Vanguard Word Update

2k words

***

“I take back what I said,” Samiha said, heaving her hammer from one shoulder to the other. “This is a lot of fun. I needed this.”

“Told you,” Cadell said, leaning on the wall as he took deep, hard breaths.

“Cadell? Are you well?” Samiha asked, her eyes tracing him from head to toe.

“Yeah. Why?”

“You are… all wet,” she explained. “Like you’ve just soaked in a bath.”

“That’s just sweat. The body’s way of cooling us down when we’re hot.”

“Ah. Another prodigal way in which you treat water,” she mused. He couldn’t tell if she was being judgemental or not.

“You guys don’t sweat?” he asked her. “I’m not too good with avian anatomy myself.”

“We thermoregulate mostly by respiration,” she said, which was obvious enough by the way she huffed like an engine. “But we can also lift our feathers to let any trapped heat escape, like this.”

Samiha seemed to inflate a few inches in all directions, every feather stalk on her body ruffling to their fullest lengths. She looked so fluffy like that. On closer inspection, he could see that parts of her skin were visible when looked at from a certain angle, Cadell seeing flesh that was brown or possibly black.

“Weird. Kind of like airin’ yourself out. Like laundry,” Cadell noted.

“If that analogy helps you, water boy, then sure,” Samiha said, turning her beak up at him.

They soon returned to vandalising an old microwave appliance, which was there last object for the session, the lights turning a stark white after a few minutes. The door unlocked with a click, Cadell pulling it open as he lifted his goggles.

“Time’s up,” he said, gesturing for her to go first. Samiha found his chivalry amusing, grinning down at him as she left the room with him trailing after.

They returned their goggles, the receptionist thanking them as they left, stepping out onto the torus. Cadell wanted to rest his legs a little longer, so he and Samiha returned to the fountain again, finding it more deserted than before, with only a few scattered people walking past. The streetlights were likewise dampened, simulating the station’s equivalent of nighttime, though the bright artificial glow of the shops along the Strip were still shining strong. Maybe Solargate was hooked up to a different electrical grid.

“What’s the time?” Samiha asked, taking a seat along the fountain. She crossed one long leg over the other, one of her crow-like feet bobbing in the air.

Cadell checked his phone. “Nearly eleven.” He sat on her right, listening to the gentle bubble of the fountain behind him. “We should probably start headin’ back soon. Don’t want to miss the check-in.”

“I would have liked to explore more of this Solargate Strip,” Samiha said, glancing down the street. “A shame.”

“So, I take it you had a good time?” Cadell asked. “Not bad for our first time outside the quadrant. Thought we’d get lost for sure.”

“I won’t lie, I had my doubts,” Samiha said. “I expected this time away to be a punishment, I was counting down the seconds until we had to return. Now that we have to go back, I find myself doing the opposite. Strange.”

“Never judge a book by its cover?” Cadell suggested.

Samiha looked at him for a long moment, then laughed. That must have been the third or so time she’d laughed, which was three or four times more than he’d ever seen her lighten up. He found that he liked her laugh, it was a little like the call of a raven, but lighter, filled with the husky inflections of her odd accent.

“Thank you,” she added, her tone so low he almost didn’t hear her.

“Thank me?” Cadell asked. “For what?”

“For showing me my first enjoyable night on this damned station,” she added. “Even before Dur’shala’s invasion, I did not get much time for myself. Only now do I realise how much I needed it, and even if this whole night of ours only happened because of our misgivings, I don’t care.”

“I’m… glad to hear it,” Cadell replied, a little taken back by her sudden candour. “Do you really hate it here that much?” he asked, thinking of how she’d said that first part. Damned station.

“It… has its merits,” she admitted. “Perfect climate all day long, plus that breeze, it would be perfect for flying if there was room. But everything is steel and C-loys, it’s so…. artificial. It’s an incredible invention, I’m not denying that, so much of a world has been approximated in such a confined space, it is beyond impressive. But… I miss the warmth of my sun, the feeling of dust in the wind as it caresses me. The diversity of a planet’s terrain, a sky with brushed colours. Call these things mundane, but you cannot create any of that with iron alone.”

“It’s not mundane. I get where you’re comin’ from,” he replied. “I’m a colonist myself, I’m used to seeing trees and grass every which way you look. Prefer being planetside too.”

“Come,” Samiha said, standing up. “We should report in. Don’t want to the Kith’sla thinking we’ve run away.”

It took them half an hour’s walk before the gate of the quadrant finally rose into view down the slope of the torus. The two of them spoke little during the return, but the silence wasn’t like when they had first set off earlier that afternoon. Their dinner and exploring of the Solargate Strip had shaved away most of the hostility brewing between them, and they even found they had a few things in common. He didn’t know about Samiha, but Cadell wouldn’t say no to another free night like this one.

The same guard was there to greet them on their return, and after confirming their identifications, they were allowed to enter. The familiar layout of the base was far more navigable than the torus, but Cadell found himself longing for the entertainment of the ringworld already. He felt like he’d taken a vacation that had been cut short.

But the rigidity of the army was his life now, he had better get used to that fact.

