Page 10 of Nova Academy

I wasn’t about to let them put that crap in their bodies, though. Not unless they wanted issues with their guts for the rest of the day. A few days of withdrawal wouldn’t hurt them. Much.

The hall was filled with the sounds of eating and drinking and the occasional whispered conversation, but after yesterday’s debacle no one was willing to rock the boat. They mostly sat and ate in silence. Particularly considering we were joined by the captain himself. Captain Hironimus sitting almost sulkily at his table of officers that chattered quietly around him. There was an empty bubble that surrounded him, as if the others didn’t want to poke the bear so they were keeping their distance. His eyes were glued to his tray as he stabbed at the mystery meat with a fork, and I wondered if he was as repulsed by it as I was.

I finished quickly and placed my tray in an empty slot. Immediately, my holo-tab dinged with an incoming alert. Fishing it out of my pocket, I clicked on the flashing red light and the hologram lifted above the glass surface. It was simple, just three small sentences:

Cadet Corporal 001, your team is due to report to Deck 2.

Your shift is forFOUR TURNSinMAINTENANCE.

Further instructions upon arrival.

The rest of my team must have noticed the alert, because they each rushed to place their empty trays in the rack and wait for my instructions. It was surprisingly pleasant to have them look to me for direction, but I wasn’t sure what to do with that discovery. It wasn’t something I had experienced before, beyond keeping Libby in line. The difference was that Libby didn’t want to listen and Iwould have to force her hand, whereas my team of cadets were eager and ready to follow my lead. And they were seemingly the only ones if the sloth-like energy the other teams exuded were any indication.

It gave me a rush of power that I knew, if not handled correctly, could become intoxicating.

Was this how the scientists felt as they strapped us down and tore into our flesh?

The thought chilled me to my very core, and I decided then that I didn’t want to hold that much power over someone else. Leading a team was one thing, but I couldn’t let it go much further beyond that.

I didn’t want to become just like the very monsters I had run from.

When we reached the elevator, apprehension gripped me hard. Each and every time I had been inside one since stepping on this ship had been torturous in some way or another, and I wasn’t eager to go through it again. Except it wasn’t uncomfortable this time around, and I exhaled a discreet puff of air from the relief.

‘So, Arty, what’s the assignment?’ asked Bromm when we were scanned to determine our exit floor.

‘Deck 2. Maintenance shift. Four turns,’ I stated simply. I didn’t see the need for embellishments when we were on duty. Or off duty, to be frank. Straight and to the point ensured less room for error or misunderstandings. And saved time.

But Bromm didn’t like that answer. When he groaned and slouched back against the wall, I arched a brow at him in a silent question.

‘Maintenance shifts are the literal worst. We’re going to be scrubbing. Scrubbing toilets, scrubbing floors, scrubbing tables… just a whole lot ofscrubbing,’ he whined.

Foryk scoffed. ‘Don’t want to get your hands dirty, Princess?’ he teased.

Bromm stiffened at the moniker, and I almost asked what about it triggered him, but then decided against it. It was none of my business. He soon relaxed, anyway.

‘I do plenty of work with my hands, thank you very much,’ he replied, jokingly lifting his chin and sniffing haughtily.

Foryk chuckled derisively. ‘Sure, Princess. Not the kind of work I was referring to, though.’

Bromm gasped exaggeratedly. ‘I can assure you, good sir, that I was referring to manual labour. There is no need to be so crude.’

Foryk shook his head with a knowing smirk. ‘Whatever you say.Princess.’

It didn’t escape my notice how our last member didn’t join in with the ribbing. Instead, he stood watching with a pensive expression I wasn’t sure how to decipher. It could have been he felt uncomfortable trying to insert himself into an already established friendship, or that said friendship was giving off vibes that indicated something more.

The door slid up then and let us out. Deck two welcomed us into a dull corridor. Doors lined each wall, the metal smudged and cloudy, a far cry from the sparkling, glaringly clean decks up above.

Bromm and Foryk exchanged uncertain glances, and even Reece looked slightly taken aback if his wrinkled nose was anything to go by. Personally, I wanted to know why the maintenance deck wasn’t considered as important as the other decks in terms of cleanliness. Shouldn’t the place where cleaning items and tools were kept be clean, too?

‘Ah, there you are,’ came a high-pitched, feminine voice. ‘I was beginning to think no one was coming.’

I stepped forward as a short Griknot woman in grease-stained overalls stumbled out of a door on clumsy legs, banging her arm into the doorframe as she left. She shot it a dirty look as if it had been the one to run into her, and I considered the security of her mental state.

She shook it off, turning a beaming smile on us, though her footsteps stuttered when she noticed Bromm right behind me. Ignoring my outstretched hand, she dropped the belt full of tools she had been holding, wiped her oily hands on her overalls which did absolutely nothing to remove the offending grime, and dipped into a low and awkward looking curtsey.

‘Y-Your Highness,’ she stuttered.

Bromm paled. ‘Get up,’ he hissed. I turned my bewildered gaze onto him, only to find his skin had turned the most vibrant shade of purple I had ever seen on a person. His eyes looked everywhere but at us, and he shifted nervously from foot to foot.

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