were already there. He, of course, knew them like they knew him.
There was Marcus Long; before coming to the fleet academy, he had been in the military school, though he had been approached before he chose his path. Helen Morris, who finished school as a simulation programmer. And Paul Isaacs, the only one among the recruits who’d worked on the Cloud station before being invited to attend fleet academy. But they were acquaintances at best. When he entered the room, their conversation stopped and they looked awkwardly at him. Adrian nodded respectfully and went to the free bunk.
There were two bunks on each side of the room, with one at the end of the room. He took the bottom bunk of the second bed on the right side of the room. He put his bag down and noticed that each bunk had a locker on each side, and a drawer beneath each of the bottom bunks. Adrian took those on the left side. He filled the empty drawer with the contents of his bag, which wasn’t much; he had a few toiletries, spare garments, and his datapad.
He then opened the locker and found three sets of army uniforms and boots. The army uniforms followed the same pattern as the fleet ones; they were dark green with black outlines, while the fleet ones were black with dark blue outlines. And of course the insignia was different; the army had an Olympus logo with a green star above it, while the fleet had the same Olympus logo only with a round field of stars.
Adrian then looked back at his roommates and saw that five more of them had arrived. One was Noah MacKay, who had previously worked as a cargo and shipment manager on Earth while playing Fleet Commander in his spare time. He wasn’t the only one of the recruits that had been invited because their success at the game. The other arrivals were Araki Sakura, who finished the military school before the Academy; Alexander Mencken, former med student invited to the fleet after he expressed interest in becoming a doctor on one of the mining ships; and Ana Trzin, who was born and raised in Sedna on Earth, and was 26 years old.
Adrian had matured early; at sixteen, he had already finished his height growth and he was in better form than most other people, but his now 18-year-old face still held that boyish look, and anyone looking at him would know that he was much younger than his classmates. Ana had just finished Olympus College for space technologies at Sedna when she’d been approached to join the fleet.
She would most likely go for becoming a ship’s engineer, which meant going through one more year of specialization back at the Academy after this course. Next was Tania Nast, another pilot. Adrian considered joining them, but found that he didn’t really know what to say to them. When he’d first started classes at the Academy, he’d been confident that he would make friends fast and make them accept him as their own, but he was only half successful. Oh, they acknowledged him as their classmate. They small-talked on breaks and lunch. They all respected his knowledge and skill, and everyone wanted him on their team during assignments or simulations. His teams tended to do better than the others. They followed his lead when he was in command, or at least most did. And they wanted him as a subordinate when they were in command. They asked him about things they didn’t understand in class or to help them study. But socially, they were distant. He wasn’t invited to parties or simply for a night out.
He couldn’t really say that he had friends. He accomplished what Laura wanted him to; he proved himself to them as a peer. But not as someone who they wanted to hang out with. During the past two years, Adrian had felt alone. He still emailed with Sahib regularly, and they were best friends still. But they had grown a bit distant over the years, and Sahib was busy with his own training, making new friends. Sahib tried to include Adrian in his new circle of friends, like inviting him out with them when they were on a break, but they didn’t really mesh. Sahib and his friends had formed bonds during their training, and Adrian just didn’t fit in. He hoped that after this course he could feel at least bit closer to his best friend, having passed at least a fraction of what Sahib had gone through.
Looking at his new roommates, Adrian decided that this was his opportunity to bond with them and make friends. After all, they would be stuck together for a year. He started towards them when he noticed another person entering the room. As soon as he recognized her, he froze. The woman entering the room was Bethany Jones, the last person Adrian wanted to be around. She was 26 years old. She had red hair cut just above her jawline, green eyes, a short, pretty nose, and a fit body that only came with years of physical activity. And she had taken it upon herself to refer to Adrian as “that kid.”
Before fleet, she’d finished military school and had been planning to continue on to the army. Her father was ex Concordis military and then later Olympus security, and now Olympus army. Her brother was in the Olympus army as well, and she had been groomed for military life from early childhood. She was always the best, graduated top of her class, and was always the smartest person in the room. At least she had been, until Adrian.
She had finished second in their class at the Academy, right behind Adrian. Their simulation battles were widely talked about amongst the students; Adrian had finished ahead with 23 wins, while Bethany had 16 wins, and they had 8 draws between them. Bethany was very competitive, and having never really met her match until Adrian, she didn’t take to being second best very well. She insisted on calling him “kid,” even though she wasn’t all that much older than him, at least in Adrian’s eyes. And Adrian simply didn’t know how to respond. He tended to avoid her, and since she was popular, that meant avoiding crowds.
Bethany entered the room, greeted the rest, and then started looking around for a free bunk. The only available bed was the one above his. As she looked around, she finally noticed the free bunk and then Adrian standing beside it. She looked back at their roommates.
“We’re stuck with the kid?” she said. The rest of the room fell into an awkward silence. None of the others had ever called him ‘kid’ in his presence, but he knew that even they referred to him as such when he wasn’t around. He could see it in their eyes, how they averted their gazes when they were talking with him. How they went quiet when he entered a room. The only one that called him like that in his presence was Bethany. And just like that, two years of being the little kid, even with everything he tried to make them see that he was just like them, two years of being alone, slowly losing his best friend—all of it was just too much, and something inside him snapped.
Adrian
walked right up to Bethany; she saw him coming and stood her ground as he approached. Adrian stopped right in front of her, and he was so close that he could feel the heat of her body. He looked her in the eyes. Adrian was 186 cm tall, just slightly taller than Bethany’s 181 cm. He glared at her for a moment. She showed no outward appearance of being bothered by Adrian’s closeness, but Adrian could see something in her eyes—he recognized surprise. She was surprised by his actions.
“I have spent the last two years putting up with your insults,” Adrian said softly. Bethany tried to say something, but Adrian interrupted her. “No. Perhaps you didn’t insult me directly; calling someone a kid isn’t any kind of a grave insult. But your tone and your attitude. They left no doubt to your intentions. You wanted me to feel inadequate, to feel as if I didn’t belong among you. And you did succeed, but no more. I have proven beyond any doubt that I do belong here. I was better than you, and I will not suffer you demeaning me anymore,” Adrian finished hotly. The rest of the room was silent; some had shameful expressions, while others looked uncomfortable.
Bethany had grown slightly red, but she just stared at Adrian, not really letting herself believe what was happening. Adrian looked at her for a breath longer, then stepped past her and exited the room. He entered the men’s bathroom. Through the door on the left, he saw the showers, and through the one on the right, toilet cubicles. He entered one and closed the door behind him. He sat down hard on the toilet seat. He put his head in his hands and released the breath he had been holding since he exited the room.
