The night had been a blur. A mixture of pain and fatigue in conflict with each other. Too wounded to fall asleep, too tired to experience the full brunt of the pain. They were at breakfast now. He finished his plate of the usual slob without noticing its decrepit taste. The burning sensations on his back had overwhelmed his other senses. Even the worst of tribulations could have their upsides it seemed.
There was shouting followed by movement. A strong hand gently clasped around his shoulder. ‘Get up, Voss. Breakfast is over. It’s time to head out.’. It was Dane’s voice that spoke to him. Voss got up and followed him. The sergeant was yelling things at them, but he couldn’t quite follow what was being said. He felt Dane’s hand again; this time grabbing him by his thigh. ‘Just follow me and do what I do.’. He obliged to Dane’s command. He had no choice. He was barely aware of what was going on around him. Dazed by bandage covered open wounds that had turned his back into a field of trenches. Trenches much like the ones he had spent a full, blistering summer digging at a copper pit mine. One of several jobs he had had to pay for his way through college. He still remembered how badly his body had ached at the end of those long working days. Today he felt worse. The mine had been on its last legs when he had worked there, much like how he felt today.
A sharp pain awoke him from his daydream. A strong hand pinched him in his neck. ‘Pay attention.’ Dane whispered into his ear. They were entering a small classroom. Foldable chairs had been set up too close to each other between with no pathway between them. The recruits were forced to climb over them to take a seat and then sit shoulder to shoulder. Even despite each man's best attempt to take up as little space as possible, they didn’t quite fit in. The sergeant spoke: 'Today you're going to learn how to operate small void crafts such as void bikes. I don't think I have to explain to anyone here how important it is for all of you to know how to fly one?' Voss felt ten pairs of eyes turning into his direction in unison. He felt his face turn on an awkward, apologetic expression. Luckily, everyone's gazes turned away from his direction as quickly as they had turned to him, when the sergeant activated a projector drone and a health and safety video began playing. Voss didn’t pay attention. Not because of disinterest, but because the fatigue was catching up with him again. He dozed off; his head resting on Dane’s shoulder.
Dane poked Voss in the side with his elbow. The video had finished. The sergeant stood in front of the class and was explaining something. Voss tried to focus. The sergeant was giving them instructions on how to operate jet bikes. He only caught half of what the sergeant was saying. ‘Pushing the steering wheel forward will make the void bike go down.’ … ‘Be gentle on the throttle.’. He had heard those instructions before, coming from that damned lieutenant. That lying bitch of a woman with her stupid schemes. The lashes on his back cried out for vengeance on her. That he should get even with her. Find a way to turn her ambitions against herself and…’. He was crudely snapped out of his daydream when he almost fell over forwards due to every recruit around him getting up from their chairs. The sergeant's lecture was over. Time to head out.
Yet another long hike through cramped passageways. He didn't even bother anymore trying to estimate where they were based off of the differently coloured lines on the walls. They were led into an elevator that had seats with buckles. He looked at Jabs with a surprised look on his face.
Jabs shook his head at him and rolled his eyes. 'Pay attention, Voss. We're heading to the central axle.' he whispered, making sure the sergeant wouldn't hear them over the usual humming and buzzing noises that were constant within the spaceport. Voss hadn't even thought about it, but it made sense that the void simulators would be placed in the central axle. Unlike the rest of the spaceport, the central axle didn't rotate. This meant that there was no gravity, just like in the void. The elevator ride to get there was a gravitational rollercoaster. The acceleration and then deceleration combined with the slow disappearing of gravity meant they went from experiencing very high to almost non-existent gravity, back to high gravity in a manner of minutes. Then, when the elevator came to a full stop after braking harshly, they were suddenly weightless.
What followed was a short journey through a few long, straight corridors. Their weightlessness allowed them to fly through them at a brisk pace with minimal effort. Voss had half fallen asleep again when they reached the end of the final corridor. He realized just in time he was about to slam into a closed hatchway. He outstretched his arms and managed to prevent having his face catch the brunt of the force during his landing. Voss flipped himself around and got out of the way just in time for the recruit behind him to land smoothly on his legs. He looked up in the sergeant's direction and saw he was shaking his head in annoyance.
They had arrived at a large cylindrical hall. It was filled with a large amount of simulators of varying types. Voss spotted several void bike simulators next to a group of void ship simulators. Several other types of simulators stood further down the hall, but the dim lighting and fuzziness of his eyes prevented him from making out what type of simulators they were. The hall's sight reminded him of one of the slum's many gambling & arcade halls. Just as filthy, cramped and dodgy, only ten times bigger and with simulators placed all around the room's walls and ceiling. Voss held on tightly to a guard rail. The last thing he wanted was to accidentally drift off through the room.
