"Wow, I say! That is something!"
Before he could ask me how I got it, the lobby doors parted and a huge spider crawled in! The thing had black hairy legs, eight of them, and measured at least 5m from leg to leg.
Mao-Mao raised his massive arm, "Krabbel, over here!"
The monster came fast and surprisingly silently. It reared on its hind legs and spread out the upper four, a terrifying sight! The spider embraced Mao-Mao with those legs and pulled him close to enormous mandibles and many eyes of various sizes that made up its face.
Mao didn't struggle at all – he put his massive arms around the spider's body. "Krabbel!"
Mao untangled himself from the spider's embrace and said, "Krabbel, meet Eric Olafson! He's got the Medal of Honor!"
To me, he said, "This is Krabbel from Archa and the first of his kind to join the Navy. He is my best friend!"
"Nice to meet you Krabbel."
The voice of the spider came out of a voicebox that was attached to his uniform. The spider's body was dressed in Navy black and he too wore senior stripes and the Navigator logo. I could barely hear the spider's original voice and thought much of it must be in the ultrasound range. The voice from the box sounded deep and warm. "Is it true, you got the MoH?"
"Yes it is."
"They don't give that one out for perfect class attendance."
Mao boxed the spider into the side. "So what ship have they assigned you?"
"I don't know. All I was told was to be here, at this lobby. I sure hope we serve together! Do you know who else is here?"
"No," Mao said. "I just met Eric here."
"Cirruit and Hans are here too. I saw them both. Cirruit is shopping at the main concourse!"
Mao laughed. "Wonderful. I bet he borrowed money too!"
Krabbel spread his upper legs. "You know Cirruit. He can't let a bargain pass by."
Mao put his hand on my shoulder as if he’d known me for a long time. "You are going to like those two. We went to basic together and they are good friends!"
More and more Senior Midshipmen arrived and immediately formed groups. Everyone knew someone else and I hoped I would see Narth or one of the others from the first years as well, but so far none of the faces arriving were familiar.
Another monster came through the doors. This one was humanoid in appearance but barely fitted through the door. I estimated him to be at least three and a half meters tall and over a meter wide. He had legs like tree trunks and arms bulging with muscles, bigger around than probably my entire body. He had no apparent neck, his bald head was set deep between his shoulders but he had a human face, with a broad nose, big mouth and a bulging browline above his eyes. I was instantly reminded of the Y'All I fought but this guy did not look as alien, had only two arms but appeared even more massive. The floor vibrated slightly as he came over. Mao introduced the human giant. "This is Hans Neugruber, as you can see he is a Saturnian."
I had never seen a Saturnian before and had only heard about them. Like the Stellaris, Saturnians were the result of a genetic tailoring project a long time ago. In their case the designing company wanted to design the perfect fighting soldier, able to function even under gravitations that would crush other beings. A Saturnian, so I heard, could lift four tons under standard grav and stand upright and walk under 45 times the standard gravitation. After being declared as an independent species, they chose Planet Odin as their home. The planet was a giant among solid-surface planets and with a gravitational pull of 9G above standard, was the most extreme planet colonized in terms of gravitational conditions.
His thumb was as big as my hand and as I shook it, I thought I exchanged formalities with a cargo-handling robot.
I almost didn't notice the chrome-skinned being next to him but Mao introduced him. "That is Cirruit; he is an X101 as you can see."
"Cirruit, Hans, this is Eric Olafson, a new friend."
X101s were an enigmatic race of androids and had once been members of the Galactic Council. He was like all X101s: exactly 200cm tall. His skin was like polished chrome metal and his face was as if an abstract artist had sculpted a human face. He had a nose, eyes and mouth, even ears, but the nose had no nostrils or holes. The ears had no loops and were seamlessly integrated into his head. The eyes glowed deep red and his mouth had no teeth or tongue. He looked more artificial than most robots. His hand was slick as water, however it felt surprisingly warm.
He also was loaded with shopping bags. "Mao, can I borrow 200 creds? I saw an awesome real sword replica from Earth that I must have!"
"Sorry Cirruit. I am almost broke."
