Chapter 1

Recruiting

 

            It was a beautiful day as the sun’s innocent rays welcomed the land below to a new morning.  The roads slowly became littered with vehicles as people began making their way to work.  Sleepy headed teenagers were waking up and getting ready reluctantly as the children rested peacefully until it was their turn to welcome the day.  Yet, it was still coming.  It was still coming with its horrid mouth wide opened, ready to devour, ready for destruction, and famished for flesh.  Its stench could not be smelt, and it remained hidden in the shadows until it was time for it to strike.  Thus, it was ignored and overlooked, giving it more power than it should ever possess.

           “Andre!  Wake up sweetie!” her mother’s lovely voice called from the kitchen.  Six-year old Andre rubbed her eyes.

            “Coming mommy!”  She hopped out of bed and dashed her way out of the room and downstairs, almost running into her father.

            “Daddy!”  She held her hands up high.  Her father picked her up and twirled her around the room.

            “How’s my little angel doing?”

            “Good!”

            “But of course!”  He set her down on the steps and picked up his briefcase.  “You have a good day at school,” he said, kissing her on the forehead.

            “And you have a good day at work!”  Andre replied, gleefully, as she ran toward the kitchen.

            “Bye, honey.”  Her father left as her mother set a bowl of oatmeal on the table.

            “Eat up,” she smiled.  Andre took a spoon and dug in while her mother cleaned up the kitchen.  It was the usual morning routine.  As soon as Andre was done, she changed out of her pink pajamas, got dressed (a pink shirt with white stripes and a jumper), made her bed, and she her teeth.  While brushing, her mother would comb her hair and put it up in pigtails with little red bows.

            “Mommy, I need some animals for my diorama.”

            “We’ll go to the toy store as soon as you get home.  How does that sound?”  Andre gave her mother a goofy grin.  “Oh, you’re crazy.  My crazy Andre!”  Andre laughed.  “Well, let’s get going.  You don’t want to be late for school, and I don’t want to be late for work.”  The two of them walked down the stairs and made their customary partings, a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek.  Andre waved goodbye to her mother and then made her way to school, which was only a couple of blocks away.

            “Andre!”  Andre turned around to see her best friend running towards her.

            “Hi, Jilly!”  Jilly had long brown hair and was wearing jean shorts and a light blue t-shirt with a picture of a kitty’s face on the front.

            “We’re going to learn how to play silent ball today,” Jilly said excitedly.  “That’s what Mrs. Smite told us.”

            “Oh, yeah!  I remember her telling us that!”  The two girls grinned at each other, but suddenly stopped short in their tracks.  School was usually very lively in the mornings.  Kids would play their favorite games in the courtyards until the bell would ring.  Rounds of tag behind some of the big oak trees, hide-and-go seek, racing...the school’s courtyards were always full of kids’ laugher.  Today was an exception.  Instead, children were looking at the school, fear and nervous expressions on their faces, as they stared up at the strange people who were standing motionless all around the courtyards.

            “What’s the military doing here?” Andre whispered to Jilly, frowning.  The children shifted around as they tried to figure out if it was safe to enter the school.  At last, the front doors swung open, and the kids began pushing each other to get a better view.  Their principal stepped out, along with some of the other administration and a couple of people from the military.  The principal stopped halfway from the school and where the children were watching.

            “It’s safe to come in,” he shouted, as loud as he could.  Everyone was still hesitant about walking towards these strangers.  Their uniforms consisted of dull grey pants and big black boots.  They also wore a navy blue uniform covered with badges to represent their ranks.  A nametag was pinned just above the badges and a rifle rested on their right side.  They all wore a brown leather belt that had all sorts of gidgets and gadgets that most of the children have only heard of, but have never seen in their lives.  Some of the soldiers had different color sashes over their uniforms, either red or grey.  A grey hat with the gold crest of the military, a hawk with it’s wings spread out, rested on the heads of the men, while the women either had their hair pulled back or it remained short.  No one wore smiles on their faces.  They stared straight in front of them, so serious looking that it was the bell that stirred the children from their alarm.  They slowly made their way to the courtyard.

            “Yes, yes.  Everyone report to your class immediately! Hurry now!”  The children paid no attention to him.

            “Principal Keets looks scared,” Andre whispered.  Jilly didn’t say anything.  She followed the other children, and Andre proceeded to do the same.

 

            Their teacher, Mrs. Smite, was rushing all the children to their seats.  She was usually cheerful and caring.  Today, though, she was very jumpy and tense.  Her voice, usually calm and sweet, was rambling words a mile a minute.

            “Hurry now, hurry now.  Someone should be in here shortly.”  She looked nervously at the door.  “Look neat, look your best.   When someone comes, do as your told.  Don’t be scared.  Just listen.  Remember what I taught you?  You get more things done when you listen.  Right?”  The class nodded their heads.  “Yes, that’s right.  Very much right.”  Mrs. Smite gave a nervous laugh.

            “Jilly?  Are you all right?”

            “Andre, no talking!  No, everyone keep your mouths shut.  Do not say anything unless you are told.  Remember, listen!  Listen!  How about this, everyone, put your heads on your desk.  When the door opens, sit up straight.  Look straight.  No slouching.  Now go!  Lye down your heads...NOW!”  As soon as the kids started resting their heads, the door swung open.  A man marched in, dressed in the military uniform.  He turned sharply, facing the class.  His face was smooth and young and his uniform had a couple of badges underneath his nametag, which read Maj. Done.  He also wore a gray sash.

            “Roster,” he spoke without making eye contact to Mrs. Smite.

            “Oh, yes yes!  I have it here.  Printed it out as soon as Mr. Keets told us what was going on...here you go!”  The man took it from her and gazed over it briefly.  When he was done, he looked up at the class again.

            “My name is Major Dome.  That is how you shall refer to me.  As I call your name, I want you to march to the front of the room, pronounce your name and age, nothing more than that, and then march back to your seats.  Is that understood?”

            “Yes sir,” the kids chanted.

            “No!  You do not refer to me as ‘sir’ unless you do not know my name.  Is that understood?”

            “Yes, Major Dome.”

            “Good.”  He took the roster and began reading off the children’s names.  It seemed really silly to Andre that he would call their names and then they would have to give them again.  Did he have that bad of a memory?  When her name was called, she did as the others did.  She marched to the front of the room.

            “Andre Flode.  Age six.”  She marched back to her seat, dragging her feet a little as she flopped back into her seat.  Jilly Frasse, who had gone before Andre, was sitting at her desk, her eyes fixed on Major Dome, motionless.  Jilly was really worrying Andre...

            “Halono Sharp!”  A boy who sat behind Andre slugged his way to the front of the room in a careless fashion.

            “My name is Halono Sharp.  I am 6 years old and I don’t like the taste of spinach.”  He dragged himself back to his seat.

            “Why did you do that?” a boy behind Halono whispered.

            “My brother told me this morning,” Halono replied.  “He said if I didn’t do what I was told then I would be able to see him and my mom and dad again.”  Andre shuddered.

            When the final person did their march, Major Dome began going through the roster, a pen in his hands as he checked off students’ names.

            “When I call your name, you will march outside and wait for me for further instructions.  Is that understood?”

            “Yes sir!”

            “Major Dome!”

            “Yes, Major Dome!”

            “I hope he doesn’t call my name,” one kid whispered.

            “Do you know what we will be doing?”

            “No.”  Andre shuddered again.  Everyone was confused.  Mrs. Smite kept trying to prevent herself from chewing on her pencil.  Even the adults were scared.

           “Andre Flode!”  It was like a death sentence for any six-year old.  She marched outside, joining a few other students.  One girl had tears streaming down her cheeks.  A boy kept his arm over his eyes so no one would see them.  The other two kids were trying to look serious, but their nervous expressions failed to leave their faces.  To Andre’s surprise, Halono Sharp came marching out of the classroom.

            “Are you getting a drink of water?”  Andre asked him.  Halono walked past her.

            “Brother...brother lied.  I will never see them again.”  He sat down and crouched up against the wall, burying his face in his knees.  Twelve students in all were sitting in the hall when Major Dome returned.

            “Stand up and face me!” he snapped.  Halono dragged himself to his feet.  “You will follow me outside.  Do not do anything unless I tell you to.  Is that understood?”

            “Yes, Major Dome,” they all groaned.  Behind him, they marched.  Other students were doing the same thing.  No matter the age, everyone’s faces were grim.

            “May I ask you a question, Major Dome?” the girl in front of the line asked.

            “No, you may not.”

            “But...I just want to know where we are going!” the girl wailed.

            “A city called Galong.  We will be there for a week.”

            “A week??” the girl shrieked.  “But what about mommy and daddy?”

            “They will be notified.”

            “And we will see them again in a week...right?”  This time, Major Dome did not answer.  “RIGHT???”

            “That is enough questions.  Be silent!”  The girl hushed quickly, but her tears did not stop.  Gray busses were parked in the back of the school.  The children went in a single file line, sticking together with their classmates.  Everything was so organized that it was starting to make Andre feel sick.  She’d rather be in her messy room, her mom yelling at her about its cleanliness, her father telling her mother “she’s only a little girl.  Let her enjoy being a little girl.”  Somehow, she didn’t think she was going to be a little girl anymore.  As she stepped onto the bus, she turned to look at her elementary school, for one last time.


Chapter 2

11 years later

            The single room apartment was covered with candy wrappers, empty bottles, newspaper clippings, and other random trash.  Only a couple spots of the blue carpet showed.  Spilt bottles rested on a table and the kitchenette counter.  Alexandria had twisted herself in her blankets, her back turned to the mess.

            Bang, Bang, Bang!  She lazily opened one eye, but closed it again quickly.

            Alexandria Roane!  Get up this instant!”  Alex rolled over and slowly opened her eyes to view the disaster in her room.

            “Aye,” she muttered.  “Koga and I really went to it...Shrime’s going to be pissed when she sees this.”

            “ROANE!  WAKE UP!”

            “I’m coming, I’m coming!” Alex fussed as she got out of bed.  With one foot, she swiped as much trash as she could under her bed.  With her other foot, she shoved the rest of the trash to the sides of the room.  Staggering towards the door, she put the chain on and opened the door as far as the chain would allow it.

            “What?”  Major Shrime tired pushing the door so she could get a better look inside, but Alex blocked her.

            “You know why I am here.  I am assuming your room is just as bad, if not worse, than Ms. Maje’s!”

            “Well, I think you assumed wrong.”

            “Oh, really??  As much as you are tying to block my view, I can still see some empty bottles on the table.  Ms. Roane, you are in probation for the rest of the week.  You will be spending your free time cleaning up this mess.  Is that understood?”

            “You know, you guys need a better catch phrase instead of always ending with ‘is that understood’ like we’re three years old.”  Major Shrime clenched her fists as a shade of red began to flush in her face.

            “Ms. Roane, you are really pushing it!  If I here any more crap from you, you will be doing a lot more than cleaning up!  I let you off easy, do you regret that?”

            “No ma’am.”  Major Shrime turned around and marched away.  Alex sighed as she closed the door.

            “What a mess.  Damn Major Shrime!”

 

            Alex was now cleaned up and dressed in her school uniform, a plain navy blue vest with the military’s crest sewn in on the left and the letters MRA sewn on the right.  Her nametag was above the letters.  A long, ugly gray skirt hung down to her knees and grey songs and black shoes were on her feet.  A navy blue leather book bag rested on her shoulders and a brown leather bag rested in her hands, both with the military’s crest and the letters MRA in gold.

            “Yo, Roane!”  Koga Maje came running up to Alex’s side.  “So how much trouble did you get?”

            “Probation for a week, how about you, Koga?”

            “Probation for just a week???  Damn, that bitch!  She gave me probation AND the drill!  She just wants to kick my ass for the rest of the week.  But, it was worth last night.  Man, you were so wasted!”  Koga laughed loudly swinging her arms wildly about her.

            “Yeah, but if you keep getting in trouble, they’ll kick you out of the academy.”

            “Kick me out?  You serious, Alex??”  Koga folded her arms.  “Going here was not my choice.  I want them to kick me out.  You know what the world is like outside Armane?  I bet it isn’t all guns and shootings like they’ve told us for years.  I want to see the real world and get the hell out of here.  Isn’t that what you want, Alex?”

            “I want to get in Steelidge.”

            “Steelidge?  That’s like a promotion in the military!  And the SME exams are next week.”

            “I’ve been studying.”

            “You’ve been studying the labels on whiskey bottles.  That’s all you’ve been studying...hey, Alex.”  Alex had ducked behind Koga, her face completely red.  “Hey, what’s your problem?”

            Brond,” Alex whispered, pointing to a tall guy who wore a similar uniform, only with pants instead of a skirt.  He had obvious budges on his arms and a charming smile.

            “He’s a smartass.  I don’t see why you got a thing for him.”

            “I...I don’t have a thing for him!”

            “Oh, give me a break.  Look, the guy’s perfect at everything.  He’s completely flawless, like some kind of robot.  Guys like that make me sick.  Don’t you see?  He’s boring.  You deserve someone better than that, someone adventurous.  Someone to show you there’s more than the Military Rogals Academy.”  Koga whined the name of the academy in a sarcastic sort of way.  Alex watched Brond disappear into the entrance of MRA.

            “I don’t want to hear that attitude from you, Ms. Maje.”  Both girls swung around to see Major Shrime’s arms crossed.

            “Oh, come on.  You should know by now I don’t like it.”

            “Yes, and that is what the drills will do for you.  You are here, and you are going to like it.”

            “Come on.  Get off our back already!” Alex snapped.  “You don’t have to stalk us!”

            “Silence, Ms. Roane!  Would you like to do the drills with your friend as well?  I’ll tell you right now, you will fail your SME exams if you chose that path.  And I know you want to pass them.”

            “That’s none of your business!  Maybe I do, maybe I don’t!”

            “Well, even if you do pass, with that attitude, I won’t let you get in.  Remember, you have to have approval from your advisor.”  Alex quieted down.  “I shall be seeing you two soon, sadly.  Do not even think of anything against school rules for a second.  Since both of you are on probation, Ill be watching you like a hawk.”  With that, Major Shrime marched up to the main RMA building ahead.

            “Hey, Alex?”

            “Hmmm?”

            “Tell me...why do you want to pass the SME exams so bad?”

            “Like you, I want to get the hell out of here.  See what else this world has to offer.”  Koga laughed.

            “We’ve got the same goal, just different ways to reach it.”

            “That’s why we’re friends.”

            “Eh...don’t use friends.  That sounds so lame.  Chums is better...Oh!”

            “Fine, chum.  What?

            “Hey,  meet me by the woods at 9.  Bring a sandwich.  I just thought of something.”

            “Thought of something...what?”

            “Don’t worry.  You’ll like it, Alex.  I promise.”  Koga winked and then took off for the huge MRA building up ahead.

            “Always in trouble,” Alex mumbled, grinning to herself.

 

            Classes were boring as usual.  History about previous wars was never a good way to start the day.  Math right afterwards always made Alex want to hurl.  She felt like her hangover from the previous night decided to come in late, right during that class.  After that it was gym, even more dreaded than the previous two classes.  Not that Alex wasn’t good at it, for she could even do better than some of the guys.  It was just that Lt. Charles was a big, muscley man with a orange chute mustache and a bald head; most of the students were afraid of him.  He was constantly yelling at them, and if they were doing a stretch wrong he would help them do it right.  One student had broken his back with Lt. Charles guidance.  A fifteen minute lunch break followed.  It was the only time students were allowed to talk to one another, but because they were constantly monitored, many of the conservations had ‘good’ topics.  Teacher and school dissing came when classes were over and the majority of the military were out of earshot.  The shooting range came next, this one being one of Alex’s favorites.  Her next favorite was the simulation class which taught the students how to fly and use a ship.  Those who passed the SME exams would get some hands-on training on the Giel ship, which Alex had looked forward to for years.  The day ended with grammar and language.  Not as bad as history and math, but Alex still hated it.

            It was finally 17 o’clock.  Students began departing from MRA and were either heading back to their apartments, or dorms for the children, or to the city to find some place for dinner and relaxation.  The third year strings, which mainly consisted of 17 year-olds or those who have not passed the Steelidge Military Exams yet, stayed after school for a special class to get themselves prepared.  The class usually lasted 2 hours, and after the long day everyone shifted uncomfortable in their seats, taking mad notes.

            By the time it was 19 o’clock, Alex thought her stomach would start eating itself.  It was completely dark as she made her way back to her apartment.  The sewer plant to her right was glowing an eerie shade of orange, and Alex was use to its stench by now.

            “Hey, Alex!”  Alex turned around to see Brond calling to her.  Luckily it was dark, so he wouldn’t see how much she was blushing.  “You forgot your book.”  Brond handed her grammar book to her.

            “Uh...thanks, Brond,” Alex said shyly, as she put the book in her backpack.

            “You ready for the SME exams?”

            “Yeah.  I’ve been studying in the library while my...chum has been doing something for Major Shrime for whatever reason.”

            “Really?  I’ve only studied there a couple of times.  I tried studying last week, but my neighbors were being very loud.  I was thinking of going there again tonight.  You free?”  It was an opportunity Alex has been waiting for since Brond first said ‘hello’ to her.  Whatever reason Koga wanted to meet her, it had better been important.  REALLY important.

            “Well, um...I would love to, but I am meeting with someone at 9.”

            “Ah, at 21 hours eh?”  Not funny.  Not funny at all.  Sometimes Brond was so wrapped up in things that he was away from the real world.  Alex shook her head.

            “Well, yeah, but maybe we could meet up tomorrow night?”

            “I have soccer practice, and that usually runs late.  Hey, I’m sure we’ll run into each other again.  Probably at the library.  Have a good night, Alex.”  Brond waved as he made his way across the street.  That was awful.  Alex was dying to say ‘yes,’ but the words just stuck to the tip of her tounge.

            “You had better have a good reason for this, Koga!” she grumbled, bitterly.


Chapter 3

What the Military Didn’t Want Them to Know

 

            Alex had put on some casual clothes, torn up jeans, an old sweatshirt with MRA on the front, and some boots.  They were the best she could find being on a limited budget and shopping at a thrift store.  She walked toward the woods, being careful as there was some activity out and she didn’t want anyone from the military to become suspicious.

            “Alex!  Over here!” hissed Koga from behind a couple of trees.  Alex crept up to her.  Koga had just gotten off from her drills with Lt. Charles and her face was still moist with sweat.  Her black hair, which was tied in several small braids, blended in with the forest background, making her a little difficult to see at first.

            “Hey, we got to make this quick.  Major Shrime is going to be pissed when she finds that we are not in our rooms.”

            “Don’t worry about that bitch.  She wasn’t around at all during my drills like she threatened.  Now, let’s get going.”           

            “Koga, what are we getting into this time?”  Koga smiled and held up a set of keys.

            “Keys?  Where did you get that from?”

            “Lt. Charles.  When he throws his little fit things, his keys always fall out of his pockets.  Hard to stay in because he’s so fat.  I grabbed them when he wasn’t looking.”

            “They for the school?”

            “No, they’re for the gas station across the street...of course they’re for the school!”

            “And your plan is...”

            “You’re so slow, Alex.  We’re going to break in so we can look at the SMEs.  Then you’ll be better prepared.”

            “Do you even know where they are?”

            “Of course not.  But they keep all that stuff locked out.  It’s probably in some room they don’t allow students.”

            “Fine.  I appreciate the thoughtfulness, but what do you get out of it?”  Koga turned to her, her face more serious than Alex had ever seen since they had become...chums.

            “I’ve caused a lot of trouble here.  It’s going to be a long time before I can get out of this hellhole.  You at least felt the same way, and if I can help you get out of here, then at least one of us can taste some freedom.  Now, let’s hurry before Major Bitch finds us.  Or anyone else for that matter.”

            The two girls crept slowly to one of the back doors.  As Koga tried different keys to unlock the door, Alex asked “hey, won’t Lt. Charles figure out soon that his keys are missing?”

            “Yeah, probably,” Koga said, shrugging her shoulders as she opened the door.  “Come on, let’s go.”  Alex hesitated a little, but quickly followed behind.  She was going not because she was desperate to cheat on the SME, even if it was one of the biggest exams in the academy.  It was more of the thrill that they were doing something they knew they shouldn’t, and like Koga, Alex did not completely trust the military herself.  Perhaps they would accidentally find something Major Shrime was hiding and could use it as a bribe to get themselves out of trouble.  It was likely Koga was thinking the same thing.  Alex grinned to herself.

            “You take upstairs, and I’ll take down,” Koga whispered, handing her some keys.  “We’ll cover more turf that way.”  

            “How do you know what keys are what?”

            “They have letters on them...D and U.  I’m just going by that.”  Alex snatched the keys from Koga.

            “Don’t have to be all sarcastic,” she fussed.

            “Yes, I do.  That’s who I am, chum.”  The two separated.  Alex walked toward the closest set of stairs.  The only light in the building came from moon beams through the windows.  Other than that, Alex had to wait until her eyes were focused in the dark to move any faster.  She crept of the stairs and into a large hallway.  She knew by now which rooms were classes and which ones were always shut.  The first door she came to, she opened, taking her three tries.  The room had a bunch of shelves and stacks of papers in boxes.  Alex picked through some of the boxes but only found examinations from various classes.  Giving up, she closed the door behind her, making sure it was locked before proceeding to the next room.

            Most of the rooms Alex tried had the same similar things, boxes and test papers.  The sixth room she tried was a little different from the others.  It was much larger than the others, and the shelves were covered with metal boxes that had names on them, all were locked.  At the end of the room was an old television set.  Alex walked to it curiously.  There was a metal box underneath the TV that did not have a name.  Curious, Alex tried the different keys she had to try to open the box.  It was to no use.  This called for plan 2.  She pulled out a bobby pin from her short, brown hair and began picking at the lock.  It opened.  Inside were a bunch of tapes.  Alex picked one up with a title reading “Division 5, Section 02468.”  Looking at the door at the other end of the room, as if expecting it to burst open any moment, she turned back to the TV and pushed the tape into the VCR.  It was a little fuzzy and hard to see.  A dark room displayed on the screen.  A bunch of people were sitting around a table.  All of them, but one, were hidden in shadows.  The one in the center of the screen was wearing glasses and was rather thin, but that was all Alex could make out.  The man was reading something from a set of papers.

            “The next recruitment will be taken at division 5, section 02468.  Less than half of the students will be selected to join the Military Rogals Academy.  They will first be trained in Galong where their pasts will be forgotten to make the MRA their new permanent lifestyle.  The students will then be transferred to Armane where they will attend MRA until they pass their Steelidge Military Exams.  We will continue similar operations in other divisions until we receive recruitments naturally.”  Alex could feel her jaw drop.  When did this happen?  Now thinking about it, she never chose to join the military.  It was her life.  Always had been.  The same thing went with other people her own age, but for some reason, nobody ever questioned their pasts.  It was natural for them not to remember anything before the military...  The screen on the tape turned black.  Alex quickly popped it out and put it back in the box, fumbling as she did so.  She had to tell Koga and the others right away.  The military was keeping a huge secret from them....The door swung open.  Alex could feel her heart slide immediately to her throat.  A tall, well-built man entered, a flight light in his hand shining at Alex’s face.  She put her hands up to protect her eyes.

            “What are you doing here??” the man roared.  “What do you know?”  The metal box remained open on the floor.  She didn’t have any time to close it and sneak out of the room.  The man’s black mustache quivered with rage.  “You will follow me!” he growled.  Alex started to hesitate until the man put his hand on his rifle.  “Follow me,” he repeated.  Enough said, Alex got to her feet and followed the man out of the room.  The door locked behind them.

            He moved very fast for having so much flab...it must have really been muscles.  Alex had to jog a little to keep up.  Several times she wondered if she could just turn a corner and run for her life, but she had the awful feeling this man would kill her in an instant if she had tried anything.

            They walked up to a set of stairs that led to the third floor.  This floor had all of the offices of the lieutenants, who were primarily involved in educating the students, Captain Grande who ran MRA and watched over everyone, and the Majors who were involved with watching the students after school hours.  This man, however, was a Marshal.  Alex could tell from his badges that glowed in the little moonlight coming from one of the windows.  She had figured that a couple of colonels had their own offices up here, but she was a bit surprised that a Marshal would as well.  What was he doing here?

            The man opened the door to an office.

            “Get in,” he snarled.  Alex stepped inside as the man flipped a switch, letting light pour into the room.  He closed the door behind him and stood there for a moment, staring at her.  He then turned around and walked toward his desk, his eyes refusing to leave Alex out of his view, his right hand on the handle of his rifle.  Some scattered papers laid neatly on his desk, along with a nameplate reading Marshal Rick.

            “You saw one of the tapes,” he scoffed.  Alex’s heart was still in her throat and she found it impossible to speak.  Fear had taken over her entire body.  The man shook his head.  “So, now you know.  The Military Rogals Academy  was a school to get soldiers ready for war.  It has been that way for centuries.  However, about twelve years ago, people stopped applying to our school.  It was becoming a serious problem, because we knew in the future we wouldn’t have an army anymore if people refused to train.  We had no other option but to recruit people on our own.  That meant going to different towns and drafting young adults and children to train and become strong soldiers for the military.”

            “Unfortunately, this lasted for two years instead of one.  Finally, we began getting students who wanted to attend the Military Rogals Academy and become soldiers, so the drafting ended.  That is the what happened.”  Alex stared at him, her mouth hanging opened, stunned.  Her whole life had just been turned upside down.  Her past...gone.  She was a child when the military kidnapped her!  All of that...gone.  Her memory was blank as if somebody had wiped it clean.  Alex stood up, her hands pressed on the desk, her face twisted with rage, confusion, and hate.

            “What did you do to us??” she screamed.  Her hands clenched into fists without her even realizing.

            “That is something I cannot tell you,” Marshal Rick replied, shaking his head.

            “You better damn tell me!”  Alex shrieked, flipping over his desks.  The papers and nameplate scattered to the floor.  Marshal Rick just stood there as papers rained on him, he did not move an inch.

            “You fool.  Did you think I would tell you anything and just let you walk out of here?  Of course I won’t answer questions from you!”

            “So what are you going to do with me?  Kill me?”  Her teeth were clenched and her knuckles were starting to turn a ghostly white.

            “No.  That room you were just in is very secure.  When you entered the room, I was signaled immediately.  But we had a plan, if someone were to watch one of the tapes.  You are a very skilled soldier, Alexandria Roane.  I have seen you out in the field.  Killing you would be a waste.  I have a much better idea though, that even you would not mind.”  Alex stared at him.

            “Make a deal my ass...”  But before Alex could say anymore, Marshal Rick kicked his desk back to its upright position and took out his rifle.

            “Your fate is your choice.  I can kill you now, if I must.”  Alex crossed her arms.

            “Fine.  What is your proposition?”  Marshal Rick smirked as he opened a drawer, his eyes still fixed upon Alex.

            “Here.”  Gripped in his hand was a gold watch.  It had a very wide frame, like it was meant for a man’s, and roman numerals on it’s face, along with three hands.  The face of the watch was a bit thicker than a normal watch would be, and it didn’t appear to have a clasp.

            “What is that?”  questioned Alex.

            “It’s a watch.”

            “I know that!  But why are you giving me a watch??”

            “This watch does not tell the time.”  Alex stared at him dumbfounded.

            “Then what’s the point of it!?”

            “It has a special decide in it.  If you say anything about the tape you saw, this watch will self-destruct immediately.  You will be monitored for now on.  Whatever you say and whatever you do.  Oh, and don’t even think twice about taking it off.  This watch has a special clasp.  Once it goes on your hand, you won’t be able to get it off.  You could do so by tampering with it, I guess, but you wouldn’t want to accidentally blow your arm off.”

            “I don’t mind life without an arm.  I’ll still tell people what you did to us!”

            “Ah, yes, but that is not all.  I would also like to make a deal with you.”

            “A deal?”

            “Yes.  You see, if you keep your promise, then we shall keep ours.”

            Which is...

            “You saw the other boxes in that room, right?  With all of those names?”  Alex nodded.  “Those boxes contain tapes of everyone we drafted those two years.  With those tapes, you would be able to find your family.  If you work hard in the military and keep this secret, then you will eventually be allowed to depart and return to your family.”  Alex looked at the watch with disgust.  It was ugly, but at least it was better than being shot here.  At least if she was free, she would have a chance to warn others.

            “Would you remove the watch then?”

            “Yes, but you will not be forbidden to contact anyone at the MRA.  We don’t want this getting out, do we?”  She felt selfish saying ‘yes,’ knowing that only she would be able to get the reward of freedom many have longed.  But, it was better than being killed on the spot.  “So, do we have a deal?”  Alex thought some more, and then decided there was nothing more to think about.  She slapped her left arm on the desk.  Marshal Rick gave a grin that sent a shiver down Alex’s spine, as if she was making the worse decision in her entire life.  He slipped the watch around her wrist.  The ends of the watch bonded together creating a permanent seal.  A tickling sensation went around her entire wrist.

            “Now,” Marshal Rick smiled, “you and your friend we found earlier were both under probation, am I correct?”  Alex didn’t say anything.  “Well, unfortunately your friend has gotten into a lot of trouble for sneaking into school after hours, and for stealing Lt. Charles’ keys.  You will also be punished, but I talked to Major Shrime, and I think she will let you off easy.  Maybe even get rid of your probation all together.”

            “And why would she do that?”  Alex asked, suspiciously.  “Koga stole the keys because of me.  I broke in the school, too.  I also broke probation.  Why me and not her?”

            “Because.  You know something the military does not want out and about.  Major Shrime is forbidden to talk about it, as all of our officers have watches similar to yours.  I think she might understand your special situation.  Now, go back to your apartment, and please hand me those keys on your way out.  Is that understood?”  Alex nodded as she handed him the keys and desperately darted out of Marshal Rick’s office.  It was nice to be back in the quiet dark hallways.  She could finally think to herself of everything she had just learned, the horrible truth.  However, thinking only made things worse.  Her heart was no longer in her throat, but now her stomach.  She felt sick, and threw up twice on her way back to her apartment.


