by J. Naomi Ay
"Ha," I laughed. "What good will that do? Your grade was nearly as bad as mine."
Stevie shrugged. "I didn't study at all. Furthermore, Korelesk needed a reason to give me more demerits. I'll try again next week and work a little harder this time. Come on, let's go get today's sundae." He pulled my arm so I followed him up to the ice cream parlor on Deck 12.
"You're smart, Stevie," I told him between bites of fudge ripple. "You can do this. You don't have to be a screw-up just because you like acting as one."
"I'm not," he replied, licking the caramel off his spoon. "You think I like getting demerits? You think I'm failing on purpose?"
"Yes," I decided while scraping the bottom of my dish. There was a single maraschino cherry left in a pool of melted whipped cream. I picked it up and spun it around on its stem thinking about Stevie and thinking about me. "I wanted to be a pilot because of my uncle and then I discovered I'd really rather keep my feet on the ground. You, on the other hand, say you want to be a ship captain except you act like a fool which makes me think you don't really want to be in command at all." The cherry flew off and hit the guy at the next table who looked like he would respond by pounding on my head. "Sorry!" I yelled quickly as Stevie and I jumped from the table and ran out of there to the safety of our room. "You're full of contradictions," I continued as we climbed into our bunks. "There's something very strange about you but I just can't put my finger on it."
"Well you're strange too, bro," Stevie replied sharply. "And I'm not a screw-up. You're not your uncle and I'm not my old man but that doesn't mean we both can't be something worthwhile."
"You're right." I picked up my vitamins and swallowed three green gummy worms. After all that ice cream, my stomach was in bad shape. "We just need to figure out exactly what it is we do best. We don't have to repeat the past and being less than a hero doesn't make us bad at all."
"That's true," Stevie agreed.
"Ok," I said and lay back in my bunk. "Hey Stevie, what does your old man do anyway?"
There was silence from Stevie's bunk. "Um…well…it's kind of hard to describe."
Stevie wouldn't tell me and since his parents were on the government dole, I thought maybe his dad was unemployed and Stevie was ashamed.
"Listen Stevie, I won't hold anything against you. Even if your dad's a loser, you're still a great guy and you're still my friend."
Stevie started snickering. "Actually, Sam, the truth is he's…he's sort of in prison…at least according to my mom."
"Oh sorry, dude," I cried. "Ok, I understand. I won't say anything to the other guys. I won't pester you anymore."
"No worries, bro," Stevie replied. "Now shut up so I can study."
Chapter 4
Steven
The third department on my rotation was Sickbay. At first I thought that would be no problem. I remembered spending a whole lot of time in the Discovery's sickbay when I was a little kid.
Jerry was the head doctor there and after school, which wasn't really school but more like day care, I'd go hang out with Uncle Jerry. We'd play card games like Go Fish and Slap Jack or checkers if he wasn't too busy. Then we'd go get ice cream at the ship's ice cream parlor and invariably it would ruin my dinner which would make my mom mad. If there were any patients in the bay or if Uncle Jerry had to work, my Andorian nanny would quickly hustle me away.
I had no fear of the sickbay then and being around our own hospitals made sick people and sick smells commonplace in my life. My first day in this sickbay though, some guy came in bleeding after getting his arm stuck in between two engineering consoles. I took one look at him and passed out on the floor. I woke up on a gurney with an SdK monitor beeping over my head. Korelesk stood at my side, his massive arms crossed in front of his chest, shaking his head and making a tsking noise with his tongue.
"How many this time?" I mumbled.
He held up four fingers.
"It was his bone sticking out of his arm like that," I started to explain but then began to retch. I reached for the barf bucket at my side and took deep breaths. Korelesk just wagged his head again.
"You'd think you'd never been in a hospital, Gold-en," he growled.
"Not in a really long time," I pleaded. "Can I switch departments? Not everybody has to do Sickbay, right?"
"You want to do Culinary instead?" he asked raising his orange eyebrows as high as his hair.
"Culinary? Sure, absolutely." I tried to get up. A nurse came over and pushed me back down.
