Athena Lee Chronicles 0: The Lost Pilot Read Online Free PDF Page A

The goal was to teach us to expect the unexpected and how to quickly and correctly react to it. Upon completing the course, each fighter was stripped down and checked for damage and wear. The ships were then rebuilt and reprogrammed. All of this was done by us, the cadets. This lesson was all about self-sufficiency. Everything that we did contained a lesson. Some good some bad. Some of these lessons had casualties.
     
    My brother Anthony was one of those that had suffered. Now that 'The Program' was in its fifth year, genetically programmed growth spurts had kicked in. We went from being the size of normal-five-year-olds to that of 18-year-olds in a matter of months. The Doctors that were part of the system informed us that we would have one more growth spurt at age eight, which would 'set' our basic shape permanently. To me this made a whole lot of sense. Space suits pretty much came in one or two basic sizes. How would we find new suits if we grew older normally? It dawned on us that the Program administrators had been waiting on us to finish our training. We all needed to be bigger to fly the ships.
     
    The first thing we had to learn was how to properly wear a space suit. Each piece of the suit served a specific purpose. Leave one off, even by accident, and there could be a tragedy. Poor Anthony was one such loss. Underneath the suit, each person was supposed to wear three specific layers of jumpsuit. A basic gauze-like body suit that allowed the body to breathe and keep us cool. The second layer was similar to a sensor suit that a VR participant might wear; it read your bodies responses to heat, cold, and other external stimuli. The third layer was a cross between nomex and neoprene. This layer protected from fire and cold. The layers needed to be worn in that specific order. Over them was the newest state-of-the-art space suit. These were made from a new lightweight metallic compound that had been discovered in the asteroid belt. Not found on Earth, Rigveda was easily mined and the UN used it to build practically everything. Putting on these suits in regular gravity they were no heavier than that of a old fashioned rubber diving suit. As one complete unit the suit kept you at an even temperature at all times. One of the things that had been stressed to all of us was to follow procedure when putting on all the layers. Anthony taught us all to remember that lesson.
     
    'Attention. Attention. This is not a drill! This is not a drill!'
     
    'There is a pressure leak on Level Three. There is a pressure leak on Level Three.'
     
    At the first words over the speaker we all sprang into action as we had drilled for years. Counting in my head, I put the layers on in numerical order. All of our hard suits were racked in power ports along the walls. As we climbed into the suits we could see and hear the leak as it became a torrent. With a loud whistling and roar the bulkhead gave way sucking us all into space. Using our training we began linking our suits together making chains using the built in secure cables on our belts. As we linked up I looked over at Anthony to check his cable connection. I could see sweat beading up on his face, his faceplate fogging up. I pulled myself along the cable and grabbed hold of his arm. I put my helmet next to his to better communicate.
     
    "Anthony! Are you OK?" His eyes were wide and his face was growing red. He shook his head at me and tried to speak. For some reason his communication system wasn't functioning. I checked his suit, front and back as quickly as I could. Not seeing anything wrong, I pulled out a communication line and connected it directly to his suit.
     
    "Anthony can you hear me now?" Silence. There was a faint scratching noise and lots of static. I looked up at my brother. His eyes were now very wide almost wild. His face was bright red and he was starting to gasp as if he was out of breath. I checked his readouts. Everything appeared to be normal with his suit. He had