Alexis takes the communal transport to the regional long-range Magtube transport. She has never been here and while she is use to the bustle of the community lines this is on a whole different scale. The structure is huge with at least eight levels and a center open rotunda made of stone blocks from what she can see of it. There are banners extorting the greatness of the Party along the walls and dangling in the middle from the roof in garnish colors. A voice drones on what is arriving and departing. There is a flow of humanity along the walkways, their clothes colors telling their place in the great society. Her own yellow is not unique and she can guess there is a school’s worth of them here. The station is not that clean due to the constant moving in and out of people and she walks past a man in gray trying to sweep up debris with people walking around him. There are many seats that look worn from use and abuse, most with being occupied by others when she arrives.

It takes a bit of walking to get to a terminal to find out where she is to go. Waiting she notices a political officer waiting also for the same convenience. He wears the standard clothes she sees them wear on infoshows. The man chats politely with a few people but most leave him be with his red suited security guards watching them. She has to wait in a long line for a while before getting to a computer terminal. Inputting her number, it comes up with a level and magtrain, to take along with estimated time for her to travel.

Alexis has to go down to the lowest level. Down here she first notices many pallets loaded with cargo. The number of them lined up amazes the young woman. Along the roof of this level are pipes in various colors and all look old with a few dripping. Then the smell hits her and she gags.

A woman in gray chuckles, “Never been down here before have you sweetie?”

Alexis looks to the laborer, “No, never.”

“Well you can wait over there.” She points a gloved hand to some very worn seats. “Of course its right next to the rank filters.”

“Rank filters?” She asks showing her ignorance and even to some more dangerous, curiosity.

“Its what gives us our lovely aroma down here. Keeps out the troublemaker. Their lofty noses can’t stand real work smell.” The woman pats her on the shoulder. “Good travel kid.”

“Where can I wait where it does not smell?”

“Good question.” The glove points to a door with a sign saying ‘no admittance’ on it. “In there is a room out of the smell.”

Alexis looks to the door, “Are you sure?”

The woman laughs, “Yes but then the boys in there might want to, well, talk with you.” She pats Alexis on the back and walks off.

The short woman is confused and finds a seat. She mutters to herself, “Strange sense of humor.” Looking at her dataslate she finds she has plenty of time and flipping through some of the ship schematics studying while she waits. The smell of the place at first is distracting but after a while she forgets all about it.

Flipping though the data she notices the coding of colors for pipes and looks up. The colors are dilapidated but she thinks she knows what each one is and what is leaking. She decides to avoid the leaks from the brown pipes from now on.

A loud klaxon brings her out of her studies. She looks around to see the pallets being loaded. Many of the people who were around here have already loaded on to the train.

Second thoughts hit Alexis. Never before has she gone so far from her father. No one is around to help her take the step, but she does after hesitation.

There are not to many people in the magtrain. Most are dressed in grays of laborers. The cargo being loaded is too loud for anyone to talk. In time the sound stops and a speaker warns they are about to leave. Alexis has some butterflies that only increase as the train lifts up and begins to pick up speed.

The train speeds along at over 250 kilometers an hour over the tracks. The government had removed the private ownership of most motorized vehicles long ago so almost everyone uses the public transportation network. The labels inside the train says they are often rotated out for repairs and upkeep when needed, but Alexis thinks this one should have gone in long before her ride on it.

As the trip starts she looks at her fellow travelers more. Her one dataslate looks almost insignificant compared to the luggage most of them have. She is surprised one man has six crates with him.

As the trip progresses people leave and come on. She tries to read but has trouble with the constant changing of scenery. For a while she is squeezed between two large women in green colored dresses chatting over her head about fashion. Various broadcasts drone on from the speakers during her trip. She phases out the speakers after the first hour. The people around her change as the magtrain hits various stop but it almost always half to near full load.

It takes much of the day to get to the People’s Flight Center.

Alexis finds the airport station is nicer then the one she left. She has to squeeze past some of the people who are talking on the platform to get to the computer terminals. An input of her number informs her where her flight will be and how long a wait she has, which is around 2 hours. This gives her some time and after all the reading she decides to look around.

Going out to one of the food courts she gets to see a sight that makes her look like a tourist. One of the walls is an array of glass panels that lets the people see out to the tarmac. Out there is a show of the technological marvels that allow the people’s nation to own the sky. The aircrafts in sight range from a rare helium airship to one of the most advanced orbital shuttles. Perspective on some of the vehicles comes to her when she notices the movement of tiny figures going around the huge machines.

While there she gets a balanced meal at a vending machine, 3 pills and filler bar, to tide her over. A flavor drink refreshes her from the long time waiting. There is a relieving station she visits afterward. All the traveling made her need it.