"Steven Golden," she said. "Now you just lie here until your blood pressure stabilizes." She adjusted some buttons on the monitor and checked my IV. Then she looked up at the monitor again and frowned.
"What's the matter?" I asked as she ran away to fetch a doctor. Korelesk studied the monitor too and now he frowned.
"That's weird," he said.
"What?"
"The monitor is showing an anomaly."
"Anomaly?" Was I dying? Oh God. My mother would have a fit about that. "How do you know?"
"I can read the monitors, dipshit," Korelesk replied. "I managed to stay conscious during my sickbay rotation."
Right about this time the nurse returned with a doctor in tow. Now, he studied the monitor and pushed a bunch of buttons. He frowned and made a humming noise.
"Should I start writing my will?"
"Probably," Korelesk growled.
"Well, I'm going to leave you out of it. Everything I would have given you, I'm going to give to Petya instead."
"Steven," the doctor interrupted while pulling up a chair. He sat by my side and looked me in the eye. "Your profile says you are Rozarian but the monitor here is telling us something different."
"Really?" I cried with relief. "What does it say?"
"Lying to the Imperial SpaceNavy's personnel registrar is a serious offense. You could be court-martialed, son."
"I didn't lie. I swear and I'm not lying now by telling you I didn't lie."
"Why does your profile say you are Rozarian when the monitor is clearly telling us you are half-human, part-Karupta, and part-Mishnese?"
"Uh," I said and looked to Korelesk.
"Uh," he repeated and looked back to me. "Why Gold-en?"
"Is it broken?" I suggested.
"Not a chance," the nurse replied.
"There wasn't enough space on the form to write that all in," I thought quickly. "So I just wrote Rozarian because that's where I'm from." I smiled and nodded and hoped they believed me. It sounded plausible, didn't it?
The doctor looked skeptical and glanced at the nurse. The nurse pursed her lips and glanced back at me.
"I swear!" I swore again. "That's God's Honest Truth. In fact, I swear in the name of the Great Emperor himself. He can strike me down now, right here if I am lying." I looked at the ceiling and waited for a bolt of lightning courtesy of my dad. Korelesk turned his face up to the ceiling too.
"Steven," the doctor scolded but then the monitor buzzed and shot out some sparks. The screen changed colors and jagged lines appeared. The doctor hit some buttons but all he got was more sparks until the whole thing made a sad whining noise and the unit died.
"That's strange," the doctor said. "I've never had an SdK monitor break like this before."
"See, it was broken," I insisted, "or hit by a bolt of lightning."
Korelesk rolled his eyes. "More demerits, Joker," he sighed. "Gold-en is just stupid, Doc, not deliberately bad. I'll take care of it. I'm shipping him down to Culinary so he can spend the next month washing dishes."
The doctor nodded. "That sounds like a good place for him, Lt. Cmdr. However, I'm still putting this in his file."
"Understood, Doc," Korelesk said and pulled on my arm.
"Wait, my IV!" The needle ripped out and went flying. "I'm bleeding!"
It happened again. At least this time, I was already on a gurney.
Culinary consisted of an enormous kitchen filled with stainless steel countertops and massive dishwashing and cooking appli
ances. The staff all wore white aprons over their uniforms and tall chef hats on top of their shaven heads. They raced around frantically preparing whatever the Master Chef, also a Master Sergeant ordered. Korelesk walked me down there, introduced me to the Sergeant and ordered me to don an apron and some gloves.
For the next week and a half, my duty consisted of stuffing filthy plates in a dishwasher and removing them when the machine had cycled. I got to be very good at this and even was allowed to listen to music while at work. I mustered in the morning, did my flight training and school work and then went down to the kitchens all afternoon. I plugged in my tunes and washed dishes, whistling in harmony while the machine chugged away.
By the second week, Sarge was so impressed by my diligence in catching even the slightest bit of food residue that he promoted me to the next station up which was Kitchen Hand. I cut up vegetables. I was very good at this. I chopped and I diced like a pro. I julienned like the best of them. In short order, I was further promoted to cooking basic soups.
