I am way to nervous to sleep. My eyes can't even stay shut for more then five seconds. Prior to the nerves I'm homesick. I lost count of how many days ago I've left home or how many ages I've gained. We aren't allowed to see or even communicate with our family during the initiation and I am going to finally going to see them again soon. Another reason for my insomnia. I don't know what they will expect of me and what I expect of them. I wish I had a choice about my life but anyone with my intelligence never get to live normal, willful lives. But it was to late for me and my big ego to dumb it down when I figured it all out. I'm smart but not smarter then the other beings who figured it out and made sure to stay quiet. But as strange as it sounds, some people want and love this life but for some reason they had to choose me! My young, stupid, naive self would be proud of me but I'm not. I wonder if my future self would be proud of me.
"Captain Hawk, please report to the dining area. Captain Hawk, please report to the dining area." I hear a lady repeat say through my intercom. I sit up and rub the fatigue out of my eyes. I guess I had fallen asleep sometime in the night. I look over to at the time which reads 5:01. I curse as I search the dark room (I prefer the word cell) for my gynoid Joi who I find lying on the ground completely colorless which means her batteries run out which also means my alarm has too. I groan in frustration as I jump out of bed and grab her wrist. I guess last night I was so excited that I forgot to plug her in. How am I supposed to get everything ready without her? I plug her in just in case, by some miracle, she charges before I come back from breakfast. There's lots to be done.
Just as I plug her in, Yeth, basically my brother from another mother, bursts into my room panting face full of fear, nerves and excitement. So his regular crazed face. I've known him since I've arrived which is almost half my life. I was a basket case when I first arrived; begging for my mom and dad and sister. I was stuck bunking with him and Tre, a kid who disappeared after bunking for a while. Which was fine by me as he wasn't the nicest fella. By the time he left I was finally set straight thanks to Yeth who is the one that helped me go through the initiation and all the training. I owe my life to him but I think that him helping me helped him cope with the initiation also.
"Hawk, you're supposed to be in the dining area!" He blinks quickly behind his tiny spectacles. A common habit of his. Hawk isn't my real name but it's my name here. Everyone here is given a new life and the choice of a new name if you want your life to be private which almost everyone does. We don't talk about our past lives because they're, well, in the past. Never have we ever as much as mentioned it. So I know nothing about Yeth's and he knows nothing about mine.
"So are you." I shoot back. I look down and realize I'm in nothing but my underwear. Yeth follows my eyes then immediately throws me my pants on the chair next to my desk. He looks away as I put them on. It's not like we've never seen each other naked but it's still awkward nonetheless. "Do you ever consider knocking before entering private courters?"
"Well have you ever considered wearing the night garments they give us?" He turns back to me arms crossed.
"In the summer on a tropical island in a room with no light windows or cold air? Never thought about it twice bub." I wipe the sweat off my brow as I put on an undershirt. Yeth gaps at my large naked arms.
"Whoa I never knew you were so..." Slight jealously crosses his face for a split second quickly replaced by genuine curiosity.
After the initiation I was assigned trainers that made me hit up the gym hours at a time. I was really skinny at the time and they said that couldn't be if I were to pursue this mission. But my little body could only stand so much and I had to quit after 420 days. I only packed on nineteen pounds of muscle which is a lot for me. But along with all the gym training, I got more trainers for special military defense sessions. They told me that we have no idea what has happened in the past- well, not much at least. When our time started, all digital information about the last species was somehow destroyed by some sort of digital virus and all the physical information demolished by fire. The only thing that survived was a small science lab where our ancestors learned to speak the past species' language and where they started their scientific research. They said in the old Historia papers that it seemed as if the past species knew they were coming because everything was all set up like food and drink at a party. That part really puzzles me.
