Axira Episode One (5 page)

Though I could fake an injury and pretend to be out of
breath, I was limited in how I could display my exhaustion. I could
not make my face red, and neither could I sweat.

I hoped my acting would be good enough to hide these facts.
Plus Taskarian biology would be unfamiliar enough that no one would
question my apparent lack of symptoms too much.

At approximately 3:21 I halved my pace. At 3:41 I reduced it
again by three-quarters. And finally at exactly 3 hours and 50
minutes, I stopped. I mimicked exactly what Elle had done: I
dropped to my knees, hung my head as if I was struggling for
breath, and finally turned to face Ma’tovan.

People started to cheer.

Elle jumped to her feet, despite the fact she staggered, and
clapped wildly. “I can’t believe you ran for that long!”

I took a deliberately shaky step forward.

Someone rushed up to me and offered me a drink. It was the
same recruit who had elbowed me that morning. He now considered me
with a wide-eyed look of wonder.

I took the water.

“
Stop,” Ma’tovan, who had been standing at the side of the
track with his colossal arms crossed, stepped forward.

The crowd’s cheers ceased immediately.

“
You have run for approximately 3 hours and 50 minutes,” he
bellowed.

It had been exactly 3 hours and 50 minutes, but I knew enough
not to correct him.

“
In 30 degree heat, with no water, in substantial humidity,”
Ma’tovan continued.

My head ticked to the side as I considered that
fact.

Humidity. I could not feel humidity; temperature was
relatively hard for me to detect, let alone humidity. I had not
factored it into my analysis.

I had run far, far too long. I understood why the rest of
Team Omega looked so shocked now.

Humans, Taskarians, any softer race that required water to
live … would not have been able to run that long.

I had just made a grave mistake.

“
You have lasted more than 3 hours longer than your friend.”
He nodded down at Elle.

She was not my friend; I hardly knew her. I did not clarify
this fact.

I waited. What would he do? Would he send me to the medical
facilities immediately for some thorough tests? Would he question
me as to how a woman of my size and race could last that long in
this kind of heat and humidity? Now I understood it was humid – I
could see the sweat lingering on nearly everyone else’s brows. Just
not on mine.

I had been very, very stupid.

I could have just ruined my mission before it even
began.

If I had to, I could immediately do a subspace jump and
retreat. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but that escape plan was
always a possibility.

As I hardened myself to what would happen, Ma’tovan smiled.
“You’ve passed the exhaustion test, but can you succeed at team
work?”

My head ticked to the side in confusion. It was a habit I had
picked up in the past four years.

“
If you can run for another 3 hours and 50 minutes, you will
save Recruit Elle Singh. If you can’t, she’ll be cut from the
program. Only you can give her a second chance.”

I stared over at Ma’tovan.

Was he serious?

I’d been expecting him to order me towards the nearest sick
bay at once to undergo invasive biological scans to find out my
secret.

Elle sucked in a deep breath and snapped to her feet. “You
can’t make her do that; she’s exhausted!”

“
I can do as I see fit. I am your commanding officer, and I am
carrying out the training program of the Coalition Forces.” He
turned his attention back to me. “This is your decision, Recruit
Em. Will you push past your exhaustion to save a fellow
recruit?”

I understood what he was doing. While handling exhaustion was
no doubt necessary training for the Coalition Forces, team work was
more important. If you could not push past your own pain to save
another, you had no place aboard a ship full of crew.

Space was unforgiving. Unless you looked out for each other,
you did not live.

“
It’s your decision,” Ma’tovan repeated.

The track had suddenly become very quiet. All eyes were on
me.

I still held onto the water I’d been handed. I understood
implicitly that if I took a sip, I would forfeit the challenge and
Elle would be cut.

She deserved to be cut.

“
Don’t do this, you don’t have to do this for me.” She shook
her head, her cheeks still red. She had a mop of curly, red-brown
hair that fell across her face.

She seemed sincere. I had been manipulated and controlled for
centuries; I knew how to spot it.

I also understood that I was her only chance.

She was not Coalition Forces material, so my decision should
have been an easy one.

She looked up at me. Her eyes shifted and they filled with
tears. “It’s okay. Take your drink. Don’t go out there for me.
You’re exhausted.”

I wavered. I’d seen that look so many times
before.

I had never been able to make a difference in the
past.

This choice, however, was up to me. No one else controlled my
legs or my mind.

But if I chose to continue my run, would I not seem even more
incredible? Wouldn’t everyone’s suspicions run wild at why I was
capable of such physical feats?

“
Recruit,” Ma’tovan snapped, “Don’t just stand there. You have
ten seconds to make your decision.”

She should be cut. I should not add to the suspicions people
no doubt already held.

I took a step back and placed the glass on the
ground.

This decision should have been an easy one. There was only
one reasonable choice, only one path that would further my ultimate
goal. And yet despite that I did the one thing I should not have,
and I turned and continued to run.

As soon as I did everyone erupted into cheers.

I could have run all day and into the night, but I didn’t
have to. As soon as I had made it another five laps, Ma’tovan
marched onto the track and snapped at me to stop. The challenge was
over, apparently, and I had passed.

Everyone cheered.

I had never been cheered before. I’d heard screams of terror
and despair, but never anything like this.

Elle ran up to me and looped her arms around my neck, even
though she had to jump to reach.

“
Oh my god, thank you, thank you, thank you, I can’t believe
you did that!” She screamed in my ear.

