by Kal Spriggs
“Studying,” I said. I couldn't help but growl the word at her.
“Well, be certain you don’t miss any meals,” the Admiral said. “Trust me, you’ll want to stock up on food now.”
I just gave her a nod. I felt tired enough that breakfast didn’t seem all that appetizing. For that matter, worry had twisted my stomach into knots. In addition to the curriculum, I finally saw the schedule for the Prep School. The first six weeks had blocks labeled “indoctrination” and “combat training” and cautioned that students would not have any opportunity to study their standard course work during that time. So far, it looked like my workload had doubled. In addition, I would lose a full six weeks of time to study.
Still, I needed to eat. I glanced at what was available. Either the Admiral exercised a lot or she had a great metabolism, I figured, glancing at the pile of food on her plate. The smell of sausage made my stomach churn, but I speared a couple anyway. I also piled some scrambled eggs on my plate. Chickens did alright on Century, but pork sausage was something of a rarity. My parents had made do with vat protein, which was cheap, at least. It also had essentially no texture. Another tray held pancakes, so I snagged a couple of those. I glanced around for syrup and saw a small metal carafe near the pancakes. When I poured it, though, a rich golden liquid slowly dribbled down. I wasn't sure what it was.
“It is honey, miss,” Stacy seemed to notice my confusion. “The Admiral has a beehive and we produce enough for ourselves, with a little extra we trade out. Some of the flowers we have give it a unique flavor.”
I stared at her in shock. Most of Century couldn't afford honey. Bees did poorly on Century, like most other terrestrial animals. I'd heard that some people kept some to pollinate their gardens or greenhouses, but their hives required extensive maintenance, which was difficult on our dusty and dry planet.
The Admiral spoke, “My husband loved honey, so we spent the money to import some bees and upgraded the greenhouse for their use. James's son, Clancy, looks after the hives. As Stacy said, we have a unique blend.” There was something in her tone, almost an echo of pain. I looked at her and saw she had a flat expression, but her eyes had gone to the portrait.
“Oh,” I said.
I realized that I still held the carafe tipped and flipped it upright. Luckily, it had poured so slowly that I hadn't drowned my pancakes. I tentatively took a bite. I got an explosion of flavors. I'd never realized that something sugary like honey could have flavors like that. I heard James chuckle as I dug in, “Yeah, that's pretty much the response most people have.”
I managed to finish my food quickly enough, though I was surprised to find that the others had already finished. The Admiral looked over at me, “Be certain you don’t neglect the physical aspect of your course preparation. That’s one area that a lot of your generation has issues.”
“I’m sure I’ll manage,” I said and didn’t bother to hide the edge of irritation in my voice.
“I’m sure you will,” the Admiral said, with a slight smile. “But it’ll be easier if you prepare yourself now.” She let out a slight sigh, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to try to catch up with some of my paperwork. Enjoy your day.”
***
Chapter Four: I Put The Wrong Foot Forward
Two weeks later and I stood next to James at a bus stop in Duncan City at an ungodly early hour. I had “celebrated” my most miserable birthday ever only a few days earlier, most of it spent hunched over my datapad studying. I had never been away from my family for more than a couple days. I missed Mom and Dad… I even missed Will.
At least the Admiral had tried to give me some kind of birthday. Stacy had baked me a cake with some kind of honey glaze and the Admiral had given me the gifts from my parents as well as an upgraded datapad. The datapad was actually the most thoughtful gift, since the added functions meant I was able to work through some of my assignments a little easier.
“Looks to be a good year, miss,” James said.
I just grunted. I had never been much of a morning person. Worse, I didn't use coffee, tea, or other stimulants. My mom had been death on anything taken as a pill and I had never enjoyed the taste of coffee. I had basically crawled out of bed, dragged on some clothing, and shuffled my way to the Admiral's car. I'd even passed out on the way here.
I still didn't know why I couldn't just get a ride to the Academy. The Admiral would leave for there in a few more hours, anyway. I had heard her and James talking about it, even.
“Ah, here's your bus,” James said. I saw the other two waiting at the stop stand up and grab their bags. James had implied that I should talk with them, that they would be my companions, but neither of them had seemed particularly chatty and I still wasn't awake.
The bus that came up was one of the big, ground vehicles, with sealed windows and designed for long distance travel. I didn't want to think about how long a drive it would be to the Academy. At least I'd have a chance to catch up on my sleep, I figured.
I stepped up onto the bus and looked around at the crowded seats. The Admiral had suggested that my bus mates would be in my ‘section’ which I assumed meant I’d have to associate with them, somewhat. Most of them had the cropped hair and tanned skin that suggested they not only wanted to be here, but that they had spent plenty of time preparing for it. What that told me was that most of them knew they couldn’t make it into a normal school, much less an internship like mine. Most seats held two people already. I walked towards the nearest, near the front of the bus, but stopped as the boy there didn't move over. “Seat’s reserved.”
“I don’t see anyone there,” I snapped, suddenly angry at this latest indignity.
He shrugged, “That’s what the manifest says.”