Chapter 4

First challenges

 

        She slept through morning classes the next day.  Unable to pull herself out of bed to see her happy schoolmates, unaware of their vanished pasts, Alex twisted in her sheets, staring at the ceiling.  Major Shrime, who would usually come banging on her door after skipping one class, id not seem to care at all.  Koga came once at around 9 after her drills, but Alex did not answer.  She did not want to see her.  She was afraid if she did, the whole truth would come spilling out, and Koga was the last person who should know it.  This was only because she was so anti-military, Alex was afraid that if Koga knew the military kidnapped her, she would go insane.  Riots would break out.  People would die, when they shouldn’t have been here in the first place.  It was so frustrating, and Alex felt completely helpless.  To keep her mind off of things, and back in focus, she spent her time skipping class studying for the SMEs.  If she could pass them, at least she could have a start at finding her family.

            It was Friday when Alex finally managed to get herself back into her daily routine.  She slipped on her MRA uniform and washed her face.  It actually felt good to go back; it was getting tiring lying around the room all day and letting the military get to her.

            Koga was looking grim, and her walk was rather staggered.  Alex ran up to her.

            “Hey, Koga!”  Koga turned around, surprised to see that Alex had left her room.  At first, Koga didn’t say anything.  She just stared at Alex.  Then, the words all spilt out at once.

            “Alex!  What happened?  What did they do to you?  Why haven’t you been answering my calls?  Do you know what they’ve done to me?  They’ve been kicking my ass!  I’m on probation for the rest of the month!  With drills!  Weekends I have to do double drills, all day!  Did you tell them what happened?  My record is bad, Alex.  You should have taken the brunt for me!  That’s what chums do for each other!  Instead, Major Shrime’s been all nice to you!”  The excitement of seeing Alex again was now turning into anger and accusations.

            “I bet you didn’t get anything!  When I was talking to Major Shrime, because I was worried about you, she just told me to leave you alone.  She let you get away with skipping classes!  What’s up with that?  WHAT DID YOU DO, ALEXANDRIA?  HOW DID YOU GET OFF SO EASILY??”

            “I DID NOT GET OFF EASY!” Alex roared back.  She was tired of just listening to Koga’s false assumptions.  She had no clue what was eating Alex, and Alex couldn’t tell her, as much as she was dying to.

            “Then what’s your punishment?  Huh?”  Koga looked at her skeptically.

            “I...I can’t say...”

            “You’re a liar,” Koga snapped.  “I did all that for you, and you ditched me.  Do not speak to me for now on, Alexandria.  I do not consider you my friend anymore.  Thanks.”  Koga turned around and walked quickly toward the MRA entrance.  Alex just watched her go.  She refused to try and catch up to her.  Koga had every right to be upset.  If only she knew that if Alex told her the truth, she would only have one arm.  It could have just been a threat by the military, but Alex didn’t want to take any chances.  She sighed.

            “Hey, Alex!  You ok?”  And there was Brond Shide, running up to her.  It wasn’t dark, so Alex’s cheeks flushed brightly.

            “Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied.  The two of them began making their way to the school.

            “You were out for three days.  I thought you might have had the flu or something.  That’s not like you to skip so many days, and not get in trouble for it...”

            “Please...please don’t tell me that I’m not in trouble,” Alex sighed.

            “Hmmm?  Why?”

            “It’s just that...it’s nothing.”  Now she wanted to tell Brond.  She quickly looked the other way.  His cute face might make her enjoy life with just a right arm.  The shyness was now being replaced with an odd sort of discomfort.  The kind you get when you have a terrible secret and can’t admit it.  Brond looked at her curiously.

            “Hey, Brond?”

            “What?”

            “Do you...I mean, what do you think of the military?”

            “What do you mean?”

            “Well...um...”  Alex thought how she would word this right.  “I mean, do you like being a solider?  Do you like attending MRA?”  Brond stopped.  Alex was very interested at how he would answer this.  Perhaps, there was a way to get out of this mess without doing it alone.

            “Between you and me, I like learning math and science and things like that.  And I really want to pass my SMEs.  I’m just not sure what I would do if someone were to hand me a weapon and tell me to kill someone.  I don’t think I could do that.”

            “And yet, you’re here.”

            “Yeah.  But, where else would I be?”  For the first time, a worried expression appeared on Brond’s face.  It wasn’t that ‘I might fail this exam’ worried look, but one that was longing to remember something that was no longer there.

            “Hey, after classes, do you want to get together and I can show you what you missed?”  He’s such a nerd.  Alex smiled, for the first time since her conservation with Marshal Rick.

            “Yeah, sure!” she grinned.

 

            During lunch break, Alex spent her only free time of the day sitting on the toilet seat.  Since Koga wasn’t speaking to her, this gave her time to figure out some things.  She could not tell Brond what happened, but she could write a note.  However, she had to be very careful on her word choices.  She had to explain the situation, and make it clear that he could not speak a word to anyone about it.

            Brond, I am about to tell you a very dark secret.  Please, if you do not want to keep my secret, shred this note immediately.  The military cannot find out that someone else besides me knows.  My story is going to sound farfetched, but you’re the only person who would understand and help me.”  Alex skimmed it over.  Looked pretty good.  She then briefly discussed about how she and Koga snuck into the academy, misleading the actual reason the two of them were there.  She told him about the tape, though she had forgotten all of those numbers, and then about how Marshal Rick had caught her and what he told her.  She ended the note with “now that you know this, please destroy the note.  Shred it and burn it.  And remember, we cannot talk about it.  If the military hears about this, they will not only blow off my arm, but kill me, and probably you too.  To reply, send me a note Saturday at the Jumping Frogs at 20 hours.  Thank you.”  Alex decided it wise that she didn’t sign her name.  That way, they couldn’t pinpoint it directly on her.  Perhaps Major Shrime had a soft spot no one knew of.  She tucked the note in a buttoned-up pocket on her uniform.  It would be safe there until her study session.

 

            By the time classes had ended, everyone was heading back to their apartments and getting ready for Friday night parties downtown.  Alex and Koga usually joined in the weekend celebrations, but Koga had drills.  That and they were still on no speaking turns.  Alex’s stomach made an unpleasant growl.  The only thing she had eaten all day was an apple for breakfast.  But, there was Brond, she couldn’t think about food now.  This was far much more important.

            “Hey, you ready?”

            “Yeah.  Where should we go?”

            “Library.  That way, we could study some, too.”  What a nerd.  Alex gave a little smile and the two of them walked to the library.

            “Do you think your ready for the SMEs?”

            “Well, I have been studying all week.  I think I’m ready.  How about you?”

            “I’ve been studying, too, but I am nervous I am missing something.  These aren’t easy exams, but I really would like to do something besides sitting in a classroom all my life.”

            “Really??”  Alex was quite shocked to hear this coming from one of MRA’s top brainiacs.  “But, I thought you liked studying!”

            “No.  I don’t like studying at all.  I just like doing the best that I can.  I like challenging myself.  Besides, you never know everything in the world.  Every day, you learn something new, right?”  Uh....Alex shook her head.  “Well, that’s why I study.  I don’t like it, but I learn some interesting stuff.  To me, anyways.  However, I think you can learn more stuff outside of the classroom.  That’s why I want to get into Steelidge.  It’s time to go into a different learning style.”

            “Wow.  I...I never knew.”

            “That’s because people just assume I’m some kind of nerd.  I think that everyone believes in the same thing, but just go a different way about it.  Right?”

            “Yes.  I agree with that.  I just think people are afraid to talk about that.  If you want to leave the MRA very badly, you will get punished, or something.  I think some people feel that way.”

            “Probably.  Such a shame.  If people only talked with one another, and not let the tension from the military frighten them, there would be so much more we would learn outside of the classrooms.”

            The five story library was now looming ahead of them.  Soft yellow light streamed from its windows and onto the sidewalk where they were standing.  Brond and Alex made their way to the third floor where they found a quiet study room to themselves.  Brond had very organized notes of all the classes Alex missed.  While Alex reviewed the notes, and asking Brond some questions, he was studying for SMEs.  Alex didn’t mind, but it did make her a little nervous that she wasn’t studying with him.

            After the review session was over, and Brond was packing up his books, Alex decided it was the perfect time to deliver the note.  When Brond wasn’t looking, she slipped it in front of his binder filled with SME notes  Because she put it up front, he was bound to see it.

            “Did you understand everything?” Brond asked her.

            “Yes, I think so.  Thank you so much for your notes!”

            “No problem.  At least you have the motivation and desire to study, unlike your friend.  I know this is not my place, but are you two ok?”  Alex bit her lip.

            “She’s mad at me about something...she has a right to be.  Anyways, I have to work tomorrow morning, so I’d better go get some sleep.”

            “Yeah, same here.  Good night, Alex.”

            “Good night, Brond.”  They departed.  Alex’s heart felt strangely fluttered, from nervousness of when Brond would read the note and what he would do, and from the excitement of their first time studying together.  She skipped back to her apartment, feeling the happiest since the past three days.


Chapter 5

A way Around

 

            It was another Saturday morning.  Alex groaned as she got up.  The three days she missed school were gloomy and depressing, but at least she was able to get some sleep.  Now she would have to drag herself to the shopping mall downtown to work at a store called “Jumping Frogs.”  The store sold cute little kids clothes.  Only problem was these kids were FAR from cute.  Every weekend, it was the same thing.  Kids crying because their moms dragged them out, temper tantrums when they didn’t get their way, and the occasional spit-ups.  Those were fun to clean out of the soft green carpet.  Alex hated the job, but it was the only thing she could get outside of the military, and she needed money.  Her other option would be MPT, Military Paid Training.  Basically, you got paid squat for running through obstacle courses, getting yelled at, doing pushups, getting yelled at some more...it wasn’t appealing to Alex at all.  The purpose was to make you a ‘stronger’ soldier, but Alex saw it more as extra military torture.

            Alex couldn’t wait until lunch time.  The manager, who only came in during lunch time, closing time, and one random time throughout the day, relived her for a one hour break.  Since Alex didn’t eat much yesterday, she gorged herself on a lot of the delicious foods the food court had to offer.  While chomping away on her hotdog, Koga came, walking from behind a fountain.  Usually the two of them would eat together and share their stories throughout the morning; Koga worked at a store that sold luggage.  However, it was quite obvious that Koga was still not in a forgiving mood.  Eating lunch alone kind of sucked, but Alex couldn’t blame Koga in the least bit.  She stared at the gold watch disgustingly, her stomach starting to feel sick just from looking at it.

            The store closed at 8pm, Alex’s favorite time of the day.  She and Koga would go out to some club and get drunk, or they would buy alcohol with their fake ids and laugh in each others apartments, like they did last week.  Alex knew this Saturday night would suck.  She turned on a vacuum cleaner after the last customers had left and began cleaning up the carpet.  She was startled when someone tapped her on the shoulder that she almost jumped a mile.  Koga?  No.  It was Brond.  At first, she was disappointed, but then she quickly remembered...Brond read the note!  She looked at him anxiously.

            “I was wondering...” he looked at her apprehensively.  “Well, you’re familiar with the nice clubs here, right?  Would you...like to go out?  After your shift of course.  Clubbing with Brond, the brainiac?  Alex began moving the vacuum over and over again on the same spot.

            “Yeah!  Sure!”  Brond smiled.

            “Ok.  Do you need some help?  We could leave quicker.”

            “Well, if you want, but you really don’t have to.  It shouldn’t take me much longer to clean things up.”  Brond gave a helping hand anyway.  It was quite nice of him, and the work was completed quickly.

            “So...what kind of clubs do you like to go to?”  That’s when it dawned to Alex.  Clubs were noisy, so it was the perfect place to exchange information without the military knowing.  They had to go to one of the louder bars, with a live band.

            Cockachus.  It’s a very nice bar.  Koga and I don’t go there very often because it can get a bit too noisy, which is good because then it will be less likely I’ll run into her.”

            Cockachus...”  Brond scratched his chin.  “Sounds interesting.  Let’s get going!”

 

            Cockachus was absolutely packed.  Half of the people are already drunk while the other half were trying.  Loud music filled the smoky, alcoholic air as people danced to the beats.  The dance floor was circular and contained a stage where local bands would play.  It was surrounded by tables, chairs, and a couple of bars that were raised above the dance floor.  A second floor circle around the dance floor.  A few people there were calling out to their friends who were dancing below.

            “Let’s get a table.”  Alex followed Brond up to the second level where they found a free table that was sticky from spilt drinks.  She looked up at Brond curiously, wondering what he would say.

            “It is loud here!” he hollered over the noise.

            “Yeah, it usually is!” Alex yelled back.  Brond shifted in his seat.

            “Come on all ready!” Alex thought, bitterly.  She was becoming more anxious.  Brond looked away from her to watch the people on the dance floor.

            “Is there something you wanted to tell me?” Alex probed him.  Brond turned his focus back to her.

            “No, nothing I can think of!”

            Greeeeeeat,” Alex thought bitterly to herself.  Though, he was smart, hopefully he wrote a note back, and just wasn’t ready to give it to her yet.

            “Can I get you two something to drink?” a waitress asked them.

            “Just a water...” Brond started.

            “Two beers!”  Alex pulled out her id and showed the waitress.

            “Very well.”  The waitress turned and left.  Brond looked ticked.

            “Beer?  We’re not old enough to drink!  Where did you get that id??”

            “Oh, calm down.  You deserve a good drink after all of your help yesterday.  My treat.”

            “Yes, but...”

            “We only live once, Brond.  You can’t take your life for granted.  Do something fun, even if it isn’t completely legal.”  Brond shook his head.  To his surprise, beer tasted quite good.  After an hour of barely talking, he was more wasted than Alex, and seemed to have a lot to say other than school work.

            “You know, Alex, you have a really sucky job.  Dealing with all of those little bratty kids...if I were in your place, I’d be giving what some of those kids deserve, you know?  Probably would get fired, maybe even kicked out of MRA.  Nah, I wouldn’t do that.”  He took another sip.  “What those kids need are some descent training.  Let the military kick their asses.  That’s what they did to me, and look how I turned out!  I was much better than before I joined the military...”  Brond paused.  He stared at his half empty mug that laid before him.  He had caught a nerve.  “Well, if I could remember that,” he said, sadly.  He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and shoved it across the table to Alex who picked it up.  She stuffed it in her pocket.  Better to read it back in her empty apartment where no one would accidentally see it.  “I can’t wait to pass my SMEs.  I’m going on an adventure as soon as I get in Steelidge.”  He chugged down the rest of the beer and slammed his mug to the table.  His eyes were half opened, and his body was rather limp.

            “I think you’ve had enough to drink,” Alex said.  After paying the waitress, she helped Brond get to his feet and the two of them made their way back to his apartment.

            “I feel so dizzy...” he groaned.

            “That’s because you are not use to drinking,” Alex pointed out.

            “Yeah.  But at least I don’t get sick like most people do.”  No sooner had he said that, he pulled himself away from her and began puking in a back alley.  When he was done, he wiped his mouth off with his shirt.

            “My apartment’s over there.  I’ll be fine now.”

            “You are stumbling a lot.  Let me at least help you up the stairs.”  Brond refused and Alex insisted.  In the end, Brond was too out of it to disagree anymore.  His apartment was on the third floor.  By the time they reached the door, Alex’s shoulder was beginning to hurt from supporting Brond’s weight.

            “That was fun,” he said, giving her a goofy smile.  “Don’t forget to read...”

            “Yes, yes.  Good night, Brond.”

            “Good night you.”  Brond went into his apartment.  As Alex turned away, she heard a loud clunk and the sound of things falling to the floor.

            “I’m all right!” he called.  Alex shook her head, giving a little smile.

            She found herself running as fast as she could.  She had been waiting all day for Brond’s response.  And now she had it.

            On her apartment door was tacked a note “I had a nice drill.  Thanks for watching you stupid bitch.  Koga.”  Alex tore it off and ripped it in shreds as she entered her apartment, locking all of the locks on her door.  She tossed Koga’s note into the wastebasket and plopped onto her bed.  She pulled out Brond’s note and began reading it apprehensively.

            “I read your note, it has been destroyed.  I am not quite sure at the moment if I believe you, but I have no reason why I shouldn’t either.  It is farfetched, but it explains so much.  I am sorry you have to keep this secret hidden alone, but I promise to do the same.  If you ever need to talk, let me know (by notes of course).  Don’t forget to destroy this after you have read it.”  Alex bounced on her bed with glee.  He believed her!  She wouldn’t be alone.  This way, when she left MRA all together, there would at least be someone out there the military did not know about, who knew their secret and could eventually warn the others.  Though Brond may not be fully aware of this yet, he at least acknowledged the seriousness of the situation.  Alex tore up the note and washed the pieces down the drain.


Chapter 6

Steelidge Military Exams

 

            She lied there, still, with her hands folded across her chest.  Her face remained expressionless, no smile, no frown.  Brown locks of hair lied dully on her head.  She was dressed in the MRA uniforms, though they have never been exposed to the outside world.  In a clear case underneath the academy, locked tightly, she slept.  Rame Cride...Rumors of her were always spreading amongst the students.  Where the rumors started, no one knew.  Rame may not even exist, as far as anyone was concerned.  Every so often, her legend would become the main topic of conversations, as people would discuss to each other about the military’s ‘secret weapon.’  It was the morning of the Steelidge Military Exams, and to help break the nerves of everyone taking them, Rame Cride was the topic of conversations.

            “She’s hidden in the basement, they have her locked up several times so no student can find her.”

            “Really?”

            “Yes.  I heard that she was Admiral Exot’s wife who was killed in a battle.  He froze her in hopes to return her back to life.”

            “No.  I heard that her body was found here when they were trying to build the academy.  Her ghost kept freaking people out that they took her body and put it in a case so she would stop bothering everyone.”

            “That’s not true!  She’s an android!  She can come back to life any time the military wants to use her.  She has tons of weapons all over her body...”

            “I heard she was just an innocent child.”

            “Nah.  She was the mother of one of the majors.”

            “No, she doesn’t exist!” Koga roared as she walked past the students.  “Somebody did a strange painting of a girl and nobody knew who she was.  They began making up rumors about the girl in the painting, and being the idiots that they were, Rame Cride was thought to be a real person the military keeps hidden from us.  But she’s not!  It’s all fiction, you morons!”  Koga stomped away, leaving a lot of people staring at her, mouths hung opened dumbly.

            The students taking the SMEs were excused from their classes.  The first part of the exams were all written.  Multiple choice, true/false, explanations, essays, the usual test stuff.  Subjects included how to work a rifle, tricks of aim and shooting, the lifestyles of a typical military camp, history on previous battles and the military itself, the basic controls of a ship, lifestyles on a ship, etc.  These tests were conducted by the Majors, instead of the Lieutenants who taught the majority of their lessons.  Major Shrime was in charge of monitoring the morning session while Major Kurrte took over the afternoon.  It was pretty tense, but luckily they were all given a half an hour break instead of the usual fifteen minutes for lunch.  Of course, they had to eat in silence, which was fine by Alex since Koga was still not speaking to her.

            By the end of the day, Alex felt relieved that the first part was over, but she was also nervous on how well she did.  Tomorrow would be hands-on practice with rifle training, as well as being placed in different scenarios and trying to find a way to handle them.  This required more team work, so at least it would be more fun than sitting around taking exams all day.

 

            The morning started off with people taking turns at shooting a moving target.  Everyone was timed on how quickly it took them to hit the targets correctly and how many targets they could hit in a certain period of time.  Alex managed to get 18 targets in 2 minutes.  She was a bit disappointed for she could usually make at least 20.  Others were not doing as well as they usually did in class either.  This made Alex feel a bit better on her performance.  Koga, on the other hand, did a much better job and was able to get 23.

           “Good job, Koga!” Alex cheered.  Koga gave her a nasty look and then joined the rest of the crowd.  Alex frowned.  Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Major Dome who was watching them perform.  He was looking in her direction, his face cross, and his eyes glowing like embers.  Alex quickly turned away as a surge of panic and fear went down her spine.  She looked hesitantly up to see that he was now watching the new people target shooting.

            “Hey, Alex.  Nice job.”  Alex quickly turned around to see Brond smiling at her.

            “I usually do better,” she mumbled.

            “Well, you did better than me.  I was only able to get 17.  Not much, but you still beat me by one target.”  He turned his direction to the students who had just finished their test.  “It was weird.  I just felt so nervous, that I had to do it perfectly to show them how good I am, that I actually did worse.  I hope that when I am in the battlefield, I won’t worry about what other people think about me.  I’ll just do what’s got to be done.”

            “You mean killing people?”  Alex stared at him.

            “No...not necessarily killing people.  Perhaps...that might be why I didn’t do so well.”  Alex thought about that for a moment.  Could that be why she didn’t perform as well either?  Knowing what the military did to them might have unconsciously caused them to repel and fail to shoot more targets.

            “Ok, everybody is done with targets.  Now it’s time for the real deal.”  Major Fraut began dividing everyone up in teams of four.  “You, over here!” he called to her, pointing to two other people.  One was Koga and the other was a boy she had seen occasionally throughout classes.  Major Fraut dragged in another boy and they had a group.

            “I’m not speaking to you,” Koga muttered unpleasantly.

            “Nobody said you had to,” Alex replied, hotly.  She was in no mood of taking Koga’s crap.  She was going to pass her SMEs, and there was nothing Koga could do to stop her.

            When everyone was divided into groups, they were given a box full of random items: two sleeping bags, a very long piece of cloth, 4 rifles, two cases of bullets, some rope, 4 canteens, a box of matches, 1 flashlight, 1 toothbrush and 1 tube of toothpaste, a bar of soap, 1 roll of toilet paper, and various cans of food.  The four of them picked through the box curiously.  Alex accidentally began grabbing the flashlight, which Koga had also been reaching for.  She whacked her hand away, pulling hers back as if Alex’s hand was a tarantula.

            “This box contains everything you would need for a night camping out in the field.  You will receive nothing more than this.  Is that understood?”  A girl raised her hand.

            “But I think there was a mistake.  We only have two sleeping bags,” protested the girl, who was in a group with three guys.

            “No, that was not a mistake.”  The guys give rather goofy looks at Major Frout’s response.

            “I’m getting one of the sleep bags, and if you guys try anything funny, you’ll be sorry!”  The girl held out two fists in their faces.  The boys settled down.

            “Now,” continued Major Frout.  as you all probably remember, on SME days, you were let out early for class.  Well, despite all of the rumors you may have heard, the reason for this is because each group will be assigned a lieutenant.  This lieutenant will monitor you and take notes on how you solve problems.  The lieutenant is allowed to bring one other item to the group, but other than that you will be sharing your supplies with him or her.  Is that understood?”  Everyone shook their heads while several people groaned.

            After the teams had all been assigned a lieutenant, a letter and a number, and a map to their destination, Lt, Jewl lead the four of them through a large field and into a nearby woods.  For awhile, the other teams followed a similar path, but eventually every group went their own ways.  They marched in silence for three hours until Lt. Jewl unexpectedly told them to halt.  She investigated a nearby tree and then began comparing it to whatever was on the map.

            “I’m hungry,” one of the boys complained, without asking permission first.  He was very skinny that his clothes looked rather saggy.  Most of his short orange hair was hidden under his hat and he was slouching from exhaustion, another no-no in the military.  Lt. Jewl stared at him.

            “First, you spoke without asking.  Second, stand up straight!  You are being tested!  Please state your name.”  The boy stood up as straight as he could.

            Wald Fly!” he announced.  The other boy, who had his back turned, tried preventing a chuckle.  Koga was also ignoring the situation.

            “Mr. Fly, we have not been walking long, and we have little rations for the 5 of us.  I think you can survive a few more hours.  Is that understood?”

            “Yes, Lt. Jewl!” Wald replied as he turned back into line, a look of disgust on his face.

            “And you, what is your name!?” Lt. Jewl snapped, turning her direction to the other boy.

            “Ah, come on.  You already know who I am, Lt. Jewl.”

            “Don’t give me that!” Lt. Jewl roared.  “If you make it into Steelidge, you will be dealing with people who do not know you.  And if these people were to see your attitude now, I am sure you will be most unpopular as you could be a potential threat to the entire platoon you are in!  Is that understood?”

            “Um, Lt. Jewl, I think you are over exaggerating a little.  You make it sound like I would accidentally kill everyone, when I haven’t done anything wrong yet.”

            “You are speaking with an attitude, you have spoken without permission many times, and you still have not given your name!”

            “My name is Kark, Kark Franch!  Permission to speak, ma’am!”

            “Permission denied!” she said, nastily.  Kark turned back in line while Lt. Jewl’s eyes went over towards Koga.  Koga was already standing in line, her face staring blankly at Wald’s head.

            “You!” she cried out, turning toward Alex who was watching what was going on, and thus was not turned correctly in line.  She quickly changed her position as Lt. Jewl stuck her face up to Alex’s.  “Think it’s funny to watch your other classmates get into trouble?”  Alex shook her head.

            “No ma’am!”

            “Then please stand in line without your back turned!  Is that understood?”

            “Yes ma’am!”

            “Good.  We have two more hours left before we get to our campsite.  Forward march!”  Alex could hear Wald let out a quiet groan as they began marching through the woods again.  They made a lot of noise, which Alex always thought was stupid.  If you make too much noise, the enemy will easily find you.  The military’s rebuttal to this was “if you make noise, other platoons will recognize it as your own.  We all do this so something unusual, tiptoeing for example, will send out red flags that an enemy is approaching.”  The logic was a bit twisted and didn’t make much sense.

            An open field.  How stupid could the military be?  It was common sense that if you were out in the battlefield you do not camp in an open field where anyone could find you!  But, that is where they set up their camp.  Using tall, strong sticks in the woods, they were able to hold the piece of cloth up to form a tent.  The rope also came in hand for supporting the cloth and keeping it upright.  Everyone worked in silence, only talking when they had a suggestion.  Koga made a couple of snide comments, such as “I know I wouldn’t be putting that there” or “Wald, do you think you can find some stronger sticks,” all digs made to Alex.  Alex ignored them.  She was not going to let Koga’s bitterness let her down.

            The sky was dark and the stars’ glows were becoming more apparent by the time they got a fire started.  The food was split up evenly.  Koga tried to take some of the better portions for herself, but Lt. Jewl would not allow such behavior.  While everyone ate, they went over names again, Koga and Alex had given theirs earlier throughout the trip.  Lt. Jewl wrote all of this down and began taking notes on the events of the day, the few exciting ones they had anyways.

            When dinner was done, Kark stood up.

            “May I have permission to explore the campsite to see if the enemy is near, or perhaps another platoon?”  Lt. Jewl looked up from her notes and started at him through the crackling embers of the fire.

            “Yes, but you must take Mr. Fly with you.  You are to report to me in 2 hours of what you have seen.”

            “Thank you Lt. Jewl.”  With that, Kark and Wald each took a rifle and left Koga, Alex, and Lt. Jewl alone at the campsite.  For awhile, there was an uncomfortable silence.  Lt. Jewl was the first to speak up.

            “You two ladies will clean up the campsite.  In one hour, when I tell you so, you will also go check out the campsite.  If you see anything suspicious, one of you must report to me immediately.”  Lt. Jewl held out two walkie-talkies.  “The boys were too quick and forgot to ask what item I brought.  This may have been beneficial to him.  You cannot jump into things without knowing what you are getting into.  Forgetting this concept will put your platoon in jeopardy, I can guarantee that.”  Alex and Koga nodded their heads as they began cleaning up the campsite, digging holes in the ground with their hands and burying the trash so that if an enemy were to find this area after they left, the enemy would not know anyone was there.  Koga’s attitude was quite apparent while Alex tried to remain calm.  Unfortunately, this did not go by Lt. Jewl unnoticed.

            “If I didn’t know you two from classes, I’d say you were enemies yourselves.”

            “One of is,” Koga sneered.

            “Well, then I’m guessing that is you.”  Koga gaped at her.  “You are the only one who has given attitude.  I think you should finish cleaning up the campsite, by yourself.”  She had had it.

            “No,” she said, coolly.  Lt. Jewl raised an eyebrow.

            “What did you say?” Her voice was raised in a warningly tone.

            “I am not doing it.”  Koga stood up, letting the trash that was in her hands drop to the ground.  “Little perfect Alex always gets away with everything and manages to leave me stuck with the dirty work.  She knows that.  If an enemy were to find out campsite, it would be her fault.  She’s not as perfect as she might look.”  Though Lt. Jewl would have been on Alex’s side for sure, she had been fed up with enough of it.

            “Actually, for your information, Koga, my punishment is far more worse than you think.  You whine and complain about having to do extra drills, but at least you don’t have to worry about the crap I do now!”

            “What crap?  Your SMEs?  If it wasn’t for me...”

            “If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have to suffer!”

            “Suffer with what?”  Koga glared at her.  “YOU are not suffering.  Stop making up shit, Alexandria.”

            “DON’T CALL ME THAT!”

            “THEN ANWER MY QUESTION, ALEXANDRIA!”

            “I CAN’T!”

            “WHY NOT??”

            “Because I’m not suppose to!!!” Alex screamed.  Kark and Wald had returned from the woods and were looking at the girls horrified.  They both had each others hands over the other’s necks.  Lt. Jewl was taking notes by the fire, looking rather comfortable.  When she was done writing, she stood up and walked over to them.

            “I would like to congratulate you both,” she said.  “Thanks to you, the enemy will find us.  If we do not move our campsite, we will be killed.”  Kark and Wald joined them and began picking up when Lt. Jewl stopped them.

            “No.  You two will be reporting to me on what you found.  Let these girls do the dirty work.”  It had taken them a long time to put up their tent.  Taking it down felt very painful.

            “Nice watch there, Alexandria,” Koga said in a girly sarcastic voice.  “Is that what they gave you as a punishment?”

            “Actually, yes.”  Koga rolled her eyes.  “It’s a bomb.”  Koga stared at her.

            “You suck at lying.”  Alex put the watch up to Koga’s nose.

            “There’s no latch.  It can’t come off.  Take a look yourself.”

            “What do you mean there’s no latch?”  Koga began investigating the watch, twisting Alex’s arm uncomfortably.  It was hard to see in the dark, so she began feeling the golden band.  At last, she let go.

            “How...how does that work?”

            “I don’t know.  But it really sucks.  Just believe me on this one, ok?  Koga, you are my only friend.  You had all right to be mad, but...you’ve got to believe me.”  Koga looked at her, and then sighed.

            “Fine, fine.  I guess I have no choice.”

            “Stop chatting ladies!  This is a platoon, not a chit-chat club!”

 

            The rest of the night got better.  There was less talking and the group worked more like a platoon then a bunch of complaining students.  Lt. Jewl was still extremely strict and was found often writing in her notebook.  Alex was sure she wasn’t the only one nervous about what she was writing.