Alexis takes a long walk in the airport. She finds the architecture changes as she goes with some sections looking newer then others. There are rows of seats with many bored looking people from all classes, but very few are in gray here unless they are working. She avoids knots of people that are coming in or leaving from boarding. Finally she arrives at the one she is to use and finds a lot of other people in yellow clothes.

She checks in with the clerk to make sure. Alexis gives her number to the man.

The man types in her information. “Yes you along with the rest here are on the flight.”

She looks around at the mass of people, “All of us?”

“That is what it says. The flight will be loading shortly.” The clerk goes back to the computer ignoring Alexis.

The woman goes over to the side feeling the clerk’s dismissal as a bit abrupt and cold. She swirls her hair with her right finger as she does a bit of people watching. Citizens of the great society come and go with a crowd there, looking at each other and a few talking to each other politely.

The flight finally starts to load and is a welcome relief to the knot in her stomach. She was worried over someone coming up and saying her application has been revoked.

The craft they board is one of the larger ones with two decks and could hold 400 citizens. It has rows of seats and red lighting to see by. There are no windows for a view outside that Alexis would have wanted.

Seating is not without some issues as two citizens argue over a seat but one woman with a brown shirt tells them to sit tapping a baton in her hand. Alexis quickly takes a seat not wanting to cause trouble. The back of her mind gives off some memory she is unable to grasp before it is gone again.

The sub-orbital flight takes time to travel to wherever she and the rest of them are going. Looking around there are all sorts of people sharing the seats with her many as young as she is but there are some older. Introductions are slow with a few people being friendlier then others following suit.

Alexis giggles as one person has a last name. Those are considered non-conformist putting heritage or family over state. She wonders how that guy got in to the program with her and the others. Her mother almost gave her a last name and she is glad that didn’t happen.

No one gives out drinks or meals as the people fly causing a few to complain. Alexis takes a nap while in the air, without windows there is no sense of time.

The warning alarm goes off waking Alexis. It is almost time to land and the feeling of going down becomes annoying to her while she is still groggy. Her ears feel full and almost painful. A look around and Alexis sees others also suffering from this ailment. The landing is smooth but does seem to go on for a long time.

Disembarking starts after the doors open. The short woman has to wait as they slowly file out and taller people block her view of the exit.

Going to the door of the sub-orbital vessel Alexis’s first sensation of the new location is from her nose. A dry heat with hints of dust and aroma of jet fuel mingles in the air.

Her eyes have to adjust when she gets to the exit. The sun’s harsh glare is unlike anywhere she has been before. The open sky is cloudless and the sun is high. Looking around there is only tarmac, air vehicles, crowds of people moving around, and over fifty odd-looking towers off in the distance.

Filing down the metal-wheeled ramp Alexis and the rest are separated by a person in light blue uniform who is taking their names and marks a dataslate. She points to one of two groupings for Alexis to go to.

Looking for more as she goes there the short woman notices a few minor details but nothing to give her more hints of what is to come. Two gray-clad workers sit in the shade under the ramp ignoring them. The tarmac is hot from the heat of the day and the use of the shuttle that flew them here and there is kilometers of it all around with other shuttles offloading and on loading people.

One of the light blue uniformed people comes by with a dataslate. “You are?”

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“Alexis 0501.4117.4117.1336.” rolls off rapidly from her tongue.

The woman nods after a moment. “We need you to sign a few forms.”

“Couldn’t I have been given them before I got here?” She blurts out.

The woman offers Alexis the dataslate, “Sign where needed.” The short woman grimaces and starts to read it. The woman in blue asks, “What are you doing?”

“Reading what I am signing my name to.”

The heat beats down as she is scrolling through the information trying to get what some of it means. After five minutes the woman just takes it away.

“Hey what?”

“You can sign it later. You are delaying me to much.”

She goes over to another informing him he has to sign. Unlike Alexis he barely reads any before putting his mark. This continues on as Alexis watches but the woman never comes back to her puzzling her as to what that was that is being signed.

The numbers of people keep swelling as they swelter in the heat. Alexis is one of the first who sits down on the tarmac. She is not that physical fit but some of the others are even less so and by the time sunset arrives few are standing.

A few people come over from another tarmac with help of lighting carried by some more of the blue clad teachers. A murmur comes around as someone says they are to follow and Alexis finds herself slow to try to rise. She is thankful when a scrawny girl who was in the last vessel to come in helps her up. Alexis hopes she does not look as bad as a few of them. A chipper voice tells the group to follow him. The area has no lighting other then the night sky and some lanterns the people in light blue uniforms hold leading the way.

With the sun down the heat is less oppressive but for many the damage was done. The walk of four kilometers is rough on them. At least four people have to be helped along from the heat and dehydration.