"You keep this up, Golden," Sarge barked as I stood stirring a giant pot of mixed vegetables with beef; the aroma of thyme, marjoram and garlic wafting up around me. "You'll be Vegetable Chef in no time."
"Vegetable Chef?" Sam cried when I told him that night. "You want to be a Vegetable Chef on a starship? I thought you wanted to be a ship captain?"
"Well, I do," I replied, absently thumbing through a cook book on my tablet. "Did you know there is more than four hundred different ways to cook beets?"
"Huh?" Sam asked peering up from his bunk.
"Ghost chili peppers are the hottest natural grown peppers and a hundred times hotter than the common jalepeno."
"That's interesting?"
"Maybe I'll get transferred to pastry chef soon. Here's a great recipe for my dad's favorite dessert."
Sam scratched his red crew cut. "Your dad's favorite dessert? What would that be?"
"Angel food cake."
Just then, the cabin door burst open and Korelesk appeared.
"Gold-en," he called and summoned me with his finger. I hopped down from my bunk and stood at attention fully expecting to be rewarded with more demerits for breathing too much air.
"You're doing well, Gold-en," Korelesk smirked. "You make damn good salads and for that, the Master Chef Sergeant is awarding you three merits."
"Merits? What's that?" Sam pondered.
"The opposite of a demerit, dogbrain!" Korelesk barked. "You're still in the negatives, Gold-en, but this is good news. Keep up the good work and here, this is your mail."
"Yes, sir, thank you sir." I saluted and accepted the letter which looked like an invitation. It was sealed in a linen paper envelope with my mother's name embossed in gold on the back. I quickly shoved it in my pocket even as Sam's eyes saw it and grew large.
"Come with me," Korelesk ordered so I followed him out of the cabin and into the hall.
"What is it?" I whispered. "My dad's birthday party?"
"Mhm," Korelesk mumbled through the side of his mouth. "She decided against the cruise and the beach volleyball party. Instead, she's taking everybody to the Raven's opening home game."
"Kari-fa! I hate the Ravens. They're the worst team in the league and they always lose. Are you going to go?"
"I have to," he muttered without moving his teeth. "My dad's insisting. My grandparents are coming and so are all of yours."
"Is there anything you can do to get me out of it?" I begged. "Can't you make up some reason I have to stay aboard?"
"And miss your father's birthday party? Not likely, dude." His eyes turned hard. His big fist came out and he grabbed me by the neck and slammed me against the wall.
"Kari-fa!" I swore again as I choked and gasped for air.
"Listen to me, Gold-en," he growled in my face. "You screw up one more time and you're off this ship forever."
"What? Why?" Coming down the hall were my roommates, Lenny and Kiman, who immediately stopped their talking and stared at us.
"What do you say, Gold-en?" Korelesk continued.
"Yes, sir," I coughed. "Whatever you say, sir."
Lenny smirked and Kiman watched curiously as Korelesk shook me like a rag doll and I promised to do whatever he wanted until the end of time. Kiman's eyes drifted downward and now all of us watched as my mother's letter fell out of my pocket and floated gracefully to the floor. Korelesk covered it with his foot and instantly freed my neck, then turning to the other guys, he showed his fist to them.
"What are you looking at?" he demanded. "You want some demerits too?"
"No, sir," they snapped. "No thank you, sir."
"Then get out of my face!" The guys scurried off as I picked up my letter. It was now imprinted with Korelesk's boot. I folded it over three times and shoved it into the waist band of my boxers. "Plan on it, Gold-en." Korelesk nodded to me. "Bring your Raven's jersey and your vuvuzela horn. You had better be there or I will break your face."
"Yes sir," I whimpered and got out of his face too.
Chapter 5
Elana
"Well that wasn't so terrible," Father said taking Mother's arm and escorting her up the three steps to the door of the spaceplane. She stood at the top and waved at the few onlookers who looked, in my mind, more curious than impressed. Marie and I followed them and then at the top, just before we ducked into the plane, Marie turned and waved, smiling beatifically and mouthing "goodbye" as if the whole reason we had come was just so everyone could see her. I boarded without her and immediately started looking around for my bag.
