Page 8 of Nova Academy

There was, as he said, a single elevator on the other side of the mess hall, but there was enough space inside for us to all comfortably fit. The captain and his two officers rode with us, though they proceeded to exit on deck nine, leaving the rest of us to ride down in silence. At deck six, the fair-haired man from the other team hopped off, and then we were moving back downwards with a barely perceptible jolt.

Yesterday’s trip down was interesting. Being stuck alone with a nervous stranger was made even worse when I’d ended up following him all the way to his room. But this was just plain awkward. There was the knowledge of being in the elevator again with the same stranger, but this time there were others to act as a buffer. Unfortunately, those buffers were behaving as if we wereon our way to our execution or something. The atmosphere was sombre and tense, and I didn’t know why. Was it just because we didn’t know one another? The idea of using an elevator that wasn’t intended for our use?

When a foul stench hit my nostrils, making me choke on the air I was in the process of inhaling, I understood.

‘By the stars,’ I coughed. That seemed to break the ice a little, and everyone reached up to cover their noses at the same time.

I stared at the number as it decreased.

Deck 6…

5…

4…

And finally, the door slid up as we reached deck three, each of us gulping in excessive amounts of air as we rushed into the corridor. It may have been stale from the ship’s circulation unit, but that didn’t stop us from greedily sucking it in.

‘Fess up,’ one of my team members, I believed his name was Urman, said with a chuckle. ‘Who just tried to kill us?’

‘It was you, wasn’t it Arty,’ the Griknot from the other team accused. ‘You’re the only one who isn’t gagging.’

I realised he was addressing the other Cadet Corporal, and that he wasn’t wrong. This Arty fellow was awfully, suspiciously nonplussed.

Yet, he shook his head, a small, bemused smirk lifting up the corners of his lips. ‘Not me. One of the officers looked pretty smug when he exited before us, though.’

‘Ha!’ the Griknot guffawed. ‘You’re just saying that to throw us off your scent.’

‘I don’t think anyone could missthatscent, Bromm,’ their Tornu teammate pitched in.

That brought about a round of loud merriment as we let the silliness of the situation win for a moment. Even Arty let out a little chuckle, though it was rather meek compared to our boisterousbellows.

‘Alright, lads,’ I called, grabbing everyone’s attention once we settled down. ‘We’ve got the morning off, and I wanna get a nap in before lunch. Let’s go.’

???

The rest of the morning went by in a relaxed state. My team was not one that had been switched up, so we spent our time lounging on our bunks and introducing ourselves properly. The Griknot-Yu’Rom was indeed named Urman, and his mother was a member of the IU’s Board of Officials while his father was a well-known and sought after surgeon. There was also Cadmus, a Terran-Drakfern mutt from the Entario System’s main waystation, owned a presided over by his father. And lastly, Henrik was the other mutt. Born into a military family, his neutrality over the military made me come to the conclusion that he had only enrolled at Nova Academy because he was expected to follow in their footsteps.

I took that as a challenge to change his mind, excited to share my passion with someone that didn’t feel the same. Maybe if he were presented with a different perspective he could grow to love it as much as I did. As much as his family clearly did, too. Or perhaps he simply needed to find his niche within the organisation. He had briefly mentioned wanting to go into medicine, so I could direct him that way. Our team could definitely benefit from having a medic among us.

It was nice to just sit back and chat without anything looming over us for a while. Last night, everyone had been far too tired to provide any conversation beyond polite greetings and well wishes before the lights went out.

‘So…’ Henrik began, drawing out the word. ‘Who do you think really gassed us out earlier?’

Cadmus snorted out a laugh. ‘It probably really was that Artyguy. He was quick to point fingers at one of the ranking officers.’

‘Nah, if you’re talking about pointing fingers then it was definitely the Griknot. He was the one who called out Arty,’ Urman retorted.

‘What if itwasone of the officers?’ I asked. It had taken me the longest to notice the stench. I hadn’t even heard it happen, but I was at the back and furthest away from the culprit while the officers had remained closer to the exit.

‘It was probably the Tornu. Massive guy like that, his farts would surely take down entire cities,’ Henrik joked.

‘I still think it was Arty,’ Cadmus gave a particularly unattractive chortle. ‘Guy is stars-damnedweird. Caught him laughing at the gate before we boarded, but he was by himself. Still haven’t figure out what was so funny.’

‘Well, whoever it was I guess we’ll never know,’ I said, ready to end the conversation. It rubbed me the wrong way how some people were so quick to judge and deem someone an outsider. They usually ended up getting blamed for things they were innocent of, and our current conversation was a perfect example of that.

‘I, for one, am keeping a close eye on the officers. It could’ve been a prank. Arty did say he saw one of them looking smug when they left. If he was telling the truth I don’t wanna get caught up in a prank war with the higher-ups, especially if it escalates. Didn’t you say your dad told you Nova’s notorious for hazing, Henrik?’ Urman asked.

‘Oh, yeah. It’s apparently a long-standing tradition at Nova,’ Henrik confirmed.

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