Chapter 7 - 12D

  Year 3001, Saturday. 23 days until classes start. Dormitory

  I glanced at the little clock on my desk. 8:55. A knock rang at my door and I swung the door open and saw David standing next to a shorter guy, “Where do we go?”

  The shorter guy extended his hand, “We’ll be meeting in the common area. I’m Grant.”

  I grasped his dry hand and shook it, “Kaiser.”

  Grant adjusted his glasses and started slowly walking, “Let’s go to the commons. You’ll meet everyone from this block of the dorm.”

  “Block?”

  “Each dorm has a central heptagon that connects six blocks which house twenty people.”

  I looked around and only saw guys, “Is our dorm male only?”

  Grant shook his head, “Two blocks are male only, two blocks are female only, and another two are for anyone. But you must be a third year to be in a room with your girlfriend.”

  “What?”

  Grant chuckled, “I knew what you wanted to ask.”

  I looked over at David and saw him holding in laughter, “What?”

  “Kaiser would struggle to find a single girl that would talk to him.”

  Grant covered a smile with his hand and looked away, “Enough of that, the other guys in the block are here.”

  A very short man barely taller than me stood up on a table in the middle of the chamber which connected to the hallway and stairwell that led to our rooms. The man grinned a big smile, “Hello guys. I’m Johnathan but pretty much everyone calls me John.”

  John pulled up another man on top of the table, “This is our block assistant Kennedy.”

  Kennedy raised his hand and gave a small smile, “Yo. I’m Ken.”

  John put his hands together and looked around, “So we got six new guys in the block this year. The person that knocked on your door will be there to help you survive your first year in Academy.”

  He grinned, “During the year we’ll meet every day at nine for around five minutes. Got it?”

  Everyone nodded in approval. John glanced over at Ken, “Ken will create the housekeeping table for this year. That’s it for announcements tonight, we’re going to be watching a movie in the commons. Stop by if you want to join or have a snack.”

  Many of the others had already started walking back towards their rooms. A hand grasped my shoulder and I looked over to see Grant.

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  “Huh?”

  Grant tapped David’s shoulder, “So I’ll be the student advisor for both of you. Do either of you know what that means?”

  We both shrugged.

  Grant took a seat in one of the small armchairs, “Take a seat.”

  As we both took a seat Grant’s guide spun to life out of his pocket and projected some kind of screen into his eye. Grant leaned back, “Basically, the Academy found that it’s easier for new students to ask questions to other students than to soldiers. So, if you have any questions I can probably give you an answer to them.”

  The three of us stared at each other awkwardly for a few seconds. Grant glanced at both of us, “No questions? That’s alright. Arriving can be very overwhelming. Luckily you’re here early. You’ll have plenty of time to figure out how to navigate this hellhole. So, any hobbies?”

  I stared at the table, “The two of us are a small amateur corvette racing team.”

  Grant’s eye widened, “What model?”

  David smirked, “A modified Hornet.”

  Grant flinched, “A Hornet? How did you get that chassis?”

  David shrugged, “No idea. We ripped out the engine and patched in a Finch-RA with a five times amplifier on it.”

  “Hold on what.”

  I smiled, “David dampened the thing with a custom fabricated hydraulic system.”

  “Wait. Stop. So, the two of you build corvettes?”

  We both nodded, “Yes?”

  “Where do you get your parts?”

  I grinned, “We take functional parts out of crafts in the district thirty junkyard.”

  “Isn’t district thirty a military junkyard?”

  “Um… yes?”

  Grant stared at us in a moment of silence, “Do you two have… recordings?”

  David pulled out his tablet and brought up a recording, “What do you want to see? There’s a lot.”

  Grant laughed, “I bet there’s a lot. I want to see the Finch engine in the Hornet.”

  David brought up the video, “The Finch engine has a smaller footprint than the standard Hornet engine so we could add more intakes and injectors.”

  Grant pointed at a pipe, “Isn’t that an exhaust? Where is it going?”

  “Ah we reburn those gasses”

  “Why? Is it worth the added weight for such little thrust?”

  David smiled, “You have never seen this madman fly.”

  Grant glanced at me, “Let me see this.”

  As Grant watched a trial race, David and I locked eyes and grinned. Heh. We both knew the feeling.

  “So, this is full mechanical?”

  David nodded, “Yeah. We don’t have any permits for ether loops and we don’t have the knowledge to configure a proper ether generator.”

  Grant leaned forward, “Are the two of you planning on continuing this?”

  We instantly nodded, “For sure. We’re already set up to participate in a mechanical corvette race next month.”

  “The two of you could get support from the Academy if you submit some documentation.”

  “Really?”

  Grant leaned back, “One second, let me search some stuff.”

  The guide floated in front of his left eye as it flicked around at a frightening speed. A few seconds later Grant got up and walked towards a printer in the corner of the common area.

  Setting the papers down on the small table, he grinned, “We can have the two of you start a club. I’m sure many of the guys in twelve D will want to join a project like this.”

  I glanced at the small stack of papers, “What is this for?”

  “Well to continue this hobby you’ll need access to a workshop. You have to get a bunch of permits to access one.”

  “Well, I think my father has already given us access to a workshop.”

  “Huh? How?”

  “He told me to contact my advisor to figure it out.”

  Grant rubbed his left eye, “What’s the name of your advisor?”

  “Athena Snow.”

  His guide started spinning faster until it suddenly stopped. Grant stared at the two of us, “Who are you people?”

  After talking a bit more we started making our way back to our rooms. David glanced over his shoulder as he unlocked his door, “Oh. Yeah. My advisor said we’d meet somewhere after lunch tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?”

  “Yeah, ask your advisor about it.”

  “What’s it about?”

  David yawned, “I dunno, go ask your advisor. I’m gonna go faint.”

  The door shut behind him and I stood outside my door for a second to think about what David’s advisor could possibly plan. I grabbed my tablet and found the name Athena Snow and clicked it. On my tablet I saw a message.

  -----

  Athena Snow: Hi Kaiser. Meet me at training room 5.

  -----

  Training room five. What was that? Where was that? Eh. Whatever. I’ll figure it out tomorrow.