I just reached for my cred strip, authorized free transfer and handed it to him. "Why don't you use mine? There should be enough on it to make all your purchases."
Cirruit, despite his expressionless face, managed to show surprise as he gasped it and his chin dropped. "Mothermachine and makers! What are you, Rex Schwartz's son?"
"No, just a Neo Viking from Nilfeheim. I got an inheritance and didn't find the time last year to spend any."
"Leave that to Cirruit!" Mao laughed. "He’ll spend it before breakfast!"
Cirruit looked at me. "You don't even know me and you trust me with a fortune enough to buy the entire spaceport!"
"If we serve together I hope you will get to know me and if not, it is just money."
"I won't forget that and I’ll pay you back too! I just need perhaps 200 or so."
Cirruit eyed his Multi-Comm. "I still have 20 minutes. I will be back!"
"You need to look at the time? I thought you're an X101?"
Cirruit groaned. "Yes I am, and I’ve heard all the X101 jokes too. I am a machine yes, but I can't calculate faster than you, I can't tell the time without looking at a chronometer and I forget things!"
Mao said, "And how can a replica sword be real? I mean either it is a replica or it is real. Can't be both!"
"Of course it can be both. You don't understand, and it is from Terra!" He went to the door. "I’ll talk to you in a little while. I really need to go to the store for now. Someone else might see that bargain too!"
Hans laughed deeply. "As soon as he leaves the store, the merchant will place a new original replica in the empty display and he is taking it from a box labeled 200 original replica swords of Terra, made on Klackt Nine."
Krabbel raised his legs. "It does make him happy!"
I estimated at least 100 Senior Midshipmen had assembled in the lobby by now. Everyone was Midshipman. I could not see any other ranks!
Mao scratched his skin. "I bet we are all going on an Academy school ship. No regular ship of the line takes that many Midshipmen."
I agreed with him. "I bet you are right."
Cirruit returned with even more packages and he handed me the credit strip back. "I used a little more than I intended."
I glanced at the readout and he had spent about 3,000 credits, it didn't make a dent in what I had. "No problem at all."
"I’ll pay you back."
"No need. I don't really need it."
Krabbel returned from the bar holding a tray with drinks. "We might as well sit down and relax. Who knows how long we have to wait, and I found out they serve ice-cream too!"
Mao explained, "If you want to be a millionaire all you have to do is open an ice-cream parlor on Archa. Krabbel and every Archa I’ve met so far go nuts over ice-cream."
Krabbel held a big cone and said, "It is amazing that we never invented this stuff, but then we had never heard of milk before we joined the Union."
We found a free table and sat down.
A stunningly beautiful girl with long, black hair, cut in page style, approached us and said, "Is there room on this table for one more?"
"Of course," Mao and I said almost simultaneously, getting up and offering her a chair.
"I am Elfiatra Petetis and I noticed that everyone knows someone and has started to group together. I’ve found no one I know so far."
I put the glass of soda down. "Same he
re, I have yet to see anyone I recognize."
She sighed. "I am sorry, I usually don't just barge in, but I always wanted to talk to an Archa."
Krabbel took a glass of soda and handed it to her. "I would be especially glad if you talk to me. It happens to be that I am an Archa."
She took the glass and giggled. "You are, right?"
Krabbel waved one of his legs. "No, of course not. I am not really Archa. In reality I am just a nuflug bug dressed up like a spider so I can scare little egglings at Halloween."
"You have Halloween on Archa?" She said, and her pretty dark eyes widened.
"We sure do. It's a fun Terran holiday tradition and every Archa is already in a scary costume all the time! The only problem is that everyone gets first prize at the costume contest!"
We all laughed. Krabbel had the best sense of humor and I totally forgot that he really was a scary-looking alien spider.
Elfiatra pouted mockingly. "Now, do you have Halloween for real?"
"Yes, we do. Only last year I dressed up as a fly and boy it was the scariest costume … not for the others but for me … everyone wanted to catch me!"
I had tears in my eyes and my belly hurt from laughing. The girl laughed too.