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The sergeant told them to pair up and get training. Jabs grabbed Voss hand. ‘Hurry up and get on that bike, you idiot.’ Jabs whispered. Voss sprung into action and did as he was told. A void helmet was placed on his head and he was strapped tight onto the bike. A metal cylinder attached to the bottom of the bike then pushed it three meters into the air. The visor in his helmet turned on and suddenly he found himself floating through the void next to a derelict space vessel.
A voice sounded through his intercom. ‘Good morning, sunshine, can you hear me?’ It was Jabs. ‘You’re a lucky son of a bitch, Voss. You’ve got the Void’s most handsomest flight captain to guide you through today’s exercises. Please confirm you can hear me by serenading to me how much you love me.’
Voss chuckled. ‘Guide me through this thing and I’ll write you a whole love poem, captain Jabs.’
‘That’s what I like to hear, pilot. Now let’s get to it. Your first task is to make a nice parallel park next to the hole in the hull of that derelict ship. You get three chances. Each time you screw up, the program will reset. Fail three times and you’re out. So pay attention and don’t screw up because I want my love poem and I want you to read it out loud in the barrack in front of all the men. I’ll lash you myself if you deny me that pleasure.’
‘Ay ay, cap’n.’ Voss felt grateful for having Jabs as a captain. Jabs took his role very seriously and put a lot of effort in captaining him through the various sim missions he had to complete. Jabs’ lively, humoristic commentary, combined with the stimuli from the hyper realistic simulator, gave him such a rush that he managed to power through the fatigue and the pain for most of the hour that he was on the sim. Against all expectations, the missions went pretty smoothly and he was quite a good pilot after all. ‘Guess it helps when you don’t have to deal with some snakey lieutenant throwing you into life or death situations on your first flight.’ he thought to himself.
It wasn’t until he finished the final mission and his visor turned off, that the fatigue truly hit him again. The sim bike dropped back down to ground level. He got off and removed his helmet. He wiped the sweat from his brow and took a sip of water. These helmets were made to withstand the harsh conditions of the void. Inside the spaceport they acted like a sauna. He wiped the helmet and then gave it to Jabs.
The roles were now reversed. He had to captain Jabs through the same set of missions. He hadn’t noticed when he was on the bike, but captaining was an incredibly dull task. It didn’t help that he was buckled into a reclining seat, forcing him to lie on his wounded back. He was given a captain’s helmet and visor. It gave him a passenger’s view of Jabs’ void bike. A control panel had unfolded itself out of his chair, and now hung in front of him. The panel allowed him to select, start and reset missions. Most of the time, he was just a passenger, watching Jabs glide through the void and perform maneuvers. Voss was completely useless as a captain. Barely capable of staying awake despite the pain caused by the chair pressing into the wounds on his back. Voss didn’t get much done beyond pressing the start or reset buttons when Jabs gave him the signal. For the most part, Jabs was on his own as Voss drifted in and out of sleep.
He was woken by the tune his helmet played when it shut down. The sim program was finished. Jabs had completed his last mission. Voss hadn’t been aware how far along Jabs had been already. All he knew was that he had pressed start and reset a couple of times.
‘Thank you for giving me free reign during these missions, captain.’ Jabs said. ‘Nothing I hate more than some overbearing, meddling mission leader.’. Voss had no idea whether Jabs meant what he said, or if he merely said it in case the sergeant had been keeping tabs on their performances.
They were done with this block of training now. The sergeant yelled for them all to get back to the hatchway they had entered the room through. Voss took a final look around the room. He noticed how there was nobody there but them. Odd. Usually a place like this would have a bunch of instructors going around to guide the recruits. It reminded him of the conversation he had with Jabs and Dane last night. The spaceport did seem quite empty. Deserted almost. The sergeant interrupted Voss' thoughts when he gave them the whistle to move out.
The recruits duly followed him. Voss was glad when gravity returned to normal. Extreme fatigue mixed with weightlessness was not a combination that made a man feel well. The pain in his back made each step of the way feel excruciating. There were moments where he felt like giving up, but Dane was once again right besides him for the most part of their journey. He made sure Voss kept moving and stayed the course.
After what seemed like an endless march, the sergeant informed them their destination was right around the corner. The sergeant had spoken none too soon. Voss had been near giving up even despite Dane's best attempts. He felt several small trickles of blood running down his back from where his band-aids had come loose. A commotion ahead of him distracted him from his pain. Gasps and excrements of fear could be heard amongst the recruits. Around the corner were two auto-turrets. Both of which automatically aimed at them when they turned around the corner. The turrets were lined up on both sides of a blast door entrance. Two heavily armed guards walked out of the door to greet them. Above the door was a sign that said: “Arms and Ammunition”. They had arrived at the weapons bay. A wave of confusion swept through the recruits. ‘Weapons training?’ What did a bunch of mechanical recruits need weapon’s training for?