“That was so cool! You were all like whoosh, whoosh! And then you landed it! So cool!” 10877 said excitedly, pulling Peggy and me into the classroom next to the garage for the engineering test after lunch.

I smiled at her, too worried to say anything in response.

“Do you know what we are going to be doing for this test? Engineers fix stuff, right? Does that mean we are going to try and fix a ship because I don’t know how to do that?” Peggy asked, her hands fiddling nervously with her jumpsuit sleeves.

“I doubt it. Like surely they have real engineers here. We’ll probably just be doing something little.” 10877 dropped into a seat.

“Everyone hurry and take your seats, please. Any seat will do.” The tutor called from the front of the classroom.

The classroom was huge. There were rows of big grey scuffed work tables with stools slotted under them. The walls were made up of floor to ceiling windows looking out over the ships in the garage. I stared through the windows as we sat down at the bustling work happening behind us. A team of trainees, a bit older than us, were working on a grimly looking ship. It was smaller than I thought it would be but it still seemed like too much work for the team, there was only like eight of them. Some of them were lovingly wiping the dust off it whilst the others were prying up part of the hull and tinkering with the insides. I continued to watch them as everyone else filed into the room, intrigued by their work but also by the way they were interacting with each other. I couldn’t hear anything through the windows but they looked like they were talking happily. Joking even.

Once everyone had sat down, the tutor at the front activated the holoscreen which showed various parts of airships.

“I am Commander Pictor, please call me Pict or Commander Pict. Today, you will be trying to fix a broken reflector panel from one of our ships. These things break all the time so we train all of our crew members, regardless of role, to be proficient in engineering. This also means should anything more crucial break when you are in the air and your lead engineer is compromised, you won’t be stuck. You’ll be fixing it in normal gravity for now however once you’re more able, you will also learn how to work in various gravitational fields.” He paused whilst the tops of our tables slid back to reveal a panel about the length of my forearm and an array of tools.

I glanced down at them with wide eyes. I’d never fixed anything before, I didn't even know what the tools did.

“There will be instructions on the screens in front of you, in video form and in words depending on which you prefer. You can flick through them by selecting here and swiping across. If you click on the top corner, you can change the language if needed. Please try not to do too much damage, these are needed back on our ships tonight. Good luck!” He joked with a smile.

The holoscreen in front of him turned off and individual screens rose up from the back of our desks.

“This is a real panel from a ship? Cool! I’ve never touched one before” 10877 whispered from beside me, reaching out to poke it.

I froze, not sure where to start or what to do. I’d never fixed anything or even tried to fix anything in my life. To my surprise, Peggy had immediately turned her panel over and picked up a tool, flicking on the instructions on the holoscreen. She chose a screwdriver after a quick glance, clipped a magnifier up in front of her panel and got to work without hesitation. I looked up to see 10877 staring at her as well, her mouth slightly open.

“Urm…?” 10877 trailed off, gesturing at Peggy.

Peggy looked up, flushing bright red.

“I used to fix stuff around the house sometimes… Nothing major, just like the smoke detectors and doors and stuff. My parents would break them all the time and then pass out and start fires so I got pretty good at fixing them…” She stared down at the panel in front of her, not wanting to meet our gaze.

I wasn’t sure what to say to that and caught 10877’s eyes. She shrugged and looked down at her panel, turning it over as Peggy had done too. I realised I should probably start working on mine too. If I wanted to be a flyer, which I did, I knew I had to do well at this too. Flyers needed to be good all around, not just good at flying. Staring down at the strange metal panel in front of me, I felt anxiety begin to eat away at me again. There was no point in waiting or trying to work out how to do it without the video so I grabbed the screwdriver Peggy was using and pressed play.

“Excellent! Great work.” I heard Commander Pict say from across the room and looked up.

He had picked up a reflector panel from a kid who looked somewhat familiar and was turning it over in his hands, inspecting it closely.

“This looks almost perfect, excellent craftsmanship. Tell me, what experience do you have?”

The kid flushed and muttered something I couldn’t hear from where I was which caused the tutor to throw his head back and laugh. My eyes narrowed. I knew where I recognised that kid from, he was the one who almost landed the ship before. He was my competition, he clearly wanted to be a flyer too. I might have beaten him at the actual flying but he’d definitely beaten me at this. If I didn’t manage to fix my panel, I wouldn’t stand a chance at becoming a flyer. I turned back to my panel, determined to complete it. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I continued to work but I tried to ignore it. Neither 10877 nor I were surprised when Peggy was the next one to finish her repairs. She sat watching us carefully as we worked, not saying anything but occasionally shaking or nodding her head slightly at us whenever we got stuck.