Mao wiped a tear from his eye. "Actually, they do have Halloween on Archa and they really do dress up and do all the other things. What's funny is I am of a human colony and had no idea what Halloween is and found out about it on Archa."
He leaned forward. "The scariest thing you’ll ever see is an Archa spider dressed up as a Terran clown. I tell you, that image won't leave you for a month!"
Krabbel managed to mimic a shrug by raising his front legs. "I love clowns. They're funny!"
Hans carefully, and with obvious concentration, tried to put the pitcher down that Mao had brought for him and it still looked tiny and fragile in his fingers. "I never understood this ancient Terran tradition. I was scared of clowns when I was little."
Cirruit did not partake of drinking. He looked up from the kitschy golden sword. "I would have never guessed anything could scare a Saturnian."
Hans smiled. "We look big, but we've got all the emotions humans have. I did some dumb things when I was a teenager and I was scared a lot."
The girl patted his huge underarm. "It's perfectly normal to be scared of things." She lowered her long lashes. "Until now I was terrified of spiders, but meeting Krabbel has cured me instantly."
"I had no idea I could cure phobias instantly," the spider said," but it is probably because I am the most beautiful Archa of them all."
Mao smirked, and then said, "If you really want to be scared, try to use one of the Archa Elevators. Tiny platforms zipping up and down thin lines at great speeds up to the tallest trees and houses and nothing to grab on to!"
"We never really invented railings," Krabbel added.
"Are you afraid of something?" Elfiatra asked the spider.
"That the galaxy running out of ice-cream would be at the top of my phobias." He moved his body closer to the table. "Don't tell this to anyone, but I am afraid of my first mating. Female Archas tend to be a bit on the rough side. Now it’s supposed to be the greatest bliss and my own father lost a leg to mother and said it was wonderful, but I must confess I am a bit afraid of that."
The girl was just about to ask Cirruit, when Mao sighed and nodded towards a group of Midshipmen coming straight towards our table. "The fun couldn't last. Here comes trouble! This is Suppor and his gang. He was a pain in the behind during first year. He is from some Thauran noble house and he thinks his poop doesn't stink!"
Suppor was a typical Thauran, blue skin, and copper metallic hair. He reminded me instantly of Swybar and I wondered if all Thaurans were assholes.
He was surrounded by eight other Midshipmen, one of them a Petharian giant with four arms and almost as tall as Hans.
He looked at us like someone staring an extremely disgusting specimen under a micro viewer.
"Look at that, Mao the Loser and the vermin from Archa are here as well!"
Mao simply ignored him and sipped from his glass. The blue-skinned Thauran patted his ribbon readout."You losers better stand up. You are looking at the Service Excellence Ribbon!"
Mao turned and smiled. "No regulation requires any special attention to that common-as-sand ribbon. Have you seen the ribbons of my friend here? It is you, that actually has to salute and stand at attention as is required when facing a Medal of Honor recipient!"
Every eye suddenly was glued on me. Even Midshipmen standing nearby, not paying any attention to us, now turned and the din of voices ebbed to silence.
Suppor laughed. "The Medal of Honor? That is a good joke. He probably bought that ribbon readout somewhere or stole it. No Midshipman can have the Medal of Honor, Silver Star or any of those ribbons he has. They’ll rip him a new one for the officer's jacket and will roast him alive for those fake medals. I am going to make sure that happens right now!"
Suppor turned and left. Many of the ones standing around and looking at me started to grin or laugh or make derogatory remarks.
Elfiatra leaned forward. "You really have the Medal of Honor and all those other ribbons?"
I nodded.
It didn't take long. Suppor came back and with him came a Lieutenant.
We all rose and stood in attention, someone had yelled, "Officer on deck!"
Suppor pointed at me. "There he is Lieutenant, Sir! Isn't that a court martial offence?"
The Lieutenant was a Pan Saran, identifiable by his curled hair and the shiny breastplate. "It most certainly is. Ribbon readouts cannot be bought so you stole this one or faked it somehow! Oh, we are going to have a field day with you!"
Another Officer approached, this one was a Lt. Commander and he was just like Suppor, a Thauran. I feared the worst. He barked, "What is going on here Lieutenant?"
