Tailspin, page 22
“My mom doesn’t know?”
Lieutenant General Michaels shook his head. “I’m sorry. She’s better off not knowing at the moment.”
“She’s safe?”
“As safe as she can be down there. Trust Tsomak and me.”
“I do,” I said. “I do.”
“Good. Because I’ve put a lot of trust in you, as has Tsomak asking you here.” He went silent for a moment. “Ruslan—”
I glanced back up at him.
“Mostly, you need to trust yourself. You really can do this, all of this.”
There was a cough behind us. Though no one could hear us, we heard that.
Trevor. Though unusual to disturb someone of his rank, Lieutenant General Michaels looked at him and nodded. “I have to go. I also know you have Casey and Trevor’s IDs. Use them too, if you need them.”
Then, in a whir of motion, he left me.
Trevor and Casey escorted me to the car. “We might not get a lot of time for questions, and we still have to adhere to regs, but we’re here if you need us,” Casey said.
I looked up at her, not wanting to leave them. I felt safe here. She pulled me into a quick hug. “We’ll be seeing you soon. You’re smarter than the average bear.” She winked.
Trevor groaned. “She’s right, kid. If you need us, just shout.”
We shook hands, and I got into the car, heading for a helo then back to Artem and to ground school.
***
I waited in the lobby for someone to meet me this time. I only had three days left for actual training, after all.
A young man opened the door at the other end of the lobby and came my way. “Airman Korolyov?”
“Yes,” I replied.
He wasn’t in any uniform, but maybe he was some form of civil servant? “Please come with me. You’re to report to room 8A reporting to Master Sergeant West, he then reports to Senior First Lieutenant Marx.”
“8A, okay,” I replied and repeated under my breath. “Master Sergeant West. First Lieutenant Marx.”
“Who’s then above the First Lieutenant?”
The young man looked at me. “That will be the Commanding Officer of the facility, Lieutenant Colonel O’Conner.”
I put stars on their names meaning to do a little research on them all when I could. Then we stopped in front of a door, 8A written on it.
He knocked and we waited till someone on the inside called for us. They all looked at us when he opened the door. One instructor and eleven students. “Master Sergeant West,” he said and waved a hand at me. “This is Airman Korolyov for you.”
Master Sergeant West eyed me up and down, then up and down again. He nodded to the young man, who left, then looked to me as he said in a gruff voice, “Please come in, airman. Take a seat. We’re going over the last section of flight safety before we take part in your first flight tomorrow. Picking up at page ninety-one.”
I tapped the desk and brought up the book on the data pad there, then swiped to ninety-one. The image was interesting. It was all the buttons. So many buttons.
Everyone in the room settled into reading, and the Master Sergeant moved to the edge of my desk. I looked up into his dark brown eyes, noted the military cut to his hair, yet the deep lines in his face. He was maybe in his forties. He was a big man, so big he almost didn’t fit in his uniform. That had to be uncomfortable; well built were not the words I’d choose. Thick and muscular, his uniform stretched tight over massive forearms he crossed over his chest. “Read as much as you can. I’ll run you in the simulator after class. You won’t be in a real flight till you master that. You’ve a few days yet.”
“Yes, sir,” I said, and he walked away, sitting back at his desk.
I started reading, and I read right through to the end of the book. He wasn’t kidding. It had been the last section. I then move to start at the beginning. My X1 clocked all the information as I read, and I found myself sorting and storing it into chunks. Was it going to help me learn? I would have to be testing that out. If I read and read, and it sorted things like this, maybe I’d be able to catch up quicker than I thought.
The class ended, and the others all left. “With me,” Master Sergeant West said.
I followed him out of the classroom and down several long corridors.
“When you’re at your bunk later,” he said, “You can log in to the training facility’s system with your name and ID. There’s a map there, and you can download the curriculum too. Won’t take you long to work your way around here.”
“Noted, sir,” I said. “Thank you, sir.”
We entered a large room with several round pods stationed on long spindly poles. Some were moving while others were stationary. “You’ll need to concentrate any off time you have here. The simulators are steady and have everything you’ll need to learn and an AI that will help, not chastise.”
He walked to the nearest one. “Wrist to the panel to unlock.”
I complied, and the sides of the pod opened.
“Get used to being on the left,” he said. “When tested, it will be on the left side. I’ll get in on the other side for a moment, then leave you to it.”
I climbed into the left side and noted that everything was similar to the other day with Kuri. It really had been a flight out to show me the motions and the feel of the real thing.
Master Sergeant West’s bulk just about fit in the cockpit beside me, and I waited while he settled.
“Wrist here to start up. The AI will know your training or lack of it and start you at the beginning. Listen to her.”
“I will.”
He went quiet, and this wasn’t a comfortable silence. My stomach flipped. What was he going to do? To say? He turned to me and stared. He waited a moment longer before he spoke. “I’m under strict orders to watch out for you while you’re here,” he said. “I want you to know I will do that to the very best of my ability.”
I cringed on the inside. “But?” I had to ask.
“Sleep with one eye open, kid.” He sighed. “There’s a lot of angst over what happened at base twenty-six.”