            The ‘enemy’ only attacked once, in the middle of the night.  They were ‘suppose’ to come sooner, but because the platoon had to move campsites, they were harder to find then the others.  It turned out the rifles contained bullets that were filled with grape jelly, while the enemies had strawberry.  Unable to see who they were firing at, the battle continued until Lt. Jewl shined the flashlight on them.  It turned out it was another platoon that was run by Major Frout.  His platoon consisted of four men and two women, all were much older than Lt. Jewl’s platoon and they all wore a silver pin of a little circle with hawk like wings underneath their nametags.

            “Very well done, you hit us more than we hit you.  However, how many of you knew who you were fighting?  If another platoon on your side came up to you in the middle of the night, would you kill them first, ask questions later?  Yes, I did see some hesitation, which is also bad.  If we really were the enemy, you gave us plenty of time to kill you.  Not very smart at all.”  Major Frout shook his head.  “Lt. Jewl, you saw them perform more than I did, so it is up to you to grade them appropriately.  We shall see you back at base by sunrise.  Is all that understood?”

            “Yes, understood, sir!” all five of them replied, saluting.

           

            The sleeping bag situation didn’t become a problem after all.  After they had cleaned themselves of most of the jelly, they packed up (their camp set-up had only lasted 2 hours), and began heading back to ‘base,’ or in this case, the academy.  By the time they returned, all of the lieutenants handed over their notebooks and the students were allowed to sleep until noon.  Not one person hesitated at rushing home.

            “I’ll talk to you later!” Koga waved.  Alex waved back, glad that they were friends...err, chums again.


Chapter 7

The End of SMEs

 

            By noon, the students returned to the school.  Everybody who were not taking the SMEs got the day off.  They spent the afternoon being in simulations, either out in the field or controlling a spaceship.  Thursday was geared more toward their spaceship training.  They were given pictures and diagrams and had to identify the different parts and explain what they did.  This was hard, and annoying.  There were also a couple of more spaceship simulations where they were given various scenarios.  Then came Friday, the most tense day of all.

            While the younger students were in class, the SME students were sitting in the gymnasium, waiting for their names to be called.  The atmosphere was more relaxed, in respects that they could talk to one another freely.  However, being interviewed meant giving answers right away, with little time to think.  Plus, they would be judged harshly.  Everyone was nervous about this, and talking was the only way to help themselves forget what would be happening soon.

            Alex and Koga were talking and laughing with one another.  It was nice to hear some of Koga’s amusing stories again.

            “Hey, Alex!”  Alex turned around to see Brond walking up the bleachers.  Oh!  She had gotten so caught up in the SMEs that she totally forgot to write Brond back.  “So, how do you think you did?”

            Mmm...I’m not sure.  We had Lt. Jewl, and she was pretty strict.”

            “Yeah, she can be.  I had Lt. Chopper.  You can tell how he is just by his name.  Obsessed with helicopters and kept ranting about how we should be learning to fly them.”  Brond rolled his eyes.  “Really...helicopters are old fashioned.”

            “Yes, but if you were studying spaceships, you would have remembered that they have a harder time ‘rescuing’ people than a helicopter can,” Koga pointed out.

            “I do remember that, but now that they have cruisers, so it really isn’t that difficult anymore.”

            “Maje, Koga!” shouted someone from below.  Koga got up.

            “Well, that’d be me.  Good luck, Alex.”  After Koga had left the gymnasium, Brond turned back to Koga.

            “Oh, you might want to take a look of this after your interview,” he said, handing her a note.  Alex looked at it curiously.  “I wouldn’t recommend looking at it now, though.  Too many people.”  Brond descended down the bleachers and sat down next to a couple of his friends.  Alex stuffed the note in the bottom of her bag.

            Waiting was soooo boring.  Koga had left an hour ago, and the loud, busy ramblings were beginning to die down.  They were now at the end of the ‘P’s, which meant that Alex should be going soon.

            At long last “Roane, Alexandria!”  Alex jumped down the bleachers, eager to get this over with.

            “Follow me,” said a woman who was wearing the uniform, but did not have a nametag.  Alex followed her up to the third floor until they reached the office of Major Kurrte.  The woman gave two knocks on the door.

            “Come in!” roared a voice.  The woman opened the door and Alex stepped into an office, similar to Marshal Rick’s.  It looked much smaller though.  The desk took up most of the room, green filing cabinets were on the right hand side, his desk shoved to the left, yet facing her, and the carpet was an ugly shade of orange.  On his desk were a bunch of papers, a computer, and a pencil holder filled with mainly pens.  Major Kurrte looked at her gruffly.

            “Sit!” he commanded.  Alex took the seat in front of his desk.  He looked over some of the paperwork, and then gazed back up at Alex.

            Is you name Alexandria Roane?” he demanded.

            “Yes, Major Kurrte!”

            “Are you sure about that?”

            “Yes, Major Kurrte!”  What kind of dumb question was that?  Yes, she knew her name, she wasn’t stupid.  Perhaps that question was meant to intimidate her.

            “How do you think you did on your previous SMEs?” he ordered.

            “I think I did all right, Major Kurrte!”

            “All right...is that it?”

            “I am not too sure, Major Kurrte!”

            “Honesty is good if you are a little girl, but you are not!  In the military you cannot have doubts!  You must know straight answers at all times!  Is that understood?”

            “Yes, Major Kurrte!”

            “So you agree?”

            “Yes, Major Kurrte!”

            “Even if I was wrong?”  Alex hesitated.  She knew what answer she wanted to say...the logical one.  But, she knew what answer the military wanted to hear, and that is what she gave him.

            “Yes, Major Kurrte!”

            “Good.”  After that was over, he began asker her different questions like “what would you do if you were put in this situation?” along with personal questions such as “why do you want to be in Steelidge?”  Alex responded as quickly as she could, but trying to make herself sound intelligent at the same time.  She kept her answers brief because rambling was yet another pet peeve of the military.

            Alex let out a sigh of relive when she was done.  She took the backstairs, as instructed, and headed to the basement where the others who had finished their interviews were waiting.  The basement was a huge room, though small when filled with more than 100 people.  It had several doors along the sides, all locked except for the one with the stairs, and two double doors on either end, these were also locked.  Most of the students were sitting on the cold stone floor talking about how they did or what they want to do if they made it into Steelidge.  Koga was easy to find.  She was lying down in a corner, away from everyone else, taking a nap.  Alex squatted down next to her, relieved to be done.  At first, she forgot about Brond’s note, but as soon as she remembered, she pulled it out of her backpack and read it as quickly as she could, before someone noticed her.

            “Alex, this is really important!  I was at the library, checking the computer database to see if I could find my parents, or my family, or something…but I couldn’t find anything.  What I am trying to say is, my name doesn’t exist.  It is only a name used by the military.  I’ll explain my theory more later.  Meet me at 20 hours in front of the sewer plant.”  Alex gaped at the letter and then jammed it back in her bag, making sure it was ripping as she shoved it down.  It was perfect timing as Koga started yawning and stretching.

            “Hey, how did you think you did?”  she asked, still yawning.

            “Not sure.  Keeping my fingers crossed.  How about you?”

            “Me?  Oh, that was just a bunch of bullshit.  I basically told Major Thorne to shove it after he asked my name three times.  Are you sure?  Are you sure that’s your name?  Jackass, of course I know!  Then he starts asking me all these shitty questions…if this is what Steelidge is about, I’d rather stay here for another year.”  Koga frowned.  “I know, I know.  I blew it.  But you know what I am going to do?  I’m getting the hell out of here, whether I pass the SMEs or not.  They can’t stop me.  I hate them, and I hate this place.”

            “Hey, I’ll go with you,” Alex said, smiling.

            “You what?”

            “We’ll run away together.  They can’t hunt down the whole city.”

            “Oh, come on, Alex!  You are going to pass and then get recruited somewhere.  You are home free.  Don’t do anything stupid and blow it like me.”  Alex sighed.  Brond came in and sat down with some of his friends again.  He smiled, though Alex knew he was just hiding the pain that he felt.  It was likely that she was the same…and Koga too.  For some reason, it wasn’t until now that it hit her, stabbing agonizingly.  Did no one have a name?  He said he’d explain things later…perhaps she was just misunderstanding him.  How could he possibly know that his name doesn’t exist…that just sounded like an improbable idea, more than hers.  Then again, hers did sound pretty implausible as well, and he trusted her despite that fact.  At that moment, all of the majors opened the door from the staircase.

            “Ok, everyone can go home now,” one of the majors whom Alex did not recognize announce.  “You will be given your results a week from Monday.  Is that understood?”  Everyone chimed with a “Yes, sir” as Major Shrime unlocked the closest double doors which led toward another set of double doors that would release them outside.  Alex and Koga tried to stick together through the desperately pushing crowd, but it soon became difficult and they eventually got separated.

 

            The pressure of not having to study felt very nice.  Alex welcomed a cool, yet reeking, breeze blow onto her face.  It was almost 20 hours, and Brond should be here any minute.

            “Hey, Alex!”  Brond came running down the sidewalk.  Both of them had already changed into casual clothes.  “So, want to start heading over to the library?”

            “Sure.”  Brond talked about the exams on their way.  They both exchanged their stories on the camp-out...while fishing, Brond had accidentally fallen into the lake and almost got attacked by some piranhas.  Even though he was rather nerdy, he did have some down-to-earth traits.

            The library was rather empty, since most of the students who took the SMEs were celebrating and it was the weekend.  This was an advantage because now they would have peace and quiet to discuss things, though Alex did have to be careful about her watch.

            “I’ll show you the research I was doing,” Brond said quietly as they sat down at one of the computers.  He typed in a web address and a database popped up.  The title read “The People Database.”  This has everything you need to know.  You just select what you want here (he pointed to the ‘planet’ option) and then type your information here (he pointed to the ‘name’ option).  Then it will give you results, like this.  He entered a name, and out popped information on a man about when he was born, all of the places he had lived, and the current place he was residing.  The details were rather vague, for protection reasons obviously, but it was still rather interesting.

            “Now, check when I do this.”  Brond typed in his name.  The words “Person Doesn’t Exist” flashed across the screen.

            “Perhaps you need to change that,” Alex suggested, pointing to the ‘planet’ option.  Brond shook his head.

            “No, I’ve tried all of them.  Do you have any suggestions?”

            “Here, try this.”  Alex typed her name in.  She got the same results as Brond.  “Are you sure this lists...everything?”

            “Yes. I checked this...” Brond typed in the name of one of the majors.  “Information pops up, but all it says is this.”  “Military, Classified.”  “At least it says something though.”

            “So...what do you think is the reason for this?”

            “I only have one theory.  That is...” he paused, trying to think of a way to phrase it without the watch hearing.  this.”  He typed in the word ‘brainwash.’  Alex was horrified that her dread was indeed true.

            “Yes...I was wondering the same thing,” she said, quietly.

            “Well, there’s really not much more we can do.”  Brond sighed.  “I think I’m going to call it a night.  Maybe after some good sleep I will be able to figure this out.”  The two of them got up and headed toward the exit of the library.  “Oh, did you hear that there will be a big celebration when the SME results come out?”

            “Yeah, they do that every year.  Always some famous mystery singer.”

            “You going?”

            “If I passed.”

            “I’m sure you did.”

            “Well, I hope so.  I REALLY hope so.”  Brond smiled

            “Yeah, me too.”


Chapter 8

Those in Steelidge, and Those Who Aren’t

 

            The week seemed to drag on by.  It was difficult for anyone who had just taken the SMEs to concentrate in their classes.  Now, they just seemed pointless.  Despite Koga’s probation, Alex still snuck into her room when Major Shrime wasn’t looking and the two of them would quietly talk and laugh.  Alex was glad that they were ‘chums’ again, but Koga was starting to worry her.

            On Wednesday as Koga was coming back from her drills that night, Alex was sitting in her room, as she had done the past previous two days.  Koga closed the door quietly, a strange smirk was on her face.

            “You look happier than usual after drills,” Alex teased.

            “That’s because I’m going to do it.”

            “Do it?  Do what?”

            “Here, come check this out.”  Koga went to her closet and from the top shelf, she pulled down a small box.  Inside the box was a wig, a skirt, and a really cute blouse.

            “I got them last night when Major Shrime was asleep.  What’d ya think?”

            “Koga...you’re really not thinking about running away, are you?”

            “Like hell I am.  I’m not going to put up with any of this military shit any longer.  They’re not going to boss me around anymore.”

            “But what about your SMEs?  You might have passed them...”

            “No, I didn’t.  Trust me on this one, Alex.  I didn’t even study.  Even if I did pass them, my record would prevent me from getting in.  There was no use in trying anymore.”

            “But Koga!” Alex pleaded.  “You do know the punishment if you get caught, right?  They torture you!”

            “Nah, they ain’t going to find me.  I’ve got a plan.”

            “A plan??”

            “Yup, but I can’t tell you.  They’re going to ask you lots of questions since I’m your best chum.  Just tell them I said I was going to run away, and you thought I was joking.  Act devastated.  Oh, and if they ask where I went, tell them you don’t know.  That’s the truth since I’m not going to tell ya.”

            “Koga, please!”

            “No.  It’s settled.  And if you’re really my friend, you’ll let me do this.”  Alex thought about it.  If only Koga knew the truth, she would have been out of here years ago.

            “Whenever you need help packing, let me know.”  Alex smiled.

 

            The weekend felt the longest.  The whiney bratty kids threw more temper tantrums than she could bear with.  She just wanted Monday to come, and fast.  At last, it was Monday morning.  Alex’s heart was beating rapidly in her chest.  Almost everyone who took the SMEs had gotten up early to see the results.  When Alex entered the main building, there was a huge crowd gathered around a giant poster board with everyone’s names on it, their scores for each part, and their total scores.  She could hear some people cheering excitedly, while others bit their lips trying hard not to show they didn’t make it.

            “Yo, Alex!  You seen your grade yet?”  Alex shook her head.

            “I just got here.”

            “Yeah, you were kind of late compared to everyone else.”

            “Hey, what did you get, Koga?”

            “I got a whopping 34.”

            “Oh, I’m sorry, Koga.”

            “Don’t be.  I don’t care.  Here, let’s go look at your scores.”  Koga began pushing people out of the way, rather rudely.  “Excuse me!  Coming through!  Move IT!”  Alex tried following the path she made through the crowd.  “Let’s see...Roane...up, there you are!”  Alex’s heart was pounding like a jackhammer.  She thought she would pass out right there in the crowd from all the tension.  Her eyes gazed over the numbers so quickly, she had no clue what they were.  The only thing she as concerned about was her final score.  She looked at it, squinting.  76.  For a second, it didn’t hit her right away.  “Breath girl!  Your face is turning purple!”  Alex let in a deep breath.

            “I...I’m in.”  The words dribbled slowly out of her mouth.

            “See?  I knew you’d make it!”  Koga grabbed her hands and the two of them began jumping up and down.  “Yah!  You go girl!”  Alex still felt speechless, but there was a huge smile upon her face.  She made it!  The crowd got kind of annoyed and people began complaining as the girls jumped onto their feet.  They both leaped out of the crowd, laughing so hard it was hard to breath.

            “Koga, are you sure you’re ok?” Alex asked, trying to suppress her giggles.

            “Yah, girl!”  Koga grinned, giving her a thumbs up.

            “So you made it to Steelidge too, eh Alex?”  Brond was also beaming.  “So, what did you get?”

            “76.  Just made it.  How about you?”

            “94!”  The two girls gawked at him.

            “You’re kidding me,” said Koga under her breath.

            “Well, I didn’t think I’d score that high...”

            “You are so modest.”  Koga stood up.  “Come on, Alex.  Let’s get to class.  Then you and I can celebrate tonight.  I don’t have anymore drills.”

            “Don’t forget the inauguration is tomorrow night,” Brond said, kindly.

            “I won’t!” blushed Alex.  Koga grabbed her arm and dragged Alex down the hallway.

            “That arrogant jerk.  Let him be,” she muttered annoyingly.

 

            Tuesday was the last day of classes before summer break for the upper students.  Those in Steelidge would start their training in a couple of weeks and those who didn’t would be spending their summers studying.  As for the younger students, they still had two more weeks of school since they have to take end of the year examinations.

            Technically, Koga was not suppose to come to the inauguration, but she insisted.

            “I’m going, I don’t care what they say.  I’ll sneak in if I have to.”  Alex didn’t argue, and the two of them got themselves ready.

            The ceremony was held in the gymnasium of the MRA.  It was all decorated, a stage was placed on one end where a podium and microphone sat and a few men were setting up random musical instruments in the background for the guest singer.  Everyone was gathered around in the center of the floor, chatting, while a few other groups were sitting on the bleachers.  Alex and Koga made themselves comfortable on the second row of one of the bleachers.

            “Nervous, are you?” Koga teased.

            “Just a little.”

            “Where do you think they’re going to stick you?”

            “I’m not sure.  I really would like to be on the Giel, but they usually pick people with scores above 90.  I’ll probably go live on some ship or march around and set up camps.”

            Oooo...that sounds like fun.”  Koga paused.  “But at least it’s better than here.”

            “Yeah, I guess.”  Alex bit her tounge.  She didn’t want to make Koga feel bad that she got in and Koga didn’t.  Alex had a feeling that Koga was suppressing her feelings and was most likely a bit jealous of her success.  She did a good job hiding it though.

            General Domine stepped up to the microphone to test it.  It made a loud screeching noise that immediately hushed everyone up.  All attention was now turned to General Domine.

            “Testing, testing...ok.  Welcome everyone who made it into Steelidge, and congradulations!”  There was much applause and cheers.  “Today, we have a very special singer, Brittany Spears!”  More cheering.  Brittany Spears was a famous singer years ago, but got ran over by a car fully of angry ex-husbands and ex-boyfriends.  She was frozen in hopes of reviving her one day.  “But first, I will be calling out each student who has now been promoted to Steelidge.  Each one will be given a diploma, a pin, and what division they will be starting in two weeks.  So without further ado, let’s begin!”  One by one, General Domine called out students names, announcing their division after each name.  Alex was starting to feel tension again, as a couple of people, one which included Kark Franch, were already assigned to Giel.  Because so few of them were able to go on the military’s special training spaceship, it made Alex feel uneasy.

            “Stop thinking like that.” She told herself.  “You didn’t score as high as you should.  At least you are getting out of here.”

            “Roane, Alexandria!”  Alex felt her heart sink.  She walked through the crowd, who backed off to give her a path, and slowly made her way to the stage.  “Ms. Roane was also chosen to be on the Giel.  Congratulations!”  There was a ton of cheering.  Alex could hear Koga shouting from all the ways on the bleachers.  General Domine pinned the Steelidge symbol onto her uniform.  With her diploma clenched in her hands, squishing it, Alex made her way off the stage and back to the bleachers.

            “See, see??”  Koga cried as Alex returned.  “You made it!  You’re in Steelidge and you get to do what you want!”

            “Yes, this is the best day of my life...”  Alex caught herself.  “Oh, I’m sorry, Koga.  I didn’t mean that...”

            “Will you stop worrying about me?  You have no reason to anymore.”

            “Koga, please don’t tell me you are going through with it...”

            “Yes I am, now don’t talk about that again, ok?”  Alex nodded her head in agreement.

            There was now one more spot opened for Giel.  Alex watched hesitantly as Shride, Brond was announced, followed by the words “Mr. Shride will be attending the Marching Army.  Congratulations!”  Brond smiled as he made his way up the stage, but the smile looked fake to Alex.  Did he also want to be on Giel...with her?  She blushed beat red, feeling rather guilty.  This was going to be harder than she thought.  They would not be able to communicate if they were in different divisions.

            “At least you won’t get stuck dealing with Mr. Smartypants all the time,” Koga said, coolly.

            “Yes, but you know I like him!” Alex protested, embarrassedly.

            “You got bad taste.”  Koga turned to her.  “Look, I’m sorry.  I just don’t like him, and I think you will be able to find someone better.  Trust me.”  She smiled, and Alex couldn’t help giving a little smile back, though uncomfortably.

            Harmon Slade was the last person to be assigned on the Giel.  She looked overly excited when General Domine made the announcement.  And that was that.  The rest of the ceremony continued, and when everyone in Steelidge received their pins and diplomas, the festivities began.  The gymnasium suddenly turned into a dance floor.  Food and drinks were brought out as Brittany Spears made her way to the podium.

            “Oh, man.  I’m pigging out!” squealed Koga.  “I deserve some free food after all the crap they put me through last week!”

            “They only did that because you were breaking rules,” Alex reminded her.

            “Oh, shut up!  Like you weren’t?  You might be in Steelidge, but you are no angel.  Not one tiny bit.”  Alex pushed her playfully and the two went to try out some of the food.

            “Testing, testing, is this thing on?” Spears asked, her voice echoing throughout the entire room.

            “Yes, it’s on!  We can all HEAR you!” someone shouted from the back.

            “I hope this punch is spiked,” muttered Koga as she took a sip.  “Nah, just boring old punch.  Not worth filling your stomach with.”

           “Hi there!  You are Alexandria Roane, right?”  Alex and Koga both spun around to see a girl about twelve-years old.  She had brown hair that was put up in cute little curls and instead of wearing the military uniforms, she had on a pink blouse and a long black skirt.

            “Hey girl!  This party isn’t for little kids,” Koga snorted.  The girl just smiled.

            “I was invited,” she simply replied.  She turned back to Alex.  “So, you are going on the Giel, right?”  Alex nodded.

            “Well…yes.”  The girl grinned.

            “You are very lucky.  Only a few people can go on it for training.”

            “Yes, I know that.”  She knew that probably sounded a bit cold, but this strange girl kept on smiling.  “So…what is your name, little girl?”

            “Oh, how rude of me for not introducing myself.  My name is Rame Cride.”  Alex and Koga both gaped at her.  The girl laughed.  “I’m just kidding.  The name’s Miji.”  She held out her hand to shake Alex’s, who took it resiliently.

            “Hey, Alex!”  Alex swung around to see Brond, who looked half tired.  Koga rolled her eyes.

            “Well, I am going to hit the ladies room,” she grumbled.  Once Koga was gone, Alex and Brond both congratulated each other.

            “You got on the Giel, like you wanted.  Bet you are excited.”

            “Yes, very much so.  Though, I kind of wish I was in the Marching Army…”  She noticed a small piece of paper in Brond’s hand.  Holding out her own hand, she took the paper and stuffed it in her pocket.  Miji was still standing there, smiling.

            “Who’s the kid?” Brond asked, now eyeing Miji.

            “It’s Miji.  And who are you?”

            Brond.”  He stared at her suspiciously, then shook his head.  The music had started and people were now dancing behind them.  “Alex, do you want to dance?”  Alex’s eyes lit up and her cheeks blushed yet again.

            “Yeah, sure!” she said excitedly.  The two of them left Miji, who was still smiling.

            “She’s an odd girl,” mumbled Brond.  “What is she doing here?”

            “I have no idea.  She said she was invited.”

            “By whom?  And why?”

            “Don’t know, don’t care.”  Alex turned to look at her one last time.  Miji just smiled and waved.  Alex rolled her eyes.

            Brittany Spears sung a very fast song, and then a slow one.  Brond twirled Alex...it felt like a dream.  Then Spears sung an unusual song, one that didn’t fit the party atmosphere.  It was about a breakup she had with one of her boyfriends (perhaps one of the ex’es who was in the car that killed her).  Her tone became very angry as she spat through the microphone.

            “You stabbed me in the back!  Oh, Flode!  I hope you die.  My oh my, I hope you Die!!!”  The song ended with her screaming “I HATE YOU FLODE!”  All of the students gave rather shocked expressions.  Alex was taking in something completely different.  Flode...Flode...why did it sound familiar to her?  Spears gave a little innocent smile as she made her breasts do a little jiggle before calming down and singing her next song.  Flode...Flode...

            “Alex!  Are you ok?” Brond asked, alarmed.  Alex quickly awoke from her dazed state.

            “Yeah, I’m fine.”

            “That song was really weird, and that freaky kid keeps looking at us.”  Sure enough, Miji was watching from the sidelines, like a stalker.

            “Let’s sneak out of here...hey, where’s Koga?”  It had finally dawned on her that Koga went to the bathroom, but never returned.  Alex looked frantically around the gymnasium, but she wasn’t there.  She then ran to the closest bathrooms.  Nope.

            “Can’t find her?” Brond looked concerned.

            “Oh, she said she wasn’t feeling well, so maybe she went back home,” Alex smiled, nervously.  “I’m going to see if I can find her.  I’ll catch up with you later!”  The two waved, and then Alex took off toward Koga’s apartment.  When she got there, she began banging on the door furiously with her fist.

            “Koga!  It’s Alex!  Are you there?”  Silence.  She twisted the door handle and opened the door slowly.  The room was dark, and rather neat.  Unusual for Koga...Alex ran toward the closet to see if the box was there.  She was relieved to find it, but it was empty.  Koga had done it...

            Alex walked back to her room.  She didn’t feel like going to the party and was kind of annoyed that Koga had just left so suddenly.  Alex unlocked the door and stepped inside, turning on a light.  The door closed softly behind her and Alex locked it again.  She wasn’t in the mood for visitors right now.  Then she saw it, a white note on the floor.  She picked it up and opened it.  Only one word was on the piece of paper... “Ciao!”


Chapter 9

More Trouble

 

            The sewer plant’s putrid smell filled the air.  Alex took in a deep, disgusting breath.  It was the day after the inauguration to Steelidge.  Getting drunk on your own is a drag, though you can sleep in until 2 if you feel like it.  Now Alex was wide awake and feeling rather lonely.  Brond was out doing some training for the Marching Army and had gone to bed early that night...she saw him entering one of her favorite fast food restaurants as she was leaving.  Alex stood there, letting her thoughts carry her away.  She then remembered Brond’s note...she really owed him one.  I’ll respond to this one before he leaves.  Alex leaned over the lamppost so she could read it in the dark.

            “I know that you are probably upset that we will be separated in a couple of weeks.”     Wow, he must have wrote it right after the inauguration,” Alex thought.

            “Please don’t worry,” the note continued.  “I’ll keep this a secret and see what other stuff I can find out.  We won’t be able to talk through mail or phone, since the military will probably be checking those.  As soon as you get a break, probably won’t be until Christmas when we have breaks at the same time, let’s get together, in front of the sewer plant.  It’s a good place to meet since there’s not a lot...”  Alex couldn’t read the rest of the notes because suddenly the light diminished.  She looked up to see if the bulb burnt out, until her horror she saw the narrowed eyes of Major Dome, who was barely inches away from her.  He crept up so quietly, and she was so intense with the letter, that she didn’t realize he was there.  The note wrinkled in her hands, her heart beating almost as rapidly as it did when she got caught with the videos, except this time, she knew her fate.  If Major Dome read any of the letters...

            Alex continued standing there, completely frozen.  Major Dome didn’t say a word.  He just stood there, his face was cold and hard.

            “Um...um...”  What to say, what to say.  There was only one thing to do.  Alex turned around, and started casually heading back to her apartment.  His icy hand grabbed her shoulder.  Well, she didn’t think that would work, but it didn’t hurt to try.

            “Come with me,” he said, dryly, his grip getting tighter.  When he released her, he turned and started heading to the academy.  At first, Alex was still just standing there, in shock, but following him seemed to be her only option.  She could run, but his rifle was likely loaded, and if students disobeyed with what they were told, they could be shot at.  If serious, killed, but usually it was just a bullet in the arm or leg.  Major Dome was someone Alex did not want to mess with, so she obeyed him and dragged as far behind as she could.  He constantly turned back to make sure she was still there and didn’t dart away.  If she could only wait for just the right moment...Alex tried a couple of times to start a dodge, but he would turn around before she could lift a foot.  His reflexes were too good.  Alex let out a frustrated sigh.  Would he report her?  Or maybe kill her?  She blew the military’s secret.  Maybe running was the only chance for her to live...

            The opportunity came.  She ran as soon as he turned around.  Unfortunately, there was no place to hide near the MRA, and the woods were too far away.  But she didn’t care, it was the only way for survival.  Even if he didn’t read the note, he was suspicious, and that was enough for interrogation.  As soon as a loud noise crackled through the air, she felt a stabbing pain in the back of her left leg, causing her to fall over in the middle of the street.  Luckily, there were few cars about, but Major Dome was now approaching her.  His aim was excellent, he got her on his first shot.  Damn!  Alex turned her gaze away from him and tried dragging herself off the street.  Getting up was difficult, so she found herself stumbling and having to use her right leg for support.  A stream of blood oozed down her left leg.

            When she got to the sidewalk, she could barely move another step.  Major Dome swung one of his arms around her and helped back across the street and to the Military Rogals Academy.  Alex struggled and tried pushing him away, but he gripped her tightly.  There was nothing she could do.  He had caught her.

            They took the elevator up to the third floor, and then he heaved her toward his office.  When they were inside, he guided her into a chair away from his desk, locked the door (thought since it was from the inside, she could easily get out) and turned on a light.  Without saying a word, he bent down to her knee.  Opening his vest, he pulled out some tweezers from an inside pocket.  Alex tried to kick him with her right leg which he grabbed in mid-air and pushed roughly down to the edge of the chair.  With his free hand, he took her left leg.

            “If you don’t hold still, I won’t be able to get that out,” he said, gruffly.

            “I just want you to leave me alone!” Alex screamed.

            “I can’t do that, and you know that.  But if this bullet stays inside your leg, it will get infected.  You can hate me as much as you want when I’m done.”  Alex relaxed, annoyed, as Major Dome took his tweezers and started to pull the bullet out.  Alex winced.  Major Dome twisted the tweezers around...and then yanked it out.  Alex let out a wail, her hands immediately reaching for the wound on her leg, pushing Major Dome away.

            “Don’t do that!” he snapped, as he reached for a first aid kit besides his desk.  There was so much Alex wanted to say, but she thought it best to keep her mouth shut.  She didn’t want to get into any more trouble.  Major Dome wrapped up the wound with some pads and tied it up.  He then gave her some of the pads so she could wipe off her blood hands.  While she was doing this, he managed to take a hold of the note that had been in her hand.  Luckily, the blood had made it more difficult to read.

            “So...a friend of yours gave this, right?”  Alex nodded her head.  “Who?”

            “I can’t tell you that.”  Major Dome was still staring at her with narrowed eyes.

