Ten Thousand Fleets Chapter 8: 8. Hard Burn

Read chapter 8 of Ten Thousand Fleets by DavidNiemitz on NovelPedia.

8. Hard Burn Academy Hill, Vidako Imperium Stellarum August 13, 2847 During lunch in the mess hall, the dull ache in Arc’s shoulders grew to the point that he found himself flinching every time he lifted his fork from his plate. He recognized the telltale signs of everyone else at the table shifting in their seats, because the soreness from the shots in his own butt was making him do the exact same thing. Doctor Seung’s words seemed to run through his mind on an endless, repeating loop, so that he could hardly concentrate on the conversation at the table. Not with a tolerance below five g’s you won’t , she’d said, and Arc could feel a wall being built, piece by piece, between he and the cockpit of a Kestrel . More than five gs by the end of the year. I can do that , he told himself. His thoughts were so focused on the task ahead of him that he was halfway through clearing his plate before he noticed that Cassie wasn’t in the seat she’d taken at dinner the night before. Vee and Pika, who’d spread himself out at the end of the table, were doing their best to draw Rain out into the conversation. The Torean was going on about, Arc realized upon coming back to the world around him, music. “—and when you see them live, you can feel the bass in your bones,” Vee said, bumping Rain with her shoulder. “If you’ve never experienced it, you absolutely need to. Life is not complete. I’m telling you, we’ll find a time to go during one of the breaks between terms.” She rounded on Arc. “Tell her. You’ve been to a show, right?” He blinked. “Like a concert? Yeah, we have live bands at the Silk Festival every year back home.” Vee narrowed her eyes. “Alright, important test here, Arc. Major consequences, I can’t be your friend if you get this wrong. Show me that you’re a man of taste. Do you know Trillie and the Event Horizon?” “Umm,” Arc said, very articulately. “I mean, I think I’ve heard of them? It’s a fusion band, right?” The Torean girl’s eyes narrowed, and the vibrant blue feathers of her crest twitched. “You think you’ve heard of them?” “I mean, I definitely have,” he said. I’m pretty sure, at least. “Yeah. Anyway, do any of you know where Cassie’s at?” “Saw her walking –” Pika paused mid-sentence, and frowned. “You ok there, big guy?” Delvan asked. “Fine,” Pika said. “Saw her walking toward the center of campus,” he said. “Nose in her tablet.” “I wonder if we should grab her some lunch,” Arc mused, out loud. “Did they actually say what we’re doing this afternoon?” Rather than answer, Pika shoved his chair back and lurched to his feet. The Alu’kan entirely abandoned his meal of fried squid, running for the door of the dining hall with an awkward, lurching gait. “They did not,” Rain said, her voice so quiet that Arc could barely make it out. “For good reason, I think.” She nodded her head to indicate the tables around them, and Arc was surprised to see just how empty the mess hall had become. As he watched, one of the clean-cut boys sitting near Cal Madine stood up, carried a half-cleared tray to the trash, and then hurried out of the room. He wasn’t moving quite as quickly—or as awkwardly—as Pika had, but it was a near thing. “It’s the vaccines,” Delvan said, from his seat at Arc’s side. “You can’t pump people full of that many inoculations without getting some kind of reaction. And I think I’d rather be in my bunk than here, by the time it happens.” He rose, carrying his own tray, and headed out, leaving Arc with only Vee and Rain. “Come on, Arc,” Vee said, standing up, throwing her tunic over one arm, and grabbing her tray. “If you really want to grab something for Cassie, Rain and I can walk you up to our room.” The three of them stacked their dishes, collected a few pieces of fruit, a muffin and a bottle of water, and then headed out through the long hall toward the foyer and the elevators. Today, the couches and love-seats were remarkably empty of students. Vee walked between Arc and Rain, slipping her hands through each of their arms