Frontier: Book One - The Space Cadets Page 7

  Aisha sat for a moment. The family that had controlled the country. That had brought it to war with the West. A war that had claimed the life of her own father. She felt anger growing.

  “I wasn’t a part of it,” said Soo-Kyung. “I am as much a victim as you.”

  The pit of Aisha’s stomach went cold. That war had killed her father. Soo-Kyung’s family was responsible.

  “You could judge me for what they did,” she said. “But you’d be wrong to do so. You can’t hold me guilty by association.”

  Aisha sighed. Anger wasn’t right. She didn’t want to blame Soo-Kyung. Finally, she said, “You sound just like Patrice.”

  “Patrice?”

  “Smith.”

  “Oh. First-name terms now, huh?”

  She wasn’t going to let Soo-Kyung change the topic. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Well, nobody else knows who I am. Only you. If you want to report me, I am at your mercy.”

  “But the files show you are someone else.”

  “Files, which in your case, are locked. If you were to report something it would probably be believed. They clearly hold you in high regard.”

  “So, why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why come up here?”

  Soo-Kyung looked thoughtful for a moment, like she was searching for the right words to say. “For a new start. If I were to stay on Earth, someone somewhere, would recognize me, and my life would be ruined, or I’d be killed. I want that fresh start, Aisha. And I beg you, as a friend, to let me have it.”

  “I want to be mad, I really do. I want to blame you for--”

  “Then do so, I’ll understand.”

  “No,” said Aisha, reaching out her hand. “You’re right. Fresh start. Let us not hold each other accountable for the sins of our fathers.”

  “Your father, at least, didn’t sin, did he?”

  “I don’t know,” said Aisha. “But my files are locked for a reason.”

  “And I think they put us together for a reason. I wonder if those reasons are related.”

  Soo-Kyung looked thoughtful for a moment. She walked to the glass windows, overlooking the stars. “I haven’t ever been able to trust someone as a friend,” she said finally. “Because of the family I come from. I have trusted you tonight.”

  She turned and held out a hand. “Friends?”

  Aisha looked at her hand for a long moment before holding it in hers and shaking it. “Friends,” she nodded, first smiling, then grinning, and finally embracing the Korean girl in a giant hug.

  She surprised even herself at the warmth of her feelings, and knowing that she really meant them.

  Chapter 11

  Bully

  Wherever you are, and whomever you are, there are people who will, for whatever reason, try to put you down and make life difficult for you. There are many ways to deal with people like this, but there’s only one truth: You never start the fight, but you always finish it.

  No matter the cost…

  It had been a long and difficult morning, and Aisha was tired and hungry as she entered the mess hall. The doorway was partially blocked with other enrollee students.

  Enrollee was the official name to students like herself who had come through open enrollment, but the other students had far less kind words to describe them. Everything from rabble to scum to meteors had been muttered near her. The first two were obvious, the third she had no idea.

  “When they throw us out the airlock, we’ll burn up in the atmosphere as meteors,” Soo-Kyung had explained one night, seemingly unbothered by the implicit threat.

  “Shouldn’t we talk to the authorities,” Aisha had asked. “They can’t do that, can they?”

  Soo-Kyung shook her head. “This isn’t a public school. It’s an academy, a military academy. If you do that, the teachers will think you’re soft. And worse, the other kids will think you’re soft and a snitch. We’ll have to deal with this ourselves.”

  “How?”

  “There’s only one way,” she replied. “Earn their respect. Sooner or later they’ll have to depend on us, and they know it. The sooner we make them respect us, the sooner all this ends.”

  Those words echoed in Aisha’s mind as she worked her way through the crowd into the mess hall. Then she saw the issue. The older kids had spread themselves across all the tables, leaving no room for Aisha’s peers.

  The new kids looked at each other, unsure of what to do. As Aisha entered, they looked to her too. Soo-Kyung had gone straight back to the apartment to get some sleep.

  Earn their respect, she had said. Stand up to a bully and smack him in the mouth, she had always learned. The closest table had only two students -- the English boy she had recognized from the launch, and a short Asian girl who also bore a British flag. The name Lim was embroidered beneath.

  Without a word, Aisha grabbed her food and sat at the table.

  “Space is taken,” said the boy. His nameplate bore the name “Bennett.”

  “Which ones?”

  “All of them.”

  “By whom?”

  “None of your business, Meteor.”

  “Well, I will use it until they get back.”

  “No, you won’t,” he snarled.

  Aisha was aware that all eyes in the room were on her. She put her tray down, sat, and calmly began to eat as if nothing happened.

  “Did you hear me?”

  Looking at her plate, Aisha picked up her knife and started slowly cutting the meat, trying to ignore him, and trying to look like she wasn’t actively ignoring him -- and instead that he just wasn’t part of her universe.

  She cut a small piece of meat, put it in her mouth and began to chew.

  “I said, ‘Did you hear me,’ you stupid cow?”

  His voice was raising in volume and pitch. She knew that she shouldn’t react. She was winning. She closed her eyes a moment and took a deep breath. She wasn’t going to let him get to her.

