Ten Thousand Fleets Chapter 10: 10. Washout

Read chapter 10 of Ten Thousand Fleets by DavidNiemitz on NovelPedia.

10. Washout Academy Hill, Vidako Imperium Stellarum August, 2847 To Arc’s surprise, Cadet Second Class Iyer stayed until he was settled on a cot in the infirmary, sipping from a bottle of some kind of juice. Heat exhaustion and dehydration were, from the bored expression on the face of the corpsman who’d seen him, everyday occurrences at the academy. “You need to be a bit smarter about pacing yourself,” Iyer said, pulling a chair over next to the cot and taking a seat. It was, Arc realized, the closest thing to friendly he’d gotten from an upperclassman since he’d arrived. “Vidako is a warm world, and we’re on the equator. You’re not used to the heat. You need to drink as much as you can, and take advantage of any chance to rest Lieutenant Kekoa gives you.” Arc frowned. “I need those merits, though.” Iyer was quiet a moment, then sighed and leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees. “You’re from Zurah V, right?” “How’d you know?” Arc nodded, and then flushed when he realized that he hadn’t been addressing the older cadet appropriately. Something about Iyer’s easy manner just encouraged a lack of formality, and it was difficult to put his finger on why. “Sir.” Iyer waved a hand dismissively. “There’s not all that many pilot cadets in each new class,” he pointed out. “You think we don’t talk about who’s coming from our home systems?” “You’re from Zurah, too?” Arc sat up from the thin pillow which the corpsman had used to cushion his back. “Zurah IV,” Iyer said. “I have to admit, the first time I ever got over to Avataran Shahar was when I made my first trip to the academy. Before that, I’d never been offworld. But there isn’t enough traffic from Sargasso to the gate, so it’s always a ship to the spaceport on Zurah V, and then I catch a ride from there out to L2.” “Well, I’ve never been to Sargasso,” Arc admitted. He couldn’t help but grin at the thought. “Can you feel it? I mean, is it true the city moves when the waves come in?” Iyer chuckled. “You only really notice when a storm blows through,” he said. “At least, once you’ve gotten your sea legs. I can always tell a tourist by the way they walk. But the artificial reefs break up the worst of the waves, so it really isn’t as bad as you might be imagining. But Sargasso City’s where I first saw a mech.” “I didn’t think mechs would be safe on the platforms,” Arc remarked. He wasn't an expert on Zurah IV’s floating cities by any means, even if he did live in the same system, but he was fairly certain that none of the individually linked pieces were more than a square kilometer in size. “They can support houses, hospitals, and thousands of people just fine,” Iyer said. “So it would be safer than you might expect. But actually, it was Alu’kan industrial mechs going down to set up an oil well. There were half a dozen of them, and someone must have decided that for safety they were going to take along one Riptide , as an escort.” Arc could feel his own eyes getting wide, and he didn’t even try to stop it. “Those things are supposed to be enormous.” “They are. Even bigger than a Leviathan ,” Iyer confirmed. “I must have been about six standard years old, and I can remember climbing up on the seawall with my friends to get a better look. I’m surprised none of us fell off. But I won’t ever forget the sight. Not the sort of thing you’ll see here.” “They could train in the bay though, couldn’t they?” Arc pointed out. “They could, but there isn’t much of a point off one of the ringworlds,” Iyer explained. “They’re just too specialized for fleet to put much of an effort into training pilots who’re only going to operate underwater. Anyway—trust me when I tell you that there’s going to be a lot more, and a lot better, opportunities for you to earn merits than killing yourself on an obstacle course.” It was done so neatly that Arc couldn’t help but be both surprised, and impressed. Iyer hadn’t ignored what he’d said; instead, with only a brief conversation about their homes, he’d somehow g