Frontier: Book One - The Space Cadets Read Online Free PDF Page B

in.
    They were guided to the assembly
room. Taking up an area on the outer wheel of the station, rotation
gave it a reasonably-comfortable simulation of gravity. It took
some trying to orient themselves correctly as they moved from
weightlessness into the spinning sections, and more than a few of
them fell over.
    “ You ’ ll
get used to it in time,” said a kindly-looking boy, maybe three
years older. He wore a black uniform which was tight-fitting,
almost like a bodysuit. It was highlighted with some red stripes.
On his chest, his nameplate read ‘ Smith ’ and bore a Canadian
flag. He nodded at Aisha as she wobbled on her feet, taking her
first steps like a toddler, and smiled slightly. Her heart
fluttered a little as she smiled back.
    “ You ’ re
blushing,” said Soo-Kyung. “Do you think he ’ s cute?”
    Aisha looked back to ensure he was
out of earshot. “If I have a weakness, it ’ s for sweetness,” she whispered. “Don ’ t care for the looks as much as the heart, and
sweetness is the taste of the heart.”
    “ You ’ re
such a poet!”
    Aisha smiled as they continued
walking.
    The assembly room was very normal
looking, a large area surrounding a raised dais.
    “ I wonder if we ’ ll have a school play,” she heard someone say, and
others snickered.
    When the final kid had entered, a
man in a dark uniform similar to the one Smith had worn took his
place on the stage.
    “ Welcome to the International
Space Academy,” he began, looking around the audience, making sure
their eyes were on him. “You have been selected from the best and
most suitable people on the planet to come here and to learn the
skills you need for the next phase of mankind ’ s civilization.”
    He stopped, taking in the room.
“Good, now that I have your attention, I want this to sink in. This
is quite unlike any other school you might have been to, and quite
unlike the videos used to tell people back home what we do. We
don ’ t call it an Academy for
nothing. It ’ s not a floating playground.
Military-like discipline is enforced at all times, and you are
expected to obey everything without question. Let me repeat that. Without question .”
    A few mutters went around the
room, and eyes began to drift away from him as the murmurs
increased.
    “ If you don ’ t like it, you are welcome to go
home, ” he said
firmly. “ But
realize that sending a shuttle back to Earth is far more expensive
than bringing you up here on the Space Elevator. That makes it a
one-way journey. Once you ’ re out, you never come back. Is
that clear? ”
    A few, including Aisha
nodded.
    “ I can ’ t
hear you! I said, ‘Is that clear?’”
    Some shouted out ‘ Yes ’ , but still the man
wasn ’ t satisfied.
    “ From now on, the first and last
word out of your mouth when you address me is ‘ Sir ’ . Now, I will ask one
more time. Is that clear?”
    “ Sir, yes, Sir!”
    “ Better. Now let me help you
understand one more thing. This Academy was built with discipline
in mind. The first few years of students were handpicked from the
greatest academies on the planet, and they fit right in. You, on
the other hand, are a product of open enrollment , a process
put in place by those liberal idiots in the U.N. who thought that
space should be an opportunity that is open to all. Most of you
have been molly coddled in your high schools. That ends
now.”
    He looked around the room,
nostrils flaring, disdain in every ounce of his being. “Someday
space will be open to the average civilian, but that day is not
today. So you are here, as the type of people I do not want.
But I am stuck with you. So you will do what I order you to
do in this place. And you will succeed. Or, you can do
things the namby-pamby way they do them back home, and
you ’ ll find yourself on the next shuttle
out of here. If you ’ re lucky.”
    His eye caught
Aisha ’ s and his
gaze dwelled on her. “ You might think you ’ re special because
you ’ re here.