Chapter 17
When the thirtieth team finished the task, I shot off to the nearest pair of Shinkas. There were plenty of two-somes looking for a third by this point, so it didn’t take much effort.
I clocked in a second too early, accidentally lifting my rank to ninety-nine in the process.
No matter. That was still plenty of breathing room.
They wouldn’t switch out team captains now, and I could always drop again in the next one.
So as long as I wasn’t rocketing into any top ten positions, I should be able to stay in the background.
I shook out my hair that always felt greasy and disgusting after it got out of the LYNC gel, then I climbed from my pod.
Elio and Seba had long since changed and carried on, and the soldiers still lingering in the locker room were no one I cared to engage with.
Being ranked third, fourth, or fifth should have made them worthy companions, but my choice of friends wasn’t really about the number.
I was looking for something more… specific in a companion.
Something less tangible than a high score on a test.
I turned on the shower and took my time washing the sensation of gel from my hair. They claimed it all retracted, and nothing was ever left behind, but I still felt like there was residue. A silly mental hang up, maybe.
The cheap shampoo and complete lack of conditioner was a travesty that my hair was just slightly too long for.
My sister had really engrained in me how important conditioner was once your hair was long enough to cover your ears, and it was funny how deeply I’d internalized that, even after spending over two full years at Astaroth where some of these heathens thought deodorant was feminine nonsense.
I took my time, then dressed in my civilian clothes, having no further obligations for the day.
I glanced to either side of me, before I opened my locker and slid a hidden panel out of the way to crack into my secret stash of snacks.
I was always starving trying to stomach the shit they fed us here.
Nevanthi, my dearest sister, had been kind enough to smuggle me some food that was legitimately made of, well, food, and it had been my lifeblood for these last two years.
I closed the secret compartment, stuffing the snacks in my gym bag, then I side stepped some more of the soldiers as I headed off for the day.
I hadn’t seen any trace of Vann yet. He probably wouldn’t be back until much later.
Though I couldn’t help but wonder if, with how well he’d been picking up sparring, he might also pick up the Shinka fairly easily.
This was an innocuous enough mission that a first timer would manage it easily once they got used to the controls.
He could probably raise his rank a bit if he sorted out the nuances of syncing fast enough.
I approached the bleachers that overlooked the sparring mats, then proceeded to the top of a hill with a single tree, where you could vaguely see outside the academy walls. It was the best view, and a good place to enjoy some illegal rations in peace.
At least it usually was. But today, I wasn’t alone. The snow white hair of a station born pipsqueak was leaning against my tree.
Interesting.
I approached on silent steps, then I sat down beside him without asking.
“It’s a nice view, isn’t it?” I said, his attention including a full body startle. He was always so on edge. I couldn’t blame him though. He’d attracted the attention of some unusual people.
Vann swallowed, then he looked at me. “It is. I thought it would be a good place to reset.”
“I agree. That’s why it’s been my spot since I got here.”
Panic and apology filled his face. “Oh, I didn’t know. I’m sorry, I can go—”
“No, you’re fine.” I patted him on the head, interrupting his obsessive apologizing.
It was noticeable how quick he always was to take fault for anything that went wrong, even if it was in no way his doing.
He was constantly saying sorry when he made a mistake in training, when he tripped or couldn’t keep up, when he said something strange, or simply when he existed around other people whom he felt he was unworthy of.
It was almost cute. Strange, but cute. “I’ll share just this once. ”
“Thank you.” He looked down at his hands, still acting like he was a burden. They socialized them differently on the stations.
“Did you eat dinner?” I asked, as I set down my gym bag and started rifling through my treasures.
“I did my best,” he admitted, and I appreciated that we established this solidarity against nutritionally complete chemicals. His stomach growled, as if on cue, “I mean, my best wasn’t great, but I managed to get enough of it down to survive another thrilling day at Astaroth.”
He was notably comfortable talking to me at times. I was good at picking out the strays, and he was certainly what I’d consider a stray. Reading someone wasn’t just about following their fighting movements, after all.