It was lucky I was not human, otherwise her shrieks would
have caused considerable pain.

“
Wow.” Jason walked up to me and handed me a water
canister.

Then the rest of the crowd flooded forward.

I realized that I should not stand; a person undergoing my
level of supposed exhaustion should collapse, so I made my way to
my knees in an appropriately jerky fashion.

Instantly Jason leaned forward and cupped my arm. “Steady
there, don’t want to do yourself an injury. We should get a medical
scanner out here,” he said louder.

“
Singh,” Ma’tovan stalked up behind him, “If you are finished
giving orders to my recruits, I will take over from
here.”

“
Ha, ah, sorry, Lieutenant.” Jason snapped a
salute.

“
Medical scanner,” Ma’tovan roared, and his baritone voice
shook twice as loud as Jason’s had.

I sat there on the track until Ma’tovan ordered the rest of
the recruits to back off and head to their dormitories for a tour.
Though I could have joined them, I stayed there until a medical
officer darted out to us, ran some scans, and declared I was
fine.

At that point, I was more than thankful for my subcutaneous
device. Not only would it confuse all sensors into thinking I was a
Taskarian, I could manipulate it to give the physical readings I
chose. I could force it to show that my double Taskarian heart was
beating at three times the usual pace, that my body was dehydrated,
and that I was suffering from all the appropriate exhaustion
symptoms. Nothing that would require intervention, but something
appropriate for the situation.

“
For someone who has run for 4 hours in this heat,” the
medical officer shuffled around in her case, “You are holding up
fine. Taskarians must be hardier than I thought.” She grabbed up a
device and pushed it against my neck. It released something into my
system.

My subcutaneous device would eliminate it immediately but
would show the appropriate readings that it was working.

“
I … used to be a marathon runner,” I lied.

“
Oh.” The medical officer nodded. “That makes a lot of
sense.”

“
Marathon runner, ha?” Jason Singh was still by my side. “We
could use you on our track team.”

“
I’m so happy you’re okay.” Elle grabbed my wrist and shook it
warmly.

I reacted immediately. I jerked it back.

It was automatic. Anything closing around my wrist reminded
me of only one thing.

I practically tugged her off her feet. Her brother had to
rush forward to stop her from falling over.

The medical officer doubled back, surprised.

They all looked to me for an explanation.

“
I apologize … I have scars there, they are painful,” the
admission was honest enough. When I had pulled my bracelets off
almost four years ago, it had not been an easy task. They had been
connected to me; tendrils had lodged through my skin, travelling up
my arms and throughout the rest of my body.

Pulling them out had been anguish and it had almost killed
me.

Though the rest of my body had healed, my wrists never would.
Those tendrils had been lodged in them for 450 years. They had done
their damage.

Now I was left with scars that ran the diameter of my wrist,
with deep pockmarks interspersed at even angles.

I often wore long sleeves to hide them. I had, however,
already come to terms with the fact I would not be able to hide
them forever. They could be explained away anyway.

I pulled back my sleeve and revealed them to the medical
officer. “I sustained them in a subspace field accident. The matter
around them is unstable, and cannot be healed,” I clarified
quickly, before she could point out a simple dermal regeneration
paste could fix them up, “The instability cannot spread, but I must
live with the scars.”

With that I rose to my feet.

The medical officer followed, gaze locked on my wrist.
“Sounds nasty. I’ve only treated a few subspace field injuries in
the past, and it’s never turned out well.”

“
I was fortunate enough to sustain my injury on a Taskarian
transport. My people are adept at dealing with these injuries.” I
pulled my sleeve down.

No one challenged me. They all, apart from Ma’tovan, looked
sympathetic.

“
I’m so sorry for touching your wrist, I didn’t know.” Elle
put her hands up and she crushed her bottom lip between her teeth.
“I really hope I didn’t hurt you.”

“
It’s irrelevant.” I turned back to the medical officer. “Am I
fit to leave?”

“
By the look of your scans, you're fit to run at least another
two laps. But I really don’t suggest it, Recruit; you’ve got to
leave some reserves for the rest of your training. If you ever have
any trouble with your subspace injuries, come and see me and I’ll
see what I can do.”

“
Actually, there is something.” I half turned from her to
Ma’tovan. “I request leave, if it is possible, not to wear a wrist
device. I would prefer something higher up the arm.”

The medical officer responded first. She smiled through a
laugh. “I reckon we could do that for you.”

“
It is not standard procedure,” Ma’tovan began.

“
The electromagnetic interference from our wrist devices would
disrupt her injury. I’ll get your medical leave signed, and I’ll
let the guys in the armory know you’ll need something different.
Good luck, Recruit.” With that she walked off.

Apparently the discussion was over, because Ma’tovan did not
argue. He did, however, snap at Elle and me that we had to head to
the 2nd Dormitory to be assigned our quarters
immediately.

He walked off.

That had gone better than I had expected. No one, to my
knowledge, suspected me of anything other than being a hardened
Taskarian marathon runner with an old subspace injury.

I went to jog to our next destination.

Immediately Elle stepped in beside me and looped her arm
carefully around my arm, careful not to touch my wrist.

“
You must be exhausted. Let me help you, it's the least I can
do.” She smiled up at me.

Her cheeks were still flushed. Her breathing had not yet
fully returned to a calm rate. It had been over four hours since
she had stopped exerting herself.