“Oi! You lot! What did I say about that?” I jumped as Commander Pict shouted, throwing the classroom door open and marching towards the team working on the ship.

I watched fearfully as one of the kids tried to hide a sparking piece of machinery behind his back as Pict reached them. I winced in anticipation of the punishment he was sure to dish out even though I was unsure of the crime.

The kid handed the tool over and slunk away behind the ship. I watched, unconsciously chewing my lip. The kid returned, holding a heavy looking helmet in his hand. Pict took the helmet from him, saying something that prompted a laugh from him and his crew, before placing it on his head and handing the tool back to him. He turned, smiling, and walked back into the room. I looked down before he could catch me looking, confusion running through me.

Why didn’t he punish them, they clearly shouldn't have been using that thing without the helmet? I shook my head to clear it and tried to focus back on the reflector panel in front of me, becoming engrossed in the work.

“Okay, that’s the end of your engineering testing. Congratulations to 11066, 10595 and 10723 for fixing your pieces. If you scan your wrist monitors now, the screens will record your progress and let you know how close you were to completing the repairs.” Commander Pict announced finally.

I blinked, looking up in surprise. The time had flown by. I was actually enjoying myself.

Peggy scanned her wrist monitor, smiling widely for the first time since I met her. I scanned mine as quickly as I could too, wanting to know how I did. 77% flashed up on my screen and I didn’t really know how to feel. Obviously I was disappointed, I wanted to do better, but 77% was pretty good.

Is that good enough though? A small voice in my head asked.

I started reading through the rest of the instructions to see what I had missed.

“Oh, you got 77? That’s really good! I got 83. I think that’s pretty good, right? Of course, Peg completed hers in like no time, I bet she’s one of those geniuses. Do you think it’s dinner time now? I’m starving.” 10877 said excitedly, pulling me from my thoughts.

“It is!” Peggy said, checking the clock on her wrist monitor. “One sec, I just want to ask Commander Pictor something.”

She weaved around the desks towards him, waiting nervously until he finished talking to someone else.

“11066, isn’t it? How can I help?” Pict turned towards her.

“Urm, sorry for bothering you but I just wondered when we would be finding out how we’ve done?” She said in a small voice I could barely hear from where we were standing.

“You’ll find out on Wednesday morning. Once you’ve completed your testing tomorrow the tutors meet to discuss anyone who they think needs to be flagged, such as yourself, and then sort you all into classes based on skill, ability and age.”

The colour drained from Peggy’s face.

“What do you mean flagged? Did I do something wrong?”

“No, no! Being flagged is a good thing! If someone has performed extremely well or shows strong potential, we put them on an accelerated training schedule so that that talent is cultivated.”

“Okay… cool. So… we find out on Wednesday?”

“Yes, first thing. Now, go get some dinner or it’ll be all gone by the time you get there.”

Peggy walked back to us looking much happier.

“That’s so cool! So, you were flagged for this and obviously 10683 was flagged for flying. I need to work really hard on the other two tests so I get flagged too and we can all be on accelerated programs. That would be fun! What are the other two tests?” 10877 said excitedly, leading us towards the canteen which smelt delicious.

“Physical fitness and weaponry I think?” I recalled.

“Okay, I can do that. That shouldn't be too hard. Also, I think we should think of names for ourselves. Do you remember what the Director said about most people in the Space Corps choose names based on stars and constellations? I think we need to do that.”

10877 pushed through the canteen doors and held them open for us. I breathed in deeply. A myriad of smells hit me at once making my mouth water.

“This somehow smells better than lunch. What do you want? Do you think they’ll have the same food or different? It smells different I think? Still delicious, but different.”

I laughed, trying to listen to her whilst also thinking about she said.

Have I actually been flagged for flying? Surely I haven’t. How would I know? Did I ruin it by asking to go again? Maybe they’ve realised that I’m curious. They always accused me of that in the orphanage and punished me for it.

“10683? What do you think?”

I had been so distracted by my thoughts that I’d barely paid attention to what food I had put on my plate or that we’d even sat down.

“Oh…” I paused, shovelling food into my mouth and trying to work out what we were talking about before giving up. “What were you saying?”

“Do you think Peg should stick with her name or change it.”

“I like my name but do you think there is a constellation that is similar? I don’t want to be the only one without a normal name.” She fiddled with her wrist monitor, pulling up the internet.

“That’s a good idea!” 10877 started searching for constellation names too.

I continued eating, looking at 10877’s wrist monitor too.

“How about Perseus? That’s kind of similar?” 10877 glanced up at Peggy who shook her head.

“Oh, why not Pegasus? Then you can still be called Peggy but you’re also a constellation?” I said, pointing at the name on 10877’s monitor.

