And here at last! The second chapter of Drifters: Origins as a special thanks to everyone for the number of followers on my Facebook page reaching 55! The next chapter will be revealed at 70! Can you spread the word and get just 14 more people to follow the page to unlock it? I bet you could if you try!
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June was in no hurry as she strolled toward the doors. Occasionally she could feel a fellow cadet brush against her massive fourteen-foot-long tail as it floated behind her in a corkscrew-like fashion. She would normally follow the usual rules of hallway etiquette and walk near the right wall when going slower than the flow of traffic but didn’t see the point when everyone was going in the same direction.
She glanced down at them and took some small pride in the thought that if any cadet did try to force her out of their way, she was as an immovable object. A smile crept onto her face as she toyed with the thought of plowing through the crowds like an over five-hundred-pound freight train. The smile quickly faded as her mind took to more serious matters.
Other than Cosmos, I might be the only obvious mod in the entire academy system. I guess it’s comforting … June’s ear twitched at hearing deliberately soft, padded footsteps. ... and amusing that she thinks she can sneak along behind me. She glanced back at Cosmos, who was deliberating on the best way to navigate around such a massive tail without running into anyone. June carefully shifted her tail out of Cosmos’ path.
“Going my way?” asked Cosmos over the din of the crowd as she got up beside June. “I thought it would be best if we mods stuck together as much as we can. We could be each other’s only source of support until we make some more friends. Where are you headed?”
“My schedule says Barracks G, Bunk 2, Room 1.”
“Well, that’s convenient. We’re roommates.”
“It looks like sticking together won’t be very difficult then. I guess they decided you need a larger bunk to accommodate those wings of yours,” mused June.
“I take it they gave us one of the bunks reserved for Rhynos exchange cadets then?” Cosmos smirked. “I don’t see you fitting on anything else.”
June chuckled. “I imagine so. I can’t think of another race that’s close to my size.”
“Well, then. I’ll take the top bunk, if you don’t mind. I don’t want to wake up every morning to that hanging down in my face,” Cosmos said with a glance at the coil of June’s tail behind them.
June grinned. “That’s a good idea, or I might accidentally coil my tail up on the lower bunk.”
Cosmos put on a malicious smirk. “Watch it, I bite … Then again, it might be nice to snuggle with on those cold, cold nights.” She held her arms against her chest and made a mock shiver.
June tensed and glanced at Cosmos with a raised eyebrow. “I’ll take that lower bunk.”
Cosmos had just begun to laugh when the sound of someone clearing their throat loudly behind them caught their attention.
“Don’t you know how to walk, sideshows? You’re holding things up,” snapped a brown-and-orange-furred tabby Feline condescendingly.
June and Cosmos glanced off distantly for a moment as what they just heard sank in. Well, thought June, I’m used to being stared at curiously, gawked at, or having a barrage of questions thrown at me ... But this? At least most people are polite enough to act like they aren’t looking ...
Cosmos glanced back at the Cat and her group of fellow-feline followers with a pleasant, yet slightly frightening smile. “There’s plenty of room to go around.”
June did her best to smile good naturedly as she looked back over her shoulder at the individual.
“I thought you freaks were supposed to be in side-shows to entertain people and not in the military,” spat the Cat as her brown eyes locked onto June’s.
Despite her smaller than normal stature, the tabby-patterned Cat stared up at June as though her appearance would somehow frighten the giant. Around her stood three other female Cats who were using their glares to bolster the presence of their leader while the crowd continued to part around them.
Cosmos studied the clique of Cats and looked unimpressed as a smile slowly formed on her face. “Well, it’s only fitting that we would be here,” she said in the sarcastic way that an adult may answer an annoying child who asks too many questions.
“Oh? And why’s that?” challenged the Cat.
Cosmos held up her hands in front of her chest and brought them together while her smile turned into a full grin. “Mods like us were altered to be living weapons and can do allll sorts of things to annoying people that say rude things to us. Going into the military is a natural fit.”
June couldn’t help but grin in an almost stupidly happy manner at the sudden change in the expressions of the Cats. All at once, they lost their nerve, and their defiant looks changed to almost petrified fear as the tabby bolted into the crowd.
Her grin gave way to a mild laugh as she watched the other Cats dart into the crowd after their leader. “Wow! I’ll have to remember that for the next time I encounter someone like that,” she said, with a touch of envy in her voice.
“Well, let’s get walking before that happens again,” stated Cosmos before grinning and adding, “I’m fighting the sudden urge to stretch my wings out.”
June laughed as they continued their leisurely pace and drifted into pleasant conversation, as much as they could amidst the noise. Then, without warning, June slowed to a stop while looking out above the crowd curiously.
Cosmos came to a stop as well and looked up at June. “What’s going on?” she asked.
June said nothing but let the answer speak for itself as the clique of Cats came into Cosmos’s view. They fought against the flow of cadets headed toward the elevators to reach them just as desperately as they had escaped into it. The struggle continued until they found themselves standing before the two mods, neither of which knew what to think of the panicked expressions of the four Cats.
“I’m sooo sorry for how I acted. I mean, it’s not like you chose to be altered. You’re victims in that, and I shouldn’t attack you for it. Please forgive me?” pleaded the tabby-colored Cat as the other three nodded profusely in agreement.
The two mods shared a vacant look with one another before they turned their attention back to the Cats. Their brains attempted to process what was going on but could find nothing that would explain it. June felt no animosity or anger toward them despite their previous behavior, and as she looked at their desperate eyes, the only thing she felt was a strange sense of pity.
“It’s … okay,” she said in the most reassuring tone she could manage in her confused state.
