Chapter Six

  Thirty minutes later and a buzzer chimed, one I could hear, and a notification flashed in my HUD.

  “Class dismissed,” Professor Zhal said, and everyone started packing up. “Except Cadet Lynx and Argassa.”

  It looked like Rob knew we’d have been staying behind, he wasn’t fazed at all.

  Professor Zhal made sure the rest of the class had left before she walked to us.

  “Thank you for volunteering,” she addressed Rob a little more casually than I thought she might and ran a hand through her hair.

  “You gave me a break once, remember,” he replied.

  “That I did,” Professor Zhal pulled up a chair and sat in the aisle between the two desks. Now I got a better look at her, she looked tired, had dark circles under her eyes. “So,” she said and looked directly at me.

  “So,” I echoed. Then instantly thought back to my exchanges with the Major. “Sorry, professor,”

  She laughed and picked up my datapad, starting to flick through screens. “We have exams at the end of this week, then the end of the semester. I’m highlighting what you should already know and what I’ve still to teach. I really do hope you learn fast.”

  “This for every class he’s in?” Rob asked.

  “Yes,” Professor Zhal looked up. “Don’t expect any leeway, you fail these—no amount of strong arming will keep you in this academy.”

  I swallowed. “People really think that I strong -armed my way in here?”

  “There’s a lot of speculation,” Rob said, then lowered his eyes when the professor glared at him.

  “Don’t listen to the rumor mill.”

  “Every workplace has one,” I said, then added. “I’ll try.”

  “Good. Looks like you could use a few decent meals,” the professor stood and moved to my side, to my surprise she took hold of my chin. “Skin’s really poor, hair needs a desperate cut. Rob,” she said.

  “Yes, Ma’am.”

  “Take some pictures. I want to track his progress in everything and get him up with you on the circuits in the morning.”

  “What?” I laughed.

  “You’re classic, scrub meets quality. I want to track how fast you move, Cadet Argassa, call it a side project.”

  “Oh,” I glanced at Rob. “Were you a side project too?”

  He nodded. “Got me on the straight and narrow, sorted me out in fourteen weeks.”

  “I don’t have fourteen weeks,” I sighed.

  “We’ll see a marked improvement in what you have. Trust me.” She picked my datapad up once more. “Get yourself into medical first, after classes. Then Bonnies’ cuts, for your hair. Uniform should be delivered to your bunk by 6pm.”

  She put the datapad down once more. “And if you don’t want to go hungry, the two of you had better run for it. Sorry to keep you so long.”

  Rob packed his bag fast, and we were out the door in a flash. “Will get food then I’ll sort your data to HUD transfer,” he said.

  “Thanks,” I replied.

  “Hey, if you’re really that smart,” he said. “I really could do with you raising the bar on my teams learning.”

  “Worried about those exams?” I saw him flinch. “Don’t worry, I’ll do my best.” I didn’t add, I only hoped my best was good enough…. But I should have.

  The mess hall for lunch was still teaming with people, and the queue though probably shorter than it was ten minutes ago, was still fairly long.

  The server held out a wrist ID which I watched Rob scan and then they served him up his food. “Everyone has tailored meals to some extent. You won’t get one today, but once you’ve seen medical for some preliminary testing you’ll be on one from tomorrow.”

  The server scanned my wrist, frowned and then piled my plate like she had Rob’s. “Still smells good, forgot to eat much this morning.”

  “You won’t get a choice to forget now, you’ll likely be on snacks too, so you’ll have to get used to eating some food on the go.”

  When Rob turned to try and find us somewhere to sit, an arm waved to him from over by the window. He then made his way over and I followed.

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Passing a table I noticed a blonde hide her mouth. I don’t think she realised I actually caught her words.

  “The Boutacks fund half the advanced AI research,” she whispered. “Word is they’re looking for the next breakthrough. Something that could change everything.”

  Rob was waving at me to walk faster, so I couldn’t hang back to wait for the blonde friend’s answer.

  “Finally,” the girl said as Rob slid into the seat beside her. “Thought you’d gotten lost.”

  “Hardly,” Rob replied, jerking his head toward me. “Meet Piotr. He’s the new guy.”

  “I did see you both in class this morning, though, right?”

  The young arm waver was a lass with brown hair, dark eyes, and tanned skin. Her eyes narrowed slightly, sizing me up. “Kerry,” she said, offering a brief nod. “And that’s Sylvk.”

  “Hey,” Sylvk said, his deep voice surprisingly warm as he motioned to the seat across from him. “Take a load off.” Despite his bulk he shrank in on himself.

  I sat down, feeling the weight of their scrutiny. “Uh, nice to meet you.”

  Kerry smirked. “So, what’s your story, Piotr? How’d you land here mid-term?”

  I hesitated, glancing at Rob, who gave me an encouraging nod. “It’s… a long story,” I said finally. “Let’s just say I got an unexpected opportunity.”

  Sylvk chuckled. “Sounds like code for ‘I did something stupid.’”

  “Not far off,” I admitted, earning a laugh from both of them.

  “Relax,” Kerry said, leaning back in her chair. “We’re all here because someone thought we had potential. You’ll fit in—eventually.”

  “Eventually?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “You’ve got a lot to catch up on,” she replied. “But don’t worry. We’ll make sure you don’t drown—too much.”

  “So we’re Beta271?” I asked on Rob’s nod. “Is there an Alpha271?”

  “Good lordy, we’re going to have some fun with you,” she elbowed Rob in the arm.