            “Do you know what will happen to you if others hear about it?”  Major Dome was using his word choices very carefully.  Alex never noticed the golden watch on his left wrist before.  Major Dome took a seat at his desk, his eyes constantly fixed on Alex so she would not be tempted to run again.

            “Yes, but I had to do it,” she said, simply.  “So what are you going to do?  Report me?  He isn’t going to say anything...” OOPS!  Bad mistake!  She shouldn’t have said that it was a ‘he.’  Major Dome scratched his chin.

            “I follow orders, and one of these orders is that if someone is caught telling people about the military’s recruitment...they will have to see Admiral Exot, who would likely kill them.”  Major Dome shook his head, but before he could speak again, he looked up at Alex.  “What’s wrong?”

            “You...you said...isn’t someone listening??”  Alex cried out.

            “Hmmm?  Oh.”  Major Dome looked at his watch.  “They’re switch off around now.  We’ve got five minutes or so.  Now, to get to the point...”  His hands were propping up his head as he cleared his throat.  “I will not report you.”  Alex thought she misheard him.

            “You...what!?”  She gaped at him.  Major Dome still refused to smile.  “Ok, what’s the catch?”

            “The catch is, I will be keeping my eyes on you.  Very closely, until you begin your assignment at your destined division.  You do know why you were chosen to go on Giel, right?”  Alex shook her head.         “You are in a closed space.  There isn’t far you can travel, and you are with a small group of people.  It will be easy to monitor you.”  Alex frowned.  So she didn’t get chosen by skill...it sucked for the person who should really be in her place, but there was really nothing she could do.

            “That makes sense, but, can I ask you one question?”

            “Yes, but make it quick.”

            “Why...why are you letting me go?  Couldn’t you get into trouble?”

            “I will only answer the first.  I am letting you go for reasons I cannot tell you.”

            “That is not an answer!” Alex yelled.

            “Yes, and that is the answer you will get.  Now go back to your apartment.  Oh, and one more thing, Ms. Roane...I wouldn’t be sending anymore notes if I were you.  I might handle things differently next time.  You only limp now.”  Yikes!  Alex turned away from him.  She could not bare to look at his cold, dark eyes anymore.  They gave her the chills.  She unlocked the door and slowly walked out, cringing each time she had to step with her left leg.  There were no if, ans, or buts.  She would not be able to reply to Brond.  Also, she knew that this would not be the last time she’d be dealing with Major Dome, her least favorite military officer.  Something about him creeped her out, though she couldn’t put her finger directly on it.  He was one of the first officers she had met, but from then on Major Shrime has been watching over her and several other girls who lived in the same apartment complex and hall.  She dreaded having to talk to him again; one time was bad enough.


Chapter 10

Two Remaining Weeks

 

            The interrogation started the following morning.  It was then that Major Shrime discovered Koga was missing.  Naturally, at 5 in the morning they came pounding on Alex’s door.  She got up slowly, too lazy to hide the empty alcohol bottles and random trash under her bed.  Alex opened the door, but only as far as the chain would let it.

            “What?” she grumbled, wiping some sleep from her eyes.

            “What??  That should be what we are asking you!  What happened to Ms. Maje?  Where is she??”  It took Alex a few seconds for the words to sink in.

            “I don’t know,” she replied, honestly.

            “Tell me!”

            “Major Shrime, I really don’t know.  I didn’t even realize she was gone.  She was joking around with me about running away, but it was always a joke.  For all I know, she just got drunk and is wandering around the streets.”

            “Don’t lie to me, Ms. Roane!  We’ve already searched the streets!  She hasn’t been around all night!”

            “Well, I don’t know what you want from me!  I have no clue where she is!”

            “Fine then!  We’ll see if you’re telling the truth!”  Major Shrime pulled out her rifle.  Alex backed away, alarmed.  She swung the rifle between the open door, but instead of shooting, she slid it upwards, knocking off the chain.  Major Shrime marched in, along with several other military officers.  She grabbed Alex’s hands roughly and slapped on some handcuffs.

            “You’ll be taking the truth test,” she said, dryly.  “We’ll know for sure where Ms. Maje is hiding!”

            “You guys are really paranoid about everything, aren’t you,” sneered Alex as they dragged her out of her room.

 

            Alex was taken into a large room through one of the locked doors in the basement of the MRA.  The truth tests started off simple.  Alex was able to pass the first couple of tests they threw at her with ease.  She had some trouble with some of the questions that did not pertain to Koga at all.  One was “Have you told anyone about the military’s recruitment?” or “What happened to you leg?”  That question proved the hardest to explain.

            “I misfired,” she stated during the lie detector test.  She had a feeling that the machine was able to pick up the slight nervous tone in her voice.

            The last test was the worst.  After failing to receive any information from her, she was tied up and forced to stay in a cold and damp jail cell.  They kept her in there for a couple of hours while discussing what to do with her.  The stupid fools didn’t realize that Alex wasn’t deaf and could hear them, since they were talking right outside her cell door.  Of course, Alex didn’t want to hear what they were saying, as they were discussing what kinds of torture would get her to spill the beans.  Alex snorted.  This wasn’t going to be fun, but she guessed she did owe Koga after what happened a few weeks ago.

            The torture was with a whip.  Alex remained as strong as she could, but after the tenth lash, her body was really starting to ache.

            “Fine, fine!  I’ll tell you!”  The person with the whip, who was wearing a mask so she would not be able to tell who it was, though his body looked like that of Lt. Charles, stopped.  Major Shrime, who was nearby but not watching the procedure, came in from behind Lt. Charles, a curious look on her face.

            “So you are finally going to speak, right?”  Alex shook her head.

            “She said...she said after the SMEs that she wanted to run away.  She had a wig and outfit hidden away.  She refused to tell me where she was going, though.  Didn’t even mention when.  It was in the middle of the inauguration when she left for the bathroom.  That was the last time I saw her.”

            “Inauguration?” growled Lt. Charles.  “She shouldn’t have been there!”  Major Shrime held out a hand.

            “That is not important right now,” she said, calmly.  “Alex, would you be kind enough to tell me the descriptions of the wig and clothing?”  Alex thought carefully, but her memory was kind of fuzzy on the details.

            “I think the wig was long and blond...there was a skirt and a blouse, I think the blouse was a baby blue.”  She knew she got some of the details wrong on purpose, but right now she wanted to go home and take a nice bubble bath.  Her body was aching!

            “Let her go, we are done here,” Major Shrime instructed Lt. Charles...it was so obvious that it was him.  Alex wobbled back to her apartment.  It was dark now, and her stomach was growling angrily as she hadn’t eaten anything since the military kidnapped her...again!  She bought a large pizza and some body cream on her way back home.  All throughout her walk from MRA, she could feel eyes watching her.  Though she couldn’t see who it was, it gave her the chills that Major Dome was watching her.

            Alex stayed in her apartment the next day.  Her hatred for the military was so high that she was afraid if she saw Major Shrime, Alex would shoot her fifty times.  That, and her whole body was very sore.

            This is a good way to start Steelidge,” Alex grumbled.  Though Major Shrime left her alone, she could sense the presence of someone coming by her door now and then and listening.  Alex put her pillow over her head bitterly.

            By Friday, Alex’s wounds were finally starting to heal, except for the bullet lesion in her left leg.  She decided to head over to the MRA practice field around lunch in order to ‘accidentally’ run into Brond.

            The sun was shining nicely on Alex’s face.  It was a beautiful day.  Alex wobbled toward the academy; she was already use to the pain.  The Marching Army were out in the fields doing different drills.  Alex paused to watch them, hoping she would have a good view of Brond, but it was hard to see from this distance, and she didn’t want to get too close or she’d stick out.

            “Looking for someone?”  Alex jumped a mile.

            “You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that!” she snapped.  She turned her gaze back to the Marching Army.  Well, now that Major Dome was here, it was impossible to try and talk to Brond.  She turned away and started heading to a sandwich place.

            The next couple of days were frustrating.  It was Alex’s last weekend to work at the Jumping Frogs.  Major Dome came around now and then, but he never entered the store.  He would glare at the kids now and then, giving a disgusted look as if they had the plague.  Alex tried hard to ignore him.  At least she had only one more week before going on the Giel...

            After her last day of work, she decided to treat herself to a drink.  Of course, being underage and having someone stalking you doesn’t get you far.  Before she could even pull her id from her pocket to enter one of her favorite clubs, Major Dome jumped out and dragged her away.  Alex’s leg was finally starting to heal, so she didn’t complain or fight back, as tempting as it was.  Once free, she tried two more times before giving up.

            “You know, you really need a life,” she grumbled to him as he roughly dragged her away.

            Monday came and went.  Alex put up thick paper over the peep hole and kept all of her blinds closed.  She spent the day stuck in her apartment as she didn’t want Major Dome to see every little thing she did.  To test her security, she took a piece of paper and began writing a list of things she wanted to do before leaving.  Goodness gracious, the guy had good hearing and was trying to break down her door!

            “It’s just a list!  See?”  Alex shoved the paper under the door.

            “Let me in, or I’ll break down the door.”  Alex rolled her eyes and let Major Dome ransack her apartment.  He collected paper and pencils on his way of searching, making sure she wasn’t trying to do anything behind his back.

            “You don’t trust me, do you?” she sneered.

            “No, I don’t.”  It really sucked.  She spent the rest of the day trying to put her room back together.

 

            She spent the last few days of her time left in Armane drinking coffee and reading books, as she had given up trying to sneak into clubs, or window shopping and wishing she had more money to buy things.  Brond passed her a couple of times, and she tried hiding or turning the other direction.  It was best they didn’t speak to each other, or Major Dome would find out.

            On Saturday, she was sitting in a coffee house drinking a frappuccino and reading a book on the history of Giel.  She had been doing this the past few days, except she had to go to different coffee houses in an attempt to lose Major Dome, at least for a moment.  Unfortunately, as she was observing some of the blueprints and designs in the book, Brond came in with a few friends from the Marching Army.  When he spotted her, he left the others and sat down at the empty seat.  Alex looked up, but then ducked behind her book quickly, pretending she didn’t see him.

            “Why are you avoiding me?” Brond asked, quietly.

            “I’m not avoiding you.”

            “Don’t lie to me, Alex!  What’s going on?”  Alex stuck out her left wrist, showing him her watch.  “Yes, but what is that suppose to mean?”  She had only been there for a few minutes, so hopefully it would take Major Dome a few minutes to find her.  She kicked Brond with her left foot.  “Ow!”  She kicked him again.  “Hey, cut it out, Alex!  What’s wrong with you??”  When she kicked him yet again, he grabbed her leg, squeezing the part of the skin that was healing.  She winced and the book slipped out of her hand.  Brond, realizing something was up, pushed back her pants leg from under the table.  When he saw the wound, he pushed her leg back down to the floor.  Alex reached for her book.

            “Good luck, Brond.  I know you will do well,” she said without looking up.

            “Yes...same to you, Alex.”  Brond joined the rest of his friends.  Alex got up, book still in hand, and she exited the coffee house.  If only I could tell you everything...” she thought to herself, bitterly.  The door swung opened from behind her as she made her way down the street.

            “Who is the guy?”  Alex paused.  Ok, so he was there.  Hopefully he didn’t catch anything he wasn’t suppose to!

            “I don’t see why I have to answer that,” Alex replied, picking up her pace.  Major Dome ran up toward her.

            “You showed him your leg, did you not?”

            “No, I didn’t,” she lied, still not looking up at him.  Go away already!  Major Dome snatched the book out of her hands.

            “Hey!  I need that!”  Alex tried to grab it back, but Major Dome was too quick for her.  He skimmed through the pages quickly but carefully.  Alex folded her arms.

            Geesh!” she muttered.  He closed the book and handed it back to her.

            “Here.  None of the pages looked torn out.”  Damn!  That would have been a good idea!

            “No, I didn’t!” she snapped angrily, putting the book under her shoulder and walking as quickly as she could away from him.  Monday was just around the corner, and she could not wait another second!


Chapter 11

On Board the Giel

 

            Monday morning.  The two weeks were finally over!  Alex was up early, packing and cleaning up her room.  The door knocked.

            “Alexandria Roane!” roared Major Shrime.  “You’d better be getting ready!”  Alex swung the door opened, this time leaving the chain off.  She was already dressed in her uniforms and set to aboard Giel.  Major Shrime looked around, impressed.

            “I must say, I have never seen it this clean.  Where is all your garbage?”  Major Shrime looked around the apartment curiously, and then foolishly opened up her closet.  An avalanche of trash fell on top of her.

            “Well, I’m running late.  Do you mind taking that out to the dump for me?  Thanks Major Shrime!  Bye bye!”  And with that, Alex left Major Shrime groaning from underneath the trash landslide.

            Alex ran as fast as she could, her bag hanging heavily over her right shoulder, her left leg telling her brain furiously to stop running.  She stopped at the front of the academy where there was a group of several people.

            “Is this for the Giel,” she asked, trying to catch her breath.

            “That’s right.  Your name?”

            Alexandria Roane.”

            “Major Mank.  Captain Fiden is getting the bus.”  Three other students were sitting on the front steps of MRA.  One Alex recognized as Harmon Slade.  The other two were boys.  One was rather tall and had dirty blond hair hidden beneath his hat while the other boy was much smaller with brown hair.  The smaller boy was looking down at his knees.  The doors to the MRA opened and a tall girl with long black hair came out.  She looked rather unfriendly.

            “Are you ready now, Ms. Pillo?”

            “Yes, sir, Major Mank,” she replied, saluting.  The girl waited until Major Mank saluted back before sitting down on the steps.  She made no notice to the others.

            “Sorry I’m late!”  Kark Franch came running down the sidewalk, out of breath.  “My alarm didn’t go off because I forgot that I packed it!”  Major Mank shook his head.

            “That’s a lame excuse.  Name?”

            Kark Franch, sir!”

            “You shall refer to me for now as Major Mank.  Is that understood?”

            “Yes, Major Mank!”

            “I’ve heard about you.  You can be trouble.  I will be keeping my eye on you.  Is that understood?”

            “Yes, sir, Major Mank, sir!”  Kark turned toward the steps and flopped himself down.  Boy, was that heavy!”  He then looked up at Alex.  “Hey!  You’re that girl who was in my plantoon!  Alex, right?”

            “Yeah...Alex.  Alex Roane.”

            “I’m Frank Diar,” said the tall boy.

            “My name is Shargo Lipe,” the smaller boy said timidly.

            “Harmon Slade!  I still can’t believe I’m going to be on Giel!” Harmon squeeled.

            “All right!  Looks like I know everyone but...you!  What’s your name?”  Kark turned to the tall girl.

            “I do not answer to improper questions.  You are in the military, and you should treat people with dignity and respect.”

            “Hey, hey.  I was just kidding.  Didn’t mean to upset you.”

            “Keep your lame jokes to yourself, ok?  I don’t find them funny...more lame and pointless.”

            “Well, I think someone got up on the wrong bed this morning.”  The girl rolled her eyes.

            “Until you ask with respect, you do not have the nobility of knowing my name.”

            “Famous?” Kark asked sarcastically.  The girl didn’t reply.

            Mmm...this isn’t like him to be late...” muttered Major Mank.

            “He should be here soon,” Major Dome said, calmly.

            Aaah!  What are you doing here??” Alex shrieked.

            “Making sure everybody got here ok,” he replied.  “You did get the report about *whisper whisper* right?”  Major Mank shook his head.

            “Yes, you are done.  For now.”  The two men saluted each other and Major Dome departed.

            “That guy is kind of freaky,” Mark muttered.  The others all shook their head in agreement.

            The bus came five minutes later.  Captain Fiden stepped out and everyone greeted each other.  The tall girl’s name was Carmon Pillo.  They all got onto the bus while Captain Fiden and Major Mank began loading everyone’s luggage into the storage under the bus.  Alex was the second last to go on board.  She took a seat at the window.  Outside, other groups were getting together, ready for their own departures.  She thought she saw Brond in the distance, but it was hard to tell.  Alex hoped that he understood what she was trying to tell him, and that he wasn’t mad at her.  As the bus rolled away from MRA, she had a strange feeling that she might actually miss it...NAH!

 

            The bus stopped an hour later in a city called Tomina.  Tomina was a spaceship city where the ships would come to refuel, depart, or be stored until ready to use.  It was a very high tech city, so everyone was staring out the windows and excitedly pointing to things that they had only seen in books.

            “Oh my gosh!  That’s where they store the spaceships!  And look at that!  They have moving streets that can take your vehicles to the spaceship you want...this is sooooooo cool!”  Harmon excitedly cried out, her face pressed against the window.  The bus pulled over and stopped.  A woman dressed in the MRA uniform and short brown hair that went down to her shoulders entered.

            “Captain Fiden, Major Mank, Lt. Splid reporting!” she saluted.

            “I’ll go store your bags, Lt. Splid,” Major Mank replied.

            “Is everyone on Giel?” Captain Fiden asked.

            “Yes, Captain Fiden.”

            “And...is she on board?”

            “Yes.  Marshal Candy dropped her off early this morning.”

            “Good.”

            “All set,” Marshal Mank smiled as he entered the bus.  “This is Lt. Splid, as you all probably all ready heard.  She will be one your three instructors.  Captain Fiden, you can start going again.”  Lt. Splid took a seat up front as the bus began rolling.  “You will also see other students in Steelidge who work on Giel full time because of their excellent work and dedication.  They are expers of the ins and ours of Giel, but I must ask that you do not speak to them.  They did not receive extra help while trainees, and the same will go with you guys.”

            It’s port 5, gate 14, right?” Captain Fiden asked Marshal Mank.  The bus had stopped in front of a gate leading to one of the moving streets.  A man with a brown mustache and a mini computer pad was guarding the gate.

            “Yes, that’s correct.”  Captain Fiden turned to the man and began talking.  The gate opened, and the street stopped as the bus drove onto it.  The man began typing some information into his computer.  The gates closed and the street began moving again very rapidly.  It was starting to make Alex’s stomach feel sick as she looked at the swirling colors from her window.  She looked down at her feet and pressed her knees against the seat in front of her.  The bus finally stopped in front of a large clear tube, in front of another gate.  Captain Fiden handed some papers out of the window to the guard at the gate.  They saluted, and the gate opened.  The bus drove under the tube and into a parking deck.

            “Ok, everyone out!”  Major Mank was the first to depart.  He and Captain Fiden began unloading everyone’s luggage.  Once everyone had all of their belongings, they followed, in a line two-by-two, toward an elevator.  The elevator could only hold a few people at a time, so they had to split into two groups.  Once Alex was inside, the elevator lifted them up one-story and opened to the bottom of the clear tube.  The tube had a pad in the center, which was much larger than the elevator, though everyone had to squeeze in tightly.  Like the moving streets, once the door leading to the tube closed, the pad shot up at a rapid speed.  Luckily, Alex hadn’t eaten much that day, or she thought she’d be sick for sure.  This wasn’t a good sign for being on a spaceship, so she tried hiding her upset stomach.

            The pad finally stopped in a dark section of the tube.  When a door opened, the group stepped in a huge room, where the Giel was sitting peacefully.  It was connected to several giant wires.  All of the students, except Carmon, began ooing and awing in complete excitement.  The Giel was huge and silver, with its name printed in black.  It had fins sticking on top and on the bottom, several huge windows, etc.

            “I’ve seen pictures, but I didn’t think it would be this big!” squealed Harmon.  Carmon rolled her eyes.  A door from the ship suddenly opened and some stairs descended downwards.  A woman stepped out.

            “The ship is all ready, Captain Fiden,” the woman said.

            “Excellent, excellent!  Thank you Marshal Candy!”  They saluted and Marshal Candy headed toward the tube, giving a disgusted look to the students as she left.

            “Well, let’s get on board everyone,” Marshal Mank instructed.  The group marched in a single file line behind Marshal Mank and Captain Fiden up the steps and into Giel.  They went through a very small room, which held the stairs, and into a large hallway.  Taking a right led to the control panels, left toward bedrooms and cruisers.  The stairs went up as the group left and maid their way toward the control panels.  Instead of stopping, they turned down another hallway connected to the control panel room and into a much larger room that contained couches and several computers.  Three other hallways randomly stuck out from this room.

            “Welcome to the lobby.  Here you will be practicing with simulations.  But for now, we will do introductions and assign you to rooms.”  Two other lieutenants, who were in the control panels room, entered, along with a girl from the right-most hallway.  Alex was shocked to see the girl was Miji.  “Sit down!” Major Mank said joyfully , pointing to the couches.  The students did as they were told.  Alex propped her legs up on her bag.

            “This is Lt. Bagmon.” Major Mank pointed to a tall guy with a large nose who appeared to be rather full of himself.  “He will typically be found in the control panel room working with Captain Fiden.”  Lt. Bagmon saluted.

            “I expect everyone to listen to me.  I do not like when people do not pay attention to what I say.  Is that understood?”  The students nodded; no one said “yes sir!” or anything of that sort.  This seemed to have pissed Lt. Bagmon, but he didn’t say anything.

            “And this is Lt. Trosher.”  This time, Major Mank pointed to a skinny guy who looked rather wimpy.  “He will be in here with the simulations.”

            “Yes.  It’s nice if you don’t like windows.  Things move so quickly here,” Lt. Trosher said.  Alex knew her stomach got upset, but she had no desire comparing herself to this loser.

            “And you already met Lt. Splid.  She keeps track of the cruisers.”

            “Nice to meet all of you again,” Lt. Splid said, nicely.

            “Finally, this young lady is Miji.  She will be joining you guys with your training.”

            “Hello!” Miji said, pleasantly.

            “Wait a minute!” Kark cried out.  “There are only suppose to be 6 recruitments to Giel, right?”

            “And she’s just a girl,” Harmon chimed in.

            “Yes, but she is very gifted,” Major Mank responded.  That, and it was Admiral Exot’s orders.  I must obey him.”  Harmon rolled her eyes as Miji squished between her and Alex.

           “It’s nice to see you again, Alex!” Miji grinned.  Alex look the other way.  Miji may be a bit better than Major Dome, but not by much.

            “Now, I think it’s time for introductions and the a tour of the ship.”  Everyone gave their names.  When introductions were finally over, Major Mank gave them a tour of the ship.  First, they went down the hallway Miji came from.  The first rooms were for the upper students, who were resting.  Further down were two larger rooms for Major Mank and Captain Fiden.

            “The Captain is only allowed to sleep here if there is someone running the ship.  Otherwise, he must sleep as close to the control panels as possible.  Can’t take any chances.  Oh, and one more thing.  Please do not knock on the doors unless it is an emergency.  Nobody liked to be woken up for no reason, right?  Now, is that understood?”  They nodded their heads silently.  “All right then.”  The other hallway on the right had a whole bunch of windows on the left hand side.  Though the only thing Alex could see now was the ship’s storage room, she figured it would be very pretty when they were out in space.  The hallway ended at a door.  Major Mank pushed it opened.

            “This is the kitchen.  The lieutenants will make sure the cabinets are fully stocked.  We have dinner together at around 6, if all is well, but breakfast and lunch are whenever.  Eat what you want, but remember we have limited food while out in space.  Is that understood?”

            “Yes, Major Mank.”

            “Good.”  The last hallway, on the left hand side, let back to the rooms they saw earlier.

            “Those are your rooms.  The lieutenants have already put your stuff in them.  Now, follow me down this way.”  He pointed to one door on the right.  “This is the communication room where I make frequent reports to Colonel Landers back in Tomina, who then reports to Marshal Candy.  No one is allowed in there, though it usually remains locked.  Is that understood?”  The door on the left lead to a basement where weapons, food, supplies, and the engines were stored.  The end of the hallway lead to a huge room that contained 6 cruisers.”

            “These are where the cruisers are stored.  You won’t be allowed to fly them until you have been properly trained.  You will have to pass your simulations before you can even touch them.  Is that understood?”

            “Yes, Major Mank.”

            “Good.  Well then, I’ll let you all find your rooms and get settled in.  We won’t do much today, so make yourselves comfortable.  We will be taking off in an hour, so please come out to the control room then.”  Major Mank departed while the others began looking into the rooms to see which one was there’s.  Miji followed Alex to her room.

            “Why are you following me,” muttered Alex.

            “Because I like you,” Miji smiled.  “Am I bothering you?”

            “Yes, you are!” Alex snapped, slamming the door in her face.  Her new room was much smaller than her apartment, though it didn’t have a kitchen.  She had a single bed, a wardrobe on the left-hand side of the bed, a nightstand with a mirror above it across from the bed, and a small private bathroom with a shower.  There was also a small desk on the right side of the room with a labtop and a piece of paper.  The paper was instructions on how to sign on her labtop, her new e-mail account, and information on how she would be monitored blah blah blah.  Alex ignored it and began loading up the labtop.  The door banged open.

            “Miji is crying in her room!  What did you do to her??”  roared Lt. Bagmon.  “Her howling is driving me mad!  And all I can hear is YOUR name!  You’d better go talk to her!”  He slammed the door behind him.  Alex rolled her eyes again and left her room.  There was something odd about the Miji girl.

            It wasn’t too difficult to figure out which room was Miji’s.  She knocked on the door hesitantly.

            “Miji?  Are you ok?”  She stopped crying but didn’t answer.  “I’m sorry for what I said earlier,” Alex lied.  The only reason she wouldn’t do it again, if she had the chance, is because she wanted Lt. Bagmon off her back.

            “And for slamming the door in my face?” she cried out.

            “Yes, yes, and for slamming the door in your face.”  This was so annoying.  The door swung open and Miji stood there, with her goofy smile.  It didn’t look like she was crying at all.

            “Does that mean I can visit you whenever I want?”  Yikes!

           “Hell no!” Alex cried, pushing her away.  For the first time, she was Miji frown.  “Just, not when I’m sleeping at least, ok?”

            “Yah!” Miji exclaimed.

            “Everyone, into the control panels room!  Pronto!”  Alex and Miji made their way to the control panels.  Four of the older students were already there and getting the ship ready to take off.  The other 5 students gathered at the entrance while Major Mank began pointing to seats.  Alex and Miji sat in front of a bunch of computers with a monitor above their heads displaying where the ship was currently present.

            “Don’t press anything!” Major Mank commanded as he sat down in a huge chair in the center of the room, control panels surrounded him in a semi-circle.  Captain Fiden was directly in front of Major Mank while two students were each on the left and right of him.  The other students were sitting in the back watching everyone typing and making commands to let the ship set sail.  After a few minutes, Alex could feel the floor vibrating underneath her feet.  A loud humming noise filled the air as the engines began heating up.  The top of the room the ship was stored in began to open up.  As soon as it was fully opened, the thrusters at the bottom of the ship emitted a huge amount of steam and the ship slowly began to rise.  The thrusters began emitting more and more pressure  until the ship was finally high enough to move forward without hitting anything.  In a flash, it zoomed out into space.  Alex gripped the sides of her chair to hold her balance.  It only lasted for five minutes before the Giel slowed down, but it felt much longer than that to Alex.  When the ship was in cruise mode, Marshal Mank turned to the new students and smiled.

            “Well, how did you guys like that?”  Harmon’s eyes were wide opened, Carmon had her legs crossed and looked at him seriously, Kark was grinning, Frank was looking rather excited, and Shargo had thrown up on the floor.  “So...who’s ready for some lunch?”


Chapter 12

Training

 

            Tuesday morning, the first day of training.  Alex was sound asleep in bed when her alarm woke her up at 5 in the morning.  Way too early!  She stretched, and then went to her wardrobe to get her clothes.  While changing, there was a knock on her door.

            “Alex!  Are you up yet?”  Miji.  If Alex could kill her without getting in trouble, she would do so in a heart beat.

            “Almost!  Just putting on my uniform!”  Once dressed, Alex took her time to brush her hair.

            “Alex!  Hurry up!”

            “I’m going, I’m going,” Alex grumbled, opening her door to Ms. Cheerful.  Geesh, you’re worse than Major Shrime.”  Miji grinned.  The two girls began making their way to the kitchen.  “So...why are you training on the Giel anyways?”

            “Admiral Exot told me that it would be useful training.”

            “But...why?  No offence, but you are only kid.  You’ve probably only been to MRA for a couple of years...”

            “No, I haven’t been there at all.”  Alex’s jaw dropped.

            “Then you have no experience with the military whatsoever!  You haven’t taken the SMEs, have you?”

            “Nope.”

            “Then you can’t possibly be training.”

            “Yes, I am.”

            “No you’re not!”  Miji just kept smiling.

            “Oh, yes I am.  It’s a bit complicated, but I will learn how to work Giel.  Even better than Major Mank.  You’ll see.”

            “You’re a really odd kid,” Alex mumbled.

            “I’m not a kid.”

            “Yeah...sure...”

            After a simple breakfast of cereal and milk, with Miji asking a billion questions and Alex blowing her off with the simplest answers she could think of, the two girls joined the rest of the groggy group in the simulation room.  Lt. Trosher rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

            “Ok, this is the simulation room, look I told you yesterday,” he droned.  “You will each take turns playing a simulation.  There are 10 different scenarios for each level.  Once you get past level 8, you will then be given several scenarios combined from all the previous levels which you must pass before you can fly a cruiser.  Is that understood?”

            “Yes, Lt. Trosher.”

            “Ok, good.  Well, today is just the practice level.  You will start level 1 tomorrow if you are familiar with the controls by then.”  He pointed to a bunch of equipment sitting on a couch.  There was a huge pair of goggles, a pad that represented the control panels in the cruiser, and lots of plugs.  They each took turns becoming familiar with the controls and flying around with the simulation.  It was a bit more complicated than what they had learned in school, but it didn’t take Alex too long to figure everything out.  Shargo was excellent at it.

            “Excellent job, Mr. Lipe!  You were doing almost level 4 work there!”  Shargo gave a little smile and then sat quietly on the opposite couch.

            When they were done, Major Mank came in to relieve Lt. Trosher.

            “Well, see you tomorrow,” Lt. Trosher gave a rather pathetic salute and then made his way to his room.

            “Well, now,” Major Mank beamed.  “One important thing you will learn here is that health is extremely important.  After simulation, you will do several exercises before lunch.  We will start with jumping jacks, push-ups, etc.  These will be harder to do than the drills you were use to, but they will be just as strenuous.  We can’t have wimpy soldiers.”  With that, everyone began working out.  And it was rough.  As friendly as Major Mank appeared at the beginning, he almost became a Lt. Charles.  “No!  You will do more than that!  Keep going!  You call that a push-up?  No, it goes like this...”  Though Shargo did a wonderful job with the simulations, Alex felt sorry for him as Major Mank began fixing his back so he could do a proper push-up. Shargo’s face twisted up in a painful expression.