Cosmos nodded in agreement, and a sudden look of relief swept over the Cats as though some prison sentence had just been commuted. Without saying anything further, they bolted into the crowd once more and fought past the lines for the nearest elevators in their drive to escape.
Cosmos held up a questioning finger and looked up at June for confirmation as she asked, “I didn’t frighten them that much, did I?”
“If so, I don’t think they deserve to be in the military. It must have been something else ...” June shook her head and tried to bring her mind around to other matters. “So, what do you think of Tarvin and Timpt planning to meet?”
Cosmos grinned as they started walking again. “I can’t wait to see what he’s up to. That little sneak has got me curious ... and I’d like to see just what he knows about me. I got the feeling there was some things he left out. What about you? You know Tarvin, right?”
June nodded and glanced off with a distant expression. “It’s been years though ... Not since ... Well, I was a lot shorter then.” She grinned.
Cosmos gave June a sarcastic smirk. “You short? I can’t picture it.”
“And with a normal tail too!”
Cosmos gasped. “You mean you didn’t always look giant and intimidating?!”
June laughed as they got in line for the elevator. “No, I used to look small and normal.”
She looked up at the ceiling and smiled. “That didn’t last too long.”
“What, sometime after you and Tarvin met? Where was it?”
“I don’t think he would mind my telling it, but how about we wait until we get to our room?”
“Alright,” said Cosmos as she glanced at the elevators. “It looks like they set all the cars to express-up. I can hear the empty cars racing back around in the auxiliary shafts as fast as they depart.”
“It won’t be too long of a wait,” replied June as she watched the four elevator doors. She pressed a button on her watch and glanced at its display. “Looks like this next one on the left will be ours.”
When the elevator doors opened, June made her way to the side of the car and uncoiled her tail, positioning it so it ran a bit to the left and then up the wall along the ceiling of the car. Cosmos tucked her wings tightly against her back and looked up at June’s tail with an amused expression.
June couldn’t help but notice the looks of the other cadets as they crowded in around her and Cosmos. She smiled as one blinked rapidly at them and then politely looked away while trying to steal a glance. Another stared blankly as she traced June’s tail with her eyes. One simply stared at Cosmos’ wings, while another stared angrily at June’s tail as though it were responsible for how crowded the elevator had become. Hm. Gawker and an angry stare. I don’t often get two of those at once.
Everyone in the car could feel their stomachs shift slightly as they rocketed up past the floors. Displays above the doors listed the current floor and each destination floor before the car shifted to another shaft and began its journey down.
“Looks like we’ve got the third stop,” muttered June as she felt a hand press against her tail. She glanced at the cadet who immediately looked away in an attempt to hide a guilty expression.
When they arrived at their stop, June wasted no time in slipping out through the exit doors at the rear of the elevator and just barely managed to get her tail clear before the doors closed. She moved to the side of the hall as people went by and carefully brought her tail back into its usual corkscrew orientation to make it more compact.
“That was close,” said Cosmos with a smirk. “Have you ever gotten your tail caught in a door?”
“More times than I’d like to count,” mumbled June. She started walking at a brisk pace down the hall. She glanced at the signs on the walls that indicated which barracks the two flanking doors would lead into. “Let’s get to the barracks. I’d like to see what our room is like.”
Cosmos grinned. “Are you excited? It’s not that special.”
“Well, I know. But it’s like the start of a new life. I’ve been looking forward to something like this for years.”
“Something like what?”
“Being useful ... I have all these skills and talents ... And size ... They have to be good for something, right? They’re certainly not a good fit for civilian life.”
“You mean it’s too dull, don’t you?” Cosmos grinned. “I can relate.”
“Hm,” uttered June thoughtfully.
Cosmos fell silent and glanced off quietly as they continued to walk.
= = = = = = = = = = = =
June looked ahead at the wall situated between two doors. “G2.” She grinned. “This is it.”
“You’re adorable,” remarked Cosmos with an amused smile. “Trust me. Military barracks are nothing special.”
June shrugged as she strolled toward the door labeled “Enter” and went quickly through as soon as it opened. She walked down the hallway and stopped when she reached an open common area with tables, chairs, and rows of doors down each side. A smile formed on her face as she examined the monitors along the front wall and turned to face the greenspace situated between the exit and entrance hallways. “Hm. Do you think other races find it strange that we build these into everything?”
Cosmos shrugged. “Probably not. It’s the only way most of us have to get time in the equivalent of sunlight to get the vitamins we need on a planet that’s so crowded. Besides, most long-voyage ships have something like them no matter what race built them.” A knowing smirk formed on her face. “I don’t think anyone would give them much thought unless they’re not used to living in a place that has them.”
“Um ... Hey,” blurted June. “Shouldn’t we get unpacked before the bunk captain comes in? I’ve heard something about it being a good idea to do that.”
Cosmos chuckled as June darted off eagerly toward their room. Cosmos had to restrain herself to avoid laughing out loud at how June seemed to do a double-take once she opened the door. She walked over to June, making no effort to hide her smug grin, and peeked in past June. “Not what you’re used to?”
“No, ugh ...” June coughed and quickly walked in.
Cosmos laughed. “Just be glad we’re in an academy for officer training. Groups of forty cadets get crammed into rooms the size of the common area in boot camps. Their living quarters aren’t much better when they’re in the service, come to think of it.”
June’s ears shot forward and her eyes widened as she stared back into the common area. She shook her head and blinked. “Let’s get unpacked.”
June's journey is just beginning, and soon the different threads of the story will begin coming together!
As an update, "Drifters: Origins" is nearly through the editing process! Only a few things remain before it's handed back to the editor to review revisions!
Enjoy and read on as the new scifi universe is revealed with each chapter!
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