《May Our Children Know Peace》


 Chapter 1: Prologue Part 1

    A loud alarm woke me up in the middle of the night, and smoke slowly started to fill my lungs as I became aware of my surroundings. I knew all too well what these alarms meant, it was part of the routine of anyone living in the outskirts of the New Horizons Colonial City. We were under attack. We have been under attack for the last 10 years. They say it is the aliens that constantly put pressure on our city, as they wish to slow down the glorious progress of mankind, but honestly that mattered little to me. I was too young to remember when we weren''t at war, but if there is one thing that living on the outskirts taught me it is that the attacks were actually a positive sign. The deaths gave me the chance to scavenge and find the necessary items to survive, an extra food ration pack, drinkable water, and new clothes. It is cruel I know, but such is the world I grew up in. You either adapt and survive or die a miserable death.


    I left my room and went down the stairs, I could already hear the screams of the people that were caught out. I feel lucky to have my own room, unless you get directly bombed, being inside reduces the risk of direct exposure to the bombs. It is one of the few good things my mother left me. I made my way to the middle floor of the building, where there was an electrical box that was no longer functional. The average person wouldn''t pay attention to it, as no longer functional utilities were the norm in the outskirts, this one however was special. It was close to the former pipeline system of the building. I had passed my childhood playing in this area, and I was eventually able to create a pathway to the old water reservoir of the building. It was empty now, but its walls, made to keep the water at its intended temperature, were thick enough to protect someone from the bombings. If the building caught fire, I''d probably die of suffocation from the smoke, but nowhere else in the building would be safe regardless if it caught fire, so this was a risk I was willing to take.


    I had managed to keep this place a secret, if information about this shelter came out, it''d eventually get overcrowded and one of the clans would lay claim to it. Fortunately, this area was one of the few areas that wasn''t under strict control from a local clan, as such none of its inhabitants responded to a superior per say. Unfortunately, the reason this area of the outskirts was abandoned even by the clans was its uselessness. It had no functional plants, no water reservoirs, nor was it close to one of the food packet delivery areas set up by the New Horizon Colonial City''s government. Eventually, the sounds of screams and explosions died down. I quickly made my way out of the reservoir and out of the building into the city. It was utter chaos. The fire was still rampaging and the first scavengers had already made their way outside to get everything they could from the dead bodies. I had no affiliation, as such I worked alone. This meant that I couldn¡¯t aim for the obvious bodies, as if I found something and was noticed, the larger groups would pressure me. I¡¯d always look in back alleys or crumbling buildings, as these were either less visible or riskier targets.


    I moved quickly and managed to find a few untouched bodies in an alleyway between ruined buildings. One had nothing, and the clothes barely seemed usable, still I stripped him to utilize the cloth from the garments. The other body brought me much more success. It had a standard issue ration pack, which contained enough food and water to get by, if consumed in rationed quantities for almost 3 weeks. Sure, they were meant for 1 week, but who was crazy enough to waste such precious resources. Anyways, time was money. In about 2 hours, the cities¡¯ police were gonna march in to recover the bodies and ¡®ensure the safety of everyone¡¯. Under no circumstance did I want to find myself close to a body when these people came. Scavenging was illegal afterall, just there was never any police force present, except for the body recovery protocol. After an hour passed I started to panic a bit, I was having little luck with the bodies I found. They were mostly from the homeless or children, they were starved and their clothes mangled. With time slowly running out, I ventured into one of the collapsing buildings. This one looked particularly affected by the bombing so it was largely left alone by other scavengers due to its risk, but I had little option. I quickly went room by room, but all that was left were the blood canvases created by the mangled bodies, and the smoke emitted from the freshly burned ones. The fire was also far from dying down, so the deeper I went the more unbearable the conditions. In one of the higher floors, I ended up finding another ration pack. Deciding that this would likely help me fight off starvation if I were to find nothing before the next bombing I ran outside and finally breathed some fresh air.


    It wasn''t long, but eventually the police came in with the cleanup crews. Overall the process didn''t take long. Still, seeing these groups of humans dressed in anti-projectile vests, with helmets and military grade guns never stopped giving me the creeps. Honestly I barely even understood why they bothered to clean everything up. We were the excess, for most of them we weren''t even human.Humanity had an anti-missile system, however it only had a certain reach. As such, the city was built within these confines, unfortunately, humanity grows in population at extremely rapid rates and it wouldn''t be long till humans overgrew the space. This is how the outskirts were born.


    ¡°Hey Pest¨¦!¡±


    I had completely dozed off, but that sudden call brought me back to reality. Observing my surroundings, I noticed that the police had already gone, instead I could see a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was relatively short, but his young age, 13 at best, justified the height. Like most in the outskirts he was skinny, although he was part of the lucky few as he wasn''t skin and bones, which meant he had enough food to survive. If I recall correctly, his name was Roberto.


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    ¡°Pest¨¦ can you hear me?!¡±


    Pest¨¦, that was my name. I hated it, but that''s how everyone called me, so I couldn''t just make up some new name. It''s hard to get people to forget how they called you for the last 16 years. This name was the consequence of my mothers hatred towards me. That''s all she saw me as, a pest that had caused her and her husband to break up. It definitely wasn''t the fact that her husband wasn''t my father, but it was some other street rat, whom she never mentioned the name of. Adding the accent at the end is the only thing I was able to ingrain in my name, so I guess it could be worse.


    ¡°Pest¨¦ stop ignoring me, I know you can hear me!¡±


    Right, I should probably hear what little Roberto has to say.


    ¡°What do you want, little kid?¡±


    ¡°Little kid? I''m just 2 years younger than you! You''re not even old enough for the military yet!¡±


    ¡°But I don''t constantly act like a little brat. That''s the difference between me and you Roberto. Give me a second, I''ll come downstairs.¡±


    I got up to leave, and made my way to the kid. Despite how I responded to him, I really like the kid. He is one of many orphans of the outskirts, but he preferred going solo instead of joining one of the many orphan gangs. In a way he was similar to me, although I technically wasn''t an orphan since my parents were potentially alive somewhere, I just had no contact with them. I didn''t know who my father was, and my mother had left for the military 3 years ago. Yet, even if invited, I refused entry into those orphan gangs. I guess having grown up with a mother, even if she hated me, made me feel left out within that group. Roberto on the other hand, was left out by the gang for his ideas. He wanted to join the military program when he reached 16 and could finally apply. I eventually made my way outside my building, and waved at the kid. I did want to clear up a small mistake he made.


    ¡°For your information, I am old enough to enter the military¡±


    ¡°Since when? And more importantly, why are you still here!¡±


    He almost looked angry at me for still being here, I¡¯m not surprised considering his obsession with said military, but frankly I didn¡¯t have his same interest.


    ¡°Because I don¡¯t plan on joining the military. I don¡¯t see why I would fight for a government that doesn¡¯t even acknowledge my existence.¡±


    ¡°But at least you wouldn¡¯t be here anymore,¡± Roberto protested.


    ¡°Who¡¯s to say the situation isn¡¯t worse in the military? We¡¯re under attack, sure, but they should be constantly fighting those attackers. The chances of dying are probably pretty high. Also, I heard they had a pretty tough exam, what happens if I don¡¯t pass it?¡±


    ¡°Who said the entrance exam was tough, or that there even was an entrance exam? Have you ever met someone here that failed the supposed ¡®test¡¯? Anyone that entered the military program never returned. That¡¯s all I need to know to make my decision. And about dying? I¡¯m eventually going to die here, from hunger or by an explosion, or who knows even because of the gangs. At least I will be well fed if I die in the military.¡±


    Roberto¡¯s point was valid, yet I didn¡¯t agree with it. Sure, this place was rough, but it wasn¡¯t unmanageable. I definitely think that my situation was good enough to warrant a stay. This said, it was true that no one from the outskirts that took the exam, ever came back here. The exam''s existence was a rumor from when they opened the program 3 years ago, but times have changed, and so has the program. ¡®Rise against the Aliens, for humanity, for all¡¯, that was the slogan they used to sell it. It all started 3 years ago, the war had been going on for 7 and the effects were starting to be very apparent. So the government seeked more recruits, and a program to allow citizens to volunteer themselves was born. To few people¡¯s surprise, inhabitants of the outskirts flocked to this program. A guaranteed home, food and water, what wasn¡¯t there to love. Oh and obviously, the false pretense of defeating the ¡®monsters¡¯ that had made life miserable on the outskirts. I wasn¡¯t surprised when I woke up to see my mum had left that day. Almost half of our population had done so here in the outskirts, and over time, more and more people went. Those that remained now were the gangs, who had a good position in the region and didn¡¯t want to forgo the power, kids below the age of 16 and some individuals like myself who didn¡¯t hate life as much here. Anyways, I figured the military wasn¡¯t what Roberto wanted to talk with me for so as we started walking I asked him about it.


    ¡°So what did you want to see me for?¡±


    Roberto suddenly got very excited. Although good spirited in nature, it was rare to see him really excited about something happening. He smiled wide and looked at me.


    ¡°A telescope!¡±


    ¡°A telescope?¡±

 Chapter 2: Prologue Part 2

    That was the only reaction I could offer. I had heard that there were certain technologies that allowed humans to see far into the skies with their eyes rather than through a screen, but such technology was usually not present here in the outskirts, or if it was, it was probably with the gangs, which for someone like me was definitely a no-go. Seeing me confused Roberto tried to explain.


    ¡°Yes! See, a telescope is something¡­¡±


    ¡°I know what a telescope is, I''m more curious about what you mean by that.¡±


    He initially seemed confused at my question, but then made a face of realization. Looks like he had understood where my confusion came from. He then smiled as if he had the world''s best kept secret in his mind.


    ¡°I may know where to find one, here in the outskirts, still unclaimed by anyone.¡±


    ¡°And what do you need my help for?¡±


    If it was unclaimed, then I can''t see how he hasn''t already taken it for himself. I didn''t remember him as the type of person that kept items that he alone couldn''t carry.