            Lunch consisted of some energy bars and energy drinks.  Blah!  It tasted so gross!  After that was done, the group made their way to the control panels.  In the mean time, the older students went on their lunch break.  Lt. Bagmon was rather strict, but very knowledgeable.  He went through the basic controls, safety, and the basic things you would do if you were in an emergency.

            “Never press this button unless you need me or the captain!” Lt. Bagmon roared.  “No one wants to be woken up to a prank!  Is that understood?”  Everyone nodded.

            After that funness was over, it was time for a break.  Everyone was relieved, as most of them did not typically wake up at 5 in the morning.  Miji ran to her room, which made Alex almost ecstatic.  At least she would get some rest before she would be bothered again.  She fell asleep for an hour or so.  Brittany Spear’s song “I hate you Flode,” kept repeating over and over in her head.  It kept her from getting any descent sleep.  Dragging herself out of bed, she turned on her labtop.  At least she could download the song.  Downloading was against the ‘rules,’ but screw that!  Alex didn’t care anymore.  She typed in her username and password and logged in.  Once she was connected, she did some web surfing.

            “Flode...I’m sure someone has it to download...”  And that’s when an article caught her eye.  She opened it up to see a long list of names.  Searching through, Alex found the name ‘Andre Flode.’  Curious who this was, Alex began searching information on Andre Flode.  Another news article popped up on the computer screen.  Alex clicked on it.  There was a picture of a man, a woman, and a little six-year old girl.  The title of the article was “Come Home”

            “Please, if anyone knows anything about our daughter, Andre Flode, please let us know!  We just want our little girl back!”  There were other articles on the same site.  She recognized some of the names from the list she saw earlier.  All of the articles were the same things: “Please come home!” “Wherever you are, we will always love you!” “I hope you are safe and well!”  They were from parents, friends, family who had lost their children to the military.  That was when it dawned on Alex.  Andre Flode...she looked back at the picture of the girl and was horrified to see, though it was in black and white, that the girl had the same shape of eyes as Alex.  She froze there, staring at the picture of the smiling girl.  No, it couldn’t be...was that her?  Knowing this now...Alex was taking it a lot harder than she thought.  She put her head on her desk and began crying, her hands clenched in fists.  Alex can’t remember a single time she had been this upset.  Even when the military interrogated her on Koga, or when she got the watch.  No.  This was sick.  People were suffering when they lost their children.  Though this was obvious now, Alex never really thought how her parents would handle the situation of losing their child.  How could the military be this selfish??  There was a loud knock on her door.

            “We’re going to see the cruisers.  You coming, Alex?” Miji said from the other side.

            “I’ll be there in a minute,” Alex said, quickly, as she unplugged her computer.  She could not let the military have any ideas of what she had found out.


Chapter 13

Attempted Research

 

            Alex couldn’t wait until the end of the day.  After learning the basic ins and outs of cruisers from Lt. Splid, the most cheerful one in the lot, they did some more exercising and then took quick showers before dinner.  Dinner was nicer than lunch, but not by much.  Chicken and vegetables with a roll.  Simple, but unappealing to Alex; especially since she wanted to get back on her labtop as soon as possible.

            After dinner, it was bed time.  Alex looked at her watch, it was 7 pm.  Carmon and Shargo both headed toward their rooms, while Frank and Kark sat down on the couches in the simulation room and began talking about their first day.  Harmon joined in while Major Mank sat on the opposite couch pretending to read a newspaper.  Alex wished everyone good-night and then made her way quickly toward her room, locking the door behind her.  It was now time to do some web surfing and to find whatever she could about Andre Flode.  She replugged and loaded up her labtop.  Opening up a search engine, she typed in the name and clicked ‘search’.  A handful of sites popped up.  The first two she had seen earlier.  The third site, however, was an online family album.  She opened it up to see pictures of the man and woman, Andre Flode, and other random people.  Alex studied each image carefully, taking in all of the vivid colors while trying to force her mind to remember.  But it remained blank.  Nothing looked familiar to her and she was beginning to have second doubts that Andre Flode might have been her as a child.  The name ‘Flode’ did ring some sort of bell, and the eyes...there was something about the eyes.  She saw those same eyes every time she looked in the mirror.  What did the military do to her??

            Suddenly, while observing photos, a screen popped up “The page cannot be displayed.”  Confused, she tried searching the name again, but no sites appeared this time.  Did they block her?  She looked at her watch nervously.  The loud knock on her door made Alex jump a mile.

            “Alex?  Can I come in?”  Miji...grrrrr...

            “Uh, not right now.  I’m sleeping.  Remember, I told you not to bother me while I’m sleeping.”

            “You’re not sleeping, I’m not stupid,” Miji shouted from the other end of the door.  “Let me in.”

            “I’m kind of busy, Miji!”

            “Let me in!” Miji cried again.  “I know everything!”  Alex paused.

            “What do you mean you know everything?”

            “I know the military kidnapped you,” Miji replied.  There was silence as Alex crept up to the door and opened it.

            “How did you know that?”

            “Admiral Exot told me.”  It was pretty strange for her to know this since she wasn’t wearing a watch like everyone else who knew.  Alex dragged her in and closed the door.

            “Do you...do you know what this watch is?”  Miji nodded her head.  “Then, if you know this, why aren’t you wearing one?”

            “Admiral Exot said I didn’t need one.  I don’t know why,” Miji answered.  Alex sighed and went back to her labtop to shut it down.

            “What were you searching?” Miji questioned her.

            “It was...nothing.”

            “Major Mank said you were looking up information on a girl named Andre Lode, or something like that.”

            “It was Flode...wait, Major Mank knew that?”

            “Yeah.  One of the other students monitors the labtops and reported to Major Mank that you were looking up odd information.  Who is she?”  Miji looked up at Alex curiously.

            “To be honest, I don’t know.”  Alex let out a long sigh.  “So I can’t do anymore research on her,” she grumbled

            “Well...no.  But because about it, if you need to talk you can talk to me.  The watch won’t go off since I already know about it.”  Alex sighed again.  Talking to a kid was nothing like talking to Brond...err, at least writing notes.  There was a knock at the door.  Alex opened it to see Major Mank.

            “Miji, you need to go to bed.”

            “Ok,” Miji got up and left.  Major Mank stared over at Alex.

            “Will you come with me?” he asked.  Alex nodded her head and followed him to the communication room.  Once he unlocked the door and they were both inside, he closed it and turned back to Alex.  The room was rather dark with a huge monitor surrounded by a controls panel.  Alex took a seat nervously.

            “I am sure you know what I would like to talk about,” he said, staring at her.  Alex decided it might be wise to play dumb.

            “No, not a clue.”  Major Mank banged his fists against the wall.

            “Damn you!  Don’t lie to me!” he roared.  “One of the other students was monitoring your internet and discovered you were doing research on some girl!  I want to know who she is!”

            “Like I told Miji, I really don’t have a clue who she is!” Alex shot back.  “That’s why I was trying to look up information!”

            “I think you are lying.” Major Mank gritted his teeth.  “Well, no matter.  You have been permanently removed from internet access.  I have already informed the other students so you will not try to use their computers.  This is very serious Ms. Roane.  If you do something of this sort again, I can have the military arrest you for not listening.  There was a set of rules you were suppose to follow, which you chose to ignore.  As punishment, you will be cleaning the ship for the rest of the night.  We will all be randomly watching you, so if you try anything funny, it won’t work.  Is that understood?”

            “No, it isn’t.”  Alex glared at him angrily.  “I read the rules.  There was nothing that said I couldn’t search information on people.  I didn’t do anything wrong, yet you insist on punishing me.  I want to know why.”  Major Mank glared at her.

            “You made a promise to Marshal Rick, did you not?  You would not talk about this to anyone.”

            “And I didn’t.”

            “Lt. Dome said otherwise.”

            “He did??  But he said he wouldn’t say anything!”

            “I believe I rest my case...”

            “No!”  Alex could feel her face grow red with anger as her hands uncontrollably clenched into fists.  “I NEVER said anything!”

            “You chose other ways to communicate, correct?”  Major Mank paused for a moment.  “Well, that doesn’t matter much.  The boy was found and has his own watch.”  Alex gaped at him.

            “No!” she cried.

            “Oh, yes.  It didn’t take Lt. Dome a lot of time to figure that puzzle out.  You are very lucky, though.  In reality, you should be killed for what you have done.  If Lt. Dome didn’t find him, you probably would be.  So, back to this current case.  I’ll be nice and give you two options.  Do you wish to do chores all night on the ship, or shall I report you to Admiral Exot himself?”  There was no point in fighting anymore, no longer how much Alex disagreed and wanted to slap him in the face.  Hard enough to leave a handprint.

            “Chores,” she grumbled.

            “Good choice!” Major Mank beamed.


Chapter 14

Isolation and Computers

 

           Over the course of the week, Alex began feeling herself becoming more and more isolated from the rest of the group.  After she got in trouble and had to clean the entire ship, she was assumed by the others to be a troublemaker.  They kept their distance from her.  The only one who would talk was Miji.  Many times Alex found herself biting her tongue to not spill the beans that she knew about the brainwashing, well, the little she knew anyways.  Once Alex was able to get over some of the annoying aspects of Miji, she actually began to like her.  Miji was a sweet girl who only wanted a friend and someone to talk to.  Though this didn’t completely clear Miji from suspicion, as she still acted very strange in Alex’s view, she still felt that she could at least trust Miji, until something proved her otherwise.

            Since Alex was beginning to feel isolated from everyone, she spent her time in her room thinking to herself (until Miji stopped by).  There had to be some sort of way for her to get back on the internet, even just for a minute.  If she could find out where her parents were, if they truly were her parents, then she would be able to leave the military, even if it would cost her left arm.  That didn’t matter to her more than knowing the truth.

            That’s when an idea struck her.  It was on a Tuesday, when the group was learning about the monitors that detected nearby enemies.  Lt. Bagmon was explaining how to immediately inform everyone about the enemies without giving off any signals to them.  He then started going into some details on how the equipment worked.  Alex could feel her eyes start to droop...this was kind of boring.  She looked down lazily toward the floor where she saw some a whole bunch of wires underneath some of the radar equipment.  At first, she thought nothing of it, but then she began playing around in her mind, it would be funny if, in a panic, someone were to accidentally knock out the wires.  They weren’t well hidden and it could easily be done...  It was so easy.  All she had to do was wait until Captain Fiden made his switch with one of the students.  She’s study them until she got a precise time of when they switched and how long she would have to activate her plan.  This could work, as crazy as it sounded.

            As everyone headed back for their naps, except Shargo who actually fell asleep during class and had to clean up the kitchen, Alex hurried toward her room with Miji behind her.

            “What did you think about the radar?” Miji asked her.

            “It was really neat,” Alex said quickly, without giving the question much thought.

            “Hopefully we won’t have to use it anytime soon.  I’m not sure if I’m ready to fight an enemy.  We still need more training.”  Alex flopped herself on her bed.

            “Yeah, but I doubt they’ll come.”         

            “Why do you think that?”

            “Because...they haven’t come yet.  Besides, we haven’t had a war in years.  The military is quite strong and I’m sure no one is stupid enough to challenge us.  At least, not yet.”  Miji smiled.

            “Yeah, you’re right!” she grinned.  Alex frowned.  “What’s wrong?  You seem more out of it than usual.”

            “No, I’m fine.  I was just thinking...I hope my parents are doing well.”

            “You worry about your parents a lot, don’t you?”  Miji gave her usual curious expression, when she wasn’t smiling.

            “Yeah.  I mean, I can’t remember them.  To be honest, I hope I do very well in Steelidge.  The military promised I could see them again, as long as I have no communication to anyone else in the military.  As much as I would hate that, I wouldn’t mind giving it up to see my parents again.  And the rest of my family, if I have one.”  Alex paused.  “Hey, Miji?”

            “Hmmm?”

            “What about your parents?  Do you think of them?”

            “No, I don’t.”

            “Really?  Why not?”

            “Because they are both dead.”  Alex looked at her horrified.

            “Oh!  I am so sorry...”

            “Don’t need to be!” Miji grinned.  Damn, the girl even smiles when talking about her dead parents.  Alex gave a little shutter.  “They died a long time ago.  At least they lived a full life.”

            “A full life?”

            “Well, they got the most out of it.”  Miji sat on the bed and began swinging her legs back and forth.  “Admiral Exot gave me a home.  He let me join the military.  He’s a very nice man.  Have you ever met him?”  Alex shook her head.

            “Actually, I don’t even think I know what he looks like.”

            “Really?”

            “Yeah.  I mean, you hear about him now and then.  I’ve seen General Domine a couple of times, mainly at ceremonies and stuff.  But even he hides in the dark.”

            “Admiral Exot doesn’t hide in the dark.  He just feels it is better to not show himself, incase the students get mad and attempt to kill him.  I mean, Alex, if you met him, knowing that he was responsible for the recruitment, what would you do?”  Alex thought about this for a second.

            “I’d ask him why he did that.”

            “And what if he doesn’t answer?”

            “I...I...I don’t know what I would do,” Alex replied, sheepishly.

            “Exactly.  That’s why few people see him.  He has it tough.”  Alex wouldn’t consider him for a second to have it ‘tough.’  It was his fault for the recruitment and the brainwashing!  A flood of anger poured into Alex’s body that her shaking was giving Miji puzzled looks.

           “Alex!  Are you ok?”  Alex grabbed her pillow and took a few deep breaths until she was able to calm herself down.

            “Yeah.  Sorry about that.  I think I might take a little nap, Miji.”  Miji pushed herself off of Alex’s bed.

            “Ok.  I’ll see you in the cruiser room then.”  Miji left, closing the door behind her.  Alex put her face in her pillow furiously.

 

            It was finally set.  About five minutes before twenty-three hours.  She had less than 5 minutes to make her move, though.  She had to give herself some time to leave without being caught.  The door to the control panels swung opened.  Alex watched cautiously as Captain Fiden stepped out and began heading his way over toward his room.  Quickly, Alex slipped into the room.  She picked up the chair closest to the wires and put one of it’s legs over the wires.  This way, if someone were to push the chair, all of the wires would get unplugged.  Plus, it wouldn’t look like a complete set-up.  The chair was positioned so that it would have to get moved for the student to make his way to the captain’s chair.  Once the plan was ready, Alex quickly got out of there.  She could hear voices down the hall and a flashlight glowed in her direction.  Alex squatted down and began, as gently as she could, edging herself away from the control panels room.

            Arg!  I wish I could have had some more sleep!” the student groaned as he made his way into the room.  When the door closed, Alex pulled herself up and made her way back to her room, turning on her light switch as she entered.  She waited until there was a loud thud.  All of the lights in the ship went out.  Alex wasn’t too sure how sensitive those wires were, but it looked like the military made another stupid decision.  Anyone could see that could happen!  Major Mank and Captain Fiden began shouting as they made their way to the control panels.  Alex curled herself under her sheets and pretended to be asleep.  She could hear the student getting yelled at, and for a second she had some pity on him.  But, now was not the time for pity; he was too old to be a victim to the recruitment.

            “I tripped over the chair!  It was an accident!”

            “Plug them back in!  Quickly!” Major Mank roared.

            “That chair was not like that when I left!” Captain Fiden pleaded.  “I swear that!”

            “There is no time to be arguing who did what right now!” Major Mank hollered.  “We need to get the power back!”

            “I’m small enough to plug everything back in,” came the sweet voice of Miji.

            “Miji!  You should be resting!”

            “No, it’s ok.  My job is to help you, remember?”  There was the sound of clinging.  Alex waited.  When the light in her room finally flashed on, the back-up lights, she jumped up and turned it off.  She would only have a couple of minutes to be on the internet before they would kick her off again.  Impatiently, Alex watched her labtop boot up.

            Come on!” she thought bitterly to herself.  Connected.  She signed on the internet.  Success!  Typing madly, she began searching where the Flode family was living.  There were several different Flode’s, but Alex luckily remembered seeing her parents’ names and picked that one.  She scribbled down the planet, Milone, and the city, Ingleburg.  Scribbling this down madly, the labtop shut down and then started rebooting again.  Miji must have replugged everything and the system was switching from its back-up to original power.  Alex unplugged her labtop before it oculd finish rebooting, she wasn’t very friendly to computers, and then made her way back to bed, smiling happily to herself.


Chapter 15

Giel Adventure

 

        Alex wasn’t sure if they figured out what she had done.  Major Mank was definitely suspicious.  The next day he kept bringing up the incident to her.

            “I hope that didn’t wake you up,” he said, smoothly.  Or “It was the strangest thing, but Captain Fiden couldn’t recall the chair being that way before he left.  It’s like someone set him up.”  It was such a shame that when the student tripped over the chair, any sign of her fingerprints were destroyed.  There was no way anyone could point the blame to her, no matter how obvious it was.

            Over the next couple of weeks, Alex began talking to the other students.  One night, when everyone was done with their classes and dinner had been cleaned up, the trainee students, except Shargo and Carmon, sat down and began playing some cards.  Alex, who usually went back to her room, instead politely asked if she could join them.  They were all rather surprised.

            “You really want to play Royal One with us??” Harmon asked, in a rather shocked yet annoyed tone.

            “Well, sure.  We’d have an even number of people,” Kark said, nodding his head.  “Frank can teach you how to play.”

            “Can I play too?” Miji asked shyly from the corner of her room.

            “Get lost kid,” Kark replied, harshly.

            “She isn’t as bad as she seems,” Alex whispered.

            “Maybe, but kids should be in bed.”

            “Can I at least watch?”  Kark shook his had disgustedly.

            “I guess, if she just watches,” mumbled Harmon.  Frank sat there, shuffling the cards several times.  Alex got up.

            “If she bothers you guys that much, then I’ll just go talk with her,” Alex said annoyingly.

            “Oh, no, Alex!  We didn’t mean it that way...Miji!  You can watch us if you would like.”

            “Yes, but lets not make this a nightly habit,” Kark grumbled.

            Kark!” Harmon said, angrily.

            “Get a of yourself Kar,” Frank smiled, while shuffling the cards some more.  “She won’t do anything.

            “First of all, please don’t call me that,” Kark snapped.  “Second, I think the cards are done being shuffled.”

            “I know when the cards are done being shuffled, thank you very much,” Frank shot back, as he shuffled the cards a couple more times.  Miji took a seat on the couch and watched quietly while Frank explained the rules to Alex.  The game was rather simple to understand, and after a couple of rounds, they were all laughing and talking about random stuff.  For once, Alex was beginning to feel like she belonged as everyone started talking about their personal life stories

            “I remember when I was at the thrift store, I bought these really cute leather boots,” Harmon said.

            “Ut oh!”

            “You got in big trouble, didn’t you?” Frank asked.  Harmon giggled.

            “I had to do drills for a week!” she squealed.  and that was before Lt. Charles.  Remember Lt. Chucker?”

            “Oh my gosh!  Yes!” Alex shrieked.  “What happened to him?”

            “I heard he got fired for beating up a kid to death,” Kark said in an eerie voice.

            “Don’t make up crap,” Frank scolded in a jokingly way.  “He just wasn’t fit for the military.  The man was a round lardball.”

            “That’s worse than what Kark said!” Harmon pointed out.

            “Yeah...I know.  Kark just wasn’t being honest enough.”

            “WILL YOU PEOPLE KEEP IT DOWN!” roared Carmon from the hallway.  “Some people are trying to get some sleep and do not wish to hear nonsense stories!”

            “They’re not nonsense if they are true...” Kark joked.

            “Shut up and grow up!  And you!” she pointed to Miji.  “You should be in bed, not hanging out with these lowlifes!”  Miji, who had been quietly laughing with them, resentfully got up and went to her bedroom.  Carmon slammed the door.

            “Bitch,” muttered Kark.  Frank got up.

            “I think this is a good sign that we should be getting to bed.  We might have the day off tomorrow, but I still have a lot of sleep to catch up on.”

            Agrred,” said Harmon, stretching.  “It was nice talking with you, Alex.”

            “Thanks,” Alex smiled.

 

            Since that night, Alex began hanging out with Harmon, Kark, and Frank before going to bed.  Carmon frequently yelled at them while Shargo kept his distance.  Miji would sometimes watch, other times she would go to bed.  What was good about communicating with them was that it made her situation feel much easier.  Training was also more enjoyable than just some sort of daily chore.

            One morning, while everyone was groggily getting breakfast, Major Mank came into the kitchen, beaming.

            “I got good news for all of you!”  Everyone looked up at him.  “The military has a vacation spot on the plant Kuko called Coconut Beach.  The Giel is the first group in Steelidge this year to stay at the beach.  We will be lodging there for a week to rest up and relax.”  All of the tired faces, except for Carmon’s, turned ecstatic.

            “Really?  We got the whole beach to ourselves??” Harmon cried.

            “Yup, that’s right!”

            “Wait...that means that there will be no other guys there...”  Major Mank gave her a puzzled look while Harmon turned away, blushing.

            “We not good enough for you?” Frank teased.

            “No, it’s not that.  I’m...oh, nevermind.”  Harmon dashed out of the kitchen.

            “Hey, Harmon, wait!” Frank followed her out.

            “What if we don’t want a vacation?” Carmon asked.

            “How could you possible ask that?” Kark roared.

            “This is our first real break ever!  And you want to deny that??” Alex shrieked.

            “Tanning isn’t the world.  I’m in the military so I can be a good soldier, unlike you lot.  Well?”  Carmon turned her attention to Major Mank.

            “Well...I’ve never been asked that before.  I think that you should give this vacation a shot.  You might like it.”  Carmon rolled her eyes and left.

            “I wasn’t quite expecting the reactions I got...well, what do you four think?”

            “I’m all for it.  Definitely!”  Kark gave him the thumbs up as he left.

            “I guess it would be fun,” Shargo said, shyly.

            “Admiral Exot is going to pick me up then, so it doesn’t matter to me,” Miji said.

            “What?  Why are you seeing Admiral Exot?”

            “Because he’s taking me out to dinner.”  Alex rolled her eyes.

            “You really are a weird kid,” she said, as she left to join the others.

 

            That Saturday night, the group was sitting down and having a turkey dinner.  The turkey tasted like tofu, so Alex didn’t care for it that much.

            “May I ask you a question, Major Mank?” Harmon asked quietly.

            “Yes, what is it?”

            “When do you think an enemy will attack us?  And why?”  This was a curious question, as the others all turned to Major Mank wondering how he would reply.

            “The enemy could attack any time,” Major Mank replied.  “Most enemies attack to show off their power.  It’s usually a fight to see who’s the strongest.”

            “Do you know who could possible attack us?” Kark questioned him.

            “Not at the moment, no.”

            “When was the last time an enemy has attacked since the MRA opened?” Harmon challenged him again.  Major Mank slammed his fists down on the table.

            “I really think it is inappropriate to keep asking questions at the dinner table!  Is that under...  Before Major Mank could finish, a red light above their heads began flashing, and an ear-piercing wail filled the room.  One of the students dashed into the kitchen.

            “We’re being attacked!” she shrieked.  Immediately, everyone got up, chairs falling to the floor with loud clonks.  Major Mank was the first out while the others followed close behind.  When the reached the control panels, the older students were already there, typing away.”

            “Should we flag the enemy?” one student asked.

            “Yes, do that,” Captain Fiden replied quickly.  “And you, how’s the radar?”

            There’s 20 cruisers on our left, 35 on our right, and about 25 or so in front of us.  There are only 10 behind.”

            “We’re completely surrounded!”  Harmon wailed.

            “You guys, take over the controls!” Major Mank commanded to the trainees.  “The rest of you, to the cruisers!  As soon as everyone is ready, tell Lt. Splid so that I can open the flap.”  Without hesitation, the older students dashed out.  Harmon was shaking as she sat down by the radar.  Lt. Bagmon was yelling at her, even though she wasn’t doing anything wrong.  Alex took a seat not to far away from Harmon while the three boys sat down at the other side.  Carmon just stood there, looking cross as usual, with her arms folded.

            “How far away are the ships?” Captain Fiden asked desperately.  Harmon could barely choke out any words to reply.

            “You moron!  You’re suppose to do this!” screamed Lt. Bagmon, as he grabbed her hands and began making them push buttons.

            “The missals are ready to be launched,” Frank spoke up.  “Should we launch them?”

            “No.  Wait.”

            “The cruisers are ready,” Alex informed Major Mank.

            “Ok.  Open up the flap Mr. Lipe.”

            “Yes sir!” Shargo said, timidly.

            “They are two hundred meters away!” screeched Lt. Bagmon.  Harmon had passed out on the controls.  He shoved her onto the floor.

            “I’ve never seen ships like this,” Kark said in amazement.  “They are oddly shaped compared to ours.”

            “Mr. Diar, are our lasers functional?”

            “Yes, sir!”

            “Then you may fire!”  Frank began pushing some buttons rapidly.

            “I still can’t flag them!” Carmon called out.  She had taken over communications.

            “Keep trying,” Captain Fiden instructed.

            “Yes, Captain Fiden!”

            “Captain Fiden!  This is REALLY bad!” Frank cried out in a panicky tone.

            “What is it?”

            “It appears that the lasers are going right THROUGH the ships!”  For a second, Captain Fiden was silent.  Then he got up, turned toward them, and clapped.

            “Well done, Mr. Diar!” he said happily

            “Huh?”

            “The ships weren’t real.  This was a specially designed simulation by Lt. Trosher.  It was to see how you would handle a real situation like this one.  All of you did a superb job.”  Frank smiled at this news, Kark looked annoyed that he was tricked while Shargo was still very tense.  Carmon had the same serious look on her face.

            “I think this proves that all of you deserve a vacation!” Major Mank exclaimed.


Chapter 16

First Vacation

 

        Harmon was rather bitter the next couple of days.  She didn’t speak much and was purposely avoiding everyone whenever she could.  There was much excitement about the vacation trip.  Carmon and Shargo were the only ones not constantly talking about it.  Eventually, Harmon began to put what happened during he drill aside and began talking about how nice it would be to finally go to a beach.

            “The sand tickles your toes and the sun is so warm that it feels like a blanket,” she was telling the others, since most of them couldn’t remember if they had ever been to a beach or not.

            When the day came that they would be landing in Kuko, everyone, except for Captain Fiden, were crowded in the hallway that lead to the kitchen, staring out the window as the big blue planet came into view.

            “Wow...it’s huge,” Kark said, impressed.

            “I’ve always wanted to see the ocean,” Shargo spoke up.

            “I just want to see everything!” Harmon said, gleefully.

            “I’m staying on the ship with Miji until Admiral Exot comes,” grumbled Carmon who was heading back toward her room.  “I’d rather see him than some stupid beach.  That’s much more important.”

            “Her priorities are really screwed up,” Kark said quietly under his breath.

            “So, Alex, what’s the first thing you are going to do when we get there?” Harmon asked.

            “Me?  Oh, I’m going to lye down at the sand, listen to the ocean, and watch the clouds float by.”

            “That sounds so nice...” Harmon closed her eyes as she imagined herself on the beach.

            “I’m going surfing.  I’ve always wanted to do that,” Frank nodded.

            “Really?  Hey we can compete!” Kark grinned.  “See which one of us stays on the longest.”

            “What about you, Shargo?  What are you going to do?” Alex asked him.

            “Me??  Well I...uh...I’m not sure...”  Blushing, Shargo dashed back to his room.

 

            The Giel landed at a spacestation about half an hour from the beach.  They took a mini-bus for the rest of the way there, with Captain Fiden driving.

            “Don’t you get tired of driving all the time?” Harmon asked him.

            “No.  I love being in control of things that move for some reason.  It’s hard to explain.”

            “Oh.”  Alex rested against the seat.  A week without Miji seemed really pleasant to her at the moment.  The weird girl was starting to get on her nerves again.

            The bus stopped at a yellow hotel that was right on the beach.

            “Everyone has their own rooms.  Check in, and then feel free to roam around.  Stay in Coconut Beach, though.  Have fun!  Oh, and Alex, may I talk to you for a minute?”  While the others went into the hotel, Alex turned toward Major Mank.

            “Yes, what?”

            “I am just letting you know...don’t try anything funny.  If that watch gets wet, it will most likely set off the bomb, and we don’t want that,” he whispered softly.  “Please be careful.”  He turned and headed back into the hotel.  Alex sighed.  How annoying.

            The beach was very quiet with only a handful of people and families enjoying the luxury before them; she couldn’t wait to run upon the welcoming warm sand.  After checking in to her room, and changing into her swimsuit (given by the military before the left the Giel), she went out onto the beach and began to look around.  She wanted to find a nice quiet place to rest and enjoy the weather without being bothered.  Alex walked down the boardwalk, listening serenely to the seagulls’ cries and the ocean slapping up against the shore.  These were sounds she had never heard before, and it made her feel at ease.

            Alex continued walking down the boardwalk, even when the shops and hotels ended.  There was a few rows of palm trees that split the beach into two.  Looking around to make sure no one was watching, Alex ran toward the trees and went to the other side of the beach.

            No one here,” she thought to herself.  “Lucky!”  She walked along the beach until she found some nice warm sand to lye down upon.  The leaves of the palm trees helped keep her from being seen easily from the boardwalk.  Alex lied down her head and looked up.  The sky was a perfect shade of blue with a few puffy clouds floating lazily in the sky.  How she envied those carefree clouds, with no worries in the world.  Alex closed her eyes as the sunrays warmed up her body.  Never had she felt more relaxed in her entire life...at least in the military life.

            Alex dozed off for a bit.  When she opened her eyes again, the clouds had shifted and new shapes were in the sky.  She smiled, and then closed her eyes again.  As she did so, a shadow fell upon her face.  The clouds must have blocked the sun as coolness now touched Alex’s body gently.  She flipped around, letting her backside get the sun while the sands warmed up her front.  It was then she realized that the clouds did not block the sun, but someone was standing over her.  She looked up.

            Aaaaaaah!” she shrieked, sitting up quickly.  “What the hell are you doing here??”

            “Checking up on you.  According to Major Mank, you have been up to something.”  Alex looked down at the sand by her feet.  She couldn’t bare to look into Major Dome’s cold eyes; they always made her feel uncomfortable.

            “I don’t know what she’s talking about,” Alex lied.

            “Oh, you are a very poor liar.  Are you aware that your watch also has a GPS in it?”  Alex frowned.