I grimaced, but I was too far down the aisle to turn around and go back up. For that matter, I heard a throat cleared impatiently behind me and saw the other two from the stop waited behind me. Great, I thought, my options are to look like an idiot and force my way back to the front of the bus to check the manifest or look like an idiot because I didn’t check my seat.
It was a paralyzing moment, one where I literally didn’t know what to do. Socially, it established me, branded me… and I hated to get off on the wrong foot.
I was saved from further humiliation by a waved hand, “Jiden Armstrong? You’re here with me.” I hurried towards the seat, tucked by bag into the rack above the seat, and then sat down, aware of the many eyes on me.
I glanced at my seatmate, “Thanks.”
She gave me a warm smile, “No worries. Truthfully, I’m glad you’re not a big gorilla like Gordon,” she nodded her head up towards the front at a guy who had squeezed his poor seatmate up against the window. He looked like he was a hundred and fifty kilograms, at least. My seatmate stuck out her hand, “Sashi Drien.”
I took it, “Jiden Armstrong, though you already knew that.” I raised an eyebrow, “How did you know that?”
Sashi gave me a grin, “I read the names off the manifest, and then searched you down on the net so I could match a face to a name.” She held up her datapad, “I found your profile quick enough, but I was kind of confused. Your last entry said you’d been accepted to Champion Enterprise’s Internship Program, but that was a couple weeks ago. Nothing since, and nothing at all about the Academy Prep School, which either means you’re a late addition or something else interesting.”
I felt my face burn, I’d hoped to keep that to myself. “Yeah, my parents thought I should attend the Prep School to…” I searched for an answer, “broaden my experience.” It sounded pretty lame to me, off hand, but it was better than saying I’d gone behind my parent’s back and they sent me here as a punishment. Some of these kids might actually want to be here and the others… well, it wouldn’t do to rub their nose into the fact that this was all they could manage. Who would want to join the military if they had better options, I thought. Not that the Academy Prep School was the military, but it siphoned people that way.
&n
bsp; To my surprise, Sashi gave me a nod, “That makes a lot of sense, actually. Champion Enterprises supplies most of the equipment and consumables for Century’s Planetary Militia, both ground and space forces.” Sashi rubbed her face, “You know, I bet that would actually benefit you a lot, being able to coordinate more effectively with the military, particularly if you’re going to be working sales, research and development, or logistics.”
I hadn’t thought of that. I had known, vaguely, that Champion Enterprises did liaison with the military. I’d even included that information in my application essay, where I’d mentioned that they designed and conducted maintenance for ship and ground systems as well as maintaining the strategic reserve of parts, munitions, and equipment. I had just sort of assumed there were people who handled that… and not even thought that maybe, just maybe, this little expedition wouldn’t be useless… but might even help with my internship. “Yeah,” I said, with more enthusiasm than I’d managed before, “That’s true.”
Sashi glanced up towards the front as one unlucky passenger began to argue with the same boy who’d told me about the seat assignments. I took the moment to look her over. She was short and had raven-black hair, and the sharp, exotically slanted eyes like Tony. That in turn suggested she was from the second wave of Century’s colonists, mostly from Asia back on Earth, though her last name sounded more like first wave, drawn from Europe and North America. The name Drien sounded familiar, though, like something I’d read out of a history book. Sashi rolled her dark eyes as the seated boy growled something at his would-be seat-mate, “Alexander Karmazin,” she shook her head.
“Who?” I asked.
Sashi gave me a sharp glance, “Wait, you really don’t know?”
“No?” I asked.
“He and his mother just got their faces blasted all over the net last week,” she said. “Paternity case against…” Sashi lowered her voice, so I had to lean in to hear her next words, “against Leo Champion, you know, the guy who owns Champion Enterprises?”
“Wow,” I said. “So he’s Champion’s… fourth kid?” Tony’s dad was one of the Champions, which made Tony sort of a possible heir. Which made this kid Tony’s uncle. That was a weird thought. The snooty attitude made sense though, especially if he was enough of a dead-head that his mother couldn’t get him into any better program than the Prep School. I instantly pictured one of the women I’d seen swarm Leo Champion’s transports. Ridiculously pretty but without an ounce of shame or integrity. I had little doubt that there was little credit to the thing, but just enough of a scandal might make someone as wealthy as Champion settle, just to avoid the hassle in the news.
“Yeah, he’s the other last minute addition to our class,” Sashi said. “I’m guessing some money from ‘dad’ bought him a slot.” She lowered her voice, “He’s a year behind and his grades are sealed under legal codes.”
“Oh?” I asked. I felt suddenly out of my depth. How had Sashi managed to look at anyone’s grades? I had thought those were restricted to teachers and such.
“Yeah, that means the Enforcers locked down his grades… so either he finished his courses in Juvenile… or something,” She said. I looked forward at the boy. He was tall, with dark brown hair. I couldn't see his eyes, not from here. His skin, though, was tanned, like he spent a lot of time out in the sun. I could tell he was well-muscled. Maybe he'd spent some of that time at a work camp or something… though I thought those were restricted to adults. He wore a collared, dark blue shirt, which made his tan look even darker and made his muscles stand out in his arms. He had a scowl on his face still, as the other boy who’d tried to argue with him finally muttered something and turned to head back to the front to read the manifest.
