Dedicated to a published author who's written everything from action, dystopian scifi, fantasy, mystery/thriller, space opera scifi, and probably others. I hope you know that your work inspires me to be even better everyday.
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Two days later...
PIT-PAT.
As a hundred footsteps silently invaded the serene atmosphere of the Spatial Field Track Room, a certain military recruit struggled to breath in the face of an arduous PFT.
Lowering himself to the ground, he took a good breath in and pushed himself up on the beat.
Stopping, he made sure to exhale slowly before he took a great swig of the water bottle lying next to him.
"Not bad," remarked Major Role, "You'll need to work on your pushups though-that posture was simply atrocious for most of it."
"Role, don't you think you've tormented the poor kid enough? You made him complete a PF test when he's only been here a few hours at the very least?", Major Gideon commented.
Clicking his tongue, the sourpuss faced Major Gideon, stating, "You think Space cares whether he's on his first day or his seventeenth day? He's gotta be able to pass the requirements at his barest lowest point. Otherwise, he won't be able to survive all three months up here."
Panting, Captain Seon glanced away, chugging the rest of his water in one gulp.
"Hey, CV," barked Role.
"Yes?", questioned Seon.
"This is not Earth. We don't have your fancy fitness equipment or bodyguards here. What I say here goes-I'm the one that regulates PT around here, and Major Gideon's the same, but for drill. You can't be slacking off since you're not active, alright?"
"I am active," Captain Seon nervously replied. Straightening his posture now that he was standing up, he explained, "They [the Korean military] reactivated me as a Captain."
"What branch were you in by the way?", Major Gideon inquired out of curiosity.
"Navy," he responded back, adding, "I was a Navy engineer."
"Well, obviously you're not in top shape based on your results. You're faster at running than most cadets here, I'll give you that, but without exercise here, your muscles will atrophy under the harsh gravitational environment," Major Role explained.
Major Gideon asked, "I just wanna ask how are you so good at running for a civilian?"
"I trained with the Japanese," he muttered.
Slumping, he eyed the clipboard the Physics professor was holding, and prayed that his efforts would be good enough to let him stay.
If not, all his work would be for naught.
Across the room, the cadets entered into the levitated track, hoisted above the main gymnasium situated in the United States Space Force Academy, obviously in a hurry to put down their things.
Leaving, Cadet Abdel spotted the awkward Korean gathering his stuff, and wondered whether a new cadet had just joined.
However, it was over twenty minutes before Major Role went on bathroom break, and the cadets felt relaxed enough to start up muted conversations.
"What in the world are you listening to?"
"Arabic," Quibilah responded as she shimmied to the rhythm of a 21st century cover of a 20th century Arabic song and stuck her tongue out to show she did not care who knew she was Egyptian.
"You don't have to be...so Egyptian", her roommate, Cadet Mary Louise, mentioned, who was the resident Physics major and a pain in her...
"Hey, let her practice her culture her way!", Cadet Celine Rayapudi shouted in defense of her BFF as she sprinted across the 100-meter dash line.
Cadet Nelson sighed. "So much drama already and it's only 7 am in the morning," he said as he passed by the trio on his way to finish the morning PT session.
"Did they...have...to...make...us...do...Chicagos?", Cadet Clark coughed out, as he sprinted the 100 meters across, only to end up in a leisurely jog for the last lap of the Chicago run.
"Speaking of people that leave a sour taste in our mouth, look at Cadet Priya over there. How is she already done!", whined Cadet Rayapudi as she neared the 100-meter starting line again.
"My bigger question is how they let Cadet Abdel have earphones on during PT again?", Cadet Nelson said in jest.
"I asked Major Gideon, and there's no rule that says we can't have audio pieces during the run so yeah," replied Quibilah.
"CADETS! HURRY UP! The faster you run, the faster you can line up for breakfast!", shouted Major Role as he passed them in the fast line, now having come back from break.
Cadet Louise groaned, and commented, "You know he's supposed to be encouraging us, but after seeing that guy's calves, he's clearly a guy who can run...not everyone here got in for running, okay?"
Cadet Celine piped up, saying, "You know I heard that he was a track star before going to the Air Force Academy, 8th in the nation at the time and then managed to cut down his time for the a 100-meter dash to 10 seconds flat."
"I'd believe it," muttered Quibilah. "After that track problem he went through in physics class the other day, and how he stressed it was 'important' for use to derive the formula to figure out how to increase our score on the PFE..."
At this Cadet Celine came to a halt, dismissed the physics qualm, and pointed out the real reason she brought this up.
"You know... if it weren't for his...lack of a personality. He'd be a hottie..."
Simultaneously, Cadet Nelson spit out his water, Cadet Clark gurgled his Gatorade, and Cadet Quibilah Abdel looked at her only female friend with an incredulous look.
"Come on, you can't all say you've never ranked our professors from hottie to nottie?", she squeaked.
Both Cadet Nelson and Cadet Clark took this as their cue to leave and raced off from the conversation entirely.
Celine pursed her lips, and then quipped, "Guys! Okay, since Major Role is clearly a no-go, then what about Dr. Zhao? The head clinician?"
Quibilah slammed her foot down at this notion. "**** to the no! He's ..."
"A doctor?", Cadet Louise offered.
"NO! He's...well, he sticks needles in people's arms!", Quibilah whined.
"He's a doctor...it's in the job description...", replied an unamused Cadet Celine.
"Well...I just don't like him, okay! His features are...too sharp to be attractive anyhow!", Quibilah blurted out.
"I don't know...I find Dr. Zhao frighteningly beautiful...", postulated Cadet Mary Louise.
"That's not even a word!", protested Quibilah.
"CADETS!"
"It's our cue to leave now, Quibilah!", chided Cadet Celine as she grabbed Quibilah by the side of her shirt and ran with it.
"Wait...ahhh!"
It was not until much later that Quibilah would find out someone was watching them from the shadows.
A mystery man.
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Author's note: AGH! The Americans splashed down today! Whoop!
Author's note: Yes...I did not notice until I hit college, how much college students talk about their professors/TA' s looks, even ROTC cadets. (I would know having been in AF ROTC for more than a year...) It's surprising, but I guess humans are all the same, especially adolescents in the 22nd century.
And no...I don't ever write filler, so let's continue to build this Jenga tower (the story).
YOU ARE READING
Aphelion
Science Fiction"It was all a dream come true...before it turned into a nightmare." In the near future, Quibilah is part of a group of students tasked with the mission to save the world, one school day at a time. The only difference between her and other students i...
