Page 9 of Crash Landing
Not that I had personal items anyway. A childhood with a dad who liked whisky more than his kids and a stepmom that killed herself before you turned twelve made hanging onto sentimental crap meaningless. After that, foster families just made things worse. Only one person ever meant anything during my childhood and he was gone, so no personal items even existed.
“All packed,” I said, zipping up my bag. “And I still have two minutes to spare.”
I picked up my things and turned to face him. He had a proud parent sort of look on his face as he escorted me out the door. And thanks to him having a car, I didn’t have to catch a train to the transport station.
On any day, the streets were packed with cars and people trying to get places. I blocked it all out and stared blankly out the window and up at the sky. With all the smog, it was a brown-tinted canvas with a few wispy clouds strewn throughout. But beyond that was space. Aside from the ships and nausea, space was a wonder. Not so much Sylos where we were going. My memories of that place were foggy and frustrating, but that was where the devil plant was that made my life a living hell for the short amount of time I was there. If I was serious about my future as a botanist, I was going to have to do shitty things like handle devil plants and make new discoveries.
Maybe one day I could name something after me…
“So? You’re heading back to Sylos,” Thomas said. He’d been playing music on our ride to the station until that point. “What are the odds of that?”
I rolled my eyes. “I just want to be glad for the opportunity. Besides, I’ll be equipped this time to be on a different planet. It should be ok.”
“What about you know who?”
I whipped my eyes back toward him. “The chance that Saleuk is there is so slim. He’s probably flying battleships around space.”
“Well, don’t you all need a guide or something? This is the first official group of humans the valerians have ever let on one of their planets. I doubt they’re going to let you all traipse around by yourselves.”
“No, we get escorts, but Saleuk was a pilot and a soldier. I’m telling you I won’t see him, so just drop it.”
“Ok, ok,” he said, lifting his hands in surrender. “Look, no matter what, you’re going to be getting tons of field experience and you’ll be learning from the best. This is huge. The study of alien plants is pretty new. You could be at the head of this new era.”
“I know, I know.”
“And you have a leg up on everyone because you’re the only one who’s been to Sylos before.”
“I don’t want to talk about that. I need to focus.”
“Fine. Just remember that when you have an advantage, you should use it.”
We pulled up to the transport station just in the nick of time. The other students were all lined up outside a shuttle with their IDs out and their one bag on the ground by their feet. I said my goodbyes to Thomas and jogged up, smiling brightly at the grumpy guards pacing the lot.
“Worthington,” Professor Fost said in her snooty accent, looking down her prominent nose at me.
“Sorry,” I apologized. “Traffic.”
“ID out, Ms. Worthington.”
I nodded and reached into the front pocket of my bag to get my ID and my permit to travel off-world. I’d gotten a real one since Innifer and I forged papers to get to the Nexus. We were lucky they didn’t throw us in prison. Well, not lucky. When an entire alien race vouches for you, prison is the last place people want to throw you.
Now, it felt good to be standing in line to board a ship and not be worried someone was going to catch me in a lie.
When a grumpy guard in a black uniform finally came to me, I handed over all of my papers for him to scan with a little handheld ID gun. And since I was last to get in line, once I was checked in, we started heading for the shuttle.
Everything started coming back to me and I already felt my stomach rolling. I gripped my bag and stared at the white shuttle like it was the drink I threw up after my 21stbirthday. It was sleek and shiny and big enough for two times as many passengers… which would be nice if I had to sprint to a corner and hurl.
The students in front of me were all vaguely familiar. I didn’t really socialize with people at the university and it looked like a couple of them weren’t even local. But, despite me not knowing them, it was obvious they knew me. I caught a few of them looking over their shoulder at me like I was the rich girl in class whose father was the head of the school.
What? So I had been to Sylos before, but it wasn’t like I was picked to be an intern because of it. I was the backup applicant for crying out loud.
But I was used to keeping to myself so they could stare and whisper all they wanted. The real person whose attention Iwanted was standing at the boarding ramp in a well-tailored pair of pocketed fatigues and a jacket. Mr. Hemburg. Everyone in my field knew about him. He’d made so many discoveries, it was like he knew the future. Some of his discoveries aided in making vital medical enhancements that saved lives. If I could impress him, it would really open some opportunities for advanced learning programs.
I straightened my shoulders and as I walked past him, I boldly stopped to greet him. Most people didn’t do handshakes on Earth, which was something I missed about the Nexus, so I just stood there gawking.
“Mr. Hemburg. I’m Samantha Worthington. I just wanted—”
“Get on board,” he said, not even looking up from the data pad in his hand.