            “SO YOU ARE KEEPING TRACK OF MY EVERY MOVE?  CAN’T I HAVE SOME FREAKIN’ PRIVACY??”

            “Your room in Giel and in the hotel are being thoroughly searched.  Major Mank informed me that you were doing research on some girl...”

            “Andre Flode,” Alex interrupted.

            “Yes...her.”  Major Dome cleared his throat before continuing.  “Well, Captain Fiden insisted that the chair wasn’t caught up in the wires before he left, and both of them think you did some sort of research on her while the back-up power was available.  According to the coordinates fro your watch, you were in the controls panel at that time.”  Damn it!  Alex bit her tongue.

            “So, is that why Admiral Exot is here?  Are you suppose to take me to him so that he can finish me off?”

            “Well, for now, it depends on what is found.  If we find nothing, I am afraid we might have to strip search.”  Alex’s face blushed bright red as she wrapped her arms around her body.

            “You stay away from me.  I think I’d rather die.”

            “Unfortunately, that’s not your choice.”

            “Like hell it is!” Alex snapped, standing up.  “I’ll go jump in the ocean, destroy the watch and blow myself up at the same time!”  Major Dome put a relaxing arm on her shoulder.

            “But if you do that, you’ll lose it all.  You don’t want that, do you?”  It was the first time Major Dome was actually sounding like a normal human being, with feelings.  Alex could feel a tear start to run down her cheek, but she tried her hardest to hide her emotions.  At least she had the planet and city memorized, though this might be a bad thing if they find out about it.  They might realize what she knows and try brainwashing her again.  Major Dome let go of her shoulder.

            “You’re not as strong as you pretend,” he said, dryly.

            “What’s that suppose to mean?” Alex snapped.

            “You try to hide your emotions, but they still show.  I know you are sad and scared on what will happen to you if the military finds out what you’ve been up to while on the Giel.  Being unable to hide your feelings is not very good in the military.”

            “Well, I didn’t want to be here in the first place,” Alex grumbled, gritting her teeth.

            “Well, yes.”  Major Dome and Alex both turned their heads as a group from the military approached them from the boardwalk.

            “Thank you for coming out here, Major Dome,” Major Mank said politely.

            “How did the search go?” Major Dome asked.

            “We couldn’t find anything,” Marshal Candy fussed.  Alex didn’t recognize the other woman or two men .  They remained silent.

            “Well, like I told you earlier, Major Mank,” Major Dome started, “she is a troubled kid with a huge load on her wrist.  If you can’t prove that she did anything wrong, then don’t.  However, you might want to keep an eye on her more often.  If she did anything on the Giel she wasn’t suppose to, there is no need for a repeat.  Am I right?”

            “Yes...unfortunatlly, you are,” Major Mank grumbled, glaring in Alex’s direction.

            “Then is my work here done, Marshal Candy?” Major Dome asked, turning toward her.

            “Yes, you may leave.”  Major Dome turned a right and headed back to the main part of the beach.  Alex began walking too, not to follow Major Dome but to get away from the military.  Marshal Candy grabbed her shoulder tightly.  Alex winced as it was already sore from Major Dome.

            “You’re not going anywhere, missy, until we have a little chat,” she retorted.  “Major Mank, you may go back to the beach, or the Giel.”  Major Mank saluted as one of the other men accompanied him.  The other man took a set of handcuffs and forced them over Alex’s wrists.  He then took one of her shoulders while Marshal Candy switched shoulders with the woman.

            “You will follow me,” she commanded, and turned toward the boardwalk.  Alex tried her hardest to drag her feet, anything to slow them down.  After being kicked by the two who were making sure she wouldn’t get away, Alex stopped the struggling.  There really wasn’t much of a point.

            They took a taxi all the ways back to the ship station.  Instead of going toward the Giel, though, Marshal Candy lead them to a building called “Military Headquarters 23: Coconut Beach.”  They went inside, up an elevator, and into a boring white hallway.  When they reached a door, Marshal Candy unlocked it and pushed it opened.  She then grabbed the front of Alex’s clothes and dragged her inside as the others released their grips on her shoulders.  The door slammed behind them.  The only thing in the room was a wooden table and 2 chairs.  Marshal Candy dragged Alex to the closest chair, which had another handcuff attached to it.  She slapped this handcuff over Alex’s left wrist, almost on top of her watch.  Alex gave her a pissed look.  If she had missed, Marshal Candy would have set the bomb in the watch off.  An evil grin emerged onto her face as she sat in the chair opposite of Alex.

            “So...” she started, “I believe you have been quite some trouble for the military.  Clever idea of setting up the chair over the wires.  We at least know that is true.  What I am curious about is why you would do such a thing.”

            “I sleepwalk,” Alex said, sheepishly.

            “Don’t lie to me, girl!” Marshal Candy roared.  “Do you not think we did some thorough looking into your records with Major Shrime??  I am very well aware that sleepwalking wasn’t the issue!  I want to know the truth!”  Alex thought hard to herself.  Should she try to make up something and risk wearing Marshal Candy’s limited patience, or just go for the truth?

            “I wanted to look up some information while the main system was down,” she said, honestly.  Marshal Candy calmed down.

            “And what information is that?”

            “Well, I remember in one of my classes talking about some girl named Andre Flode.  The name just popped in my head recently, and I was curious who she is.”  There was no way Alex was going to completely tell Marshal Candy the entire truth.  She had to smudge it a bit.  “So, do you know who she is?  Because every time I try to look up information...”  Marshal Candy slammed her fists onto the desk.

            “Do not ask me such a stupid question, girl!” she screamed.  “It is none of your business who that girl is!”

            “I don’t understand why!  She’s a historical figure...”

            “No she’s not!”

            “Then who is she?”

            “She is nobody!  Do you got that, Ms. Roane?”  Alex almost screamed out “SHE’S ME!” but bit her tongue.  Hard.  In fact, she was starting to taste a little blood.

            “Fine.  She is nobody.  I will forget about her and I will not look up any more information on her.”

            “Any more?”  Marshal Candy eyed her suspiciously.

            “Well, I found some information, but when I went to click on a hyperlink, I lost my internet.  Honestly, I don’t know anything about her.”  Marshal Candy sighed.

            “You are lying to me...I know it.”  Alex stared at her with the most serous face she could think of.  “Perhaps...Major Shrime did say the torture thing got you talking...”

            “Look, I’ve told you everything.  What else do you want me to say?”  Alex asked, frustrated and hoping that she would not have to get whipped again.

            “Fine, fine.  The two soldiers outside will assist you back to Giel.  You have plenty of cleaning to do.”  Alex was extremely pissed as Marshal Candy took off both handcuffs.  She stormed out of the room and down the hallway with the two soldiers running behind her.


Chapter 17

The Aftermath

 

        Alex stayed up all night cleaning up her room.  They had torn everything apart and upside down.  Some of her favorite clothes were ripped or had holes in them.  Whatever they were looking for, there was no reason to vandalize her property, though she kind of did the same to them.  But it wasn’t nearly that bad!  Besides, the military was the one with the big dark secret!  She didn’t want the responsibility of it!  Yet again, if she and Koga weren’t sneaking around the academy to begin with, Alex wouldn’t have known and this would have never happened.  But who cares!  The military shouldn’t have recruited them without permission right from the beginning!  It was their fault, and she couldn’t blame herself.  At least not entirely.

            Alex went to sleep on the Giel that night and then took a taxi back to Coconut Beach to her hotel room.  Just like her bedroom on the Giel, the room was torn up, but not as bad.  It didn’t take Alex as long to clean up and organize that mess.  By lunch time, she had gathered together her damaged clothes and went downstairs to the buffet for some food.  She hadn’t eaten since yesterday.

           After lunch, Alex walked around on the boardwalk to find some sort of store that sold thread and a needle.  Harmon, who was curious why Alex hadn’t been around, ran up to join her.

            “Hey, Alex!  What’s up?  We didn’t see you all day yesterday.”

            “I had some things Major Mank wanted me to do,” Alex grumbled.  “He wanted me to sew up some of his girlfriends clothes, so I thought I’d help.”

            “That’s kind of odd, but very nice of you,” replied Harmon, giving Alex a puzzled look.

            “Oh, he’s paying me of course,” Alex quickly added.

            Oooo!  That’s nice!”

            “Yeah.  I just need to find some store that sells thread and needles.”

            “I’ll help you look.”  Working together, the two girls went up and down the boardwalk and in and out of the shops.

            At long last, Harmon cried out, “Alex!  They sell some stuff here!”  Alex quickly ran toward her and into a small shop.  “Wow...they’re really cheap!  What colors do you need?”  Alex took out a piece of paper with a brief list she made.

            “Blue, red, black, white, green, and yellow.”  The woman at the counter smiled.

            “All right.  What shades would you like?”  It took Alex awhile to pick out the right colors for memory, but she figured it wouldn’t be a big deal since she wore her military uniforms most of the time, the only clothing that didn’t get harmed in any way.

            “Hey, if I help you, we can get the work done faster,” Harmon offered.  “And then Major Mank can pay us 50-50.”  Alex bit her already soar tongue.  She could use the help, but as for the money...the only thing Alex could do was smile and nod her head.

            “Sure!  Thanks, Harmon!”  She could at least pay Harmon with some of her own money.  That way, she could enjoy a little bit of her vacation on Coconut Beach.

            “These clothes look a lot like yours,” Harmon observed while looking at a pink t-shirt.

            “Yes, exactly.  His girlfriend has similar tastes, so that’s why he thought I could fix them.”

            “Wonder how they got so bad...” Harmon questions as she began sewing some seams back together.  “They must really do it rough or something.”  Both girls shuddered.  That was not a thought Alex wanted to think about.  She’d rather be thinking of Major Dome...arg!  That wasn’t any better.

            As the sun started to set, Frank and Kark began setting up a volleyball net.

            “Hey, Harmon!  Alex!  Do you two want to play some volleyball before it gets too dark?”  The two girls immediately put their work aside and ran to the warm sands.

            “Guys versus girls!” Harmon cried out.  They played until it became too dark to see the bal anymore.

           From that day on, Alex and Harmon would sew, taking breaks to go swimming, playing volleyball, relaxing in the sun, or taking walks on the boardwalk.  Eventually Alex had pushed aside the military destroying her stuff and was enjoying her vacation.  It was also nice that Miji wasn’t constantly around, though she could feel eyes on her constantly.  Every now and then, she would catch Major Mank, Captain Fiden, or someone else from the military watching her.  It was the only thing that really bothered her.

 

            On the last night of staying at Coconut Beach, the group decided that they were going to stay up the entire night.  After buying some ice cream cones, Alex lead them to where she had found the palm trees.

            “Does anyone else think that this is a bit irresponsible of the military?” Frank asked while taking a big bite into his hazelnut icecream.

            “Come on, Frank!” Kark exclaimed  This is our first vacation ever!  How can you say that’s being irresponsible?  If anything, it’s irresponsible that they haven’t been giving us more vacations to relax our minds.  I’d bet more people would be in Steelidge.”

            “Listen to what your saying, Kark!  They didn’t give us vacations before or too many people would be in Steelidge, first of all.  Second, what I think is odd is the fact that they gave us a vacation to begin with.  I don’t think the military usually does that.”

           “Well, look at Major Mank.  Perhaps they’re finally being less stingy and letting us have some fun!” Harmon cheered.

            “Harmon, for some reason, I really don’t think so...” Frank shook his head.

            “It sounds like you’re not trusting the military,” Kark jeered.  Frank gave him a disgruntled look.

            “Oh, really?  And you do trust the military??” Frank shot back.

            “Of course I do.  They’ve been taking care of us.”

            “Yes, but...” Harmon was looking down at the sidewalk, “what happened to our parents?”

            “That’s what I want to know.  I tend to not think about it because it bothers me.  What about you, Alex?”  Wrong subject!

            “Well, I uh...”  Alex had to think of something.  “I try not to think about it either.”

            “You see!” Frank exclaimed.  “There is some sort of conspiracy with the military.  There’s too much weird stuff going on.”

            “Yeah, you’re right,” Harmon agreed.  Kark looked away from the rest of the group and didn’t say anything else.

            “There it is!” Alex pointed.

            “Wow!”  Frank ran toward the skinny palm trees with Harmon and Alex behind him.  Kark walked much more slowly behind them.  “This is really nice and shady.”  Frank leaned up against one of the trees.

            “I was afraid of wandering off the beach, but now I wish I did some more exploring,” exclaimed Harmon.  “When did you find this, Alex?”

            “I found it on the first day.  I felt like being alone for a bit, just to enjoy the sounds of the ocean.”  Everyone got quiet as they listened to the waves splashing on the beach.

            Wow, that is nice.”  Frank closed his eyes.

            “It’s so peaceful,” Harmon agreed.  Alex smiled that they were enjoying it, but when she turned around to see Kark with his hands folded looking down at the sand, she went up to him.

            Kark, what’s wrong?”  Kark didn’t reply at first.  Then he spoke, so quietly Alex had to lean in to hear better.  “What was that?”

            “I...I don’t like the military,” he said, sofly.

            “Yes, most of us don’t.”

            “No, you don’t understand.”  Alex looked at him inquiringly.

            “What do you mean I don’t understand?”

            “I saw him.”  Alex gave a blank look.

            “Saw who?”

            “My brother.”

            “Your brother?  Where did you...”

            “A few years ago.  I was out at the thrift store in the mall trying to buy some new clothes when this punk kid came in and we started fighting over some stupid shirt.  Then when I looked at him, he had some strange mark on his face, like mine.  His eyes, they were the same shape, same color.  He could sense something too.  It was weird.  The guy just froze, letting go of the shirt.”

            “How do you know that he’s your brother?” Alex whispered.

            “Well, he first asked me if I was David,” Kark continued.  “I told him no.  Then he screamed, ‘David!  David!  It’s you!’ And he hugged me.  The guy was huge like a football player, a couple years older than me.  And he just squeezed me.  I kept telling him I had no clue what he was talking about and that I wasn’t David.  But he just kept insisting.  When I asked for proof, he pointed out my mark and eyes, the fist things I noticed.  That’s when he told me the story about the military taking kids away, not telling parents where they were going, and how his mom and dad split up after the incident.  He kept insisting I was David, but I refused to believe him.  Then he told me, ‘I’m really not suppose to be here...Please don’t tell anyone what I just told you.  The military is very dangerous.  If you don’t believe me, that’s fine, but I only told you the truth because I wanted you to know.  I hope you will come back home some day.’  After that, I never saw him again, but for some reason, I know that he’s my brother.  I’m not sure if everything he said was right or not, but...it was just really strange.”

            “Why are you telling me this?” Alex asked, her eyes wide opened at Kark’s surprising story.

            “Because...well, you did ask.  But, I feel like for some reason, you are the only one I can talk to about this.  I’ve been keeping it a secret since.  Its been really hard.  That’s why I’m kind of crazy and don’t listen very well, yet I’m smart at the same time because I thought if I got into Steelidge, I could possibly find him again.  When I heard we were going to Coconut Beach, I wasn’t thinking that this was some weird thing by the military.  The only thing I was thinking was that maybe I’d run into my brother again.  I got to have hope...”  Kark took a deep breath.  “Alex, please don’t tell anyone, all right?  I know it sounds crazy, but I think there might be some truth behind it.  Just wish I  knew everything, and that I didn’t turn him away so quickly.  I think he was trying to find me, and I blew it.”

            For the remained of the night, Kark avoided the rest of the group.  Alex didn’t know what to say to him without getting her arm blown up.  The only thing she could tell him was “Maybe you are more right than you think.”  Even saying that seemed a bit risky, but nothing happened to her arm so it must have been ok by the military.  At around 2 in the morning, the group became tired and they headed back to the hotel.

            Kark, you’ve been unusually quiet,” Frank pointed out.  “What’s wrong?”

            “Nothing, man.  Just was enjoying thinking to myself while I still can,” Kark smiled.

 

            Most of Alex’s clothes were all fixed up.  She happily went to a bank downstairs in the hotel and took out some money from her ID card and handed it to Harmon.  Alex was a bit nervous that Harmon would get upset that Major Mank didn’t hand the money himself to her, but she just smiled and thanked her.  When they were ready to board the bus, Harmon had a huge stuffed rabbit that was wearing a straw hat and a t-shirt with a palm tree and a coconut along with the words ‘Coconut Beach.’  They piled on the bus and headed back to the ship station.  There was another ship now there sitting next to the Giel.  The Marching Army was disembarking the ship.  Alex stopped and watched them closely.  She waited until she saw Brond marching down the stairs.

            Brond!”  She ran from the other group.  It was as if no one else was around, it was just her and Brond.  Brond!” she cried again, running toward him.  But a huge man stood in front of her.

            “Get lost, kid,” the man growled.  Alex was speechless as Brond stood there behind the man, his face firm.

            “But Brond...”

            “Go away, Alexandria.”  He held up his wrist real quickly and Alex stared down at the watch.  Brond turned and marched with the rest of his group.

            “GO!” the man snapped as he, too, joined the rest of the Marching Army.  Alex turned back to the others who were watching from the entrance of the Giel.

            “Alexandria Roane, it looks like another night of washing the ship,” Major Mank scolded.  “You don’t do that stuff in the military!  Do you understand?”  Alex turned back to Brond, teary-eyed.  Brond looked at her, and at first his face showed some sensitivity, but a frown quickly appeared and he turned away from her.  Alex began walking back to the Giel, wishing Brond didn’t have to suffer like she did.  Except this time, Alex knew it was all her fault.


Chapter 18

A Time of Bonding

 

        It was back to lessons, but Alex had a much harder time to concentrate.  All she could think about were all of the stupid mistakes she made over the stupid watch.  She had to lie to Koga, Brond now suffered with a watch of his own, nobody trusted her for anything...she began isolating herself from everyone again.

            “Why do you get yourself in trouble like that?” Shargo asked her one day.  The little kid who doesn’t speak, and that’s what he finally says.  Though none of the others said anything, she could see in their faces that they had the same question.  Alex spent her free time staring at the ceiling and thinking to herself.  Sometimes she wanted to take a bath again and dump her hand in the warm water.  Let the bomb explode.  Or she wanted to go on the loud speakers and announce the truth to everyone.  Her life was seeming less important.  However, everytime these thoughts crossed her mind, she could hear Major Dome.

           “But if you do that, you’ll lose it all.  You don’t want that, do you?”  No.  She didn’t want that.  She had come so far.  The Steelidge pin rested on her uniforms everyday.  If she didn’t look at it carefully, perhaps she would have ignored Major Dome’s advice.  It was more than just a pin.  It was a sign of hope to freedom.  If she could show herself as a good soldier, she would be able to leave.  There was no choice but for her to keep plugging along and hoping for the best.

            Oddly enough, everyone seemed back to their usual selves after the vacation, except Kark.  His laughs seemed more fake and his jokes more forced.  Alex wasn’t sure if she was noticing this more after hearing Kark’s story, or if his meeting with his brother was starting to bother him again.  Out of all the things Alex hated the most at the moment was not being able to talk to Kark.  She couldn’t tell Miji either.  For one thing, she still didn’t trust the creepy girl.  That, and this was a secret.  If the military found out what Kark knew, he’d get a watch too.  It was bad enough that Alex got Brond in trouble.  She couldn’t say anything, or write any notes.  Every now and then Kark would also isolate himself from everyone, and it pained Alex that she knew how to help him, but it was impossible.

            “Lt. Trosher, how much longer do we need to do this?” Harmon fussed as she pulled off the goggles.  “I’m finished with level 8, aren’t I done yet?”

            “You need to complete the seven scenarios, remember Ms. Slade?” Lt. Trosher waved a finger.  “Riding a cruiser isn’t for kids.  You must pass this test before you can even touch one.”

            “Lt. Splid lets us wash them at least,” Harmon muttered as she handed the goggles to Alex.  Alex had just a little more in level 7 to complete.  She was having some trouble maneuvering the cruiser in between two rocks going at such a high speed.  Her cruiser crashed three times before she had to give up and give the simulation goggles to Shargo, who had beaten level 8 the other day.

            “You need to lean the cruiser at a 180° angle,” he told her after the lesson was over.  “And you got to do it right as you position the rocks, or you’re going to crash.”  Alex nodded her head.

            “Ok, I’ll try that next time.  Thank you!”  Shargo looked the other way as if regretting he had talked to her and then headed toward the kitchen for some lunch.

            Geesh,” muttered Alex under her breath.

            “People just don’t understand,” Miji said, who had been watching them.  “Don’t let it bug you.”  Alex groaned.  Advice from a little kid....arg!

            “I’m going to have some lunch,” she grumbled as Miji followed her into the kitchen.  Shargo ignored her for the rest of the day.  This wasn’t unusual, but for some reason it hurt Alex more than it should.

 

            A week later, Kark became seriously ill.  It turned out he was not eating much since Coconut Beach.  Major Mank shook his head shamfully.

            “Boy, you got to eat!” he snapped.

            “If I was hungry, I would be eating!” Kark retorted.

            “But how can you not be hungry?  You’ve barely been having any food!”  But Kark refused to listen or eat.  The problem was becoming more and more serious.  Kark wouldn’t listen to his friends either.

            “Oh, come on.  You’ve got to eat something!” Harmon urged.

            “I keep telling everyone, I’m not hungry.”

            “Oh come off of it,” Frank snapped.  “If you don’t eat, they’ll send you to the hospital.”

            “I don’t mind.  I’m still not eating.”  Alex let out a gasp.

            “What was that for?” Frank asked, staring at her.

            “Oh, it was...nothing.”  Frank rolled his eyes and he and Harmon left Kark, who was lying on the couch in the simulation room.

            “You’re up to something,” Alex accused.  Kark looked at her.

            “Why would you think that?” He gave her a little grin and then turned his head.  Alex knew exactly what he was up to.  Kark wanted to go to the hospital.  That way, he would be out of Steelidge and he’d be able to find his brother.

            “You don’t know where he is,” Alex reminded him on her way of leaving.

            “I’ll figure it out,” Kark replied, his voice muffled in a pillow.

            As clever as Kark thought of his plan, everyone was beginning to really worry about him.  His skin grew pale and his body was weak with hunger that he was unable to get up.  Alex could tell that Kark wasn’t faking it.  Kark was starting to get near starvation.

            “I talked to Colonel Landers,” Major Mank told him.  “Lt. Splid will be escorting you to the nearest hospital.  If you don’t eat there, you will die.”  Kark tried opening his jaw, but only soft mutterings came out.  Major Mank sighed, and left.  Alex ran toward the kitchen.  She took out a bottled smoothie from the fridge and went back to Kark.

            “Before you go, at least drink this,” Alex demanded, handing him the smoothie.

            “Aw kaw,” he choked out.  She opened the bottle and handed it to him.  His hands shook violently forcing Alex to help him hold it.

            “You really shouldn’t have let yourself get this bad,” Alex scolded as he drank.  “You can barely move.”  Kark finished down his smoothie and Alex took the empty bottle.

            “Yeah, I know.  That really wasn’t one of my brighter ideas.”  He began breathing very heavily as Lt. Trosher came in with a wheelchair.

            “You crazy boy,” she reprimanded.  “I had to go all the ways down to the supply room just to get a wheelchair, all because you refuse to eat!  Now I got to find a way to get you on one of the cruisers.”  Major Mank, who had been eavesdropping from the corner, helped Lt. Trosher get Kark onto to the wheelchair.  He struggled to get himself off of the couch, but eventually he was able to sit right in the chair, well, sort of, and Lt. Trosher wheeled him away.  As soon as they were gone, Major Mank turned to Alex.

            “Why did he do that?  I know you know something!” he accused.

            “I really don’t know.  I was just offering him a smoothie, so he could at least move.  I didn’t do anything wrong.”  Major Mank glared at her, obviously irritated, but there was nothing he could do.  Annoyed, he marched away to the control panels room.

 

            Harmon, Frank, Shargo, and Alex all sat in front of the window as they watching one of the cruisers disembark.

            “I can’t believe he wouldn’t eat.”  Frank shook his head.  “That was something I would never expect from him.”

            “He had such a bubbly personality.  I’m going to miss him.”  Harmon looked the most upset about Kark leaving.

            “I didn’t know him very well.  He liked to cause trouble,” Shargo said.

            “Trouble??” Frank roared.  Kark was a class-clown type of guy, but if you want to talk about trouble, go to Alex!”

            “Gee, thanks, Frank,” Alex grumbled.  Shargo blushed beat red and took off toward his bedroom.

            “Frank, I think you were a little too hard on him,” Harmon pointed out.  “The guy barely talks, and the one time he does you make him feel bad.”

            “Fine, fine.  I’ll go talk to him,” Frank said, reluctantly.  He left.  Alex decided she might as well head back to her room when Harmon tugged her arm.

            “Alex, don’t let what Frank said bother you.  I mean, you do cause some trouble, but you really are a very nice person.  Probably the nicest on the Giel!”  Alex shook her head.

            “No.  Frank is right.”

            “Look, just please stop avoiding everyone then!  We’re suppose to be a team!”  Alex turned around and looked directly in Harmon’s eyes.

            “Yes.  You are right there.”  She smiled, but proceeded to go back to her room where she flopped onto her bed.  The image of Kark, immobile, frightened her.  He was suffering more than she did, and longer.  Alex tucked her pillow beneath her head.  Her life was seeming less significant.  She didn’t care anymore about keeping the military’s secret.  As soon as the opportunity would come, she would run away.  Maybe even find a watch shop with someone who could take it off for her.  Then she would tell everyone everything she knew.  She was tired of seeing everyone suffering, even those who weren’t directly involved.  Harmon was confused and frustrated, it was easy to tell that.

            “I’m going to get out of here,” Alex mumbled, not caring who was listening.  “I’m going to GET OUT OF HERE!”  If only she knew what the world outside of Steelidge was like...


Chapter 19

Miji’s Secret

 

            It was a day Alex could never forget.  Lt. Trosher came back the day after she left with Kark, and cruiser lessons went back to normal.  Shargo’s advice helped Alex defeat level 7 and using the same technique, she completed level 8 as well.

            “Soon you will all be ready to fly the cruisers!” Lt. Bagmon said excitedly in his typical congested voice.  Alex couldn’t be happier.

            That night, Frank, Harmon, and Alex sat around in the simulation room talking about the first things they could do after passing the simulation scenarios.

            “I would explore space, check out different plants, and surf the universe,” Frank said, dreamily.

            “I’d first decorate it and make it look pretty.  Then I’d start a cruiser fashion show.”  Harmon giggled.

            “That wouldn’t fly, Harmon.”

            “Yeah, right.  Like the military would allow you to explore the universe.”

            “Hey, what would you do, Alex?” Frank asked her.

            “I’d...” She knew what she would do.  She’d go to the planet Milone and try to find the city Ingleburg (the piece of paper she scribbled this on was accidentally thrown away, thank goodness!).  “I’d probably explore a planet,” she finally said, thoughtfully.

            “Yeah, I’d probably end up doing that, too.  Anything far away from MRA would be nice.”

            “Yeah,” Alex and Frank chimed in together.  Everyone was already asleep when the group decided they should go get some rest themselves.  Alex waved good-night and then went into her room.  As soon as she closed the door, there was a soft little knock.  Alex opened it up again.

            “Miji, I need to get some sleep,” Alex said groggily, rubbing her eyes.

            “I’m having trouble getting to sleep.  Can I talk to you for just a little bit?”  Alex sighed but gave in.

            “Ok, sure.”  Miji entered and Alex closed the door and locked it.  “So, what’s on your mind, Miji?”

            “Well, you seemed really worried about Kark.”

            “Of course I was worried, Miji!  He wasn’t eating!”  What a stupid thing to be worried about this late at night!!!

            “You don’t have to yell,” Miji said, quietly.

            “I’m sorry, Miji.  I just don’t know why this is bothering you.”

            “It’s not bothering me...I was just curious if he told you anything.”

            “Told me anything?  What are you talking about??”

            “People don’t stop eating just because they want to,” Miji started.  “There was something else going on.  What is it, Alex?”

            “Ok, you’re right.  Something was bothering him, but I promised not to tell anyone.  It isn’t a big deal, so don’t worry about it.  He’ll be fine.”

            “I want to know what was bothering him.”

            “It really isn’t any of your business.”

            “Yes, it is.”  Alex stared angrily at the little brat.

            “Miji, get out.”  Miji stood firm.  “Or I’ll drag you out.  You are being a real pain in the ass.”

            “If you don’t tell me, I’ll have Admiral Exot blow up your arm.”  She smiled while saying this.  The girl was evil!

            “To be honest, I really don’t care about my arm anymore.  I am tired of the military using me.  But you...you are up to something.”  Alex grabbed Miji’s arm and squeezed it tightly.  “Tell me what you are up to!”  Miji grinned.

            “You can’t tell?” she sneered.  Alex strengthened her grip.  And that was when she discovered Miji’s secret.  It wasn’t skin and bone she could feel beneath her fingers, but skin and metal.  Alex shoved her to the other side of the room.

            “You aren’t human!”

            “Yeah.  It took you long enough to figure that out.”

            “Who are you??” Alex shrieked.

            “Well, my android name is Miji.  But my human name was Rame Cride.”

            Rame Cride?”

            “Yes.  And all of those rumors you heard were true.  I died many years ago, but Admiral Exot brought me back to life.  As an android.”

            “What is your relation with him?” Alex questioned her.

            “I am not going to tell you anymore than that.”  She gave Alex a wicked smile.  “I’ll give you one more chance.  If you tell me what Kark is up to, then I’ll let you go without telling Admiral Exot.  Do we have a deal?”

            “Of course not!”  Alex jumped on top of her.  The two girls fought viciously.  Miji had a very powerful punch that was very hard for Alex to avoid, and kicking metal was more painful to the kicker.  Alex knew that the only way she could defeat Miji is if she could knock out a chip or something, but it was very difficult.  Miji was way too fast and too strong for Alex to overpower her.  There was only one thing Alex could think of.  While fighting Miji, she tried to get her to go into the bathroom in any way she could.  When Alex was finally able to free herself, she dodged as quickly as she could to the shower.  Miji followed, now totally possessed on fighting her.  She grabbed Alex’s legs roughly.

            “Tell me!” she shrieked.  Alex kicked her face hard.  She scrambled to her feet and ran into the bathroom, turning on the shower.  Miji chuckled.

