The rest of the testing passed in a disappointing blur. My mind swung wildly between panicking about Gem to panicking about how I acted and if I disrespected the tutor. I didn’t even enjoy the fitness testing we did. It was mostly just running around and lifting things.

I picked at the food in front of me miserably, barely even tasting it. I’d just grabbed scoops of anything to put on my plate, I hadn’t even paid attention.

Great first day. I made some friends and already one of them almost died then I messed everything up with the testing and was rude to a tutor. Now I’m never going to be picked to be a flyer and I’m just going to be miserable forever.

I put my fork down, there was no point in eating, and stared moodily at my drink.

This is what I get for letting myself hope. I’m never going to be a flyer and shouldn’t have friends. They probably won’t be my friends for long after they see how terrible I am.

“Gemini?” I heard Peggy utter and looked up in confusion.

Limping over to us with a wide smile was Gemini. I rushed up to help her but she waved me away.

“It’s fine, it’s fine! It barely even hurts now!”

I hovered, unsure of how to help, as she dropped into a chair and smiled.

“Oh, good! I got back in time for dinner!”

“Are you okay?” I asked, glancing down at her leg.

“Yeah, I’m completely fine now! They said that it should be basically healed by tomorrow! I’m starving though.” She started to get up but was stopped by Peggy.

“Stay sitting down, I’ll get you something!”

“Are you sure? It looked really bad.” I worried, chewing on my lip.

“It was pretty bad. Like, that hurt more than when I broke my arm but whatever that boy did stopped it from doing too much damage so they were able to just regrow the muscle and skin. They said if he hadn’t helped then they’d have to rebuild the muscle completely and apparently that takes way longer! It’s super itchy though.” She gingerly rubbed her leg.

“Really?”

“Yeah! I wonder how that boy knew to do it though? Like, I’d have had no clue what to do.”

“Me either. He said he used to live in an extra care orphanage and one of the doctors taught him some stuff.”

“Oh, that’s cool! I tried to tell the Director what he did but I couldn’t really remember much. He’s super nice by the way. Oh! You got me macancheese! You’re the best, Peg.”

Peg sat down beside me, smiling slightly.

“I heard someone say it earlier, apparently it’s called mac and cheese because on Earth that’s what it was made of. I didn’t know what else you would want so I just got you whatever smelt nice.”

“This is so good!” Gemini said around her mouthful.

I smiled and took a bite of my food, suddenly hungry.

“So… you met the Director?”

“Yeah, he came to check up on me and talk to me about the kid that shot me. Arden.”

“What did he want to talk to you about him for?”

“He said that he’s got him cleaning weapons and learning how to handle them properly for like two months and wanted to make sure I was okay about that.” She shrugged and continued eating.

“Wait… he’s not being beaten or like kicked out or anything?” I asked, incredulously.

“No! Apparently they don’t beat you here! If you do something wrong, they try and teach you the right way to do it. It sounds crazy.”

I furrowed my brow. I couldn't even imagine the punishment that would have gotten Arden at the orphanage. The thought sent a shudder through me. It’d probably be a beating and then no food for a week or something, if he survived that. Maybe even sent away to a secure orphanage. This way made more sense though. It was just a mistake and this meant it probably wouldn’t happen again.

“It’s nice that the Director came to see you though.” Peggy added after a pause.

“Yeah, he’s so nice! He said I can do my physical fitness testing like tomorrow or in a few days but I said tomorrow. I’m gunna smash it then I can be flagged like you two and we can start a crew!”

I smiled at her absentmindedly, her words causing my mind to start racing anxiously again. She’d already decided that I had been flagged and I didn’t even know that I had. It seemed so unlikely.

“Oh, I need to go thank that boy!” She stood up suddenly, having spotted the boy who helped her from across the room.

Peggy and I watch her limping determinedly and shrugged at each other.

“I wish I had her confidence.” Peggy said quietly.

I nodded in agreement and continued to watch Gemini as she talked to the boy. She pointed back at us and gestured enthusiastically. I could see the boy say something briefly to the other boy he was sitting with who shook his head and looked back down at his food but Gemini glared at him determinedly. I saw her say something else to him before he stood reluctantly and followed her over.

I felt a twinge of jealousy as he sat down opposite me, smiling insecurely. It was that same boy from before. The one who had done well in the flying testing and had helped us with Gem.

“This is Pegasus, Peggy for short and Aries! This is 10937 and 10595, they haven’t picked out their names yet.” She said before she started eating her food again, leaving an awkward silence.