“Well, maybe this will help.” I pulled a bag of ‘Vinegar Crisps’ as they were labeled, and a small package of ‘digestive biscuits.’ Chips and cookies, I corrected in my head, knowing it would give Nev a hernia if she heard me slather my standardized Mictlan dialect all over her ‘superior’ old world vernacular.
Maybe Earth-born people were just as ridiculous as the rest of the universe’s people, in hindsight.
I needed to remember this next time Elio made fun of me because of his lack of culture.
Vann’s eyes widened. “Where did you get those?”
“A lady never reveals her secrets.” I wagged a finger in his general direction.
“B-but you’re not—” He cut himself off and shook his head. “That’s a weird saying.”
“It’s an Earth thing.” I shrugged, then handed him the cookies.
“So how’d you like your first time in a Shinka?
The emulators are pretty accurate to the real thing, with just a few little differences, so that should give you a good idea of what to expect.
” I popped a vinegar chip in my mouth and savored the sharp flavor and the perfect crunch.
The sun had just barely set on the Saturn horizon, and Saturn’s 274 moons and the vague shapes of debris from its rings were starting to populate the sky.
The atmospheric dome obscured the visibility of the universe and the stars themselves quite a bit, especially if it hadn’t been cleaned recently—which it rarely had been—but it was still a pleasant enough spectacle once we hit the darkest part of the night.
“It was incredible.” He looked down at his cookie, chewing his first bite slowly, and letting himself enjoy the cheap, overly sweet chocolate frosting for everything it was.
There was a genuine sparkle in his eye that he appeared to be trying to hide.
“I thought there would be a steeper learning curve and it would be clunky or a bit slow to react to my brain waves, but it felt like I was in my own body. I didn’t expect it to be so intuitive. ”
This time I was taken aback.
Intuitive? Shinkas?
I didn’t think I’d ever heard anyone describe them that way outside of maybe Seba.
Even I took a minute to warm up and reorient myself to the neuro-syncing when I was in the simulation instead of Kishi.
My real Shinka might be intuitive thanks to a few upgrades, but I’d never thought that about the standard model.
Hmmmmm, that was rather…telling.
“It’s almost fun, right? Like an ultra-realistic video game. That’s what I like about the VR training,” I said, taking his unexpected response in stride. “In the real thing, you actually die when you lose, which I don’t find as enjoyable.”
“It was a lot of fun up until Elio blew off my leg just to sabotage my rank. It got even better when he dislocated my arm in the hallway afterwards,” Vann grumbled, rubbing his shoulder and breaking eye contact.
Wait, what? “Elio did that?”
Don’t laugh, don’t laugh.
I laughed.
“It’s not funny.” His expression flattened, moving to self sooth his thigh like he was still feeling the phantom pain.
“It’s a little funny.” God, Firefly is so petty. “If it makes you feel any better, he broke my nose when I first started hanging out with him.”
“And you’re still his friend?” He stared at me, jaw agape.
“I broke his arm, so we were even.” I shrugged, recalling the look on Elio’s face as the nutritionally complete slop I’d dumped on him oozed down through his hair, right before he swung a lunch tray into my face, and the entire cafeteria devolved into a brawl.
Good times.
“And he’s still your friend?” His lips fell open another centimeter, and I snorted at the dramatics.
“Violence is kind of his love language, like how a puppy learns about its environment by putting its mouth on things. I like to call it aggressive, high-contact communication.” I waved a hand in the air dismissively.
“Try not to take his temper too personally. His parents were both killed around the time of the Star Crossed Conflict. He’s got mommy and daddy issues. ”
“Mine did too, and you don’t see me blasting off the legs of my allies and underclassmen.” He glared at that cookie like it had done him wrong. That was an interesting tidbit I’d be keeping for later. “I don’t get why he hates me so much.”
“He hates everyone.” Poor kid was in so far over his head.
I didn’t expect mentoring him to mean playing mediator with Elio and his lack of social skills, but that wasn’t the weirdest way my night could go, I suppose.
