The Methuselan Circuit (4 page)

“That’s fine with me,” he said and scooted off to collect his pack.

The Major looked back at the second girl, and said, “You appear to have questions Miss, is there something about the flight I can answer for you?”

“You don’t have to say that for my benefit,” she informed him, as if she knew better, which she apparently thought she did. “We didn’t go anywhere and we weren’t doing anything on the controls. It was all a fake to try and scare us.”

“You are somewhat right as far as trying to put some stress into the situation,” the Major said, crossing his arms over his chest. She smiled her best Miss–know-it-all smile, but he shook his head. “However, we take slots at the Space Academy far too seriously to simply “fake” things. Each of you was given a very real malfunction. In the case of these three potential Cadets you solved them. It wasn’t necessary for you to solve the problems, but it was necessary for you to try and solve them.” He looked very sternly at the girl who was now looking quite crestfallen. “You are an intelligent and capable young girl; otherwise you’d never have gotten this opportunity. Think of it, out of six hundred young people,” Alexander was glad he didn’t say children, “We selected five, only five to take this flight. This is going to sound harsh for someone your age, but if you learn this lesson now you won’t repeat it. The fact that you didn’t think highly enough of the opportunity the Fleet and the Legions gave you does not speak very well about your dedication—we need dedicated people. Think about that next time you apply yourself to your career and things will no doubt turn out much better.”

“You mean I don’t get to go to the Academy,” she asked in a very small voice. Tears began to gather in her eyes. All the false pride and superiority was beaten out of her in a few seconds. Alexander felt sorry for her.

The Major was unimpressed. “I’m sorry young lady, but this year at least, the Academy cannot use you. You will be able to apply for formal entrance into the Academy next year if you so desire, but I warn you the road is much harder. We will look at everything you do next year in great detail. If you really want to continue down that road you will have to take your failure and learn from it. You are free to go.”

The girl ran out of the room, crying. The Major turned back to them. “We do not take people with trust issues into the Academy. The training is so expensive and important that when we tell you something or give you a situation to handle you must analyze it and act. We cannot allow someone in who has a predisposition to ignore things because of prejudice, real or perceived. Do you understand?”

Alexander thought he did, and he said so. James wasn’t so sure why he was even there, and he said so. “I worked hard to get ready for the tests, so I’m not surprised I did Ok, but I’m not even a Citizen’s son. Am I really supposed to be here?”

“Does the fact that your father is not a Citizen have any bearing on your abilities James? Do you think the Academy would really care whether you’re a Citizen or whether you’re wealthy?”

“No, but you seem to know all about us; my father will never let me go to the Academy.”

“It’s not his choice to make,” the Major said firmly.

“Really, but he told me,” James was confused, and the Major put a hand on his shoulder.

“Listen to me son, Pan American Code 987-04011C states quite explicitly that the offer of Citizenship to a minor via any manner of volunteering for Service shall not be denied by the minor’s parents. In other words, this is your life now, not your father’s. He cannot prevent you from joining the Academy if that’s what you want to do.”

“I do, sir.”

“Then we’ll have a couple of legionary storm troopers escort you from your home if necessary,” he smiled.

“Actually, that would be pretty cool, sir,” James smiled.

The Major laughed. “Well then, that’s settled. I will personally visit you each in two weeks to sign you up. Congratulations and good luck Brevet Cadets!”

“Thank you sir,” they said together.

Alexander got home as quick as he could. Mom was out back with the horses, but Dad was in his office checking his flight schedule. A retired Fleet Officer, he now ran his own transport company to the asteroid belt and outer system, running miners, supplies, and even contracting work for the penal colonies. It gave them a comfortable life. They were one of the few families that could afford to own land on Vashon Island. Most Citizens owned private homes, but acreage was hard to come by, especially with the thousands of non-Citizen unioneers on the island. They lived in government supplied apartments. Dad would always shake his head when they drove by them, “It doesn’t take brains or skill to get out of these things, only the desire to work hard and to try to make something of yourself—that all it takes. I just don’t get it.”

He looked up from his computer screen. “Hey there son, how was school?”

“It was fantastic,” Alexander exclaimed, and he proceeded to tell his father every detail of the day.

Dad smiled and held out his hand. Alexander shook it. “I’m proud of you son. This is your first step into manhood and Citizenship. Major Gardner called. He was very impressed. You’ve made a great beginning—congratulations!”

“Thanks Dad,” Alexander beamed. “Does Mom know?” When his father shook his head, he asked, “Do you think she’ll be upset? She won’t try and stop me will she?”

He smiled and patted him n the back, “Oh you know how mother’s are. Kids always grow up too fast, but she’ll support you in whatever you decide to do. Why don’t you go tell her, she knows it’s Service Day. She’s been on pins and needles all afternoon.”

CHAPTER 4: Life on the Ranch

Alexander walked out back. They had thirty acres and stables for a dozen horses and interior feeding pens for the rest of the animals, including the domesticated dinos. It was hard to believe that animals were a necessary part of life but they were. After three destructive wars, people found themselves cut off from the conveniences of a space-faring society. There simply wasn’t enough manufacturing capacity for luxury items such as cars, lawn mowers and other appliances from the old world. Much of the world reverted back to a mixture of high technology and animal power to survive. It seemed strange that Alexander should ride into space on a rocket and yet need to ride a horse to get into town and buy groceries, but that’s the way it was.

Mom was dressed in her leathers and a battered old straw hat. She saw him, finished taking the harness off one of their two stallions and gave him a hug. She didn’t interrupt as Alexander told her all about his amazing day. She simply said, “I’m very proud of you son. If this is what you truly want then I’ll support you a thousand percent!”