    ¡°It''s complicated, let me show you¡­ Don''t worry though, I''m sure no one else knows of this place. For now¡­¡±


    Well, that was reassuring? I decided to trust Roberto. I knew him well enough to know there was no point doubting him. He hated people about twice as much as I did, so he realistically wouldn''t be strung up in some conspiracy. Not that I had angered anyone recently, or even ever warranted the need to have me taken out.


    ¡°Well lead the way little kid¡±


    At my comment, I saw a very cute scene. Roberto puffed up his cheeks and gave me a look which was a mix of anger with his eyes, and god knows what expression with his pouted lips.


    Despite clearly being annoyed he refused to comment further after seeing my amused reaction at his expression. He instead decided to finally lead the way. After a few minutes, he dropped his angry kid act, and we started conversing again. We had a casual talk all the way through the trip towards the destination.


    The city, like most cities outside of the Solar System, were structured in very similar ways. As the planets they resided on were not fully colonized, nor, for the most part, had full colonization as an objective. they expanded through distances forming cities, and often didn''t care to expand further. It was rare to have more than 4 or 5 cities on such a planet, and interaction between each was not necessarily more common than with any other city in humanity''s territory. So we basically had the inner city. Which was everything contained between the walls, followed by the outskirts and the no man''s land. The border between the outskirts and the no man''s land was not completely fixed, but as the inner city would only drop resources to the outskirts at the walls, we tended to stick close to them and not expand far away. I didn''t know much about the other cities, but Roberto often shared rumors from mining cities, where the outskirts were active in the city''s life, unlike here. He always saw this in a positive light, but I doubted that people from the outskirts were respected any more than they are here. Here, we were nothing more than meat shields. Being a military city in nature, where crafts would often layover and refuel, it would be under regular attack. Us and the fake military plants of the outskirts were nothing more than a diversion to their regular attacks. To limit the pressure on the inner cities¡¯ defense mechanism.


    As Roberto led the way, I suddenly got the feeling that we might be venturing further out than I''m usually comfortable checking out, and, with every step we took, this fear grew stronger and stronger. As we passed the furthest settlements occupied by the more desperate lone wolves, those that refused gang affiliation, but unlike myself or Roberto, lacked the necessary resourceses or resourcefulness to make it in the vicinity of the walls, I knew for sure that we were heading to the no man''s land. Taking a deep breath, I decided it was time to question Roberto on the matter.


    ¡°So, why are we headed to the no man''s land Roberto?¡±


    His nervous expression made me giggle, it was in moments like these that he seemed more his age.


    ¡°I kinda hoped you''d take longer to notice¡±


    ¡°This is exactly why I call you a little kid. At least have the decency to respect your elders¡¯ intelligence.¡±


    ¡°Stop calling me that! And you''re just 2 years older than me. You''re not some great sage¡­¡±


    ¡°Maybe if I was in the inner city no, but by our standards, I''m not part of the many¡­¡±


    Noticing the mood of the conversation turning darker, I decided to stop myself from going further. Instead, I preferred to reassure him a little.


    ¡°Well since we''ve gone all the way here, and there shouldn''t be a supply drop anytime soon, we may as well go through with your plan.¡±


    ¡°Really? I thought you''d be scared at the thought of venturing into the no man''s land.¡±


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    ¡°Scared? Really? You should know that in terms of safety, it''s probably on the more tranquil end¡­ The only reason we don''t venture this far it''s because it''s further from the resources I need to survive.¡±


    He nodded his head in understanding, making a more reassured and at ease face. Honestly, I was slightly curious about what he had found, so even if just to stretch my legs, I saw nothing wrong with this adventure. I wouldn''t have longer with him anyways. Once of age, he''d join the military. He may try to drag me with him, but this wouldn''t be my path to follow. So two more years¡­ Well if nothing happened beforehand. It was hard to know in this godforsaken place.


    We walked through the solidified dunes of the no man''s land for about two hours. It was said that this planet may have once possessed an ocean if not multiple similar to the rocky planets of humanity''s home system. What the humans achieved was impressive indeed. Originally only our little Terra was inhabitable by our species, but today Mars, Venus and Mercury were reshaped to earth''s liking, and we had built colonies in many worlds beyond. Granted we hadn''t attempted terraforming any new planet, as most of these had simple resource or strategic objectives.


    Roberto eventually stopped, but to my confusion I didn''t notice and changes in the landscape around me. Noticing such confusion, Roberts attempted to clear it up.


    "It''s somewhere here..."


    "What do you mean? There''s only rocks and sand here."


    "Yes, but no, the entrance was somewhere in this area on the ground. Like a sinkhole, look for that."


    "So I''m gonna have to look for a sinkhole in the middle of a desert, nice one little kid."


    "Shut up and help me out"


    Roberto made a cute expression when he was pissed off, but I decided not to push it too much and help him search.


    It took another hour until I heard a victorious scream. Looks like Roberto had finally found that entrance.


    "About time kid"


    I made my way to where I had heard that victorious scream and saw an ecstatic Roberto carrying the manhole in his hands. Noticing my gave he shouted,


    "It''s here! I found the entrance!"


    Finally making it to his location I could take in the unassuming manhole that had caused us trouble. It was nothing special really, it was completely rusted and as a result very in theme with the surroundings. I decided to stare into the entrance, but was only met with darkness staring back. Regardless of the sunlight, nothing shone through the hole. Its awkward placement definitely played a part, but I doubt that it wasn''t designed like this on purpose. Looking back up I caught Roberto''s worried glance so I decided to tease him a bit.


    "Mind leading the way, little kid?"


    "I''m not a kid! And I could definitely lead the way! But you have more experience and see I don''t have a flashlight, I''m sure you have one... You''re best equipped for this, most definitely the reason."


    It most definitely wasn''t the reason, but from his look I had already guessed that he wanted me to go first so I obliged. I took a second look and saw the silhouette of a stair hanging right below the manhole. There really was no light getting through. Turning on my flashlight I aimed down below and could see the stairs a bit better, but it looked like they went down a long way. I really couldn''t make out much more. Putting the flashlight into my mouth, I put my foot into the stairs and began my descent.


    The descent was awfully eerie. My light was barely enough for the stairs, and everything else was dark. As I was going down I decided to free myself from a doubt I had ever since I started climbing down.


    "I''m assuming you''ve never been here Roberto, correct?"


    "Yes..."


    His voice trembled a little. He definitely was a bit scared of his current situation. Regardless he had followed right after me and was a few steps above me. I usually kept my light towards him so that he wouldn''t be in complete darkness.


    "Then how do you know there''s a telescope here?"


    "Well um you see..."


    I had kept calm till now as I trusted the kid, but he was going overboard now.


    "Roberto, just give it to me straight."


    "A note... I saw a superior pass a note to one of the cleanup crew''s captains and I made-out a telescope and a rough location."


    "So you''re telling me this might be an objective for the clean up crews and you didn''t think to tell me before we got here?"


    My voice was rising a bit, but I quickly controlled myself. Starting to realise our situation, being heard by someone else would only make it worse.


    "I didn''t think to tell you because the clean up crews just passed, they shouldn''t be coming back so soon anyways. I don''t think there''s anything to worry about."


    "Look Roberto, we''ll look for your telescope and dip. They might come back as a separate mission, we never know. We don''t want to be there when they come, god forbid they simply use us as target practice, so let''s make it quick."


    "Yes sir!"


    "And don''t shout!"


    I wanted to say that last part more calmly, but I ended up matching his stone. It took us 30 whole minutes to get to the bottom of the stairs, and as I shone the light in different directions, I was happily surprised to see that it went a bit further and I could make out a part of this underground area.


    It was in all effects a bunker. Perfectly rectangular, with a round hole at the top from where the stairs came through. The room we were in was relatively small, and didn''t have much to show for it. I assumed this was an entrance of some sort. I quickly scanned all the walls, and found a sealed door on one of the sides. Luckily, more than locked, it was simply closed shut by a valve, which took some effort to open but ended up giving way. We both made our way through the corridor behind it. It was claustrophobic honestly, but luckily I was used to tight spaces, Roberto not as much.


    "Would it cost them much to just have made this corridor a bit wider?"


    I shook my head at his question and simply continued. We eventually reached another door, similarly closed as the previous one. It didn''t take long to get this one open and we made it through to the next room.

 Chapter 3: Prologue Last Part

    The room was very dark, and even with the flashlight, I could barely make out what was in front of me. I decided to scan the walls at the entrance and quickly noticed a switch. Pressing it, the room suddenly lit up.


    This room was much larger than the previous one. Still engulfed with metallic walls, this particular room had a striking feature. One previously invisible to the light shone by myself. It had, right in front of us, what seemed like an amassed amount of metal parts and incomplete objects. Yet, if one chose to look more attentively, fully assembled tools were also part of this line up a put together metal.


    ¡°I see the telescope!¡±


    Roberto¡¯s voice echoed through the room, and I saw him quickly run at the pile of metal. He immediately started throwing out some stuff before grabbing a hold of a long cylinder like object. As he tried pulling it out I heard a sudden noise. I didn¡¯t need to question what it was, as I had heard it before already. It was the sound of a trapdoor opening. I immediately turned off the lights and ran straight at Roberto. I grabbed him and put my hand over his mouth before he even had time to realise what I was doing. The important thing now was to hide. Someone had just entered the bunker.


    The scrap metal in front of us was our only option, so I quickly pushed through creating a gap not too far out from the location of the telescope as the kid had already created some space while clearing its surroundings. I pushed closely everything that was thrown out, and pushed deeper and deeper in the gap I was creating. Eventually I was able to have enough space for myself and Roberto to squeeze through while avoiding being in the direct line of sight of someone entering. A part of me remembered how Roberto found out about this place and decided to block the line of sight to the telescope as well, now we were fully encased in the pit of metal. Luckily, the scrap was holding the pieces well enough that none fell upon us, but one wrong move and we could be crushed by a huge pile of metal. Looking at the kid, he seemed calmer. He had probably understood the situation, smart kid, there¡¯s a reason he¡¯s survived this long in the outskirts.