  “We only have two classes this afternoon,” Rob said. “But they’re not easy ones.”

  “What makes them not easy?” I asked.

  Kerry grinned. “Ever been in Zero-G?”

  I swallowed my next mouthful of food fast. “Shit, already?”

  “Hope you digest fast,” Sylvk said. “But if you’re worried, I can take that pudding off your hands.”

  “Nope,” I said and slid my tray away from him. “Mine.”

  “Fair,” he said and directed to Rob. “He up in the morning with us too?”

  Rob nodded along.

  “Gonna make me hurt, aren’t you?” I asked the big man.

  “Yeah, this ain’t gonna be easy at all.”

  “The mind might be fine,” Kerry said. “But that body—”

  “Is weak as fuck,” I admitted.

  Sylvk nodded, giving me the once over. “We can work with it, don’t worry.”

  “What were you doing till you came here?” Kerry asked, absentmindedly while eating.

  Rob choked and elbowed her back. “Don’t mind her, you don’t have to talk about yourself at all.”

  “I don’t mind,” I said. “No parents. Went into the legal system when I was seven. Up through different homes till I was fourteen, when Orla, my foster carer, boss was fixing up one of the homes cars. I walked over because she looked to be struggling with one of the computer systems. Took me all of two seconds to tell her why. She went straight to the office after getting the car going, and within a day I was somewhere else, under her apprenticeship and watchful eye.”

  “So local nobody who managed to get a leg up by what? Working in the local—”

  “Runner’s yard,” I said. “Marts and Sparks.”

  “No way. My dad takes all our gear there.” Kerry said. “Not only cars, though.”

  “Then likely I’ve been the one doing the work on them.”

  She looked at Rob. “My dad doesn’t mess about with his tech.”

  “I know,” Rob said and put his fork down having finished his lunch already. “That goes a long way in proving you’re capable.”

  I scraped the last few bits of my food together and ate. “Good,” I said. “What about you three?”

  “In what sense?” Rob asked.

  “How’d you get here, what made your choices, decisions?”

  “Rich kid, nothing better to do,” Kerry said.

  Rob hit her under the table this time. “Don’t even….”

  “Sorry, that’s the line I tell everyone,” she admitted. “Truth is there’s a medical station out there with my name on it.”

  “Doctor?”

  “Aiming for top in her field.” Rob said.

  “Which is?”

  “Nanotech and Nano Engineering.” Sylvk added.

  I whistled. “Smart then,” I said. “What’s your Cognitive Aptitude Rating?”

  She grinned when she said it. “Nine-point-eight.”

  “That is smart.” She was a few decimal points higher than me at Nine-point-five.

  “You really learn fast?” Rob asked.

  “I better, because I got a lot of shit to take in.” I replied.

  “I got work after classes,” Rob said. “He needs to go to the med bay and then Bonnie’s—”

  “—I’ll take him,” Kerry said. “No bother.”

  “We can hit the gym after,” Sylvk added. “If you like, of course.”

  “Already?” I picked up my pudding bowl and though it looked divine, he was probably right. When I glanced at him, there were no other words for his expression than ‘puppy dog eyes’. I held it out for him.

  “Are you sure?” Only on my nod did he say, “Thanks.” Then scooped in one huge mouthful of dessert. “Won’t go any easier on you later, though.”

  “Didn’t think you would,” I said with a shrug. “But since you’ll be busy tearing me apart, you can fill me in on everything else about Razors?”

  Sylvk paused, thought about it for a moment, then ate more pudding and nodded. “Deal.”

  “We better hustle,” Rob said. Then he went through the procedure to get my datapad linked to my HUD, my classes all showing, and everything else I needed.

  Five minutes later we were clearing the table and making our way to the next class.

  “Why are we rushing?” I asked.

  “Teacher wants to see us before class starts,” he said. “Or wants to see you.”

  “Ahh,” I nodded. “Think it’s going to be like that for a while.”

  “You’re the talk of the academy,” he said. “Expect so.”

  When we got to the sprawling room that was our next class I did a double take. “Sergeant Major Cotah,” Rob said. “Anything he hasn’t done, well….”

  “Sounds like it’s not worth doing, right?”

  Rob nodded and when Sergeant Major Cotah waved to us we moved to meet him halfway.

  He was giving me the once over, his eyes cool, calculating. “You just had lunch?” He directed at me.

  “Yes, Sir. No pudding.” I answered.

  “You’ve got a good one as mentor. Listen to everything Rob says here, understand?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “We’re doing recon practice, through the maze. Find the flag, return to base. You’re going to put your team on the backfoot already, so I’ll give you leeway, Rob’s team usually performs well.”

  “Thank you, Sir.” Rob said. “Wi—”

  “No, it won’t affect your team ranking either,” he said.

  So this was a marked test? And he was going easy on Rob because of me. Yeah, that didn’t sit right with me. “Sir, may I speak freely.”

  He raised an eyebrow at me. “Please, go ahead.”

  “Please don’t treat me any differently than you would the others. That goes for if this is a test.”

  I saw Rob’s face fall.

  “You’ve never been in Zero-G?” The Sergeant Major asked.

  “No, Sir.”

  “This is a timed event through an unknown maze,” he looked at Rob. “You are team lead, what do you think?”

  Rob crossed his arms thoughtfully, his body language wasn’t closed off, just that—thinking.

  “Piotr has a lot to prove,” he said. “He’s smart, almost as smart as Kerry and that’s saying a lot.”

  “So you’re in?”

  “We’re in,” he said.