you mess about.
Complain if you want, but remember this, what goes on ship, stays on ship. Your
complaints won’t go far. Screw the nut, do what you’re told, that’s all I’m
after. Go against me and I’ll ruin you, and if you wanna go home tell me, so I
can drag your disgusting body to the airlock and chuck you in the right
direction. Understand?’
‘Yes, Sergeant.’
‘Welcome to
Challenger, enjoy it while it lasts. Now get your awful bodies out of my
sight.’
We ran back
to the accommodation to whatever was in store for us next.
#
When I arrived
back, half of the platoon were already queuing for their only shower for the
day, chatting amongst themselves and thankfully uninterested in me and the
other new lads. Steam escaped from the open ablutions bulkhead and was sucked up
into the many air vents.
I paused as I
entered my room and my jaw dropped. My sausage bag had been opened and tipped
to the floor at the foot of my bed, the contents scattered across the floor
like rubbish. For a moment I stood there, shocked by the complete lack of
respect for my personal possessions.
Calm down ,
I told myself, they just want to get a rise out of you . Don’t give that
bastard Woody the satisfaction - it had to be his doing.
I bit my lip,
and then began to gently pick up my things and place them neatly onto my bed. A
picture of my mother smiled at me from my personal tablet, a happy smile from
years gone by. I missed her so much, never before had I felt as far from home
as I did that moment, even after all that I had been through up until then.
‘ Eventually
you will be accepted ,’ Corporal Thomson’s words echoed through my mind. How
long was eventually? And after that I only had New Earth to look forward to.
I hadn’t
noticed the blonde-haired lad who had got me in trouble during PT enter the room,
a towel about his waist.
‘You need to
get all the new blokes and go to the galley for a brief at zero-nine-thirty,’
he said, then made as if to begin getting dressed and hesitated. I was more
interested in scrolling through all of my family pictures, making sure none of
them had been deleted or messed with. I swore to myself I would start swinging
if one was missing and to hell with the consequences, but they were all there.
‘He didn’t do
anything to it,’ the blonde lad said finally.
I didn’t look
up.
‘This crow
thing, it doesn’t last forever. Everyone gets it, believe me,’ he started
getting dressed into ship’s fatigues whilst I finished gathering my things,
‘I’m Climo, by the way.’
‘Moralee.’
‘Nice to meet
you, Moralee.’
That was
probably the only proper welcome I would ever receive aboard Challenger.
I went for my
shower.
5: The Tour
Our
introductory brief took the best part of the day, where all of us fresh
recruits were taught everything we needed to know to get by on board
Challenger. It was delivered by several different officers, each covering a
different subject and using the galley as a makeshift lecture hall. It was long
and at times extremely boring, but I wasn’t bothered. It was a welcome relief
from the platoon and I was reunited with my comrades from Uralis, including my
friend Peters. We couldn’t talk much, but I found his presence comforting.
You couldn’t
possibly expect to explain to us mere privates exactly how something as
incredible as Challenger actually worked. Supposedly there was once a time when
it was believed that soldiers of our time would have to be the most intelligent
of individuals, hand-picked from the very top of the higher classes. The truth
was that although we were required to be much smarter than regular conscripted
troops, we were pretty below average as far as intelligence went. The average
drop trooper was from a poor background, most likely living within the city
slums which sprawled across much of England, and he probably had a very poor
education, any of the smarter lads were kept for more specialized roles
Complain if you want, but remember this, what goes on ship, stays on ship. Your
complaints won’t go far. Screw the nut, do what you’re told, that’s all I’m
after. Go against me and I’ll ruin you, and if you wanna go home tell me, so I
can drag your disgusting body to the airlock and chuck you in the right
direction. Understand?’
‘Yes, Sergeant.’
‘Welcome to
Challenger, enjoy it while it lasts. Now get your awful bodies out of my
sight.’
We ran back
to the accommodation to whatever was in store for us next.
#
When I arrived
back, half of the platoon were already queuing for their only shower for the
day, chatting amongst themselves and thankfully uninterested in me and the
other new lads. Steam escaped from the open ablutions bulkhead and was sucked up
into the many air vents.
I paused as I
entered my room and my jaw dropped. My sausage bag had been opened and tipped
to the floor at the foot of my bed, the contents scattered across the floor
like rubbish. For a moment I stood there, shocked by the complete lack of
respect for my personal possessions.
Calm down ,
I told myself, they just want to get a rise out of you . Don’t give that
bastard Woody the satisfaction - it had to be his doing.
I bit my lip,
and then began to gently pick up my things and place them neatly onto my bed. A
picture of my mother smiled at me from my personal tablet, a happy smile from
years gone by. I missed her so much, never before had I felt as far from home
as I did that moment, even after all that I had been through up until then.
‘ Eventually
you will be accepted ,’ Corporal Thomson’s words echoed through my mind. How
long was eventually? And after that I only had New Earth to look forward to.
I hadn’t
noticed the blonde-haired lad who had got me in trouble during PT enter the room,
a towel about his waist.
‘You need to
get all the new blokes and go to the galley for a brief at zero-nine-thirty,’
he said, then made as if to begin getting dressed and hesitated. I was more
interested in scrolling through all of my family pictures, making sure none of
them had been deleted or messed with. I swore to myself I would start swinging
if one was missing and to hell with the consequences, but they were all there.
‘He didn’t do
anything to it,’ the blonde lad said finally.
I didn’t look
up.
‘This crow
thing, it doesn’t last forever. Everyone gets it, believe me,’ he started
getting dressed into ship’s fatigues whilst I finished gathering my things,
‘I’m Climo, by the way.’
‘Moralee.’
‘Nice to meet
you, Moralee.’
That was
probably the only proper welcome I would ever receive aboard Challenger.
I went for my
shower.
5: The Tour
Our
introductory brief took the best part of the day, where all of us fresh
recruits were taught everything we needed to know to get by on board
Challenger. It was delivered by several different officers, each covering a
different subject and using the galley as a makeshift lecture hall. It was long
and at times extremely boring, but I wasn’t bothered. It was a welcome relief
from the platoon and I was reunited with my comrades from Uralis, including my
friend Peters. We couldn’t talk much, but I found his presence comforting.
You couldn’t
possibly expect to explain to us mere privates exactly how something as
incredible as Challenger actually worked. Supposedly there was once a time when
it was believed that soldiers of our time would have to be the most intelligent
of individuals, hand-picked from the very top of the higher classes. The truth
was that although we were required to be much smarter than regular conscripted
troops, we were pretty below average as far as intelligence went. The average
drop trooper was from a poor background, most likely living within the city
slums which sprawled across much of England, and he probably had a very poor
education, any of the smarter lads were kept for more specialized roles
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