Entry 004 – Date 08.03.3206 – Location: Sol Naval Academy

The good times keep going well. I spent a relaxed morning at the dorm.

Then I headed out to the simulators. I had booked the time slot in advance and everything went smoothly. Sometimes it can be difficult to get a slot on short notice. So after having show up just to find that all simulators occupied one too many times, I had made it a policy to call in the day before and make a reservation.

The simulations themselves also went very well. I even managed to beat my highscore for the transport shuttle.

Needless to say, I am still quite pleased with that.

To celebrate my success, I decided to have a go on the starfighter simulation.

The concept of a manned fighter is quite outdated these days. It stems from the old airforce but the idea could never be successfully translated to space.

No biological pilot can keep up with a missile in terms of speed or agility. Further, compared to a spaceship, the compact design of a starfighter would offer next to no protection for the pilot. For these reasons and a couple more, the design was never deemed practical. Not that this stops anyone from proposing the idea every few years.

Still, someone actually created a simulation for fighter training. It can still be accessed by simulators even though the laws of physics have to be tweaked a bit. The reason behind this is that it helps train the pilot’s reflexes and planning skill. I think everybody just agrees that the sim is too much fun to get rid of.

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After having successfully wasted some time at the simulator, I ventured out to find Evelyn and the others.

We met each other in the grand plaza. Contrary to its name, the open space is not the most expansive that the Academy has to offer. That title belongs to the training fields. No, the plaza’s name is owed to the great windows that offer a perfect view of earth’s ring.

Construction of the ring had famously begun in 2748 in an effort to allow better travel to and around earth’s orbit. The basis of the ring are two high speed transport tunnels that run in opposing directions. The ring is geo locked which means that it stays stationary relative to earth. Around the rings are transport stations that are connected by a very strong wire to earth. Huge carriages can move up and down those wires. This allows access to earth orbit without the need for shuttles of wasteful rockets.

Over the years the ring has quickly expanded and even some space stations that predate the construct have been combined into the structure. Probably the most famous example of this is the ISS, the oldest space station that still exists.

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As I waited for my friends to arrive, I busied myself watching the traffic along the ring. Many ships and shuttles were constantly arriving and departing, forming a beehive of activity. Further along the naval shipyards were also busy. While not at capacity by far, a legion of drones was active refitting some cruisers and I could not help but be mesmerized by the spectacle.

In fact, I was so transfixed that I didn’t even notice the others had arrived until I felt Eve hugging me from behind.

I’ll just give a little overview of them. Maybe when I’m old and grey I can use this entry to remind me of them. Though even if I had Alzheimer, something that is almost impossible with the gene therapy of today, I believe that I would still remember those five.

First among them is my lovely girlfriend, Evelyn. She is tall brunette and has some adorable freckles that pop out when she spends too much time in the sun. If I had to describe her personality, I would say that she may seem a bit strict at first, but she quickly warms up to people and she is very sweet once you get to know her. That’s why we clicked almost immediately after her brother Greyson introduced us.

Speaking of Greyson, like me, he is specializing in communications. I met him during my elective dialects class and he immediately invited me to hang out. Compared to Eve his is the complete opposite. He is always affable and personable, but once you dig a little deeper he becomes a bit stoic. Still, over time we bonded and are good friends

Next there is Miranda. She can be summed up in one term: computer geek. She might not look like it at first. She is incredibly fit because she spends a lot of time at the gym, but once you get her talking about computers your day is booked. I actually know her from when we were younger. She lived two streets down from me and we went to the same school. Still it took getting into the same section until we became friends rather than just acquaintances.

I also know Lennard from before the Academy and he is definitely my best friend. He is small, dark, and energetic. When something catches his interest, he never waits and tackles it immediately. This often leads to him bouncing between activities like a drunk mosquito. Sadly, we were in different sections during the Academy so we didn’t see each other as often as I would like. This doesn’t stop Len though. He manages to make time surprisingly often and he fits in well with the rest of the group.

Then there is Jake. He is sometimes odd and slightly weird. At some point he was just smoothly integrated with the rest of the group, but none of us know when exactly that happened. Even when Jake is asked, he just says that he found us “fun to hang with” so he did. Thinking about it, I don’t even remember any particularly personal details about him. He is mysterious like that. But he is also a good friend and we have lots of fun together.

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After we met up we collected some went to one of the parks to sit down together.

We talked for a while, but all too quickly we ran into a problem.

Usually meeting up with a couple of friends for a beer or two isn’t a big issue with the Academy monitors. However, it seems that this time it couldn’t be tolerated, and they told us to disband. Maybe they were still peeved about not catching the graduation party, I don’t know.

As the group split up, Eve and I snuck off to her dorm for some alone time.

I don’t know what today will bring, but hopefully it will be good.

Loggin off