    Suddenly, we both heard steps approaching the room, as they grew louder, I felt my heart beat faster and faster. They were a group, I wouldn¡¯t be able to estimate the number, but at least 2 sets of steps could be made out. The only identity that came to mind for the people approaching were the police or the clean up crews, either way, not people I wanted to notice us in such a location. The steps stopped, and bright rays of light shone through the cracks in the pile up around us. They had made it to the room, and that was when I heard a raspy voice from someone that sounded like an old man.


    ¡°Such a mess, someone came here and didn¡¯t clean up behind them.¡±


    I had hoped that the positioning of the pieces thrown around by Roberto was realistic enough for it not to be questioned, but looks like it wasn¡¯t the cas. I held my breath as I waited for the man to continue.


    ¡°I¡¯ll have to report to the other teams. It is already impossible to find what we need when it¡¯s in order, let alone if we start throwing everything around. It¡¯ll just be impossible.¡±


    ¡®Everything already looks mixed up to me¡¯ was my first thought upon hearing that.


    The old man''s voice cut through the silence, with a clearly irritated tone.


    "What a mess. How do they think that anybody would find anything in this junkyard?¡±


    I held my breath, Roberto tense beside me, as creaks sounded through the metal encasing us-nothing budged. We stayed hidden, at least for now. A younger voice came through, it was a little frustrated,


    "It is always like this, these places are left empty for a reason. Let''s wrap this up fast; we''re not here to play scavenger hunt."


    Their footsteps reverberated off the walls, and their shadows danced around. I could see the outlines of their movements through the little gaps in the scrap metal. I leaned in closer to Roberto, and we both remained completely quiet and motionless. Mumbling something softly under his breath, the old man shuffled closer to the middle of the room. He stopped for a second.


    "Look over there,"


    As the younger guy drew closer to where we were hiding, I was on edge, hoping the shadows could keep us hidden while he peered around. Everywhere, I heard the clinking and clattering of metal; every noise made my heart beat faster.


    "Hold up,"


    the old man said suddenly, now his voice a little sharper, tinged with satisfaction.


    "Here¡±.


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    I felt this sudden wave of panic. Roberto''s eyes got all big as we both figured it out¡ªthey were here for the telescope, which was just a little way from where we were hiding. The exact thing we''d gone through so much for was now gonna end up with them.


    ¡°Is this it?"


    The old man drew closer, his boots resounding loudly on the concrete floor. Before he said,


    "That''s it, get it out of here. We''re out of time.¡±


    I could hear the sound of metal scraping as the younger guy was clearing off the junk around the telescope. I heard parts clinking and some muffled grunts, so I figured they were lifting it out of the pile. Roberto''s face totally fell, and you could tell he was bummed when he realized they were taking what we came for. The younger of the due eventually said, his voice strained from the effort


    ¡°Got it, It''s in decent shape, considering.¡±


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go. I don¡¯t have time to play around¡±


    The reply was sharp, but signaled the end of their mission. I listened intently as their footsteps receded towards the door, before disappearing completely and leaving us trenched in the cold harsh light of the room. The heavy door clanged shut after them and then it was silent once more.We waited, for several long moments, making sure they were really gone. Then, I started to move the metal around us, just enough to allow us to crawl out. Roberto followed, slowly. When we were standing, I finally let my breath go, tension easing from my body.


    "The telescope¡­ they took it."


    Roberto sounded distraught. I nodded grimly. However, on my way to the corridor from where we came from, I noticed on the ground a piece of paper crumpled up. It was probably dropped by one of the officers, as I don''t remember seeing it when we first came in. I squatted down and picked it up, then smoothed it out on my thigh. When Roberto asked, leaning over my shoulder.


    "What''s that?"


    On it was a well defined map of the No Man¡¯s Land area surrounding the outskirts. On it, several red marks were dotted around. I was pretty sure, based on the topography of the map, that one was marking our current location. I put it in my pocket and turned to Roberto.


    ¡°Looks like it¡¯s theirs. Let¡¯s get out of here quickly before they come to fetch it back.¡±


    Luckily, by the time we left the bunker, they hadn¡¯t come back yet. I drew a sigh of relief, once we had gotten far enough from the location we were just at. Having made it back to the outskirts, I waved goodbye to Roberto, and made my way home. I decided to leave him the piece of paper with the red marks. I wasn¡¯t too fond of venturing into No Man¡¯s Land, and I was sure that eventually he¡¯d contact me if he found something worth exploring.


    The kid had gone straight to the broken down buildings to my east, they were almost like a maze, so it was great for having a hidden spot to steer clear from the gangs. Feeling relieved that I left him in a safe spot, I finally started making my way, when I heard a sudden scream. There was no mistaking it, it was Roberto¡¯s. It had just been 5 minutes, he couldn¡¯t have gone far, but my gut told me something bad happened for him to scream like that. I quickly ran in the direction of the scream. For myself the maze-like pathways were easy to traverse as he had brought me multiple times to his lair from which I assumed the noise came from. It took me no less than 3 minutes to reach it, but the door was still open. I entered, but quickly froze. My foot had stepped on a warm red liquid. Blood.


    I looked down and as I did time stood still. A river of blood was flowing from Roberto, originating from a puncture on his neck and on his heart. There were no movements, there was no breath, his eyes still open with a look of shock. This was how he died, Roberto was no different than any other outskirt kid. He had a dream, a dream for something better, but in the end, here he was, motionless in a pool of blood. I looked up and could see his killer. He looked almost as shocked, his hands and legs trembling as if they were about to give up on him. He hadn¡¯t realized the kids¡¯ intentions and applied to swift stabs thinking the worst. I couldn¡¯t blame him, this was the way of the outskirts. Think good of someone and you¡¯ll end up dead. He had simply followed this land''s wretched law, and soon I would do the same. It was at that moment our eyes meant. That¡¯s when his fear deepened. I reckoned it was fairly visible, but he knew my intentions with just one glance. I saw his lips move, he was probably begging, imploring me not to go through with it, but I couldn¡¯t hear anything anymore. In one motion, I pulled the knife out of my sleeve and rushed at him. He was too shocked to react. I had taken his life, before he could fully comprehend my movements.


    That¡¯s how Roberto¡¯s life ends, but that¡¯s how it ends for me too. I stared at the now motionless body of the man in front of me. Honestly, I knew all along who he was, but that didn¡¯t stop me. That couldn¡¯t stop me from taking blood for the blood that was spilled. I wanted to think that maybe that would give peace to Roberto, but I knew him more than that. He didn¡¯t want me to avenge him, he wanted me to escape the outskirts. Instead, here I was, over the body of a man I had just killed. Over the body of a clan leader¡¯s younger brother. I would be hunted till the ends of the outskirts, as soon as this came out. My life here is over. I let go of a sad smile, and looked back at the kid.


    ¡°Looks like I only have one choice left. You never got to see how the military functioned, so I will do it for you. I no longer have a place here anyways¡­ Let me bring you with me.¡±


    I took the dog tag he had in his pocket. ¡®It was a means to find the dead in a battlefield¡¯, I remembered what he had told me about it. This will be my way to remember you and bring you with me in the journey you were meant to venture. Now rest easy.


    The following days went by quickly. I didn¡¯t stay long enough to hear the clan leader¡¯s reaction. I immediately went to the closest military outpost, signed up and was transferred to a waiting facility, to wait for the transport vehicle to collect the next batch. I hadn¡¯t even taken the time to go back home. It was just a shelter, and I wasn¡¯t too attached to it. I had just embarked in the same path my mother took when she abandoned me. Who knows, I might even see her again. I waited in the new area I was assigned, till one day a man entered the room and shouted at all those that had gathered. It was time to leave.

 Chapter 4: Leaving the Outskirts Behind

    In its grandeur, the universe hadn''t limited itself with Terra in terms of inhabitable planets. The furthest currently in human hands were the 3 frontier star systems, the furthest of which was the New Horizons system, where my home planet lay. Beyond was the heavily contested Red Star system. The furthest of many Sols like systems that hosted a multitude of naturally habitable planets that we could access. Although not necessary to humanity, as population and resources weren''t such a threatening factor to the race as old stories tell it to be, our greed knew no bounds. Humanity attempted to colonize these lands, but ended up failing to realize the obvious. Just like we tried at home, someone else tried in this one. An Alien species, much similar to our own, had expanded into an unknown number of systems, the Red Star system being its frontier. With our will to expand, war was inevitable.


    12 years ago was the exact start date of this particular conflict, it initially started as a mild in-planet conflict on Octavia, a super-earth like planet in the Red Star system. The story goes that the first settlers had peacefully attempted to reach accords with the local population who had branched out from its mother race and cut ties with the lands. Now peacefully knowing our history as a race seems like the least the approach was, but regardless it led to a violent take over of the planet from the human population. Roberto used to say that the noise created was so loud that the neighboring communities worried and called back to their mother planet''s to help. I''m sure the humans of the home system or military personnel understand the aliens better than myself, but my impression is that we brought this upon us.


    ''Perhaps, I''ll be able to find out more than you ever told me Roberto''. I told myself that as I held onto the dog tag I had retrieved from him. I had been directed into a chamber along with 7 other kids from the outskirts. All of us were 16, which made sense as basically anyone over the age limit that actually wanted to had already entered the military. The chamber was part of what I imagine to be a spaceship, we''d be redirected to a slightly more inner planet where we''ll join other new entrants of the military. At least in theory. Anyways, as I took my seat and strapped in I looked around at the faces that accompanied me on this adventure.


    There were none I actually knew the name of, and barely any I had seen. A girl, pretty tall for her age, with red hair and green eyes caught my eyes, she was definitely unusual in her looks, the freckles in her cheeks matched her hair and gave color to her pale skin, was the only one that actually caught my eyes. If my memory serves me right, she came from the same general area Roberto was from. I thought she was affiliated to one of the orphan clans since that''s who I usually saw her hang out with, but figures.


    A loud rumbling brought me back to reality, we were taking off. It didn''t actually take too long to reach space, it was my first time actually going there, and all I had to go off were Roberto''s ramblings. Once up I could feel the weightlessness that came with the lack of gravity. A few of the kids with me even seemed surprised by this feeling, it was a bit weird after all, but the novelty died quickly. Overall I''d expected space travel to last longer, but it only took a few hours before we heard an announcement.


