CHAPTER 2

Artemis

T he hall filled slowly, but soon enough the salty musk of male sweat permeated the enclosed space. It didn’t seem to matter that the room was large enough to keep us spaced out with enough room to spread our arms – and other appendages – wide without touching anyone else. People clustered, were dirty from travelling, and after standing around for quite some time, it was starting to get stifling.

Finally, Captain Hironimus appeared from a door I hadn’t noticed on the far side of the room, hidden by the raised stage that took up the entire width of the back wall. He stood with his back straight, hands clasped behind him as he waited for the room to quiet down and notice him. It took a while. Long enough for others to start feeling uncomfortable. A heavy, oppressive feeling built the longer it took.

Eventually, men started elbowing their chatty friends and gesturing in the direction of the stage and the awaiting captain, and the room mostly settled down. Even still, as we stood there waiting for him to address us, whispers could be heard echoing off the metal walls. It was clear to me, and to Foryk if his dirty glances to those around us were any indication, that the captain was waiting for us to be completely silent with our undivided attention before he would speak. Unfortunately, at the rate we were going, we were going to be here for a very long time.

When only a few mutterings could be heard, Captain Hironimus made his move, only it wasn’t what I had been anticipating. Instead of accepting the room for as quiet it was going to get, he pursed his lips, made a gesture with his hand that I recognised from the study packet I received upon my enrolment. It was a closed fist that he twisted ninety degrees to the left, which he followed up by turning and exiting back out through the door he came in.

The command was clear: follow me.

As soon as the door closed, pandemonium erupted. Quickly and quietly, I made my way towards the edge of the crowd, sticking close to the walls and away from the rising chaos. It started with a few men shouting about wasting their time, then came the demands typical of those who had been raised with entitlement as the norm. When no response was received, the panic came. People started yelling over one another. Someone bumped into someone else, who shoved them in return, and that quickly started a series of brawls. It was mob mentality rearing its ugly head.

What struck me the most, however, was that no one had paid attention to the Captain and his command. Nor had anyone tried the doors. This was the kind of behaviour I had been expecting from rich brats, and I was disappointed to learn I had been wrong about their maturity and humility. Their previous orderly obedience must have been a product of moving towards the unknown, but now their excitement was getting to them.

Also, I didn’t think any of them had read the prerequisite reading materials…

Sneaking around the perimeter of the hall, I edged my way towards the door the captain used. When I made it, a quick swipe of my hand over the covert scanner embedded into the wall had it sliding open, and I stepped through without anyone noticing.

The door closed behind me with a whirl and a snick that was barely discernible above the racket on the other side. Once it was shut, however, it was as if the world had suddenly lost one of its senses. Only the whoosh of a door opening further down proved my hearing was fine.

The hallway curved to the right, and I followed it to a set of double doors beneath a sign labelling the room as the mess hall.

With no other doors in sight, I knew this was the way forward and raised my hand to the scanner. Again, it opened without issue. We weren’t being held captive in any one room, and it dawned on me that I was potentially the only one who had completed the homework. When the captain greeted me just inside the mess hall, vibrant yellow eyes alert and assessing, I was proved correct.

‘What is your name, Cadet?’ he demanded.

Shit. I didn’t want his attention. I should have waited back with the others.

‘Cadet Lance Corporal Arthur Mercer, sir,’ I supplied reluctantly.

‘Congratulations. As the first and only cadet to follow my command, you have earned yourself a promotion.’ He handed me a length of white fabric with a single yellow star in the centre. ‘Cadet Corporal Mercer, please wear your rank on your left arm at all times. You may receive your meal.’

With that clear dismissal, I obeyed, eager to get away from his scrutiny that would accidently result in another promotion. Tying the band over my left bicep, I picked up a tray and stood in front of the window. An elderly mutt stood on the other side, an apron covering his front. He wielded a large serving spoon, which he used to scoop up different servings of meat and vegetables onto a plate, which he then handed to me.

‘Drinks are self-serve, cadet. Cups are by the dispenser. Empty trays go on the rack when you’re done,’ he informed me, his voice surprisingly high and warbly.

I thanked him and found the dispenser easily, filling a metal cup with water. There were other options, such as teas and coffees, even sweet drinks and alcoholic beverages, but it had been drilled into me a long time ago that water was the only form of true hydration. All other drinks were frivolous and came with consequences. Coffee would give me a quick boost of energy but would also make me crash. Tea could be drunk for medicinal purposes, such as aiding with sleep, nausea, or headaches, but should only be consumed when needed. All other drinks were detrimental to health and focus and should be avoided.

So water it was.

I had just raised my first bite to my mouth when another cadet entered the mess hall. He received the same greeting, promotion and instructions as I had, and I soon found myself with a table buddy. We dipped our chins in acknowledgement, but otherwise remained quiet while we ate.

One after another more cadets slowly trickled in. Just as I was finishing my meal, the last seat at the table was taken by none other than my most unpleasant bunkmate, who’s name I still did not know. Normally I wouldn’t care, but there was a malicious dominance in his beady brown eyes when he caught sight of me and a sinking feeling of foreboding formed in my gut. That man was going to be a problem. What kind of problem I had yet to figure out, but I would not make the mistake of letting my guard down around him.

Perhaps striking up a friendship – or at the very least an alliance – with Bromm and Foryk wasn’t such a bad idea. My intuition was screaming that we would need to keep our wits about us during the night. While I could stay awake for prolonged periods of time, up to a week if necessary, the negative effects would hit me hard and leave me vulnerable.

