Landfall: The Ship Series // Book One

Author:Jerry Aubin [Aubin, Jerry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lekanyane Publishing
Published: 2015-12-04T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Look who we have here.

Nine additional days of training passed in a flash, and Zax awoke on the thirteenth day amazed at what he had learned and how his body had changed. His muscles were still sore every day, but they had increased in size and strength. He was particularly excited about how his performance had improved in the simulations with reduced oxygen and increased gravity. The first one left him gasping for mercy, but during the last contest under the same conditions he ran around like he’d been doing it for years.

Zax got dressed after a quick shower and headed to the mess hall to meet Kalare. They had made a habit of eating breakfast together to rehash whatever took place the day before. Kalare did 98% of the talking, but the new routine was comfortable regardless. He approached their regular table and found Mikedo was there as well.

“Good morning, Zax. I hope you don’t mind me crashing your breakfast date like this.” Mikedo grinned and continued. “I’ve got interesting news. Charlie Company is the Marine recon unit which scouts out new planets. They head down tomorrow for a final survey of the two alien settlements before the Captain decides how to proceed. The Flight Boss wants the two of you to go with them.”

Zax and Kalare blurted out multiple questions simultaneously, but Mikedo held up her palm to quiet them. “Before you get too excited, be sure you understand that neither one of you is definitely going. There will be two final evaluations which a Marine sergeant will administer. He’ll be the fourth member of our squad if we end up going down to the planet and has the final say on whether you’ve made enough progress to travel with Charlie Company. What do you think—are you ready to get off the Ship and visit a planet?”

Zax replied for both of them with absolute conviction. “We are!”

Mikedo smiled in return and said, “I agree. Let’s get some breakfast. Zax—you should probably make it a big one. Whether you two go down to the surface or not, the Ship is inserting into orbit as part of the mission tomorrow. That means you’ve got an FTL Transit ahead of you and need to worry about keeping your stomach empty.”

Zax was so thrilled about the idea of visiting a planet that not even the specter of nutripellets could dull his excitement. The only way Flight cadets generally got to step foot on solid ground was to get Culled. Since Zax avoided thinking about that scenario for himself, he had never given any thought to viewing an alien world with his own eyes. He was both exhilarated and terrified by the prospect, but ultimately concluded it must be a great sign of the progress they’d made towards earning the mentorship. If the Boss was going through the effort of sending them down to a planet with recon Marines, it must mean he was confident about choosing one of them.

A twinge of

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