    "Entering atmosphere, brace, brace"


    We couldn''t really tell small facts like speed or even have an impression of how far we were moving, we just had this one announcement to know our little space adventure was over. The ship descended, and the feeling is what I can only describe as a man trying to squish a plastic cup against a surface. Took a full hour for the ship to land, but finally we had arrived.


    ¡°In line and follow me, today will be a long day, it is in your best interest to not make it longer¡±


    As soon as the door to our chamber opened, a lanky man entered, he was thinner than even the least fed of the outskirts, but something about his expression hinted that this definitely wasn¡¯t because he didn¡¯t eat enough. We ushered ourselves over to him not really wanting to already get on their bad side. For all of us, our experience with the government personnel boiled down to ¡®piss them off equals getting shot with no second thought¡¯, it was no surprise no one questioned a word. There was little chatter, and the only time the group of 7 spoke up, they were shut down by an ugly look from the tall skinny man.


    We accessed a courtyard and for the first time I had a proper look at the ship that had brought us here. Ship would be an exaggeration, it barely surpassed the size of the small private jets we saw pass over us occasionally in the outskirts, but unlike those jets, this spaceship lacked windows except for a large windscreen at the very front. The courtyard we landed in was an open desert with very few buildings and a truck lined up next to the biggest one. Once we reached the truck the man spoke up once more.


    ¡°Ok listen up kids, this will be very simple. You will be going through a 6 months training camp where you will be made to understand all aspects of life here in the military. You¡¯ll also be tested multiple times so that we can determine where it is best to place you. This truck will take you directly to the barracks. There you¡¯ll live most of your life for these months. Go to the dorms, drop your stuff and head to HQ for check in. That¡¯s what you have to remember, everything else will be indicated for you once you¡¯re there. Now head in.¡±


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    With these words he effectively shoved us into the bus and went back into the building. The driver''s area was separated from where we sat so we were left to our own. With the exception of two kids that talked in low voices to each other at the back of the bus, the ride was mostly quiet. In the outskirts you didn¡¯t really talk with strangers, you can say that the old ¡®stranger danger¡¯ trope was taken to a maximum. 20 minutes in, the bus stopped, opened its doors and with no further commands we descended from the bus. The windows were tinted on the inside as well, so we saw nothing of the trip, but as soon as the first people went out, they had to hold up their hands to cover their faces. We were now inside and the white lights that showed through were a stark contrast to the dim lights we were used to during the rest of the trip.


    I do have to admit, the lack of information had started to feel annoying, yet I didn''t let it bother me. Eventually we would get more information. For now we simply followed the armed men who led us to a large dormitory.


    Dashed in many shades of green, the dormitory was filled with bunk beds, most of which were clearly occupied. Around 60 people were currently inside and based on the disordered nature of the others, many more occupied this area. Give or take I could estimate around 50 bunk beds, totalling 100 places, which made sense as a nice round number. Rows of lockers were on the sides and a clearly defined bathroom area was visible. It was easy to guess what was inside. Showers, probably toilets, the usual luxuries I had limited access to back in the outskirts, at least in this form.


    A sudden grunt brought me back from my train of thoughts and I saw the guards that led us here next to a bald man. He looked out of place here as he seemed way older than most of us, but that might simply be the well-defined brown beard that perfectly matched the color of his eyes. He approached us and cleared his voice.


    "Names Ralf, I can get to know those of you worth something in a bit, for now as the ''elder here'' I''m given the annoying task of actually informing you of stuff. Mind you I''m only 21, don''t you there treat me as an elder or your dead. Anyways, welcome to the barracks, here''s where you''ll spend most of your time off. You''re the last batch so most of the beds are already taken, search what''s left and don''t complain. You have about 20 minutes, in 30 you should be outside and in front of Major Opal''s office. He will check you in our luxury hotel. That''s all, move."


    His voice was rasp, it was clear he felt this was a waste of time, and I couldn''t really blame him. He was probably the oldest present and the guards somewhat decided he was gonna be the voice of the group. I went on ahead and looked aimlessly for a bed. Unfortunately, all that was left were lower bunks, which were quite annoying. I''ve gotten way too used to living alone, this will be a significant change. There was a bed a bit more towards the edge than the other remaining ones, so I decided to head for that one, regardless if it was further from the bathroom. Luckily, I had anticipated everyone else so I could safely claim it. My soon to be bunk bed partner was also present.


    ¡°I sleep late, move a lot and go up and down the bed often. You''re gonna have to be a clean person to stay here, I can''t stand the bad smell!¡±


    Everyone was my age, but for many it was hard not calling them kids for how they acted. The ramblin kid in front of me was a prime example, it looked like she was the owner of the bed above the one I considered taking. This explained a lot, a bed on the edge I would''ve expected to be the first to go. This character may be the reason there still is one free. I looked around deciding she would be more trouble than a central bed, but to my dismay they were all already occupied. Sighing I dropped my stuff and looked at the kid. She was pretty particular, short with darker skin, but had white hair and gray eyes. I had heard that some humans in specific planets had started to develop mutations, and this weird combination of color probably was one such case. Her expression looked very displeased, I couldn''t quite put my finger on why, luckily the kid would answer for me.


    ¡°Hey! Stop ignoring me! I''m talking to you.¡±


    I saw her pause, look around and then back to me.


    ¡°This is the last place available so it looks like I''ll be stuck with you. My name is Vicky, who may you be?¡±


    She had her arms crossed and a tone of indignation as she said those last few sentences. She really made me want to continue ignoring her. I looked for an excuse to slip out, and luckily the Red-Head from my ship was heading out with a few from my arrival group, likely to go to the Major''s office. Taking my chance, while not being completely distant from my soon to be permanent bunk bed partner, I spoke up.


    ¡°Let''s leave presentations for later, I don''t think it''s a good idea to make this major wait. I''ll introduce myself later.¡±


    While she looked outraged and likely wanted to retort, in the end she simply made a motion with her hand that indicated to me to go. I didn''t hang around and rejoined the group heading out. We all walked together towards the office. There were a few rows of chairs in front of the office. Upon noticing our arrival, a man that stood at the entrance went inside. He came out shortly after and signaled to the first person to come in. I sat two seats to the right from the red-headed girl, in the last row, and I guessed that they went in the order we chose ourselves, because before long I was left alone in the room. Eventually, the girl came out and headed back without looking at me, and the man behind her signaled at me. It was my turn to go in.

 Chapter 5: Major Opal

    I entered the office and was met with an aesthetic that opposed that of my previous environment. For the most part, the military grounds have been sterile in its intricacies, with either gray or green scaled color palettes filling the surrounding area. Here there was a large emphasis on what I can only assume being those famous trees present in much of Terra¡¯s literature. Well, they are still very present in many planets, just not in my home. We lacked much nature, mostly being a military outpost with some mining centers in cities far outside the reach of where I spent my whole life. Most of the items were made of wood, with occasional foliage mixing up the look. Yet, what stood out the most was the man in front of me.


    Major Opal, as Ralf had introduced him, had an imposing build, wide shoulders with very defined lines forming his figure. His olive skin looked well polished compared to the warm expressions I¡¯ve seen floating around, and his black hair, perfectly cut in a buzz cut really gave the vibes I¡¯d expect from a Major in a military outpost. But what struck out the most was his blue eyes. They felt completely out of place. I was continuing to study the man in front of him when his stern voice brought me back to reality.


    ¡°Enough staring at me lady, unfortunately for you I don¡¯t sway your way. Now let''s get this over with.¡±


    He paused, took a paper and a pen out then looked at me before continuing.


    ¡°City of origins, I assume it''s the New Horizons Colonial City, am I wrong?¡±


    He raised ever so slightly his eyes from the paper in front of him, so I simply nodded, not sensing it necessary to add any more input.


    ¡°Age?¡±


    ¡°16¡±


    The exigent was very curt, he didn¡¯t seem to mind my short answers so I decided not to waste anymore of his time.


    ¡°What about your name?¡±


    ¡°Do you need to know that?¡±


    I am genuinely unsure what came over me to give such a reply. I had gone on autopilot and shifted back to my untrustworthy nature. I never gave people my name, well except for Roberto, since I truly hated it. On second thought, it was stupid to act like this with people that likely barely saw us as an equal species, but the damage was done, I was expecting the worst to come my way. Instead, Major Opal¡¯s expression remained calm, simply raising his look properly for the first time as if properly analyzing me. After studying my presence for a bit, he stood up from his chair and took a few steps towards me. He was tall as well, likely above 190 cm which further added to the imposing nature of his build. He continued studying me for a bit, his expression ever so composed, before finally speaking up again, in a calm voice, his tone was equally calm.


    ¡°And why did you enter the military if I may ask?¡±


    I looked at him for a moment, and then shook my head.


    ¡°You know where I am from, can''t you put two and two together?¡±


    At my snarky comment the Major just smiled. I could almost hear a giggle come from his face, before he shook his head in an overly exaggerated manner.


    ¡°You''re not the type. You hate us to the core¡­ you may find it surprising, but not many of you rats really hate us as much as you claim. You, you''re different though, that''s why you dared to reply to me in such a tone. ¡±


    ¡°Still, I don''t see a valid reason to answer you¡­¡±


    ¡°I''ll make it worth your time¡±


    Major Opal was now dead serious. I could sense his tone shift as he said that. Honestly it had piqued my interest, so regardless of him slowly getting on my nerves I decided to give him an honest answer.


    ¡°Dead friend¡¯s last wish¡±


    Yet, the reaction I got was different from anything I would have imagined. I didn''t hold the major in high regards from our short interaction, and frankly he had started making me nervous, but hearing him explode in a genuine laughter was simply too much. ¡®To hell with this place¡¯ I thought before grabbing the knife I had hidden prior to leaving the dorms and lunged at him. Swift stab to the neck. Sorry Roberto, but my fucking hatred for these people is too great. Calling us rats, pushing us around, laughing at us. They can''t even maintain respect when I mention my heartfelt reason. At least with this I''ll get some satisfaction, but as my knife reached the point it was meant to make contact with his neck, it felt nothing but void.