Access to Nova Academy’s server would allow me to perform a thorough background check, but until we reached Nova Station, The Carina’s servers would have to suffice. The problem came in the form of my methods of connecting to those servers. Unfortunately, they were a dead giveaway that I was… different . I would have to keep an eye on my roommates for the time being to determine their trustworthiness. Until then, I would just have to sleep with one eye open, and in small increments. I didn’t need more than a couple of hours a night, anyway. I was used to functioning on little-to-no sleep. I had been prepared for it, regardless.

I finished my food and sat back to drink my cup of water when the doors whooshed open again, this time letting in a cacophony of noise. Raised voices shouted over one another as the rest of the cadets finally made it through. They clambered over and around one another to get inside the room. It was overwhelming, and I had to force my hands to remain still rather than clasped over my ears the way I wanted. Thanks to The Program I had a greater capacity for hearing than, well, everyone, which meant sudden loud noises were a shock to my system and difficult to process.

Though I had successfully managed to prevent my body from outwardly reacting, I struggled to keep my expression smooth and stoic. My hands shook marginally. My cheeks twitched; my face keen to scrunch into a wince. Luckily, a shrill whistle cut through the ruckus, a hush rushing over us all and ending the attack on my senses.

Captain Hironimus stood on top of a table, glaring down at the newcomers, some of whom were still not paying attention. I caught the same pale boy from the gate looking in the direction of my table, his face contorted into something I could only describe as disgust. What he was so repulsed by, I had no clue, but when his gaze swept over me, his brows shooting up in recognition and surprise, I pointedly ignored him.

Once again, I chastised myself for being the first person through those doors. I definitely should have waited with the others. It was day one and I was already drawing far too much attention to myself.

‘Cadets, at attention!’ the captain’s voice thundered throughout the room. Everyone obeyed, including those of us already seated.

Quickly, everyone quieted, not a whisper or a sniffle to be heard. The lesson was finally landing.

‘Not only are you all late, but you failed to follow the direction of your superior, and you did it in a disorderly fashion. Each one of you has earned your first demerit. You will find out what that means soon enough. Now, line up and get your food, but I want complete silence . Is that clear?’

A chorus of ‘Yes, sir,’ echoed around the room, reminiscent of earlier. It sounded almost robotic, the reverberation from all the metal layering upon one another to create an almost monotone response.

‘Dismissed!’

The captain remained on top of the table to watch over the cadets while they finally followed orders. Once everyone was seated and eating, not a word being uttered, he hopped down and stormed out of the mess hall. The doors sliding shut behind him were like a final blow, almost as if it sealed the presence of his foul mood and disapproval in the room with us.

Since he was gone and I was finished with my meal, I placed my tray into an empty slot on the tray rack and left without a backwards glance at the eyes I could feel burning into my back from my fellow cadets. I heard another follow close behind me from my table but did not bother to check who it was.

When the doors slid open, an officer was waiting on the other side with a hand-held scanner and a holo-pad. The scanner flashed white after it searched me, and the number one appeared, floating above the holo-pad in a blue glow.

‘Remember your number, Cadet Corporal. It will be how you are identified here on out,’ the officer informed me.

‘Yes, sir.’

He tipped his head toward the empty hallway, a dismissal, and I marched towards the elevator, pushing the button to go down. The door slid upwards to allow my entry, but before it could close the other cadet that had followed on my heels was stepping in. Matching my antisocial behaviour, he stood rigidly beside me as the door fell down and locked us in the small space together.

The elevator’s scanner drifted over the both of us with the thin line of a green laser, and the number three lit up in front of us. Just the number three. It seemed we were both bunking on the same deck.

We rode down in silence, though something in the air had me shifting nervously from one foot to the other. Neither one of us made a move to break the rising tension and I didn’t understand where it had come from. I had never met him before, and there was no way he knew who I was. There was no logical reason for either one of us to feel so uncomfortable alone in the other’s presence. When I glanced at him askance, I noticed he seemed to be entirely nonplussed and realised I was the only one who felt uncomfortable. My anxiety must have been acting up over being stuck in an enclosed space with a stranger, even when I recognised him as the same boy that had first followed me into the mess hall.

I really had to get my paranoia under control, but I didn’t know how.

Thankfully, it was a quick ride, and the door lifted to let us out. I turned right down the corridor that led to my bunk, my strides long and hurried. What I hadn’t expected was for my elevator buddy to follow. The likelihood of this man being assigned a bunk near me wasn’t exactly low, but it wasn’t high, either. Some part of me expected him to turn left. When he maintained a short distance behind me, I felt my entire body lock as the awkwardness followed. I was suddenly all too aware of my body, the way my limbs moved, the tense muscles in my neck and back surely causing my strides to look as strange and clumsy as they felt.

He stopped at the room beside mine, and of course we were neighbours.

Before we entered our respective rooms, he turned and looked right at me, his gaze penetrating and meaningful, though what that meaning was alluded me. A single black eyebrow rose above a startlingly vibrant red eye. An array of emotions ran through his expression, most of which I wasn’t able to understand. The one that stuck out to me the most, though, was mirth. Pink lips twitched into a smirk, and then he was gone .

Confused, I stepped into my room, dropped straight onto my bunk, and closed my eyes. Embarrassment, shame, and despair washed over me, and with a full body shudder, I forced myself to shut it all out and focus on the objective.

Hide…

Learn…

Plan…

Survive.