  She felt the table jar as Bennett stood and pushed himself back from it. Her drink toppled and spilled. She tried not to flinch, and calmly picked the cup up and placed it upright.

  “You think the silent treatment works with me, is that it, you little scumbag?”

  It obviously is working, she thought to herself. Keep it up.

  She quickly looked around the room. All eyes were on the confrontation. Many of the older kids were watching her, measuring her up. Her launch group was gathered around the doorway, eyes darting between her and Bennett.

  Suddenly she felt a hand on her back, grabbing her hair. With surprising strength, he pulled her out of her seat and slammed her against the wall.

  “You think you are so smart, don’t you? Well, you are nothing. You’ve never been anything. You’ll never be anything, and definitely not around here.”

  “That’s not for you to judge,” said Aisha, trying not to show the pain she was feeling in her voice or on her face. She fought to stay calm.

  “Oh yes it is. You’ll listen to me. You keep your ugly black face out of my sight for the rest of the time you are here, or I will break it for you in front of all your friends.”

  “You are in front of them now,” she said. “Show them what you can do.”

  Fighting the urge to cry, she instead smiled a broad smile.

  “You don’t know what I can do, you stupid n--”

  Aisha was stunned. Was he really going to use that word? Before she knew it, she had flinched. Eyes opened wide. Tears began to flow. Her body involuntarily began to shake.

  But he hadn’t said it. He stopped, and she realized that he was baiting her. “One simple word can do all that? And I didn’t even say it,” he smiled. “That’s how I know we won. That’s how I know we are superior. You and your stupid little people use that word all the time, and think that you are taking our word for you and turning it against us. But every time you use it. Every time you call each other by that name, we win.”

  She could feel the
anger rising. She began to breathe hard. Her eyes narrowed and looked at him.

  “You want to hit me, you stupid slave? Go on. I’m right here.”

  He let her go and stood back, arms wide open. “Go on, you get a free shot. Heck as you’re just a girl, I’ll give you two shots. Go on.”

  He turned and addressed the room. “What is she you waiting for? Right here. A couple of freebies.” He faced her again. “Hit me with your best shot, you stupid meteor!”

  She was shaking uncontrollably. She felt a sob begin to move through her body. She had to get out of there. She had to leave. Now.

  She ran out of the room, bumping into other students, hearing the laughter echo behind her. Her stomach began to churn. She found a restroom and ran into it. Bursting into one of the stalls, she fell on her knees and heaved.

  ***

  Feeling a little better, she came out of the stall and went to the sink to wash her face. With one hand she held her hair up, and with the other she splashed water on her face. She plugged the sink to let it fill up with the clean water.

  She felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked up to see Lim, the girl that had been sitting at the table with Bennett.

  “Let me,” she said softly, and took hold of Aisha’s hair.

  “Thanks,” said Aisha, throwing more water on her face, and bending further to cup some water into her mouth to rinse out the taste of vomit.

  She felt Lim grip her hair roughly, and with surprising strength push her face down into the water. She struggled, but Lim used her weight to push Aisha’s neck against the rim of the sink. The message was clear -- if she struggled, she might choke before she drowned. She tried to calm herself, and Lim got the message.

  Pulling her out of the water, she snarled into Aisha’s ear, “You might think you’re hot stuff, but you’re nothing here. And if you ever try to show him up like that again, I will kill you. You got that?”

  Again, Aisha’s face was buried in the water, and her head was banged roughly against the faucet. She felt Lim’s grip release, and she pulled herself up. Blood from her scalp seeped down into the water, thickening and reddening it.

  She fell to her butt and put her face in her hands. Sobs wracked her body, and all the control that she had tried to keep just gave way. She flopped onto the ground, not caring about the blood seeping from her scalp, and cried more than she had done in years.

  She wanted to go home.

  Chapter 12

  Sebastian

  When the Pharisees asked Jesus what he thought the greatest commandment was, it appeared that they were trying to trick him. If he picked one over the other, they could bludgeon him with well-prepared arguments about why the one he chose was wrong.

  Perhaps Jesus knew, ahead of time, what Mark Twain famously said -- “Don’t argue with stupid people, because they’ll bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.” So he answered them with a sentence that captured all of the commandments, without being any of the commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind and all your soul, and love your neighbor as yourself”.

  Whether or not you follow in his ways, you have to admire the intelligence in this answer. The Pharisees were trying to maneuver him into a fight, but he not only saw that fight, he won it before it began.

  You might think it a pity then that they killed him eventually, unless you realize that that’s probably what he wanted all along. They were pawns in his plan. And you can do the same with your enemies. Find what it is that they yearn for, and manipulate them into what you want using that…

  Staggering back to her apartment, she was glad that the corridors were quiet, and few people would see her. She barely noticed Soo-Kyung in the common room as she ran past her, into her room, and slammed the door.

  She turned the window beside her bed to views of home. Hills, fields, oceans and beaches. Anything that wasn’t this place. It didn’t help. If anything, it made things worse, and the yearning within her chest hurt worse than the cut on her scalp.

  There was a soft knock on the door.

