Chapter 1 - Service Center
"Listen up!" the big man yelled, "We need to line you up by last name. We’ve got a lot of things to get settled today, so let’s get busy!"
Several young men wearing the identical gray uniforms that signified they were in the last semester of their citizenship service period helped get the young men and women into their lines. There was a lot of chatter, something not unexpected considering all the young people were eighteen years of age.
"Salmand," one of the young men in gray said, "Stainway, Stalken, Steele, Sutcliffe, Suvorov. There are six of you so they will probably leave you as a group for now. Stay in order so we can get this organized."
Copeland Steele pushed his brown hair back and looked around at the people around him. He’d never been much for making friends, preferring to retreat inside and read. He’d been dreading his service requirement for several years, but knew that he had no choice. Everyone had to do it. There were no exceptions from that requirement in the Mullinix Empire.
"Hey mate," the thin kid next to him said and offered his hand, "I’m Simon Sutcliffe. Who’re you?"
"Copeland Steele," he said, shaking the kid’s hand, "Do you get the feeling we’re not in school anymore?"
"Sure as heck, man," Simon cackled, "It’ll be all right though. My brother said that his service period was fun, spent it in a mail facility. He must have liked it. He’s still working for the post office, living in Immortal Park now."
"I’m hoping for a simple civil service posting," Copeland smiled, "I don’t think I’d do well in the military."
Copeland Steele was not overly small, but he wasn’t particularly well built either. That was the one thing he truly dreaded, the mere thought of having to pick up a weapon in the military. In some ways he envied Simon, who was so small that it was unlikely they’d choose him for military service.
"So where are you from, Steele?" Simon asked him, deciding to ignore the burly one next to him that looked about as interesting as a bag of rotten cheese, "You have to travel far?"
"I’m from Skolnik," Copeland said, "About three leagues from the Northeastern border with Siraq. It was a four hour train ride to get here."
"Cool, cool," Simon nodded, "I’m from right here in Mullinix Centre. Being up near Siraq I’d think they would have sent you to the Service Academy up north."
"I don’t know why, but I’m glad," Steele shrugged, "If you are Military you go out to that one because a higher percentage of their people go military. I guess they wanted me here for some reason."
"I hear that," Simon nodded, giggling a little, "I hope they get this over with soon. I’m getting sick of standing out here."
"Be glad you weren’t born before June," Steele chuckled, beginning to like the small guy, "Otherwise we’d be trudging through snow for this."
"Nahh," Simon shrugged, "Not here. We get snow, but not too much."
"Must be nice," Steele told him, "We get…"
"Quiet!" the big man up front yelled, "Listen up! Superintendent Strode will now address you!"
"Thank you," Superintendent Strode, a large and rather dull looking individual, said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, today you start to learn what being a citizen of the Mullinix Empire is really about. You begin a journey today that will take you from the children you enter today as to the men and women you will become in the future.
"The Mullinix Empire was founded nearly two thousand years ago and has maintained its stability by being both rigid in its traditions and fluid in its makeup. By the time you leave this campus, some six months from now, you will know what you need to know to be a good citizen.
"The future of the empire is in you, its young people. Today you will be assigned places to sleep. You have a lot of work in front of you, but I promise that someday you will look back and realize why we do things the way we do. Your lessons will start tomorrow in earnest, but listen and learn today. You will learn more from the people around you than you will in your classes.
"Enjoy this time, young people. This is going to be the hardest and most rewarding three years of your life. You may not think so now, but things will never be the same again."
Superintendent Strode left the podium and walked off into the building leaving the new students alone with their handlers. Copeland Steele and Simon Sutcliffe looked at each other, both shrugging.
"Man," Simon said, "My brother wasn’t kidding about how much a windbag he is."
"Shh," Copeland giggled, "You’ll get us in trouble."
"No he won’t," a gray said, smiling, "I said much the same thing when I went through it 18 months ago."
"Who are you?" Copeland asked, looking at the smiling Gray.
"I’m Pete Lomax," the Gray said, "Looks like I’m assigned to you guys for the duration."
"When do we get to go to the range?" Rav Suvorov asked, "This is boring."
"Later guy," Lomax said, his disdain showing, "We’ve got to get our sleeping quarters before we do anything else. I’ll answer questions when we get to our suite."
"Suite?" Copeland asked earning a shrug from Simon, "I thought we got a bunk?"
"It’s not much more than that," Pete Lomax said, "You’ll see in a few minutes. Let’s go."
The Mullinix Book 1: Ascension Page 2