“Oh my gods! That’s perfect!” 10877 grinned at me.

Peg considered it for a minute before smiling. “I like that.”

“Okay! Pegasus it is! So, that was one of the stars named by that old society on Earth and apparently it means a winged horse. I think we should go for stars named by the same planet too, so that our crew sounds way cooler.” 10877 said happily, flicking through different constellations.

“Our crew?” I asked, looking at Peggy who looked confused too.

“Yeah. I’m going to get flagged as well and then we can all be on the same crew! You're going to be the pilot and Peggy can be the engineer. We will still need gunners and explorers and secondary pilots and stuff but I think that could work! I wonder what I could be. I’ll have to try really hard at the other two tests so I get flagged too.”

I laughed, it did sound good but I was still worried. It wouldn't be until after I found out if I was flagged that I’d let myself dream of piloting a ship. But even if I was flagged, I still might not be able to do it. I could be a secondary pilot or something else. I just had to wait and see.

“Nova to 10683? I’ve chosen my name!” 10877 said excitedly.

“Oh?”

“What do you think of Gemini?” She asked, for the first time since I’d met her she sounded a little bit worried.

“I love it! What does it mean?”

“This says it means ‘The Plenty’ but I don't really know what that means.”

“How can it mean that? I thought constellations named after the things they looked like?” Peg asked, finishing her food.

“I don’t know! This is Earth, things didn’t always make sense there.” 10877 shrugged.

“I guess so. Also, I read on this page that the information they got from Earth wasn’t always correct. It’s just like the stuff they got off the internet or found in books and stuff once people could finally go back onto the planet.” Peg said, reading from her wrist monitor.

“Wait, how did they access the Earth’s internet once all the power stopped?” 10877 said around the food in her mouth.

“I don’t know, I’m assuming the people had like backups and that kind of thing? I’m sure I read something once about them backing up information to like satellites and storing books and stuff up there but I don’t really know. Maybe I could find out?” Peg said, biting her lip and leaning over her wrist monitor.

“Eh, maybe. So, what are you going to be called? Did you see anything you like?” Gemini scrolled through the constellation list on her wrist monitor.

“Urm…” I panicked, having not even thought about it.

I’d never had a name, I didn’t know what I wanted.

I pulled the list up on my wrist monitor.

“What do you think of Aquila?” I asked, choosing the first name I saw.

Gemini scrunched up her nose.

“I don't think so.”

“Urm… Ara?” I asked again, liking the sound of that name slightly more.

“No… Wait, are you just going from the start of the list?” Gemini laughed.

“Yes! How else would I do it? Okay, how about Aries?”

I liked the way the name felt in my mouth.

“I like that one! Wasn’t that the name of one of the Earth gods?” Asked Gemini.

I shrugged, not knowing anything about Earth religions.

Aries. That could be my name. It would be weird to be called a name rather than just a number like I had been my whole life. Maybe I’d have a nickname, I always envied people who had those at school.

Peg typed rapidly on her wrist monitor. “No… according to this, that was Ares? He was the God of righteous and untamed war this says.”

“Cool!” Gemini said.

“I don’t know if I like that, I don’t want there to be any more wars.” I said, my shoulders dropping.

“Yeah but it’s righteous war! That’s a good thing! That means like doing the right thing and fighting for what’s right!” Peggy said enthusiastically causing Gemini and me to look at her confused.

She flushed.

“I read a lot of books. People are always fighting for the right cause and stuff like that…”

“That’s kind of cool.” I said, biting my lip.

“Yeah plus that Aries wasn’t actually the name of that God so it’s fine!”

I nodded in agreement.

“Okay, so we’re Pegasus, Aries and Gemini! How do we get our names changed?”

She looked at Peggy expectantly.

“In the assembly, the Director said he’d be having meetings with all of us on Wednesday and that we can register it then. I wonder what else the meetings will be about.”

“That’s the same day we find out if we got flagged, right? Do you think he will tell us then?” Gemini fiddled with her fork as she waited for Peggy to answer.

“I don’t know, Commander Pictor said we would find out first thing and I doubt the Director would be able to have meetings with us all in the morning, right?”

“I guess so, maybe it’ll say on our monitors. They said the timetables will appear on those so that would make sense?”

“Oh yeah, I guess so. I want to know now! What time do you think it will be released?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe at midnight? Or like really early in the morning?”

“I hope it’s at midnight, I want to know as soon as possible.” I said, staring down at my food, no longer as hungry as I was a couple of minutes ago.

“Me too.” Gem added.

“I do too… What do you think the weapons testing will be like?” Peggy asked.

“I don’t know. Surely they won’t give us weapons, will they? We’re only kids.”