They wait outside of one of the towers as a speaker comes on with a male voice, “Testing… Is this working? Good.” It sounds like he was checking with someone else before he continues. “Welcome citizens to the Salt Flats Training Facility number twenty-eight simulator. This building you see before you is much more then just a structure. It is a copy of the RX-34 Cold Ship you will be on number… 4,671 the Classless Society. The training will take three months and then you will go on your voyage for an estimated 320 solar cycles before returning. I can not say what you will find when you go out there in to space but my job and those of the trainers is to ready you for your voyage. You might think these do not look so big as what you’re supposed to be on and you would be correct. While they are only 25 stories tall they also go down 30 more floors underground simulating the areas you can work on or be in. You might wonder why you are not being trained in space. The simple fact is your going to be under power and there will be gravity in the way this training structure is placed. There will also be a core of highly-trained crew that will do a number of processes you will not have time to learn and they are trained for zero gravity operations. Of course this means you will be worked hard and once your training is complete you will be shipped up already on ice to the vessel for your amazing adventure. I wish you luck in your training. To space citizens of our glorious nation, that is where you will be going!”

The talk invigorates the group from the heat-induced lethargy. Alexis feels her own back straighten feeling proud to be given this chance to serve the country.

Alexis enters with the rest of them in a ragged line and finds it is a hatch that on the inside is labeled as an Airlock. It takes time for them all to get through and unlike the real ship both doors to the Airlock system are open at the same time. Colored pipes going along all the walls and roof as she walks in to the training building. The antiseptic smell tickles her nose and one person behind her sneezes. Filing in Alexis finds they use only stairs as the real ships does, there is a lot of groans over this. She finds it hard herself after being out in the sun and with a bad ankle to climb down the levels to the bunk area.

A female trainer smiles as she gets to one level that should not exist by the dataslate Alexis has in her hand. The ship itself has only 10 cabins for crew deep inside to protect them. “Your number citizen?”

Alexis answers, “0501.4117.4117.1336 teacher.”

The woman, “You will be in room level 2 cabin E.”

Alexis nods, “2… E… and that is?”

“One floor down and a few doors over from the stairs.”

She signs and shakes her head, “Another set of stairs.”

The room she is given is a side compartment with three others. There are two other females and a male. The government long ago removed all restrictions on mixing the sexes, as that was one of the most basic forms of discrimination Capitalists use.

The room is setup like a ship’s cabin. There are two bunk bed style setups along one wall and the other has two workstations and some cabinets. The cabinets hold clothes already labeled and date packaged foodstuff. The bunk beds themselves also can be folded to the wall giving the very tight confines more room to move in. One of the few differences of this not being a real ship is it has a bathroom going off one way giving all four of them one to use. The main ship has a communal bathroom.

The first person to greet her is the scrawny girl that was outside. “I am Opio 6013.0012.6573.0000.” She has a smile plastered to her face.

“Alexis 0501.4117.4117.1336, but you can call me Ally.”

Opio is thin but tall and must weight about the same as Alexis does. The most noticeable point is a mole under the left eye. She might have been a real beauty but her hair looks horrible with how it has been hacked short. Alexis feels the woman is pure sugar when talking. Her pink clothes mark her as a pleasure companion. Opio is chipper and gets the introductions going. “Over there is Zormie 4356.8426.1458.3595 and the strapping man is Groerge 5564.6548.7544.6687.”

Zormie is older then the rest of them and looks to have worked out regularly. Alexis’s first thought is this is what an Amazon in primitive mythology would look like. The other thing is she is missing the pointer finger on her left hand. Her shoulder length brown hair is in a ponytail and has on the gray work clothes of a laborer. She gives Alexis a simple wave of acknowledgment.

Groerge is the only male in the room. Calling him dark is an understatement as he is pure black. His hair is cut short and looks to have been colored before, as it is not fully black on the tips. Otherwise he is a bit shorter then most men, but still taller then the women in the cabin. He is dressed in yellow as she is. His voice has an accent Alexis has never heard before as he greets them.

She gets each one to open up with ease, even Alexis finds herself liking the woman.

Introductions end before the screens of the workstations blink on and a video starts. The man in it looks ruggedly handsome. “Welcome citizens. Some of you have not been in the schools for a while but you are all once more learning. So let us begin by changing in to the clothes in the locker with your number on it. I will wait, it shouldn’t take you too long.”

The image wavers and the four in the room are busy changing clothes. The new clothes are thin and cover only the trunk of the body with a short section for the arms and legs. The clothes stretch some to fit.

As they are changing eyes wander and some talk goes on.

Zormie, “I have not worn white in solar cycles.”

Alexis, “It will be no change for me.”

Opio is bold and has assets Alexis finds herself wishing she had. Zormie has muscled look that are very defined. By comparison Groerge is bashful changing with the three woman, not that he is a small man.

Zormie, “Nice hang you got there.”

Opio smiles, “I have seen larger but he is respectable.”