“You’re a good flyer. I saw you land the ship in testing.” The boy, 10595, said breaking the silence and surprising me.

“Thanks.” I replied suspiciously.

There was another pause. He went back to picking at his food with narrowed eyes so I forced myself to speak.

“You’re good too.”

He glared at his plate.

“I’m not that good. I just have some practice. My parents had a simulator in the house before I was put in the orphanage.”

So, his parents are rich or important. That’s the only kind of person who has a simulator in their house but they don’t normally put their kids in orphanages unless something goes really wrong.

He didn’t look that dangerous but the dark shadows under his eyes and almost haunted look told a different story. His arms were covered in more scars than a normal orphan had, some still fresh whilst others were much older. There was another one running down the length of his neck and disappearing under the collar of his jumpsuit.

“You were still good though! You almost managed to land it!” Gem encouraged him with a grin.

He shrugged, scowling at his food and stabbing a forkful.

“Thank you for helping earlier.” I forced myself to say after an awkward pause.

His lips twitched up into a smile before dropping again.

“It’s fine.”

I shoved some food into my mouth as the conversation at the table ground to a halt again. I wanted to say something, anything really, just so that we weren't sitting in silence but anxiety paralysed me, stopping the words from reaching my mouth. Thankfully, Gem didn't have the same problem I did.

“So, are you two in the same dorm?” Gem said around her mouthful.

The smaller boy, 10937, nodded but the other didn’t react.

“That’s cool! Do you have any other people in your dorm? It’s just the three of us in ours!”

“Yeah, we have two others. Both drafts too.” 10595 said after it became clear that 10937 wasn’t going to say anything.

“Oh, awesome! I was wondering how you two worked so well when that boy shot me but it makes sense if you two share a dorm!” Gem grinned as 10937 blushed deeply.

“Yeah, I guess. Plus I already knew he was good with med stuff, he helped fix me up yesterday.” 10595 shrugged, his hand moving unconsciously to pull his sleeve down over his scars.

“Oh? What happened?”

10595’s eyes narrowed and flicked around the room.

“Nothing. I just had some injuries.” His expression was guarded and it was clear he didn't want to say anything else but I was intrigued.

Gemini watched him carefully for a second before speaking.

“That makes sense! You’re a draft, we always have injuries!” She laughed and I forced myself to as well but the boy didn’t say anything.

Gemini continued to watch him before changing the subject.

“Have you guys thought of names to be called yet?”

10595 glared at his plate whilst the other boy blushed.

“I’ve not thought about it. I don’t know where to start.” 10937 said, not looking up.

“We went for constellations like that tutor said! Most Space Corps drafts go for them, I think like the Guardians and the IA have their own rule?” Gem said in between bites of her food.

“Yeah, Guardians normally name themselves after old Earth names because that’s what the Council wanted to model Nova after but the Interplanetary Army get called numbers still but they get ranked weekly based on their performance that week so it changes week to week which sounds really confusing and also not fair because the higher-ranked officers get given better missions and stuff so they have a better chance to advance. Like, the top fifteen have stayed fairly consistent for the last five years which doesn’t seem right because how can you do better if you can’t get any good missions?”

I stared at Peggy and saw the others doing the same. It took Peggy a couple of seconds to notice but when she did she flushed deeply.

“I read it in a book…”

We continued to stare until Gem exploded into laugher. I joined her and noticed the boys doing the same.

“You’re like an encyclopaedia! How do you know so much?” Gem asked, her tone awed.

“I like to read.” Peggy muttered with flushed cheeks, refusing to meet our eyes.

“That’s so cool! So, we need to think of constellation names for you two?”

10937 nodded but the other boy was staring moodily at his food.

“Okay!” Gem pulled the constellation list up on her wrist monitor.

The boys dutifully did the same and started scrolling through.

“Do you have any preferences?” She asked.

They shook their heads but a faint crease appeared between 10595’s eyebrows.

Gem looked up at 10937 for a second, a small smile playing on her lips.

“I have an idea!” She looked back at her wrist monitor, typing furiously.

I smiled at her excitement and took a bite out of my bread roll. 10937 looked at me quizzically, clearly wanting to know if I knew what Gem was doing.

“Don’t worry, we’ve noticed she does this sometimes. It’ll be something good… probably.” I reassured him.

The corner of Gem’s mouth quirked up in a smile but she didn’t look up from her monitor.