            “You’re giving me a nice set-up.  If I push you into the tub, you’re watch will go off.  KABOOM!”  Oops, Alex didn’t quite think of that.  Miji charged toward her.  There was nowhere to run.  Miji’s arms were wide opened.  Alex shoved her arms in front of her to block Miji while her right foot whacked Miji, causing her to trip and fall into the tub.  Once Miji was in the tub, a bit shocked at what just happened, Alex took the palms of both of her hands and shoved Miji’s face under the water.  She held it there, firmly.  It was lucky that nobody had heard the commotion, or else weren’t concerned with what was happening.  Miji’s arms flapped violently in the water.  Alex kept her head under the water until her body became limp.  A sense of guilt immediately spread over Alex.  Killing Miji wasn’t her intention at all.  Why did bad things have to keep happening to her??  Alex let go of Miji’s head.  There was no choice...when everyone woke up the next morning and found out what Alex did to Miji, there would be no way out of it.  Alex turned away from the tub and headed back to her room.  She pulled out her suitcase and began throwing in as much of her stuff as possible.

            While packing up, a wet arm wrapped around Alex’s neck, choking her.

            “My skin is water resistant,” Miji said, in a wicked voice.  Alex struggled to get out of her grip.  The more she struggled though, the more Miji tightened her arm around Alex’s throat.

            “Will you tell me now?” she hissed.  Alex grabbed her hands around Miji’s waste and lifted her off the ground.  Forced to let go, Miji went flying over Alex’s bed and landed with a thud on the floor.  Several sparks shot out from her body.  Alex went up to her and slammed her foot onto Miji’s face.

            “You may be water resistant, but it made you weak.”  She shoved her foot deeper into Miji’s face until a shock jumped up her foot and traveled throughout her body.  Alex stepped back frenziedly from the shock as Miji began convulsing on the floor.  Whether she was faking it or not, Alex closed up her suitcase and left the room as fast as she could.  She ran down the hallway toward the room that stored the cruisers.  Though the door was locked, Alex banged her whole body against it, trying to break it down.  Blood dribbled down her face, her throat felt very tight, and her body was just as sore as when Major Shrime had whipped her.  The door wouldn’t budge.

            “What in the world is going on here?”  Lt. Splid was standing right behind her, looking irritated.  “Waking up the whole ship?  What are you up to Ms. Roanne?”  Alex didn’t answer her question.

            “Give me the keys.”  She held out her hand.  Lt. Splid gave her a surprised look.

            “Now, why would I do that?”  Alex attacked her.  She didn’t care how much trouble she was going to get into anymore.  She grabbed the keys from Lt. Splid and unlocked the door.  She ran to the first cruiser she could find, Arel.  Unlatching the door, she dragged in her suitcase and started up the engine.  Lt. Splid was now on her feet, a rifle in hand.

            “Get away from there!  Are you crazy??”  Alex pushed a button to close the door.  “If you try to leave, I will fire!”  But Alex could care less.  She had to get out of here.  The engine was getting so loud, as it was enclosed in a small inside space, that she could no longer hear Lt. Splid’s screams.  She thought the rifle fired a couple of times, but wasn’t sure.  The exhaust began filling the room, forcing Lt. Splid to leave.  A flap opened up from above as Alex began messing with the controls.

            “Time to get out of here.”  Arel began to rise.  As the energy increased, the ship made it’s way above the flap and at last outside in open space.  Alex looked at the radar and plugged in ‘Milone.’  The planet flashed onto the screen.  She studied it carefully, yet quickly.  When she felt comfortable of the location, she turned the radar off.  Unfortunately, doing this would make it more difficult for the military to find her, but it also made it a challenge on finding Milone.  Though they could easily track her down with the GPS in her watch, she was hoping that maybe it got destroyed or lost in the fight with Miji.  That, and she thought that if she was able to travel fast enough, the military would eventually lose the signal and even if the lost it for a split second, she would be long gone.  It was worth the risk.  Arel sped rapidly through the dimensionless space that completely surrounded her.


Chapter 20

The City of Cina

 

            Arel was speeding through space for at least an hour before Alex decided to slow down.  She had a rough idea where Milone was, but she would have to take the chance of letting the radar warm up.  Even if the military did find her, she was going to Milone.  She was going to see her family again.  The radar was warmed up after 5 minutes.  Studying it, she realized she had made a wrong turn, but it wouldn’t be too hard to go back.  Alex turned off the radar as she made her way back toward the direction where Milone was located.  Several times she got off track and would have to recheck the radar, but with each mistake she was getting closer and closer.

            At last, it was obvious that the planet before her was distinctly Milone.  And living on that planet was her parents.  Alex pushed Arel toward the plant, keeping the nose up incase the gravity was strong.  She could feel the ship being pulled toward the planet.  Lowering the amount of oxygen in the cruiser made it difficult to breath, but Arel became more buoyant and less likely to be destroyed when entering Milone’s atmosphere.  Arel began shaking uncontrollably the closer the cruiser got to the planet.  Alex gripped onto the controls tight, glad that her dinner had long been digested, or there would have been an icky mess.

            You just need to enter the atmosphere,” she reminded herself.  Once I’m in, I’ll be able to pull up and safely land.”  At one point, she thought that the cruiser would split into several pieces.  Lowering the oxygen again, she reached above her head where there was an oxygen mask and slipped it on.  Arel began jagging in different directions and Alex had to force it to keep moving downwards.  When the seizing finally stopped, Arel was nose-diving toward the surface.  Alex grabbed the control panels and pulled as hard as she could.  There were sharp mountain peaks, cities, roads…the last thing she wanted was to make a miraculous entrance to Ingleburg destroying the city (though she wasn’t sure where it was located on Milone).  Arel leveled out about a mile above the ground.  Anxious to get down and start exploring, before the military caught up with her, Alex looked desperately for a safe place to land.  A whole field of yellow appeared before her.  There were no roads or cities or even vegetation.  She took the change and decided that it would be a perfect place to land.  Arel had to swerve around it a couple of times until the cruiser was at the right height for Alex to land it safely.  At long last, Arel dipped into the soft ground below while millions of small grains pinged against the window.  When the ship came to a complete halt, Alex could feel that the nose was leaning forward.  Grabbing her suitcase, she opened the door and stepped out.  The heat was immediately overwhelming.  She looked around.  There was definitely sand everywhere, almost as far as her eyes could see.  There were no oceans near by and she could see a forest in one direction, more sand, and what appeared to be some sort of town.  Pulling off the oxygen mask, Alex threw it onto the ground.  The wind immediately carried it away.  Before heading toward the city, Alex covered her hands with the sand and then made sure everything was turned off.  Though it was obvious she had stolen Arel, at least there would be no signs or traces of her being there.  Turning back toward the city, she began walking against the wind.  The sand pinged painfully against her face.  Though the side of her jaw had stopped bleeding, the blood had turned brown and dry.  Alex was in no shape of walking through a desert, but she was desperate and pressed on, dragging her suitcase with her.  It seemed the further she walked, the less closer she became to the city.  There were many times she thought she would just collapse in the heat.

            Must keep going,” she urged herself.  With all of her strength, she moved on.  A few hours later, when the city was becoming apparently closer, Alex couldn’t move no matter how hard she tried.  Her suitcase slipped from her hands and she passed out in the burning sand.

 

            When Alex awoke, she was lying on a nice soft bed in a room that smelt slightly of burnt wood.  There was another bed next to her, empty, and a table between them that had a vase with a couple of sunflowers.  Two small and dusty windows were above each bed.  The walls and floors were all made out of logs and a red and yellow rug lied neatly parallel to the table.  Alex looked around desperately as panic flooded her insides.  Her suitcase…To her relief, it was right next to her bed.  Alex sighed.  Sitting up, she realized that someone had bandaged her head, arms, and legs.  While she looked at the bandages curiously, the door on the other side of the room creaked open and an elderly, small lady came in carrying a tray.

            “Oh, you’re awake!  What a relief!”  The woman slipped the tray onto Alex’s lap.  There was some hot tomato soup and a glass of green tea.

            “What happened?” Alex groaned.

            “Well, a couple of men spotted something unusual in the Desiccated Desert.  When they went to go see what it was, they found you.  You are very luck, very lucky indeed.”

            “So are you the one who bandaged me up?”

            “Me and a couple of other women in town.”

            “Town?  Is this Ingleburg??” Alex asked, excitedly.

            Ingleburg?”  The woman shook her head sadly.  “No, Ingleburg fell apart years ago.  It’s a deserted city.  You are in the city of Cina.”  Alex flopped onto her pillows.  Everything seemed hopeless now.  The military would find her long before she could locate her family, even if they were alive.

            “Oh, don’t you worry, child,” the old woman said, hopefully.  “If you are looking for anyone there, I’m sure they’re not too far away.  Most people evacuated.  After the military came through, many cities and towns fell apart.  Cina isn’t much of an exception.”

            “They fell apart?”  Alex had imagined running down a beautiful street and then looking up to see her familiar home, all neat and tidy.

            “Many people were distraught,” the old woman said, sadly.  “Wouldn’t work for months.  This hurt businesses who would eventual go bankrupt.  The more companies that went out of business, the harder it became for people to stay alive.  They were forced to leave.”  Alex took in a deep breath.  It made perfect sense, but it wasn’t at all what she expected.

            “But, you are a hero to this town,” the woman continued, smiling.

            “A hero?  I’m the one who was almost dead, and you people saved me.  I’m not a hero.”

            “Oh, more than you think, child.  We haven’t seen anyone in that uniform since the military came in and started their own recruiting.  You were able to escape?”  Alex looked down at her watch, and then back at the woman.

            “Yes, but the military will be after me soon,” she said, softly.

            “Don’t worry about that.  As long as you are here, they won’t be able to find you.  Too many people are outraged with them that they’d be risking their own lives simply by setting foot in the desert.  What’s your name, child?”

            “It’s Alex.  Alex Roane.”  Giving her real name would be too risky, if the watch was still working.  Alex was having her doubts on this, though, since it didn’t explode yet.  Surely the military would have done that by now.

            “It’s nice to meat you, Alex,” the woman smiled.  “My name is Ginny Flecker.  I run this small inn with my husband.  There’s a small restaurant downstairs.  However, I think you should stay up here for the next couple of days and get some rest.  The soup and green tea will help you regain your strength.  Is there anything else I can get you?”  Alex shook her head.

            “No thanks,” she said, politely.  “Thank you for your kindness.  I hope I’m not intruding.”  Ginny looked like she was trying to hold back a laugh.

            “My dear, you are a miracle.  Miracles never intrude.”  She left the room closing the creaking door as quietly as she could behind her.

 

            Alex slept a great deal the last couple of days.  Ginny came in several times to talk, give her some food, and pick up her empty tray.  She learned quickly how distraught people were, and she never imagined how bad the outside world really was.  It made her hate the military more and more every day.

            “What is that silver pin on your vest?” Ginny asked, curiously once while collected her half empty soup bowl.

            “It is my Steelidge pin.  It’s a special program you get into if you pass these exams.  I studied very hard and was able to train on a ship.”

            “A boat?”

            “A spaceship.”

            “Oh, yes.  I’ve heard of them, but we don’t see them often.  When most people talk about ships, it is because they wish to sail in the oceans.  However, even though this planet has many oceans and little land, pretty much all of the cities by the shores are abandoned.  They are rather creepy places, so I’ve heard.  The only people who live there are bums, gangs, or people who refuse to leave their hometowns, bless their souls.”

            “It’s such a shame,” Alex started.

            “What is a shame, dear?”

            “That so many people threw away their lives after the recruitment.”

            Aaah, but it wasn’t that simple.”

            “What is that suppose to mean?”  Alex looked at her interested.

            “It wasn’t just the fact that the military took away many children.  It was also because many children were not taken.  Some of them became jealous, despite the fact that their siblings would be living a life they did not chose.  It’s natural, though, to feel like you’re  not good enough, and your brother and sister is.”  Ginny shook her head sadly.

            “Also, the military had threatened many of the complaining parents.  If the parents got in their way, they were shot.  Few were actually killed, but there were many who were injured.”  She looked at Alex inquiringly.  “I know this might be a very painful question for you, so if you don’t want to answer it, that is ok.”  Ginny paused.

            “No, go ahead.”

            “Do you remember what your life was like before the military took you away?”  Alex was silent for a long time before she finally answered.

            “No.  I don’t remember anything.  All I know is that Alex Roane isn’t my real name, but I found that out on my own.”  Ginny sighed, sorrowfully.

            “I figured as much.  Brainwashed you I’m sure.  Well, if you are up to it, you can go out in the city tomorrow.  Only for a little bit.  People here are very anxious to meet you, and you must be careful.  These people are desperate of finding their children and they will do anything.  My son, Yojo, will go out with you, for protection.  I don’t mean to scare you, my dear, but perhaps you can help us.”  Alex smiled.

            “I’ll do whatever I can.”

            The sun shined brightly through the window the morning Alex got up, showered, and changed into nice clothes.  She left the bedroom and went downstairs.  It was early in the morning, so there were only a couple of people sitting down, drinking coffee, and reading newspapers.  I huge crowd was outside of the locked doors.

            “Oh, you are awake!”  Ginny popped in from the kitchen.  Her husband, Luke was cleaning a counter top.

            “We had to lock the doors, the crowds were unbearable,” Luke informed her.  “These two here are friends who we knew wouldn’t harass you.  My son is getting changed, he’ll be out in a moment.  For now, would you like some coffee, or something to eat?”

            “Coffee, and maybe some toast, thank you,” Alex replied, graciously.

            “No problem!” Ginny smiled as she went back into the kitchen.  Alex sat down at a table and looked toward the crowd.  People were desperately shoving each other to get a good luck through the windows.  She could hear them shouting at one another and pointing in her direction, but she couldn’t make out many words.

            “Toast with my homemade strawberry jam and a fresh cup of coffee!” Ginny smiled as she came in carrying a tray.

            “Hey, mom.”  A tall man came down the stairs, all dressed, neat and tidy.  Yojo looked to be around his late 30’s.  He had short brown hair and a tough looking face, but his smile was charming.

            “I’ll get you your usual,” Ginny replied as she slipped back into the kitchen.

            “So you must be Alex, the oh-so-famous one.” Yojo held out his hand and Alex shook it.  She took a quick sip of her coffee and almost spit it out.  It was her first time ever drinking it, and it didn’t taste like alcohol in the least bit.  Yojo sat down next to her.

            “The plan is we sneak out the back,” Yojo said, in a quiet voice.  “There’s an emergency door in the kitchen that few people know about.  We’ll hit a few people or so, and the rest of the crowd will quickly follow.  Just hold onto my hand and move quickly.  They are gracious that you are here, so no one will try to hurt you.  Just overexcited since you are the first person from the military seen since the recruitment.  We’ll go into the center of town.  A wooden stage is there for you to speak.  There will also be four men on the stage who will be watching the crowd, just in case.  From there, you can say whatever you want.”

            “Well, I cannot say whatever I want.”

            “Why not?  What is the military going to do?”  Alex slammed her wrist against the table, displaying the watch to him.

            “It’s broken,” she muttered in a hushed voice.  “Is there anyway I could get it fixed tomorrow?”  She figured Yojo wouldn’t get the clue that the watch had something to do with why she couldn’t say whatever she wanted, especially when he gave her a puzzled look.

            “Uh…sure.  There’s a good wat…”  Alex kicked him hard.

            “Hey!”

            “Sorry, foot slipped,” she apologized as Ginny came in with two scrambled eggs, a muffin, and a cup of coffee.  Yojo rolled his eyes as he dug in to his breakfast.  The two of them were quiet after that.  Once their plates were clear and their coffee mugs empty, Ginny returned to clear off the table.

            “Luke just said that when he checked the back door, there wasn’t anyone there.  He’s going to stall the people out front, and when I give you the single, you, Yojo, will take Alex to town.  Is that ok?”

            “Yes, mom.  Crystal clear.”

            “Good.”  Luke came in from the kitchen and nodded to them.  Yojo and Alex quickly scampered to the kitchen with Ginny following close behind.  They stood quietly by the back door.  Alex could hear a loud creek as Luke opened the front doors.

            “Stay back!” he shouted at the excited mob.  “My pub can only hold a certain amount of people!”

            “Now!” Ginny hissed.  Yojo grabbed Alex’s arm and they exited, closing the door quickly behind them.  Alex found herself in an alley with huge crowds of people at either end.

            “We’re going to take the ladder.  It’s the only way.”  Yojo yanked Alex to the building on the other side and hushed her up a fire escape ladder.

            While climbing, she heard a shout, “she’s over here!”  Immediately, the crowds turned and began running toward Alex and Yojo.  Yojo pushed her up as Alex scrambled to get up to the platform.  Once she was up, Yojo made his way up the ladder, but people were grabbing his feet down and pulling.  Alex grabbed his arms and helped pull him up, but it was difficult to do this against so many people.  When they practiced tug-of-war in the military, it was never 8 against 1.  The crowds’ hands slipped as Yojo’s shoes came off and he was finally free from their grabbing hands.

            “Drop the ladder!” he instructed Alex.  The two of them were able to pull the ladder up off its hinges as a couple of people attempted to climb it.  The ladder fell into the crowd, and some screeches followed.  “Go up!”  Alex and Yojo began climbing up more of the stairs.  The higher they got, the easier it was for them to get away from the crowd.  The last ladder ended at a window with some nice flowerpots up front.  “Grab the drainage pipe and climb yourself to the roof.  You can do that, right?”

            “Yeah, did it all the time in the military.”  Holding onto the drainage pipe, she pushed her feet firmly against the wall and made little sideways jumps.  She could feel the metal start to bend in her hands, but she was able to pull herself up.  Luckily it wasn’t that high to get to the roof.  Yojo climbed up behind her, the drainage pipe almost breaking into two.  When the two of them were together, they were able to get their breath back, for the little time they had.

            “They’ll be able to get the ladder back up soon.  We’re going to have to do some roof jumping.  You up for that?”

            “I feel like you are testing my skills, like a lt.,” Alex smiled.  With that, they ran across the stones on the roof and toward the next building.  Having enough speed, Alex leaped over the alleyway bellow and landed safely on the next roof.  She could feel her heart pounding, for she really wasn’t sure if she would make it or not, despite her quick actions.  Yojo also had no problems.  They jumped again to the building in front, but the next jump had to be on their right.

            “This is impossible to jump,” Yojo said, realistically.  The crowd had been following their path from down below.  There were a couple of people on the roofs, but they were too hesitant in jumping to follow them with that path.  “We’re going to swing.”           

            “Swing?”

            “Grab on to me tight.”  They made their edge to the building and Yojo looked down, studying it carefully.  “Ok, you got me?”  Alex put her arms tightly around his waist.  “Ok, here we go!”  He jumped.  Alex couldn’t help but let out a little scream.  He grabbed on of the clotheslines, ripping it off from one of the side of the buildings, and slammed into the building they were trying to jump.  Some blood splattered into Alex’s face, forcing her to look away.  Yojo hung there for a bit, and fear went through Alex’s body.  If he let go, she would sure fall to her death.  Though this would be better than when the military got to her, she still wanted to see her family before she died.  She was quite surprised when Yojo suddenly pushed his legs up against the wall and began climbing it, using the clothesline as support.  When they got to the top, he collapsed, breathing heavily.

            Yojo!  Are you ok?”  Alex looked at his bleeding face, worriedly.

            “Yeah, I’m fine.  Just need to catch my breath.”  Alex pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket and gently cleaned up his face.  “Thanks.  You’re acting like my mom.  Or my wife.”

            “Wife?  You are married?”

            “Yeah.  I live a couple of blocks away from my parents’ inn.  Got two little kids, and another on the way.  They help Patricia and I so much with them.  Wonderful people, they truly are.”

            “I agree.  I can’t thank them enough for helping me out there in the desert.”

            “The people may seem insane, but please don’t let them frighten you.  Like my mother told you, you are a miracle to this town.”

            “How much farther do we have to go?”

            “Not much, but let’s take an elevator to the ground floor.  I thought this whole roof thing would be easier to avoid the crowds, but we might as well just go through them.  You ok with that?”

            “Yeah.  I think it would actually be safer.”

            “Then we both agree.”  They took the elevator down to the floor and made their way out to the anxious and rowdy crowds.

            “Out of the way, go to Town Square if you want to hear anything.  Move it!”  Yojo plunged through the crowd, holding tightly to Alex’s right hand.  Alex could feel people poking and probing her, tugging on her arms and trying to get a good glimpse at her face.  None of these people looked the least bit familiar to her.  Then, someone grabbed her uniform tightly and began cursing.  He pulled so tightly that Yojo couldn’t hold on to her.  The man tore off her Steelidge pin as Yojo managed to get a hold of her arm again.

            “My pin!” Alex shrieked.

            “There’s no time to stop.  Keep going.”

            Alex was relieved when they entered a large open space and could see a wooden stage ahead of them.  Surrounding the stage were several policemen, more than what she was told.  Alex was a bit relieved for all of the protection, but also somewhat nervous on why she would need so much.  Yojo and Alex quickly briskly through the clearing and up on the stage.  The crowd of people followed, but only surrounded the stage as far as the police would let them.  They began shoving and pushing for a better look, but the police made sure to hold them back.

            “I can finally catch my breath,” Alex sighed as one of the cops came to Yojo with a first aid kit.

            “Yes.  Until they start asking questions.”  The crowd was screaming at her.  She could only hear a couple of questions through all of the yelling… “Do you know blankety blank?” or “How did you get here?”  One of the cops fired a gun into the air above the crowds’ heads.  The shocking noise caused some commotion and panic, but in general the crowd died down.

            “This here girl by the name of Alex Roane has been able to successfully escape from the military,” one of the officers announced.  There was instantaneous cheers and applause.  “She’s going to answer some of your most troubling questions the best that she can.  Unfortunately, not everyone can ask.  She is still very weak from her escape and needs lots of rest.  We will be doing this by the simple raise of the hand.  When an officer comes to you, he or she will ask you what question you wish to inquire.  If it is approved, then you are allowed to speak.  Anyone who speaks without going through this process will be removed.  If this happens too often, this young lady will no longer take any further questions.  Also, if Alex no longer wishes to answer anymore questions, then this inquisition will end.”  The crowd began chatting quietly to one another, though they appeared to have accepted the officer’s requests.  “Very well, then.  Who would like to speak first?”  All hands shot up in the air, as expected.  “You can pick one out if you would like, Ms. Roane.”  Alex looked curiously though the crowd before her and then selected a young woman in the back.  An officer went through the crowd to her and the woman whispered in his ear.  The officer nodded.

            “What is the military like?” the woman asked nervously.  Alex cleared her throat.

            “They are very strict.  We attend classes during the day which include math, science, and special military training.  We are fed very well and they make sure our health is in good shape.  I do not know how this compares to lives here, but that is how it is in the military.”  The woman gave what looked to be a relived smile.

            “Next question?”  Alex looked through the crowd again and picked out a young man this time.

            “Can you tell us how you escaped?” he asked, once getting permission.

            “Unfortunately, I cannot go into details.  I was able to grab a cruiser and then I found a planet which was far enough from the main ship for them to find me easily.”

            “It sounds like you are assuming the military will find you here, then,” the man stated.

            “Yes.  That is right.”  There were several gasps and many people looked very concerned as they began whispering to one another.  “Uh, other questions?”

            “Yes, yes!  Here, here!  Do you know my granddaughter Hali Donko?  I have a picture here…” the old lady asking the question held out her hand, flapping the photo frantically.  Several officers began holding her down while others were sifting through their purses and bags to find pictures of their children.

            “You spoke out of turn!” snapped one of the officers.

            “Let me see the photo.”  The officer snatched the photo out of the woman’s hand and led her to the stage.  Everyone watched anxiously, photos held tight, as the officer handed Alex the photo.  She studied it carefully, concentrating on the eyes.  She then handed the photo back to the woman.

            “Yes, she is a good friend of mine and is going quite well.”  Alex gave her a warm smile and the woman was exactic.

            “My prayers have been answered!  I knew Hali would be all right!  Thank you!  Thank you!”  Though Alex was thrilled to make this woman happy, she could sense the woman’s loss, pain, suffering, and worrying.  She smiled, but didn’t feel happy.  What the military did to these people was unbearable.  In an instant, chaos erupted through the crowd.  Photos were placed furiously on the stage as people began demanding the same question.  Alex panicked as some people began to climb onto the stage.  One of the officers shot a fire in the air, silencing the out of control crowd.

            “This session is over!  Everyone, please evacuate back to your homes or business and leave this young lady alone!”  Most people were reluctant to go, but in the end they began to leave.  The officers began pushing the people off the stage, urging them to go.  Yojo put an arm on her shoulder.

            “You did good.  You ok?”

            “Yeah, I’m fine,” Alex lied, still shocked from all of the people with their photos…

            “Hey, do you mind answering one last question?”

            “Yeah, sure.”

            “That lady…her photo was of a child who is now your age, or even older.  My mom told me that Alex Roane wasn’t your real name, so I was wondering…did you really know that woman’s granddaughter?  Alex looked at him and gave a sad smile.

            “I don’t think so,” she replied.


Chapter 21

On Her Own

 

            Alex immediately returned to the inn with Yojo after answering a couple of questions.  Waiting there were Yojo’s lovely wife, Miranda, and his two sons.  Miranda’s stomach was bulging.

            “It’s a girl, I can feel it,” Miranda said, smiling.

            “Yes, we need another girl in the family tree.  Maybe she’ll help calm down those two,” Ginny smiled, pointing to the two boys who were playing a game in the corner of the pub.

            Awww, Grandmee, we’re good.  Henry and I washed all the dishes for you.”

            “Yes, and you both did a wonderful job.  The cake’s almost done if you guys would like a slice.”  The boys jumped up excitedly and followed Ginny into the kitchen.

            “Don’t eat too much!” Miranda warned.

            “Well, once they’re done, we’d better get going,” Yojo said.  “I’d like to get back before dark, but when the crowds have died down.”

            “Oh, yes.  Alex, tell me, how did it go?” Luke asked while whipping down the counter.

            “Well, I was able to answer a couple of questions, but when a woman wanted me to see a picture of her daughter, everyone went crazy.”

            Mmmm…yeah, figured something like that would happen.  Too bad you couldn’t have stayed longer, but if the crowd gets rowdy, you’re safety becomes the bigger priority.”

            “Did you get a lot of business, dad?” Yojo asked him.

            “Well, I had to keep the doors closed until the crowds cleared, so I didn’t get as much as I use to, and I’ve closed early for the night.”

            “Oh!” Alex cried out.

            “Ah, don’t you worry about that.  We are finically stable.  I’ll be opened at my usual hours tomorrow.  Knowing that you’re here, might get enough business to make up for today.  Ginny wants to take you out into the town and show you around.  She found an old wig and some clothes so people won’t go jumping on you.  You can pretend to be a sister of Miranda, if anyone asks.”

            “I’m an only child, like Yojo here,” Miranda grinned.

            “But we sure made that up,” Yojo grinned as their two sons came running out of the kitchen wearing a little chocolate on their faces.  “Well, we’d better get going.  Did you thank your grandmee?”

            “Thank you Grandmee!” both boys chimed.

            “It was nice to meet you, Alex,” Miranda said sweetly as she got up, shaking Alex’s hand.

            “And I will probably see you again tomorrow.”  Yojo also shook her hand.  He then turned to his wife and the four of them left the inn.

            “Such a lovely family,” grinned Luke.

            “I have some very yummy chocolate cake if you want some, Alex.  Made from scratch!  Then I’d figure you would go to bed after your long day and I can show you around Cina tomorrow.  How does all that sound?”

            “Sounds wonderful.”

 

            The next morning, after washing up, Alex went downstairs to the inn.  This time, the pub was very busy with people drinking coffee and having breakfast.  Ginny came quickly to her side and led her to the kitchen.  Several people jumped up when seeing Alex and wanted to ask her their questions, but Ginny rushed Alex away.  The kitchen was also full of activity with pots boiling and eggs and pancakes frying.  It smelt fantastic.

            “Sit here, and I’ll get you some breakfast.”  Ginny led her to a small table off to the side with a wooden chair.  “Set that up for you before the inn opened.  I don’t want you eating out there until I get a costume on you.  A shame you have to do this, but it will only be for a couple of days, so don’t fret about it.”  Ginny left and went to the cooks.  She returned with a plate of two of everything, eggs, pancakes, sausage, bacon, and one slice of toast with strawberry jam along with a fresh glass of milk.  “Eat up!  Got a long day ahead of you!”  Alex had been feeling a lot better since she landed in the Desiccated Desert.  She had no intentions in returning to Arel and had no clue what the military was thinking about her escape now.  It troubled her that the watch had not gone off, though that was by far not a bad thing.  What made her nervous was whether or not the military would find her.  If there was no sign of them in the next couple of weeks, would she fear of them eventually discovering her for the rest of her life?  Everything troubled her.  And she still didn’t know where her family was.  She was hoping not to stay in Cina too long.  She wanted to find her family before the military found her.  That’s when another alarming thought struck her.  What if they already did find them???  It was a terrible thought, to come so far and then find out that the military got to them first…they were in danger.  Alex stopped eating and began making her way to the exit.

            “Alex, is something wrong?”  Ginny came running toward her, followed by Yojo.

            “I got to get going, I’m sorry.”  Alex couldn’t look at them to see their faces.  The Fleckers have been so nice to her, but she had to go.  She came this far to find her family and now that she was strong enough to leave, she had no choice.  Alex didn’t get very far before Yojo grabbed her arm tightly.

            “You are holding me back like the military always does to me,” Alex spoke softly, looking straight ahead.

            “Why are you doing this, Alex?  My mother…the entire town wants you to stay.  And now you are just going to leave without an explanation??”

            “I need to find my parents.”

            “Yes, they use to live in Ingleburg, right?”

            “You don’t understand!”  Alex crashed.  She turned to Yojo, her face bright red, tears streaming down her cheeks, and her hands clenched so tightly in fists that they were turning white.  “I’ve been here for a week!  The military knows where they are but won’t tell me!  They could be dead for all I know, and they’ll soon be after me!  I have to find them before the military finds them first!  Do you understand…  Alex covered her mouth.  Yojo grabbed onto her as she started to fall to her knees.  “I’m doing it.”

            “Doing what?”

            “I’m turning into them.”  Everything came out at once.  She fell into Yojo’s lap and weeped.  It was like with Brond, as Yojo put his comforting arms around him, but the love wasn’t compassionate.  It was simply kindness.  Ginny came up behind them.

