Eventually I started to hear some clangs of metal then finally the pod leveled out and was opened.

“Holy shit kid… you have some lungs on you… Panic attack?” He asked.

“JUST GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF THIS THING!” I shouted back at him.

“Fucking hell one second… Just lean your head back so I can disconnect the helmet.” he grumbled.

I was starting to breathe a little easier knowing that I was going to be released shortly. I leaned my head back and I felt the weight shift again and the entire weight of the helmet was on my head again.

“Fuck we should have found you a larger pod… it’s not often but sometimes we have to send the larger guys to the base and use one designed for heavy infantry with kit…” He said.

“That… was a fucking option?” I asked in annoyance.

“Right, let's just get you out of there.” he said.

Eventually I was fully released and could finally stretch properly.

“Alright kid, your results will come via email in the next 72 hours.” He said and that was that, he left the room we were in.

“Fuck…” I said under my breath, I don't think I was in there for very long after the lights went out but that small pod messed with me in ways I just didn't expect.

I left the building and stepped into Arcology Structurter 23 on the 73 floor. I was at the top of this section's Arboretum with the next 7 floor above being storage, manufacturing, offices, housing, schools and so on. This section was my home, I lived most of my life here except for the occasional trip outside for school or the few times we visited other relatives across the North American continent.

I just didn't care about any of this however, I felt there was nothing to this life. Grow up.. have a family… see them grow up… then you die. It was a vicious cycle to the utter stagnation of humanity as a whole.

I wanted to join the military because I heard you got to go off planet and do things that mattered for the rest of humanity.

How did that ancient show Star Trek put it? 'to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before!'

That sounded far more interesting than this life, or at least I hoped so. I continued to walk aimlessly around the section I was in, just like my life aimless and devoid of meaning.

I had seen several different therapists over the years try and help. All of them drew blanks as to what exactly was causing my depression and anxiety. Other than basic therapy however my family could never afford more comprehensive methods. More than likely they could just scan my brain and say there's the problem and here's the fix…

I was never all that lucky to even have minor parts of my life work out. My mother died when I was just 2 and only had the vaguest half memory half dreams of her and pictures. My father passed away 3 years ago. He tried as well but he battled his own demons and one day finally lost. While my stepmother continued to provide the basics it wasn't really a relationship. I was more a person who was renting a room to her.

I had a few friends but as high school was finished they started to look elsewhere. Some continued on to higher education, or in the case of Amelia she got a scholarship to one of the Schools on Luna. I really had nothing left, just a hope that I could find some purpose to my life.

Stopping I just stood there in the middle of the path, thinking about my future or maybe lack thereof. Maybe I could go back to my bed and sleep, maybe I could just sleep the next three days away until I receive my report.

I was in the process of slowly walking back home when I received a small chime from my cell phone. That made me pause for a moment. What was I hoping to get a message from the Starfront Confederation saying I was accepted? In 20 minutes? Yeah right…

I still checked it anyway if it wasn't spam again that slipped by the fucking filters then it would likely be important.

Pulling up the most recent email I had received… it was from StarFront Confederation… and I was accepted into something called the Advanced Pilot program… I guess based on the response they didn't have many applicants complete the first mission in under 10 minutes. Maybe I could make something of my life…

I was instructed to report to the European Central command in Nuremberg which I think was in a place formerly called Germany. I was provided with instruction to report in 72 hours, I would be disqualified from any future service if I failed to show up by then. I was also provided a travel pass I could use on any of the public transportation systems to get to my destination. Last I was able to bring a single small duffle bag that contained any personal effects I would like to keep with me. Seeing that last part I realized how little I would be bringing. Even after the personal effects I for once in the past few years was actually feeling good about my potential future.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

I arrived at my shared house and found Susan, my stepmother just soaking up the digital world via an HD holographic system.

"Hey Susan" I said as I entered the apartment.

"Hey yourself, how did your thing go." She said but she seemed disinterested.

"Well I got accepted into something called the Advanced Pilot program, I'm not really sure what that is all about." I told her.

"Oh well congratulations are in order. Make something of your life out there. Don't let yourself become like me and only surf the web all hours of the day." She said and she seemed actually sincere about it.

"I hope to… this just isn't for me." I indicated around the room.