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    By the time my brain caught up to my body, and my eyes focused on what was in front of me, it was empty. There was no one in front of me. Almost at that same moment, the cold sensation that steel provides was sensed by the back of my neck skin. Fear, that''s all I felt. For all my hatred, for all my disgust, it had been for naught, washed away by that cold sensation pressed against the back of my neck. I had hoped for a last hurrah, instead I prepared for the shot that was gonna follow. Yet, once again, as I had prepared to feel his neck on the tip of my knife, my preparation for the gunshot was for naught. Instead, what I heard was¡­


    ¡°I like you. Impulsive, precise, you''ll be a great asset to the army. But don''t you ever dare step out of line again. You''re but a rat, at the disposal of us. Your life, however useful, will never surpass that of your average lab rat. You die, sure, an asset will be lost, but we''ll use what we learned from you and prepare the next batch better. That is your value. Right here right now. As long as you''re in this building, and once you''ll be fighting for us.¡±


    ¡°Then why not kill me right now, what stops me from trying this again?¡±


    My eyes hadn''t moved. I was still fixing the void I had tried to stab, but I could feel his composure. It was eerie, as if I hadn''t even surprised or threatened him.


    ¡°You won''t, your survival instincts are strong, you can''t explain what just happened, and until you understand, you''ll assume the same outcome. Trust me, you''ll never know what just happened here.¡±


    ¡°If it isn''t you it''ll be someone else, what tells you I won''t pull something once I leave the camp?¡±


    He smirked


    ¡°You will. You will never complete the 10 years of service, and it won''t be for the same reason as everyone else. I expect you to pull something, and I can''t wait for you to do so. I''m sure you''ll break the balance of this conflict.¡±


    He pushed me through the barrel of the gun, and it was at that moment I finally turned around and stared back at him. His blue eyes seemed fierce. I was scared honestly, but even more so than his actions, it was his words. He was right, I couldn''t understand. Not what happened, not what he said. Sensing I wasn''t going to say anything, Major Opal looked at me and continued.


    ¡°Go little boy, squirm away and join your pack of rats, writing a verbal will take me too long.¡±


    I didn''t need to be told twice, the creeps, the fear, I didn''t want to think about it anymore, so I started going. That''s when, as I left, I heard his last goodbye.


    ¡°Don''t lose that instinct my boy, make sure to keep my miserable life entertained for a long time Pest¨¦¡±


    I hadn''t given them my real name, yet there it came, out from the lips of that man. The way he said, made me want to vomit. I headed straight back to the dorms. I spotted some of the other outskirt kids looking around the areas we had access to, but I didn''t want to go check that out. I entered back into the dorms and headed straight to the bed lying down. I stared a few minutes at the wooden plates that held the bed above me when a white haired head peaked out from the side.


    ¡°You promised you''d tell me your name¡±


    Ah right, I told Vicky I''d let her know when I came back. I thought of finding another excuse to avoid talking to her, but her pouting face made me think this might be a good opportunity to take my mind off what just happened. But damn, she really looked way younger than 16, perhaps it was her height, or her attitude, but she definitely didn''t feel of age. I looked up at her and dryly answered her question.


    ¡°Pest¨¦¡±


    ¡°What a shit name, your parents must''ve really hated you.¡±


    Somehow her tone reminded me somewhat of Roberto. I was slightly endeered by it, so my tone slightly softened up.


    ¡°I never met my dad, and my mom always called me a pest. The ¡°¨¦¡± came after she left for the military. Felt like an act of rebellion against her at the time. Not like she ever knew of this act.¡±


    As the conversation went on I slightly reevaluated the girl. She still had a slightly annoying attitude to herself, but I understood it better. I learned that she came from Oasi. It is a planet in the Aurelia star system, the closest of the 3 frontier star systems discovered by humanity. Civilization in this planet was even more recent then the Colonial City in New Horizons since their planet is just one massive desert with extreme heats and unlike home, it wasn''t military strategic nor did it have important mines. We were the closest port to Octavia, that planet was nothing on the other hand, until 50 years ago a large oasis was found on the equator line of the planet. She told me that the beauty was so big that humanity got to work to turn it into a tourist paradise. The only way for the rich of Terra and other Sol planets to enjoy the ¡®wilderness¡¯ of the frontiers of humanity without the depression that comes with the actual use of these lands.


    Her parents immigrated as part of the service crew for the new planet¡¯s tourist resort, but the promises weren''t lived up to. Upon arrival, passports were retrieved and effectively the migrant workers were forced to depend on the company that owned the newly minted tourist resort. She was born there, but her time with her parents was short lived. They ultimately died from causes she refused to specify and was given the choice between military and servitude. She took the former and when she hit 16 she was thrown into a ship and here she was. I''m sure she glanced over many details and refused to specify further how she and the migrant workers were treated there, but all she discussed was the lavish lifestyle of the tourists that passed by.


    Our conversation ended up getting cut out by Ralf. He insisted we were making too much noise and that the day was getting late, reluctantly she stopped talking and I let my curiosity rest. I never thought I would have cared of the functioning of other planets, but hearing about it just reminded me of Roberto, and I knew he would''ve loved listening to Vicky, so grabbing onto his dog tag I decided to discover more about our world, to tell him the stories if I met him in an afterlife. I didn''t believe in one, but better ready than not if it does exist. Roberto would be extremely disappointed if I had no stories to tell. With these thoughts, I slowly drifted to sleep. The day had been long, even if I didn''t do much, but as we were the last batch, tomorrow the 6 months training period would officially begin.

 Chapter 6: First Day in the Military Part 1

    The deal was straightforward; every inhabitant from the outskirts knew it: Complete 10 years of service in the military, retire, and enjoy life as a retired military personnel on an inner planet. The pension was good, and the cost seemed minimal. After all, we lived with bombardments every day. How bad can the actual war be?


    Well for one the loud trumpet sound that was ringing in the room was out on a mission to prove me wrong. Not even the sounds of the bombs falling was as loud, and I feel like I wouldn''t be able to hide from this one. I opened my tired eyes and looked around, everyone seemed as confused as myself so that meant it hadn''t happened the other nights. As we all confusedly looked at each other we heard the noise of a door opening. I concentrated on the figure that walked past it, a short bulky man walked through, he wore a buzzcut similar to that of Major Opal, except his hair was blond. Eyes completely black, contrasting that hair looked at the kids in the room.


    ¡°Vermin, I am Sergeant Steve¡­¡±


    ¡®What a boring name¡¯ was my first thought¡­


    ¡°What a boring name¡±


    Said Vicky right above me, her voice low, but her disgruntled tone made me chuckle. Deciding that what he might say is important, I refocused on Sergeant Boring''s speech.


    ¡°I''ll be the one responsible for your training division, there are multiple groups like you on this planet right now, but you won''t interact with them for most of our 6 months here. You won''t be kicked out, but if you stop listening to us, your life will be hell. Your results here will decide your post, we will find something adapted to your abilities, or lack off.¡±


    Boring had the first genuine expression he had shown since entering the room, and it was a smile. Something about that smile threw me a bit off. Regardless, the rest of the explanation was quite simple. We''d have an adaptive schedule with mostly physical training, but also some schoolwork. We''re separated based on background so if we''re here it is because our background is similar. I assume that means that my pears came from areas equivalent to the outskirts back home. The rules were simple, no killing or incapacitating fellow pears, leaving room for quite a bit of interpretation, any person working for the military, even the janitor was superior to us in position and was allowed to hand us orders, which we should respect unless a superior to the person giving us the orders said otherwise. Major Opal was the top brass on the planet at this moment, and Sergeant something was number 2 for us. He was equal in rank to other sergeants, but for our group, he¡¯s our ¡®god¡¯, or at least that¡¯s what he said. Finally, he ushered us outside, today was gonna be an evaluation day, to get a general idea of where everyone starts from.


    We moved outside and entered a large open space. I had heard a few in the group get surprised at the lack of a dome above our area. I hadn''t connected the dots, but it was true that not all planets held an atmosphere ready to be adapted to humanity''s needs. While not the case for most, since a large majority of human-held planets now operated without a dome, and the need for an artificial atmosphere, others were still too brutal for humanity to be able to adapt it properly. Now there were also very few worlds that didn''t need readaption, Octavia being one of them, but those were rare, and probably explained why such a planet was so sought after, since it had the necessities to sustain naturally and not artificially human life, and to some that seemed to matter.  Having had a nerd like Roberto at my disposal all these years was useful, I do wish he was here, maybe he would''ve convinced me to go with him.


    Leaving that train of thought before it drifted too far into depths I wished not to explore yet, I returned my concentration to my surroundings. We were now in an open field, well calling it a field was a stretch, it had a large red rocky composition at its core, but it was overposed with man-made pavement and machinery. There was a large oval track with 9 lanes in the middle of the area; inside, an area of artificial grass was present. Outside said track, there was an area to the right there was an area with weights, bars, and many elements one could find in one of the abandoned gyms of the outskirts. Finally what looked like an obstacle course was set up to the left-hand side of this track. It was set up on the direct surface of the planet, so it looked painful due to the inherent hard surface that these red rocks represented. As my eyes continued moving around, the group finally stopped. I heard the short, bulky man clear his voice.


    ¡°As said earlier, today we¡¯ll be assessing you, well more precisely your physical prowess. You¡¯ll be divided into 3 groups and will rotate between the obstacle course, the track, and the gym area. Today¡¯s exercises are all individual. Each block is supervised by one of the three corporals standing behind me¡­¡±


    Looking past his figure, 3 persons were lined up. 2 women, one short, but muscular, her dark skin contrasting the other figures around her. Long brown hair reached her shoulders. Next to her was a slightly taller girl with short black hair, black eyes, and even black lips, though she had probably painted them as such. Lipstick wasn¡¯t everywhere in the outskirts, but I knew what it was. Finally, the only male of the trio, was a figure the same height as the previous one, except he had a different expression on his face. While everyone else was stern and serious, he looked relaxed, his green eyes showing a peaceful expression. He had olive-toned skin and brown hair to match, he seemed interesting to say the least. Tuning back into Steve¡¯s words, I learned their names. In order they were Corporals Leya, Raven, and Ali. Respectively they¡¯d cover the obstacle course, the track, and the gym.


