“Go!”
Catie settled herself into a pace that would have her finishing in just under twenty minutes. It wasn’t long before there were only two men ahead of her and one woman keeping pace beside her. Behind, she could hear the next group setting off. But this was her race, and she ignored everything and everyone as she focused on her breathing. The course went out along the airport, crossed the old runway, then headed back to the Academy grounds. As Catie rounded the final turn, she thought about doing a kick to the finish but decided against it. Under twenty minutes was one hundred percent on the men’s test, women who finish in twenty-five minutes were given a hundred percent. Catie had set a goal to get a perfect score on the fitness test, the men’s test.
“Thanks,” her running mate said as they crossed the finish line together. “I knew you would set the perfect pace.”
“You’re welcome,” Catie replied. She ran over to the instructor. “Plebe MacGregor requests permission to offer encouragement to her squadmates!”
“Permission granted.”
With that, Catie ran back up the course to help encourage those who were struggling. “Breathe, you can’t run on those little pants!” she yelled at two as she fell in beside them. “Kick your feet out, come on, you can do it!”
She fell back to the next group struggling to finish. “Come on, dig deep! Breathe, breathe. Don’t let the squadron down. Dig, dig. That’s better!” She paced them for a minute before falling back to the last group that was struggling to even run.
“Run, don’t walk. You’ll never make it like that. Come on, pick it up!” She set an easy pace for them and got them to at least attempt to run. But it was hopeless; they had already lost too much time.
They crossed the finish line in shame. The next squadron was getting ready to start out and was there to witness their shame.
“Those of you who did not make time, form up over here!” yelled the instructor.
Five men and six women, still gasping for breath, walked over and formed up as ordered.
“You are a disgrace! A child can run five-K faster than that! You have two weeks to improve your time, or you’ll be sent home. Do I make myself clear!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Now the rest of you, look at them. They are your mates. If they fail, you fail. You’ve been here a week. You’ve done PT every morning. Couldn’t you tell that they needed help? What are you? Selfish?”
“No, Sergeant Major!”
“Form up and march to the gym for the rest of your test!”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Alright. Line up here and grab a partner. Your partner will count your reps. They will only count reps that are correctly done. Do not give grace, or you will be asked to go home. The next test is push-ups. You have two minutes; you can rest if you have to. Men will do forty push-ups for a minimum score. Women will do thirty. Max score for men is seventy, for women sixty. Begin!”
Catie and Joanie had partnered up. Catie went first. “One, two, three, four, . . . and sixty! you’re done.” Catie kept going, counting the last ten herself while Joanie looked on dumbfounded.
“Why did you do seventy?!”
“I’m going for a perfect score,” Catie said.
“But sixty was perfect.”
“A perfect score for cadets, not women,” Catie said.
“Whatever, count for me.”
Joanie barely managed to get to thirty, resting twice while Catie counted down the time.
“Good job!”
“That almost killed me, and you did seventy.”
“I’ve been doing them almost every day for three years,” Catie said.
“You’re a masochist.”
“Next we have crunches! Your partner will hold your feet down and count for you. You have two minutes!”
Again, Catie went first; it didn’t take her long to knock off one hundred crunches, twenty over the max for women. Joanie did better this time, managing fifty crunches, ten more than the minimum.
“Now pullups. Two minutes, you can rest between them if you need to. Men you have to do ten minimum, women five. Max score is twenty, women yours is fifteen. Partner, make sure their chin clears the bar!”
Catie completed twenty in less than a minute, on the last one she built up some momentum and brought herself up until her waist was even with the bar. She paused and looked around. One of the other women in her squadron had completed her pullups and had done the same thing. She smiled at Catie as she swung back down. It was the same woman who had paced beside Catie during the run.
Joanie only managed to do four pullups. She strained for thirty seconds to try and get the last one in, but could not get her chin over the bar.
“Sorry, Joanie.”
“I’m sorry, I’m the one who failed.”
“Hey, you’ve got two weeks to get in shape and pass. I’ll help you.”
Chapter 6Board Meeting – July 5th
Marc entered the boardroom once everyone else had arrived. It was easy for him to do since his office was across the hall.
“I call this meeting to order. You’ll note that Catie is not here. She’s going to miss this meeting and the next one due to prior commitments. She’ll review the notes and send in her reports,” Marc said.
“Is she alright?” Fred asked.
“She’s fine, just overcommitted,” Marc said. “Now, I understand you have some good news for us about Delphi Station.”
“Yes, while everyone has been distracted with all the excitement over the last few months, we have completed the second and third ring for section two. They were attached over the last two weeks,” Fred said.
“Amazing, how come I didn’t hear about it?” Samantha asked. “They would have had to stop the station’s rotation, wouldn’t they?”
“Only section two’s rotation. The hubs are connected by magnetic bearings, so they rotate independently. Nobody is living in ring one, so other than a few lab people, no one was affected.”
“Thanks, that explains it. What are we going to do with all that space?” Samantha asked.
“It will