-xXx-

“Where the bloody hell have you two been?” Hunter demanded, rising from his bunk as Cadell and Samiha strode inside the barracks. It seemed he, Kazlu and Kurtis were in the middle of a card game, playing well past lights-out, perhaps waiting for their return.

“We had a little… outing,” Cadell explained. “Kith’sla’s orders.”

He explained everything to them, about his and Samiha’s commute with Shaliyya, and how their ‘punishment’ for being so disruptive was to go out on the torus and make up. Cadell left out the part about his and Samiha’s argument in the showers, neglecting to mention her reagents entirely, passing it off as just another argument that tipped them over the edge.

Kurtis and Hunter seemed to buy that – they were used to seeing them butt heads. Kazlu’s reaction was different, and he thought she might suspect everything wasn’t all that it seemed. She’d probably ask Samiha for the truth in private, but he’d leave that up to Samiha’s discretion.

“So hang on a sec,” Hunter interrupted. “Shaliyya sees that you two don’t get along, so she scolds you by giving you a night off? Kazlu, you and I should start riffing on each other.”

“Interesting idea,” Kazlu chuckled. “How did you two... fare out there?” she asked them, her tone coming off as sceptical.

“We did not riff one another, as Hunter puts it,” Samiha explained, looking at the ground bashfully. “We fared… well enough.”

“I’ll say,” Kurtis added. “Rest of us don’t even know when we’ll get some shore leave. Tell us more about this Strip you saw.”

They did, time flowing by as they recounted their little adventure, Samiha adding the occasional note while Cadell spoke at length. Whether she was differing to him, or was just quiet by nature, he wasn’t too sure, but from the side of her he’d seen tonight, he’d bet it was the latter.

When he was finished, Cadell asked if anything had happened in the quadrant, but it seemed all had been quiet. Lieutenant Marek had come to ask of there whereabouts, and this troubled Cadell. Was he trying to find them, and get them dismissed? He imagined they wouldn’t have to wait long to find out.

Cadell didn’t think he’d sleep well with that knowledge in hand, but when the squad was all caught up and they decided to turn in, he slept like a babe, the events of the night drawing him into a deep rest.

-xXx-

The base’s facility-wide morning alarm blared its jarring tone, Cadell throwing the sheets aside as he swung his legs off the bunk. The rest of the squad was coming to, limbs and feathers stretching as they got dressed into their day uniforms. This was all routine to them, and after a couple minutes they were filling out the door as a group, the mess hall their unspoken direction.

As they turned the first corner, however, someone came the other way at the exact same time, the five of them bumping into eachother as they stopped to salute.

“At ease,” Marek said, Cadell relaxing his arm. “Private Cadell, recruit Samiha, I’d like to speak with you for a moment. The rest of you can go.”

He shared a worried glance with Samiha, her orange eyes dialling wide. The Lieutenant had never sort them out this early before, nor was he ever this specific. Cadell feared the worst.

There three friends idled around, perhaps wanting to hear what was going on, but a curt gesture from the Lieutenant later, and they were forced to dismiss themselves. Just before they turned the corner, Hunter dropped them a nod, which they both returned.

“I want to discuss about what happened yesterday afternoon,” Marek began. Cadell decide to pre-empt him.

“I take full responsibility, Sir,” he said. “I was in charge when we went into the sim, the failure’s square on my shoulders.”

“Thank you, Private. I appreciate your accountability, but that’s not what I’m here to ask,” Marek replied, Cadell blinking up at the slightly taller officer. “The both of you disappeared right after the simulation scores went public, and when I asked around, the Kith’sla said she authorised you to leave the quadrant. I want to know why.”

“She did not explain?” Samiha asked. Marek gave her a bored look.

“I wouldn’t be here if she had, recruit. Well?” he added, addressing Cadell. “She told me the both of you went to her office, what did you discuss?”

“We…” Cadell stammered, glancing at the alien. “Had some… cultural differences we needed to straighten out. Shaliyya agreed to see us.”

“That’s right,” Samiha added. “We needed her advice on some… interpersonal issues we’ve been having.”

“I see,” Marek said, straightening his collar. “If it’s a sensitive topic then I won’t pry, but I would have appreciated a heads-up before you left the quadrant without telling anyone. You didn’t bring these interpersonal issues out into the public, particularly while wearing the uniform, did you?”

“No, Sir,” Samiha and Cadell replied in unison.

“Outstanding. We’ll be doubling up on exercise regimes today, in case nobody told you. As you were.”

“Wait, Sir?” Cadell said before he turned away. “After the sim, you said you were done giving us orders. Does that mean you’ve…”

“Changed my mind?” Marek finished for him. “I haven’t, no. But the Kith’sla convinced me to let your squad have another chance. In four weeks’ time we’ll run the platoon through the sim again, and then we’ll see where we stand.”

“Thank you, Sir,” Cadell breathed. “You won’t regret it.”

“I’d better not, cause if I see you at the bottom of that board again…” He let that bit hang in the air, turning his gaze to Samiha. “Not even the Kith’sla’s words will save you. Take my advice and can whatever issues you two have, for your own sakes.”