Table of Contents
Chapter 1 You Can’t Be Serious
Chapter 2 Getting Ready
Chapter 3 Academy – Day One
Chapter 4 The Paraxeans Move Forward
Chapter 5 Academy Week One
Chapter 6 Board Meeting – July 5th
Chapter 7 Two Weeks of Hell
Chapter 8 Finally, A Break
Chapter 9 Guatemala
Chapter 10 Board Meeting – August 2nd
Chapter 11 Final Exam
Chapter 12 Artemis Mission Prep
Chapter 13 First Week of Classes
Chapter 14 What About Earth?
Chapter 15 A Home at Last
Chapter 16 Board Meeting – September 6th
Chapter 17 Freeloaders
Chapter 18 Board Meeting – October 4th
Chapter 19 StarMerchant One
Chapter 20 Artemis
Chapter 21 We Ain’t No Communists
Chapter 22 Oh My Gosh
Acknowledgments
Delphi Publishing
Copyright © 2020 Robert D. Blanton Cover by Momir Borocki momir.borocki@gmail.com
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Printed in the United States of America First Printing, 2020.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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Chapter 1You Can’t Be Serious
“I can’t believe this!” Catie said. “You’re actually going to make me go to the Academy so you can go to Artemis?”
“No! You’re choosing to go to the Academy so you can captain a starship one day. Sam and I are going to Artemis to establish the first human colony in a different star system,” Marc, Catie’s father, said.
“I don’t need to go!”
“Yes you do,” Marc said calmly.
“Why?!” Catie demanded.
“Catie, you know I love you,” Marc’s brother, Blake said. “But you need to learn how to follow. You’re a natural leader, but like other natural leaders, you struggle when you’re not in charge.”
“I do not!”
“The Russian rescue mission and changing our acceleration profile on the Roebuck, are just two glaring examples.”
Catie gave Blake an angry glare, then plopped down on the sofa and turned away from everyone, trying her best not to cry.
“How long have you been planning to go to Artemis?” Blake asked. He and Marc had discovered a starship off the coast of Hawaii. With it, they had propelled Earth into the real space age. Now that age was about to include colonizing another planet.
“Not that long. It seemed like Sam wanted to do something different, like she was tired of being a lawyer, foreign minister, what not. She’s been managing the colonist training, and that’s making her happy. So I figured we should go with the colonists so she can continue her work.”
Samantha, Marc’s girlfriend, and company lawyer, just squeezed his arm to signal her appreciation.
“But how can you leave? You’re the President of Delphi, geez, you’re the freaking Monarch of Delphi!” Blake said.
“We have a prime minister now,” Marc said. “She’ll handle things. I’m in instant contact via the quantum relays, so the only real difference is I can’t make personal appearances. I think we’ll let you do those.”
“No way!”
“Come on,” Samantha said. “Jackie will love it. She gets to buy whatever gowns she wants, be the host of a nation for a night. It’s not like we have some event every week.”
“But . . .”
“Blake, it’s time for you to step up,” Marc said.
“I was just trying to figure out how to step out, now you want me to step up!”
“Just a little. Delphi holds, what, maybe two or three public events a year.”
“It was a lot more than that last year!” Blake said.
“But that was because Sam was promoting goodwill by leveraging Catie. Can’t do that while she’s at the Academy under an assumed identity.”
“Hey, I haven’t agreed to go yet!” Catie squeaked.
“We all know you’re going,” Samantha said. “Quit fighting it.”
“I’m going to have lunch with Jackie,” Blake said. “I’ll discuss it with her and let you know!”
With that, Blake stomped out of Marc’s cabin. He was trying to be mad, so he slammed the door behind him. He went to the hub and grabbed one of the Foxes to fly down to Delphi City. “What am I getting myself into,” he thought.
“Daddy, are you serious, you’re going to Artemis and leaving me here at the Academy?” Catie asked, reengaging in the conversation. She couldn’t believe her father would go someplace without her.
“This is what all my work has been about, why shouldn’t I go on the first colony mission?” Marc asked. “Sam and I can use a break.”
“A break! How is leading the first mission to colonize another planet a break?!” Catie asked.
“Hey, we’ll have about a year of focused work,” Marc said. “It will be without all this extra drama that comes with politics here on Earth. Besides, unless I step away, Prime Minister Nazeri will not have a chance to step up and really run Delphi Nation.”
“But you’re still going to be in the middle of all the big stuff, aren’t you?”
“Somewhat, but then I get to turn away from it and focus on the colony. And Sam gets to spend all her energy on the colony.”
“Whatever,” Catie said. “I have to go figure out what it means to go to the Academy. I sure hope Liz knows something.” Catie left the cabin in what could graciously be called a huff.
“Is she going to be okay?” Samantha asked.
“I’m sure she will be, the question is, will the Academy be okay,” Marc said.
◆ ◆ ◆
Catie went down the hall to the cabin she shared with Liz. They shared a cabin on Delphi Station and a condo in Delphi City. “At least we used to share them,” Catie thought.
“Liz!” Catie hollered as she opened the door.
“Hey, what did your father want?” Liz asked.
“He’s making me go to the Academy!”
“That’s great!”
“What do you mean?! It’s terrible!”
“Going to the Academy will be great for you.”
“But what about our company, designing our new ship, flying?!”
“That
