Aestus, Book 1: The City

Aestus, Book 1: The City | Chapter 25

Chapter 25

"Suit up!"

The call blared down the hallway. Jossey groaned and rolled over, fumbling for her alarm clock, realized there was none.

She stared at the ceiling, at the bunk above her. She remembered now – with three hours of warning, at 9:00 PM, they'd gone through her living quarters, quickly packed up anything she might need into a standard-issue duffel, and taken her down to sublevel 1, where Patrol apparently lived. She'd managed to grab a few small items of personal value before they'd sealed her quarters and shut off any energy inputs.

At least her uncle had given her an extra week of reprieve for her hand to heal sufficiently before Patrol came to take her on. Her concussion was anyone's guess.

She wasn't sure why they were so particular, why they insisted on packing her bags themselves, but the crisply-dressed agent had told her it was for security. Amazingly, she'd been allowed to keep her knife. But no outside reading material.

Karapartei, she thought. Idea-sharing. Recruiting.

"Suit up!" The call came again, blaring over a loudspeaker. She rolled out of bed. She'd been assigned to a room with two women – Maja and Olivia. Maja was already awake and fully suited – tall, strong, athletic.

And unfriendly so far.

Jossey hadn't met Olivia yet – the woman had already been asleep when Jossey had come in after lights-out. She'd just been told their names, said hello briefly to Maja, who'd let her in, and been told to report to the mess hall at 6:00 sharp.

She glanced at her wrist. 5:40.

Not much earlier than solar crew, she thought. She got up, grabbing for her things. Maja was already by the door. Olivia was in the bathroom. Jossey said good morning to the tall woman. Maja stared openly at her face, at the scar running across Jossey's eye, and barely smiled.

Okay then. Jossey half-smiled, trying not to care. She wasn't here to make friends, she told herself.

They joined a flood of recruits in the hallway and trooped down a set of stairs to an open area. She tried to cover her yawns as she shuffled into a food line behind one of the male recruits. He turned around, started to say hello, then seemed to recognize her and simply stared, openmouthed.

Great.

Maja didn't scoot over when Jossey went to go sit at their table. The tall woman eyed her with distaste.

Jossey stared at her for a long moment, noting Olivia's apologetic smile, then shrugged and walked to an empty table. Food was food.

She sat down and tasted the nasty-looking stuff on her plate, looking around curiously. Most of the tables were full of men; a few women sat in clusters here and there. She didn't recognize anyone; she'd gone straight into Engineering school after the first two years of secondary school, and that had been a decade ago.

She thought one of the bigger men on the far end might look like Eddie, the kid who'd blown up his science fair experiment in sixth grade, if she squinted hard enough.

"May I sit?"

She looked up, startled, to see Caspar smiling down at her.

She smiled. "Good morning. It's been a while."

"Yes, it has. Your roommates aren't here?"

"The tall one – doesn't seem fond of me." She glanced over her shoulder. Indeed, Maja was giving her a death-glare from across the way.