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    ¡°The group division will be casual and simply to allow us to evaluate you better. In addition to the Corporals, some more privates will be joining them, noting down individual results. You are to listen just to the former and ignore the latter.¡±


    Following that, a list of names was called up, each to form the groups. The process was relatively long, but we ended up finding ourselves in two groups of 33 and one of 34. Vicky, nor Ralf were in mine, but the red-haired girl from my planet was. She was also the only one from my batch present in this group. As we moved to the obstacle course, our first assignment of the day, she approached me.


    ¡°Everyone seems to have formed small groups with others from their planets. We seem to be a minority, even including the others. Let¡¯s get to know each other, my anime¡¯s Mayla, what is yours?¡±


    ¡°Pest¨¦ ¡°


    My reply came half-heartedly. While I was finally able to put a name to the face, sharing my name wasn¡¯t something I enjoyed doing. However, she didn¡¯t show any shift in reaction to hearing my name. I usually got sympathetic looks, but she seemed like she had heard just about any other name.


    ¡°A man of a few words I see, if my memory serves me right I¡¯ve seen you close to where I lived back home, but I¡¯ve never actually seen you enter the maze-like complex, you¡¯d usually drop off a kid. He seemed younger than 16 so I assumed he didn¡¯t join.¡±


    Hearing where this conversation was going, I cut this branch off short.


    ¡°He¡¯s dead. He was the one that wanted to join, not me, but now that he¡¯s gone, I thought I may as well see what the fuss he made was all about.¡±


    She still kept her same neutral expression, no sympathy in her eyesight, which was a relief more than anything. But I should¡¯ve expected it, all of us had probably lost someone. She picked back up, sensing the sensitive topic and shifting to talking about the obstacle course we were approaching.


    It was relatively simple in how it was formed. A straight line of challenges, each testing different parts of the body. Starting off with steps separated at equal distances, placed in slight inclinations alternating right to left. This was followed up by monkey bars, who seemed way higher up than necessary, considering the hard surface. Other obstacles included a steeper and steeper wooden ramp, we¡¯d probably need to run up and climb, a climbing wall with inserts to put your hands and feet in and a long rope reaching into an ending platform. After having properly observed the whole course, I turned to Mayla and asked.


    ¡°Do you think you can complete it?¡±


    ¡°I doubt, I or most of us can. I think I can give a few exercises a good shot though. Some look like even going through one will be hard for them.¡±


    She responded as she shook her head. I also wasn¡¯t confident in going through the whole course, but I¡¯ll hope to at least get the first ones done. When we finally reached, Corporal Leya stopped us and started the explanation.


    ¡°Today¡¯s gonna be very simple. Each of you will give the course 2 tries, the first time, you¡¯ll be allowed to skip an exercise if you fail it and start the next one until you either finish or fail the last obstacle. Once everyone has gone through once, you¡¯ll each be allowed to attempt it a second time. As a small incentive, the one to get the furthest, or to complete the whole course in the least amount of time, will get a reward for dinner tonight. I will call you up in alphabetical order and you¡¯ll move to the start and go. Wasting time will not be tolerated.¡±


    With this the introductions seemed complete. The first kid to be called up, was, like most of us, 16. He lacked any notable trait that would indicate a well-trained body, and while looked like he wasn¡¯t completely underfed, he definitely had the build of someone that didn¡¯t have easy access to food all his life. Seeing him go through the different obstacles was painful, he failed almost all of them, falling on the hard rocky flour every time. Bruises piled on his skin. The one silver lining was when he easily made it through a slack line placed in the middle part of the course, he did seem to have good balance. Finally reaching the rope, he gave himself one decent pull, before falling back. He didn¡¯t complain through the whole exercise, but did look pretty sad once he had rejoined the group. The next few people fared a bit better, each completing at least two or three of the 10 obstacles, but nothing special.


    Finally, a slightly more muscular guy, who looked also a bit older than the rest of us, not 21 like Ralf, but definitely in his late teens, gave the course a run for his money. The steps, the monkey bars, the slackline, the wooden ramp and the climbing wall were all completed with ease. It wasn¡¯t all shining rainbow as he faltered at 2 of the last exercises, one where you held onto a bar and had to push it up to higher and higher inserts, the instructors called it the salmon ladder, and another equally upper body demanding exercise, where you had to hold on onto cylinders. He had looked like at some point he was gonna make it, but he slipped off at the very end and had a hard fall on the concrete. He walked to the rope, stretching his arm, but he had likely hurt himself from that last exercise. The rope posed no real obstacle, and he became the person to complete the most obstacles till now on his first attempt, and an early contender for the promised reward. Having finished, Mayla was now getting called up, I wished her luck, and she walked up towards the course.

 Chapter 7: First Day in the Military Part 2

    The tall girl confidently walked forward towards the starting point of the obstacle course. I expected her to find herself at ease with some of the obstacles. I had never ventured in the area her and Roberto resided in, but the maze-like structure was really set up to avoid intruders or gangs finding their way to coerce its inhabitants. The furthest I had seen, I had also noticed sections that required some form of parkour to reach, therefore some sort of pathing skills had to have been developed. There was also the fact that from my understanding she was affiliated to no gang, therefore similar to myself, had to go scavenge for food when the bombs went off.


    She didn¡¯t wait too long on the platform at the start and threw herself directly at the steps. She passed them with ease, not once hesitating in her jumps, and it wasn¡¯t before long that she was once again on the solid footing of the intermediary platforms between the obstacles. The monkey bars followed, as expected, those posed no real threat. They felt one of the easier obstacles of the group. The bars were followed by what the instructor had dubbed the spider walk. You had to press your right hand and foot to the wall to your right and the left hand and foot to the wall on the left. I hadn¡¯t focused much on this obstacle since it was very similar to what I had to do to enter my cabin during bombardments. Mayla on the other hand struggled a little bit. Looks like she wasn¡¯t used to the feeling, but force wise it wasn¡¯t one of the most demanding so she eventually made it. There was no separation between the third and fourth obstacles, instead she had to pass from the spiderwalk, which was now relatively high up compared to the ground, to a set of two walls, about as long as the shortest of the new recruits if put horizontally with their hands extended. This was like a harder version of the spider climb, and the person challenging the obstacle had to descend to reach the next platform, making slip ups very easy. Indeed, almost as soon as she started descending, Mayla slipped up and went crashing down. This was the second tallest point someone could find themselves in the course, so the fall looked painful. But she got right back up off the floor, brushing it off, and climbed onto the platform.


    The slack line was next. I expected her to take it slow, carefully balancing herself, but I should¡¯ve understood from my short interactions with her, that she was not the type to waste time. She threw herself on the rope and tried to run across it. Unfortunately, it was just too long. She lost balance about halfway through, and fell with her hip crashing onto the line before she slipped off its right side. This time, she stayed on the floor a bit longer. Luckily, the fall wasn¡¯t big. The obstacle before almost put her back to ground level, therefore the injury must¡¯ve been mitigated. Still, she held her side. The instructor simply sighed and beckoned the girl to get back up. Reluctantly, Mayla did. She lowered her shirt, but just before I could notice a clear line shaping up on her hip that came into contact with the rope. ¡®That must be burning¡¯, I thought to myself.


    The pain likely played its part, but Mayla no longer was as confident as before when approaching the obstacles. From the 5 of the remaining obstacles, she only cleared two without error. Walking back into the pile, she looked a bit dejected, I was about to ask her how she felt when I heard my name being called up. It came a as a bit o a surprise, but apparently in our specific groping no one else had a name with the letter M, or the N and O as a matter of fact. I made my way to the first obstacle and prepared myself for what was to come.  I took one look at the steps and jumped on the first one. The jump didn''t feel far, the most awkward thing of the steps was the position you found yourself in before jumping off. That''s what gave me the most trouble, but after every step I got used to the feeling and before long I had made it through the obstacle. As opposed to Mayla¡¯s start, I took my time and looked at the monkey bars before holding onto the first one. I actually had relative trust in my upper body strength, sneaking into buildings, or running away from burning ones had forced me to get used to climbing up and down urban environments. This was a practice run, so speed didn''t matter, I decided to go slowly to conserve my energy for later. The spider walk and its transition to the further walls was relatively easy. The feeling was not foreign, and the walls weren''t slippery. I had to pay attention to parts where the previous recruit''s sweat had built up, but it ultimately wasn''t of matter. I had made it further than Mayla at this point without taking my first fall, we had no competition, but I had kind of challenged myself to achieve at least that. The slackline as opposed to her I approached with calmness. I fixed my eyes to a point slightly after the end of the line and held out my hands. They weren''t perfectly straight, I preferred holding my arms a bit closed in. Taking a step at a time, while holding my breath made my movement stable. Before long I was on the other side, I had made it to the halfway line. These were the obstacles I was a bit more unsure on how to approach.


    In front of me stood a ramp. It looked a lot more impressive now that I was up close. It became so steap near the end that it effectively looked like a wall, and I figured I''d probably have to jump for the edge on top by that point. There was a ladder to its side for the people that failed its challenge, so they would get up and go to the next. I hoped not to need it. I took a few steps back, to the edge of the platform at my disposal, to have as much run up as possible, and ran at full speed towards the ramp. I was surprised with the distance I was able to cover, and when I felt like I was gonna struggle to take another proper step I jumped up with all my power and aimed my arms at the top part of the ramp. With the tip of the fingers from my right hand I was able to grab onto it. I had made it through this obstacle as well. The next one looked a bit tricky, but most of the people that had fared well in the first half of the course didn''t have much of an issue on this one. It was a simple wall descent utilizing holes and inserts placed on the wall. Straightforward sure, but everything was the same color as the wall, so it was hard to actually see anything and I had to feel for the locations I could actually put my foot in as I descended. I identified this as one of the obstacles that might cause my trouble if I had to push for speed. This try though was just a test afterall, so it posed no real threat. I took it slow and made my way down. This was where I worried the most, the obstacle lined up in front of me. The salmon ladder.