“You’re telling me that my life is in danger because of what happened and Chief Kuri dying?”
“No real danger,” he admitted. “They want answers, and some of them are answers they’re not allowed to hear.”
That made much more sense. “Understood.”
“If they get you alone, airman, don’t talk.”
“I really do understand,” I said. “I am under an NDA for everything that happened and where I was taken afterwards.”
He nodded. “It doesn’t mean they won’t try.”
“Thanks for the honesty, sir.”
“Good luck, airman.” He moved to open the cockpit door once more, but he stopped and turned back to me. His eyes flickered and watered, but no other words came out.
“I truly am sorry for your loss, sergeant,” I said. “Everything I see and hear tells me he was a great man.”
“Thank you, yes. Yes, he was.” With that, he left me.
I stared at the blank screens before me. I sucked in a breath and put my wrist to the console.
“Welcome, Airman Korolyov,” a female AI voice said. “Would you like to begin your training?”
I checked the time; it was after 5 p.m. “Yes, please,” I replied to her.
“Checking logs and records,” she said. “Please correct me if I’m wrong, but you have had no prior training anywhere?”
“You’re correct, no training at all.”
“Thank you, Airman Korolyov.”
“Can you call me Rusty?” I asked. “Gotta be much easier than my full name.”
“Rusty is now listed as your preferred method of address,” she said. “You are scheduled with the class of 8A for final testing this Thursday, the first of March.”
“Would you have a schedule at hand so I might catch up?”
“No one has ever caught up with only three days of training left.”
“What do they usually do on weekends?”
“They’re allowed to study anything they wish,” she replied.
My brain worked. “So I actually have five days,” I said, more talking to myself than the AI.
“You wish to start tomorrow?”
“No,” I said. “Right now. I figure I have a few hours before bed, right? What time do they finish serving anything to eat?”
“Canteen is cleared at 11 p.m. sharp.”
“Then plan a schedule from now to break at 10:30 and then start again tomorrow as early as I need.”
“Calculating.”
I waited a moment, checking on a few other things I had stored in my HUD’s info. My ID number was now my login for my lockers and my room, it seemed. Good to know.
“Course compiled,” the AI said. “You might just make it, Airman Korolyov.”
I laughed at that, turned all my attention to her, and said, “Let’s begin.”
26
I stayed, and I did my best. She listed all of the controls, each one lighting up in turn. She also asked me to touch them, to feel each knob or dial. Everything looked so complicated. Everything.
I grew more and more frustrated with myself and the AI, at anything she asked me, and especially at going through it once more when I got everything wrong.
Though she’d done nothing to earn my wrath, I did take it out on her, and I felt awful for it, even if she wasn’t real.
When 10:30 p.m. came, she prompted me to leave, but I asked her to run through it all one more time with me.
“No,” she said simply.
“What?” I couldn’t fathom that she’d actually say no.
“When was the last time you ate, Rusty?”
I thought back and recalled the breakfast I’d had before the announcement and the scant amount I’d eaten afterwards. “About one o’clock,” I replied.
“Then you will take your leave and get some food. You are allowed to take drinks back to your bunk. I would suggest the Clemont with extra protein and fiber, two if you can swing them.”
Clemont I knew was M-Corp’s premier enhanced drinks brand. Not only packed with all the nutrients you needed but those your tech did as well. I had seen lower market products, you could get them on the streets. They came in plastic bottle, not like these. They tracked these and I couldn’t blame them. They were also extremely expensive; I mean everything was around here. All the food was enhanced, nothing came cheap. I cringed. Two… that would have been a few days credits for me, I knew it would.
The simulator powered down and moved slightly. I didn’t know what to do. I sat there for a moment before she opened the door. “I will see you at 4:30 a.m. sharp. I also took the liberty of downloading the Training Facility map to your HUD. You will find the canteen by searching for it.”
She powered off completely, and I was left in the dark with only the light from the room glinting on the surface I needed to get out onto.
I let out a breath and then stepped out. “Thank you.”
The door to the pod closed, and she answered, “You are welcome, Airman Korolyov. Goodnight.”
I found the map, located the canteen, and entered. There were only two pairs of people sitting on opposite sides of the room and one man on the counter, big, burly and covered in flour? Could be. I approached the counter and asked for the dish of the day. He moved off, plated up with something, and returned. “Puddings are still good, if you want, with or without custard.”
“With, please,” I replied and smiled.
He popped that on my tray, too. “Do you have Clemont’s drink?”
Another moment and he returned with two bottles “Red’s protein, green’s fiber.”
“How much?” I asked, thinking of my fairly low bank account. Pretty sure I wasn’t getting paid just yet.
“Just wrist to the counter,” he said.
I put my wrist to the counter, and it displayed my name. “Airman Kor—Korolyov,” he said with a croak.
I glanced up at him. “Not like anyone here’s not heard my name today.”
“On several occasions,” he said and moved to another counter. “Here,” he said as he popped something else on my tray. “Hope the food is good. Doubt you’ve eaten well today.”
