Chapter 3
These demos used to be the highlight of my early teens, but now they were a pain in the ass that only served to dredge up my depression while causing complete pandemonium around the station.
Whenever the military showed up in any civilian base, the fanfare and parades were so excessive it was annoying.
It didn’t help that the girls my age were all losing their damn minds over the idea of marrying a military man.
Ordinarily, I could blend in with the status quo, but during an event like this, you stood out if you weren’t dressed in the brightest bows and aggressively batting your eyelashes while fake laughing at unfunny jokes from anyone wearing a uniform.
I understood the appeal—Setting aside that high ranking servicemen were treated like celebrities, marrying into a military family also came with extra financial benefits, the promise of intergalactic travel, a house in the capital, and social status—but sometimes I felt like the only person in the universe who was bitter about needing a marriage contract to have those things.
Still, that would be more exciting than marrying a local baker or a pharmacist. At least I’d get some opportunity to live life that way. Maybe I was looking at this all wrong, but my head hadn’t been in a particularly clear place lately.
I pondered on this heavily as I entered the cafeteria pod for a quick bite before the demo started. Though I was unsure if the persistent nausea in my stomach was more due to the injections or my own sense of impending doom.
I could once say the smell of food calmed me down, but food never smelled very good in 005 anymore. The whole building reeked of the weird chemicals and dust that made up most of our options.
I walked the line, where I had the options of bland rations or blander rations, the only real difference between nutritionally complete substance number one and substance number ten being the texture.
I promptly ignored all of that for the “Vintage Treats” section. We were only allotted one treat per week, but a little charm and a smile went a long way around here. I deserved two treats today.
Comfort food in hand, I left the stuffy pod for the vast green picnic fields where most of the student body enjoyed their lunches.
It was a beautiful day, our simulated seasons currently mimicking an early spring in a moderate climate, and the sun was funneled and filtered down into the space station with a warmth and comfort that I very much needed at the moment.
The grass crunched under the short heels of my dress shoes, and the light, artificial breeze was enough to ruffle my deep purple and silver plaid, pleated skirt, colored to match the Mictlan flag.
The impractical garment reached just a few inches above the knee—long enough to cover everything, but not long enough to allow for safe, dynamic movement—and my fitted, short-sleeve black blouse hugged my body in a way that made even my barely-B-cups look ample.
The whole uniform was punctuated with a purple tie that I secured in a half-Windsor, for just the right mix of professional and feminine.
As I sat down at a table in the center of the meal quadrant, I tugged my skirt as low on my waist as I could, earning me another half inch of coverage on my thighs.
It wasn’t long before I was greeted by the usual company.
“The chocolate cake and pizza again, Fi?” Vann sat beside me, giving my platinum hair a solid ruffle on the way down.
His matching uniform, just with pants and a fitted coat, was as perfectly pressed as always.
“Have you been ignoring Nutritional Studies all semester? An occasional treat is fine, but the sugar, carbohydrate, and saturated fat content of things like cake and pizza won’t do your body any favors.
You know that you’re prone to insulin resistance, and—”
“Wow. Tell me more, doctor.” I interrupted with a heavy roll of my eyes at my always annoying and overbearing brother.
Though he only had a year on me biologically, mentally he may as well have been in his early hundreds.
He called it discipline. I called it uptight.
“You know, it’s a recruitment event today.
If you applied that kind of quick thought at Astaroth Academy instead of med school, you would be a General in no time.
Your mind is wasted on policing your sister.
” I made sure to be as dramatic as possible as I took a bite of my pizza.
The last thing I would be discussing right now were my hormones.
There was no point in telling him what happened at my match appointment anyway. It wasn’t as though he could help, and I didn’t want to hear him try to comfort me through it right now. I just wanted to forget for a few hours and have a nice lunch.
Vann spooned his ‘nutritionally and calorically perfect’ mash into his mouth, and he swallowed without so much as a grimace. I wished I could acquire that taste like he had, but I swear that stuff tasted like cotton socks after a long run.
If I considered how many years none of our meals came with any guarantees, I couldn’t blame him for losing all standards. He’d been happily eating that garbage for so long, he probably didn’t notice the taste anymore.
Or he liked the sweaty sock flavor. With Vann, it could go either way.
“And miss out on spending every day with my only family?” He swallowed another spoonful.
“Even if I didn’t want to stay close to home, I’d still rather heal people than hurt them, and all they do at Astaroth is teach new ways to disembowel your enemies.
” He made an exaggerated grab and yank motion.
I couldn’t help but snort. “People will always need medical assistance, but unless we go to war, I can’t imagine anyone needing a Shinka Pilot.
I’m learning functional skills that actually help people. ”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I stared idly at the military vehicles as they whizzed by on their way to the demonstration area.
Did that nurse think she was helping people, too?
“But with how hard you train, you’d be good at it.
Think how many lives you could save by preventing them from ending up in an emergency room in the first place with a Shinka. ”
“And how many people would I be killing in the pursuit of saving those lives? I train hard because exercise is important, not because I’m blood thirsty.
” He corrected with a heavy eye roll. “No matter what flag they stand under, a life is still a life. Being an efficient murderer isn’t really my dream, honestly. ”
“Weird.” I shook my head. “But you would be guaranteed a wife if you decided to go into the matchmaking circuit with those general badges on your jacket.” It was my turn to poke at his insecurities for once.
While I was guaranteed a husband, with our humble background, it was always possible he wouldn’t be chosen by a wife.
Most the men at the auctions were the ones who never got chosen and had to save up enough money to buy a woman instead.
“I don’t need badges for that.” He said with feigned confidence.
“My compassion is what makes me a good choice. Besides, I don’t want to enter the match pools.
I would rather meet someone the old fashioned way.
” Before I could scoff at his privilege, he added, “Once I’m done with schooling, I’ll start dating, too.
Then we can swap the real war stories. I’m sure your early matches will give you some great ammo. ”
I cringed, not wanting to think about that at all.
Madam Elladena had sent me her list for my scheduled dates tomorrow as soon as I’d left her Pod, and my first date was with a thirty-eight year old technician from the waste management lab who had specifically asked for a virgin bride, while my second date was a twenty-five year old whose hobbies included clubbing, drinking, and drinking in clubs.
Even his haircut looked like it had chlamydia.
At least my options had… uh… range. There was a reason these were the bottom of the barrel.
I was about to show Vann exactly how thrilling dating was going to be for me, when a few more military vehicles passed the meal quadrant, catching my attention instead.
I took another bite of my pizza while we watched the sleek black vehicles hover along the path. One, two, ten… they sure had a lot of security.
I’d started to zone out, staring at the passing black vehicles, when Vann pulled me back into the present with words that floored me:
“You know, you’re lucky you were born a girl.”
My spine stiffened from head to tail just hearing such a statement. He turned his gaze to me, and I stared, unblinking, into his colorless eyes.
Completely taken aback, it was a wonder I didn’t stumble over my words with the shakes that rippled through my body. “Lucky? How so? What part of being forced to be married and pregnant by twenty-two sounds lucky to you?”