Chapter 6 #2
I could say that I already had a big brother and wouldn’t need another one, but since today I was my big brother, instead I accepted the handshake. It wouldn’t hurt to have someone to look out for me here, no matter who I was pretending to be.
I’d shaken a decent number of hands in my life—Not thousands, probably not hundreds, but at least a good ten or so—and of all of those handshakes, I’d never had anyone squeeze my palm so hard and firm. I feared he might be trying to break my carpals and metacarpals with that kind of death grip.
Today, I could add that to my list of unwanted life experiences that I now had. I think I’d start a pros and cons tally for the semester. See which side of this terrible idea comes out ahead.
I forced a strained smile, then spoke in the lowest octave I could sustainably manage, “I appreciate the guidance.”
He released my hand, and I shoved it in my pocket where it could recover safely. Then he waved for me to follow him.
“Well, let’s start the tour and get this over with,” he said in a tone that was externally upbeat, while the vague tinge of obligation left me to believe this wasn’t entirely his choice.
I’d say I’d have to get used to being forced to fall into line, but choice wasn’t strong with Mictlan in general during war time, I’d say.
It wasn’t that strong outside of war time either, in my personal opinion. This was a lesser evil kind of path.
I glanced around as we walked, taking in the shapes and colors of this cutting edge war college.
The outside was largely comprised of artificial grassy fields with smooth metal walkways, and nondescript chrome buildings, not unlike Medella.
But very unlike Medella, the main buildings were massive layered cylinders that centered the Academy and towered high, stretching toward the apex of the atmospheric dome like an imposing monument of human accomplishment.
The stations tended to favor smaller half domes and floating spherical classrooms that were completely self-contained.
It was a precautionary design, where every small space could sustain itself easily, whereas such large spaces would require much larger oxygen supplies and pressurization units, should the main hull of the station ever be damaged.
These were so grandiose and loud, comparatively.
Did they not worry about hull breaches here?
Saturn was every bit as uninhabitable as the stretches of space itself—possibly even less so with its gasses and weather systems that could only exist where there was natural gravity—and yet Mictlan was such an old and established ecosystem that they must have significant safeguards in place that could sustain and manage such a spacious and highly populated atmospheric dome.
I considered asking Breaker about it, but starting off our first interaction with questions about the consequences of massive hull damage probably wasn’t the wisest way to establish myself as a trustworthy peer.
I didn’t need to come off as some kind of traitor when I was already breaking the rules.
So I followed along quietly, in that ‘better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt’ kind of way.
“Back there are the hangers where the Shinka units are stored. You won’t need to go there any time soon, but keep that in mind in case you’re more impressive than you look.
” Breaker started the tour with vague pointing towards exterior buildings.
I looked toward the hangars, which was a building so large, it spanned acreage comparable to my entire colony.
I had no idea how many units were stored in there, but they could likely fit at least a thousand with that much real estate.
Next, he pointed to a fenced off area. “That’s the gym and sparring area. We have both good old fashioned training equipment, like free weights and machines, and we have state of the art simulators, depending on how domesticated you are.”
“We’re pretty domesticated where I come from.” I took extra note of the approximate location compared to the main building, figuring I’d probably be spending a lot of time there.
“We’re not where I come from.” He shrugged, as though that was just a fact of life.
No shame. I didn’t know where, exactly his coloring originated, but it was safe to say he wasn’t station-born with the warm browns and golds.
Maybe Venus? “And these are the recreation fields. You won’t be allowed to leave the campus without cause for your first year, so I suggest learning to love gardening or picnics or something. ”
I frowned, having never heard of such a rule. Medella U was wide open and didn’t even have fences. Granted we were in a space colony, so there was only so far one could run, and we didn’t have a city that was anything like Mictlan, itself. Not to mention we were all attending Medella voluntarily.
But still… “Why aren’t we allowed to leave?”
Breaker snorted, he laughed, he shook his head, and he kept walking.
