CANAISIS ∞ Chronicle One ∞ 2: A Captain's Journey

92 ∞ Illegal Request

When Gareth stepped out, he was looking down from two levels up upon a sea of faces. They were clapping and holding up signs with messages of support and best wishes. But when the leading Captain raised his hand to wave, cheers erupted. The other Captains did the same one by one as they strode across the walkway. One even blew a kiss to someone down below.

Gareth waved to the crowd on one side, then the other, as he walked across. Head held high in his uniform, he put on the show expected of him. He was about to enter the doorway on the other side of the footbridge when something made him pause. The back of his neck prickled as if he was being watched.

Listening to his gut instinct, he turned back. The crowd was breaking up, thinking the show was over, but many saw him stop and look down at them. They paused, waiting to see what would happen as he scanned the crowd.

His first pass didn't find the source of the feeling. It was when he started over that he spotted it. Two people standing by themselves by the rear wall. He recognized them, a woman and a young girl. The girl smiled and waved, as if knowing his recognition of her. People nearby followed his gaze to Dara and her mother, then turned back to him.

Dara had grown in the past three years, he noted, but even from a distance, he recognized those eyes and olive skin. Seeing her brought back memories of the shuttle flight down to Earth when they had first met. He still had her digital sketches, but hadn't looked at them in a long time. Nor at her actual drawing, for that matter—his training had consumed all of his time.

One of the benefits of the ENS system was the improved mental functions. It had something to do with the neural net woven within his nervous system, they'd taught him, but his memory and recall were far better than average. He'd been given months of training on how to exercise his mental recall, so the memory of the flight with Dara and Janine played through his mind in detail. The promise he'd made to the little girl with wise eyes and haunting sketches called to something within him. A sense of duty, perhaps.

Gareth stood as tall and straight as he could, then snapped a parade salute with a stomp of his heel. His heel striking the hard surface beneath him echoed throughout the concourse as he held his pose. Dara stared for a second, then tried to imitate his salute. The people around her saw it, their gazes bouncing between him and her. When Dara dropped her hand, he snapped his arm down to his side and did a parade turn, again with a stomp of his heel. Tremendous applause erupted as he parade-marched to the doorway and out of sight of the crowd.

The other Captains stood in the hallway beyond, all curiously staring at him. Gareth regarded them, silently challenging them to say something. Another staff aide who'd been waiting broke the standoff with, "This way, gentlemen."

They followed the Aide to an elevator. It rose to their dorm level, and as they exited, the Aide spoke.

"You have thirty minutes before you're called, Captains. When you return, you have two hours to gather your belongings and talk with your crew. You'll find your baggage in your rooms. Do not mingle in the public areas without an escort, for your own safety. You can make arrangements beforehand, if you must. It's been an honor to meet you." With that said, the Aide stepped back into the elevator.

Gareth headed for his room and entered what had been his home for three years. A simple desk with books, paperwork, and a computer monitor on the left wall. The bed sat against the back wall, with his clothing bag and laptop pouch from the shuttle lying upon it.

He knelt beside the bed, reaching underneath to feel around until his hand found what he wanted. Pulling out a round cylinder, he sat on the bed and stared at it. He hadn't looked at it in three years, not since that day Dara gave it to him. He remembered the drawing with almost perfect recall—it had been beautiful but haunting.