I looked over at Sashi, who seemed to have noticed me staring at the boy. I shrugged uncomfortably, “So how do you know so much about him?”
“Research,” Sashi shrugged, “Get to know potential allies and opponents before we get into the mix, you know? Besides, I can only study through the prep work so much. I’ve got all that down and I was curious about our section.”
I frowned at that, “What do you mean?”
Sashi gave me a smirk, “Well, it’s not something they advertise, but my older brothers told me, because they went through it… they’re actually cadets, now.” She leaned in close as the bus’s engines whirled up. “The people on this bus are our section. The way the Academy organizes, they try to balance people based off of experience level and education. So each section, in theory, has someone with the training and experience to help out the others. On top of that, each section is in competition with the others. It’s different for us, though… we’re just cadet candidates, until we graduate the Prep School. So they organize Candidate Cadet Sections by competency level, so they can target the course work and get everyone up to standard more quickly.”
“Candidates?” I asked. I vaguely remembered something about that.
“Yeah, we have to graduate Prep School. There’s some that have failed it… and sometimes they hold entire sections back if they think it’s a group dynamics issue,” Sashi said. “That one is one that really trips people up.”
“Group dynamics?” I asked. That seemed unfair. I loathed group participation. Inevitably, half the people in a group would just sit there doing nothing and I normally ended up shouldering the additional work.
“Yeah, there’s a lot of psychology and stuff they apply to us. For instance, did you know the surveys you take are there to develop a baseline personality chart?”
“What?” I asked. It made sense, in a way, I realized. I just hadn’t expected that kind of thoroughness, not of the Prep School, anyway. “How much can they really get out of that?” I asked. It had been an odd survey, I realized. It required a log in as well as several identification measures to include biometrics. That probably meant it established identity security, as well, I thought.
“Not a lot, but enough for a baseline or that’s what I hear,” Sashi said. “Then again, if we’re really going to get pilot training, they probably don’t want anyone unstable behind the controls of anything with a warp drive or even an atmospheric craft.”
I nodded. Everyone maintained tight controls over who could access starships. I imagined the military was even more concerned, particularly with the dangerous weapon systems. “So, since you know so much… what else can we expect?”
Sashi gave a smile, but something behind her eyes worried me. It was like a look that Tony gave me sometimes, when he knew that he’d convinced me to go along with one of his adventures. “Well, we start Indoctrination when we show up. Used to be, it was part of the normal Academy curriculum, but they’ve added a lot more of the technical classes, so that’s one reason it’s a part of the Prep School.”
“Yeah, physical training, right?” I asked. Everything I’d read and hints from the Admiral suggested that it was designed to physically exhaust us and break us down. I was dreading some aspects of it… but I knew it wouldn’t last too long.
“More than that,” Sashi shook her head, “Combat training, leadership training, and they also do the ethics training during it.” She snorted, “My brother said that was when he caught up on his sleep.”
“Huh,” I said. I felt uneasy at that. Champion Enterprises did ethics training too. For that matter, I’d taken a few of my precious electives classes in philosophy and ethics. I found it interesting… particularly with how many people claimed right and wrong without any backing beyond their own emotions. For that matter, I could privately admit, it wasn’t like I examined my own behavior that much. Still, some kind of moral code for the school sounded interesting, though I wasn’t sure how they’d justify any kind of morality against a profession designed around war.
“After that, it’s all prep classes, designed to bring everyone up to the same level so that they don’t have to spend extra time during the normal curriculum,” Sashi said. “But the big thing during the whole time is the competitions.”
; “Competitions?” I asked. I hadn’t remembered anything about any kind of competitions. For that matter, I didn’t see much point in it. Who would care, I wondered, for that matter, who would remember?
“Yeah,” Sashi said. “Sections compete against one another and candidates as well. It’s the same during the actual Academy, rivalry and competition to drive everyone to work harder. Classes compete against one another with prizes throughout the year. Candidates, like us, have an internal competition, with perks for winning.”
“Huh,” I said. That all actually made sense, in a way. I still didn’t know why anyone would care. I had as strong a competitive streak as anyone, but I put that towards productive things. Like getting into Champion Enterprises, I thought, rather than some petty little games to entertain people like the Admiral.
“Well, anyway, since our section is all around the same level as far as background and education, I think we’ll have some advantages going into this, especially if we make some arrangements ahead of time,” Sashi said.
“Arrangements?” I asked.
“Well, yeah,” Sashi said with a smile, “It only makes sense that if those of us with certain advantages work together than we could place very high in the competitions. And like I said, there are certain perks for scoring well.”
I wasn’t really sure I wanted to be involved in that. It ran counter to my plan to lay low and stay quiet. It also sounded like the kind of thing that while it wasn’t, strictly speaking, wrong, it was something that I wasn’t sure was right. “I’ll think about it,” I said.
“Okay,” Sashi said with a smile. “So, one last question for you…” She trailed off and cocked an eyebrow, “Are you really Admiral Armstrong’s granddaughter?”
I managed to hide a frown, “Yeah.” Of everything I had hoped to keep quiet, apparently my seatmate already knew.