“And this is the cafeteria,” he continued the tour without any further acknowledgement of my question. “The gruel is—”
“Nutritionally complete.” I finished the sentence for him, hoping to speed up the tour. I was exhausted, and he wasn’t actually terribly helpful. A map with vaguely discernable crayon scribbles would have been equally informative. “I know. We had that in Protectorate 005, too.”
“I was going to say ‘fucking disgusting, but you get used to it,’ but sure. It’s that too.” Breaker rolled those pretty hazel eyes of his, and I immediately forced myself to stop thinking that way about another soldier. I was not remotely interested in romance in any capacity.
But I also wasn’t blind, so…
“Do they have a vintage treats section?” I asked hopefully.
He raised an eyebrow. “They have nothing good or happy here, I promise.”
My expression flattened as he waved me along. He was like intense rays of sunshine that were so hot they dried out all of his positivity.
From there, we entered the main school building.
He stopped us at the entrance, and gave this portion of the tour by using a single vague sweep of his hand.
“The library is over there, the school nurse and administrative buildings are that way, and your classes are down those various halls.” The hallways splintered off in a six way fan of identical passages.
“That’s Hall Alpha, Beta, Epsilon, Sigma, Omega, and Zeta.
If you can’t remember something as basic as the old Earth Greek Alphabet, the symbols are literally on the floor. I suggest you memorize them.”
“That seems easy enough.” I attempted to match his brightness.
“Yeah, it’s super helpful after you get your first ten concussions.
” He waved a hand dismissively, and I had no clue if he was trying to scare me, making a joke, or if that was just a matter-of-fact statement.
“Cool, so I think that covers everything. I’ll show you where the dorms are, and that should be good to satisfy my credit requirements. ”
“Credit requirements?” I scurried after him, having to walk twice as fast to keep pace with his long legs. He had to have more than half a foot on me—probably closer to eight or nine inches if I was guessing—and his stride reflected as much.
“Oh.” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, as if he wasn’t supposed to mention that part.
“Think of it like community service requirements, but like, because you can’t afford to take a failing grade at First Aid, and not because you like the community or want to help.
” He held up a finger as a light bulb moment hit him.
“You could say I was also drafted in a way.”
“I see.” I pursed my lips. He was so candid, I couldn’t help but think he was probably also failing ‘Confidentiality’ and ‘Not Breaking Under Pressure’ classes, but who was I to question my mentor.
Then again, him being bad at first aid could definitely be something to leverage later if he needed a little help, and I needed a favor. “Were you drafted into Astaroth?”
Breaker scrunched his nose in perplexed amusement. “Fuck no. I was destined to end up here since I was born. I signed up as soon as I could get away.”
“Get away from where?” I pried, admittedly a bit curious.
“Home.” He shut down my attempt at bonding with short and obviously dodgy answers. A general planet would have sufficed, but I guess he wasn’t looking to reveal that much.
So I tried another angle of small talk, just wanting some read on this guy who I was likely going to be spending too much time with. “Because you wanted to be a soldier?”
“Sure.” He said, but didn’t elaborate further. The finality was clear, so I opted not to press. There would be plenty of time to get to know him better over the coming months anyway. For now, I was overstimulated and exhausted.
We made our way through the halls towards the dorm wing, following a green glowing light on the floor that was timed perfectly with our steps. My CHRONO hadn’t synced to the Saturn module yet, so it didn’t have GPS data to work with, but the school itself was designed to make up for the fact.
Typically, anywhere anyone needed to go in any space station could easily be located by setting a location on a CHRONO and following the trail it projected on the ground, but I liked the personal touch of a tour guide.
Not only did it give me my first acquaintance, but it was a good test to see how well my disguise would hold up in front of one of my classmates.
“What were you doing in Protectorate 005? Were you going to Medella?” Breaker made casual conversation as we rounded the bend to the dorm entrance.