"It was brought to my attention that this officer-jacket-wearing Midshipman here displays a stolen ribbon readout. He even displays the Medal of Honor and that is more than just an offence, Sir!"
The Lt. Commander looked at my readout and then my nametag. He turned to the Lieutenant. "I never saw a Midshipman with these kinds of ribbons and honors either, but before we accuse him, have you checked his implant?"
"No Sir. That is not necessary. This maggot could not possibly be so highly decorated and besmirches the honor symbolism of these awards. We need to arrest him and commend the Midshipman that put it to our attention."
The Lt. Commander, however, turned back to me. It was very quiet now and truly everyone stared at me. "Midshipman, identify yourself to the Computronic."
Like every Fleet installation there was voice pickup for the base Computronic present and I said aloud, "Computronic access please."
From no particular direction came the clear mechanical voice of a Computronic system. "Spaceport 3 Computronic, acoustic access open."
"Identification verification request. Olafson, Eric. Midshipman senior year, Service Number 1082320-O-5434. Verify."
"Identification verified. Voice, Menta and DNA patterns match ID implant data and Central Personnel Data."
The Lt. Commander said, "Computronic readout of all commendations of this Midshipman."
"Olafson, Eric. Midshipman third year. Recipient of the Medal of Honor, Recipient of the Silver Star, Bronze Star and Iron Star, High Representative of the government of Narth, member of the Coven Circle, recognized protector of the Yokuta, the Yaktnh highest honors of the Yokuta, Silver Olive Twig for diplomatic mission success, personal commendation medal of the Admiral of the Fleet, Service Excellence Ribbon OPS position USS Hyperion, First Space Kill Ribbon, Civilian Service Medal First Class Union Department of Justice, Marine Combat Ribbon Boarding Action in Silver, Service Excellence Ribbon Small Craft Pilot, Purple Heart for wounds received in combat …"
The Lt. Commander said, "Thank you Computronic that will be enough."
He then straightened out and saluted me. "It is an honor to meet you, Sir!"
Then he looked around. "There is a Medal of Honor recipient on deck and I see no one else saluting.” Everyone did, even the Lieutenant and Suppor, though very reluctantly.
The Lt. Commander shook my hand. "It really is an honor to meet you. I never had the privilege to shake the hand of a man so highly decorated. Do you wish to file a complaint? This Lieutenant and these Midshipmen acted extremely unprofessionally."
"No Sir, not at this time!"
"Very well then. Carry on Sir! An announcement as to what ship you all will be assigned to will be made shortly!"
He turned to the Lieutenant. "He won't file a complaint Mister, but I sure will. Why don't you follow me right now?"
Both officers left. It was still very quiet and everyone was still staring. I sat back down and said, "Would you all just let me be?"
Krabbel announced, "Everyone form a line now. Please single file. For only five creds you will be allowed to stare for three minutes. For the measly sum of 12 credits you get the chance to shake his hand and for 20 you get the bonus packet of four minutes of staring, the handshake and a personalized signed image-print. My shiny X101 friend will collect the fees."
That relaxed the atmosphere; some laughed and most walked away and returned to what they were doing. Not Suppor however, he pointed at me. "No one makes a fool out of me and lives! You will pay for that!"
Mao laughed at him. "No need to blame others, you made a fool out of yourself, and a good job you did too!" He almost whispered when he added, "And if you threaten one of my friends again, you will find out how costly payment will be!"
I looked him straight in the eyes and stood up. "You did question my honor and now you threaten me. We can settle this manner in gentlemen's fashion and find a gym right now."
"I would not do it, Thauran. I saw him fight a duel on Maritime. He bested Master Milieu with rapier," said a Midshipman who I did not recognize.
Suppor waved at his Petharian companion. "I would not step down and dirty my hands. Noogor will crush you like a worm!"
Hans got up. "One moment Eric, before he does that, let me say hello first. Come on, Noogor, let's shake hands."
The Petharian was almost as big as Hans and they clasped hands. At first nothing happened but the Petharian went slowly to his knees and groaned in pain.
Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 7 Page 13