“Got it! I think you should be either Corona Borealis or Corona Australis.” She announced.

“Why?” He asked quietly.

“They’re the southern and northern crowns!”

I tried to work out how that could be related to this boy we barely knew but failed to.

“And?” I asked eventually.

She rolled her eyes dramatically.

“And he’s basically my king in shiny armour! You leapt to my rescue earlier and pretty much saved my life.”

His face flushed deeply and looked down pointedly at his monitor.

“I think the old saying is ‘knight in shining armour’ not king, knights didn’t wear crowns.” 10595 corrected quietly.

Gem’s eyes narrowed as she thought it over.

“No. I’ve decided you're my king in shiny armour. It works! What do you think?”

He peeked up at her shyly, fighting a smile.

“I like it.”

“Yay! So, what do you think? Borealis or Australis?”

“Umm… I don’t know. I feel weird having a Space Corps name because I’m going to be training to be a doctor, not like a gunner or anything.”

“You are?” 10595 asked, surprised.

“Yeah.” He fidgeted in his chair, uncomfortable with the attention. “The Director spoke to me after the testing…”

“That’s great! But you can still be on a crew right?” Gem asked.

“Yeah, as a ship doctor.”

“Then you should have a space name!”

A small smile appeared on his face. “Okay.”

“So, what do you think?”

10937 picked at his food for a second, putting off answering.

“What if we change one of the names slightly so it’s still like a constellation one but it’s also a bit different?” 10595 suggested, surprising me with his thoughtfulness.

10937’s smile grew larger.

“I like that.”

“Great!” Gem bounced in her chair. “So… what should it be? How do we change it?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged.

“Mmmm what about like Austra? Or Borea?”

He scrunched up his nose.

“No? Okay, what if we use the first part? Corona?”

“Mmmm… I don’t know.”

“Oh!” Gem gasped excitedly. “What if we call you Cory? Then it’s like inspired by Constellations but it’s not exactly one of them?”

He thought it over, his smile returning.

“I like that.”

“Yes! So, your new name is Cory! Are you sure?”

He nodded, smiling down at his plate.

“Yay! Okay, we need a name for you! What do you think?”

She turned towards 10595 who looked up, startled.

“I don’t know. I’ve not put any thought into it.”

He looked uneasy and I tried to smile at him supportively.

He’s not really my competition. Multiple people can be chosen to be flyers so it’s not like it’s me or him. I shouldn’t be mean to him or not like him just because of that. I argued, fighting my jealousy.

Gem flicked through her Constellation list.

“Why don’t we just start at the top and see if there are any names you like? That’s what Aries did.”

“No!” He said, a little too loudly.

Gem looked up, her smile faltering.

“I just… don’t want a name starting with A…” He said haltingly.

Gem’s eyes met mine in confusion before she shrugged, her smile recovering quickly.

“How about B then?”

“Mmm… yeah, maybe.” He rubbed his arm, distractedly.

I found myself watching the movement, seeing a light line on his arm where he was rubbing. It looked like an old scar. I pulled my eyes away. All drafts have scars, it’s not nice to stare or ask questions.

“There aren’t many. B wasn’t a popular letter for Earth Constellation names. That’s what I’ve taken all of ours from, so it might be cool if yours comes from there too. Then, if we’re on the same crew one day we’d all match and that would be so awesome! How does Boötes sound?”

His eyebrows drew together as he watched her talk rapidly.

“Boots? Like… shoes?”

“No! It means the herdsman. It was once thought to be one of the largest constellations.”

He crinkled his face up, clearly not liking the name.

“Okay, that’s basically it for the B’s. What about Camelopardalis?”

“That’s a mouthful.”

“We could call you Cam?”

He thought about it before shaking his head.

“Okay… I feel like we’re getting closer though. Oh! What about Cassiopeia? It was apparently one of the most recognisable constellations in the sky and this says it hosted a heart nebula and a soul nebula and a supernova remnant! That’s so cool!”

I smiled. That was pretty cool.

“I think I like that.” He said but his voice sounded unsteady and he was clutching his fork so tightly his knuckles were white.

“Yeah? That’s awesome! Oh! We could call you Cas for short! What do you think?”

He smiled at her contagious energy but his eyes were darting around the room anxiously.

“I like Cas.”

“Yes! Okay, so Peggy said that we’ll have meetings with the Director tomorrow and we should be able to change our names then right?”

“Yeah.” Peggy nodded.

“Great! So, Cory and Cas! I like that! This is so exciting!”