The irony was that if Elio was giving him that much attention, he didn’t hate him at all.
“You’re just in his crosshairs because you share a room, and he won’t respect you until you’ve proven you deserve to be there. ”
“How am I supposed to do that? Have you seen his biceps?” He sighed heavily, as I snatched one of the cookies, and he reached for a chip.
I’d have to admit I never really paid that much attention to Elio’s biceps.
Sure, he was stronger than most, which I had to know because he never shut up about it, but it wasn’t like he was untouchable.
Everyone was some degree of muscular here.
Well, everyone except Vann. He probably noticed those things purely out of his own insecurity.
“It doesn’t matter how strong he is. In VR, his Shinka is exactly the same as yours.
The only difference is your own personal fighting techniques, reflexes, and sync,” I explained.
Vann lifted his gaze, as though the statement lit up a bulb in his head.
“Next time you’re in the simulation, clock him.
Sneak up on him, and damage his unit and get him kicked from the game.
Once he knows you can hold your own, even against him, he’ll respect you.
” I paused on the advice for a minute. “Or maybe he’ll kill you.
Could go either way, but it’s worth a shot,” I added with teasing nonchalance, before I enjoyed what I was fairly certain was actually artificially flavored chocolate spread, without an ounce of true cocoa.
You tried, Nev. You tried.
“Very reassuring.” He actually laughed, and I felt like I was getting somewhere.
I was a great big brother, in my opinion, and probably only my opinion.
“But thanks for listening to me. I feel like I’ve been really isolated since I got here, and I just want to be a good solider and help end the war like everyone else, you know?
” He hugged his arms across his chest, quiet and strangely sentimental.
“You’re refreshing.” Also odd. I didn’t know a lot of other guys who would admit to things like having feelings around here, let alone pay me compliments and thank me for listening to them whine.
They were so well mannered on the Protectorates.
That made sense if I thought about it though.
Mictlan cracked down hard on the Stations once they were acquired.
It could take a heavy hand to completely erase someone else’s culture in favor of a new one, especially in such a short amount of time.
Assimilating millions of people from different walks of life and experiences never went smoothly, so hard enforcement of discipline was a given.
Though I might speculate how loyal anyone who grew up in that situation might be. Most of the new laws were worse for women, but even the men had clearly not been happy with the changes, considering all these new, half-assed, non-committal recruits who blew off their mandated training.
I was thirteen when the conflict ended, and was already pretty set that I knew everything.
Elio and Seba were eleven. Vann would have been…
nine, I guess? His file said he was twenty-two, I think.
Sort of in that sweet spot of old enough to remember and have opinions on your own likes and dislikes and dreams, but still young enough to be molded if offered the right incentives.
Mictlan was good at assuring their poorest remained reliant on them, so depending on where he ended up, he may have needed them too much to fight back.
I knew that feeling, too.
“I’m your mentor, remember? Feel free to talk to me about anything that’s making your life harder.
” I gave him a pat on the back, and he braced himself, like I was going to knock him over.
Never gets old. “I can’t help you climb a rope, but it’s my job to make sure you get as far as you can around here. More or less.”
“More or less, indeed.” He grinned, and I definitely saw the snow fairy thing that Seba mentioned.
Vann stood and dusted off his pants, then he turned to head back to the dorms. “Thanks for the cookies. Err—the digestive biscuits, I mean.” Nice save.
I’d give him points for that. Nevanthi would like this one.
He was like the little brother who was always trying his hardest to keep up, but you still had to protect him from bullies, because he was actually pretty defenseless.
Maybe I was the sentimental one here.
“Anytime, Pipsqueak. See you at Basics.” I offered a wave, and he flitted off like the little fluffy bird he was.
I finished what remained of my snacks, then leaned back on my hands as the stars started to shine through the blackness.
I liked the kid, honestly. If he was getting this deep under Elio’s skin, I liked him even more. And if he just so happened to be a natural in a Shinka?
So much potential.