to sleep four hours during high acceleration and four hours under normal acceleration so she would at least have some time to move about the ship or work out.

In the meantime, she brought up the plans for the new cargo ship Catie was designing.  She wanted to make sure that Catie and Ajda didn’t miss anything, and she wanted to be intimately familiar with the ship as she hoped to be flying it before the end of the year.

Chapter 5Academy Week One

At 0430 on Wednesday, the speakers blared out the song Wake Me Up while the instructors pounded on their doors, yelling, “You have five minutes to get dressed and into formation!”

“They have to be kidding,” Joanie moaned.

“I don’t think so,” Catie said.  She hopped off of her bed, already dressed and ready for the day.

“What did you do, sleep in your shipsuit?” Joanie asked.

“No, I got up at 0330,” Catie said.  “I’m usually good with four or five hours of sleep.  Now, hurry up.  You’ve only got four more minutes.”

Catie laid out Joanie’s uniform while Joanie made a quick trip to the bathroom.

“What’s that for?” Joanie asked as she pulled on her shipsuit.

“For after PT,” Catie said.

“Good thinking.”  Joanie put on her ballcap, and they both checked to make sure each other’s hair was in a proper bun.  The two girls made it out into the hallway and into formation with one minute to spare.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Get into step, Plebe Heartfelt!  One . . . two . . . three . . . four!”

“Keep pace!  Quit bunching up, one meter between you and the Plebe in front of you!”

“Quit hugging your neighbor!”

On and on, they marched, they ran, and they stood in formation.  They had to do push-ups in total sync.  Jumping jacks, one . . . two . . . one . . . two.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Ten minutes to shower and be back in formation in your uniform!”

“Move it!  Move it!  What are you waiting for?!”

They were marched to the cafeteria to have breakfast.  At least they were allowed to actually eat the food this time.  Then thirty minutes later, they were back in formation practicing rifle drills.

“Don’t hold it like a stick; it’s a weapon.  Treat it with respect!”

Do not drop your rifle!  Give me twenty push-ups!  Don’t lay your rifle on the ground!  Hand it to your squadmate!  Make that thirty push-ups!”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Form up!” the instructor yelled.  “Now, let’s see if you can march to class!”

They marched them to the big auditorium for yet another lecture on the history of Delphi Nation.

“They’re just doing this to keep us busy.  They can’t march us eighteen hours a day, so they make us go to these classes,” Catie thought.  She adjusted her specs and went back to working on the design for the StarMerchant.

◆ ◆ ◆

“I cannot believe it,” Joanie said.  “I’ll never get this all down.  We have to learn all these facts, and we have to make every move precisely.  I can’t even turn around correctly.”

“Sure you can,” Catie said.

“No I can’t, look.”  Joanie stood at attention then made an about-face.  “See, I know it’s wrong, but I can’t figure it out.”

“Try doing it slowly.”

“Why, they’ll just yell at me about that.”

“Just do it slowly until you get the coordination down.  Once you build up some muscle memory, you’ll be able to speed it up and have all the timing down.  We use that technique in martial arts all the time.”

“Oh, don’t tell me you have a black belt!”

“I don’t have any color belts, but I’ve been training for three years.”

“Doesn’t that mean you’re not very good?”

“No, it means my instructors don’t care about belts.  Now try it slowly.”

Joanie did the about-face slowly but still messed it up.  Catie messaged ADI, “Is there a video we can use?”

“Yes, Cer Catie, there is,” ADI replied.

“Can you adjust it so it maps itself to her body, and she sees where she messes up?”

“Yes, Cer Catie.  The video is ready,” ADI said.

“Download it to my Comm.”

“It’s under drills,” ADI said.  “I’ve added one for each of the moves you have to learn.”

“Thanks,” Catie messaged.

“Joanie, link Comms with me,” Catie said.  “Now watch the video.  I’ll have it play at half speed.”

“Cool, it looks like I’m in it,” Joanie said.

“Good, now match your moves to the video.”

“That was better,” Joanie said.  “I can see what I’m doing wrong.”

“Good, now keep practicing it.  I’ll move it to your Comm along with one for coming to attention from the at-ease position as well as going to at-ease from attention.  You can practice them for a while.  You’ve got some time before lights out.”

“Thanks, Alex,” Joanie said.

◆ ◆ ◆

“I only got yelled at half as much today as yesterday,” Joanie said as she and Catie entered their room for the night.

“Good.”

“Do you have a video for the rifle drills?  I can’t even come close to doing those right.”

“Sure, but what will we use as a rifle?”

“I can use the broom,” Joanie said.

“Sure, that’s an age-old tradition,” Catie said.

“I shared your video with some of the other girls,” Joanie said.  “I hope that’s alright.”

“No problem.  We want our squadron to do well, so we have to help everyone.”

“Even the guys?”

“Why not?”

“Some of them are kind of jerks!”

“I’m sure we’re all kind of jerks sometimes.  We’re all under a lot of stress.”

“Okay, then I’ll definitely share them with Joey.  He’s a real klutz.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Alright, this is your fitness test.  It is an individual event, so do your best.  First test is the run.  Segment yourselves by your expected time.  Those of you who think you’ll finish the five-K in less than twenty minutes come to the front!  Men, you have twenty-eight minutes to finish, women, you have thirty.”

Catie made her way to the front.  Only two other women came forward with her, along with ten guys.  Their squadron was sixty Plebes, and half were women.  Catie couldn’t believe that only three other women were expecting to finish under twenty minutes, it was only

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