He was by himself in his classroom, finishing up his student assessments. It had taken him years to convince his superiors that standardized tests alone weren’t enough and that they also had to rely on his judgment and insights. He took pride in the knowledge that his assessments would improve Fifth Branch’s efficiency and save lives.
The door behind him opened. Light, solitary footsteps entered the room.They stopped right behind him. ‘You’ve always had a bad habit of walking into rooms unannounced and uninvited, lieutenant.’
‘And you’ve always had a bad habit of having eyes in the back of your head. Besides, I don’t need your invitation, father.’
‘I told you to never address me like that, lieutenant. The walls in this place have ears and eyes. Do you want others to find out? They’d have both of us mine asteroids for the rest of our short lives if they ever found out.’
‘They won’t find out. There’s nobody here. Don’t be so paranoid.’
‘I don’t care. I won’t have you risk our lives like that. Use my name and rank at all times.’
The lieutenant rolled her eyes to the back of her head. She wondered if he could see that too. The man’s situational awareness had always been developed to an eerie degree.
‘Fine, whatever, sergeant Radklif.’. She walked around his desk and set herself down in a student chair in the front row of the class. She looked at him with defiance in her eyes, but he didn’t even look up at her.
‘Now to what do I owe the honor, lieutenant?’
‘Don’t play dumb with me. You know why I’m here.’
‘You’re a little too early then. I’m still finishing up the final reports. Feel free to stick around though. You’re always welcome in my classroom.’
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She made a dismissive gesture and gave him a sardonic smirk. ‘You know as well as I do that anyone who’s ever had to go through one of your courses would rather eat glass than spend one more minute in this soul leeching, joy crushing, ugly excuse for a classroom. Honestly, I don’t get how you managed to keep your sanity in here for all these years.’
His eyes didn’t leave the papers in front of him, scouring his assessments meticulously for any omitted details or redundant information. ‘It’s these conditions that ensure that the men and women who serve alongside you are properly stress tested and won’t crack when faced with the loneliness and spartan conditions that are the fate of any spacefarer. You’d do well to appreciate that a little more. Besides, I’m used to worse conditions than this room.
Her voice turned colder, barely masking the pent up resentment behind her words. ‘Is that why you were never there then? To prepare me for the loneliness of this existence?’
His voice and face remained neutral. His gaze was still directed at his work, making it impossible for her to assess the impact her words had made on him. ‘Why attempt to taunt me when you know why I couldn’t be there? Or would you rather had you and your mom got your citizenship stripped from you? Would you have preferred a life in the slums instead? What do you think would have happened to me if they had found out?
Be happy lieutenant Vanmire was willing to recognize you as his own.’ His voice softened as he spoke the final sentence. Broaching this topic had made him on guard again. The weight of that secret shone through in his voice.
She didn’t answer his questions. Instead she fired off a soft spoken retaliation at him. ‘I guess that’s one thing we have in common then. We both carry names that aren’t ours.’
He finally looked up towards her; closing the final report as he spoke. ‘I’m done. You can take my assessments and free yourself from the confines of this classroom and of my presence.’
She got up from her chair and walked over to grab the files from his outstretched hands. As she grabbed them, he looked straight at her with his piercing eyes. Oh how she hated those eyes. They never failed to make her feel small and weak. Like the little girl she was when he left them to join the Fifth. He spoke. His voice betrayed emotion for the first time. His voice sounded sad and almost… fatherly. ‘I hope one day we can speak freely to each other and without poison on our tongues or accusations in our eyes.’
She didn’t respond. Her hand trembled ever so slightly when she snatched the documents from his hands. She walked out of the classroom with great pace.