"Look I know I have not been the most attentive person in your life but you still do mean something to me. If you ever need to talk I'm around." She said again with an unexpected sincerity about her.

"I… thank you Susan." I said, then I went to my room.

I started to collect anything I figured I wanted to hold onto from my previous life. Which amounted to a few old fashion pictures of my parents and friends. An interesting small shell I found on the beach I went to years ago. A small notebook that was passed down through the generations, it was kept sealed in a mini-vault to help preserve the 200 year old item. An old sweater that was my fathers. My last item was a stuffed bunny that was a birthday gift from my mother before she passed away. Once I had everything I wanted collected I took one last look at my sterile room before closing the door then leaving the apartment.

The journey over to Nerumberg was a little over 6 hours with most of that time spent on the hyperloop. First to the Washington exchange then to the London exchange. I was eventually dropped off at an oversized Arcology maybe 3 miles tall.

My next shock was to discover that the entire Arcology was the European Central Command and that now I needed to find something called the SCAPO. Luckily in one of the main lobbies, kiosks were available for directions. As it turns out the SCAPO stood for Starfront Confederation Advanced Pilot Office… which is why I guess the acronym was important because some of these names were starting to get long...

That office alone had three dedicated sections starting at 200 and going to 230. Each i knew

could hold tens of thousands of people, how many of them were recruits like me… did I even stand a chance of getting anywhere?

I traveled up to the appropriate floor and was greeted by a Lobby with several workers manning the extra long desk or table. Each worker had a divider between them and their coworkers. They were taking in a constant stream of people, most of who were directed to follow a specific color line that was marked on the ground. I waited for all of 5 minutes as the group seemed to be efficient in processing people.

"Name Please" the man behind the desk asked me.

"Umm, Ethan Steele" I told him.

"Right let me look you up… ah here you are. It looks like you will be directed to… Epsilon Division?" He said in a confused manner.

"Umm please follow the black line, you will be provided a guide enroute." The man said, clearly confused.

"Umm right… thanks." I said and started following.

As I started to follow the black line in the corridors of the mega structure I was eventually greeted by a small green holographic light or mote.

"Hello Ethan Steele, I am your personal artificial intelligence assistant for your use while you are a member of the Starfront Confederation. You may call me Aegis." The chipper voice said to me.

"Wait what? Why do I need an AI assistant? That seems like absolute overkill." I said in confusion.

"We will get to that shortly but please allow me to direct you to your dorm." The disembodied Aegis said.

"Umm… lead the way I guess." I said. This was not what I was expecting in the least.

I followed the floating light through the corridors until we came to an unassuming door just like many others. The holographic mote sort of just passed through the door then it opened.

"This will be your temporary dormitory while you go through basic training." Aegis the AI said.

"Wow… this is better than my apartment I just left." I commented.

"Ah yes… the residents that normally stay here come from well to do families and the dorms in this section have been subsidized. I will add that you are not the first to notice the unexpected conditions." The AI continued to say, I was getting the impression that this thing sort of rambled.

"Okay… so I get my own private dorm and my own AI… again this seems like absolute overkill for a raw recruit." I said.

"This is true for general staff within the military as a whole. The SFAPO program however is in fact a very specialized program with much greater expectations than other areas of the general military." She said, I was getting a distinct femininity from this odd AI.

"Alright and you?" I asked still confused.

"Again I am Aegis, your personal AI assistant. I will be responsible for things like your schedule, monitoring your vitals, and many other personal tasks including assisting you in learning. I will also be acting as the primary interface for control systems." She said, I had no idea what a primary interface for a control system was but I guess I would learn sooner or later.

"Alright but what about you, you seem far more advanced than anything I have ever encountered before." I asked.

"Ah yes my basic network was modeled off an executive level AI assistant, do to the initial model's Natural Language Processing capacity." She said.

"Okay but you seem so advanced… again for someone like me…" I commented.

"If for some reason you fail in the next three weeks my data of you will be scrubbed and I will be reassigned. The only real loss would be the time incurred. I would like to also offer that I am the most advanced AI the Starfront Confederation is legally allowed to make any more. As to why that will be in your first history lesson starting tomorrow. For today I am recommending we go down to medical to receive a full health report and for you to eat a well balanced dinner and get a good night's rest." She said.