"I'm going to go change my clothes," I announced while Marie was still outside waving.
"Leave your dress on, dear," my mother insisted. "You look lovely in it and the Ambassador will be joining us shortly. It would be inappropriate for you to be dressed in your t-shirt and jeans."
"This dress is too hot and too tight," I mumbled and threw myself into the seat I had ridden in the entire way here. I didn't mention that this dress was a hideously ugly pink color and the lace surrounding the collars and cuffs was itchy, torn and already turning grey.
"Yes, but it does wonders with your figure," my mother replied and she and Father sat down in the row in front of me.
A moment later, Marie finally boarded, tossing her head and patting down her perfect blonde hair with her hand. Her lace was still immaculately white and her dress was a very becoming and virginal shade of off-white even though I suspected that was totally inappropriate.
"Oh my gosh, that was so much fun," Marie exclaimed and then sat down beside me. "I'm just so sorry we didn't get to meet Prince Shika."
"I'm not."
"That is a shame," Mother agreed as Father stood up to welcome the Ambassador. "It would be a very beneficial match if either of you girls managed to snare the young fellow."
"My traps are all laid." Marie smiled wickedly. "All I need is for him to walk in them."
"More likely he'll trip and fall," I muttered, "and then chew off his leg just so he can get out."
"Let us just see if we can arrange the opportunity." Mother glared at me before smiling at Marie. "I should like very much to come back to this Imperial Palace and visit some time. We hardly had a moment to view the gardens and the historical museum here is supposed to be first rate."
"I believe that can be arranged," the Rehnorian Ambassador said while the plane's doors were slammed shut and locked for takeoff. He was dressed in fancy blue robes, even fancier than anything Father wore, and had a large gold medallion hanging from a thick chain in the middle of his chest. "Your Highness, Your Majesty, may I be the first to welcome Cyganus to the Empire of Rehnor. I'll be your transition ambassador and I shall do everything I can to make this as easy and painless as possible."
"Delightful!" Father pumped the man's hand energetically. "Just delightful, all of this, we're so glad to be included."
"Call me Garing," the ambassador nodded and approached Mother as she sat in her seat. She offered her hand to kiss and then
Marie offered hers.
"Nice to meet you, Garing," I said and held out mine to shake.
Garing sat down across from all of us and the plane took off into the afternoon sky. The two moons were out and already climbing high above the ocean casting a golden glow before the dark purple blanket of outer space.
"Beautiful place you've all got here," Father said glancing out the window as we soared above the mountains gaining altitude to leave the planet.
"I love it!" Marie cried. "This is the most beautiful planet. I love everything about it especially that magnificent pink marble palace."
"It is very nice," Garing agreed and then unfastened his robe and leaned back in his chair, crossing his leg over his other knee. "Did you enjoy the ceremony?"
"Oh yes!" Marie gasped, her hands fluttering over her heart. "It was amazing. It was incredible. There were so many people all wearing beautiful clothes. The court was so beautiful and the Palace was so beautiful and the Emperor and Empress were…were…"
"So beautiful?" I offered.
"Yes, exactly!" Marie practically jumped out of her seat. "That's it. They were so incredibly beautiful too. Especially the Emperor, there's something incredibly…"
"Beautiful?" I prompted.
"Yes! There's something incredibly beautiful about him."
Garing made a noise and coughed into his hand.
"I must say I am disappointed that we were unable to speak with the Emperor," Mother remarked and ordered a cup of herbal tea and a toast point from the attendant who now stood next to me waiting for my dinner order. I was trying to decide between spaghetti and meatballs or a turkey pot pie.
"I am sorry we were not able to spend any time with the Emperor at all," Father added while glancing briefly at his menu. "I would have loved to speak with him even for a moment. His economic theories are the basis for all monetary policy in the Empire and a departure from the conventional thinking and systems put in place by the Alliance over the last two hundred years. The fact that he ascribes to what is essentially a modified method of the trickle down concept first propositioned nearly five hundred years ago…"