That night they sat down to dinner with the entire clan, twenty-three in all. They weren’t all there, of course. His Aunt and Uncle and two of his cousins were in Portland, and his other cousins were off at college or wherever, but they coordinated for dinner and everyone gathered via hologram. Alexander picked at the salad Mom harvested from the garden, trying not to look envious as his college-cousin Kinley ate pizza across the table from him. He’d wanted pizza, but there was a shortage of cheese on the island and their last homemade batch wasn’t ready yet.

Despite this, the dinner and the next two weeks flew by. The Major stopped by as promised and Alexander signed his admission papers. He was officially a Brevet Cadet.

“Report to the gym at school tomorrow morning at 0800 to have your uniform fitted. You have two weeks of indoctrination classes and then two weeks’ vacation before the next semester begins.”

A whole month before the Academy started. That was forever!

It wasn’t. The first two weeks flew by. He started by getting fitted for his uniform. Since they were in space, his uniform functioned as an emergency survival suit. Even with all the redundancy built into the Space Academy accidents did happen and space was an unforgiving environment. His courses addressed that in great detail. There were classes in Space Survival, Space Station Basic Engineering, Code of Conduct, Academy Regulations and Cadet Expectations. It was a lot to take in, but it was all so exciting Alexander didn’t even realize he was supposed to be on vacation.

Before he knew it the two weeks were over and he had two weeks before reporting for duty at the Space Academy. What was he going to do? Unfortunately, his Mom had some very un-Spaceman-like things for him to do around the ranch. One of those was harvesting and selling the second cut of hay for the year. Alexander felt this was all beneath him, but he couldn’t say so when his father, a Captain on his own ship, was back there in boots, a flannel shirt and a cowboy hat helping out. They loaded the wagon full of hay and set off to market. It wasn’t really a wagon but an old pickup truck. It dated back to the Ascension Wars. Like everything else back then, ships, planes, cars and even trains were given a tritanium energy bath that made the metal and glass nearly indestructible. Back then they replaced the old internal combustion engines with surplus fusion generators supplied by the Scythians. The generators were self contained and made to last hundreds of years with routine maintenance. Most still worked, but it was a hundred years or more since anything resembling normal trade existed throughout the galaxy. During the Caliphate wars Terrans almost lost touch with the rest of the Galactic Community. The old fears of Terran expansionism rekindled as the Fanatics tried to seize power. Only now, decades after the war, were trade routes being re-established.

Like everyone else, they nursed their machines along and did what they could with what they had. The truck, for instance, despite being a hundred and fifty years old, was really nice with leather seats and a working radio. The anti-grav motors still worked, unfortunately, the drive coupling was broken. It was only a small, simple part—Alexander would have no problem fixing it himself—but he hadn’t seen spare parts for anything in his lifetime. That all added up to the truck being able to hover about two feet above the ground—which was a good thing since its rubber tires were long since gone—but it couldn’t move under its own power. The old diesel was still in the engine bay, but it was for emergencies. They fired it up once a month for fifteen minutes to make sure it would still work. This was no emergency; therefore, Alexander set out for the back pasture. He caught two of their horses with a handful of grain and led them to the truck. They dutiful stood by as he hitched them up using leather harnesses. Once that was done, Dad showed up. Alexander got in with his Dad and drove to town. It was eleven miles to the market in town, barely an afterthought in the spaceship but two and a half hours when pulled by a two-horse team.

When they got to the market, Alexander experienced a new level of humiliation. He was going to the Space Academy in less than two weeks! Yet here he was selling dried grass and watching his Father, a spaceship Captain, haggle over trading hay for textiles and kerosene. He tried to hide away by standing behind the open door of the truck, hoping no one he knew would see him.

“Hey Alexander, how are you doing?”

He turned to see the girl from rocket ride, the one who didn’t make it to the Academy. She looked completely different without her self-assurance. He said hi, but he didn’t remember her name.

“I’m Katrina,” she reminded him sheepishly. “I was wondering how things were going; with you getting ready to go to the Academy and all. What have they been doing to get you ready to go?”

He told her everything. She nodded here and there, but mostly she listened. “I’d like to do that someday,” she told him. “I’m going to try again next year, but I was wondering if it would be Ok to trade e-mails? I’d really like to hear how your year is going.”

“Sure,” he said, not knowing what else to say. “I’m sorry you’re not going.”

“I am too, but maybe I’ll see you there next year.”

“That would be nice,” he said, trying to think of some way to extricate himself from the uncomfortable situation. He knew she’d never get in next year, and she knew she’d never get in. He admired her tenacity, but he couldn’t help but remember how much of a know-it-all she’d been—it was too bad, she was pretty and smart. He pointed to his Dad, “Sorry, I’ve got to go help.”

“Alexander?”

“Your e-mail address?” she held up her phone.

He blushed, and took his phone out. They synchronized their phones by pressing the auto-data relay on their screens.

“Alexander the Great,” she said, meaning his icon. It was a picture of a tile mosaic of the great conqueror. “That’s pretty cool. Do you like famous generals?”

“Yeah,” he said, surprised that she should recognize the mosaic for what it was. He checked her icon out. It was the image of a flying horse. He didn’t hide his surprise. “That’s the Pegasus from Greek mythology; I love the ancient myths.”

“So do I, especially the story about Perseus. It’s my favorite. It’s amazing how similar the myths are to real life. Maybe we can talk about them some time,” she smiled.

“I hope so,” he said, and he meant it. Katrina was getting a lot more interesting.

“I’ll see you around Ok?”

“Ok, and Katrina, I really do hope you get in next year. Everyone deserves a second chance.”