Character Perspective: Curtis

Star Launch Academy was a grand total of a mile wide in every direction, just over three quarters of a square mile in diameter and every bit the feel of a high end, luxury college campus.

But in truth, that was only for the surface, for the “campus”. In part it was meant to help us all feel as if we were still normal “kids” going through a college experience, but just a single glance up broke that perspective almost immediately.

I marched along the sidewalk, taking in the campus that took up the Earthview portion of the academy. I could see a fountain in the distance, and the artificial grass actually smelt like the grass back on the ground. Logically I knew it was turf, knew that just a few dozen feet below there were hallways and an entire community working in the background keeping the station going.

My father had always wanted me to follow him into Ground Crew. Always told me that if I wanted to be in space, I could just be an Academy technician or even one of the shipwrights working in the Zero-G Shipyard.

But it wasn’t the same.

I wanted to be a Captain. I wanted to explore the deepest, most unfound parts of the universe… or at least as far as our ship could take us. I might have been the sixteenth Joseph Curtis to have lived on Earth, but I was going to be the first to not only explore the stars, but to command a Starship. Justina and Wynn both used to rag on me every single day growing up. Of course, they had always said that’s what older sisters were for, keeping your head in check so that the ego “Don’t grow too big.”

“Showed them,” I muttered, a smirk on my face as I saluted an officer as they passed. “Afternoon sir,” I called out.

This stopped him, spinning on his heel with an eyebrow raised. “Military discipline huh? Well that’s a rare sight to see,” the officer said before I had taken another step.

“Oh uh,” I was actually caught off guard and had to quickly compose myself. “Yes. My father down in Ground Command always insisted that I follow traditional manners in the fleet.”

The officer laughed. “Ah, the Groundies always love to push their archaic ways on the fleet, don’t they.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well first, I’m not even an officer bud, least not where it comes to you,” he said, holding out a hand. “Trent Woodard, Fifth Year Command Chair of the Wisteria,” he introduced himself finally.

Ah, he was an upperclassmen then. I reached out and gave him a firm handshake, “Joseph Curtis the Sixteenth, Command Chair of the… uh… well I guess we haven’t chosen our ship’s name yet.”

“Oh nice, y’all are the fresh meat that landed this morning then! That means you’re headed over to admin huh? Don’t let Dolores talk your ear off for too long,” Trent offered.

“I’ll take your word for it,” I shot back. I could have turned and left it at that, but this was an upperclassmen, and one that was in my field. It wasn’t an opportunity I felt like I could really pass up. “Any advice for a fresh Command?”

“Drop the Sixteenth,” Trent replied almost instantly. “We’re not back on the ground anymore, you’re the first one up here, your dad being a Groundie proves that alone. Plus it’s just a mouthful to say,” he laughed.

“I guess that’s fair, heck I was just saying to myself pretty much that as I was taking in, just… all of this,” I gestured to the campus. “Ground school just does not prepare you for how the Earth looks from up here.”

“Trust me,” he said, leaning forward almost conspiratorially, “It never gets old either. It’s really easy to get day and night mixed up and all that up here, even if they do try to keep the normal schedule with lighting and all that. But coming out here in the middle of “night shift” and just laying out in the quad is something else when you just watch the Earth whipping around.”

“I guess I’ll have to let yah know after I’ve been here for a while,” I said, my eyes wanting to go to my wrist, but I knew that I had taken it off when I donned my uniform. “You got the time by any chance? I forgot to put my watch back on.”

“1541 SLT, Ah shit, yeah I gotta get back to my crew so we can start prepping for dinner mess,” Trent said, rubbing the back of his head, “Hey if you every need advice or wanna talk shop come find me in the Sagan building over by South Barrier.”

“Shit, yeah I gotta get those registration forms, thanks Trent!” I raised a hand, stopping the salute just in time that I could pass it off for an awkward wave.

Instead of commenting He just laughed and hustled off, picking up his formerly leisurely pace in an effort to probably make up for lost time. I decided to follow suit and took off for the Academy’s center building. Luckily it wasn’t so far that I needed to sprint, and I made good time as I jogged up to the front entrance, it’s doors automatically opening with a crisp swish sound.

Two others, one guy with a purple lined uniform and a smaller woman with a green lined one, seemed to be waiting as the attention swivel in my direction and I felt instantly just a bit awkward as I recognized the two students that had been waiting. They must have been the other Commands for the new flights.

“Zeta flight?” An older, Hispanic woman asked, tapping a pen against a clipboard on her desk.

“Yes ma’am,” I immediately replied, “Sorry for the delay, I ran into an upperclassmen who wanted to give me some advice.”

“It’s alright my dear, just making sure,” she said with a comforting smile. “Now, that would mean you three are our newest Ship Captains. So may I first say, congratulations to each of you. Of course coming to Star Launch itself is no easy feat, but to do so as a Captain is its own challenge, so once again. Congratulations.”

“Thank you, ma’am!” The three of us chanted.

“Oh none of that now, I’m just one of the station workers,” the lady laughed, though I could tell this was common for her. “You can just call me Dolores, everyone around here does,” she added as she stood from her desk and walked around the desk.

While we waited, I noticed the room I had enter was actually just what appeared to be a front lobby, glass walls positioned behind Dolores’s desk leaving a view of the grand open space behind her. I wanted to go in, to look around, but as she stepped in front of me, dropping a manila envelope that felt like it weighed at least a pound or two into my hand that had already been outstretched and waiting.

“Thank you, ma- er- Dolores,” I said, quickly catching myself. Pleasantries and discipline were nice and important of course, but once someone asked not to be addressed in such a way, it was disrespectful to not listen to them.

“You will need to distribute each of the proper forms to your Bridge, make sure they are filled out and returned to the office here tomorrow morning before Orientation begins. On top of that, schedules for your team are included and you ship registration forms,” she was rattling this all off as she returned to her desk, the packages being handed out quickly. “The forms for your Bridge crew will each be handed off to their primary instructor, someone they will each get the chance to meet during Orientation tomorrow as well.”

The girl with green trim raised a hand awkwardly, “Kara Stevens, Omicron Flight,” she offered after Dolores nodded for her to speak. “What is the orientation ma’am? Didn’t we just go through all of that during final ground prep?”

Instead of being annoyed or disappointed, Dolores let out another soft laugh, “Same question every group. Yes, Orientation up here only lasts for two hours instead of the month that ground prep took. Think of it more as a ‘Welcome’ than an Orientation. They will go over the standardized schedules you’re crews will need to expect, the shifted Star Launch Standardized time, as well as the general command structure here.”

“Oh, okay, that makes sense, I apologize for the stupid question ma’am,” Kara said sheepishly and sunk back into her chair.

“There are no stupid questions up here Ms. Stevens and trust me you’re not the first, nor will you be the last to ask me that very question,” Dolores said as she checked the time. “Now, it is currently 1600 SLT, Dinner Mess begins at 1700 and I am sure you each have tasks to still go over with your bridge. You are all dismissed for now.”

This time we didn’t chant off a chorus, each taking a moment to stand and thank her for her time before we departed.

I of course wanted to stop the others, to know there was some common ground with the two people who were the closest to my peers on this station, but while Kara lingered for a moment, the other guy was out the door almost as quickly as he had stood. I shot Kara a polite wave before departing myself.

There would always be time to talk with them, between Command classes, the Bridge challenges, and who knows what else, we were going to be up here a long time. And for the moment, it was my own Bridge I needed to be concerned with first, not just the networking part.