Groerge most likely is blushing Alexis thinks as he stammers something.

The image unfreezes after around 5 minutes, “Thank you for your prompt efforts citizens. Now there is a bin in the room. Please put all items from the outside in to it. You will get new clothes. All personal items will be stowed on the vessel to go with you. Put the bin outside the room by the door now.”

The four toss the clothes without trouble. Zormie takes delight in tossing her clothes in there. Opio and Groerge take some time to put their items in.

Alexis wipes the memory on the dataslate and does its self-processing organization to make any information that was on it unreadable, her father taught her that.

Zormie takes the bin out. There is little in it but each item must have meant something to the others Alexis thinks.

They finish the video goes on about the training. Alexis having read about the vessel before can understand most of what they are talking about but not all of it, they also reiterate some of the things the person on the loudspeaker said before. The vessel will be under power when they are active so they do not need zero gravity training in the job. This makes it much easier in a way so they can train on planet instead of in space where their not knowing their jobs could cause many casualties. Zormie seems to fade out of interest after the first half hour of it. By the time the long lecture on the monitor stops only Opio still seems interested in what was being said. The other three were in beds they picked out and Zormie is asleep.

The man drones on, “You should eat and rest. Tomorrow will be a trying day, but our government has faith in you, remember that.”

The four find the meal rations given are standard but Alexis is not happy with the protein filler. Meals are set of pills and a protein paste in different flavors, this gives all the needed nutrients for a person without the waste food in the past had. Alexis hates the vanilla flavor of the paste and asks the others to trade. Sadly all have the same sort.

A trip to the normal ship lavatory is mandatory where many are shaved or at least trimmed and then cleaned in a chemical bath. Alexis finds Opio looks better having removed the hacked bits of her hair, and even a bit hot with the bald look. Zormie is loud about not wanting it but still her hair is buzzed down to a small layer of peach fuzz. Groerge does not have much to begin with so it is almost no change. Alexis herself has mixed feelings but her own short hair ends up on the floor with the rest of theirs. She has to admits to herself it feels different and more like someone going to space.

The first few days of training are rough for the trainees. All the trainees’ clothes are pearl white in color. Often they come back with stains and rips in them from the work. New clothes are supplied nearly daily with the need.

The first week is rough for some of them. Alexis and Groerge both are sore when it comes to time to sleep. Zormie and Opio are more fit. There is an announcement in a day they will be doing physicals for all trainees.

Alexis looks over at the others, “I hope we pass.”

Zormie flexes, “I know I will pass.”

Opio giggles.

Groerge, “I think we should be able to.”

Zormie tells them all a few tricks to pass the physical. One trick is to eat double ration. The other three listen to what the woman says often asking when she goes in to terms the others do not know. Alexis is fascinated learning from what she thought was a meathead laborer.

The group does as told and it is exhausting. They all sleep well that cycle.

The next day the physical is done in the ship’s lavatory. The nights sleep after those exercises were refreshing and Alexis is ready. The knowledge Zormie gave the others helps them to pass. Alexis is worn out from it and barely made it from what the Trainer told her.

The talk with some of the others gleans that a number of trainees that failed are send off for other training in good cheer. Alexis is puzzled by this.

Opio comments a bit later in their cabin. “I seen what they gave Velure who left. It was a cheer pill.”

Alexis looks over, “A what?”

Zormie sounds a bit disgusted. “It’s a drug to make...”

Opio interrupts Zormie, not something that normally has occurred. “They are to help people get over difficult time.”

Zormie glares at her. “It has other purposes.”

Alexis finds it odd as Opio so far never argued about anything.

Opio, “I have never suffered from using them. It has always helped me.”

Zormie gets up, “I have.” She walks out on them.

Groerge gets up and follows Zormie. Alexis stays with Opio.

Opio looks to Alexis, “Well they are good for me.”

Alexis nods, “I do not doubt you.”

Opio smiles weakly, “Thank you.”

The four in the room find they are a team and have to learn to work together along with learn about each other at the same time. A few teams are formed from those who lost members due to the physical. Opio seems cheerful enough working but Zormie is slow with the technical aspects and gets mad easily. Groerge, while looks in good shape, is winded easily, he is a wizard with the computers. Alexis is out of breath herself, but not like she use to be. She is limping often from a sore ankle, she broke as a child, by the end of some days but her knowledge of the ship systems helped her get through the tests they do in the massive training building faster then others. When they talk about the ship, the others slowly defer to her knowledge, other then Zormie who is such a non-conformist it seems, and not a team worker.

Alexis finds her ability to use both hands useful often. In schools whenever she tried to use her left hand she often got the ruler across it to conform to everyone else. This forced her to use her right hand in public making her fully ambidextrous instead of left-handed as she naturally is. Most jobs are easy but somewhat annoying.