  “Go away,” she yelled, trying not to sound like she was crying, but she found herself crying all the more.

  She knew that Soo-Kyung was still standing outside. “Just go away, I want to be alone,” she repeated. But quieter this time.

  “No,” came the soft voice from outside. “You don’t, please come out.”

  Aisha sat in silence, calming herself. Trying to stop the sobbing. How had she fallen apart so quickly?

  Another voice came from outside. Patrice. “Aisha, I heard what happened. Can you please come out? We’re here for you.”

  At his voice, her heart leapt in her chest. She just wanted him to hold her right now. Not to fight her fights for her. Not to save her. Just to hold her. She wanted to feel the closeness of another person. Of a man. That strength that only a man had. She wanted to hold onto him and feel it seep into her pores so she could stand up and face everyone again. So that she could walk up to Bennett and Lim and…

  And what? Beat them up? What would that solve? How would she win this fight?

  She’d have to start by picking herself up off the floor. By ceasing the crying and feeling sorry for herself. By working with her friends to gain her strength, her confidence and her self-respect back. They were just on the other side of the door. It should be so easy.

  It wasn’t. She’d try to lift herself up, envision walking out the door and seeing Soo-Kyung, Patrice and Seamus there. See the kindness in their eyes as they heard about what happened. It would be so beautiful.

  But she was still sitting here.

  “If you’re not coming out, I’m coming in,” said Patrice, finally. “I’m giving you a count of three.”

  She hugged her knees around her. He was coming to her.

  “Three,” he said.

  She thought of him coming into the room and sweeping her up in her arms. It felt good to be so wanted.

  “Two,” he continued.

  But no. She couldn’t have that. She wanted to be a great woman, and not the woman behind the great man. They would have to do it as equals. There was no way she would let him carry her. She made to stand up, but her legs wouldn’t respond.

  “One,” he said, flatly.

  She stood up, turned and faced the door.

  It opened, and she saw his eyes first. Locked on his eyes. They were the windows of the soul after all, and through those eyes she saw a good soul. Did he see the same in her? She hoped so, she longed for him to see her as good also.

  His eyes never left hers, as he smiled gently. “We are here for you, Aisha. Always. But you need to know what you’re up against.”

  She half-walked, half-staggered into the common room, and took a seat on one of the sofas that looked out on the stars. Mercifully, Earth wasn’t in view right now, because she felt she might try to jump out the window, to go home, to be a meteor. Perhaps the rich kids were right after all.

  Seamus had pulled a couple of the bar stools over, and was sitting, watching her silently, with an encouraging smile on his face.

  Soo-Kyung had gasped when she saw the cut on Aisha’s scalp. The blood still oozed from it. The blood that had already dried on her neck was beginning to itch. Soo-Kyung withdrew to the bathroom and came out with a towel she’d soaked in hot water. She began cleaning the wound, and Aisha flinched.

  “Sorry,” said Soo-Kyung. “But I’d better clean this in case it gets infected.”

  “Thanks,” said Aisha, and looked back at Seamus. His eyes had drifted up to look at the top of her head. “How bad is it?”

  He looked back at her. “It’s pretty deep. There’s a lot of blood. But I think Soo-Kyung knows what she’s doing.”

  Aisha felt Soo-Kyung pause in her work a moment. Seamus was back looking up. So he wasn’t watching Aisha’s head. He was watching Soo-Kyung. Despite the throbbing of her head, Aisha smiled.

  Patrice took the other stool, facing Aisha. Seeing her smi
ling, he raised an eyebrow.

  “Thanks,” said Aisha. “You guys are cheering me up already.”

  Patrice was all business. “It was Bennett, wasn’t it? Sebastian Bennett.”

  “Yeah.”

  Seamus rolled his eyes. “Not again,” he said.

  “Again?”

  “That guy is a piece of work.”

  “Wait, you know him?”

  “Yeah, he’s been in the academy as long as I have,” answered Patrice. There was something in his voice.

  “But he came up with us in our launch, I remember him.”

  “The one at the airlock,” said Soo-Kyung, her voice was quiet. Aisha turned to look, but Soo-Kyung’s hands held her head firmly. “Don’t move,” she said. “I’m trying to dress the wound.”

  “That’s the one,” said Patrice. “He was kicked out of the school last semester, sent back to Earth. I thought we’d never see him again.”

  “But like a bad penny, he keeps showing up,” said Seamus. “And to put him on the same shuttle as a bunch of enrollees. That was just stupid.”

  “What did he do?”

  “What didn’t he do?”

  “Okay, in that case, what got him sent back to Earth, and how did he get back?”

  Patrice sighed. “If there’s anyone in this school who has a richer family than mine, it’s him.”

  “So he bought his way back in?”

  “Tells you a lot about this place, doesn’t it?”

  “What got him iced,” interjected Seamus, “the last straw, I guess, was that he beat one of the Indian students to a pulp.”

  “Indian students? I haven’t seen any Indian students!”

  “And you probably won’t for some time, unless some get in via open enrollment. Raj was our only one. He was a good kid, but constantly getting picked on by the others. One day, Bennett decided to make an example of him.”