Page 21 of Across The Stars
Omar snapped his attention toward me like he’d been caught watching porn.
“In my defense,” he said, lifting his arms in surrender. “I’m tired as hell and—"
“And there weren’t a lot of ladies on your base,” I cut him off, walking down the hall to our own dorm. “I know.”
“You’re still my number one.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. Looking at Quinn? You know, it meant nothing to me. It was a meaningless glance.”
I laughed, shaking my head.
As soon as I entered our quarters, I took one look at the bed and wanted to fall into it and pass out. Omar, yawning three times in a row as he changed into a pair of boxers, walked to the bathroom and splashed some water on his face from a weak flow in the sink, brushed his teeth, and practically melted into his mattress. I did the same and then brushed my hair out and slid beneath the white covers.
Rolling onto my side, I tried to sleep, but as soon as I closed my eyes, I was plagued with insecurities. What if Sam and I were caught? What if we had to do something we weren't trained for? Hell, I didn’t even know how to properly use my Buddy. That alone was a dead giveaway that I didn’t belong there.
After an hour of restlessly trying to fall to sleep, I turned to see Omar sprawled out with one leg off the bed, his breath teetering on the edge of snoring. With him asleep, I lifted the covers over my head and turned my wrist to see my Buddy. I was going to figure it out and look like a damn professional if it took all night.
Sitting up, I started to toy with the device. The first thing I found was the hologram of the main menu with choices listed. I had been on social media before. I bit my lip and tapped a finger on the settings. The hologram flipped around and I found a list of things I was supposed to do as the Buddy’s owner. I filled in my name, position, ID number, and birth date. Then I tapped onProfile Pictureand the damn thing flashed. Next thing I knew, a dumb, up the nose, double-chinned photo of me slid up onto my profile page and despite my fumbling to change it, I was at a loss on how to fix the mistake.
“You little bitch,” I muttered at it.
Feeling defeated by the contraption, I started exploring other settings. I found a 3D map of the Nexus in the navigation section and explored its levels, zooming into every room, hallway, and section and absorbing information on every one of them. I imagined it would be important if I wanted to find Sam in the maze of a space station.
Moving on, I found an information directory where I could search for practically anything I wanted. I tapped my fingers on my chin, thinking of what to look up, and found myself typing my father’s name into the search engine. When a photo of him in his mid-thirties popped up with his profile information, I choked, my lip quivering to see his image sitting before me. His shaved head and strong brows made him look big and menacing. He always had a strong presence. Or so I heard. I wanted to believe he looked like a superhero in person. Not that my mother spoke of him before she left. Everything I’d heard was from interviews and articles.
Perry Saint.
R-13 pilot. Former Nexus station advisor, pilot, and transportation coordinator.
I scrolled through some of his accomplishments, a little surprised to see some I never even knew about. He was a big deal on the Nexus, according to his records, and he’d even earned a metal after his death.Recognition of Valor: For piloting a ship to retrieve 13 stranded recruits.I didn’t know that part.
That was also the day he died.
I was in a place where people trained their whole lives to work and make major changes and I was a damn fake. Lookingat my father’s picture and all the great things he’d done made me feel guilty for the first time since I arrived.
Rolling my eyes, I swiped my father’s image away and searchedSamantha Worthingtononly to find that no data had been uploaded yet. When I searchedInnifer Harmon, I was also an empty page... except for an up-the-nose selfie and a little notice that readinformation pending.
When I left my botched profile page, I came across a tiny icon that saidValerian Dossier. I couldn’t help myself. I opened it and found a list with about a hundred names on it. I didn’t know where to start and could barely even begin to pronounce most of them. But Quinn had said three names to me.
I didn’t remember any of them…
I scrolled until a name jumped out at me and came across Olteas. I opened the profile but found no picture. He was a military captain and he commanded the Zumos, according to his information. He was a war veteran and a transport specialist. I kept scrolling, but at that point, I was too tired to even find familiar looking names on the dossier. I had no choice but to give in to my fatigue.
And what did it matter? I was likely never to see that valerian again, whoever he was. Perhaps it was better not to put a face to him. Maybe it would scare me right back to Earth.
10: Innifer
“Ok!” Penny said, standing on a crate and speaking to thirteen recruits who were lined up and ready to work. “New recruits, the first few months are simple.” She lifted her wrist, swiping a finger over her Buddy to bring up a holographic list. With a flick, she said, “Every day, you’ll get a list like this with all the information you need about what to move, how many, and to where.”
I felt my Buddy vibrate on my wrist and raised it up to tap it awake. Springing up from the cuff was a list, just like Penny said.
“If you have questions, ask one of the supervisors,” she continued. She pointed toward a group of workers standing near the left wall dressed in yellow jumpsuits. Among them was Quinn. “We have four hours till lunch. Have fun, grunts.”
With a little smirk, Penny hopped down from the crate and made her way toward the giant, garage-like door that led out of the warehouse. I turned to Omar.
“Grunts?” I said.