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    I took a few seconds to rest, but noticing the annoyed look of the corporal I decided not to test her patience and jumped up to the bar. I had studied how previous people had attempted it, but trying it myself felt different. I went for the first one, pulling myself up and exploding with energy, launching the bar to the next threshold above me. To my surprise, it was first lucky and I had made it. Just a few more repetitions of this left, the second was equally cleanly done, but it wasn''t the third time that wasn''t really a charm. As I launched the bar up once more, I missed one of the two edges for the bar to rest on, and while one side had made it, the other had dropped back down to the second threshold. I now stood in an awkward position and knew I couldn''t hold longer this way, so I had to make a decision fast. I could either try to push it up again, or bring the whole bar back to the second threshold and try again. In the end I went for the latter. I had seen a few falls to this, and it looked painful. A descent of the bar felt like it''d be more controlled. Indeed it was, as soon as I pushed off, I immediately adjusted the direction of the bar and it safely landed in the second threshold once more. After that, I regained some confidence and went for the last few jump ups. They went better and I had managed to complete the salmon ladder, jumping into the next platform from the highest point.


    The second to last exercise was the one I feared the most, I had to take two cylinders and insert them into holes. Those cylinders would be what I''d be holding onto, and taking the second cylinder out and into the next hole would be done while holding onto the first cylinder. The fall was also pretty high. I placed the first one and grabbed the second one. Almost as soon as my feet left the platform I felt an incredible pressure to my arms, a feeling I rarely had. It was a struggle to get the first one, but I was determined not to fall. I started moving my body back and forward, to use the momentum to throw myself into the next hole to place the cylinder. Knowing I didn''t have the strength to do everything one by one, I skipped a few holes using said momentum. In the end, it paid off. I made it to the last one and threw myself onto the platform. I had now made it to the end, just the rope was left. I grabbed the rope after taking a breather and easily pulled myself up. I was still keeping concentration, as, contrary to expectation, I had gone flawless till now, and I wished to keep it that way. I finally made it all the way to the top and let go of a sigh of relief. I knew it was possible now, I just had to do it again for my second try. Hopefully the fatigue won''t catch up to me. As I started to go back down, I heard a clap coming from Corporal Leya.


    ¡°Maybe some of you aren''t useless in this batch. We have our first completion, if bets were in play, I''d price you as the favorite for the reward right now.¡±


    I said a quiet thank you as I walked past the corporal and headed back to the pack. Mayla greeted me with a whistle before whispering to me.


    ¡°Make sure to share some of the reward when you win later.¡±


    My response was swift,


    ¡°I just learned your name and I can already tell your delusion knows no bounds.¡±


    We both gave our interaction a small chuckle, but feeling the eyes of the corporal on us we shut up and followed the rest of the action. Most of the remaining recruits were uninteresting until one of the last people went up. ¡®Wilson¡¯ was how I heard Leya call him. He didn''t have an overly imposing build, but you could clearly see how well defined his muscles were. His skin was a lot more tan than the average around him, and his haid was almost completely clean shaven, definitely adding a few years from his actual age to his appearance. What followed was an impressive show of force. He completed every obstacle with ease. Yet, his slow pace showed that he was simply conserving energy, clearly gunning for the first prize. He showed not a trace of sweat in completing the whole course. One more contender, this time a girl, would finish the course without a hitch. The battle for the prize was gonna be interesting.

 Chapter 8: First Day in the Military Part 3

    ¡°Everyone, small change of plans, I do not wish to waste my time or the other corporals'' time by waiting for every single one of you to fail this course again, most of your performances were unimpressive at best. If you hear your name called up, step up. You will be the ones allowed to compete for the prize.¡±


    Shouting that to the pack, Leya the corporal in charge of the obstacle course grabbed a paper handed to her by one of the privates behind her and continued.


    ¡°Leo, Pest¨¦, Wilson, Zoraya, you four, that''s it¡±


    A series of mumbles, mixed with some sighs of relief and some groans of annoyance followed. Some of the kids were definitely happy that they weren''t gonna be forced to go through this again, but others like Mayla were clearly disappointed. I turned to her and as if reading my mind she told me how she felt.


    ¡°Fuck, thought I''d get a second chance. Just made a fool of myself on the first try. Not the impression I wanted to fucking give.¡±


    I could understand how she felt. Those that felt relieved at not going for it again didn''t understand what the Corporal''s words really meant. This wasn''t just about the prize, she''s saying ¡®as of right now, none of you are worth my time¡¯. They said everyone still fit by the end of the 6 months period will get assigned in the military, so maybe most didn''t feel the need to be a standout. But our performances will decide our assignment, and I doubt they will get a decent post if they do stay anonymous. Mayla understood that, but the 6 months are still long.


    ¡°Don''t worry, 6 months are long, you''ll get your shot, hell even today we''re barely a third of the way through.¡±


    She nodded, whispering a ¡®give them hell¡¯ to my back. Satisfied I stepped up and joined the other 3. Leo, I identified as the recruit in his late teens that was the first to give a good showing at the course, and was the one with the least failures out of those that had any. The other two, like me, had completed the course with no mistake, Wilson was the one I worried the most about, he''s looked the calmest in hsi completion of the course. Zoraya was the name of the only girl to make it through without a hitch. She likely came to one of the planets with very hot weather due to her very dark skin. Her black hair barely went below the neck, its shape resembling that of a wave pointing down. What struck as the most interesting feature of her face though was her green eyes. They contrasted every other aspect of her body. Similar to everyone else in the group, except maybe myself, her muscles were very well defined, though not imposing. Scared that I''d be caught staring too much, I shifted my sight back to the Corporal.


    Didn''t take long before Leo, the first of us 4, stepped forward. A bruise on his arm had formed, likely from his fall on the cylinders obstacle from his first run. He seemed less confident than before, but didn''t take too long before jumping on the first obstacle. As expected, he got through the first half of the course without much of a problem, but one thing was clear, his arm wasn''t fully healed. He clearly tried to hide it, but looking closely at his spider walk, I saw that he avoided applying pressure to his arm on the wall. His fa?ade would collapse on the salmon ladder. As soon as he attempted the first threshold he already slipped and fell. Only one of his arms properly rose and he lost grip on the bar, falling down and hence his run ending. The Corporal called him back and he went back in line, his head hung slightly low, despite a nod of approval from Corporal Leya.


    I was next. My goal was completion. Strategically, now that Leo hadn''t finished the course, I had the opportunity to set the starting bar for the others to surpass. As long as I didn''t go too slowly, instead just progressing at my first attempt''s pace, maybe with just slightly less downtime and with cleaner execution, I''d add pressure to the 2 that would follow my attempt. Everything started off as expected, I had recovered enough energy so going through the first half was almost routine. I had no problem the first time round, I didn''t have any this time as well. My pace was steady and I was keeping up easily with my first attempt. I finally got to the salmon ladder, this was where I started faltering last time. I didn''t think about it as much this time and jumped onto the first bar almost as soon as I got off the previous obstacle. I knew the movement so I just went for it. Every jump made my muscles burn more, but this wasn''t the first time I had to ignore my bodies¡¯ warnings so I knew how to do that. Afterall, that''s how you survive on the outskirts. I went through all the thresholds and when I got to the last one, breathed a sigh of relief and jumped onto the next platform.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    I was now ahead of my first attempt''s pace which I''m sure would set a competitive bar. The cylinders, while they originally were the exercise that scared me the most, now posed me less of a threat due to having already gone through it. Much like the first time, I skipped a few holes to finish up as soon as possible, and frankly it was pretty quick. I reached the final rope and didn''t even allow myself the time to breathe out. I was through the hard part, but I wanted to make sure now I could finish everything. I climbed up until the very end and pressed the button to signal the end of my attempt. I hadn''t run at the start and kept a confident pace. I was overall happy with myself.


    ¡°3 minutes and 42 seconds, Wilson, Zoraya, that''s your benchmark to beat.¡±


    The Corporal cut into my thoughts, and hearing her spell out my final time made me grin in a satisfied manner. I went down and rejoined the pack. Mayla gave me an approving look. It looked like she wanted to say something, but by then Wilson was already at the starting blocks so both our attentions ended up turning to him.


    His start was impressive to say the least. Unlike myself, he took a few more risks, his pace clearly superior to his first attempt and to my bar set earlier. By the time he reached the slackline he was already 30 seconds ahead of myself and that time just grew. He was quick on the slackline, taking an approach similar to that of Mayla, yet, unlike her, he didn''t fall, instead he kept his precision up until the very end. Made it through the ramp, scaled down the wall and easily went through the salmon ladder though he slowed down his pace by then. In fact, while the ease stayed, his latter half of the course was actually of similar pace to myself, seemingly, he relied on the time gained in the first half, which was smart. He¡¯d rather push it in the easy bit than the harder one. He made it through the cylinders and the rope climb with little struggle and as he pressed the concluding button, I knew I was already knocked off the top spot.


    ¡°Better luck next time, you owe me some food now.¡±


    Apparently Mayla had determined that the prize was food related, and had also assumed that apparently I needed to give her a part of it. So when Wilson got his result of 2 minutes and 53 seconds, she was almost as disappointed as myself.


    ¡°As if you were getting any, make it to the finals this time¡±


    I added a sarcastic grin to get the message across that I wasn''t all that serious with my statement, but she still pouted a bit, clearly still disappointed in her previous result. The same that happened with Wilson happened here as well though, as I was about to reply our conversation was caught short with Zoraya¡¯s start of the attempt.


