Chapter 3 - Academy
Year 3001, Saturday. 23 days until classes start. Unmarked Transport Shuttle
A large figure in camouflage wearing what resembled a gas mask entered a chamber that was like that of an airplane. Me and David sat on one side of our row while two others sat on the other side of the shuttle. The light was too dim to make out any faces.
The figure reached up and moved the visor of their helmet revealing two glistening red circles that rotated and dilated like a heartbeat. The figure tapped a button on the wall turning on two dim lights on both sides of the walkway.
“I’m sure all your families have said something. Many think the Republic was founded on a peaceful agreement of diplomacy and compromise.”
The figure laughed, “That couldn’t be further from the truth.”
The figure continued, “You have all been assigned to the first military academy in Republic history. After you complete your mandatory service, you may choose to enter the fight for the survival of humanity or return to a civilian sector assigned by the military.”
The figure looked over their shoulder, “Did I hit all the bullet points?”
A muffled voice responded, “Affirmative. Strap in. Decent in twenty with fast burn.”
The figure turned towards us, “We will arrive at the academy in two minutes. Make sure you are securely in your seats.”
I glanced at David, “Your dad let you go?”
David nodded, “Apparently my dad made some contributions to world war five four hundred years ago.”
“Really?”
David shrugged, “I have no idea what he did though.”
I smirked, “Probably more than whatever office work my father does.”
David laughed, “Pfft. Must be a nice office.”
------
I counted sixteen of us as I exited the shuttle. I couldn’t recognize anyone except David. The landing pad was almost identical to the landing pad at district thirty, and the academy looked exactly like a college university except for the soldiers in uniform and armed androids walking the streets.
The two soldiers that piloted our shuttle led us to a little dormitory and gave us room cards from a big paper envelope along with tablets.
“All the information you have clearance for is available on your tablet. Any questions?”
David raised his hand, “When is the specialization deadline?”
The soldier seemed to smile through the gas mask, “Excited? The academy will put you through different specializations every week. You’ll find more info on your tablet.”
A few of the other people asked questions about simple living questions like good places to get food and where the closest gym was.
When everyone had finished asking questions, the soldiers lowered the visors on their helmets, “Welcome to the academy class of three thousand five.”
-----
I was a little surprised to see that my phone was functional in my room. Should I call dad? Probably. Rin-
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“Kaiser?”
I was a little shocked by the speed in which my father had answered the call, “I-I just got into my room.”
“I was worried you’d forget to call.”
I started looking around the small room, “I did promise to call you.”
Dad’s voice cracked, “You know how it is. Did you arrive safely?”
“Yeah. For some reason they sent some high-ranking soldiers to pick me and David up.”
I heard a faint sigh of relief and a chuckle through the phone, “high-ranking?”
“Yeah. One of em had bionic eyes.”
“Huh. How could you tell?”
“They took off their visor, and I saw the red circles.”
“Red?”
“Yeah.”
I heard some chatter in the background and sat on the little office chair in the middle of the dorm room, “So, what did mom say?”
A frustrated sigh came through the phone, “You know how it is.”
“Yeah?”
“Mom isn’t happy.”
“Well, you did hide the scan results.”
“I had to hide them so-”
I rolled my eyes as I kicked off the floor, setting the chair spinning, “Yeah yeah. Blah blah blah let me experience childhood. Will you be fine?”
“Probably.”
“Probably?”
“Mom’s on the moon.”
“You sure?”
“Probably.”
Yup. Dad was not gonna be fine. I put my foot on the floor, slowly arresting the rotation of the spinny chair. I smiled; the next four years would be interesting. I was finally free. Free to do what I wanted with my time. No android watching my every move. True freedom. Then I remembered the ether test and frowned. Maybe not true freedom.
“Hey. Stay out of trouble Kaiser.”
“I know.”
“You should call mom.”
“I’ll do that right after dinner.”
“Hey. Kaiser?”
Ugh. “What?”
“Keep up the good work.”
“Yeah.”
“Talk to you tomorrow?”
“Yeah.”
Beep. Typical. I could never understand why people would choose to drag a call on longer than necessary. Whatever.
I leaned back in the chair and scooped up the tablet to look at it. I was about to put in the password when someone knocked at the door.
“Ey! David! You found a place?”
“Chicken or pork?”
I shrugged, “What’s closer?”
David grinned, “Chicken it is.”
-----
“Is the chicken good?”
David shrugged, “They didn’t put enough salt in it.”
“I usually use soy sauce.”
“Ah! That might be it.”
“The rooms are pretty nice.”
David laughed, “Anything is nicer than sleeping on that century old couch.”
“Oh come on! It’s only like ten years old.”
David squirted some ketchup onto the wax paper, “Uh. Nah. Not with the way you cleaned it.”
“I didn’t cl- oh.”
David grinned, “You thought that flipping over the cushions was cleaning?”
“Well, the bottom side is clean?”
“Is it?”
“Yeah?”
“Think again.”
“What am I missing?”
David put down the piece of chicken he was eating and smeared ketchup on one side of a napkin. He flipped it, “Cushion flipped once.”
“Ohhhhh.”
He flipped it again, “Cushion flipped twice.”
“Stop it. I got it.”
David rolled his eyes, “Took long enough.”
“It does work on the first flip.”
“Wha-”
“First flip is clean.”
“But you still place the cushion on the couch after you flip it.”
I shrugged, “Are you saying the dirty side contaminates the couch?”
“Does it not?”
“What if I cycle the cushions?”
“Cycle?”
“Yeah, like we do with rocket nozzles.”
David sighed, “Dude, what the hell are you talking about?”
“I could cycle the dirty side to sleep only on the clean side.”
“But you don’t do that.”
“But I could.”
“You don’t”
“I could.”
David rolled his eyes, “Fine, you could optimize your laziness.”
“It’s not laziness. It’s called being resourceful.”
“Resourceful? Sure thing buddy.”
“The couch wasn’t even that bad.”
David glared at me, “Um. No.”
“Tell me, what was bad about it.”
“Maybe like... all of it?”
“Come on.”
“Half the cushions have soda stains on them.”
I grinned, “Well that’s not entirely my fault.”
“Sure.”
“Yeah?”
“We gotta rebuild the energy drink stockpile.”
I nodded, “You want to go explore the campus?”
“I’m down.”
I looked down at the table and noticed David was almost done with his chicken, “You always eat so quickly.”
David glanced at my bowl, “I think you eat slowly.”
“Really?”
“How long do you take to eat?”
“Thirty minutes?”
David nodded, “Sounds about right.”
“How about we go downtown?”
“The Square?”
“Yeah. The Square or whatever.”
-----
The Square was... a square. Well. I really didn’t know what to expect. It was literally just a big square of grass with shops on the edges.
“Whoever came up with the name Square must have thought real hard about it.”
David chuckled, “Heh, a tough conundrum.”
I looked around the Square and saw some people lounging around on tablets or doing other typical outdoor activities. Suddenly something shiny sailed right between our heads. David flinched, “Wha.”
I looked behind me and saw a metal disk embedded in the ground, “What the.”
A shadow enveloped us as we looked back at a huge figure. The man grabbed both our shoulders, “Ello there newbies!”
“Uh... hello?”
“We playin Frisbee. Wanna join?”
I glanced at David who looked alarmed, “Uh… who are you?”
The man smiled a huge grin and snatched the frisbee out of the ground and extended his hand, “The name is Larry. Class of three thousand three. You two?”