            “Don’t cry, my dear.  I know things haven’t been easy for you.  However, I do not think it is wise for you running around the planet searching for them.  It is too likely that the military will find you long before you can find your parents.  I know it’s frustrating to have so many questions and no answers.  But like I told you before, we are people not pleased with the military.  They are afraid of us.  As long as you stay here, with us, you are safe.”

            “But what about my family?  What about them?  What if the military finds them??”

            “Calm down, child.  This is something you have every right to be worry about.  However, if you think about it, worrying isn’t doing any good.  The only thing you can do is pray that they are safe.  If the military needs you to return to them desperately, they will not kill your parents.  That will only cause you to repel further.  I am sure right now they are safe, loving their long lost child, and wishing to see her again.”  Alex stumbled as she pulled herself back to her feet, Yojo helping.

            “You’re right, Ginny.”  She wiped the tears from her eyes.  “I just wish I knew where they were…”

            “Do you have a last name?  Perhaps we can check Cina’s database in the library.  They might not be as far as you think!”  Alex gave a weak smile.

            “Yes.  Let’s do that.”

            After finishing her breakfast, and Yojo returned to work, Ginny showed her the wig.  It was dirty-blond and rather dusty, but it did the trick.  She changed out of her uniform, in a bathroom of course, and into some old clothes that didn’t seem to fit right.

            “They were my clothes when I was your age,” Ginny grinned.

            It was an hour before noon when Ginny and Alex left the inn and began making their way through the town.  Cina looked much more normal than it did yesterday.  It reminded Alex a bit of Armane, except a bit smaller, less traffic, and no one walking around in uniforms.  Ginny began pointing out shops and explaining to Alex what they were.  Alex tried to tell her that she lived in a city and wasn’t isolated from civilization, but Ginny seemed to be having fun so Alex went along.

            “And this is Cina’s library.  It is a huge place with lots of books and computers to look up what you want.  I was thinking we could go eat at a diner and then come back here in the afternoon.  How does that sound, my dear?”

            “That’s fine,” Alex agreed.

            “Good!  I know a nice diner around the corner.  You eat outside, but they have umbrellas for shade.  Do they have umbrellas in the military?”

            “No.  They told us only sissies use umbrellas and ponchos, but I sold some to kids at the store I worked at.”

            “Oh, then I assume you know what they are.”

            “Yes.”  The diner was very nice, though Alex ate outside many times, but not this comfortable.

            “The Cina Library is huge.  It use to be small, easy for an old person like me to get around.  But then technology kept growing, the library kept expanding, and what do you know, it’s huge.  I’m sure we can easily find a computer with Cina’s database.”

            “That’s good, I would really like to take a look at it.”

            “So, you say you know your parents’ last name, right?”

            “Yes, I think so anyways.”

            “Might I ask what it is?”

            “I wish I could tell you, but I can’t.”  Alex gave an annoyed look at her watch and let out a heavy sigh.

            “That’s ok, dear.  You don’t have to tell me.  I’ll just show you how to use it.”

            “Ok.”  Alex smiled.  Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a familiar man.  He stopped, not looking in her direction but rather at his own feet.  She couldn’t get a good look at his face.  The man looked up and briskly walked away.  He made Alex feel very uneasy.

            “Is there something wrong?” Ginny looked at her concerned.

            “I thought I saw someone...”

            “From the military?” Ginny whispered loudly.

            “Yes, that’s what I am afraid of.”

            “Then we’d better keep our eyes opened and mouths shut.  He won’t recognize you...”

            “Unless I jump out and make a scene,” Alex quickly interrupted.  If the man was listening to her conversation though the watch, she had to be more cautious of what to say.

            “Yes, yes.  Of course.”  Ginny took a sip of tea and changed the subject to some of the wild legends of Cina.  It was quite interesting.

            After lunch, Ginny and Alex rushed to the library.  Alex kept her eyes pealed, looking around nervously for the strange man, but he was long gone.  Ginny was right about the library, it was huge.  People were bustling around, checking out books, sitting quietly while reading, working in study groups.  And all sorts of people were there, children, parents, students, elderly.  It felt very comfortable inside.

            “This way,” Ginny said, edging Alex to a set of stairs on the left-hand side.  They climbed up to the second floor and took a right down a huge hallway.  The hallway ended at a glass room.  Inside were several computers, each tucked in its own cubby.  There were more bookshelves inside.  They walked in and Alex started heading for one of the computers.

            “Got to check that out first, dear,” Ginny told her as she walked to a lady at the circulations desk.  Alex watched as she filled out some paperwork and then took a pink key from the woman.  “Computer 9, we have full access.”  Alex went to computer 9 and Ginny inserted the key into the top part of the computer’s tower.  It turned on.

            “This isn’t very hard to use.  I can leave you alone if you want.”

            “No, you can stay.  Just let me know if some odd man is watching us.”

            “Ok.”  The computer loaded and the database, similar to the one Brond showed her earlier, popped up onto the screen.  She typed in ‘Flode’.  Several names popped up.  She scrolled through until she found the ones she remembered before.  She clicked on the name.  The couple lived in a town called Bertix.

            “Do you know where this is?” Alex asked Ginny, pointing to the name.  Ginny, who was keeping watch, turned around.

            “Oh, yes!  That’s just outside the city.”

            “Really?  You mean it isn’t far??”

            “Nope.  It’s toward the other end of Cina, though.  But it isn’t too far.  I assume you found what you were looking for?”  Alex grabbed a piece of paper and a pen that was on the desk and began writing the information down frantically.

            “Yes.  I think I found it.”  She tore off the paper and put it in her pocket.  “Let’s get going.”  The two of them returned the key to the woman and left the room.

            “See?  That wasn’t so hard.  Are you happy now?”

            “Very happy.  I finally get to see...” she caught herself,  ...cows.”

            “Cows?  You’ve never seen a cow?”

            “Nope.  Seen pictures of them, but I have never seen a real cow.”  Ginny chuckled.

            “You say the strangest things, Alex.”  As they entered the main floor, Alex saw him again.  This time, he was leaning against a wall on the opposite side of the room, a pine green hat was bent over his eyes.  Alex glanced at him for only a second before turning to Ginny.

            “We need to hurry,” she whispered.  Ginny nodded her head.

            “Be casual for now,” Alex instructed her.  They left the library, Alex watching the man out of the corner of her eye.  Though it appeared that the hat was covering his eyes, she was able to see two slits looking in her direction.  Alex pushed Ginny out, but the man didn’t seem to make any attempt of following them.

            “Is he there?” Ginny whispered.

            “Yes.”

            “Then I know a roundabout way of getting back.  First, we’ll take the bus.”  Ginny walked hurriedly toward the nearest bus stop.  “Is he following us?”  Alex turned around.

            “He just left the library.  He’s looking in our direction.”

            “Ok.  Well, we just went past the bus stop on the other side of the street.  We’ll just cross when we have the chance and turn back around.  It doesn’t come for another few minutes, so we’ll be calling it tight.”  They walked a couple more blocks before a crosswalk sign allowed them to cross the street.  Ginny and Alex walked as close to the stores as they could.  That way, if the man were to be looking for them, people would be passing by obstructing his view.

            “Slow your pace.  I can see the bus coming,” Ginny ordered.  They slowed down their pace and began walking like they normally would, but a little faster.  When they reached the bus stop, the bus was only a couple of blocks away.  “Do you see him now?”  Alex looked around.  At first, she was going to say ‘no,’ but then she saw him on their side of the street, walking at a fast pace.

            “He’s heading toward us!” she cried.  The bus stopped.  People began bustling out while others who were waiting began entering.  “He’s getting closer...”  The man reached out for her left wrist.

            “Get on quickly, dear!” Ginny urged, pushing Alex up the steps following her.  The doors closed right in front of the man and the bus took off.  Alex watched him from her window.  He just stood there, once again not making any attempt in following them.  Though this was a relief, she was far from feeling relaxed.

            Ginny and Alex went around practically the entire city before returning to the inn.  Alex went upstairs to her room as soon as she got inside, closing the door tightly behind her.  She could hear Ginny explaining what had happened, at least from what she knew, to Luke and Yojo.

            “She should stay in here for the night.  But, I wanted to let you two know about this because if a strange man comes in asking for her, we must turn him away.  Just say you’ve heard of her, lying would make us suspicious.  Then we can say that she left for the Desiccated Desert a couple of hours ago, or something like that.  I’m not sure what she’s been through, but the poor dear has been struggling all her life, not knowing who she is.”

            “Are you taking her to Bertix tomorrow?” Luke asked.

            “No.  It is better if she stay hidden for a few days until the military cools down.  Oh, the poor dear.”  Alex took her ear away from the door.  She loved everything that the Fleckers had done for her, but she could not stay trapped in the inn for another five days.  Alex decided that the next morning she would sneak out in her costume and go into town to find a watch shop.  If she could at least get the watch off, she’ll be set for Bertix.


Chapter 22

Found

 

            Ginny went into Alex’s room the next morning with some breakfast.

            “I know you want to go out, dear, but it’s for the best.”

            “I understand.”

            “If you need anything, just ring the bell.  We aren’t trying to keep you up here, but if the man is trying to find you...”

            “I know.  You just want to help.  I am grateful.”

            “Good.  Here’s some food, my dear.  Enjoy!”  She left.  As soon as she did, Alex wolfed down her food and grabbed some pillows and stuck it in the bed to make it look like she was asleep.  Putting on the wig and outfit, she went to the window and slipped out onto the landing.  She went down the stairs and into the back alley.  Taking a left, she found herself, for once, alone in Cina.  All right!  Alex began walking around excitedly and nervously.

            “Do you know where there is a watch repair shop?” she asked a passerby.

            “Sure.  There’s one on Trigle Street, Tode’s Watch Shop.”

            “Thank you!” she said, politely.  “How do I get there?”

            “Take bus 9.  I believe Tringle Street it’s the forth stop.”

            “Ok.  Thank you so much!”

            “No problem.”  She waved him and then went to the closest bus stop.  Several busses went by before she finally was able to board bus 9.  Unfortunately, she forgot that there was a small fee to ride the bus.  The only coins she had were from Armane.  She held it out to the bus driver who rejected the coins.

            “What are those things?  If you got no money, then you can’t ride!”

            “Wait!” A woman from the back of the bus jumped up from her seat.  “You’re that military girl, right?”

            “Military girl?” the driver said unconvincingly.

            “That disguise can’t fool me.  I can tell who you are by your eyes.  And that watch.”  The woman reached in her pocket and pulled out a couple of coins.  “There you go.  Now go sit down with me, why don’t you?”  Alex handed the coins to the driver and sat next to the woman.

            “So, how are things going?  Are you enjoying the city?”

            “Yeah, sort of.”

            “Sort of?  Oh, I should take you for a tour!  Then you can tell me all about...”

            “I’m sorry, but I’m kind of in a hurry.”

            “Oh.” The woman looked rather hurt.  “It’s just that, my grandson was taken by the military.  I just thought that talking to someone would make me feel better.”  The woman sniffled.  “I’ve been through a lot.  I am just so...” she sobbed “worried about him!”

            “Oh, stop making a scene, woman!” snapped a man from behind her.  “You don’t got a grandson, or anyone for that matter taken from the military.  Are you that desperate for attention?”

            “I gave the girl some money!  She outta give me some respect!”

            “Woman, you ought to give her some respect!”  The man turned to Alex.  “Don’t mind her.  She’s like this all the time.  So where are you headin’?”

            “Just...somewhere.”  Alex moved seats away from the woman and waited until the driver announced “Trigle Street.”  She got off, the woman yelling at her the entire time.  When the bus left, Alex let out a sigh of relief.  She then turned down the street, looking around for Tode’s Watch Shop.  Luck for her, she was on the right side of the street and turned in the correct direction.  Alex looked up at the huge sign, as a cool chill went down her spine.  Looking around frantically, no one appeared to be suspicious.

            You’re just overexciting yourself,” she tried telling herself as she entered the shop.  There were only a couple of customers browsing around in the shop.  A huge man with a brown mustache was standing in front of the cashier register.

            “May I help you?”  Alex pulled out a note she wrote the other day and walked up to the man.  She slipped the note to him.  He picked it up, suspicious naturally, and began reading:

            My watch was given to me by the military.  I was wondering if there was anyway you could take it off.  I would be most grateful.  Thank you.  The man looked back at her.  Alex put her left wrist on the table, showing him the watch.  He looked at it carefully.  Then, to Alex’s greatest disappointment, he shook his head.

            “I’m sorry, but this will take a day for me to cut through that.  It is very dangerous, and the likelihood of me missing is too high for me to consider.  I am very sorry, young lady.”

            “That’s...that’s ok,” Alex said, turning away from him so she wouldn’t see how upset she was.  She left the store and leaned up against the wall away from the windows.  Covering her eyes with her hands, she let herself cry.  It was over.  There was nothing left for her to do.  The military was already here, and there was no escape.  She had to run away.  She had to leave Cina NOW!  Alex rubbed her eyes and as she was about to head back to the bus stop, she saw the man from earlier.  Only this time, he was walking quickly toward her, rifle in hand.  Alex was so horrified seeing Major Dome there, she hesitated before running in the opposite direction, as fast as she could.  She didn’t look back to see how far away he was from her.  There was a crowd of people ahead, if she could blend in...BANG!  Alex fell over in enormous pain.  Blood was trickling down her left leg, in the same spot the last bullet hit.  This time, Alex ignored the pain.  She pulled herself to her feet, and walked as fast as she could with her limp.  But it wasn’t enough.  Alex collapsed, unable to move no matter how hard she tried.  Major Dome walked over to her.

            “Yeah, so you found me,” Alex grumbled.  “Go ahead.  Kill me.”

            “I’m not here to kill you.”

            Suuuure...that’s why you’ve been following me around, right?  Go ahead and do it.  You’ve caught me, there’s nothing left I can do.”

            “I thought you were trying to find your family.”

            “Well, I was, but this damn watch...”  Major Dome grabbed her wrist, in his right hand she noticed a screwdriver.  “If you do that, you’re going to blow yourself up, too.”  Major Dome ignored her and kept fiddling with the watch.

            “Hold still,” he instructed.  No choice, Alex obeyed.  She closed her eyes tightly, not wanting to see her arm in pieces.  To her surprise, she felt something loosen on her arm.  When she opened her eyes, the watch was resting on her knee.  Major Dome pulled out a handkerchief from his coat and began tying it around her wound.

            “Ow!” she cried out as he pulled out the bullet.

            “You don’t deal with pain well.”

            “Not with bullets.  How did you get it in the same spot?”

            “I’ve got good aim.”

            “Well, if you keep shooting me there, I’m going to lose my left foot.”

            “And if you keep running from me when I haven’t tried to kill you yet, I’m going to shoot you.”

            “Oh, gee, that made a lot of sense,” Alex muttered sarcastically as Major Dome finished tying the handkerchief.  “Why are you helping me anyways?”

            “Well, it’s a long story.  I am suppose to take you to Admiral Exot.  You are in quite a bit of trouble.”

            “Then go ahead and take me.”

            “Why do you want to give up so badly?”

            “I don’t!”  Major Dome helped Alex up to her feet and walked her to the nearest alley where she leaned up against the wall and let her body slide down.

            “You don’t remember me very well, do you?” he asked, kneeling down besides her.

            “I remember seeing you around the academy, but that’s it.”

            “And yet you were afraid of me, like you are now.”  Alex blushed.

            “Well, I, uh...”

            “And you have all right to be.”  Alex looked up at him.  Major Dome was staring blankly at the wall in front of him.  What was he talking about?

            “I don’t understand...”

           “Of course you don’t.  You’ve forgotten everything like you were suppose to.”  Alex looked down at her knees now.  “What I am going to tell you may alarm you, and I sincerely apologize.  I guess I should start at the beginning.  When I was a baby, my parents put me up for adoption.  For whatever reason, I didn’t know.  They raised me very well.  I had a safe home, plenty of food, and a good education.”  Alex listened intently.  It was kind of funny thinking of Major Dome as a child.

            “Well, when I was a teenager, my parents told me I was going to join the military.  It was very odd because they have been against war since I can remember, and me joining the military would be the last thing they would think of.  I kept asking them why, but all they would tell me was it would be good for me.  I became frustrated because I had no interest in the military whatsoever.  Against my wishes, they packed me up and sent me to the Military Rogals Academy.”

            “At that time, the academy was fairly new, but there weren’t a lot of students attending.  It was then when things started going really wrong.  Admiral Exot began the Steelidge program.  The purpose was to train hard-working students further in military skills.  The main purpose, however, was to get us involved in his next plan, the recruitment.  Those who appeared to have some threat to this plan were sent to a different program in Steelidge and prevented in knowing the truth.  About 80 of us in the Steelidge program were told of this operation.  Basically, we would be going from town to town, school to school, and taking children who appeared to have basic military skills and who listened.  We took children from every age group, except those under 5.  I was sent to your town, Ingleburg.  I am the one who went into your classroom one day and chose twelve of you to join the military.”  He paused while Alex tried taking all of this in.

            “So, you’re the one who chose me to go into the military?” she asked, making sure she had the story correct.

            “Yes, but there is more, I’m afraid.  All of the students I picked were in my command.  I had about ninety-four in all.  My next job was then to force everyone to forget their pasts so that the military would be the center of their lives for now on.  It took several months to do this, but eventually the only thing anyone could remember was training for the military, and nothing more.  My work was done.”  Alex turned to him, horrified, edging herself away from him.

            “You mean YOU’RE the one who brainwashed us??”

            “Some of you, yes.”  Alex put her face in between her legs.

            “Why?”

            “To be honest, I don’t know.  I don’t think anyone else knew either.  After the brainwashing was complete, most people involved became depressed or went insane.  I was one of the only ones who was not asked to leave my job and go to a special hospital in Burkington where they would be isolated from the rest of the world to protect the recruiting secret from getting out.  I begged Admiral Exot to let me go, but he refused.  At that time, I was tempted of doing something outrageous to give him an excuse of getting rid of me, but I changed my mind and decided I would wait for my next task.”

            “But...why would you do that?”

            “Because.  I couldn’t fight the enemy from inside a hospital where I would be monitored for the rest of my life.  The only way I could defeat the military was to be a part of it.  For the next several years, I did random missions for Admiral Exot and soon became in charge of a male dormitory, or what you would refer to them as apartments.  Most of the boys I didn’t brainwash or their parents had sent them into the military by their free will.  There were a couple of faces I thought I recognized, but by then they had grown up.  It wasn’t as difficult as I thought, but knowing that I had helped people forget their pasts would always eat at me.  Then, you started causing trouble.”

            “Did you recognize me?” Alex asked.

            “No.  Not at first.  Nor did I care.  However, when I heard that Marshal Rick caught you watching one of the recruitment tapes, I asked Admiral Exot of having the job with monitoring you.  At first, he wasn’t going to give it to me, but he later changed his mind.  You are lucky, Ms. Roane, because if I didn’t get the job, someone else would, and that person may have killed you long before you got into Steelidge.  You are the only one who knows the truth and stayed with the military, like what I did.  I know that you are probably upset with me, and I cannot blame you, but if you can trust me, perhaps there is a way we can beat them at their own game.”  Alex refused to look up at him.

            “You...you destroyed my life.  You took everything I had away from me.  And now you want me to join you.”  Alex took a deep breath.  “I don’t think I can do that.”  She wasn’t sure of the risks involved with her rejecting Major Dome’s request, but how could she possible trust him knowing that?

            “I’ll give you some time to think it over.  You can go back to the inn, I’m sure those people are worried about you.”  Alex tried pushing herself up.  Major Dome got up and helped her to her feet.  “There’s a lot to think about, but I will tell you this.  Your watch is too far away from headquarters, so anything that happened since you left the Giel is unknown.  I was only able to find you when you turned on your radar.  You are free for now.”  Alex pushed him away and began heading toward the bus stop.  All she wanted now was to be stuck inside her room at the inn.


Chapter 23

Decisions

 

            The Fleckers were shocked when Alex came in later that day.

            “We were worried sick about you!” Ginny cried, running toward her side.

            “We called the police when Ginny discovered that you weren’t in your room.  No one had a clue where you went,” Luke said.

            “Tell me, what happened?  And why did you take off like that?”  Ginny helped ease Alex into a chair.  She took a deep breath and looked into their panicked faces.  Without the watch, she felt free explaining everything to them.  She started off by telling them why she snuck out, who the man was, though she didn’t give his name, and about her watch.  Alex didn’t want to tell them all the details of the military, but just enough so that they would understand.  She kept her voice down as she told her story, just in case.  When she was done, Ginny and Luke both gave stunned reactions.

            “My dear!  If I had known all of that...oh, you poor thing!”  She hugged Alex so tightly that she was having some trouble breathing and Luke had to pry her away.

            “So what are you going to do?” Luke asked.

            “I really don’t know.  I can’t trust him after he told me that.  But then again, I feel like he’s the only one I can trust.  In the military that is.”  Alex didn’t want to make the Fleckers feel bad because she did trust them.

            “I say you stay away from that man,” Ginny said, quickly.  “He’s hurt you so much already!”

            “Yes, but if he can help her get her life back, then it might be wise for her to put the past behind.”

            “That’s true, but what if it’s a trick?”

            “Well, that could be the case.  He did shoot her.”  Luke looked down at her leg.  “But then again, he didn’t kill her.”

            “You can’t trust him, Alex,” Ginny said, staring at her with concerned eyes.  “Look what he’s done to you!”

            “But he regrets it.  He sounded so sincere that if he was acting, he sure is good at it.”  Ginny sighed.

            “The only thing we can do is relax, the best we can, and think.  I’m sure after some rest you’ll be able to make the appropriate decision,” Luke told Alex, calmly.

            “But I think that decision is already clear!” Ginny protested.

            “Honey, we must let Alex make the decision on her own.  She might know something we don’t.  Besides, people change.  He could very well be telling the truth.  For now, I need to get ready for the dinner crowd.  You should go take Alex upstairs to rest and check on that wound of hers.  Looks like it might need some new dressings.”  Ginny didn’t argue anymore.  She helped Alex to her feet and guided her up the stairs.

            “Perhaps Luke was right and I was overreacting,” Ginny sighed.

            “I think both of you made good points.  That’s my problem, I can’t decide which one is right.”  Alex pushed herself on the bed as Ginny pulled her legs up.

            “I’ll be right back.  Going to get the first-aid kit.”  Ginny left the room while Alex tried to make herself comfortable.  She was playing around with one idea in her head, but she knew that if she told the Fleckers, they wouldn’t like it.  Ginny came back in with the first aid kit.  She untied the handkerchief and began cleaning up the wound.  Alex squinted in pain as she put some ointment on.

            “I don’t see the bullet.”

            “He took it out.”

            “Oh.”  She put on even more ointment.  “Don’t want this to get infected.”

            “I know.  It just really hurts.”  Ginny wrapped her leg in the new dressings and pined it tightly so it wouldn’t fall off.

            “Well, that’s the best I can do for now.  Let nature take its course from here.”  She closed the first-aid kit and stood up.  “You’d better go get yourself some rest.  I’ll come up in a couple of hours to bring you something to eat.  Is there anything you would like in particular?”

            “No.”

            “Ok.  I hope you feel better, dear.”  Ginny left, closing the door behind her.  Alex closed her eyes just to rest a bit, but she ended up dozing off.

 

            When Alex awoke, it was dark and quiet.  There was a sandwich and some cold tea on the table beside her bed, along with a note.

            “You were still asleep when I came in with your dinner.  I didn’t want to wake you, and your food would have gone bad, so I made you a sandwich instead.  I hope you enjoy it.  ~Ginny.”  Alex gave a small smile as she looked down at the sandwich.  Since she hadn’t eaten all day, Alex wolfed down the food.  It felt so good to have something in her stomach.  Her leg was also feeling much better, but she didn’t want to walk in it quite yet.  After thinking about what Major Dome said over and over again, the plan she was thinking of earlier seemed more plausible.  She had to plan things better this time, though.  It was likely that trying it out tomorrow would be too soon, as her leg would slow her down.  It would have to be the next day.  Alex wanted to get out as soon as she could, even if her leg wasn’t fully healed.  She fell back down on her bed, wide awake.  If only she could get up and leave now....she sighed.  The only thing left to do was to go back to sleep.

 

            The next day, Yojo came to visit her.

            “My, my.  You do get yourself into a lot of trouble, don’t you?” he joked.

            “Yeah.  I think I was born to be a rebel.”  Yojo laughed.  “How’s your wife doing?”

            “Oh, thanks for asking.  Miranda is doing very well.  The doctor said she will probably be delivering in the next couple of weeks.”

            “How are your sons taking it?”

            “Henry doesn’t seem to mind as much as Paud.  Paud is a bit jealous.”  Alex smiled.

            “You are very lucky,” she said.

            “Yes.  I know.”

            Ginny came in randomly throughout the day, checking on Alex’s dressings, giving her food, and taking back the empty dishes.

            “Did you decide what you were going to do?” she asked her toward the end of the day.

            “No, I’m not quite sure yet.”

            “That’s ok, dear.  You just keep on resting.”  Alex went in and out of sleep during the day that she found herself wide awake and bored many times throughout the night.  With nothing to do, she found herself pondering about Major Dome.  If he had just stood up to Admiral Exot, he wouldn’t have had to suffer through any guilt!  And he never answered her question of why he did it.  There had to be a reason for that.  What Admiral Exot was doing was immoral.  Anyone could have figured that out.  So how was he able to do his recruitment plan without anyone trying to stop him?  Or maybe they did, and those who rebelled were killed.  Or even put into that hospital Major Dome was talking about.  And that was another question that popped in her head.  What was that hospital?  Was it a place for those who knew too much, beside the ones involved with the brainwashing?  There was more to the story than what Major Dome told her, and this bothered Alex.  He wasn’t being completely opened with her.  How could she possibly trust him?

 

            The next morning, Alex was sitting up in her bed.  She had taken a shower and was dressed in the disguise Ginny had given her.

            “My!  You look much better!” she exclaimed when she came in with Alex’s breakfast.

            “Yup!  I was thinking of going out in town for the day, just to think things over.”

            “Oh,” Ginny said, not really liking this idea.  “Well, if you wait an hour, Yojo can accompany you.”

            “That’s nice, but I’d rather go by myself.  I just need some fresh air and time to think things over.”

            “But what about that man?  He knows your disguise!”

            “Yes, but I’m not worried about him.  And if he asks what my decision is, I’ll tell him tonight.  I should know by then.”  Ginny eyed her suspiciously.

            “Are you up to something?” she questioned.

            “No, no.  Just need to get out.”

            “Oh, yes yes.  Of course.  You’ve been trapped in here for too long!  Silly me for not thinking that you’d want to leave this stuffy room.”

            “That’s ok.”

            “Are you sure your leg will be fine?”

            “Yup.  It feels much better, thank you.”

            “Well, let me at least put some new dressings on it.  Then you can go.”  Alex was grateful that Ginny didn’t ask any further questions.  As soon as she had eaten breakfast, she went downstairs.

            “You take care there, Alex.  Remember, if anything goes wrong and you’re too far from the inn, there are police everywhere to help you.  Don’t be afraid to talk to them.”

            “Thanks, Mr. Flecker,” Alex smiled. “Oh, I was thinking about taking the bus.  I hate to ask you this, but do you have any change?”

            “Of course!  Customers are usually quite kind with their tips.”  He pulled out a jar from underneath the counter and pulled out some coins.  “There you go.  I hope that is enough.”

            “I’m sure it will be fine.  Thank you so much!”  Alex happily left the inn.  Outside, the sun was a welcoming to her face.  It was a beautiful day, perfect to find her parents.  She wanted to talk to them, see them again, before she could decide whether or not she could trust Major Dome.  Alex headed to the same bus stop she did the other day.  There was a map nearby which she studied carefully, trying to find Bertix and what bus line would pass there the closest.  Bus 11 was her best bet, and the ride would last approximately 2 hours according to the information on the map.  The bus came about 10 minutes later, and Alex happily boarded, handing the driver some coins.  She sat down, butterflies flapping in her stomach.  This was it.  She was finally going to see her mom and her dad.  Alex pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket with the address written down: 5430 Avent Street.  She was alert the entire ride, and impatient too.

            When the bus finally stopped about 1 mile from Bertix, Alex jumped off.  She took a look at the bus route map again and studied the direction toward the town.  Once memorized, she turned around, crossed the street, and made her way to Bertix.  It was impossible for her to walk.  Frequently, she was running, and when she was out of breath, or when her left leg was hurting too much, she walked at a rapid pace.  Alex soon reached a hill that looked down upon Bertix.  Small houses were scattered around in every direction.  They looked warm, comforting, and inviting.  Alex ran down the hill, ignoring her pain.  She had come this far and nothing mattered anymore, as long as she could see her parents.  An image of them appeared in her head.  They’re shocked look as they saw their long lost daughter running toward them.  Then, their tears of joy as they hugged her tightly, kissing her on the forehead.  She wouldn’t want to let them go.  Ever.

            It was the beginning of the afternoon when Alex entered Bertix.  She went up to the first person she saw and asked the woman for directions to Avent Street.

            “Go straight until you come to Corner Road.  Take a right.  Corner Road goes straight through Avent Street,” the woman told her, giving Alex a strange look.

            “Thank you,” Alex said politely, puzzled by the woman’s reaction.  When she looked down at her leg and noticed that it was a bit twisted, and that some blood had soaked through the dressings, she guessed why the woman had acted odd.  Alex tried to get her leg back into a normal position, though it was strangely painful.  She continued down the road until she reached Corner Road and took a right.  The roads here were less busy than in Cina.  There were less people on the sidewalks as well.  It seemed much more quieter.  Some passersbys gave her peculiar looks, though Alex shrugged them off.  She stopped when she reached Avent Street, which ran in both directions.  5430...she took a left and watched the numbers carefully.  5468, 5470...they were going up.  She turned around and began running excitedly in the opposite direction.  5456, 5454...her heart was pounding frenetically.  5438, 5436...she stopped.  5430...her parents’ home.  She had finally made it.  Standing below the steps, she looked up at it.  It was a small townhouse, a bit dreary looking on the outside, but Alex didn’t care.  She was ecstatic.  But, as she made her way up the steps to ring the doorbell, a hand covered her mouth while another grabbed her shoulder and dragged her away.

 

THE END

 

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