    Her pace was on par with Wilson in the first half and he was on pace to beat Wilson after a quick salmon ladder, but now came the harder part. She took off on the cylinders and unlike Wilson who had slowed down by then, she kept up her staggeringly quick pace. It looked like she was gonna get through this obstacle with ease, but in just a split second her grip slipped. She was about to reach a point she could jump off, but she missed the insert for the cylinder and her hand let go of the previous one. She went crushing down, the spectators had barely enough time to react that a cloud of dust was already filling the area. It was an ugly sight, her right arm was badly mangled, she had likely fallen on it, her expression was dark, likely internalizing a lot of the pain. A few seconds passed as more and more people shifted their look to her mangled arm, yet none of the military personnel present moved. Eventually Zoraya stood up and looked at the Corporal.


    ¡°I''d like to be allowed to be dismissed to go to the infirmary, sorry for the inconvenience.¡±


    Mayla had quite the look of shock, and I doubt mine was much different. It seemed as if this sort of injury was a normal sight for her. She also likely wasn''t alone, there was quite the number of unperturbed faces around myself. I''d have to inquire what planet she was from down the line.


    ¡°Permission granted, scram¡±


    The corporal gave a quick reply and Zoraya was off. Just like that, the obstacle section of our assessment day at the academy had ended. Wilson punched the air in happiness after having his win confirmed. I was a bit sad, but I made quite the impression so I¡¯m still satisfied. I had snuck glances at the other assessment groups, and they looked a lot less intense so it looked like the rest of the day was going to be a lot less lower stress luckily.

 Chapter 9: First Day in the Military Part 4

    The rest of the day headed as expected, with a more laid back tone to it. We first reach Corporal Raven''s assessment session on the track. The scar below her right eye was a lot more impressive up close, but what struck me the most was the way she handled herself. Opposite to what you''d expect from a military personnel from her level, she felt a lot more like a child. Her features reminded me she was not, but her attitude could be compared to the little I saw of Vicky. Whenever someone tripped over a hurdle you could hear her holding in her chuckles, when someone got a bad result you could also feel the hints of sarcasm in her remarks. Overall though this alleviated the tension from the obstacle course, and everyone let the tension go a bit, Including myself and Mayla. The latter performed a lot better in the exercises than she did in the obstacle course.


    The exercises in question were a 100m sprint, a 60 meter hurdle run, which was a way of saying running while jumping over equal height obstacles, long and high jumps and what the corporal called shotput which was effectively throwing a weighted round ball as far as possible. The privates behind her noting down every score. We were also allowed long breaks between the exercises so that was a nice touch. Honestly I didn''t consider myself much of a speedster, I was better at using the environment, but when that was removed I wasn''t a lot quicker than your average recruit. In fact, I was bang on the average from my estimates of what I saw, on almost every exercise except for the jumps, where I set the 3rd longest jump of the assessment group, and fifth highest height overall including the group previous to us.


    Frankly, I was worried that the other two assessment blocks would''ve been as stressful as the obstacle course, but at least with this one, I was glad to find out this wasn''t the case. After a good two hours we finished with the track, and looked at the obstacle course which, like for our turn, was the last to finish. This group looked a bit more impressive, 10 people making the final round and the winning time ended up being faster.


    "Guess you got lucky with our group, would''ve made a lot less of an impression with those monsters"


    Mayla made that comment while approaching me from behind, and I nodded in agreement.


    "Lucky indeed, well, here in the track you were the real star. Best female result in all categories, and in the top 5 when mixing the genders of our assessment group. I''d say that''s more impressive"


    ¡°Had to make up for my earlier disaster.¡±


    While her tone was a bit dry when saying that, her face betrayed a hint of happiness. She was clearly pleased with what she had accomplished, and rightfully so. It was now our turn to attend the gym section with Corporal Ali. Yet again, his character was pretty different. He was quiet for the most part, never shouting anything and simply dividing us in further groups assigning us to the different privates helping him out. Occasionally he''d pass by a group doing an exercise and correct them or give them recommendations on it. This was much appreciated since few of us actually ever had access to the gym, and at least for myself, almost everything here was foreign to me. While I still performed fine on some machines, overall it took me a long time to feel comfortable with the proper positions for specific weight related workouts. I particularly had problems with the deadlifts, my back killing me by the end of it. I had stopped early on that one because the Corporal had approached me, given me a few recommendations for better posture, and then asked me to stop, citing that he didn''t want me to hurt my back this early on.


    I had also gotten to know a bit better the people in my further restricted group. One of them was Mayla, whom I already knew and had teamed up with. The groups in fact weren''t fully casual, the Corporal had assigned them based on who was standing next to each other, so we had positioned ourselves to make sure we''d be in the same group. The other two were Leo, the first kid to go in the second round of the obstacle course, and Nora, a girl who''s eyes felt a bit more stretched then the average person present here, she also had black hair and black eyes. Traits common of planets who were colonised by the more oriental inhabitants of Terra according to Riccardo''s stories. She was a lot more reserved at first, not really talking much with us, but due to Leo''s positive and outwardly nature she had opened up a bit. At present we were at the bench press exercise, trying to see what our maximums were for the private present to note down. However our topic of conversation had shifted back to the obstacle course.


    ¡°Your upper body strength will quickly improve here in the camp, it will likely be needed down the line so I''m sure we will have a lot of workouts around it. I imagine that''s also why the obstacle course focused on it¡­¡±


    Leo was at present consoling Nora for not making it past the spider walk in the obstacle course. She was from a rural family in the only agricultural planet in the frontier region of the human controlled land. It resided in the Augusta system, the middle child of the 3 system pack that formed humanities¡¯ frontier. It was the main source of food for many of the colonies in the area as few were actually able to produce food. Most of our supply packs came from there as well. However, except for the leading partisans of the planet, the average worker was either a criminal or a descendent of one, and had almost no way out except for joining said military. Quite a few of the people here originated from this planet. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    ¡°The most I''ve done has been riding the machines that we use to collect the harvest in my families¡¯ assigned region, I wasn¡¯t allowed to do much more so I never really had to carry heavy weights.¡±


    Nora had a soft voice, but a hint of fear always hid behind her takes on her situation. I initially thought she simply regretted her choice, but I realized that wasn''t the case, instead whatever awaited at home felt scarier than staying here for some reason.


    ¡°They won''t send you home this easily, just show you''re willing to work and they¡¯ll find a use for you.¡±


    Mayla had joined the attempts to reassure Nora


    ¡°What Mayla said is correct, I''d still make sure to try hard and improve to show them your worth, since we don''t know how bad it can get with the role they assign us, but just giving your all will be better than some of the slackers here.¡±


    That was actually an interesting point that Leo brought up, after the tension died down past the obstacle course section, some people had effectively reverted to giving the least effort possible to what was left, judging that the reduced tension implied some sort of reduced importance to all of this. They''d likely pay for their mistake in the future.


    ¡°Okay¡­ if you say so, I will try here as well, add some weight to the bar¡±


    Seemingly convinced by what Leo and Mayla said, Nora asked for more weight to the bar, she had so far struggled with just the weight of the bar herself when trying to push it up from a lied down position, but now Leo took 2.5 kg cylinders and added them to the bar, Nora breathed heavily, closed her eyes and grabbed the bar. She held it overherslef her whole body already shaking. Leo, who was close to her to spot her, had already extended his arms to place them just below the bar in case she dropped it. After staying a few seconds with the bar above her, she started slowly descending it steadily reaching her torso. So far so good, but now comes the hardest part. For the attempt to count she had to fully extend the bar back up without any intervention from the spotter, in this case Leo. She slowly started raising the bar, but was clearly struggling to push through, shaking more and more. Leo tried to encourage her telling her ¡®you got this¡¯, ¡®lightwork¡¯ and ¡®you''re almost there¡¯. I found it a bit cringey, but for Nora it clearly worked, she sharpened her glaze and pushed further and eventually was able to get the bar back up and placed it in its starting point. Breathing a sigh of relief she thanked Leo, but her words were cut off by a surprisingly deep voice coming from behind me.


    ¡°Good job, I liked the look in your eyes there.¡±


    I had barely time to look at who said that before he started leaving, but we had all noticed who it was.


    ¡°Corporal Ali is my favourite of all military personnel we''ve met so far, can''t imagine Raven or Leya or any of the rats before them complimenting someone directly like this.¡±


    Leo as always was the first to speak up, Nora nodded in agreement to his statement. I felt similarly, but was still unsure. That sort of character was sometimes troubled back in the outskirts, and Mayla seemed similarly unconvinced, opting to voice her uncertainty even if for a different reason than myself.


    ¡°He¡¯s still a step above us, well actually quite a few in the hierarchy. His attitude right now might not hold in the long run. I wouldn''t drop my guard from a few kind words.¡±


    ¡°Ever the pessimist Mayla, do me a favour and help me load up the bar.¡±


    Leo was next, and wanted to go for quite a bit more weight. He indicated the 20 kg weights hanging by a pole close to the station. I had only been able to get a maximum of 15 kg per side when attempting, and Mayla had gone up to 18 so it looked like he wanted to at least top us. In the end, with the help of Mayla he set up 30 kg per side adding up to a total of 80 kg considering the original 20kg weight of the bar itself. We decided on Mayla spotting him as the second strongest in the bench press out of the three of us and she placed herself right above him. After a deep breath, Leo grabbed the bar with the help of Mayla and moved it above him. He slowly started the descent of the bar, clearly struggling from the weight, yet he didn''t let go, instead he calmly lowered the bar until it reached his torso. Now for the hard part, he started pushing up the bar aiming to extend his arms, but as he was about to reach the halfway point a scream rang out.


    Both Mayla and Nora turned their heads towards the noise, what the former failed to notice though was that below her Leo had slipped at the scream and had lost strength, the bar now pressing on his neck. I rushed to help him out, noticing Mayla¡¯s distracted look, helping him push the bar away from him.


    ¡°What the fuck happened Mayla, he could''ve almost died¡±


    I screamed at Mayla, who hadn''t noticed any of the events that unfolded, but she didn''t even flinch at my comment, regardless of how close I was to her face. Instead, she simply raised her hand, pointing towards the obstacle course. My eyes followed her hand, and then I completely understood the reason for the silence that had fallen in the outdoor facility. There, a body lay completely still on the floor of the obstacle course.