My stomach growled as if on cue, and I shook my head and left, making my way over to a table in the far corner of the room. I put the tray down and sat, starting to eat.
One of the men to my right glanced at me then spoke to his friend. They both got up and left, leaving only two others and myself. I liked the hum of the kitchen and watched as the man behind the counter started to clean up for the night while leaving the last of the food out till exactly 11 p.m., at which point he was about to pull it.
Before he could, a young woman ran in and stopped, panting before him. She was out of uniform, but it was late at night, I guessed. Her reddish hair was messy, too. “Please,” she asked. “Anything you can spare, Don.”
Don laughed. “There’s a reason I never put the food away till dead on 11.”
He plated everything up for her, and she moved away. Her crisp hazel eyes met mine for a moment as she looked for a spot to sit. Nearly the whole room was available, but she frowned at me and made her way to the other side of the windows, setting her back to me and pulling out a data pad.
I couldn’t help but watch her before deciding it was rude and tried to stare out of the windows instead.
In the darkness, I could make out small lights and windows surrounding what might have been a parade ground. There weren’t many people walking about, and I ate slowly as my stomach churned.
Talking made me turn around, and I noticed four young men come in. Two of them were ones who had already been here.
Immediately, I straightened my spine, causing it to pop, and put my fork down, chewing the last of my dinner.
They didn’t rush over to me. They walked toward the other young woman and stopped to talk to her. I caught some of it.
“You should take your food back to your room,” one said.
She didn’t reply, just carried on eating. When it was clear she wasn’t leaving, they came toward me. I made sure I tracked all four of them, noting every detail I could. Their uniforms were all the same, and they had no identifying markers at all bar their faces, so I memorized as much about them as I could.
There were two dark-haired guys, one at least six feet tall with blue eyes, and the other just shorter with a slightly bigger build and dark eyes. The two in front actually looked to be of similar age and genetics because both had high cheekbones, darker blond hair, and lightly colored eyes. One was taller, and it was the taller of these two that put his hand on my table, looked straight at me, and spoke. “You shouldn’t have come back,” he said. “After what you did.”
I had no choice but to stand up for myself. There was no one in my corner here. No friends. Just me. “What did I do?” I asked.
He slammed his hand down. I didn’t flinch, and I could see that annoyed him. “You know exactly what you did, non-military, untrained. You did nothing, absolutely nothing.”
“Did you witness some unseen footage Major General Roberts didn’t?” I asked. “Or were you there hiding in the trees?”
His eyes flickered. “Of course not.”
I stood up. I matched him in height, if not weight. He had a lot more muscle on him than I had. I noticed the young woman had turned. When I’d stood, she did too. I licked my lips, picked my glass up, and held it out. “Then,” I held my glass up and loudly said, “to Chief Kuri, whose loss shall never be forgotten, and respect to those who knew him.” I took a nice swig and swallowed.
“To Chief Kuri,” the young woman said before me, her eyes and head lowered.
“To Chief Kuri,” Don also said, a glass in his hand.
The four men in front of me had nothing to raise a toast with, and their faces flushed. The two at the back fumbled, raising their hands, and reciprocated the gesture a bit late, but the two at the front just stared.
“We’ll be waiting,” the smaller one said. “Don’t you worry, Korolyov.”
I nudged the air with my glass once again and watched them turn and walk away. I waited till they’d left the room before I sat down.
My stomach churned. I knew I’d be seeing those guys again and probably very soon.
The young woman had returned to eating, and although I didn’t want to, I needed to do the same. I finished my food, then ate the dessert, and its rich, creamy texture on my tongue had me salivating. This was good, really good. I scraped my bowl out and almost put my finger in to get the last dregs. Eventually I took my tray to the cleaning unit, keeping hold of my bottles of juices and protein bar, and I left to find my bunk and the restrooms.
No one stopped me. No one was around.
I put my wrist to the door, slid inside, and sank onto the bunk.
It was small, with a bed, a locker and a desk. That was it. But it wouldn’t be for long, and I needed sleep before I started the rest of this learning experience.
***
My alarm woke me very early, and I washed, dressed and was at the simulation training room before I was due. I walked in and put my wrist to the pod’s door, opened it and got in, still yawning.
It did not surprise me when my world shifted, and I was as much inside Aug-World as I was inside a simulation station. This was going to feel as real as it came. Even if it wasn’t, my mind would think it was, my body would feel it as if it was. I might not be ready for this, however the twisting in my stomach wasn’t nerves, pure excitement. I was getting to do what I had always wanted.
“Good morning, Rusty,” the AI said. “You will break for breakfast today at 8 a.m., and then for lunch at 1 p.m., with a break at 4 p.m., and then again at 8 p.m.. Is that sufficient?”
“I’ll get snacks at lunchtime, but I’d like to break at 5 p.m. and finish at 9 p.m. for dinner. Then I can snack before bed and read till I fall asleep.”
“That is acceptable,” she said. “Noted.”
“Where are we starting?” I asked.
“Today I wish you to run through all the basics, then all the controls with me again,” she said. “Start with what you learned yesterday.”
